Bible Wisdom Today
The Bible was written long ago, in a foreign language, within an alien culture, using unfamiliar literary styles. This verse-by-verse Bible study confronts those challenges to discover God’s wisdom for life today.Your teacher, Stan Watkins, has always founded his personal faith on the Bible, leading him to complete a Bible degree and enter Christian ministry, ultimately going with his wife and family to Europe for 6 years. There he served in the areas of Bible teaching and music. Since returning to the states, he has supported his local church as he has had opportunity, but now he would like a more regular outlet for teaching God’s word. He has been married to his wife, Mary, since 1990 and has three adult children. In addition to this podcast, he maintains an active piano teaching studio.
Choose your favorite podcast player
Bible Wisdom Today
New to Bible Wisdom Today?
Since Bible Wisdom Today features a series of episodes moving methodically through a book of the Bible, you might want to begin with the introduction to one of our recent series.
Episodes
1
Jan. 27, 2025
Gospel of Mark Introduction
Welcome to this new podcast, Bible Wisdom Today, and to our first book of study, the Gospel of Mark. Believed to be one of the source documents for both Matthew and Luke, the Gospel of Mark is perhaps the most important gospel despite its shorter length. In this introductory episode, we will meet Mark, the author. We will also learn about the historical context of Mark’s gospel, Mark’s writing style and the narrative structure of his book. We will also see how Mark uses this structure to communi
2
Feb. 10, 2025
The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ | Mark 1
In this second episode of Bible Wisdom Today, we explore the prologue of the Gospel of Mark, covering chapter 1, verses 1 through 15. We begin with an overview of the primary truths Mark seeks to present: Jesus as the Messiah, Son of God, bringer of God's kingdom, and his battle with Satan. We then discuss Mark’s thesis statement, which he places in his very first sentence: “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” We cover each of the important words in that sentence and
3
Feb. 24, 2025
Authority and Amazement | Mark 1
Jesus begins His public ministry with a splash of authority, calling his first disciples, teaching, expelling demons, and healing the sick. The crowd was amazed. He also showed his authority in more private ways by avoiding the temptation to play to the crowd and ignoring law and custom to give a leper His healing touch. Jesus willing choices to stay true to His mission challenge our own tendency to seek our own best interests. 00:00 Welcome 02:45 Authority to Call Disciples 08:39 Authority to T
4
March 10, 2025
A Rising Crescendo of Conflict | Mark 2
The main drama in the Biblical narrative of this episode is the escalating conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities. In Jesus’ day, the leaders of Judaism were hugely invested in tradition and status quo. They were concerned with who to eat with and how to keep from profaning the Jewish Sabbath. Meanwhile, Jesus was on a mission to meet people’s deepest needs, and cared little for contrived religious observance when it conflicted with healing, forgiving, and loving the desperate peop
5
March 31, 2025
How to Join Jesus' Inside Circle | Mark 3
In this episode, Jesus interacts with various groups of people—the crowd, the disciples, his family and religious leaders—making a distinction between “insiders” who follow him and “outsiders” who oppose him. Mark highlights the irony when those we expect to be insiders are left outside and those we expect to be outsiders are circled around him inside. This encourages us to reflect on our own relationship with Jesus. For those who think they are insiders, Jesus invites us to ponder carefully. Fo
6
April 14, 2025
Jesus teaches in parables | Mark 4
This episode of Bible Wisdom Today extends our understanding of Jesus ministry to those inside and outside his circle of followers, as he finds a way to speak meaningfully to both groups at the same time by using parables. These short stories from ordinary life tantalize the listener to think deeply to truly discover their meaning, giving Jesus the opportunity to communicate profound truth to those who are willing to ponder his message, while keeping his true identity and purpose secret from tho
Join the Email List
Listen On
Recent Blog Posts
June 1, 2026
The Creation and Recreation of the World
Summary Chart of Genesis 1-11Creation Destruction - Flood Recreation &nbs…
April 27, 2026
Literary Structure of the Flood Story | Genesis 6-9
Different types of literature demand different structures. We write novels differently than blog posts, and short stories differently from e-mail messages. The literary culture of the Bible was no different, except that the literary forms come from …
April 6, 2026
How should we understand the long lives in Genesis 5
The genealogy of Adam-Noah in Genesis 5 GenerationNameYears1 Adam130+800=9302 Seth105+807=9123 Enosh90+815=9054 Kenan70+840=9105 Mahalalel6…
About the Host
Stan Watkins