Outloud Bible Project Podcast
Mike Domeny, actor, author, and founder of Outloud Bible Project (outloudbible.com), reads the Bible out loud in a conversational and approachable way so you can read the Bible like it makes a difference! This isn't simply an audiobook version of the Bible! Every episode offers helpful context so you won't get lost, and a brief takeaway to help apply that reading to your life.
Want to invite Mike to read Scripture at your event or gathering? Visit outloudbible.com.
Starting with episode 279, the Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® https://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved
Outloud Bible Project Podcast
Living Outloud: Matthew 8-11
What happens when we move beyond merely knowing what the Bible says to radically living it out? Mike and his wife Kelsey introduce a powerful new weekly segment called "Living Outloud," designed to bridge the gap between biblical knowledge and biblical obedience.
This heartfelt conversation challenges the comfortable Christianity many of us have settled for. While reading scripture and gaining knowledge is valuable, James reminds us not to be "hearers of the word only, but doers of the word." The hosts explore the subtle but crucial distinction between "applying" scripture (which feels optional) and "obeying" scripture (which reflects true discipleship).
Whether you're just beginning your faith journey or have been following Jesus for decades, this conversation will challenge you to examine where you might be hearing without obeying, knowing without living. Join us every Friday as we explore what it truly means to live scripture out loud in practical, transformative ways.
Send Mike a quick message! (If you seek a reply, instead please contact through Outloudbible.com)
Check out outloudbible.com for helpful study resources, and to discover how to bring the public reading of God's word to your church, conference, retreat, or other event.
Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Project podcast. This is Mike, and today I'm joined by my lovely wife, Kelsey.
Speaker 2:Hey, long-time listener, first-time caller, excellent.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you're here. Thanks for phoning in.
Speaker 2:Hopefully we're not phoning this in.
Speaker 1:No, so this is a new segment of this podcast called Living Out Loud, because, hey, it's been great over the past almost three years at this point, reading the Bible every Tuesday and Thursday, the new episodes of the Bible being read conversationally, and we have a fun time along the way and we talk about some thinking out loud thoughts of the day each episode. But I feel like there is more to do. There is more to go here when it comes to not just hearing it, not just loving it, but actually living it. That's why we're here. We're here to hear it, love it and live it. The Bible that is.
Speaker 1:That wasn't clear enough, because we've got to get into the Word. We've got to get the Word into us and then we've got to get the Word out of us, and it's sometimes hard to know. What does that mean, what does that look like? And so every Friday, we're going to be releasing an episode like this a conversation between Kelsey and I about what it looks like to live out loud, to live the Bible and overall, just talking about applying what we hear and what we read so that it actually makes a difference.
Speaker 2:As James says, we ought not to be hearers of the word only, but we ought to be doers of the word. And so, as awesome as the past, you just hit 300 episodes recently like this week.
Speaker 2:As awesome as these three years of episodes have been, mike and I have really been, we've been really compelled to take scripture as literally as possible. I believe that every piece of scripture is applicable to our lives today. I will admit, though, that I'm glad that I'm coming in and we're starting this segment in Matthew, and not, like I don't know, lamentations or something.
Speaker 1:It comes. Just a couple weeks ago we were in the middle of Ezekiel, so there's a lot of things I don't want to literally apply from Ezekiel, based on what Ezekiel had to do. So we're not necessarily going to that extreme.
Speaker 2:So we're kind of starting with some softballs. We've got what Jesus said.
Speaker 1:Let's start with what Jesus said.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I really do believe that even the corners of Ezekiel, I believe the entire scripture, is applicable to our lives today. It wasn't written necessarily I know you've said this before it wasn't written necessarily to us, but it was written for us. We aren't always the primary audience of every corner of scripture, of every story, but we are a recipient of it for a reason, are a recipient of it for a reason and as we go through our lives following Jesus, if you read the scriptures Old Testament and New over and over and over again, the way we have a relationship with Jesus, the way we have a relationship with God, the Father, is through obedience, and so hearing the word and then discovering how to obey that word, like in our actual, real lives here in this century, is crucial. I grew up having this sense that my responsibility was to know what the Bible said and I was a good Christian if I read my Bible and I prayed and I knew what the Bible said, you even went to Bible college.
Speaker 2:I even went to Bible college, mike. That's where we met. As I'm getting older and the Lord's just doing more and more work on me, he's been surgically removing some of those religiosity honestly, like some of that self-righteousness. That's like, yeah, I know the Bible, I know it better than most people, and being like, but are you living it? Are you actually doing it? Are you actually obeying as much as you possibly can? And so our lives have been radically transformed by taking Jesus at his word and saying you know what, what, if he actually means it and living like it makes a difference. Mike shared that testimony, I think, last week. And there's just so much more to unpack and, of course, with as much as you cover in the podcast, mike, there's always going to be more to unpack.
Speaker 2:And so my desire is to maybe share some stories from our lives, share some stories from our friends, share some practical applications of the word as you're reading through it, Right, not to just stop there. My hope is that these conversations really are a launching point for you, as you're listening to consider okay, that's how Mike and Kelsey are applying it, but how do I need to apply it? Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, be sensitive in prayer and be willing to obey and do what the Bible says, even in the times that it doesn't make sense, even when it's really uncomfortable, even when there's pushback. But may we all be continually transformed into people who are obedient.
Speaker 2:First, obedient of the word, so that we have to know what he said in order to obey it. But once we know it, we have to be obeying it, and I think that it goes a lot further than most of our Christian experiences. Take it. We're in the United States, so a lot of American church culture, I think, doesn't actually go as far as obedience in my experience and I said you know, just help us to discover new ways to apply and obey.
Speaker 1:And as I kind of equated those words, I don't think that's wrong. But I realized that I have in the past tended to say well, we got to learn how to apply the Bible, right, I think a good preacher should teach us and help us apply the Bible. And that's true. I'm not trying to parse words and say one word's right or wrong, but I think apply the Bible is a bit soft when we do need to obey Jesus and obey what he said, obey the Bible as if we're going to be Christ followers. Obviously, application isn't wrong or a bad word.
Speaker 1:Application sounds wise to me. It's like if you have a Band-Aid, or a bad word. Application sounds wise to me. It's like if you have a bandaid, you should apply the bandaid, put it on the wound. That is what's going to be wise and get you better results than if you don't. But it still seems optional. It seems like application means you have a thing. You can use it or not, but obedience is really not an option. It's a are you going to follow Jesus Because he's telling you to obey what he's saying? And so not to say that I'm never going to say the word. Apply here on these.
Speaker 1:Living Out Loud episodes, but I think it at least kind of pricked my attention and I think it's good to maybe bring attention to are we just looking to how to apply the Bible and then we can take it or leave it, or are we looking to actually, hey, what do I need to obey and how do I obey it? Jesus, when he commissioned his disciples to go out and make disciples, he told them to teach them to obey everything that I've taught you. Not just teach them what Jesus said, but teach them to obey what Jesus said.
Speaker 2:Spoiler. That's the end of Matthew Michael.
Speaker 1:Oh man, we're not even there yet.
Speaker 2:We're not even there.
Speaker 1:Oh, maybe I'll just have to say it again sometime, but you're right, we're not at the end of Matthew, we are at Matthew 8 through 11, talking about what Jesus did and what we do, and that's kind of just how I oversimplified, perhaps, this section. But we do see in Matthew 8 and 9 how Jesus went about and did. There's a whole bunch of miracles. In two chapters it's pretty jam-packed with a bunch of miracles healings and deliverance from demons and all sorts of just very flashy miracles on Jesus' behalf. And then he sends his disciples out with some warnings and some what to expect in Matthew 10 and 11. So what can we not apply, obey?
Speaker 1:here, from yes, apply. But what can we obey as we go throughout the rest of this week?
Speaker 2:Yeah, obviously, in four chapters of Jesus' teachings there's 400 lessons, right and more, so we can't possibly dive into everything, but I'll just tell you what Jesus taught me this week. That's a good start. I was driving to church just this Tuesday, the day that the episode for chapters eight and nine was released, and so our drive to church is about the length of one of the Out Loud Bible episodes, so I threw that on.
Speaker 1:You really are a long time listener. I really am a long time listener.
Speaker 2:I actually really like your and you really are. A longtime listener I really am. I actually really like your voice and I like what you do, and so I enjoy hearing the word through your voice. Cute side story before I get into this the first ever Out Loud Bible episode. Before it was called Out Loud Bible, Mike and I were dating and my favorite book of the Bible is Philippians, and so he recorded the book of Philippians for me on a CD. It was on a CD.
Speaker 1:I burned a CD.
Speaker 2:And you underscored it with music from Lord of the Rings, do you remember?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's like the prime ambient soundtrack.
Speaker 2:So I was just thinking about that the other day and I was like, oh, that was like the first Out Loud Bible episode ever.
Speaker 1:It was by no means legal. I did not have the permission from Lord of the Rings, nor whatever translation I read from. I guarantee it.
Speaker 2:But it didn't need to be, it was just a gift for your girlfriend.
Speaker 1:It was just for you.
Speaker 2:But anyway, last week our daughter turned 13. It was her birthday and we were celebrating it and we were at this kind of adventure center with a lot of like physical challenges and mental challenges and puzzles and kind of things. Mike, you and I were in a room it was a really physical challenge where we had to cross, if you can imagine, like a rope bridge basically and we had to cross it and do a bunch of things and the 10 second timer had started, right, it was counting down and we were about to get three stars, which is the maximum you can get. My foot slipped and so, if you can imagine, a rope bridge, that's really rickety and my foot slipping between two of the slats, my shin bashed into one of the two by fours of this.
Speaker 1:I think the beam bashed into you. There was no way that you could have generated as much power as it did swing it was awful.
Speaker 2:Anyway, it left me with this bone bruise on my shin. It is extremely painful and we're a week and a half past it and it still really hurts. So with that injury, I'm driving to church on Tuesday night for Bible study, for women's Bible study, and listening to Matthew 8 and 9. And I'm listening to Jesus heal and heal and heal and heal, over and over and over again Jesus was healing and crowds brought him people and he healed them all.
Speaker 2:And right there in our forward focus, I felt like Jesus was saying to me hey, kels, am I the same today, yesterday and forever? Or am I not? Because Hebrews 13, 8 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever? Or am I not? Because Hebrews 13.8 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever? And I think that's a crucial truth to understand for these conversations on the whole, especially as we're in a gospel that's looking at the life of Christ. Is Jesus the same yesterday, today and forever, or is he not? Is Hebrews lying or is Hebrews telling the truth? Because if Hebrews is telling the truth, then the things Jesus did, then he is still willing and able to do today. And here's where I was.
Speaker 2:On Tuesday evening I was driving to church, unsure of whether or not I was going to ask for prayer. I'd already been to church Sunday with this injury and didn't ask anybody to pray for me. I hadn't actually really prayed for Jesus to heal it at all. I don't think I ever prayed about my leg. I was just in pain and accepting it and being like yep, injuries happen and it'll eventually heal. And it's not something I need to go to the doctor for. It doesn't need a cast. It's a bruise. It's an internal bruise. It's really bad, it's painful, but it'll just eventually heal. I don't think I ever prayed for it and I was really convicted, as I'm listening to all of these healings, all of these healings that Jesus was doing for people, and I felt like he was speaking to my spirit and saying Kelsey, do you think I'm the same or am I not? Why would you not come to me? Why would you not even ask? And honestly, I don't have like a miraculous healing story to finish this off with.
Speaker 1:The story does not end with. And then she jumped up and down.
Speaker 2:Like it doesn't even end with that, because I don't think that's the point, like the point is, I wasn't even willing to ask, I wasn't even willing to pray. But I say I believe Jesus is the same yesterday and forever, right, forever. Today I can, forever. So I say I believe that he's still able and willing to do the things that I read in scripture. And yet, even in my own situation, I wasn't even, I wasn't even asking.
Speaker 1:Is Jesus in Matthew 8 the same as Jesus in 2025? Is the Jesus in Matthew 8 the same as the Jesus in 123 Main Street anywhere USA Right? Is the Jesus?
Speaker 2:in 123.
Speaker 1:Main Street anywhere, usa, right, or anywhere Papua New Guinea, like, is he the same Jesus? It's weird because we're not used to reading books and having that be for everything. For me today, right Like there are fiction books that have no basis in reality. There are nonfiction books that, oh, that's helpful and the more people it's helpful to, the better the book sells, you know, but the Bible is different because it's living and it's active, and the Jesus we read about is the Jesus who is sitting next to you as you read it. We don't have the author in the room with us all the time, except for when we read the Bible. So how?
Speaker 2:does that change? And if you're following him, you have the Holy Spirit in you to teach you. Like the same spirit that inspired these words is in you, like it's in me. He is in you, he's in me. And I think that's why, when I was listening to it, that Holy Spirit in me said hey, lean in, I'm the same. I am the same that I was then. I'm in your car right now asking you if you're going to even pray and ask for your life to be healed.
Speaker 1:Or are you just going to listen to this episode? Or are you just going to read this chapter and say, oh, that was nice that.
Speaker 2:Jesus did that. Oh, that was really good. Jesus is great. Wow, Jesus is awesome.
Speaker 1:But does that change how you see your circumstances? Does it see how you change your life? Is that going to prompt you or motivate you to not just apply but obey? Now I know, in Matthew, chapter 8, it doesn't say ask Jesus for healing. Elsewhere in the Bible you can make a case for that, but here, you know, not necessarily. But, like you said, the point isn't even did your leg get healed or not? The point is are we going to take the words off the page and talk to Jesus as if he is the same? No, his job is not to obey you. Your job is to obey him. So he's not going to do everything that you want him to do, even if you ask politely.
Speaker 1:However, the discipline of going to Jesus and say, hey, you said in your word or you demonstrated in your life on earth this and I want to get to know you more like that today, now, this week, that's a prayer, real answer. How he does it, it's up to him, but that's the kind of prayer that's going to see some changes and see some results. This whole exercise, this whole discipline of obeying the word and taking Jesus literally and seeing him as the same today as he was then, is going to be met with resistance, and that is what we saw in the last. Going to be met with resistance. And that is what we saw in the last episode with Matthew 10 and 11, where Jesus said hey, you're going to follow me, you're going to obey me, you're going to like do what I say. Be prepared to find resistance. And he said it was going to come from religious leaders. He said it's going to come from the culture in general. He said it's going to come from your own family and friends and people who are close to you relationally aren't necessarily going to be on the same page with you and it could cause some conflict.
Speaker 1:But one really compelling resistance that I think is not as obvious is his discussion about new wine and old wineskins. I think perhaps, depending on who you are and who you have around you, the most resistance you might experience to actually following Jesus and doing what he says to do is going to come from yourself Because, yes, he has changed you into a new person, as a Christian Great. But as that develops, the new wine is being poured in. But what is it being poured into? An old way of thinking, you thought you had Jesus figured out, you thought you kind of knew how God worked and what his heart was and what he thinks.
Speaker 1:What I've learned through reading his word and through church and being around his people and through prayer now, like God, is not any different than he was five years ago. But my understanding of how he works and who he is is vastly different than five years ago. But yeah, maybe before that he was, as far as my perspective was, kind of the same as he was in college and I think that was hardening wineskin that fortunately, god has worked to reshape and replace. Perhaps the biggest resistance to obeying Jesus is your own mindset of who he is and what he can or cannot do or is willing or is unwilling to do. That may have to be the prayer today of like God, I don't even know what I don't know. I don't even know what I don't know.
Speaker 1:My wineskin of a mindset feels perfectly fine to me, but if it's not able to hold and contain what you want to do in my life and what you are going to teach and what you're going to renew and restore, then help me to change with you, because I don't want to get in my own way. I think that's a prayer we can pray even if we don't necessarily know what it's going to result in. That's just one of those prayers of faith.
Speaker 1:That's like I got to trust that you know better than I do, so I'll give that up. I'm willing help my unwillingness and if we do that, I don't know, hang on, I guess. Hang on for the ride, because I get a sense of the disciples when Jesus sent them out. It's like, oh, boy, okay. And he didn't physically go with them. Now he's with us. He's with us. So how much more boldly and confidently can we go and obey him as we go about our life?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, Mike, I've loved this conversation. I'm excited to jump in with you every Friday as we talk about living out loud these words of scripture that we're hearing throughout the week. So thanks for having me. This is super fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're looking forward to it and we will see you next time.
