The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation
In a world filled with a lot of talk, we want to have meaningful, biblical conversations with those God has entrusted to us. Join Tosha Williams and the Family Disciple Me ministry for Devotion Driven Discipleship conversation starters that will encourage you to "Seek Him Speak Him" in your own life.
Family Disciple Me is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Christian ministry dedicated to catalyzing Devotion Driven Discipleship in our own lives and homes as well as around the world.
For more information, visit familydiscipleme.org
The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation
THE EASTER TRILOGY: From Palms to Pain / The Story of Good Friday // Holy Week Conversations
When the palm branches of celebration give way to the cross of suffering, what happens to our faith? Good Friday confronts us with the most challenging spiritual question: Do we still believe in Jesus when things don't go as expected?
The contrast is stark. Just days after the crowds shouted "Hosanna!" Jesus was betrayed, beaten, and crucified. For His disciples who had witnessed his miracles and power, this devastating turn of events must have shaken their faith to the core. Their teacher and friend was suffering before their eyes, and everything they believed about Him seemed to be unraveling.
We face similar faith challenges today. Life often resembles railroad tracks with good and bad running side by side—answered prayers alongside ongoing struggles, miracles in one area while still waiting in another. The question becomes whether our faith can be like those railroad ties, connecting these parallel experiences without becoming a spiritual train wreck when difficulty arrives.
Jesus prepared His followers for this very test. The night before his crucifixion, he told them, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me" (John 14:1). He knew what was coming and offered them—and us—a way through: choose to keep believing, even when understanding fails.
What makes Good Friday truly "good" is that suffering wasn't the end of the story. John, who witnessed these events firsthand, later wrote that he testified "so that you also may believe." His message echoes through centuries to remind us that our pain, like Christ's, is never the final chapter.
Join us as we explore how to maintain faith through life's darkest moments, knowing that Easter Sunday is coming. When we can say "Yes, I believe" even in our Good Fridays, we discover a faith that transcends circumstances—and a powerful testimony to share with the next generation.
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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.
Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org
Welcome back to the Family Disciple Me podcast. We're in the middle of our Easter trilogy, a three-part journey through conversations where we walk through Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the biggest moments of the Holy Week. That's right, Tasha. And last time when we had a conversation, we talked about Palm Sunday. That was the day that the crowds cheered for Jesus. They were waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna. It was the day of celebration and belief.
Speaker 1:But today, Tasha, we're looking at what happened just a few days later, on Good Friday, a day of sadness and suffering, yes, a day of the hardest question of all. And that question is do you still believe in Jesus, even when things don't go the way you expected? That's a powerful question that hits the very core of our lives and hearts. Yes, it does, Wendy, and it's a question that Jesus actually spoke about before Good Friday even happened, In John 14, verse 1, yes, Jesus in this verse, told his disciples do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, Believe also in me.
Speaker 1:That's what we're going to talk about today, because it's one thing to believe in Jesus well, when things are good, right but what about when things are hard? This is the story of Good Friday. Everything was joyous celebration on Palm Sunday, but just a handful of days later came the darkest day in history. So let's spend a few moments in conversation about that. Let's roll the podcast intro and then we'll dive into what happened just before and on Good Friday, Because again it sets the stage for everything.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast. If you have a real relationship with Jesus, then you're in the right place to be encouraged, challenged and blessed as you seek Him, speak Him. The mission of the Family Disciple Me ministry is to inspire devotion-driven discipleship, which is something we believe every Christ follower can do. Discipleship starts with a conversation, so let's get going with that right now.
Speaker 1:You know, we don't usually expect good things to come out of bad situations when something hard happens. I don't know about you, but for me it's easy to wonder where's God in this. That's what makes Good Friday so incredible. It was the worst day in the world. Jesus was betrayed, he was arrested, beaten, he was put on that cross. But somehow that terrible day became the best day for those who believe in him. Day became the best day for those who believe in him. That's because, with Jesus, sorrow and suffering they're never the end of the story. When we say to Jesus, yes, I believe, then even in the hardest times, we are able to trust that God is still at work. Tasha, that's exactly what Jesus was preparing his disciples for. On the night before Good Friday, at the Last Supper, he looked at them and said the words quoted in John 14.1. Yes, we said these words in the introduction, but let's just repeat them again because they're our theme verse for this conversation. Jesus looked at his disciples and said do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. But why would Jesus say this? I mean he knew that in just a few hours, everything was about to go terribly wrong. His disciples would see him arrested, tried, crucified yes, but instead of fear, he was calling them to faith. He knew the cross was coming and he was preparing his followers for how to respond. Yes, he was teaching them how to keep believing in him no matter what. You know, when life is easy, when things turn out the way we want, when we get the miracle we need, it's not that hard to say I believe in Jesus.
Speaker 1:But on Good Friday, the disciples had to wrestle with their faith in a whole new way. Jesus had been their teacher. He'd been their leader, their friend. They had seen him do miracles, walk on water, raise the dead, but now, suddenly, he was taken away from them. Everything good was in jeopardy. Yes, can you imagine how confusing this must have been? If Jesus was the Son of God, how could this be happening? Was he really who he said he was? Could he still do what he said he could do?
Speaker 1:I believe that these are some of the same questions we have to ask ourselves today, because life let's be real it isn't always like Palm Sunday, full of celebrations and joy. Well, sometimes I find it and I know you, tasha, find it the same way. Our lives are more like Good Friday hard, painful and confusing For sure. But the question is do we still believe in Jesus, even when things about our lives don't make sense? I feel like I'm always seeming to wrestle with that same question quite a bit in everyday life Me too, wendy.
Speaker 1:You know, in the last episode I was telling you about my yes, I believe moment with Jesus. In that circumstance he did a bona fide, certified miracle. It was crazy, amazing. It was a miracle witnessed by scores of people and something that's talked about to this day. But simultaneously in my life there was another situation that was, in its own way, as desperately difficult and devastating as the first, maybe even more so. And yet, even though I prayed about those two things equally and simultaneously, and maybe even more for the second situation, I still haven't seen the miracle, wendy. I'm still waiting for God to show up and show off in that situation.
Speaker 1:Isn't that the truth for all of us? Tasha, I really believe that in all of our lives we have good things and we also have bad things that happen. You know, once I heard someone say that life is like railroad tracks, with the good and the bad running side by side. I live next to train tracks. So I guess I would extend that analogy and say the question is whether or not our faith can be like well, the railroad ties, staying strong and connecting the good and the bad, so that our lives can keep headed toward Jesus in all situations instead of falling apart and well being like a spiritual train wreck. You know, tasha, visiting your house this is a very vivid analogy. I can picture exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 1:I personally kind of think about how did the disciples respond on Good Friday? It makes me wonder, like how would I have responded in that same situation? I know that these events would have troubled me. I just can't even fathom what that would feel like and I just wonder if my faith in Jesus would have been changed if I would have been like a train wreck, depending on whether or not life was good or bad. I love that Jesus didn't just tell his disciples what was going to happen, but he also told them how to get through it, and I believe he does that same thing with us he does. He gave his disciples and us a choice Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in me. Well, I believe that that's not just a promise for eternity, I believe that that's a promise for today. Yes, I believe that that's not just a promise for eternity.
Speaker 2:I believe that that's a promise for today.
Speaker 1:Yes for us. When we go through pain and suffering and uncertainty which we all do, right, every single one of us has these in our lives we all have the same choice as the disciples did choice as the disciples did. Will we trust in Jesus even when we don't understand and let's be real, I mean, there are so many things that we just can't control in our life but we can choose to believe in Jesus, just like the disciples had to decide whether they believed on Good Friday. And one of the most amazing things about Good Friday is that it wasn't the end of the story. That's right, tasha, it wasn't the end of the story.
Speaker 1:And one of Jesus's disciples, john well, he made sure that we knew about it. He was there that day and later he wrote these words In John, chapter 19, verse 35,. He wrote he who saw this has testified to you so that you also may believe John, who was there at that time. He saw everything with his own eyes. He saw the cross, he saw the suffering. He even saw all of the sorrow that was happening upon that cross. But he didn't keep it to himself. He told others so that they could believe too. That's what we're called to do as well. Our faith was never meant to be private. When we say yes, I believe it's not just for us. It's a message that we have this amazing privilege to pass on to others and to let them hear as well. And that's why Good Friday matters, because praising Jesus on the good days is wonderful, but it's even more powerful when we hold onto him on the hard days, and I really believe this is something that is so important for us to articulate to the next generation. They're watching how we respond to the Lord during the good times and during the bad times. When we talk about seek him, speak him in Family, disciple Me. Well, we're talking about leaning into Jesus in our devotions, in our hearts and in our own lives, and then, through discipleship and conversation, we're talking to our kids and all the people that God has entrusted to us about what we believe and why we believe it. We get to lead by example in this Wendy, and we have the promises in scripture that God works everything together for the good of those who love him. We can't forget that promise along the way, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:Good Friday was the perfect case in point for all of this. Good Friday was a day of sorrow, but it was also a day of hope, because Jesus' suffering wasn't the end of the story. Suffering isn't the end of our stories either. I don't know about you, tasha, but I am so thankful that the story isn't over. That's why we can hold on to faith, even in the hard times, because Sunday well, sunday, it's coming. It is coming, and, well, that's exactly what we're going to talk about in the next episode. So we invite you to join us in that final episode of our Easter Trilogy where we celebrate Easter Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead. Until then, friends, let's seek him, speak him and make the most of every conversation.
Speaker 1:Lord, god, you see us. You see Wendy and I here in the podcast studio right now, and you see our listeners wherever they are. God, you see each of us and you see the good and the bad that's running alongside simultaneously in each of our lives. God, we want our faith to be as solid and strong as those railroad ties across the way from my house. God, we want to keep our lives headed toward you. We don't want our faith to be a train wreck when life gets hard. We don't want our faith to be a train wreck when life gets hard. We want to stay focused on you and be able to say, yes, I believe in Jesus, no matter what. Give us the faith for that Lord. Help our unbelief. Thank you for going through Good Friday for us In your name, jesus, amen. Amen.
Speaker 2:Until next time. God bless you. We'll see you again as we talk about Easter Sunday show notes. To get the latest updates about the Family Disciple Me ministry, as well as word about our soon-to-be-released app, sign up to be the first to know at familydisciplemeorg. Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, help us get the word out by leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. God bless you, friend. Now go seek him. Speak him.