Redeeming God

Liberating you from bad ideas about God

Learn the MOST ESSENTIAL truths for following Jesus.

Get FREE articles and audio teachings in my discipleship emails!


  • Join Us!
  • Scripture
  • Theology
  • My Books
  • About
  • Discipleship
  • Courses
    • What is Hell?
    • Skeleton Church
    • The Gospel According to Scripture
    • The Gospel Dictionary
    • The Re-Justification of God
    • What is Prayer?
    • Adventures in Fishing for Men
    • What are the Spiritual Gifts?
    • How to Study the Bible
    • Courses FAQ
  • Forum
    • Introduce Yourself
    • Old Testament
    • New Testament
    • Theology Questions
    • Life & Ministry

Jonah 2:4 – Obedience is Better than Sacrifice

By Jeremy Myers
1 Comment

Jonah 2:4 – Obedience is Better than Sacrifice
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/321965286-redeeminggod-77-jonah-24-to-obey-is-better-than-sacrifice.mp3

In Jonah 2:4, Jonah states that he prayed to worship God in His holy temple. In this way, Jonah seems to take credit for his deliverance from drowning.

And though he has no interest in obeying God by going to Nineveh, Jonah is happy about the prospect of worshiping God in the temple. But which do you think God would prefer?
Jonah 2:4 Jonahs prayer

The Text of Jonah 2:4

Then I said, “I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.

In this discussion of Jonah 2:4 we look at:

  • Why Jonah blames God for what happened to him
  • Why Jonah takes credit for being delivered from drowning
  • What God actually wanted from Jonah

Resources:

  • My book, Put Service Back into the Church Service
  • Redeeming God Discipleship Area
  • Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member


Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: Jonah 2:4, obedience, One Verse Podcast, sacrifice, worship

Advertisement

Jonah 1:17 – Jonah, Jesus, and Sacrifice

By Jeremy Myers
1 Comment

Jonah 1:17 – Jonah, Jesus, and Sacrifice
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/317454030-redeeminggod-73-jonah-117-jonah-jesus-and-sacrifice.mp3

Jonah 1:17It’s Easter week, and it just so happens that we are looking at Jonah 1:17 today, in which we read that Jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish. In Matthew 12:40, Jesus uses this event to talk about how He will spend three days in the grave.

The Text of Jonah 1:17

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

In this discussion of Jonah 1:17 we look at:

  • Whether or not the great fish was a whale
  • Whether the fish was deliverance or discipline
  • The parallels between Matthew 12:40 and Jonah 1:17
  • Whether or not God wants sacrifices

Resources:

  • Buy Nothing but the Blood of Jesus on Amazon
  • Redeeming God Discipleship Area
  • Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member


Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: Jonah 1:17, Matthew 12:40, resurrection of Jesus, sacrifice

Advertisement

Here is the Study Guide for Nothing But the Blood of Jesus (If you are asking these questions, the book will help)

By Jeremy Myers
3 Comments

Here is the Study Guide for Nothing But the Blood of Jesus (If you are asking these questions, the book will help)

Yesterday I announced that my new book has been published and is now available for purchase or download from Amazon. Here are the links if you want to get it (#AmazonAdLink) on the Kindle or (#AmazonAdLink) in Paperback.

In yesterday’s post, I gave the book description and the Table of Contents. The book also has a study guide, which makes this book an excellent resource for your small group Bible study, home group, or Sunday school class.

Noting But the Blood of Jesus

Nothing But the Blood of Jesus Study Guide

Below are discussion questions to help you study the concepts in this book. Each set of questions is based on one of the five key terms discussed in this book: Sin, Law, Sacrifice, Scapegoat, and Blood.

By reading through some of the questions below, you will get a feel for what sort of information I cover in the book, and what sort of questions get answered in the book.

Questions About Sin

1.      How do most modern people define sin? What do we tend to think sin is?

2.      How did many ancient people view sin? What did they tend to think sin was? Why did they think that blood could solve the problem of sin?

3.      Most people today tend to view sin as breaking a law or command of God. This book proposes that such actions are little more than symptoms or signs of the greater problem identified in the Bible as “sin.” What is this “sin”?

4.      When humans become “holy,” will we become more like God, or become more like the humans that God wants us to be? Why is this distinction important?

5.      What do God’s instructions to Adam and Eve in Genesis 2 reveal about the way God wants humans to live? How about God’s instructions to the people of Israel in Exodus 20?

6.      What do you think about the statement that sin is not necessarily breaking God’s commandments, but about engaging in violence and the things that lead to violence?

7.      Near the beginning of the chapter “Scriptures on Sin,” what two truths are discussed about sin and God’s activity in response to sin?

8.      Though sin may have been introduced by Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, when did sin actually “bear fruit” and what did this look like?

9.      How can Paul claim to have faultlessly kept the entire law, but also be the chief of sinners?

10.  Why does God want humans to refrain from sin? Is it because He is so deeply hurt and offended by sin that He just cannot stand to be around sinners? Or is it because He loves us so much, He does not want to see us hurt and damaged by sin?

Questions About Law

1.      What is the law for?

2.      What is lacking in the law?

3.      Why are laws given? Why do laws only increase over time?

4.      How can the law lead us into greater sin?

5.      Why is obeying the law not the answer to our problem of sin?

6.      What is it that God really wants from us?

7.      Why did God give the law, when He knew it wouldn’t work?

8.      According to Paul, what is the purpose of the law?

9.      What does the Sermon on the Mount focus our attention on?

10.  Why do you think Jesus said that His disciples will be known by their love, rather than by their law keeping?

Questions About Sacrifice

1.      What are the three purposes of sacrifice? Describe the differences between the three.

2.      What are humans trying to fix or correct when we offer sacrifices?

3.      Regardless of our religion or heritage, who are humans trying to appease with our sacrifices?

4.      If God truly did demand sacrifices from us, how is He any different from the other gods that require sacrifices? In other words, since sacrifices “work” everywhere they are performed (regardless of religion), what does this mean about the sacrificial instructions in the Bible?

5.      Can God be in the presence of sin? If you answer “No,” how could the killing of an animal (or a person) make a difference in God’s ability to be near sinners? Also, how could Jesus be fully God and yet live here on earth?

6.      If there is no sacrifice for intentional sin, how does God “take care” of these sins? Do you think God also “takes care” of unintentional sins the same way?

7.      What did the chapters on sacrifice begin to reveal about why Jesus died on the cross? Was His sacrifice for the purpose of pleasing and appeasing God? Why or why not?

8.      Why does the Bible contain so much information and teaching about sacrifice and violence?

9.      When is the first sacrifice performed in the Bible?

10.  Why are sacrifices not the solution to sin?

Questions About Scapegoating

1.      What are the five stages of the “scapegoat mechanism”?

2.      How does rivalry lead to violence?

3.      Why is a scapegoat needed to end violence?

4.      If the scapegoat is relatively innocent (or at least, not completely guilty of everything for which they are charged), why does their death create peace between two warring sides?

5.      What is the better way of creating peace between two parties?

6.      What are the three types of scapegoat? Why do they make good scapegoats?

7.      What are the three signs of scapegoating?

8.      How is it that we humans “scapegoat” God?

9.      What are the three ways that Jesus reveals scapegoating?

10.  What does Jesus reveal about scapegoating in regard to God and in regard to humanity?

Questions About Blood

1.      What have these chapters on blood (as well as previous chapters) revealed about the death of Jesus in relation to the wrath of God? In other words, did Jesus die to appease the wrath of God? Why or why not?

2.      What does the bloody crucifixion of Jesus reveal to us?

3.      Why did the crucifixion of Jesus need to be bloody and violent?

4.      What does the law of God do for violence?

5.      If it was not God who forced His Son to die on a cross, who (or what) put Jesus on the cross, and why?

6.      The rationale behind sacrifice is that the taking of one life saves many others. Why and how is this false?

7.      Why did Jesus submit Himself to the “scapegoat mechanism”? What does His death as a scapegoat victim reveal to us?

8.      What is the only kind of sacrifice God calls each of us to practice?

9.      God promises to always give us a way of escape from sin. How does Jesus dying on the cross reveal to us the way of escape from our own sinful scapegoating tendencies?

10.  How does the violent death of Jesus on the cross save us from our sin?

Buy the book on Amazon today:

Whether you want to buy one book for yourself, or multiple books for your church study group, you can get the book on Amazon. Here are the links for paperback and Kindle editions. Just click the image for the edition you prefer.

Nothing But the Blood of Jesus Paperback
Paperback Edition
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus Kindle
Kindle Version

God is Redeeming Books Bible & Theology Topics: blood of Jesus, Books by Jeremy Myers, Books I'm Writing, crucifixion of Jesus, law of Moses, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus, sacrifice, scapegoating, violence of Scripture

Advertisement

[#60] Genesis 4 Overview – Sin and Civilization

By Jeremy Myers
4 Comments

[#60] Genesis 4 Overview – Sin and Civilization
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/297917455-redeeminggod-60-genesis-4-overview-sin-and-civilization.mp3

This episode of the One Verse Podcast provides a short summary of Genesis 4. This helps you get up to speed in this Podcast if you have missed most of the studies of Genesis 4. There are similar summary episodes for Genesis 1, 2, and 3 as well.

Genesis 4 summary

Of course, in today’s episode, we don’t look only at Genesis 4, but also look at the flood account in Genesis 6–8, and a verse or two out of Genesis 50. Doing so shows us what Genesis is all about. This is important, since Genesis is the introduction to the Bible.

If you want to understand Genesis and the Bible as a whole, make sure you listen to today’s One Verse Podcast.

In this discussion of Genesis 4 we look at:

  • A summary of how sin and scapegoating leads to civilization
  • A look ahead to Genesis 6–11 and the rest of Scripture
  • How the book of Genesis ends the way it begins, showing us the overall message of the book of Genesis
  • The alternative to violence which God reveals in Genesis, Scripture, and ultimately, in Jesus Christ

Resources:

  • Become a Member of RedeemingGod.com
  • Atonement of God, by J. D. Myers
  • Genesis 1 Summary
  • Genesis 2 Summary
  • Genesis 3 Summary
  • Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member


Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: Cain and Abel, forgiveness, Genesis 4, One Verse Podcast, sacrifice, scapegoating, sin, violence

Advertisement

[#54] Genesis 4:4-5 – Why Did God Reject Cain’s Offering?

By Jeremy Myers
61 Comments

[#54] Genesis 4:4-5 – Why Did God Reject Cain’s Offering?
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/289166481-redeeminggod-54-genesis-44-5-why-did-god-reject-cains-offering.mp3

Have you ever wondered why God did not accept Cain’s offering in Genesis 4? You have probably heard some sermons on this or have read about it in books. In this study of Genesis 4:4-5, we look at some of the theories of why God rejected Cain’s offering, and then seek an answer to this question by looking at why God accepted Abel’s offering, and what this tells us about Cain’s offering.

Genesis 4:4-5

The Text of Genesis 4:4-5

Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

In this discussion of Genesis 4:4-5 we look at:

  • The three theories about why God did not respect Cain’s offering
  • Why Abel brought an offering in the first place
  • Why Abel’s offering was not a blood sacrifice
  • Why God respected Abel’s offering
  • Why God did not respect Cain’s offering

Resources:

  • a href=”https://redeeminggod.com/register/”>Become a Member of RedeemingGod.com
  • Buy The Atonement of God on Amazon
  • Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member


Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: abel, blood, cain, Genesis 4:4-5, offering, sacrifice

Advertisement

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »
Join the discipleship group
Learn about the gospel and how to share it

Take my new course:

The Gospel According to Scripture
Best Books Every Christian Should Read
Study Scripture with me
Subscribe to my Podcast on iTunes
Subscribe to my Podcast on Amazon

Do you like my blog?
Try one of my books:

Click the image below to see what books are available.

Books by Jeremy Myers

Theological Study Archives

  • Theology – General
  • Theology Introduction
  • Theology of the Bible
  • Theology of God
  • Theology of Man
  • Theology of Sin
  • Theology of Jesus
  • Theology of Salvation
  • Theology of the Holy Spirit
  • Theology of the Church
  • Theology of Angels
  • Theology of the End Times
  • Theology Q&A

Bible Study Archives

  • Bible Studies on Genesis
  • Bible Studies on Esther
  • Bible Studies on Psalms
  • Bible Studies on Jonah
  • Bible Studies on Matthew
  • Bible Studies on Luke
  • Bible Studies on Romans
  • Bible Studies on Ephesians
  • Miscellaneous Bible Studies

Advertise or Donate

  • Advertise on RedeemingGod.com
  • Donate to Jeremy Myers

Search (and you Shall Find)

Get Books by Jeremy Myers

Books by Jeremy Myers

Schedule Jeremy for an interview

Click here to Contact Me!

© 2025 Redeeming God · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Knownhost and the Genesis Framework