The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Be My Guest: Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio

Episode Date: March 13, 2020

Jeff interviews Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio (a.k.a Dr. Italy), co-author of the new study Jesus: The Way, the Truth, and the Life. They talk about how Jesus comes alive for us today, how we can grow closer to him, and how to share him with others. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get added to Jeff’s shownotes email list! Snippet from the Show “When we share the Gospel, we’re not threatening, we’re inviting.”

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven Show, episode 157, Meet My Friend, Marcholino di Ambrosio, the Jesus study. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavans. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show. And welcome to the show once again this week, where we talk about issues relating to discipleship and evangelization and walking with the Lord. And do we have a show for you this week? We are going to be talking about walking with Jesus and at the same time introducing an amazing, and I mean truly, truly amazing new study called Jesus, the way, the truth in the life. And I have had the

privilege of traveling with Dr. Marcholino di Ambrosio to Israel last year. I remember that it was a great time. I also remember that it was very, very hot. And we are also joined by Dr. Edward Sri, who is a contributor to this study that is really like no other study that I know of about Jesus. And I think that you're going to really enjoy it. It's the latest study from Ascension Press. And so it's a privilege for me to introduce to the show a long time friend, not just a friend, but a brother, and somebody that I trust, somebody I respect, and he's been walking with Jesus for a long time. Dr. Marcholino Di Ambrosio, welcome. Jeff, it's a pleasure to be on the show with you. Well, it's good to see you again, but it's good to

hear you again. We, along with your wife, and we had just an epic trip last year to the Holy Land, and we're going to talk about that study that is now out on Jesus. the way, the truth, and the life. But how have you been doing? I have been doing great. And I'm traveling around the country now talking to people about Jesus during Lent, so that's awesome. That's got to be a busy time for you, you know, going out around the country.

And everybody wants to have a Lenton mission. Yeah. And, you know, you've got to strike while the iron's hot. And a lot of Catholics during the year aren't doing a whole lot, extra stuff that grow in their faith life. But all of us have this idea that in Lent, we really got to do something. So it's a great opportunity to take advantage of that conviction

and help people to spring forward. I think that's part of what this season's about. It happens to be in spring, and that's what we do with our clocks, tells us what we need to do in our Christian life here. And I think actually the Jesus study is pretty important in context of Lent, because lots of times in Lent, we look at ourselves a little bit too much,

and really we need to look away from ourselves to him and dig deep, burrow deep into the mystery of who Jesus is. Yeah. No, I totally agree with you. Lent is more about Jesus. It's really not about ashes particularly, although that points to something, but really Jesus is the reason for the season. Did you recover from the epic journey to the Holy Land that we had last year? That was an epic journey, and yes, I did recover. It was delightful, honestly. And my wife thought it was even more delightful because while you and I were working, she got to pray. so she had like a retreat as we were filming and it was awesome but it was a retreat for me too honestly because even though it was it was hard work and we were we had a great really intense schedule i mean we were all over the country i think it was counted that we filmed in about 26

different locations actually did talking film parts and and so man oh man we were all over the place just like jesus and the disciples really up and down the country right and sometimes we got up i mean We were early filming at early 6.30 in the morning and going till late, and sometimes the temperature was hovering up there around 100 degrees and muggy around the Sea of Galilee. But it's done, it's good, it's life transforming, and I want to talk to you about it. You're really the architect of the study, and Dr. Edwards 3 and myself were able to contribute to this study, so it's all three of us. But I think this was really burst in your heart and what you wanted to convey, you know,

about Jesus and what you wanted to happen in the life of the students who are going to be participating in the study. I love the title. Tell us a little bit about the title of the series. Well, a lot of times when people think Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life, it sounds very, very abstract. But honestly, it's really, really concrete. It's really vivid. And we wanted to bring out the vivid side of the whole thing. Jesus as the way, the early church was actually the disciples, the first name for the group of people who follow Jesus was The Way. And part of what he was about was leading people on a way, leading them into a new exploration and new adventure. I love the series title of your great Bible study, The Great Adventure, because that's what discipleship really is.

And so Jesus has the way. He leads us on the way. He's the way to the Father, but it is a journey of excitement, of exploration, of adventure. So we wanted to get that across in the series. And Jesus says the truth, the Hebrew image of truth is a rock, and that's concrete. And it's something you can build your life on. We wanted people to walk away from this study with insight that could change their lives and brings new stability, new power to their life because of what they learn.

And I want to get into in just a few minutes about how this is different than other studies. And if you study Jesus, it's good. It's all good. But this is a little bit different. But we're talking about in this study how many lessons. We're talking about a book, a workbook. We're talking about a new timeline for those that are interested in the Bible timeline. We've got a new timeline here for the life of Jesus. But tell me about the physical aspects of this study. Then we're going to jump into really what this is about. So we really wanted to give people an image of Jesus as the truth that would be a rock for them and lay a foundation for more growth for for more development in their life for real practical change in their life so this study is not just a theoretical study

or historical study it's a real practical study and that's what i appreciate about it you know is that most of the people that study with you and study with me they're certainly interested in theology and dogman and church history and so forth and all of that is really really good but at the end of the day, most people are saying, well, what do I do? How does this, how does this impact my life as a father, as a mother, as a brother, as a grandpa, grandma? And I think that that's the beautiful sweet spot that you hit in this study. Before we get into some of the details of it, talk to me a little bit about the structure of it, because there's several material parts to the study that are unique. Yeah, first of all, there have been some wonderful studies that you guys have done,

you and Ted, already with Ascension, and there's a certain format of groups. There are people out there that like to work together in groups, small groups, whether it be associated directly right in the parish or in a home or whatever. And part of that is you've got to dig into the scriptures during the week before you're going to meet together. So you really have something intelligent to share with each other. So the study guide, I think, is especially meaty. That study guide is magnificent. There's, in terms of all the resources that are in there, there are things collected. First of all, every week, there's some scriptures to read that we're going to be talking about in the video presentation that people will talk about in their small group. But there's ways to dig in to

ask questions on how this applies to you, scripture passages to read. So there's some good things to happen individually that each person can do. And then meeting together, there's some great study questions from this study guide. And in the back of the guide, there's all sorts of things that I've never seen honestly assembled anywhere before in the Catholic Church, like, you know, a list of all of Jesus miracles and what Gospels they're in. And, you know, it's like I've never seen that. A list of the parables, all the major parables of Jesus and what Gospels they're in.

A list of all the titles in the New Testament for Jesus, which, really enriches our prayer. We tend to use the same old little forms of prayer or addresses to Jesus. Well, here's a way to start talking to him in the ways that all the gospel writers and all the epistle writers talked about him and mentioned him, these beautiful titles to meditate on and enrich our prayer life. And you know what my attention, Marchelinea, was you got a timeline, and I'm very interested in timelines.

you've always liked timelines Jeff and I have two I'm a history church history professor so I'm always doing chronologies and timelines with my students as well and in this timeline I think we can't necessarily tell blow by blow you know the which miracle occurred before which miracle you know that that's really not with the gospel writer's intent but we can really see a flow from the birth of Jesus and and we can see very clearly who's emperor who's the local rule And then we get into the ministry, and there's phases of the ministry, and they're different places. And a lot of times we're not really aware of where he was, what he was doing in the course of the public ministry. We kind of have, you know, Galilee, we have Nazareth, and we have

Jerusalem, and it's kind of all mixed up. So this really helps, I think, give people a sense of the flow of the ministry, the major events in the public ministry of Jesus. It puts things together visually, I think, in a very, very helpful way. And how many lessons are we talking about? about in the study? We're talking about 10 because, you know, yeah, and even then it was hard, I don't know about you, but I felt like it was hard to get in and make selections, just to limit it to 10. There's so much when it comes to the person of Jesus. Well, I would remind you that there was one person who said that if everything that he

taught was put into books, the world would not contain those books. So you've done a masterful job of getting him into 10 chapters, as much as much as as we can. You know, when we talk about Jesus, in the role of Jesus in the world, we're not just talking about a topic, are we? Or just not talking about one figure who happened to have changed the landscape of cities with churches around the country. All of history really centers around Jesus, doesn't it? Absolutely. Even people who don't believe in him and who wish they could erase all trace of mention of him and of a Christian society in the Middle Ages and all.

Those people still tell time based on his birth. They don't want to call it AD the Year of the Lord anymore, so they call it the common era. But the year that we live in, the time is told based on the birth of Jesus, as well as all the time, BC. Now it's called BCE before the common era. But even people trying to get Jesus' name out of things can't change the fact that we tell time, the whole world, based on his coming.

Right. Well, you know, you and I, along with Dr. Edward Sri and others, one of the hardest things that we have to do is to share Christ with the world and to give people a very good description and also live the life of Jesus. But one of the hardest things to sell, quote-unquote, sell to the world is that the greatest event in the history of the world happened 2,000 years ago. And we're living in a world with social media and technology where people are changing day by day and can't even stay up with the changes today. And we're pointing back 2,000 years ago. How does Jesus in his work that we visited 2,000 years ago, how does that relate to people today? who are caught up in social media and very busy lifestyles. Well, he is not only the way in the truth, he is the life, and he brings people alive.

And he didn't just do it when he was walking in the streets of Galilee and Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. He is still doing that now. And that's one of the things that comes across in the study. We really wanted to bring it across. And I think the final product really does get it across, that he is impacting and transforming lives right now, including yours Jeff and mine and we shared that in this story we shared as we're talking about the call of James and John and Peter and Andrew we were sitting right there where they were

called at the shore of Copernium where where they became the home base of the ministry we talked about our own call yours mine and then we we brought in other people on this study a magnificent testimony from Mary Wolfe a woman American woman now lived in the Holy Land because her life was totally transformed. My own wife, Susan, shared how Jesus turned her life around, impacted her life. We have a local Palestinian Catholic guide who shared that he was turned around. He's a guide now because Jesus transformed his life and he wants to live for him now. So I think we want to get that across.

It's still happening, man. This call thing, this transformation thing, this is still happening. You know, one of the common questions I get from people is they'll say, well, I'm thinking of inviting my Protestant friends to this study. Is this going to be okay or is this going to make them uncomfortable? It is okay. It's more than okay. And I would say you can even invite people who are not Christian to this study because that was our goal. We wanted to feed Catholics who want more, but we also wanted to share the figure of Jesus for every. one, for our Protestant brothers and sisters, as well as for the world who's curious about him

and really doesn't know him. Does Catholic doctrine come through here? Yeah, because that's in the Gospels. As Catholics, we're not going to overlook some things that many people miss, which is the importance of Mary and Joseph, the importance of the Eucharist, that's integrated into the story because it is the story. It's the gospel story. And Catholic means fullness.

We just want to share the full truth. about him. And that's what I think we attempted to do here. It's not exhaustive. No one can have the last word on Jesus because he's so much. That's why we have four Gospels. We needed four different inspired portraits from four different angles. So we try to do that here and give a full picture for anyone, non-threatening and inviting. Right. My friends, we're talking with Dr. Marcholino Di Ambrosio, and he, along with Dr. Edwards III and myself, collaborated in putting together a new study from Ascension Press, Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. And not only is the content so personal, so life-transforming, and I want to talk

about this later, the videography in this new series is literally unparalleled. And I don't make that up. I don't say that lightly. I've never seen videography like this. And And it's right there in the Holy Land. And I know that some of you can't go to the Holy Land for various reasons. I go, Marcholino goes, Dr. Edward Sri goes. We all regularly take pilgrims to the Holy Land. But if you, for some reason, can never go to the Holy Land, you're going to go in this series. You're going to see the places in brilliant, brilliant cinematography.

And I really do mean that. We're going to take a break. When we come back, I want to go deeper into this new study, Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and take a look at one section of the study and get kind of a taste from Dr. Marcholino di Ambrosio and give you kind of a deeper look of what you can expect in the study. You're listening to The Jeff Kagan Show. 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ chose corrupt, broken, imperfect, sinful men to be the foundation of his church. And because these broken and perfect men chose to remain in relationship with Jesus, they became saints. And they were used by Jesus to transform hearts and minds 2,000 years later.

I invite you to check out my book, Broken and Blessed, where you'll find practical tools to overcome habitual sin, to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and to walk with an imperfect church toward a perfect God who is calling all of us to perfection over time. To order the paperback book or audiobook, Broken and Blessed, visit ascensionpress.com or Amazon. And welcome back. Welcome back. We're doing something a little bit different this week. I'm interviewing my good friend, Marcellino di Ambrosio, and he is really the author of Jesus, The Way, The Truth in the Life, a new video series put out by Ascension Press. And by the way, it's available in the streaming version. So many of our friends now are studying the great adventure.

and a lot of our various studies, and they're doing it by streaming now. And that means that your parish isn't limited to one study on Tuesday night at 7 o'clock in room 107. No, your church can have 15, 20 studies going on at the same time, and you can even have multiple Jesus, the way the truth and the life studies going on at the same time as well. So we're talking with Marcholino di Ambrosio. Marcholino is of the 10 chapters in this study. is there one that kind of stands out in your thinking that you can bring us a little bit deeper into? There are 10 that stand out in my thinking, but I knew that was coming.

I knew it. You know what I want to do? I think we ought to talk about session four in Copernium. And the reason I want to talk about that is because we kind of reflect on what it means to be a disciple. And I think it's a key word right now. It's a word that's a buzzword in the Catholic world. you can hear people in a lot of churches revising their mission statements saying we're a band of missionary disciples and all that but i think we need to talk about what discipleship means you not just

use the word fling it around and i think we break that out there we reflect on it together and that's kind of what i think is awesome is that we're reflecting on it together um jesus first of all i'm going to just say this he didn't call just individual disciples to meet with them on one-on-one tutorials. He called guys to join a band of brothers. And actually, there were a band of sisters accompanying him as well. We find that out from Luke in chapter eight, the beginning, that actually Mary Magdalene and a few others traveled with the team and provided for the team out of their needs. So I just want to say that, you know, we break out in session five in a beautiful way, I think, the way in which Jesus ennobled and elevated women. But let's just talk right now for a

minute about the band of brothers, the band of disciples. That's why I think the Holy Spirit led us to do this series as a study together three guys. Ted, Dr. Edward Shreed to use his formal title and you and me. We're three guys who are doing this together as brothers because Jesus called the disciples together not only to be his disciples and be attached to him, but to love one another, to serve one another to follow him together. So I think that's part of what is conveyed in this study, the need of the disciples to be a community. But also we really talk, and you do an amazing job on this. So I'd like you to reflect a little bit on this, Jeff, is that you cannot, a disciple doesn't mean just coming to room 107 at church once a week to be, to do a study. And

I think this study is awesome. And I encourage everyone to come to room 07, if you're going to have it in your church every week, do that. but the point is they lived with him they live with him it was like as ted says they went on a three-year camping trip with him they were all up and down the country they had to leave behind their pursuits and their involvements and everything and even though not of all of us are called to just drop everything and quit our jobs we are called to be immersed in him so we try to break that i want you to talk a little bit about that jeff about the in the fact yeah well you know when we were in copernum and we were walking along the shores of the sea of galilee

you literally cannot, you cannot lose sight of the fact that you're following somebody, that we don't have a personal relationship with theology. We have a personal relationship with a person. And bringing a place to the person does something really special in your heart. And I think that's what the video is going to convey to people is this really took place at a real place. This is not, you know, some fairy tale or some made-up story. This is history in real places. And what do you think, what do you think that seeing the places in the video where Jesus taught contributes to the study experience that's different perhaps than any other study?

Well, one of the things that occurred to me is this is a real place where salvation happened. This is like ground zero of a history of salvation. But in going there made me realize he's in the real place I am right now. and this place he wants to transform you know it's this this thing is not a thing about ideas it's about transforming people and the world and uh you know we were standing at ground zero of the public ministry you know Jerusalem's ground zero of salvation of and the public ministry is actually there's a place that was the center and it was a town and we were in that town looking at the ruins and it was a house that was a center it was the house we're assigned

Simon's mother-in-law was healed, but that's because she was living with him and Andrew. It says elsewhere, this is Peter and Andrew's house. That's strange for us, but it's a little compound, and it's an extended family area, and we know exactly what it looks like because it's been excavated. We can actually find the first century doorposts and walls and stuff, and so you can see a reconstruction of that, of what that house looked like. The house, most probably where the roof was open and the paralytic was lowered down, and that house from the from the time of just about the time peter was martyred in rome that house became a shrine

we can tell that through archaeology there's fishing hooks under the floor it was the home of a fisherman but it also was a prayer spot there's graffiti on the walls that was on plaster that has been recovered and partially deciphered of people in all different languages coming there before christianity was legal to honor the memory of jesus being there and of peter living there and you like to be there in that spot and know that this is probably the first place of Christian prayer. That's an amazing experience, honestly. Yeah. And what people, some people don't realize is that archaeology has never disprove the Bible.

Archaeology always supports the narrative of Scripture, both Old Testament and New Testament. So it's a discipline among academics that also gives us a sense of certitude, too. but it's a discipline among academics that really adds a lot of color to the story for us. It really does, and it's in the background in our series here, but I'll tell you, I did a lot of archaeological study this year for this because, you know, it helps us understand the dynamics of life in Copernum and Nazareth, and your wife has been an archaeologist forever. You know, so there's this great richness and this solid basis of study and historical fact that kind underlies some of the theology and the things that we're talking about here in this series.

Let's turn for a few minutes to what is, I think, a standout. No question. And that is the production value of this study that, and I would add that you and myself and Dr. Edward Sri contribute to the content. Of course, we talk about and teach about Jesus in the study. But there were some people behind the scenes on this study that people don't normally know about that added something to the study that was kind of out of this world. Absolutely. You know, there's a production company that was hired to do this that has done a lot of big things like Olympics and things like that.

Super Bowl. Yeah, they've done a lot of big stuff. So it was amazing when I arrived there and I got there just a little bit before you did and we had a production meeting and all these guys with this incredible gear came from the States and then there's an Israeli team there. And we met with them. So we had a ground team from Israel, who were production experts. We had people with just incredible gear, unbelievable cameras with stabilizers on them and all

such things. And we're traipsing through the country with this team. And then later, we had another Israeli team that did specific drone shots all over the country, which is a tricky thing because of the security. But those drone shots, you know, I put that. on my wish list of shots, and most of them made it into the final version here. And they really give you an idea that you can't even get from the ground only of the splendor and the grandeur and Mount Carmel and the Valley of the Wind through which Jesus and the Apostles walked. And you

and I were walking in the Valley of the Wind talking about them walking through this valley from Nazareth to Copernium. And you get this awesome shot of the valley, both two sides, mountains with this stream running through the bottom and Mount Arbor towering over it. And we use Mount Arbel, I think we use it really well. It's just a great place to imagine the final commission in Matthew's Gospel, the great commission. And that's kind of the way we end this series with a spectacular view of the Sea of Galilee from the heights of Mount Arbor, shot by a drone and shot by us talking up there

about the call to bring the gospel to the whole world. Right. Yeah, it's going to speak for itself. I think we're going to get a lot of feedback on the production quality of this new study. If you just joined me kind of listening in the car and you think, what was the name of that guy again? It's Dr. Marcholino di Ambrosio. Many of you are familiar with him and his Lenton missions, missions around the country, he's public speaker, writer. And the new study is Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. And Marcellino, you were mentioning earlier about discipleship. is kind of a buzzword now. I mean, I've even, I wrote a book. My latest book is the activated disciple trying to bring a little bit more to that. When people prepare for a study like this,

and they think, well, should we do that Jesus study, do you have any advice for them in terms of experiencing a transformation and a change in their life? Because ultimately, they really are looking for the way, the truth, and the life. They're not looking for a way, a truth, and a suggestion for a life. They're really looking for the. And how can people, how should people go into this study? Because I think it's different than most studies. I think one of the key ideas of discipleship, one of the ways that it makes sense to me, it was presented to me this way at the time of my conversion. All of us who are thinking about doing this, study have made Jesus a part of our life. In this study, I think we need to all admit that sometimes

he's not the center, and sometimes other things become the center of our life, and he's just a part on the periphery or, you know, somewhere. And part of discipleship really is making that decision to ask Jesus to really be the center of your life, to be, as many of our evangelical brothers say, the Lord of your life. He calls the shots. You don't ask him, you know, once in a a while for a rubber stamp on your decisions. No, you make him the boss, but also you make him the center, which part of discipleship is you come under his discipline. That's discipleship has to do with discipline.

You ask him to form you and you have to spend massive amounts of time with you. This study is one way of really borrowing into him. But before you start the study, I would encourage you to have a little conversation with the Lord and just say, Lord, I want this experience of this study, not just to be another intellectual exercise where I learned some more facts to make me a smarter Catholic. But I really want you to be more the center of my life. I surrender completely. I know I've probably done that in the past, but I tend to take the reins back a lot. So Lord, you know, please come in and take over. And I want you to inspire the words of Scripture so I hear them in a new way as I go through

the scriptures associated with a study. I read the paperback book that we read along with the study. I go through the study guide. I watch the videos. I want your Holy Spirit to be lighting up things that you want me to do. You want areas that you want me to change, insights that you want me to really incorporate into my mental landscape. Like send your spirit, Lord, take over and make this alive. I want this to be really an experience of you speaking to me, not just Jeff and March Alino and Dr. Sri. I totally agree with you. You know, getting ready to kind of land this plane in the show today, there's so many times. where the good and faithful people, which we love, and we're among them, I hope, is they go to

a study at their church, and you can get into a rut of just going by yourself to study after study, and it's good. Don't get me wrong. Yay, you know, it's really good to go to those studies. But this is a study that I would recommend not only you go for yourself and experience transformation of Jesus and see where he walked and place yourself there, which is, by the way, This is a great tool for Lexio Divina. You know, this is wonderful where you, in Lexio devena, you read the scriptures. And then you meditate, Meditatio, and that meditation process is largely made up of your imagination, which is fine for people, you know, who haven't been there. But this is going to add something to your meditation.

Trust me, it's going to add something to your meditation. Then you get into Oratio prayer and then contemplatio. So Lexio de Vina is going to take on a new life for you after seeing this series. And Pope Benedict said that Lexio de Vina was the key to the new springtime. And so I think this is going to play a part in that for many of you. But the rut that I was talking about is that we go to a study for sometimes two, three, four, or five, maybe even a decade, years, all by ourselves. Why not invite somebody?

Why not pick two or three people? Pray about it. ask the Lord, you know, who else needs to go with me on this? And maybe there's some people that they don't even have the means to be a part of a study. That's okay. You can take care of that. You can be an activated disciple, a missionary disciple of the Lord by bringing people to him. As Andrew brought Peter, you can bring your friends to the study.

And any tips, Marchelino, if somebody's going to bring two or three friends, and they're not really that initiated into the truths of the church and know that much about Jesus. Any tips for them? Yeah, I would just say be excited and sample a little bit yourself so that you can really speak with authority. And I would say, you know, I love the fact that anybody can preview session two, the one that we shot in Nazareth and Bethlehem.

Anybody can share that with another for free and look at it for free. So I encourage people to use that. The streaming of the whole series is really inexpensive, and you can purchase that so that you can share it even before the study starts. You can get a sneak preview. You can share it with other people. And then I would just say, and that's another way to evangelize. You can, you know, like watch with somebody, even outside of the study group.

You can show somebody a session just in your living room or, you know, sitting in front of your computer. And the book, Jesus is the way the truth in the life, as many of our studies do in Ascension, it has a book that goes along with it, which I wrote, and that book was designed to really feed people who are taking the study, but also to be a giveaway to evangelize, to share the good news. And I'm just going to say, that is something we talk about in the study itself. We give tips on sharing your testimony in evangelizing and bringing people to Jesus. So one of them, one thing we want to do is through this streaming, this new streaming option, and through the

paper I book, we want to make it, we want to be able to everybody. to throw seed out there, you know, to relatives to friends, to coworkers, just spread. Part of the sower in the seed parable is about evangelization. It's about throwing the seed wide, knowing that it's not all going to sprout, but if you don't throw it really wide, nothing will sprout. So you just got to get out there and keep sowing. Right. So I hope that these tools really help people to do that.

Well, it's going to be life transforming. I really believe it. Okay, my friend, you know I love you. You know I'm praying for you and you're praying for me. This is a game changer. This is the crossroads for perhaps you, your family, your kids, your friends. And we're going to face Jesus Christ in his setting and make some decisions that will not just enhance your life, but transform your life and the life of others.

And if you, by the way, don't get the show notes. I know I know you're driving so often. If you don't get the show notes, you can get to show notes. You can get all the show notes going forward, and all you've got to do is text my name, one full string, Jeff Cabins, text the number 33777. That's 3377. We'll put you on the list then. You'll get all the show notes for the shows. Okay, so you're probably wondering, how do I get this study? Well, I know that a lot of you are driving in the car, and I don't want you writing this down. I don't want to be responsible for an accident. You know, you're in the emergency room. How'd you get here? Well, I was so infatuated with Jesus, you know, that I wanted to go to a study. No, I'll send you those. I'll send you those connections in the URLs. We'll get that to you. If you are not getting the show notes for the show, all you've got to do is, is put in the subject line, Jeff Kaven's one string, J-E-F-F-C-A-V-N-S, and you can text that to 3-3-7-7-7. Talk about a biblical number, huh?

3777. You'll be on the list after that. We'll get you all the show notes for all the upcoming shows. And in today's show notes, I'm going to give you the Ascension Press URL where you can sign up for the study. You can get it. I'll show you how to get the sample of chapter two, which Marcily Noah is talking about. And that will be really, really helpful. So I encourage you, my friend, to really, really think about putting this on at your church, your small group, maybe even your nursing home, if you're listening from a nursing home, you can do it, and you can certainly do it individually. March Alino, we're going to sign off anything else you want to share with my good friends

who I love about this amazing study, Jesus, the way the truth in the life. I would just say, prepare for the fact that you're going to want to, after you see it once, you're going to want to see it a second and a third time. So I just think that it's the videos themselves are that rich. It'll actually feed you for a long time to come. That's something that I think you can take to the bank. Yes. Well, thanks for joining me.

And it's always good to talk to you, but it's a lot of fun to talk about something that we've worked on and spent so much time on, you know, over in the Holy Land. So I appreciate that. And say hi to your lovely wife. I sure will. And say hi to Emily for me, please. I will. I will. Well, my friend, will you join me in prayer right now?

We always close in prayer and know that I'm lifting up, you know, the needs in your life, and lifting you up as a brother, disciple, sister in the Lord. And I know that life has its challenges. I know that. And I want you to know I love you and I care. And so let's pray, shall we in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Lord, I thank you so much for Marcholino and Edward Sri and the team that we were able to able to work with in putting together this study of you. Lord, I pray that for all my friends,

that they would not only enter the study, but that the study would transform their life and give them new direction and give them a new outlook on living. It's an amazing thing to follow you, Lord. I thank you for calling us into your family, adopting us as sons and daughters, and sharing your blessed life with us. May we become more like you. as a result of this study. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I love you. And I'll pray for you this week. You keep praying for me. Thank you.