Podcast
The Daily Grind
Hosted by John Spencer · EN
Howdy, y'all! Welcome to The Daily Grind with your host, John Spencer. Grab a mug of your favorite brew and get ready to become the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to water cooler chatter, conference room banter, and job site small talk. I'll give you the rundown on today's date, share some interesting historical facts, and toss out a few random musings to get your brain gears turning. Plus, I'll offer up some thoughts to ponder on your walk with Jesus, could be about the Bible, prayer, serving others, or something else.
108episodes
Episodes
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755 Questions of Compassion (Questions Jesus Asked, Part 6)
Apr 2400:25:35Tap to summarizeFriday, April 24th: Episode 755 continues the Questions Jesus Asked series by focusing on questions of compassion, especially Jesus’ question in Luke 7: “Do you see this woman?” At Simon the Pharisee’s table, Jesus exposes the difference between looking at someone and truly seeing them. Simon sees a sinner and a reputation, but Jesus sees repentance, love, courage, and a person made for mercy. The episode also looks at Jesus’ Sabbath-healing questions, where He challenges religious leaders who see hurting people as problems, traps, or legal issues rather than persons. These questions reveal whether our theology has produced love or merely rules. The episode emphasizes that Jesus’ compassion is not sentimental or shallow. It is truthful, holy, and active, but it never reduces people to labels or failures. Listeners are invited to ask where they have stopped seeing people as persons and begun seeing only categories, problems, or interruptions. At the center of the episode is the call to let Jesus heal our vision so that we see people with mercy and move toward them with love.Email me your questions, comments, and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you! If y'all wanna talk more 'bout this, I'm all ears. Just give me a holler. You can also help by sending me your favorite trivia or dad joke(s) at spencerjd@thedailygrind.website Or respond below with comments, trivia or jokes.
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754 Questions of Healing (Questions Jesus Asked, Part 5)
Apr 2300:25:28Tap to summarizeThursday, April 23rd: Episode 754 continues the Questions Jesus Asked series by focusing on Jesus’ healing question in John 5: “Do you want to get well?” What first sounds obvious turns out to be deeply searching. The episode explores how Jesus’ questions of healing are not merely about symptoms, but about desire, dignity, change, and restoration. Looking at the man at Bethesda and also Bartimaeus, it shows how Jesus addresses people as persons rather than problems, drawing them into honest encounter. The episode also reflects on how pain can become familiar and how healing may feel risky because it changes more than circumstances. Jesus’ question reaches beyond physical need into bitterness, fear, shame, and long-term brokenness that can shape identity. At the same time, the episode emphasizes that Jesus’ questions come from compassion, not coldness. Rather than reducing people to their wounds, He calls them toward life. At the heart of the episode is the invitation to answer Jesus honestly and let His healing reach deeper than surface relief.Email me your questions, comments, and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you! If y'all wanna talk more 'bout this, I'm all ears. Just give me a holler. You can also help by sending me your favorite trivia or dad joke(s) at spencerjd@thedailygrind.website Or respond below with comments, trivia or jokes.
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753 Questions of Faith (Questions Jesus Asked, Part 4)
Apr 2200:23:38Tap to summarizeWednesday, April 22nd: Episode 753 continues the Questions Jesus Asked series by focusing on Jesus’ questions of faith, especially “Why are you afraid?” and “Why did you doubt?” Drawing from the storm at sea, Peter walking on the water, and Jesus’ question to the blind men, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” the episode explores how Jesus uses questions to reveal what people are really trusting in. It also includes the helpful idea of reading the New Testament with the word trust in place of faith, showing how personal and relational biblical faith really is. Rather than shaming weakness, Jesus’ questions expose fear so that trust can grow. At the center of the episode is the reminder that the issue is not whether storms are real, but whether they become bigger to us than Jesus.Email me your questions, comments, and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you! If y'all wanna talk more 'bout this, I'm all ears. Just give me a holler. You can also help by sending me your favorite trivia or dad joke(s) at spencerjd@thedailygrind.website Or respond below with comments, trivia or jokes.
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750 Why Did Jesus Answer Questions with Questions? (Questions Jesus Asked, Part 1)
Apr 1700:21:14Tap to summarizeFriday, April 17th: Episode 750 launches the Questions Jesus Asked series by exploring why Jesus so often answered questions with questions. Rather than being evasive, Jesus used questions to expose motives, uncover assumptions, invite response, and search the heart. From the lawyer in Luke 10 to Peter in John 21, His questions were never random. They were intentional, relational, and often transformative. This episode shows that Jesus was after more than information. He was after honest hearts and real discipleship. His questions still echo today, and they continue to confront, restore, and invite us into deeper truth.Email me your questions, comments, and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you! If y'all wanna talk more 'bout this, I'm all ears. Just give me a holler. You can also help by sending me your favorite trivia or dad joke(s) at spencerjd@thedailygrind.website Or respond below with comments, trivia or jokes.
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749 When Context Changes Everything (Removing Cultural Blinders, Part 4)
Apr 1600:30:26Tap to summarizeThursday, April 16th: Episode 749 closes the Removing Cultural Blinders series by showing how context can completely transform the way we hear Scripture. Rather than weakening the Bible’s meaning, context reveals its true force, emotional depth, and theological richness. This episode walks through several familiar passages, including Jeremiah 29:11, Matthew 7:1, Philippians 4:13, the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan woman at the well, and the Beatitudes, showing how their meaning sharpens when read in context. The episode explains that isolated verses can become thin or distorted when disconnected from their story, audience, and setting. Context helps us hear not just the words of Scripture, but the world behind them. It keeps Jesus from being reduced to a mascot for our preferences and restores the scandal, mercy, and authority of His teaching. Practical steps are offered for reading more carefully, including looking at surrounding verses, understanding the setting, tracing the story of Scripture, and using good tools. This episode also serves as the bridge into the upcoming series Questions Jesus Asked. At the heart of it all is a simple truth: context does not drain Scripture of power, it restores the power shallow reading often misses.Email me your questions, comments, and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you! If y'all wanna talk more 'bout this, I'm all ears. Just give me a holler. You can also help by sending me your favorite trivia or dad joke(s) at spencerjd@thedailygrind.website Or respond below with comments, trivia or jokes.
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748 Jesus the Rabbi (Removing Cultural Blinders, Part 3)
Apr 1500:30:41Tap to summarizeWednesday, April 15th: Episode 748 continues the Removing Cultural Blinders series by focusing on Jesus as a rabbi and what that means for the way we read the Gospels. Rather than seeing Jesus as a modern lecturer, motivational speaker, or self-help coach, this episode explores how He taught as a first-century Jewish rabbi who formed disciples through questions, stories, Scripture, and lived example. Rabbis were not merely information-givers. They shaped lives, and Jesus did this with unmatched authority and depth. The episode explains why Jesus so often answered questions with questions, why His parables were more than illustrations, and why discipleship in His world meant more than agreement. It also highlights how Jesus stood within Israel’s story while speaking with a unique authority that amazed and unsettled those around Him. To follow Jesus was to live close enough to be changed by Him, to be “covered in the dust” of the rabbi. This episode challenges listeners not just to believe things about Jesus, but to apprentice their lives to Him. It serves as a crucial bridge between understanding the cultural world of the Bible and the upcoming series on the questions Jesus asked. At the center of it all is the invitation to stay close to the Rabbi and become like Him.Email me your questions, comments, and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you! If y'all wanna talk more 'bout this, I'm all ears. Just give me a holler. You can also help by sending me your favorite trivia or dad joke(s) at spencerjd@thedailygrind.website Or respond below with comments, trivia or jokes.
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747 Reading an Eastern Book with Western Eyes (Removing Cultural Blinders, Part 2)
Apr 1400:33:47Tap to summarizeTuesday, April 14th: Episode 747 continues the Removing Cultural Blinders series by exploring what it means to read an Eastern book with Western eyes. The Bible comes from a world shaped by community, honor and shame, covenant loyalty, hospitality, and story in ways that often differ sharply from modern Western assumptions. This episode shows how those differences affect the way we hear familiar passages, from the Prodigal Son to table fellowship to the Good Samaritan. Rather than making Scripture harder to understand, cultural awareness helps us hear its emotional force and spiritual depth more clearly. Jesus’ world was thick with meaning, public honor, boundary lines, and symbolic action, and many of those layers are easy for modern readers to miss. The episode also explains why Western readers often flatten the Bible into private spirituality, moral examples, or efficient takeaways. Instead, Scripture invites us into a larger story rooted in covenant, kingdom, and communal life. By learning to read with humility and curiosity, we begin to hear Jesus more faithfully on His own terms. This episode calls listeners to slow down, ask better questions, and let the text teach them how to read it. The result is not a colder Bible, but a richer, warmer, more alive one.Email me your questions, comments, and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you! If y'all wanna talk more 'bout this, I'm all ears. Just give me a holler. You can also help by sending me your favorite trivia or dad joke(s) at spencerjd@thedailygrind.website Or respond below with comments, trivia or jokes.
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746 Why We Misread the Bible: Removing Cultural Blinders, Part 1
Apr 1300:32:07Tap to summarizeMonday, 13 April: Episode 746 begins a new series called Removing Cultural Blinders by asking a foundational question: why do we so often misread the Bible? This episode explores how modern readers often bring Western assumptions, habits, and categories into an ancient Eastern text without even realizing it. We look at how individualism, efficiency, private spirituality, and modern word meanings can flatten the depth of Scripture. The Bible was written in real cultures, to real people, with social and spiritual assumptions that are often very different from ours. That does not make the Bible less accessible, but it does mean we must read it with humility. This episode encourages listeners to ask not only what a passage means today, but what it meant to the original hearers. When we begin to see Scripture in its own world, familiar passages come alive in fresh ways. Rather than making Jesus sound more distant, context makes Him more brilliant, more surprising, and more compelling. The episode closes with practical steps for reading more faithfully and a prayer for God to open our eyes. This is the first step in learning to read the Bible with fewer assumptions and greater clarity.Email me your questions, comments, and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you! If y'all wanna talk more 'bout this, I'm all ears. Just give me a holler. You can also help by sending me your favorite trivia or dad joke(s) at spencerjd@thedailygrind.website Or respond below with comments, trivia or jokes.
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745 Living as Resurrection People
Apr 1000:21:49Tap to summarizeFriday, April 10th: Episode 745 concludes the series by exploring what it means to live visibly as resurrection people. Set within the historical context of Ephesus, listeners learn how early Christians followed Jesus in a culture filled with competing loyalties and pressures. Paul reminds believers that God made them alive through grace, not through their own effort. Salvation is described as a gift that reshapes identity and purpose. The episode explains that believers are God’s workmanship, intentionally formed to live lives that reflect His character. In Ephesus, following Jesus changed how people lived, spoke, and treated others. That same transformation remains the goal for believers today. Resurrection life becomes visible through everyday faithfulness rather than dramatic moments. Listeners are encouraged to reflect on how their daily lives reflect the grace they have received. Ultimately, resurrection people do not simply believe the gospel—they live it.Email me your questions, comments, and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you! If y'all wanna talk more 'bout this, I'm all ears. Just give me a holler. You can also help by sending me your favorite trivia or dad joke(s) at spencerjd@thedailygrind.website Or respond below with comments, trivia or jokes.
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744 Strength for Everyday Living
Apr 900:18:40Tap to summarizeThursday, April 9th: Episode 744 focuses on endurance and the strength required to live faithfully over time. Drawing from Philippians 3:10–14, this episode explores Paul’s determination to press forward in knowing Christ. Resurrection life is not about instant perfection but steady perseverance. Paul reminds believers that even he had not yet reached the goal, yet he continued moving forward. Forgetting what lies behind allows followers of Jesus to move ahead without being trapped by past failures. The imagery of pressing forward highlights the effort and persistence required in daily faith. Resurrection strength is not reserved for dramatic moments but is available for ordinary days. The episode encourages listeners to remain focused on the goal of becoming more like Christ. Faith grows through consistent, faithful steps rather than sudden leaps. Ultimately, resurrection life empowers believers to keep going even when the road feels long.Email me your questions, comments, and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you! If y'all wanna talk more 'bout this, I'm all ears. Just give me a holler. You can also help by sending me your favorite trivia or dad joke(s) at spencerjd@thedailygrind.website Or respond below with comments, trivia or jokes.
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