Exploring My Strange Bible

Tim Mackie

Welcome to Exploring My Strange Bible by Tim Mackie, lead theologian and co-founder of BibleProject.

  • 47 minutes 34 seconds
    Asleep at the Wheel (Remastered)

    The Amazing Jonah E2 — Jonah is portrayed as God’s prophet, but ironically, he is the only person in the book who refuses to listen to God. How can this story invite us to consider our own lack of perception and awareness of God’s voice in our lives? In this message, Tim explores Jonah chapter 1, looking at the many ways that the prophet seems unable to hear God directly or through anything else that God sends his way. This message was given on August 11, 2013, at Door of Hope Church in Portland, Oregon.

    OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

    View this episode’s official transcript.

    REFERENCED RESOURCES

    • A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society by Eugene H. Peterson
    • Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

    SHOW MUSIC

    • “Nob Hill Instrumental” by Drexler

    SHOW CREDITS

    Production of today's episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Aaron Olsen edited and remastered today's episode. JB Witty does our show notes. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.


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    12 December 2025, 12:00 am
  • 47 minutes 40 seconds
    Running From Your Life (Remastered)

    The Amazing Jonah E1 — Many of us know the story of Jonah as the prophet who gets swallowed by a whale. And while that is part of the story, it’s only a couple sentences in a longer narrative. So who is Jonah? Why did he flee from God and board a boat to Tarshish? And why is his story even in the Bible? In this first message of a five-part series, Tim lays the groundwork for exploring Jonah’s story and also ponders why Jonah runs from God’s vision for his life—a choice we all face at some level in our lives. This message was given on August 4, 2013, at Door of Hope Church in Portland, Oregon.

    REFERENCED RESOURCES

    • In the introduction, Tim references his professor, Dr. Ray Lubeck, who taught him to read the Bible as Hebrew literature. While it is not mentioned by name, Dr. Lubeck’s core work on the Bible as literature is Read the Bible for a Change: Understanding and Responding to God's Word.
    • Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

    SHOW MUSIC

    • “Nob Hill Instrumental” by Drexler

    SHOW CREDITS

    Production of today's episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Aaron Olsen edited and remastered today's episode. JB Witty does our show notes. 

    Powered and distributed by Simplecast.


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    5 December 2025, 12:00 am
  • 52 minutes 5 seconds
    What Is the Kingdom of Heaven?

    After his baptism and testing in the wilderness, Jesus leaves Nazareth for Capernaum. There, he begins his public ministry, inviting fishermen to follow him and calling on people to “repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” So what is the “Kingdom of Heaven,” and what does it mean that it has come near? In this message, Tim teaches from Matthew 4:12-25 on Jesus’ beginning proclamation, the call of the first disciples, and his pattern of Kingdom teaching and healing, which still challenges how we order our lives and values today.

    OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

    View this episode’s official transcript.

    REFERENCED RESOURCES

    • Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

    SHOW MUSIC

    • “Nob Hill Instrumental” by Drexler

    SHOW CREDITS

    Production of today's episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Aaron Olsen edited and remastered today's episode. JB Witty does our show notes. 

    Powered and distributed by Simplecast.


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    2 December 2025, 12:10 am
  • 53 minutes 56 seconds
    The Meaning of Hope (Remastered)

    Hope is an important virtue that God’s people have actively cultivated for thousands of years. And the messianic hope we see throughout the Hebrew Bible is a kind of hope that followers of Jesus still need today. So what does this hope look like for us now as we wait for Jesus to return and fulfill all of the Bible’s promises? In this message from the Advent season, Tim explores a number of passages from the book of Isaiah, focusing on how what we hope for shapes what we live for.

    OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

    View this episode’s official transcript.

    REFERENCED RESOURCES

    • Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

    SHOW MUSIC

    • “Nob Hill Instrumental” by Drexler

    SHOW CREDITS

    Production of today's episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Aaron Olsen edited and remastered today's episode. JB Witty does our show notes. 

    Powered and distributed by Simplecast.


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    2 December 2025, 12:05 am
  • 17 minutes 55 seconds
    (Re)introducing Exploring My Strange Bible

    In 2016, we began releasing this collection of sermons and lectures that Tim Mackie gave over almost twenty years as a teaching pastor and professor. Then in 2019, we stopped releasing new episodes because that was all of Tim’s teaching! But starting today, we’re excited to begin re-releasing the episodes, now remastered and sounding much better. Plus, we’ll occasionally drop in a new sermon or lecture that Tim has given in the years since the conclusion of the show’s original run. In this short introduction, Tim shares his own story of going from life as an aimless skateboarder in Portland, to encountering Jesus, to becoming a Bible scholar, pastor, and co-founder of BibleProject.

    OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

    View this episode’s official transcript.

    REFERENCED RESOURCES

    Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

    SHOW MUSIC

    • “Nob Hill Instrumental” by Drexler

    SHOW CREDITS

    Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, who also edited today's episode, with support from Aaron Olsen. Tyler Bailey also provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes.

    Powered and distributed by Simplecast.


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    2 December 2025, 12:00 am
  • 4 minutes 31 seconds
    An Update From Tim

    A message from Tim to let everyone know that we will be putting this podcast on pause for now. It will remain active online so you can still listen or re-listen to his sermons.

    If you want to hear more from Tim, check out The Bible Project Podcast: https://thebibleproject.com/podcasts/the-bible-project-podcast/


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    8 April 2019, 7:00 am
  • 52 minutes 12 seconds
    The Crocus Flower and the Empty Tomb - Gospel of Matthew Part 35

    This story has changed the course of human history over the past 2,000 years. Of course the story is profound, but the IMPLICATIONS of what it means to the history of our universe leading up to Jesus’ resurrection is incredible. This teaching is a reflection about the significance of Easter.

    Jesus walking out of the empty tomb offered a whole new history of the world.


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    11 February 2019, 8:00 am
  • 57 minutes 7 seconds
    The Blood Cries Out - Gospel of Matthew Part 34

    We are in the final moments of Jesus’ story, and we focus on his trial, but also the story in Matthew about Judas after his betrayal of Jesus. Judas experiences extreme remorse and ends up committing suicide.

    These are grim stories, but they are very important insights into human conditions. You can see how Judas became trapped in his black hole of terrible decisions and how they destroyed him. It’s a very sobering and sobering portrait of the human condition.

    I think you’ll find these stories profound and interesting while they address some of life’s biggest questions.


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    28 January 2019, 8:00 am
  • 57 minutes 5 seconds
    Panic Attack - Gospel of Matthew Part 33

    We’ve come to (from my perspective) one of the most profound, mysterious, and almost terrifying stories of the Gospel. It is the story of Jesus right before he gets arrested and executed.

    He took his friends and followers to a small olive grove and he was disappointed by their inability to stay awake… his closest people fail him at the moment that he needs them the most. So then Jesus turns to God and multiple times he asks that he not have to go through the arrest and execution. It was so scary that Jesus actually experienced a panic attack.

    This story tells us so much about Jesus’ experience with God and it blows my mind. Listen in and we’ll learn together.


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    13 January 2019, 8:00 am
  • 54 minutes 1 second
    The Passover Meal - Gospel of Matthew Part 32

    This teaching is actually kind of a replay and development of a teaching that I gave numerous times about the Messianic Passover. As we retell the story of Passover year after year, we can see that the story is forward-pointing as it represents liberation. What Jesus does with this meal and how he takes its meaning and tweaks it is really interesting. We address all of this and more about the Passover Meal in this episode.


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    31 December 2018, 8:00 am
  • 51 minutes 53 seconds
    Gold, Darkness, and Dwarves - Gospel of Matthew Part 31

    Today we ponder a pretty well-known peril of Jesus that has been misused and abused in unfortunate ways when it is read out of context.

    This story is about a landowner who gives different sized investments to his servants and then expects them to produce something with the investments. Then based on what they have done with the investment, the landowner rewards or punishes different people.

    As you can see, this is one of those stories where if you take it out of context, you can just do terrible things with it.BUT when you locate this parable as a warning or challenge that Jesus gives to the leaders of Jerusalem, all kinds of parts of this parable pop out in new ways.


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    17 December 2018, 8:00 am
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