Plainfield Ponderings - Scripture Meditations
Hello! I'm Allen Greeley and I love thinking and meditating on Scripture. Another word for it, which we don't use very often, is pondering. When the mother of Jesus heard the shepherds retell the vision of the angels celebratory singing; the Scripture says, "Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). That alone is my goal with this podcast. I want us to treasure in our hearts what we hear from God and ponder it. It would be an honor to have you listen in and ponder with me. To God be the glory!
Episodes
192 episodes
Fresh Starts and Forever Limps (Wrestling with God #2)
Ponder with me once more about Jacob's wrestling match with God. The Lord blesses Jacob and yet he limps away from it and remains that way forever. Is that what it means to be blessed by God? Sometimes, yes. We'll also ponder how Hosea uses thi...
Honoring the Men Who Watch Our Souls (1 Timothy Series)
Ponder with me about the leadership of elders. In the New Testament, after the apostles passed away, this is the highest role of leadership you can find in the church. It is so vital! Not all Christians have this leadership and so it's easy to ...
When Wrestling God Turns Into Surrender: Jacob's New Identity
Ponder with me one of the strangest passages in Scripture—Jacob wrestling God! On the eve of meeting Esau again Jacob wrestles God and the Lord put his hip out of socket to humble him. He goes from wrestler to clinger in the moment of suffering...
Unveiled: The Team (feat. Bryan Schiele)
Ponder with Bryan about the need for the team. I love thinking about the church as a team. I've loved playing sports and following sports all of my life, and the need for one another is never more evident than in team sports. Following Jesus me...
Unveiled: The Race (feat. Bryan Schiele)
Ponder with Bryan about the Christian race. Runners do everything in their power to run their races as light as humanly possible. They are not carrying anything excess. The Hebrews writer picks up on this, which Bryan unpacks, that we ought to ...
Unveiled: The Hunger (feat. Bryan Schiele)
Ponder with Bryan Shciele about hungering for God. Keeping our hung and thirst for spiritual things can be difficult. Bible study can become like a side-job almost, or we might even think it's boring. This is certainly not a problem with the Lo...
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Unveiled: The Student (feat. Bryan Schiele)
Ponder with Bryan about remaining teachable. A disciple is a learner, so we should even have to say this, and yet many of us feel like we have arrived when we have a certain level of knowledge. We think we "know enough". This is discipleship po...
Unveiled: The Mirror (feat. Bryan Schiele)
Let's ponder with Bryan Schiele and his sermon series on being "Unveiled". We recorded an episode on February 10th with Bryan, advertising his upcoming sermon series which he preached here in mid-March. I'm going to release all the lessons over...
Gates, Greatness, and Godly Women: A Talk Your Son Needs to Hear
Ponder with me about how unafraid Scripture is to praise women of great faith and action. These passages where women are praised were written in a time where societies were extremely male dominated. We will roll through many great examples of w...
From Mary's Son to Our Family: What the Cross Created
Ponder with me about Mary, the mother of Jesus. Before we jump into speaking about Mary, we'll first speak about the incredible work that so many mothers and wives do. It goes unnoticed far too often. Then, we'll transition to thinking about Ma...
Worse Than an Unbeliever? Taking Family Responsibility Seriously (1 Timothy Series)
Ponder with me about honoring our widows within the church, and the family first policy Paul lays out in I Timothy. First off, I want us to be impressed with how much God cares for the most vulnerable. This has been a staple of God's character ...
Holy, Holy, Holy: What Happens When God's Glory Hits You
Ponder with me Isaiah's theophany. In the most up close and personal vision of God's glory to this point in Scripture, the lessons are powerful. How did Isaiah walk away a changed man? What did he see about God and himself that prompted his cha...
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Earned Respect: Focusing on Yourself (1 Timothy Series)
Ponder with me the discipline of focusing solely on yourself. This is a tough discipline to learn when people around you aren't doing the right thing, but it is vital. Paul lends his friend Timothy some Spirit-filled advice along these lines in...
Hard Work, Humble Hearts: A Word on Scripture
Ponder with me about biblical interpretation. It's work! Sometimes it is extremely hard, laborious work. It is possible to understand Scripture correctly though. However, the believers that trust Scripture is understandable the most are oftenti...
Rigorous Discipleship and The Gym of Godliness (1 Timothy Series)
Ponder with me what it means to hit the gym of godliness. Literally, Paul says it like that in I Timothy. Our last episode on I Timothy (on March 24th) was about the spiritual war over our thoughts. We are to take every thought captive to obey ...
A Story of God's Goodness - A Sinful Life That Ends in Faith
Ponder with me about a man we either hate to love, or we love to hate! This Bible character elicits strong feelings on both sides, because he lived so carnally! However, he ended up on our "team" ... or perhaps I should say we are on his team -...
Why the Miracles in John are Uniquely Designed as Evidence for Jesus
Ponder with me about why the miracles in the gospel of John are uniquely designed as evidence for Jesus as the Christ the Son of God. John says they are - John 20:30-31. However, why are they? Many people performed miracles in the Scripture but...
What Does Glory on Christ's Church Look Like?
Ponder with me some more about the glory of God! We have been tracing this theme throughout the year of 2026, at the beginning of each month. We start with the glory of God descending on the Temple, but that is now God's church. So, what does t...
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The Demons in Our Head and Protecting Our Thoughts (I Timothy Series)
Ponder with me about how we let lies slip into our thinking and ultimately how lies end up dethroning Christ. Paul says in I Timothy 4 that people were going to leave the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of de...
When Disciples Need to be Baptized Again
Ponder this question with me - is there ever a time when someone should be re-baptized? I realize this term "re-baptism" is somewhat controversial, because if the first baptism was not legit, then some think we should not call it a baptism at a...
Groundhog Day - Avoiding Spiritual Monotony (1 Timothy Series)
Ponder with me about how to stay spiritually motivated. If you have been around the church very long, things can feel like they are "same ole, same ole". Worship is the same, life is the same - it can even feel like the movie Groundhog Day. Thi...
Struggling With Spiritual Confidence? Growing to be Like Mordecai (Esther 3)
Ponder with me about how to be spiritually confident. I'm sure you have met people who are oozing with confidence about the Lord and their walk with Him. It makes you want that for yourself! Where does that boldness come from though? We already...
Exalting Preachers Over Elders - Do We Have This Backwards? 1 Timothy Series
Ponder with me the simplicity of how the church was structured in the New Testament. I Timothy 3 contains the qualifications of elders and deacons. In this lesson, we will not go line by line in studying the qualifications. Instead, I want to c...
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Don't Come Too Close to God's Glory! How the Limits are Removed
Ponder with me about how God wants us to be near His glory! We will think about this in terms of God's glory filling the Tabernacle when it was first erected. This is such a heart-touching truth. God wants to be near us, and we need this desper...
No-Kings Protests and a Demand for a King - Sin's Lunacy
Ponder with the stark contrast between the no-kings protests here in the U.S. vs. Israel's demand for a king in I Samuel 8. The greatest irony is that we all have a king, then and now - King Jesus. Let's think through I Samuel 8 and the lunacy ...
