Eden: Thank you so much for being willing to be on our podcast today and talk to us about your life and what God is doing in you.
I got to know Ryan when I was 12 years old, and he lived with us and was our youth leader, and someone that many people at our church looked up to as an older, godly man that set an example for us of what it meant to love Jesus but also be a lot of fun. I’m going to let you tell us a little bit more about yourself from your own perspective. But we’re so thankful to get to hear from you and hear about Jesus’s work in your life. So thank you for being with us.
Ryan Rayburn: Oh my goodness. Of course! When you asked me, I was like, “Yeah, done.” I mean, whatever the topic is, whatever the conversation, I would love to serve and be here for your listeners and then connect with you again.
I came to faith later—I wasn’t born in a Christian home—but came later in high school. I had a friend who reached out to me on the basketball team. I didn’t know who God was, Christ was, the church, but God reached out and saved me through the work and the evangelism, the testimony of Nathan Morris from my basketball team. [I’m] super thankful for that. And then I began to run hard for Jesus because it was reality. So, a lot of fun, a lot of friends, all walking together doing the same thing. So that’s kind of where it started. And I ended up—we can go in circles—but I ended up at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago after going to college for two years in Plainview, Texas. A lot of cows and nothing else.
I went to Moody and instantly fell in love with reading the Bible, learning to read the Bible, studying the Bible. I didn’t know the Bible wasn’t written in English. I thought it was written in English, [but] it’s Greek and Hebrew. That’s crazy.
(Learn more about How Did We Get the Books of the Bible?)
I loved God but I had a very small view of who he was. And that’s great. That’s how we start out. My son loves me, but he has a very small picture of who I am. He doesn’t know all about his dad. He just knows my dad’s here. He cares about me. And that’s great for where I was at, but my view of God began to grow. When I came to Grace Church of DuPage is where I met your dad. I began to grow into the body of Christ. Your dad invited me in and that whole thing. I’m super grateful for access into your world and into the Parker home. It’s a little start.
Eden: Yes, yes. Well, you were a huge blessing to us.
You mentioned you played basketball, and you enjoy digging into the Word of God, we tend to like to dig for what are a couple of things that bring you joy?
Ryan Rayburn: Yeah, it was funny, yesterday somebody interviewed me from yearbook class at our school. They were like, “Hey, what are two books that you’re reading?” And I said, “Well, I’m reading The Intentional Father by Jon Tyson.” Well, I said, “[The] Intentional Father.” And she’s like, “Who’s that by?” I was like, “Oh, Jon Tyson.” And then she said, “Okay, what’s the other book?” I go, “Oh, the Bible.” And she goes, “By?” And I was like, “Oh, by God.” And I go, “Uh, and man. It’s kind of a mix.” But it was funny because it caught me off guard. She was like, “By?” I was like, “Oh, well, by God.”
We chatted a little bit more and I said, “Yeah, I mean his words actually produce joy in me. It’s cool to get paid, to make money, it’s cool to do fun things, eat good food, get a vacation, those things are awesome and fun, but you can be in some really tough situations, going through a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, or even emptiness, whatever it is and you can get a hold of a few of God’s words and it can produce this rock solid joy and sturdiness in your soul instantly.” So I was telling this girl from yearbook class about how God’s words produce joy and it literally has that effect.
Eden: You’re so right about that. I think when we have a constant diet of it, it’s like a constant infusion of joy because God’s Word—it never gets old. We come to it again and again and again and we receive that joy in different forms too. Sometimes you’re listening to something and you’re like, “Oh, that was straight truth that I needed, and it encouraged me.” And other times you’re like, “Ooh, that hurt! But that was a word that’s going to bring me joy in the long term.” I love that that’s your answer.
Ryan Rayburn: Well said.
Eden: You told us that you came to know Jesus through the kid on your basketball team initially, but then you said that your view of God was expanded in ways over time, your view of God initially was pretty small. Could you tell us about maybe one or two times when you really felt like the Lord did that for you and made your vision of him bigger?
Ryan Rayburn: When I began to follow Jesus, the focus was primarily on evangelism—you just tell other people about Jesus, which is very natural. It was amazing. I was feeling this joy. Confession of sins. When I came to Christ, I felt the Holy Spirit come into me and I felt—and it’s always weird to talk about feelings, but—I felt guilt and burden and shame fall off my chest. I felt lighter. I don’t know, if you would have weighed me if you’d notice the difference but it was like this release of years of unconfessed sin and mess. It was taken away. It was like a nice trade. I get the Spirit of God and he’s taken away all the things that have separated me from him. It’s incredible.
What was the next question? Oh, so expanding the view of God. I mean, one moment that jumps out at me, and maybe this is part of it, is I went to your church—where you guys were at—for the very first time. And for me, I love hip hop music, I love dancing, I love moving, motion, excitement, and I sat through a couple songs, and I was like, “This is boring.” Then there were some announcements. There’s a lot of old, boring people here. And then someone got up on the stage to pray, and he prayed like God was big. He was very real, very big, using words like “power” and “control.” I don’t remember what. But he came to bear. He felt weighty to me. And I was like, “Whoa—even though a lot of the outward forms of worship and the sermon—but the God that lives here that’s among these people is big. I need to know more about him.” So I knew I was a follower of Christ, but I was like, “Man, I have a very small mind of what he’s like. There’s more here, and I want to get to know this big God more.” So that was one.
(See our page, Can We Know God?)
Eden: I think it’s helpful that part of the way that your view of God was expanded was just by witnessing another believer who knew him well and who could speak of him truthfully and had a vision of God that was big themselves and that kind of rubbed off on you. I think that’s important because we can help one another, just like God’s Spirit can help us see Jesus as more glorious. Part of the way he does that is through other Christians. That’s why it’s important to be around other believers that love God and who are filled with his Spirit.
Ryan Rayburn: Yeah, I wouldn’t have grown without it. Before I came to Moody, listening to Lecrae helped my faith. Shane and Shane, an artist group that really helped my soul and sustain me in some hard times. But then I think about, “I don’t know those people personally.” So it was the Jeff Parkers of the world, the Joe Jones, even Pete Peterson, Jeff Goodman, J.J. Babb, just these people that were around me, walking with me where you see regularly and you have opportunity to speak into each other’s life, ask questions, process through whatever—if you’re in college, if you have a job, if you have a girlfriend—whatever you’re going through to bounce it off people who are walking the same direction toward Christ, toward the finish line, toward heaven.
Eden: Absolutely. So, that’s a little bit about the past. Tell us where you are now. Every follower of Jesus has got a ministry, and that ministry is whatever Jesus has you doing right now. Tell us a little bit about what life in ministry looks like for you right now? What do you do with most of your time? What does that look like?
Ryan Rayburn: Well, your dad told me at one point in time, he’s like, “Hey, you’re a Christian boy, you’re not a Christian man.” I was like, “Ouch, ouch, ouch.” So he’s like, “You want to be a missionary? I wouldn’t send you to the mission field right now. You have a heart for God. You love Jesus. You worship. That’s great. But you don’t have a work ethic.” I remember the day I came back from some cool Christian worship night, and he and Dick Russell were waiting for me in the basement. “Have a seat, son.” I was like, “Oh, this doesn’t sound like it’s gonna go good.” They challenged me. I think I was working, I don’t know, 20 hours a week. He’s like, “You need to get a real job, and you need to work 40 hours a week, Ryan.”
Eden: That is something that I feel if that were said these days in this culture, that would be like, “How dare you say that to me?” Is that how you felt?
Ryan Rayburn: Well, I remember being defensive and—angry is maybe the wrong word—about being confronted. No one likes to be confronted even if it’s true. I was like, “How dare you? I love Jesus. I’m memorizing verses. I’m evangelizing. So what I only worked 20 hours a week. I have other things going on in life.” But then you walk away from that moment. I think this is probably a good word for me, even as I remember in confrontation, if I confront somebody and it doesn’t go well, it’s okay; the Spirit is at work because I remember walking away from that the next day and being like, “Okay, they love me. He probably is right. I have student debt. What do you do as a missionary? Well, you work. It’s not just all fun and games. So I should be working.” So I did respond. I had a part time job, and I added a full-time job, so then I was working 60 to 70 hours a week, and I was like, “I’ll show you.” And then he pulled me aside later, he’s like, “Hey, slow it down. You’re gonna kill yourself. You’re gonna burn out.” It was good on both sides.
But yeah, I remember I didn’t have a good work ethic. I think, like you said, if you mentioned that today, how would that be responded to? I don’t know. I think there’s some young men today who are amazing, who are awesome, and who are worlds ahead of me. I don’t want to generalize what the average work ethic is like for a young person now. But I remember where I was at and I needed that and I responded by God’s grace.
I guess tying that back into what’s your ministry now? Right now, I have a full-time job at school, I’m running a mortgage business, and I’m DJ-ing weddings. So it’s a lot of people time and I love that. So it feels like between that and my family, those are those are my official ministries. I mean, sorry, unofficial. I lead a small group of boys—middle school. I’ve kind of come full circle. I’m pouring a lot into my two children now. So [I’ve] got a six-year-old son and an eight-year-old daughter. They’re amazing. They’re incredible.
This is not part of the question, but my son had a little presentation yesterday. He had to memorize number one through 17 of the Westminster Catechism. So, we’re quizzing him and when he said it, he got 1 to 15, 16 and 17 are tough. He’s in kindergarten. Come on. But hearing him say,
Question: “Who made you?”
Answer: “God.”
Question: “Why did God make you?”
Answer: “For his glory.”
Question: “Can God see you?”
Answer: “Yes.”
He’s going through these. “God is a spirit, and he does not have a body like us.” He’s going through this. And I’m like, “Wow, this is incredible! I didn’t have this at that age. I didn’t know this.” Even now, I don’t know if I could nail the catechism. I know the truths of it, but I don’t know if I could say it word for word. But at six he’s learning these things about God and eventually they’ll take root in his heart. I’m really happy to see him grow. So a lot goes there and then. My daughter, she just memorized Psalm 46 for her speech meet.
Eden: So cool!
Ryan Rayburn: So that’s a big piece of it right now.
Eden: So you’re at school probably most of your day. I imagine [being a] DJ is every once in a while and the business is probably in the free time outside of school. Is that right?
Ryan Rayburn: Yep! That’s a great read.
Eden: So if most of your time is spent at school, and I assume this is a public school?
Ryan Rayburn: Yeah. Public school.
Eden: So most of your time is with family and then in a public-school setting. How would you say your relationship with Jesus directly influences your identity as a teacher and as a father?
Ryan Rayburn: I mean, that’s a good point of how he flows through how he made us. “You made me. I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. You knit me together, my innermost parts” (Psalm 139:13-14, paraphrased). My personality was handcrafted, which I’m thankful for because sometimes you want to change things about yourself that you don’t like. “Oh, why can’t I be more like that person or that person?” But I think finally at nearly 40, I’m like, “Okay. I’ve tried to become someone different. I’ve tried to become organized. I’ve tried to be a planner. I’ve tried to be detailed.” I mean, you have to do some of that stuff, right? You have to. So I do it, painfully and not well. But you figure it out, you get through it. You give me a microphone, you put me on a stage, you say, “Hey, go talk to this person.” Those things are like breathing.
The question of how do I show up at school or how am I—how does Jesus work through me? I think I have a lot of kids telling me they really enjoy the change of pace being around me. I don’t know how much legally you can and can’t say at school, sometimes I’ve been more free. There was one year where I said the word “God” to my class twice in a week, and I got rebuked, reprimanded, corrected—I don’t know the word is—by the principal. It was literally twice in the same week. It wasn’t two days in a row because I got the message the first day, but it was the second time it happened the same week. So I was like, “So what can I say?” Man, all right. So you hear a lot of that.
Eden: Are there ways that you feel in your workplace, even without explicitly sharing about Jesus, you feel like you’re called to look different? Are there specific ways that you feel as a Christian, it alters the way that you act as a public school teacher?
Ryan Rayburn: I think for me, honestly, the most common thing that I get back is, “You’re different. You’re always”—whether they say joyful or happy, some synonym—”you’re always so happy. You’re always so joyful. What is it?” “It’s Jesus! The joy of the Lord is my strength (Nehemiah 8:10). It really is. That’s where it comes from.” But it is. When the spirit is free, when you have a clean conscience and, I can’t remember what verse it is, but Paul talks about the power of a clean conscience (Acts 24:16; 1 Corinthians 1:12). There’s a short little book on a clean conscience. For me, nobody wants to be a hypocrite. So because I do talk freely about Jesus, if I am living a double life in certain areas or certain times, the Spirit testifies, “Hey dude, you’re double talking right now. You’re not doing what you say.” It’s more fun when you live with integrity and are doing the things that you are talking about.
Eden: Like you said, joy comes from the Lord as the source of our strength (Nehemiah 8:10), but also there is joy in walking in obedience to Jesus. Walking in obedience to him gives us a clean conscience and that’s the place where we find ultimate joy (John 15:11). Which we actually recently put out a video on YouTube from this pastor, Britt Merrick, and he talks about how the world will tell us that following Jesus is always a boring bummer. But really, it’s in obeying Jesus that we are on the path to joy. I love the reminder that, as Christians, we’re not going to never sin again. We’re going to still need the cross until we get to heaven. And yet, the Spirit of God is there to say, “Hey, you need to repent again, come back to the cross, lay it down.” It’s a good reminder from what you’re saying that Christians aren’t perfect. We still need Jesus after we’re saved.
Ryan Rayburn: I would say in some ways more. If you have a different question, pause me here. But one of the books that I would say was foundational for me is called A Gospel Primer. It’s by Milton Vincent. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.
Eden: No, I haven’t.
Ryan Rayburn: It’s very short which is super great. I don’t remember who gave it to me. I don’t remember how I found it. But I was driving a vending machine truck (it was my first full time job). But I remember—I’m better, I’m a homeowner now, so you’ve got to fix some things, and you have to be good with tools, or I have tools—but I had a job where I had to fix machines. I had to do things with my hands. I’m an athlete—but I’m not a finger type of dexterity, screwdriver—I’m not a tool guy. I’m not good with my hands, basically. I remember one day, [vending] machines are breaking, the money wasn’t going to the machines, it was stuck, this lady was yelling at me, “It took my money!” And I had this strange impulse. I was going to cuss her out, and I was like, “Where are these thoughts coming from?” And then I was in a hurry, so I was putting milk in the cold food machine, and it busted. It exploded all over in the machine. You hit the button, and it turns when you’re putting in sandwiches and soups. So it busted, but it kept turning. So it took the milk everywhere. I know it was horrible. And then this lady was yelling at me, and I was like… I can’t remember if I said something out loud to her—a bad word—but it would take more context to set up the whole story. But anyways, I was having these really evil thoughts, and I think I said some swear words out loud to her.
But anyways, I get back in the truck and I start kicking all the chip boxes and throwing candy, having a temper tantrum. Then I had this moment where I was so frustrated. I was like, “I graduated from Moody Bible Institute, and I’m still so sinful! I can’t do it.” I was angry because I have a degree—I have a Bible degree—from Moody. I should be good now. I shouldn’t cuss people out. I shouldn’t swear. I shouldn’t yell and throw things and kick chips like a little kid. And I remember feeling powerless and then this verse popped in my head. It was, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18, paraphrased). I walked outside and it’s like a movie. It just started to snow (in Chicago). Snow is coming down. I get on my knees outside. “Okay, Jesus. I’m sorry. Forgive me. I need…” You’re not good enough. You fail, you sin, you need me [Jesus]. There’s a picture in that book [A Gospel Primer], I think. I don’t know, he may have stolen the illustration, but basically when you think you only have this much sin, you think you only need this much grace. The more you start to see your sin, the bigger the cross gets, the more grace is amazing, and the more you see you need Jesus. And obviously we need him to the max, but you just don’t see it when you’re a younger Christian,
Eden: I think something that God has changed in my own heart over the last few years is—and I had a friend share the same thought with me, which is—I thought that the more I see my sin, the more scared of God I’d become. I thought the more I see how awful I am, the more awful I feel about myself, and I start to despair. And my friend made a comment, “Christians talk about sin so much, it’s like they’re just shaming each other.” I thought about that. And then you realize that the truth is that the more we see our sin, the more we actually come to know God’s love for us because when we see how undeserving we are of his rescue and his love and his salvation, and we think, “Oh, he did it anyways, even though I’m that bad, even though I can know the Bible backward and forward and still break what God says, left and right. Somehow he still loves me. And somehow he holds on to me and is there for me when I repent and holds out all these promises of life to me.” It makes our love for him grow.
And I think of—I think it’s in the book of Luke (Luke 7:36-50)—when Jesus turns to either his disciples or one of the Pharisees, watching as this woman who is really sinful comes and cries at Jesus’ feet. And he’s so tender toward her. And they’re like, “Why are you letting this sinful woman near you?” And Jesus is like, “Hey, when I showed up, you didn’t wash my feet, you didn’t do anything for me,” And he ends by saying, those who have been forgiven much love much (Luke 7:47). And so I think our estimation of God’s love for us grows as we see our sin. That’s why seeing our sin isn’t scary anymore, because we know that it’s all been nailed to the cross. So when we look at it, it sure does make us feel bad, but it makes us recognize God’s love in a deeper way and it becomes less of a source of shame and more of a source of worship toward God.
Ryan Rayburn: I think there’s a verse in First John says, “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18 ESV). You think, “Oh, if I see more of my sin, I’ll be more afraid of God.” No. There’s a book called Counsel from the Cross by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, and she talks about three people. One is the happy moralist: I’m good. I don’t have any sin. I’m not that bad. God’s cool with me. One is the sad moralist: they just see their sin and they can’t please God. They don’t see his mercy. They just see their sin. Then there’s the gospel Christian who sees their sin but is blown away by God’s love for them but still knows that it matters to obey and to walk and there’s this tension and that’s the path of joy.
Eden: Yes. We talked a little bit about your time at school, but what about your time at home? Are there ways that you feel your relationship with God has really influenced your vision of what it looks like to be a good father and a good husband?
Ryan Rayburn: As far as father in the home, it’s funny, I heard a sermon. “What’s your vision for your family?” What do you mean vision for my family? I’ve been thinking about that. In my home, we’re still figuring out some of those rhythms, between reading The Action Bible with the kids—Scripture with my son looks a lot different than with my daughter. Family rhythms, what is that like? I think Davey is a big worshiper of God. She loves music. We’re singing worship songs.
Eden: She’s like her daddy.
Ryan Rayburn: Oh my goodness, times three and a half! I caught her on Saturday. I was mowing the grass with Judah. I look up to the second story of the window and I see her on her knees hands up and singing some song loud.
Eden: That’s so cute!
Ryan Rayburn: I know! I was looking at her and I was like, “It’s incredible!” She’s been asking to get baptized, and I’ve been like, “No, no, you’re too young.” But she’s eight. Let’s just take a step to see what that looks like. She has a heart for God. My son, we do a little bedtime prayer where I pray through the spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-18) with him, “God, I pray you put the helmet of salvation on Judah’s head. You would put the breastplate of righteousness on his heart.” And I go through it all. And he always—even though I don’t—he goes, “You forgot the sword of the Spirit. You forgot the belt of truth.” He’ll just tell me that I forgot something so I say it again. I read a lot of stuff about amazing quiet times and family worship, and I don’t feel like we have that piece of our family life dialed in or it’s all over the place.
Eden: But I like what you’re saying, because a lot of people think that family worship needs to fit one personality.
But I love how you said even that with Davey and Judah, even just a little boy and a little girl, based on their personalities and their interests, they enjoy receiving God’s Word differently. Davey especially likes to receive God’s Word through song, and your little boy especially loves this one part of God’s Word. I think the important part is that you’re sowing God’s Word into their lives, and that can come in so many different forms and God’s Word can fit any personality, any age. It doesn’t have to be a one-size-fits-all thing. So I actually think the example that your family has set is probably really helpful to people to say that this is achievable. It is possible to help my little kids know Jesus in a busy schedule, working more than one job. It’s possible. It’s about having Jesus be part of the daily culture of our home.
(Learn More About Family Worship)
Ryan Rayburn: I’m glad you said that because you make time for what’s important to you. Figuring out that we want to set aside time for it then what does that look like? But they’re in church. We’re in church. It’s real life. It’s just mixed in. I’m glad you said the personality because I’m not calm, and we don’t sit in a circle. Part of me wishes we were calm and could sit in a circle, but I haven’t seen it yet.
Eden: Well, we typically like to end with—and you already shared a little bit here—a book or resource that could go on a listener’s shelf that was transformational in your walk with Jesus. So you’ve mentioned a few. Are there any others that you recommend?
Ryan Rayburn: I’m going to go back to A Gospel Primer again. I mean, literally when I got this book—it’s funny because the author says the same thing in one of the pages, it’s very short—he was a pastor and he used this phrase like, “But when I discovered the gospel, I was like a kid in a candy store, I couldn’t put it down. I kept drinking in these amazing realities from God’s Word.” And you’re like, “Bro, you were a pastor. How did you not know the gospel?” I think there’s 50 short, little—call them—gospel nuggets or bursts and they addressed simple topics like freedom from sin, love for others, freedom from shame, clean conscience, power of the Word. Very short; they’re half-page things. But it’s funny because I remember I was reading it, and I literally couldn’t put it down. So if your soul is weary and if you need amazing reminders of the promises of God’s love for you, especially if you feel undeserving, A Gospel Primer is incredible. He has a narrative version of it. The intro is even amazing. If I only had one book to pass on besides the Bible, it’d be that.
Eden: Awesome. For a lot of our listeners, we mentioned the term “gospel” all the time, and we usually present a little link to our page on the gospel on our website underneath all of our podcasts. But you’re especially good at sharing it. So would you give me a two minute “what is the gospel?” for someone who maybe doesn’t know?
Ryan Rayburn: For sure! I was so tempted to rap it right then, but I’m not going to.
Eden: You can do that. They might even enjoy that more.
Ryan Rayburn: Maybe I’ll go 30 in 130. The gospel, first of all, it’s relationship. God is the heavenly Father. He’s our heavenly father. He’s so good. He gives us everything. He puts us in the garden [of Eden]. He gives us 10,000 commands and all those commands are “enjoy, eat, explore, discover, create.” They’re all commands to soak in and be wowed. And he gives us one command in the negative, which is like, “Hey, don’t eat from this one tree. Trust me, this is the knowledge of good and evil. You can’t handle what’s evil. So don’t even go there.” We get suckered in. We’re tempted. Adam and Eve, they fall, they sin, they disobey. They don’t trust God, and they go their own way. Sin means doing whatever you want to do, not following what God wants you to do even though God’s commands are for our good. So they have a relationship break. There’s fellowship that’s broken. They’re kicked out of the garden [of Eden]. Now they’re living a life independent of God. And we were made to live in connection with God. So even on our best days, you know, “Man, is this all there is? There’s got to be something more.” It’s like, “Yeah, until we get back to the presence of God 24/7, we’ll be longing. We’ll be aching. We’ll be empty in some kind.”
Then the gospel is really God’s rescue mission to bring us back. He comes as a man. He puts on flesh—Jesus Christ. He’s born through the virgin, Mary. The Holy Spirit overshadows, conceives, brings Jesus into the world, and then he lives a sinless life. He never sins. He never yells at a lady. He never cusses. He’s this incredible human who is also God. And I think Thomas or James or John, one of the disciples says, “Jesus, can you show us God? Show us the Father?” (John 14:8). And Jesus says, “Have I not been with you so long? If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father (John 14:9). I’m what God’s like.” So Jesus lives this life, and then he gives up his life on the cross as a payment for our sins, a sacrifice, an offering. So many ways you can talk about it. But he dies in our place. We should have died because of our sin. He dies and then he—three days later, he doesn’t stay dead—he comes back to life because sin wasn’t powerful on him. He had beaten it. Now anybody who’s united to Jesus, covered in Jesus, tied to Jesus, who has a relationship with Jesus, who’s been saved by Jesus, we’ll be with him. We’ll be with God forever in heaven. Eternal life is not just in heaven, but it starts now. You get the Spirit; you get this joy. You get this confidence that animates and infuses all of life. It’s good. It’s so good.
Eden: Awesome. So good. I loved when you talked about the resurrection, because today I was thinking about how Christians, our hope is that spring always comes. Spring comes for our heart, and it’ll come ultimately. The winter of this world will pass, and we’ll be with Jesus forever. But also that our suffering in this life will end because Jesus suffered for us. And so even though we have pain in this world, our pain will end one day just like this. The resurrection is the thing that our faith hinges on. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, our faith doesn’t mean anything. But he did! No one’s found him.
Ryan Rayburn: He did. Nobody. The tomb is empty.
Eden: Yes! So thank you for sharing that.
Thank you for your time today, for sharing with us what God’s up to in your life. It’s so encouraging for me to hear. I love the verse that you shared about Jesus is the way that we know the Father (John 14:9). And if someone is looking to know God, they just gotta cry out to Jesus and ask him to reveal God to them and open their Bible and look at the things Jesus says and they will meet God. So thank you for that reminder.
Ryan Rayburn: It’s so true. It’s a fight to get to that Bible. But once it’s open, life change happens in small and big ways. But every time. It happens.
Eden: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you, Ryan. Thank you for your time.
Ryan Rayburn: Yeah. Thanks for your time.
Eden: Thank you so much for listening to our podcast today. If you enjoyed our conversation, I would encourage you to like or subscribe to our podcast so that you can hear the next conversation. And if something that you heard today spoke to your heart or got you thinking, I would encourage you to not let the day go by without talking to God about what’s on your mind. We believe that he loves you and that he’s pursuing you today out of that love.