Welcome to One Single Story, Season 5, with Pastor Stephen Mizell and Pastor Jay Rivenbark are joined by Pastor Alyssa Bream. Each weekday we draw a brief lesson from the One Year Bible, and today we are in Proverbs 12:19-20: "Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed. Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil. Joy fills hearts that are planning peace."

In this episode, the team explores why truth endures while lies collapse under their own weight, the surprising idea that peace must be intentionally planned rather than simply hoped for, and what drives people toward deceit in the first place, from insecurity and pride to fear of consequences and the desire for control. The conversation also tackles the difference between truth as mere accuracy and truth as covenant language, and how speaking honestly in love builds the kind of trust that makes peace possible.

Key Quote: "If you can't admit you were wrong, I am going to struggle to trust you."

One Single Story is a weekday devotional podcast from Open Door Church in Edenton, North Carolina. Find episodes and resources at onesinglestory.com. Subscribe, share with a friend, and join us tomorrow for more from the book of Proverbs.

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Welcome to One Single Story, your weekday companion through the One Year Bible. Host Pastor Stephen Mizell is joined by co-hosts Pastor Jay Rivenbark and Pastor Alyssa Bream as they dig into Psalm 75 and tackle three big questions: Is God's judgment actually good news? How does pride set us up for a fall? And what does it really mean when Scripture says promotion comes from the Lord?

Scripture Focus: Psalm 75:1-10 - A psalm of Asaph declaring God's absolute sovereignty, reminding us that it is God alone who judges and decides who will rise and who will fall.

In This Episode:

• Why God's judgment is good news for believers
• How unchecked pride blinds us and leads to our own demise
• What promotion from the Lord truly looks like - including why a missed opportunity may be God's greatest gift

Key Quote: "Stay humble. God handles elevation."

About One Single Story

One Single Story is a weekday devotional podcast from Open Door Church in Edenton, North Carolina, walking listeners through the One Year Bible one passage at a time. Find us at visitopendoor.com and onesinglestory.com.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join us each weekday for a new lesson from the Word.

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Welcome to One Single Story, where each weekday Pastor Stephen Mizell, Pastor Jay Rivenbark, and Pastor Alyssa Bream offer a brief lesson from the daily reading in the One Year Bible. Today the team opens Psalm 74, a communal lament likely written after the destruction of the temple, and explores what it means to bring our pain to God together, anchor our hope in his covenant promises, and let prayer keep despair from becoming unbelief.

Scripture Focus: Psalm 74 - God's people cry out after devastating loss, wrestling with God's silence while holding on to his covenant faithfulness.

In This Episode:

• Why communal lament builds connection and deepens faith
• How covenant memory sustains hope when we cannot feel God's presence
• The role prayer plays in crisis, even when it feels like all we have to offer

Key Quote: "We all experience despair, but prayer keeps despair from becoming unbelief. Unchecked despair becomes unbelief. Prayer shifts us back."

One Single Story is a daily devotional podcast from Open Door Church in Edenton, North Carolina. New episodes every weekday through the One Year Bible. Subscribe, leave a review, and share with someone who needs encouragement today.

visitopendoor.com | onesinglestory.com

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Welcome to One Single Story, Season 5. Pastor Stephen Mizell is joined by Pastor Jay Rivenbark and Pastor Alyssa Bream for a timely conversation from Psalm 73 -- where worship leader Asaph wrestles honestly with envy, the prosperity of the wicked, and why the righteous suffer. If you have ever caught yourself comparing your life to someone else's, this episode is for you.

Scripture Focus: Psalm 73:1-28 -- Asaph's raw and relatable confession that comparison nearly cost him his faith, and how entering God's sanctuary changed everything.

In This Episode:

• How comparison leads to arrogance or jealousy -- and why both derail the Christian life
• Why comparison is the thief of joy, and how that directly undermines our witness
• How corporate worship restores perspective that we simply cannot find alone
• What "God is the strength of my heart" really means when life feels unfair

Key Quote: "When envy clouds your vision, worship can restore your sight."

Join us weekdays at onesinglestory.com or visitopendoor.com. Subscribe so you never miss an episode -- new content drops every weekday.

Coming This Week: We are continuing through the Psalms all week. Grab your Bible and join the conversation.

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Welcome to One Single Story, Season 5. I'm Pastor Stephen Mizell, joined today by Pastor Jay Rivenbark and our guest Alyssa Bream. We're in Psalm 72:1-20 -- a royal psalm attributed to Solomon that paints a picture of the ideal king: one who rules with justice, defends the poor, and brings lasting peace.

But here is where it gets interesting. The language in this psalm stretches well beyond any earthly ruler. Verse 11 declares that all kings will bow before him and all nations will serve him. That is a hard claim to hang on Solomon. The hosts wrestle with that tension -- is this a psalm about a human king, or does it point forward to Christ? Most likely, it does both.

The conversation turns to what righteous leadership actually requires: sound judgment, compassion, care for the vulnerable, and a refusal to exploit power. As one host put it, righteousness is integrity expressed in action. It is not enough to say the right things. The question is what you are actually doing to bring justice to pass.

And justice, the group agrees, is bigger than punishment. It is protection. It is equity. It is making sure the people who have the least are not forgotten by the people who have the most. Spiritual leadership without justice, they conclude, does not stay neutral -- it becomes oppression.

Psalm 72 ends with a doxology, a burst of praise for the God whose name endures forever. Pray today for leaders who reflect God's heart -- and trust the King who already does.

Thanks for joining us on One Single Story. Find us at onesinglestory.com and visitopendoor.com. We will see you in the next episode.

Welcome to One Single Story, Season 5. I'm Pastor Stephen Mizell, joined today by co-hosts Pastor Jay Rivenbark and Pastor Alyssa Bream from Open Door Church in Edenton, North Carolina. Today we are in Psalm 71, and we are talking about one of the most practical disciplines in the Christian life: rehearsing the faithfulness of God.

Psalm 71:1-24 gives us the voice of a seasoned saint reflecting on decades of God's provision and declaring his intention to proclaim God's righteousness to the next generation. That is exactly what we dig into today.

In this episode, we explore how remembering God's past faithfulness gives us strength to trust him in the present, why sharing our testimonies with the next generation makes faith real and not just theoretical, and what it looks like to retell the hard stories alongside the victories so our children can see the full picture of God's faithfulness.

As one of our hosts put it today: "The current moment may not provide strength to give you faith, but the previous experiences give you strength to believe that in this moment, he is going to come through for you."

One Single Story is a weekday Bible study podcast from Open Door Church in Edenton, North Carolina, following the One Year Bible reading plan. Find us at onesinglestory.com or visitopendoor.com. Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode, and join us again tomorrow for our next reading in the Psalms.

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Welcome to One Single Story, Season 5. I'm Pastor Stephen Mizell, joined today by Pastor Jay Rivenbark and Pastor Wendy Korbusieski from Open Door Church in Edenton, North Carolina. Each weekday we bring you a focused lesson from the One Year Bible reading plan, and today we are in Luke 7:36-8:3.

In this passage, a sinful woman crashes a dinner at a Pharisee's house to anoint Jesus' feet, and Jesus uses the moment to reveal a powerful truth: the depth of our love for Christ is directly connected to our awareness of how much we have been forgiven.

We dig into why the Pharisees, despite being in the same room as Jesus, remained completely unmoved, and how self-righteousness blinds us to our own need for grace. We also look at the women of Luke 8 who supported Jesus' ministry out of their own resources, and what their generosity reveals about a life truly transformed by encounter with Christ.

As one of our hosts puts it: "True gratitude moves obedience from something that you have to do to something that you want to do."

Find us at onesinglestory.com and visitopendoor.com. Subscribe so you never miss a daily lesson, and join us again tomorrow for the next edition of One Single Story.

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Welcome to One Single Story, Season 5. Pastor Stephen Mizell is joined by Pastor Jay Rivenbark and Pastor Wendy Korbusieski as they dig into Luke 7:11-35, the raising of the widow's son at Nain, and what it reveals about compassion, grace, and repentance.

Scripture Focus: Luke 7:11-35 - Jesus raises a widow's son and John the Baptist questions from prison whether Jesus is truly the one.

In This Episode:

• How Jesus saw the widow's need and acted before she ever asked
• Why pride is the greatest barrier to receiving grace
• What true repentance looks like and how it opens the heart to transformation

Key Quote: "Repentance removes all of the trash for you to deal with the issue. It prepares our hearts to allow God to deal with the things that need to be dealt with."

One Single Story is a daily Bible study podcast from Open Door Church in Edenton, North Carolina, walking through the One Year Bible every weekday.

visitopendoor.com | onesinglestory.com

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

#OneYearBible #ChristianPodcast #BibleStudy #DailyDevotional #OpenDoorChurch #Luke #Grace #Repentance #Faith