In episode 68 of the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, host Greg Ryan departs from the usual armor‑of‑God teaching to focus on the theological and practical significance of Good Friday, which he renames “God Friday.” He begins by quoting John 1:1 and then examines Mark 10:17‑20, highlighting the rich young ruler’s use of the word “good” and Jesus’ response that only God is good. Ryan argues that this exchange underscores why the day should be called God Friday, emphasizing that without Jesus’ willing sacrifice on the cross, salvation would be impossible. He recounts Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36) and the choice of the narrow gate (Matt 7:13) to illustrate the hard path Jesus chose. Ryan frames the Christian life as spiritual warfare, linking the cross to the armor of God series and urging listeners to recognize that life is a battle, not a game. He shares a personal testimony from 1993, describing his transformation from a self‑identified sinner to a saint through repentance and acceptance of Christ’s death. The episode concludes with an invitation to accept Jesus, offering a simple prayer of salvation and directing new believers to text “decision” to 71010 for further support, while reminding listeners of the upcoming Easter celebration and the continuation of the armor‑of‑God teaching.
Welcome to episode 68. If this is your first time, we start every episode the same way in John 1:1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast. Where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.
Welcome to episode 68. I'm going to throw you a little bit of a curveball because God kind of threw me one this morning. It is Good Friday, and I wanted to, instead of talking about the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, I wanted to talk about the significance of Good Friday. And so if you're listening to this on the day that it comes out, I just want to— I just want you to, to know that Good Friday is upon us here, and we are fastly approaching Easter Sunday, which is a wonderful time if you're a Christian. But Good Friday— you cannot have an Easter without Good Friday. A Bible study podcast, or at least we use the Bible to study I want to go to Mark 10:17. This is the rich young— when Jesus counsels the rich young ruler. Now as he was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before him, and asked, "Good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness." do not defraud, honor your father and mother.' And he answered and said to him, 'Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.' Now I just want to stop there because this is Good Friday, and what I want to do is I kind of want to change the name for this Friday. I want to change it to God Friday. The reason I want to change it to God Friday instead of Good Friday, I mean, I know it's semantics and it's a play on words, but I just want you to think about what Jesus just said. To this rich young ruler. He called him, you know, he comes running. Just think about this guy, he just comes running, busting on the scene, running down and falls at Jesus' feet and says, 'Good teacher.' And, and I'm picturing somebody that's trying to draw attention to himself. This is this rich young ruler and wants everyone to see him. And I, you know, I don't want to make fun or anything like that, but I just want to say— no, I'm not going to say it. But this guy comes running and he throws himself at Jesus' feet and says, "Good teacher." And because Jesus is God, he kind of sees right through this guy, but he loves him. You'll find out later if you read Mark that Jesus loved the man and gave him good counsel. But he said, "You know, why you calling me good? There's only one person that's good, and that is God." And I want you to notice down in, I think it's 20, yes, Mark 10:20, "And he answered and said to him, Teacher. All these things I've kept from my youth. He dropped the good. So he was not willing— this rich young ruler was not willing to worship Jesus as God. Either call me God or call me teacher. And so he called him teacher. That mindset, and with that picture, when we see the word Good Friday, and then I hear the words Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God. So that's why I want to just for, just for this Friday, I want to call it God Friday. And the reason that I believe this is so important, not the God Friday but the Good Friday, is because without Good Friday, without Jesus accepting to go and die on the cross, none of us would have salvation. And it did not come without a price. If you remember, Jesus did not want to go to the cross. I mean, his body, he came The whole reason that God came to the— Jesus came to the earth was to die on the cross. But once you get in the physical, when he got in his physical body and he kind of was like, yeah, there's— there might be another way. And so we pick it up in Mark 14:36, and he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will. And I just want you to picture Jesus. He was at a crossroad. And, and a lot of us, we get to a place, a little fork in the road, where we have to— we got to either take the hard path or we take the easy road. And Jesus could have taken the easy road, but he said, not what I want, but you want, Father. And so he decided to take the hard path. And if you remember way back in episode 8 or 9, maybe 10, where it talked about the narrow way. And we find that in Matthew 7:13: Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. And Jesus chose the narrow gate. He chose the difficult way. And that's what I think in our lesson today, I think that's what I want you to see when you think of Good Friday, if you're listening to this on Good Friday, and even if you're listening to it down the road, this is published on Good Friday, 2021. I want you to think about your life, and if you've got in your mind that when you became a Christian, everything was gonna be easy. Now, I will say that Jesus brings peace and the Holy Spirit brings peace and love and joy, all of those things, but it also says worth persecution. So you're not going to get out of this thing without some kind of battle. And again, I want to go back to telling you that this is a war. This is not— this game is— life is not a game. Life is a battle, and we're fighting this to the death, and none of us are getting out of this thing alive. Jesus didn't get out of this thing alive. Jesus came so that we might have life. He died so that we might have life, and And that's why it is God Friday today, because Jesus chose the route of God. Jesus became like man. He was God, but he set all of that aside. He set all of his royalty, all of his heavenly power, everything, he set that aside and came down to earth as a baby, grew up just like you and I grew up. He had no sin whatsoever, lived his whole life blameless, spotless Lamb of God. Then on Good Friday, he gave himself to the world so that the world could be free. And I just want you— I want you to let that sink in. God is so good. If I'd have been that rich young ruler and threw myself at Jesus— and I did that one day back in '93, January 10th, 1993. I threw myself at the foot of the cross and I said, God, I am not worthy. But I thank you that you were worthy and you died for me. And I accepted his death on the cross for all of my failures, all of my screw-ups, all of my idiocies all through life. And even now, I mean, I still sin. I'm not, you know, I've told people, some people think it's the same thing or semantics. I don't. I think it's how you picture yourself. I don't picture myself as a sinner anymore. I picture myself as a saint who sometimes sins now. I used to be a sinner who sinned all the time. Now I am a saint of God. I am— have been translated into the kingdom of God. I am no longer a sinner. I'm no longer dead in my trespasses because I died at the foot of the cross and I became alive to God. And once I— but once my spirit man came back to life, or came to life. It was never alive. Once my spirit man came alive, I became a saint. I became a child of the King. I have now been translated into his kingdom, and I will live forever because I died here on earth by my own will. I chose to bow my knee. I chose to confess my sin. I said, God, I am a sinner. I'm messed up. I need, I need your salvation. And I look to the cross, I look to Good Friday. He died on that cross for all sin— past, present, and future sin. Jesus nailed himself— Jesus was nailed to the cross. Easter's coming, baby. Easter is on his way. It is only 2 days away. But God had to die so that we could live. And I just want to— I just want you to just— I know we were talking about the armor of God and And I know I was supposed to talk about the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, but it's God Friday and I just wanted to give God glory and I wanted to thank him publicly for everything that he's done in my life and especially for coming and dying a death that I couldn't. He lived a life I could not live and he died a death I could not die. And he saved me and he will save you too. And it is incredible. And I want to encourage you to get into his word. And if you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I want to encourage you, it's simple. All you got to do is just repent, say, God, there's nothing that I can do to earn heaven, but since you gave your life in exchange for mine, I accept the sacrifice that you made for me. Lord, I thank you for what you did, and I thank you for the Resurrection Sunday. I thank you that in— by Sun— Easter Sunday, we will be able to say, "He is risen," and you will never ever die again. Jesus, thank you for coming and dying for me. Thank you for the blood that you spilled on the ground for my sin, and now I am cleansed. If I will confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in my heart that God raised Christ from the dead, shall be saved. And Jesus, I thank you for my salvation, and I thank you for anyone that prays that prayer. And I just want to encourage you, if you've prayed that prayer for the first time, if you've never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, my church has a wonderful outreach, and it's— if you type decision to 71010, someone will reach out. You will get— they will give you all kinds of wonderful resources and encouraging words, and they will help you take your next step. I'm going to be here for you, and they will be there for you. You are not alone, and the Holy Spirit is right there with you. He said he would never leave you nor forsake you. The Holy Spirit is right there. In fact, he's the one that led you in that prayer. It was not me, it was the Holy Spirit who is the one that saves. And I want to thank you for being a part of this podcast, and I want to encourage you to get ready. We're going to put on the rest of the armor tomorrow, and we're going to move on to Easter Sunday. Praise God. I'll see you on the next episode.
Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.
