Plays On Word Radio
An in-depth look at the Word of God, the Plays On Word community, and the Plays - with original music - we perform, that are based on the Word of God. New episodes drop Fridays at 7AM EST! To find out how Plays On Word Theater can perform 'LIVE on YOUR STAGE' and to support this missionary & podcast visit: https://playsonword.org/
Plays On Word Radio
Ep 128: The Power of Audio Scripture Transforms Faith and Fuels Storytelling (Part 1)
"Have you ever wondered how some performers memorize large parts of the Bible? Today, Pastor Teddy pulls back the curtain on his unique scripture memorization process and spiritual practice that transformed his faith and ministry."
The journey begins with a confession - Pastor Teddy, a.k.a. Fred Kenney, Jr., didn't read through the entire Bible until his early thirties. When he finally attempted it, he found himself completely lost in the complex prophetic books like Ezekiel. That's when divine intervention led him to discover audio Bible recordings, creating a breakthrough in his comprehension. By engaging scripture through both reading and listening simultaneously, passages that once seemed impenetrable suddenly began making sense.
Pastor Teddy shares how this discovery evolved into a life-changing habit - listening to scripture constantly during daily activities, sleeping with Bible recordings playing through the night, and eventually creating his own audio versions. "I went through the entire Bible in the month of January," he reveals, describing how this immersive approach welded biblical narratives into his mind and heart. This practice became the foundation for his theatrical ministry, enabling him to perform extensive biblical stories from memory.
The highlight comes when Pastor Teddy shares a sample of his preparation for an upcoming Daniel play - a first-person narration as if Daniel himself were telling his story from inside the lions' den. This innovative approach brings scripture to vivid life, offering listeners a fresh perspective on familiar texts and demonstrating how creative engagement with God's Word can deepen understanding.
Whether you're struggling to comprehend difficult biblical passages, looking to strengthen your scripture memory, or simply seeking a fresh approach to engaging with ancient texts, this episode offers practical insights that will transform your relationship with the Bible. Listen now and discover how hearing God's Word might open spiritual doorways that reading alone cannot reach.
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Lord, you know you will now listen to Play for the Word.
Speaker 2:It's the best. And King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to me and commanded that an offering, an incense, be offered up to me. The king answered and said to me Truly your God is God of gods and Lord of lords and a revealer of mysteries, For you have been able to reveal this mystery.
Speaker 1:You're the only name. You're the only name.
Speaker 2:You're the only name.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the Word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion. Today let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr, the founder of Plays on Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen. Well, welcome to all of you to Plays on Word Radio. Oh yeah, and to those of you that are non-American citizens, happy Independence Day to you, because you're independent in Christ. How about that? When I was a youth pastor, the kids always used to kind of laugh and not make fun, but kind of make fun of me, because I would always find some kind of way to work whatever we were talking about back to Christ Somehow. A bird flying over pees on somebody, and I would, you know? Well, you know, some people sprinkle with baptism, but the Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove at his baptism, in the form of a dove at his baptism, and they were like they would actually look for how's he going to try to work this back to Christ? How's he going to work this in? So anyway, today we have something Speaking of working things back to Christ. We have something very important for you today. I think you guys some of you, at least I know for a fact will be excited about. We have been promising to bring the Dan play and start scheduling it. That day is not here yet. We're still working on it. We're still working on the Dan play.
Speaker 2:But I wanted to take you guys behind the curtain or behind the scenes a little bit, because a lot of times after a play I have people come up to me and say how did you, how do you, how do you memorize all this stuff? How can you commit the whole thing to memory? Well, one of the one of the ways I got to give God credit all the credit, first and foremost, goes to the Lord for giving me a hard drive in my brain that remembers the scripture. But one of the tools that he challenged me to employ is listening to the Bible, and the reason was because I was when I first decided to read through the entire Bible. I didn't do that until I was 30. And I didn't read through the entire Bible. No, I might have been 33, somewhere in my early 30s, and I took a long time to do it. And I was reading through the Bible and I remember getting to Ezekiel and just being completely lost in space. I didn't know what was. I was like man, and so I'm read. I was.
Speaker 2:I was, uh, working at cable vision at the time as a head end technician. I was in the office and I'm reading, um, of course, on my lunch break and my uh, coffee breaks and my time off. You know you want to do the best work you can for the employee people that employ you. But I was work you can for the people that employ you. But I was reading and I remember getting to, oh man, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 chapters, and I was like Lord, my eyes are crossing over the words but I have no clue what's going down here, man, I don't know what's happening. I just here, man, I don't know what's happening, I just. I was lost as it gets and the Lord challenged me. I didn't hear an audible voice, but what he put on my heart, he directed me to the.
Speaker 2:I was on Bible Gateway. For some reason I was cause, I was reading out of my Bible. But I went to Bible Gateway to look at another translation or whatever. And I just started looking that way and I'm on my computer and I saw the speaker icon, this little speaker. It was next to the chapter and verse and it was like the Lord really pointed my eyes to that and it caught me. So I pressed the speaker icon to that and it caught me, so I. So I pressed the speaker icon and next thing, you know max mclean. He read through the entire bible. It was an audio bible and they matched it up with the chapters and I was like, wait, what this was early on too. I mean, this is 25 years ago and max is his version of the the bible, I think it was. I think it was only in the NIV. At the time it was brand new, he had just released it, so I don't know how he got it up on Bible Gateway so quick, but it was up there and it was a massive blessing to me because I was able to read.
Speaker 2:I still didn't understand what I was reading, but I was able to read. It went in through my eyes and went in through my ears. It helped me to focus. So I was getting the Bible through my eyes and getting it through my ears and it helped me to focus, get through it. And then I was, later on, as I got to other books, things started to make more and more sense because I had flown over that area, didn't understand it. It's like a town you drive through and you know you've never been through that town. You drive through it but you know you might notice a couple of things. You don't understand it completely, but then later on you're like, oh, that's right, that's right, we saw that shop or that factory or we saw that back in that other town. Now it makes sense. You didn't understand it at the time, so I got through the scripture and I never looked back.
Speaker 2:I ended up purchasing the entire Bible. He had it on. Listen to this. He had it on 66 CDs. Imagine that being shipped to your house. It was a. It was a little booklet with the pouches, sixty six of them CDs. Of course this was before MP3s. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. This is going back. Oh man, of course, before Max there was Alexander Scorby and my cousin Nick Dr Nicholas Kenny. He turned me on to Scorby. Because I turned him on to Max, I let him borrow the Romans CD. I said, man, check this out, or I might've booted it and made a copy. I don't remember. I don't recommend that because we want to be law-abiding Christians, okay, but anyway, he went fishing. He brought a boombox with him, went fishing with his boy, his buddy. They went fishing and they put the CD in and it like supercharged his faith man. He called me up.
Speaker 2:He was like yo man yo, we played it back like five or six times, man, just listening to the scripture. Oh, man, you got to love it. So and then he went out and bought the MP. Then Max dropped the MP3 version, I think. Uh, by that point I think he dropped an MP3 version. But when he did drop the MP3 version, my cousin got that and he was like all amped up. So, um, yeah, the, the Bible, the audio Bible and the Bible on CD.
Speaker 2:When I got the Bible on CD, I then couldn't stop listening to the Bible. I was like man, let me listen to this thing first, rather than listening to music on the radio or the news, talk radio or anything like that, let me listen to this talk, man. And it was just a major blessing in my life. My faith was growing, I was immersed into the word, I was getting washed by the word, daily, hourly, and one year early on, I think, right after when I got the CDs, I went through the entire Bible in the month of January, from Genesis through to Revelation, the entire Bible. Man, and that was. It was life changing, it was transformative, if you can.
Speaker 2:Some people don't like listening to the Bible. They don't. They don't really get it in through the ear gate. I get it in through the ear gate and the eye gate I. I like to read it, I like to. I absorb it through reading. I absorb it through listening and if you do, if you can get to that point where, if you I think anybody can absorb through listening just takes a little focus, that's all. But it absolutely will change and transform you. The Word of God will transform you and I am living proof of that. The Word of God transformed me. Not only that, many of these stories that you see us perform are in part because the Holy Spirit used that tool to weld it into my mind, into my being, so that these stories, particularly the narratives, I can tell the stories because I've looped them over and over.
Speaker 2:I slept with the Bible. I put it on loop. Actually, last night I did the same thing last night. Of course, we're new technology people now, so I streamed it with my Bluetooth headset and I have the app. So I've got all and I've got a bunch of different narrators besides Max, although Max is still my my go-to guy. Max McLean, still my go-to guy.
Speaker 2:If I need to, if I need to sleep to the Bible, man, I, I put that on and it's just something about his fake English accent, which is awesome Because I've actually heard him speak. I actually talked to him, not to ADD here, but I called him. He was on the Bible Answer man program back in 2003 or 4, something like that, and I called the program because I was so excited about the Bible on CD and the product that he was selling or he was, you know, promoting, and I called him up and I was just so grateful and so thankful and I talked to him but he wasn't using his English accent and I made a little joke with him. I said, man, you know, I can't hear the Bible without the English accent. Now, anyway, so, keeping in that tradition this is a long intro keeping in that tradition one of the ways that I prep for the play is by listening to the Bible. Whether I'm cutting the grass or, you know, doing yard work, housework, whatever, I'll put the Bible on and listen to it. But one of the things I do now is I make my own audio Bible. I'm an audio guy, I'm an engineer, you know, I can record, I've got a full-blown pro studio and so I'm going to let you guys in on a little bit of my Dan prep. One of the things I did and you'll notice and you'll be blessed by this, I think, if you like the book of Daniel is I read the book, but I do. I had a little. There's a little bit of a twist on it because I read it as if it's first person, as if it's Daniel telling his story.
Speaker 2:Now, the Dan play is not going to be exactly word for word. This it is going to be scripture, but there's going to be some tie-in stuff, like we do with the plays, with plays on word. It's like 98% scripture. That little 2% is just connector type stuff and I don't want to say filler, but basically connector context type stuff. There's a couple of little humorous jokes and you know that's where we get pyramid depot and stuff like that. Uh, in the plays, in the Genesis Joe play, we we referenced pyramid depot. Obviously that's not in the scripture. It might be in your dollar store Bibles but it's not in. You know it's not in the Scripture. But we're going to.
Speaker 2:I want you to check this out and do me a favor, email me, send me a text, something, let me know what you think good, bad or ugly but I think you're going to be blessed by this, because I'm pretty sure you've never heard the book of Daniel from Daniel. Check it out, chapter one, right where I expected to be in this den with you, hungry lions. Since we're going to be here a while, I might as well tell you how I got here. Since we're going to be here a while, I might as well tell you how I got here, back when I was just a young boy in the land of Judah, the land of my birth.
Speaker 2:In the third year of King Jehoiakim, king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against Judah, jerusalem, and besieged it, and the Lord gave King Jehoiakim into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar, along with some of the articles and vessels of the temple of God, and King Nebuchadnezzar took them and put them in the temple of his God in Babylon. Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his court officials, his eunuchs, to bring some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility they were to be young men without blemish, handsome, skilled in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning and competent to stand in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, and the king assigned a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table to these youths and they were to be trained for three years and after that they were to enter the king's service. And I was among these youths from Judah, along with my friends Hananiah, mishael and Azariah. Now, hananiah, his name, means God is gracious, mishael means who is what God is, and Azariah means God will help.
Speaker 2:Now the chief official gave us new names. To me, he gave the name Belteshazzar. To me, he gave the name Bel. To Shazar, and that means may Bel protect his life. I mean that's Bel, a false god, not my god. To Hananiah, he gave the name Shadrach, which means the command of Eku, the detestable moon god of the Sumerians. To Mishael, which means who is what God is, he gave him the name Meshach, that means who is what Eku is. And to Azariah, he gave the name Abed-Nego, which means servant of Nebo.
Speaker 2:This was very difficult for us to deal with. We were given new names. We were in a new land and we were given new names of false gods, not our god, the true god. This was extremely difficult for us. We were in danger of being defiled from this new world, these new names we were given and this food from the king's table. Well, I resolved to not defile myself with the royal food and wine and I asked the chief official. I went to not defile myself with the royal food and wine and I asked the chief official. I went up to him and I said Please don't let me defile myself with this food and wine.
Speaker 2:Now God caused the official to show favor and sympathy to me. But the official said to me I'm afraid of my lord, the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you. Then the chief official appointed a guard over me Hananiah, mishael and Azariah. So I said to the guard I said, please test your servants for ten days. Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food and treat your servants in accordance with what you see. So he agreed and tested us for ten days. At the end of the ten days, it was seen that we were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youth who ate the king's food. So the steward took away our food and the wine we were to drink and gave us vegetables. As for us, god gave us learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and he gave me understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that we should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought us in before Nebuchadnezzar and the king spoke with us, nezer. And the king spoke with us. And among all of the youths, there was none found like me Hananiah, mishael and Azariah. Therefore, we stood before the king and in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of us, he found us ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all of his kingdom. And I, daniel, was there until the first year of King Cyrus, chapter 2.
Speaker 2:In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king and the king said to them I had a dream and my spirit is troubled to know the dream. Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic O king live forever. Tell your servants the dream and we will show the interpretation.
Speaker 2:The king answered and said to the Chaldeans the word from me is firm. If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb and your houses shall be laid in ruins. But if you show me the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive gifts from me and rewards and great honor. They answered a second time and said to him Let the king tell his servants a dream and we will show its interpretation. The king answered and said we will show its interpretation. The king answered and said I know with certainty you are trying to gain time because you see that the word from me is firm. If you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore, tell me the dream and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.
Speaker 2:The Chaldeans answered the king and said there is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand. No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men. Because of this, the king was angry and very furious and he commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. So the decree went out and the wise men were about to be killed and they sought me and my companions to kill us.
Speaker 2:Then I replied with wisdom and tact to Ariok, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill all the wise men of Babylon. I declared to Ariok, the king's captain. I said why is the decree of the king so urgent? Then Ariok made known the matter to me and I went in and requested to the king to appoint a time that I might show the interpretation to the king. Then I went to my house and I made this matter known to Hananiah, mishael and Azariah, my companions, and I told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that we would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men from Babylon.
Speaker 2:Then the mystery was revealed to me in a vision of the night and I blessed the God of heaven. I said blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him. To you, o God of my father's eye, give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and you have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter. Therefore, I went to Ariok to us the king's matter. Therefore, I went to Ariok, to whom the king appointed to destroy all the wise men of Babylon, and I said to him I said Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king and I will show the king the interpretation Now.
Speaker 2:Then Ariok brought me in before the king in haste and he said to him I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation. I was being called by my new name, belteshazzar, and the king said to me Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation? I answered the king and said no wise men, enchanters, magicians or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these To you, o King, as you lay in bed, came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have, more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.
Speaker 2:You saw, o king, and behold a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them into pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold all together were broken in pieces and became like chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This was the dream.
Speaker 2:Now we will tell the king its interpretation. You, o king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power and the might and the glory, and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beast of the field and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them. You are the head of gold. Another kingdom, inferior to you, shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all the earth. And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things, and like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these.
Speaker 2:As you saw, the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron. It shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of the iron shall be in it. Just as you saw, iron mixes with the soft clay and the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay. So the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw, the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. Just as you saw, a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this.
Speaker 2:The dream is certain and the interpretation is sure. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to me and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to me. The king answered and said to me truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of lords and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery. Then the king gave me great high honors and many great gifts and made me ruler over the whole province of Babylon and the chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. I made a request of the king and he appointed Shadrach, meshach and Abednego my friends over the affairs of the province of Babylon, and I remained at the king's court. Amen, that's all the time we have. We're going to finish this next week, y'all, or not finish it, but keep going Until then. The Lord bless you, keep you, make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
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