Matthew 13:47-50
Everyone is good for something. The key is to remember that "good" must be according to God's purposes. That is how we will be judged after all is said and done.
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2 Corinthians 5:7
How can we have confidence that it will go well for us when we "stand before the judgment seat of Christ" after all is said and done? In this message from guest preacher Mark Collins, of Durango, CO, we are encouraged to rest our fate in the righteousness of Jesus, and to devote our own lives to living God's way according to Jesus. Matthew 13:44-46
Jesus tells a parable about hidden treasure and another about an extraordinary pearl. Both stories highlight the joy of discovering what a person never dreamed of finding. Jesus says this is what it's like to find the Kingdom of God. Both stories also include the tell-tale sign that a person has truly found the kingdom of God. Matthew 13:31-33
Jesus's double parable about how God's kingdom grows reassures disciples that God is always in charge of his historic project. Our responsibility is to be faithful to the kingdom "seed" as God has given it to us. Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43
In the Parable of the Weeds, Jesus teaches that God plans to leave the wicked in his world until the righteous have fully matured. The Parable promises divine resources for Christians to stand tall to the glory of God. Matthew 13:1-23
Jesus' "Parable of the Sower" (Matt 13:18) is famous. Since the day he first told that story, images of the four types of "soil" have been considered over and over again. As Matthew presents it to us, the Parable of the Sower is the beginning of Jesus' practice of teaching the crowds only in parables. When we consider this aspect of the narrative, we gain strategic understanding for engaging our own time with the word of God. Malachi 1:6-2:9
God has much about which to take issue with the priests of Israel not long after the return from exile. As God scolds them through the prophet Malachi, present-day Christians can learn important lessons from their mistakes. We are reminded that our task is to honor, proclaim, and display the awesome holiness of the living God. Matthew 12:46-50
There are many ways we identify with other human beings as "family." Not all of them have to do with blood relations. Naturally, we bring this tendency into the Church. We gather in "families" of people "like me." In the passage, we are reminded that the family of Jesus is defined according to himself. Jesus' family is "everyone who does the will of My Father in heaven." Many Christians join their neighbors in their communities in celebrating the arrival of a New Year. Yet, "New Year's Day" has never been a Christian holiday. What reasons might Christians have for celebrating a time when the earth begins another trip around the sun? As we listen to God's word answering this question, we are reminded of some of the most profound teachings from God.
Genesis 3:8; 2 Corinthians 5:17
There was a time in God's special garden in Eden that man and woman took walks with God in the cool of the evening. Apparently, God drew near in the form of a human body in order to enjoy this garden time with them. The man and woman's sin ruined all of that, corrupting human nature itself. Now the human life would be marked by Death in many forms of experience. At just the right time, God took human form again, but in a very unique way. God united his own being to the corrupt human being in the man, Jesus. By sacrificing this human life for our sins, God renewed human nature in Jesus Christ. Now, we have God's promise that in Jesus we will someday enjoy the fullness of that new humanity. Someday, we will take walks with God again in his special garden. |
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