Audio Archive
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Moving Mountains
Matthew 17 | Jesus gets an ear full from a father because Jesus’ disciples are too inept to cast demons out of his son. This father should be. These disciples are supposed to be able to do what their rabbi can. That is the whole idea behind this internship program called “discipleship”. Jesus tells His [...]
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You Can’t Stay Here
Matthew 17 | Peter, seeing the transfigured Jesus decides he is incredibly useful as an ideas guy. Seeing Jesus, Elijah and Moses all in one place, Peter decides that he needs to create a permanent space up on that mountain so he could hold on to a temporal moment. He wanted to memorialize this amazing [...]
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Playing Follow the Leader
Matthew 16 | From our perspective 2000 years hence, it is pretty strange that Peter tries to admonish and encourage his rabbi he knew to the be promised Messiah. From the perspective of the first century, it must have been a huge shock to them! You simply didn’t talk that way to anyone in authority, [...]
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Worth Everything
Matthew 13 | Jesus is standing in a boat on the shore of the Sea of Galilee teaching the crowds. Jesus taught the crowds in parables where the complexities of the Kingdom of God were demonstrated in the simplicities of shared experiences. Jesus takes us on a treasure hunt today that is not unlike garage [...]
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Illegitimate Wheat
Matthew 13 | So, it has already been a long Sabbath day as Jesus wraps it up by teaching the crowds with some parables. Jesus teaches the people of Galilee by using agrarian illustrations. Today, Jesus tells the story about wheat, a specific type of weed and the enemy that seeks to dilute, confuse and [...]
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Family Values
Matthew 12 | So, Jesus has been talking back to people who now want Him dead. Really, Jesus is trying to aggravate the community leaders and gather an audience of the common folk. This week, we see Jesus’ mother try to talk some sense into Jesus, but Jesus wasn’t having it! Kind of a strange [...]
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Even the Ninevites
Matthew 12 | Yes, Jesus seems to have a knack for making people upset! As Jesus does, He picks apart the religious establishment while remaining popular with the people. But, this time, Jesus uses Gentiles to embarrass the Pharisees. Good one, Jesus! Tweet
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Blasphemy!
If you have ever read though a gospel story, you probably have run into Jesus talking about a sin that cannot be forgiven. That seems rather harsh, right? Unless, of course, you get to define it in such a way as to stay far way from you, but stick to someone else. You know, like [...]
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Eating with Sinners
Jesus, hafter arriving back Capernaum finds a man named Matthew (yes, that Matthew) sitting in a booth along side the road collecting taxes – perhaps the most disrespectful way to earn a living. But, it was a good living! So much so that people would take the social stigma to for the big pay check. [...]
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The Value of Fear
Matthew 9 | Most of the time we miss the subtleties. After all, we are 2000 years removed from the subtext of the New Testament. This week, for the first time, Matthew says that Jesus heals, the crowd was fearful, and the crowd worshiped Him. That actually does stand in stark contrast. Before, the response [...]