Matthew

Posts related to the Gospel of Matthew

Episode 11 Transcript

Episode 11: What Does God Look Like? Introduction My friend, Gary Christy, said something in a sermon recently that jumped out and grabbed me.  One moment I was sitting quietly in a Sunday morning service, and the next my mind was racing down a path through history and scripture, furiously connecting dots that I hadn’t…

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Episode 11: What Does God Look Like?

Good Church People have a problem with legalism. It’s a problem they recognize, but they can’t seem to rid themselves of it. The source of their legalism is in a place they’re afraid to look. It’s in the black box at the core of their faith. The black box that tells them who God is,…

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Episode 10 Transcript

Episode 10: Hic Sunt Dracones Introduction One of the byproducts of a law-based understanding of God’s will, is a necessary fixation on knowing what is core. Which of the laws are essential to our salvation—to pleasing God—and which will He give us grace on? The answer to this question is the key to being right…

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Episode 10: Hic Sunt Dracones

Is it a persistent illusion, or delusion, that we see ourselves as inherently better than the ancient followers of God? We scoff at their faithlessness. Why couldn’t they see the truth of what was going on? Why didn’t they listen to the prophets? Why did they worship those silly idols? We think if we had…

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Episode 9 Transcript

Episode 9: The Yeast of These Introduction When you read the gospel of Matthew with open eyes, one of the surprises is seeing who Jesus invites into the kingdom of heaven, and who is left out. Those closest to Jesus are continually astonished — often scandalized —  by his choices. And we should be, too….

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Episode 9: The Yeast of These

The ten chapters of Matthew 13—22 are about the same thing, and it’s one of Matthew’s central ideas. But it’s likely not something you learned about in church.

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Episode 8 Transcript

Episode 8: By the Authority Vested Introduction On playgrounds across the country, there are certain institutions, certain standards of practice, that are universally followed. At least they were in the 70s, when I was a daily observer and participant in those playground institutions. One of those was the authorized method for dividing into two teams….

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Episode 8: By the Authority Vested

Who are the first twelve people you meet in the Kingdom of Heaven? And what can they tell us about who this kingdom is for?

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Episode 7 Transcript

Episode 7: We’ve Seen Worse Introduction Do you know the story of Micaiah? This is a tale that would be at home in works of Tolkien, but it’s actually at the very end of the first book of Kings in the Hebrew Scriptures.  In this story, the king of Israel wants to go to war…

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Episode 7: We’ve Seen Worse

We’ve been doing the same things over and over again, expecting different results. Some would say that’s the definition of insanity, but others would say we just need to try a little harder, for a little longer. Who do you believe?

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