ByLew
The other day Alan Knox shared with me an article written by Ernest Goodman at Missions Misunderstood. Goodman has just finished up a series called The Counterintuitive Church. This series really made me think about what Jesus did, what Jesus’ apostles wanted to do, and what I usually do. Let’s take the Parable of the…
ByLew
A few months ago I wrote a series of posts about the Kingdom of Heaven parables. Each post dealt with one of the parables. I did not get much interest in it so I did not write a conclusion. Recently I had someone ask me about a conclusion. I told them that I would write…
ByLew
This is the last Kingdom of Heaven (KoH) parable in Matthew… “For it is [the KoH] just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own…
ByLew
Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps….
ByLew
The Parable of the Marriage Feast is the next KoH parable that Matthew records. It can be found in Matthew chapter 22 verses 1-14. This parable seems similar to the previous parable because it reflects the Jew/Gentile relationship to salvation. Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared…
ByLew
The next parable in this series is the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). I have linked to the parable for those of you who are not familiar with it. For those of you who are, I will summarize it for you. The parable is about a landowner who hires some laborers…
ByLew
We have finished up all of the KoH parables from Matthew 13. It is time to start our journey forward and look at the latter KoH parable found in Matthew. Our first stop is Matthew 18:21-35. I found this parable very interesting, hopefully you will agree. Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how…
ByLew
The Parable of the Dragnet is the last parable in chapter 13 of Matthew. Like the first parable in this chapter, it is also explained by Jesus. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up…
ByLew
It has only been a week since my last post in this series. Since then, I have officially graduated! Yes, eight years and two colleges later and I finally have my sheepskin. Well, now that I have my degree, you all have to listen to me… right? Just kidding! This next post is actually going…
ByLew
The third parable given by Jesus is the Parable of the Leaven. Here Jesus compares the KoH to leaven. He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.” – Matthew 13:33 In my previous post…