Jesus tells us that to become a Christian, there has to be a smashing. Christianity is new wine: it ferments, it swells, it’s organically and chemically active, and it will smash the old, inflexible wineskins. Jesus teaches that there’s an old way t...
Here’s my thesis: The reason most people who profess belief in Christianity still don’t live big lives is because they don’t actually understand Christianity. Most people think Christianity is basically like other religions. But Jesus says his messag...
At the end of Jesus’ life, the religious leaders want him executed. But the Romans have all the political power. So they bring Jesus to the Roman politicians, saying he’s a threat, and the question is put directly to Jesus by Pilate: What are your po...
Jesus debated. Jesus fought. Jesus argued with the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, the teachers of the law, people we would call religious and civil elites today. But Jesus never picked a fight unnecessarily. In Mark 7 Jesus argues about th...
It’s not the whale events in your life that make you who you are. It’s all the guppies. Every morning you wake up and millions of them come at you. You have to eat. You have to sleep. You have appointments. The mundane, the hum-drum, the hustle and b...
The real Jesus believed in demons. The real Jesus believed in the devil. Most of us say, “They didn’t understand then what we understand now about diseases and mental illnesses. They attributed them to demons.” But in Matthew 4:24, you see something...
The gospel changes the way we look at our money and possessions. If we understand the gospel, we should have a radically different relationship with money than what our culture says is normal. To look at what the Bible says about this, let’s look at...
In Luke 7, we see a personal encounter Jesus has with two people. They’re both seeking him, but he responds very differently to each of them. We first see Simon, a member of the religious and cultural elite. He invites Jesus to dinner, which meant i...
If you want to get the gist of who Jesus is, you have to look at encounters Jesus had with individuals. The gospels are filled with encounters Jesus has with all sorts of people. In Luke 19, we get to a guy named Zacchaeus, and we’re told two things...
Some people dwell on Christ’s power and authority and majesty, and other people dwell on Christ’s vulnerability and tenderness and grace. But it’s critical not to screen out one side of Jesus as if it’s incompatible. The power of Christ is caring pow...
Because Jesus claims that he’s the final word, that salvation is completely by grace through him, the Pharisees and the Herodians band together to kill him. This teaches us not only how radical Jesus’ way of salvation is, but that if you really hear...
Of all the passages that are read at Christmas, Luke 2 is perhaps the most famous. And in this most famous passage, the most famous word is peace. What is Christmas all about? Peace on earth. When Jesus Christ was born as a baby, he was born to brin...
The message of Christmas is the message of the gospel. It’s the essential message of Christianity. And in Luke 1, we have one person’s response to that message. At Christmastime you’ll be hearing this message. The question is, “How should you respond...
There is absolutely no better place anywhere in the Bible that depicts Jesus as Immanuel, as God with us, as God truly with us in our condition as this passage. We’re going to see who Jesus is and what he came to do. This sermon was preached by Dr. T...
Though there may have been other occasions, the only time we know of that Jesus ever left his country, ever left the boundaries of Israel is here in Mark 7. He did so for a purpose, and he did so to teach us something. There are two stories: the heal...
