Between the Feast of Tabernacles in October and the Feast of Dedication in December, Jesus ministers in the region of Perea. This episode looks at the events of Luke 13, including Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees and His yearning for Jerusalem's repentance.
All resources referencing Matthew 5
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As the window of opportunity for their repentance slowly closes, Jesus offers harsh rebukes to the Pharisees and to the people of Israel. This episode examines Jesus' strong words to the crowds and the "woes" to the Pharisee as He dines with him after the Feast of Tabernacles.
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After the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus continues ministering in Judea and Perea. This episode looks at the chronological context for the Lord's prayer as well as Jesus' often misunderstood words "the kingdom of God has come upon you" from Luke 11.
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Jesus begins the famous Sermon on the Mount with the "beatitudes", a series of "blessings" and "woes" for the Jewish hearers. Luke's account of the Sermon shows Jesus being radically divisive and indicating that God is interested in a repentant heart, not merely outward actions. This episode examines several of the beatitudes from Luke and Matthew.
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The Sermon on the Mount is arguably the most well-known of Jesus' teachings, yet its meaning is often misunderstood by casual readers. This episode introduces the Sermon by looking at its context within the story of the Gospels, when and where Jesus spoke it, as well as developing some of the major themes found in it.
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Jesus has already amazed crowds and confounded the Jewish authorities. In the next period of His ministry, His teaching is recorded much more and His miracles surge in their magnitude. Tension also continues to mount between Him and the Jewish authorities. This episode introduces the Middle Galilean period, stretching through several months of the spring of 28AD.
Blog entry
Over the past several years my friendship with Jesus has grown tremendously by studying His life. The 89 chapters of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John offer far more than surface-level details about our Lord. The more I've sought clarity about Him through the four Gospels, the more I've realized that I've had some wrong assumptions about Him. Because I care about Him, I care about people knowing the truth about Him. So this post is the first of several where I'll talk about some common misconceptions about Jesus' life. I...
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The blogosphere and social media world have recently been filled with news of atrocities taking place all over the Middle East (some of which are just rumors spread by social media). One of the affected cities is Mosul, Iraq where a Muslim group, ISIS, has taken control. Christians have been driven from their homes and forced to renounce Christ at the penalty of death. Syrian Christians have recently also been heavily oppressed by Muslims.
If we were Christians living in the Roman...
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Perhaps the most critical period in the lives of young adults in America is their time in college. More habits are formed, more beliefs are challenged, and more long-term lifestyle choices like vocation and relationships are made during those four years than in any other stage of life.
The transition to college also presses questions of faith and spirituality on young adults. Some say that the current generation of college students is the largest since the 1960's, but the lowest percentage to grow up in church. And 90% of the students who were raised in the church may never...
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Who wrote Matthew and when was it written? What are some of the key themes of Matthew's Gospel? In this episode of Opening Up the Gospels, I give a very brief overview of some of the important points we should understand as we seek to construct a chronological narrative of Jesus' life from the Gospels. The most important point to know about Matthew's Gospel is that it is arranged thematically and topically, not chronologically.