There's a seed of superiority in each of us. Unaddressed, it will grow into an oak tree of hatred and destruction. In this parable, Jesus offers us a picture of how the kingdom of God plants a whole new life in us.
No matter what your picture of reality is, this famous passage presents challenges for all of us. But it also has surprises that invite you into a better, more beautiful version of the picture you already have.
What is the kingdom of God? Who is Jesus? It’s easy to think we already know. In this parable, Jesus gives us the key to understanding both the kingdom and himself.
When you face the hardest things in life, what do you need more than anything else? In the breathtaking conclusion of Romans 8, the apostle Paul shows us.
Sometimes, lives can feel like tiny boats floating without anchor in a great big sea. We know God‘s promises, but we are still waiting for their delivery. What would it mean to know that the Holy Spirit lives in you—inspiring, empowering, and praying on your behalf? While we wait, the Holy Spirit holds us steady—alive with and within everyone who belongs to Christ.
There’s an old saying: Religious people are so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good. It makes sense why people would say this. But what if it’s a false choice? What if the gospel offers us a hope that brings heaven and earth together?
As human beings, our access to love depends on feeling worthy of it. But that leads to a life of fear. What if we could find a way to live that’s less driven by fear? This week’s passage takes us right to the very heartbeat of God’s work in our life to heal our fear.
It’s often easier to name the pain of things we don’t want than to articulate the desires we do want. But what if that pain is pointing us to something we’re made for? Paul shows us that something and its connection to our pain in Romans 8:6-13.
What is the truly good life? Does it even exist? And if it does, how would we go about finding it? Romans 8:5-9 shows us a picture of what that looks like.
What is true spirituality? At the beginning of Romans 8, the apostle Paul begins to explore this question with two of humanity's biggest problems, and God's ultimate solution.
We all live with the experience of inner conflict. Paul shows us in this passage in Romans that unless we are set free from our deepest problem that inner conflict threatens to be the death of us. Join us as we learn about the war within.
Finding the intimacy and belonging we long for is challenging. True intimacy requires radical vulnerability, which is risky and terrifying. In this passage, Paul shows us what it looks like to find the intimacy we long for in Christ.
Slavery is a problematic topic in any culture, not least our own. But in this passage, the apostle Paul shows us the nature of our spiritual slavery and a freedom that goes beyond anything we could imagine.
What if the life you long for - but have never really found - is available, but to find it you have to experience a kind of death? It sounds counter-intuitive. But that’s exactly what the apostle Paul shows us in this passage.
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Human beings want to belong. In this passage, we read the story of two families – one to which we naturally belong and the other, a supernatural family, into which we are invited.
You can’t know how to live unless you know what kind of story you’re in. In this passage, the apostle Paul introduces some of the most famous chapters in the Bible by giving us an overview of the Christian story, and inviting us into it.
What do we do about the darkness of this world? What does the future hold for this world? Those are huge, scary questions. But this passage gives us answers through this mysterious experience called the transfiguration of Jesus.
Love in the shadow of death. That’s a poetic way of describing life as we know it. But what if you could know a love that would never die? Someone you could love and be loved by forever? In the miracle of raising his friend from death to life, Jesus reveals how and who that love could be.
Even when life is at its best, there’s something about it that still leaves us disappointed. What if there was something that didn’t erase the disappointments of this world, but transformed your experience of them by giving you a taste of a future joy for which this present world is headed?
We think of our lives as a story. But every good story has a struggle, and our stories are no different. How do we face our struggle with evil? Even if you’re skeptical that you struggle with evil, this passage helps all of us.