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"He said to them, 'Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.'" (Matthew 13:52) "Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 2:2b-3) …
Continue reading "LORD, bring me into the spacious life of Your presence: a prayer"
"While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 'A farmer went out to sow his seed.'" (Luke 8:4-5a) Reading the parable of the soils in Luke's gospel, I'm surprised by the final sentence of Jesus' explanation of that parable to the disciples: "As …
Vincent van Gogh, The Sower; oil on canvas; 1888. After Jesus' resurrection, there are numerous accounts of Jesus meeting with His disciples. Several of those accounts depict Jesus' commissioning His disciples to continue the work He began (see Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:45-49; John 20:19-23; Acts 1:6-8). He invites them to become witnesses of Jesus …
Continue reading "Scatter the Word :: Vincent van Gogh, “The Sower”"
“Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” (Matthew 13:54b-56) There are different types of questions. …
This past weekend at Eastbrook, I began a new preaching series, "Who Do You Say I Am?" by looking at a little episode at the end of Matthew, chapter 13, on Jesus' visit home to Nazareth and the response He receives from people there. This leads us into a little exploration of the questions we …
Matthew Erickson 