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Matthew 19:16–26; Hebrews 9:1–14; Romans 10:8–13 The story of the rich young ruler, in my experience, has always been presented in one way…he cared too much for his stuff. This is true…to a point. Is the conclusion that we have often been led to actually…

Matthew 10:21–22; Matthew 12:46–50; Luke 11:27–28 Have you ever been in a conversation…and it’s going well…and then it’s really digging in…and then someone interrupts? That feeling of…really? Couldn’t you have held out just a bit longer? Really? What was so important? Family. Except, in comparison…

Mark 12:1–17; Matthew 10:5–7; Matthew 17:24–27 Within the context of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the primacy of the remnants of the Israelites cannot be denied. Jesus calls them the “lost sheep”. Their place is significant to God, for they are even called by God’s name (2…

Luke 14:7–14 When I was young, my father insisted on making sure I was appropriately experienced in “high” culture. We went to ballet and opera. My dad said that we were sitting in the Grand Tier (still sounds a bit grandiose). This was the tier…

Luke 7:36–50; Philippians 2:12–16 The scorn of the Pharisees toward Jesus was pretty easy to see. They were effectively declaring that Jesus could not be an actual true prophet, because he dared to accept the anointing by the woman. “If he only knew what she…