Guest Preacher Ronnie Martin (Director of Leader Care and Renewal for Harbor Network) walks us through a parable about the Kingdom of God, and how what begins as a seed must mature and grow until it reaches the designated end.
Resurrection Sunday, 2023 – Every one of us has a dominant story that shapes the way we view the world, ourselves, and God. For some it's a story of pain, loss, rejection. For others it's a story of hard work, effort put in, and reward or accomplishment. But all of those stories are but smaller stories inside the Greatest Story...the Story of God as spoken in the Bible.
What construction company sets out to build a building without first giving a bid? What king goes to war without first counting his troops? Jesus uses those to parables to say you shouldn’t be so fast to just raise your hand to follow him without first considering what it will mean.
After warning his disciples about hypocrisy, Jesus warns them about greed – an inordinate desire to have an abundance of possessions. He tells them there is a better place to invest in the future than stockpiling resources.
Jesus and the Twelve continue to move from town to town as Jesus proclaims the good news of the kingdom, but that traveling entourage might not look the way you think. There are women with them – possibly more women than men, and they have very important roles.
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” Does that mean having money is bad? And what are we supposed to do with this bit about loving your enemies? Or did we miss something in those 4 words: “Yours is the kingdom”?