new testament – Page 2 – Jesus @ 2 am blogs and podcast

Understanding the Bible 26: Jesus’s Parables and the Story of a Sower

May 13, 2014May 14, 2014Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

While Jesus certainly gave some famous speeches, most of Jesus’s public teaching was done by means of parables. These short, fictional stories were intended as both calls to action and as a means of offering a vision of an alternative reality- the kingdom of God. Yet they are more than illustrations, stories to be distilled down to their “moral.” Rather, like all great narratives, there is wisdom on every level: the details of the characters, their motivations, the alternative choices…even the tone of the story itself.

In this episode we examine a particularly illustrative example of the parables, that of the parable of the sower. In it, Jesus calls his listeners to consider their true openness to God. Are they willing to let the news of the kingdom’s presence take deep root?

It is a question we must all revisit regularly. And much of the work of the spiritual life involves maintaining our openness to the new.

This sermon/interview was recorded at Canvas (a Presbyterian church in Irvine, CA), March 16th, 2014.

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Understanding the Bible 23: Demons, Exorcisms and the Reality of Evil

April 4, 2014April 4, 2014Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

Is there such at thing as Evil? Not just as an adjective – describing the character of an act or even a person – but as a thing in and of itself; evil with a capital “E”? From the biblical perspective, the answer is: yes. There is a force, a drive within creation that stands in direct opposition to love and thus to God. This is more than merely the inertia each of us faces in our efforts towards the good. Evil is not simply the resistance to love, but is rather the active work against it. And while the language of demons, satan, exorcisms…is not the most comfortable for thoughtful citizens of the 21st century, it is the language the biblical authors use to articulate the hidden power that seeks to rob humans of our humanness.

In this episode we examine the story of Jesus casting out the “legion” of “evil spirits” driving a man to his own destruction and how his healing demonstrates yet another dimension of God’s salvation (Mark 5:1-20). If Jesus is indeed the means by which God will set all creation right, evil itself must be faced and defeated.

This is a sermon that was originally presented at Canvas (a Presbyterian church in Irvine, CA), 23 February 2014. To learn more about Canvas, click here!

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Understanding the Bible 22: Why It Matters Jesus Can Calm a Storm at Sea

March 24, 2014March 26, 2014Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

While the biblical story centers on God’s rescue of humanity, Gen. 3 (the Garden of Eden story) makes is clear that the entire cosmos has been affected by the curse of sin. Nature itself is broken, and thus the project of salvation must include the restoration the entire created order. In this episode we take our third look at the miracles of Jesus, this time examining the story of Jesus’s calming of a violent storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Once again the point is not merely to demonstrate that Jesus is a person in possession of tremendous power, but rather that in Jesus God is fulfilling every dimension of the restoration promised in the covenant with Abraham.

This is a sermon that was originally presented at Canvas (a Presbyterian church in Irvine, CA), 16 February 2014. To learn more about Canvas, click here!

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