The parables of Jesus are short stories that pack a punch. They’re intended to evoke an emotional reaction from the hearer and be a catalyst for true and lasting change. Find out what the parables of Jesus can teach you, and how they can transform everything about life, love, leadership, and everything in between on your journey of discipleship.

Two back-to-back parables in the Gospel of Luke show us that God doesn’t always do what we expect, but he does unpredictably more. God didn’t intend to overthrow the Romans, though that’s what was expected from their Messiah. God’s plan was bigger than conquering the evil of Rome. He came to conquer the evil in you and me. When God doesn’t do what we think he should do, it’s hard to believe it’s part of the plan. If you put God in a box, don’t be surprised if he comes busting out! God is faithful, not predictable.

We can learn just as many lessons about God when we consider the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son. Even as this son was doing all the “right” things when the other son strayed away, his priority wasn’t to be with the father. His priority was to give in order to get. Why we do what we do for Jesus is important to Jesus. If you serve him because you love him, every act of service shapes your soul and will form you into the kind of person who naturally loves God & loves others. But if you love Jesus so that he’ll serve you, every act of service may actually drive you further from him. You can be right next to God, and nowhere near him.

Each and every one of us is a masterpiece of God—lovingly created in his image meant to do good works. At the same time, because of the sin of our fallen world, we’re all marred and broken in some way—for you, perhaps it’s an anger issue, or an eating issue, or a vanity issue; maybe it’s pride, or gossip, or bitterness. Whatever it is, it’s not irredeemable by God. God does some of his best work with broken vessels. Just as a potter molds and re-molds clay, God can re-mold your heart and your life, forming beauty from ashes. If you trust him, he can mold you, so be moldable!

The familiar parable of the prodigal son paints an image of a wayward individual, who’s taken love for granted and squandered his blessings. The parable can teach us a lot about ourselves, as we often relate to the son. But the parable probably teaches us more about God than it does about us—God longs so much for us to share life with him. Even if we choose to walk away from him, he’s always ready to receive you back with open arms. If you turn to God, he’ll run to you.

Many people, even people who aren’t followers of Jesus, know the basic plot points of the parable of the good Samaritan, and its application to live a life of compassion.  But Jesus’ parable asks more from us than most people think. Jesus’ command is clear—to love others! And love isn’t passive. To love is not simply to not hate, but to love is to serve, to give, and to forgive. So, how do you interact with someone who’s hurt you? How do you talk to someone who disappointed you? How do you treat the person who made you look bad or poked at your insecurities? As activist & journalist Dorothy Day put it, You only love God as much as you love the person you love the least.

Why does prayer sometimes seem so difficult? Why can’t you simply pray a prayer, and pow, get the answer you seek?  Without a definitive answer to prayers, you might conclude that God isn’t listening, God doesn’t care, or that prayer doesn’t work—and as a result, you might stop praying. But based on what’s revealed about God and about us in the parables of Jesus, your challenge is to pray big, bold prayers—and don’t stop!

As we continue Elijah’s narrative in the Old Testament, we rediscover & revisit a solid truth about God and his character. God is on the move. And this truth is offered not just as a platitude or some cliché—God moves in crisis, he moves in chaos, he moves in the mundane of everyday life. Taking this one step further, God often moves through his people—you! When people look to your life, can they see that God is on the move? We are called to live lives that make it near impossible for people to wonder “Where is God?”. The truth of God moving in our lives offers hope to everyone in their journey ahead.

In the previous message, we left Elijah in the depth of despair, feeling disillusioned and dejected by God—quite possibly in a state of learned helplessness if we analyze the situation with a lens of modern psychology. Perhaps not unlike you today, Elijah is seeing his problems as personal, pervasive, and permanent. In these moments, God will not shame you for feeling these feelings or for your lack of faith. But don’t be surprised when he prompts you in a direction of something unexpected to pull you from your rut and out of your cave.