Vatican City is going to take over the world! Ridiculous, isn't it? But at first glance, so is the message that Jesus is making in claiming to be the divine Son of Man given the humble beginnings. But that is only at first glance. These three parables start explaining it well.

If the sower sows the Word and there are different responses, what is the soil like? What is the difference between good soil and the varied useless soil? That is the focus of this second message on the Parable of the Sower.

It's not up to us to ensure the seed falls on good soil. And that is good news. This frees us from trying to find a silver bullet and instead to trust in the Word of God accompanied by the Spirit of God to accomplish that for which it is given.

We all have to make choices when it comes to our priorities. So too does Jesus through his human nature make choices in his priorities and at the end of Matthew 12, those choices seem to be surprising to the crowds. Join in to see Jesus' true priorities.

Sometimes an atheist or any unbeliever has very strong reasons for their unbelief. But sometimes their reasons are very clearly excuses. In this passage, Jesus exposes the excuses of Pharisees who demand of him a sign on their own terms.

The news that Jesus gives true rest to the outcast and weary who only admit their needs is not welcome news for the Pharisees, nor do they take too kindly to the crowds questioning whether Jesus might just be the long-expected Messiah, so they take some rash actions that end in their condemnation.

Can we see the forest for the trees? The Pharisees sure couldn't and so they did not realize what God was after in the Hebrew Scriptures or the Mosaic covenant and so they do not recognize that there is something greater than the Sabbath in Jesus Christ!

Isaiah 40:31 is a verse we all like, but the primary encouragement is actually the surrounding context on the nature of God. This is the God we serve and for whom we wait.

Restlessness and exhaustion seem to be the norm. Is there really hope for rest in a busy and anxious age? Yes, but only in Jesus, the gentle and lowly one.

Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicting. That's what Jesus does as he condemns hardened cities who refused to repent at his mighty works, and invites the heavy-burdened to come to him in order to have rest.