We miss his power, purpose, and provision because we forget to put our faith in who he is and what he came to do. When we put our faith in Jesus and his resurrection, we realize that who He is and what he did is everything that we need. We have power over the enemy, purpose for sacrifice, and provision to point others to him.

We don’t realize what we have available to us when we meet with Jesus, so we don’t pursue an encounter with him like we should.

Jesus’ Resurrection means we can encounter the risen Lord Jesus Christ whenever we choose. We just need to make time to meet with him and let him change us like only he can. Faith in Christ compels us to come to Christ.

We think that life is about what we can get out of it. We don’t realize that church is more about sacrificing what we think is life to gain what true life is which is his presence and his glory.

The gospel teaches us that every sacrifice for the sake of gaining eternity with God is worth it. So much so that God the Father was willing to sacrifice his son Jesus, and Jesus was willing to sacrifice his life. All so that we could gain life with his Holy Spirit here on earth and life in eternity as well.

Our natural tendency is to focus on earthly things, causing us to miss Jesus. Any focus on what is temporal will cause us to miss who Jesus is eternally and what he has done for us eternally. Belief in the gospel redirects my focus to eternity. The sign of Jonah, Jesus’ resurrection, reminds me to live for Jesus, the Bread of Life, who alone can satisfy me forever and bring me into His eternal Kingdom.

Our tendency is to trust in our evil hearts instead of the Holy Spirit, and because of it, we remain dead in our sins, powerless to change, and unable to enter the Kingdom. Jesus came in the power of the Spirit to bring the Spirit into us by his death, burial, and resurrection. When we trust in Christ, we receive the Spirit of Christ who transforms our evil hearts into new, obeying hearts that experience eternal and abundant life.

We think that listening to our heart is a good idea, but our hearts are defiled and deceptively wicked. We have a heart problem, and when do what the culture says and “follow our heart” all it will do is lead us to sin and destruction. Jesus came to heal my defiled heart and give me a new one. Belief in the gospel of Jesus makes the old pass away and makes me new in Christ Jesus.

When we don’t grasp Jesus’s power, we will live lives of fear and failure. We’ll keep our eyes on our problems instead of fixing them on the Lord who can handle them. Jesus proved to be the Son of God through his power (not just walking on water and multiplying food, but mainly through his resurrection), and when we place our faith in him and look to him, we experience his healing and his saving.

We we come to the end of ourselves, we feel defeated, powerless, and afraid. We assume that if we’ve lost control, Jesus has as well, and we can give up even trying to fight. Jesus does his greatest work in the hardest moment. The whole gospel message is that the glowing light of resurrection emanates from the thick darkness of death. When we fix our eyes on this, we can rise from despair, give what little we have to the Lord, and watch Him do miracles with it.

When we don’t value Jesus the way we should, we don’t sacrifice for him or live for him, and our faithlessness robs him of power in our lives. The crucified and resurrected Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament truths. When we believe in him, we’ll sacrifice for him. And when we sacrifice for him, we receive the return on that beautiful investment. But we must choose. Everyone must choose what we value.

Takeaways:

• The pursuit of the kingdom of God requires an understanding of its immense value, surpassing all earthly possessions.
• Joyful relinquishment of worldly treasures is essential for gaining the incomparable riches of the kingdom.
• Faith in the promises of God is necessary to perceive the hidden realities of His kingdom.
• The call to follow Jesus demands significant sacrifices, which are trivial compared to the eternal rewards.
• The kingdom of heaven is worth seeking diligently, as it offers immeasurable joy and fulfillment.
• True understanding of Jesus involves recognizing His role as the fulfillment of divine promises, leading to genuine transformation.

Both evil and good can spread and grow in us and in the church, and sin blinds us from seeing which one is growing in us and around us. The seed of the gospel is the only thing that can transform our bad into good. When we trust in the gospel, though evil is all around us, it cannot get in us. We will attain to eternal life in Christ. Our hope must be anchored in Christ and his gospel.

Takeaways:

• The podcast episode discusses the profound philosophical dilemma of why a benevolent deity permits suffering and evil in the world, particularly for those deemed righteous.
• It emphasizes the necessity of understanding biblical parables within their historical context to grasp their intended meanings and applications.
• The speaker articulates that the coexistence of good and evil in the world is a deliberate design, allowing for growth and understanding in the faithful.
• The parable of the wheat and the weeds illustrates that the final judgment and separation of good from evil will occur in God's divine timing, underscoring the importance of trust in God's wisdom.