Feat. Maxwell Janssen and Kiara Bennett

These Lent Podcast episodes are meant to accompany a Bible reading plan called 40 days with Jesus.

My hope is that this Lent 2020 is a time where you become a little bit more inspired to seek the Lord in scripture and prayer and where you tune your heart to the ways of Jesus.

Download the plan at: http://media.cloversites.com/00/00ddb9c4-a85b-4d1b-aae8-3e9dde8475e4/documents/40_DAYS_WITH_JESUS.pdf

On this final episode, I talk with Max and Kiara about how the account of the risen Jesus encourages us. We bring in a few other voices from Granville Youth: Arman, Nathalie, Aaron and Emily share about their thoughts on this scripture and what excites them about Easter.

Mark 15 and Psalm 22

This Easter Saturday I was out on the quiet streets with only the birds chirping. COVID-19 has the whole world locked down. It’s as if we are invited to stop and contemplate. So, today, pause, contemplate. Think about that weekend when Jesus, who created the whole world, laid dead in a tomb on your behalf.

Little do the disciples know, this dinner with Jesus would be their last. Its a dinner they would never forget

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Mark 10:32-52 AND Mark 11

The crowds who follow Jesus are like us so often…blind to the ways of Jesus, ignorant of what his gospel of death and resurrection really means. But a blind guy named Bart got it. It turns out he was the only one who could see Jesus clearly that day.

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Luke 10:25-37

What does love look like to you? Does love ever cost you alot of money and push your boundaries? Does your definition of love include your enemies? Jesus’ stories always push us to the limit by expanding our catagories of what love looks like. Imagine your enemy hurt and alone on a lonely stretch of road and ask what love might ask of you.

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Featuring Special Guest Mahdi Kurzum of Ramallah, Palestine

Matthew 8:1-13

What attracts your attention? What does faith look like? For Jesus those who are vulnerable and come to him with desperate hopes attract his attention in a way that he calls faith. Learning about Jesus with believers from around the world is God’s great gift to the church. In this episode, I welcome my friend Mahdi to help us reflect on what faith and service look like in his home town of Ramallah.

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Luke 14: 1-25

Do you like banquets? Weddings, birthdays? God depicts his gathering of all people at the end of history as a Great Banquet where all who want relationship with him are included, especially the poor and vulnerable. In this episode Jesus tests the limits of his audience, inviting them to value who he values and to drop their stubborn rejection of his kingdom.

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In 1948 C.S.Lewis wrote some prophetic words of how to live in dangerous times

In 1948 C.S. Lewis wrote an essay called “On Living in an Atomic Age”. His words can easily be applied to what we are facing in COVID-19. In short he might say “get on with living people and don’t cower in fear”! Enjoy this bonus episode set to the Chronicles of Narnia theme music

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Are you building your life on Jesus the rock? Matthew 7

Jesus concludes his Sermon on the Mount with encouragements and warnings - the only way forward in this world is to build our life on God and his kingdom values. Storms like COVID-19 give us clues to where our trust lies. How are you doing at building on God’s foundation?

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A lifestyle of “no worries” is possible in Jesus - Matthew 6

Jesus’ call to not worry might seem impossible or even irresponsible during COVID-19. But in fact learning Jesus’s lifestyle of “no worry” is exactly what leads us to a life of productive life giving action, especially during times of crisis and concern. Look at the birds…

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