The parable of the sower marks the point in His ministry where Y'shua gives up on trying to convert Israel's religious establishment because they do not want to believe that He is the Messiah. From that point his public messages are in cryptic parables. In the parable of the sower, there are four regions where seed falls. They represent Satanic interference with the Word, societal hostility, individual distraction and the faithful heart respectively.

Paul continues his advice to live in the expectation that Messiah's return is imminent. In this he speaks of both employment circumstances and marital arrangements. As mentioned in last time, he advises to avoid concentrating on romance unless such might lead to sin.

Y'shua was frequently in conflict with the Pharisees who were lovers of money and prestige. The parable of the rich fool who decided to build bigger barns. The parable of the dishonest manager.

At the end of Leviticus, Moses talks about the seventh and the fiftieth years of release. There debts are forgiven, Israelite slaves are freed, the land is allowed to rest and, on the Jubilee, people return to the land that Joshua allotted to their clans. This is not a test of faith, because God promises a bumper crop on the sixth year so there is no fear of hunger. Rather it is a test of people's attitude toward wealth. Will they be satisfied with the blessings that God has promised and provided or will they be greedy and work their land and keep their slaves in the seventh year?

In the 7th chapter, Paul is responding to a question that we can only infer from his answer. In this he sounds lukewarm on marriage. Later in the letter we learn that he expects Y'shua to return very shortly. Hence, the inference is that he believed that spiritual pursuits were more important than romantic ones given the times.

After having being accused of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, Y'shua's speech becomes more cryptic - except when dealing with the self righteousness of the Pharisees and the Lawyers. Their constant demands for supernatural signs beyond the ones He has shown openly bespeaks a heart that doesn't want to learn the truth.

Leviticus, the central book of the Torah, is where God tells Israel how He wishes to be approached and worshipped. Many believe that those instructions were only for Israel and have been superseded by the Resurrection of Christ. That is not true. Sacrifice is an act of love and is always acceptable in that spirit. God promises that when He regathers Israel and the Temple is rebuilt, He will once again accept sacrifice. That will be both from Israel and from the gentiles.

It appears that some in the Corinthian church mistook the liberty that we have in Messiah for license. In this they had descended into debauchery. Paul writes against this in the strongest of terms, telling the church to expel those who engaged in flagrant sin.

Y'shua's disciples ask Him to teach them how to pray. That means that prayer is a skill that can be taught. The Lord's Prayer, the Friend at Midnight, the Unjust Judge and the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

In Leviticus, God tells Israel to be holy because He is Holy. In the subsequent verses, He gives them laws on the basis of His own authority. The explicit purpose of these laws it to differentiate Israel from the nations that they are to destroy. The reason for those nations' destruction is that they practiced all of the abominations that God forbids. So too, our society has degraded to the point that we have made all of the forbidden abominations commonplace.