Mission City Church w/ Pastor Josh Hershey

The last parable Jesus tells in Luke is a prophesy concerning His death. It is a parable directed against the leaders in Jerusalem who were not embracing His ministry. It is sometimes referred to as “the parable of the wicked tenants.” But I want to instead place the focus on Christ. Christ says He is the CORNERSTONE of God’s work in the world. As we center our lives around Him as living stones, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, we are structuring our lives on solid ground that will never be shaken. No matter what storms come our way!

As Jesus was preparing to enter Jerusalem the week He would be crucified, His disciples believed the kingdom of God would fully appear at once. In light of this, Jesus told his disciples a parable about a king having to go away (alluding to His ascension into heaven) and entrusting His servants with great gifts that they are to put to use until His return. Join us as we learn what it means to live from the resources of Christ, not being fearful of being good ambassadors for King Jesus as we await His return and the full ushering in of His kingdom!

“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector…’” (Luke 18:9-10). Join us as we unpack this powerful parable about pride, arrogance, humility, prayer of the heart, and grounding ourselves in the mercy of God!

Jesus taught 3 parables on prayer. This morning we will be looking at the first two. In these parables Jesus was teaching us the importance of “always praying” and “never giving up” (Luke 18:1). He wants us to pray with BOLDNESS and CONFIDENCE in the goodness of our heavenly Father. Jesus’ teaching, as well as his responses to many people throughout his ministry, demonstrated that “the prayer of a righteous person is POWERFUL and EFFECTIVE” (James 5:16). Seeing this is the case we must seek to “continue steadfastly in prayer” (Romans 12:12).

Jesus has been reclining with tax collectors and sinners while His disciples and some Pharisees watch and listen to His parables. After Jesus’ fourth parable in this setting, the Pharisees begin to “sneer” at Him because they were “lovers of money” and His parable had to do with God’s stewards abusing God’s wealth. Jesus is in no way intimated by their sneering, but goes on to teach yet another that also has to do with wealth. A parable with vivid imagery. A sore-covered poor man. A lavishly dressed rich man. Dogs. Gates. Angels. Chasms. Father Abraham. Moses. The Prophets. Join us as we dive into this fascinating teaching of our Lord.

In Luke 16 Jesus tells two parables that have to do with money and how God’s stewards are to treat the poor. Jesus is still reclining with tax collectors and sinners as He is telling these stories, and the Pharisees are still listening in. In the first parable, “the Shrewd Manager”, Jesus paints a picture of how a wise religious leader must respond to His ministry. They must come to grips to their sin and death (like the prodigal son in the parable before this), and then begin to treat those under their authority with great mercy. Join us as we continue our parable series through the Gospel of Luke and allow the Word of Christ to challenge and encourage us!

Jesus hung around and dined with tax collectors and sinners. This frustrated certain people and caused them to ‘murmur.’ In response to this murmuring, Jesus delivered three powerful parables about the God who seeks and saves that which is lost! Join us as we journey through the parables of THE LOST SHEEP, THE LOST COIN, and THE LOST SONS.

The Lord has prepared a wonderful PARTY for the world. A party all are invited to. Sadly, some make excuses of why they do not want to attend. Thankfully, God’s GREAT LOVE will not be thwarted! He doesn’t like empty parties. Or even half-full ones! God wants His party FILLED to overflowing! So He COMPELS us to come from every crevice and corner of society. The GOOD and the BAD are all corralled to eat, drink, dance, and be merry. Join us as we continue to look at the parables of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke!

Join us as we continue to dive into Jesus’ parables in the Gospel of Luke. We will be looking at the parable of THE FERTILIZED FIG TREE, the parable of THE MUSTARD SEED, and the parable of THE LEAVEN. God wants to brings us to repentance through His grace and forbearance. And He wants us to be encouraged about the power and potential of His kingdom at work in our world and in our lives. Even if it is a kingdom the eye can not always perceive!

Who is our neighbor? Is it our friends? Our religious community? Our country? What about, our enemies!? In this provocative parable Jesus helps us see that EVERYONE is a neighbor we are to love. And He does it by using a character who was not “religiously orthodox” as the main exemplar of what it means to be a loving neighbor! A Jewish enemy—a Samaritan! It was this man’s heart that bounded over with compassion rather than the religious priest and Levite. This man understood that LOVE comes FIRST. He had the “good and noble” heart. Join us as we dig into this beloved and challenging parable!