The Advent season is one of great hope and longing for the Messiah to come. We have this hope because our God does not leave us alone.

There are many depictions of Jesus in our culture and all of them ultimately come up short. As we come into the time of Advent, it can be tempting to look to the "sweet baby Jesus" in the manger and stop there, but the book of Revelation gives us a much more glorious view of Jesus that we would be wise to heed.

What wedding is complete without food? Jesus asks a question similar to this in today's passage and introduces us to the concept of Jesus as a bridegroom and his people as his bride.

Do you recognize your need for healing or do you think you have no need for a physician?

What does it mean to be part of the family of God? What are the perks and responsibilities involved with being part of this family? Who actually is part of it? How do we know whether we are a part of it at all?

What's your story? How do you tell it? In today's passage we are introduced to the author of the book of Matthew for the first time when we are already a quarter of the way through the book.

The main legacy of his life is his book in the Bible and he's barely in it. Why is that?

The story Matthew had to tell was Christ's story and not his own.

There are few stories more beloved by Christians than the story of the paralyzed man being lowered before Jesus. What is interesting to note is that Jesus' primary concern was not the man's physical wellbeing, but rather his spiritual wellbeing.

Throughout the Gospels we get some of the clearest depictions of Christology (the understanding of Christ) from Jesus' interactions with demonic sources. As we see from this passage, Jesus is the Son of God and the one with all authority over all of creation.

The story of Jesus calming the storm is found in all three synoptic Gospels and is an important marker of Jesus' divinity. What can we learn from the disciples response to this miracle? Listen and find out!

Jesus has some particularly difficult sayings in the Gospels and one of those is found in Matthew 8:18-22.

In this passage, Jesus makes it clear that there is no middle road of half-hearted discipleship. The options are wholehearted following or, ultimately, rejection of Christ.