Refuge Audio Podcast

The day after Jesus fed the multitude, many went looking for Him to get some more free food. Jesus told them that He Himself is the bread of life—the spiritual nourishment that they truly need. Rather than receiving Jesus on His terms, the people took issue with how He spoke about Himself, and many left—including those who had been following Him. 

On the first Sunday of the year, we review the history, vision, purpose, and practice of Refuge to answer these questions: What are we doing? Why are we doing it? What does it look like? We turn to the Bible to find the answers to those important questions so we can understand God's vision for His church.

Jesus gave a command to his disciples to do something that was impossible for them to do it—but it was possible for Him. Like the disciples, He has commanded us to do something that is far beyond us. We just don't have the resources to do it. But what we do have, we place in His hands in obedience to His command and watch as He does only what He can do—bless, break, and miraculously multiply. 

In each Gospel, we see a different perspective of Jesus that gives us a complete picture of who He really is. In Matthew, we see Jesus as the pre-existent King. In Mark, Jesus is portrayed as the humble suffering Servant. In Luke, Jesus is seen as the Son of Man. And in John, we see Jesus as the Son of God. In each Gospel account, we see these emphases reflected in the account of Jesus’ birth. Watch our service from Christmas Eve as we reflect on the birth of our Savior, when the Infinite became infant and the Maker became man.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus prioritized teaching over miracles. His goal was for people to seek a genuine relationship with God. Returning to Nazareth (His hometown), there may have been a special hopefulness as He preached and taught the Word of God to his family and friends. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out that way. The unhealthy assumption of familiarity led to contempt, offense, and a tragic limitation of what Jesus was able to do for the people in Nazareth. 

It’s essential for every disciple of Jesus who sows the good seed of the Gospel to acknowledge the reality of just judgment found in the Old Covenant as well as the reality of redemption found in the New Covenant. But too often, the Good News is overemphasized without providing the reality of the bad news. People are invited to be saved without truly understanding what they are saved from. The Good News is good only if the bad news is understood. As sowers of God’s Word, we must faithfully share the whole gospel in love with all who have ears to hear.

Rather than teaching clearly, Jesus preaches in parables concerning the enemy sowing counterfeits who are full of hypocrisy and duplicity. They play the part of a believer for their own personal gain—with a smile on Sunday, only to start an evil whisper campaign on Monday.

As Jesus traveled to Galilee, He purposely went through Samaria—something a Jewish rabbi in that day would never do. Yet Scripture shows us that Jesus intentionally went through Samaria just to meet one specific person: a Samaritan woman at a well. By the end of the story, this woman came to believe Jesus was the Messiah and brought her whole town to meet Him. Watch our study in John 4 as guest speaker Pastor Byron Johnson led our time considering Jesus’ encouragement for His followers to lift up their eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.

Jesus gave His disciples the interpretation of the Parable of the Sower—those who lingered longer to learn from Him. They would also be sowers, sharing the Good News with others. But they needed to know that Gospel ministry was not inherently successful. Sowing the good seed of God’s Word will be difficult, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching—yet worthy work. But most sowers don’t give up, even though this worthy work can be difficult. Most give up over what Jesus articulates in His next parable in Matthew 13. Watch our study as we consider the Parable of the Weeds and find encouragement to not give up.

Jesus knew that parables aren’t easily or immediately understood. And so, He ended His first parable by saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” But wouldn’t Jesus want everyone to hear and understand? Yes—but only those who genuinely desired to understand Him. For hard-hearted hearers, parables protect them from further accountability. Jesus used parables to weed out those in the multitudes who were following Him for a multitude of reasons—not simply to worship Him and hear The Ministry of The Word.