Matthew 19 - What About Divorce? (Part 1)

People who are divorced can tell you it's incredibly painful. In an effort to protect us from that pain, Jesus explains the importance of a husband and wife working through their differences and learning to love and serve each other. He even shares about some of the unwanted consequences of divorce.Now for those considering divorce, Jesus’ words remind us not to give up too easily. In God’s Kingdom, there are no second class citizens. We can be forgiven for our pasts, and we can forgive others and forgive ourselves. Somehow when we trust God, good can even come out of our worst moments in life. #NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith #starthere

Matthew 18 - Are We Willing to Trust God and Trust Others?

To be great in the new kingdom means to humble ourselves and have the faith of a child. 

To Jesus, those who are lost are a priority and giving grace and forgiveness is a priority.

We need to forgive others more than we want to forgive them because we’ve been forgiven. 

When it comes to conflict, Jesus gives wise guidance.

#NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith #starthere

Matthew 17 - Are We Talking Instead of Listening?At the end of Matthew 16 Jesus predicts some would not die before seeing Jesus in his glory. The story right after that is the Transfiguration. His prophecy came true. They got to see into the spiritual realm and see who Jesus truly is!Peter seems to always want to fill the silence only making things more awkward so God the Father tells Him to stop talking and start listening!In my own life, I spend more time telling God what to do rather than listening to Him. And if I understood His greatness and His majesty and power, I would reverse that.#NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith #postchristianworld #postchristian

Matthew 16 - Who Do You Say Jesus Is? Jesus doesn’t have a temporary physical agenda but an eternal spiritual one. Jesus is the Suffering Servant prophesied about in Isaiah. Jesus will take on Himself the sins of humanity (all the evil that has or will ever happen). This will kill him but he will raise from the dead on the 3rd day. Who we say Jesus is should determine how we live our lives.#NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith #starthere

Matthew 15 - What Makes a Person Clean?

Jesus clarifies what is actually required to make us clean. It’s about our hearts. It’s from our heart that we choose to live according to God’s ways or choose a more destructive path.Now, as followers of Jesus, we do not have the same food laws as the Israelites while they were trying to survive in the wilderness. In contrast to the resistance shown by the religious leaders, Matthew shows how open hearted a Gentile woman was towards faith. We are starting to see people who were not looking for the Jewish Messiah now coming to him hoping he would rescue them!#NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith #starthere #bible

Matthew 14 - How Do We Respond When We Lose Someone We Love?

In Matthew 14 we discover that John the Baptist was killed. Jesus hears his cousin was killed and he wanted some time alone to grieve and connect to His heavenly Father.if Jesus can do the miraculous, why did John die? The answer is we don’t really know.We don’t know why God might choose to heal someone and seemingly let someone else pass away. Even though we don’t understand it now, we can trust the One that does.When we lose someone, we may be tempted to walk away from God for not answering our prayers the way we would want. Instead, we need to lean into Him to help us through.#NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith #starthere #bible

Matthew 13 - Do You Have Eyes to See and Ears to Hear?

Jesus begins teaching in parables when surrounded by the crowds. These are short fictional stories that demonstrate a spiritual principle.I like to think of parables as like a Rorschach test. If you have eyes to see and ears to hear then it will make sense to you. If you are closed-minded and heart hearted then it won’t make sense.Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah when he was rebuking the people of Israel for their calloused hearts but then affirms the crowd and anyone reading today who is asking God to reveal Himself and make Himself known.#NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith #starthere #bible

Matthew 12 - Does Your Life Produce Good Fruit?

God established the Sabbath as a day of rest acknowledging He is the Great Provider and we can rest and trust Him. Over the years the religious leaders have added their ideas of how to apply the law to their lives. Often religion is a man made way to control people. Jesus understands the purpose of the law. The law shows us we need God’s help to lead a righteous life. When we try to live according to the law on our own strength, we fail. Jesus says: “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”” - ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬We are the people who know we need God’s mercy and should be those who extend God’s mercy to others.#NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith

#starthere #bible

Matthew 11 - Do You Believe To Be Blessed?

Jesus proclaimed He was the promised Messiah - the One from God who is God and walked among us fully human.

John the Baptist was experiencing the persecution Jesus promised His followers and it made him doubt Jesus.

None of us are promised life without hardships in this broken world. But if we trust Him, He will guide us through those difficult times and even bring good out of those hard experiences.

#NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith #bible #StartHere

Matthew 10 - Are You a Disciple of Jesus?

Jesus sends out the disciples to do the very thing He had been doing - proclaiming the new kingdom and healing people.

Jesus warns them that some will want to also follow Him and some will try to stop them violently. Their goal is not to convert anyone. Their goal is to find those who are spiritually searching and help them and they are all around!

#NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchristianity #reconstructingfaith #starthere #bible