What a mess! This relationship is fraught with betrayal, rejection, deception, and adultery no less! And yet, it’s so much more.

This may be the love story to end all love stories. Like the fairytales where the poor servant girl is swept away by the handsome young prince, this account has all the ingredients of romance. Would it surprise you that this story is actually about Jesus?

Abraham and Sarah are heralded as two of the most faithful people in history. God said “Go,” and they went, after all, they were people of action. But when God had them wait for a promise, that was another story.

Of all the couples throughout history, Adam and Eve had the best chance of getting it right. Perfect home, perfect job, no kids… and a daily walk with the Lord. What could possibly go wrong?

We’ve purposely selected this particular passage to close out our series on the commands of Christ. There’s a lot of confusion about how this whole human existence is to play out. At the end of Matthew Jesus makes it clear that we are to await his return. Let’s dig deeper to learn what this means.

Some of Jesus’s commands were directives – do this, go there. Others were warnings to withhold action. This one can be misconstrued in a number of different ways, and may just be the ticket to get someone off the hook from proclaiming the Gospel.

One of Peter’s last encounters with the Risen Savior was intense. In his love, Jesus confronted Peter’s sin, but didn’t allow that sin to define Peter. In the end there was a great commissioning that we all can champion.

There seems to be a theme in the life of Jesus, and that theme is forgiveness. Not only are there at least 7 times Jesus taught the concept, his entire life was a demonstration of God’s forgiveness for a rebellious creation.

Do you consider yourself a “little one?” You might be surprised to find that whereas Jesus loves children, Matthew 18:10 was not a reference to children, per se.

Americans are all about standing for their rights, and the church has been white knuckling the issue itself. In this new “cancel culture” the world is no longer hiding its animosity toward Christian churches, demanding that if you don’t acquiesce to the culture, you’ll face the consequences. It seems clear that “rendering to Caesar” applies beyond taxes. How do we know what hill to die on?