The Word For The Valley Podcast (iOS)

It is possible to become very serious about small religious details while completely missing the things that matter most to God.

In Matthew 23, Jesus confronts religious leaders who carefully measured their tithes down to the smallest herbs while neglecting what He calls the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith.

And beneath that misplaced focus was an even deeper problem. They had become experts at cleaning up what people could see without allowing God to transform what was happening inside.

In this episode, Pastor Mike continues through Matthew 23:13–28 and challenges us to work harder on the condition of our hearts than on the appearance of our lives.

Hypocrisy becomes especially dangerous when it begins affecting the way other people see God.

In Matthew 23, Jesus pronounces a series of woes against the scribes and Pharisees. These religious leaders spoke about knowing God and leading others toward Him, but Jesus says their lives were actually becoming obstacles to the people who sincerely wanted to draw near.

And that warning reaches beyond the Pharisees. Whenever we speak confidently about something God has not yet been allowed to do in us, we risk leading people toward our opinions, our practices, or our image rather than toward Him.

In this episode, Pastor Mike begins walking us through Matthew 23:13–28 and challenges us to make sure that what we want God to do in others is first becoming real in us.

It is easy to recognize hypocrisy in someone else. It is much harder to recognize the same tendency in ourselves.

In Matthew 23, Jesus exposes religious leaders who cared deeply about being seen, recognized, and honored by others.

But Jesus points His disciples in another direction.

Instead of seeking recognition, serve.

Instead of trying to appear great, become a blessing.

In Part 2, Pastor Mike explores how humble service moves our attention away from ourselves and toward genuinely helping the people around us.

“He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.”

Hypocrisy can be deeply discouraging, especially when it comes from people who claim to represent God.

But in Matthew 23, Jesus does not allow the failures of the religious leaders to become an excuse for His disciples to stop doing what is right.

In Part 1, Pastor Mike challenges us to take responsibility for our own obedience. People will disappoint us. Leaders will fall short. Examples will fail.

But our standard is not the people around us. Our standard is God.

We do not need to wait for the perfect leader, church, or environment before we can hear God’s Word, do what He says, and keep growing.

Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And the second is like it: to love your neighbor as yourself.

Those two commands are inseparable. Our love for God is meant to shape the way we live, serve, sacrifice, and relate to the people around us.

But that kind of love is not something we manufacture through sheer effort. It begins with receiving the love God has already shown us and allowing that love to work its way outward through our lives.

In this episode, Pastor Mike continues through Matthew 22:34–46, looking more closely at what it means to love God and others the way Jesus describes.

In Matthew 22, the Pharisees and Sadducees have been taking turns questioning Jesus, each hoping to expose a weakness in His teaching. But after Jesus silences the Sadducees, one of the Pharisees, a lawyer, steps forward with another question: “Which is the great commandment in the law?”

And in Jesus’ answer, we are given something much bigger than a ranking of commandments. We are given, in many ways, a purpose statement for the life God created us to live.

In this episode, Pastor Mike begins walking us through Matthew 22:34–46, helping us see what matters most to God and what it means to order our lives around that purpose.

In Matthew 22, after Jesus answers the Pharisees and Herodians, the Sadducees come to Him with another challenge.

Because they deny the resurrection, they present Jesus with a complicated hypothetical about a woman who had been married to seven brothers, hoping to expose what they see as a problem with life after death.

But Jesus says their real mistake is deeper: they do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

In this episode, Pastor Mike continues through Matthew 22:15–33 and shows us the difference between knowing the facts of Scripture and actually understanding its heart, purpose, and intent.

In Matthew 22, the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders continues to intensify.

After Jesus exposes their rejection of God through a series of parables, the Pharisees change tactics. They send their disciples with the Herodians to trap Jesus with a politically charged question about paying taxes to Caesar.

Their goal is not really to discover truth. They are trying to force Jesus into an answer that can be used against Him and turn the people away from Him.

In this episode, Pastor Mike begins teaching through Matthew 22:15–33 and shows us how questions can be used, not to seek truth, but to manipulate and discredit.

In Matthew 22, the king’s invited guests refuse to come to the wedding feast.

So the invitation goes outward.

The servants are sent to the highways to invite people who would never have expected a place at the table. The feast has already been prepared, the cost has been covered, and the king desires people to come and honor his son.

In this episode, Pastor Mike continues through Matthew 22:1–14 and shows us how the rejection of some becomes an opportunity for the invitation of God’s kingdom to reach others.

In Matthew 22, Jesus continues confronting a dangerous assumption: that proximity to the things of God guarantees a place in His kingdom.

The religious leaders trusted in their heritage, their position, and their identity as God’s chosen people. But Jesus tells a parable about a king who prepares a wedding feast, only to have those originally invited refuse to come.

So the invitation is extended beyond them to people on the highways, outsiders who never expected to receive it.

In this episode, Pastor Mike begins teaching through Matthew 22:1–14 and shows us why entrance into God’s kingdom is not based on nationality, background, or religious privilege, but on our response to the invitation God has graciously given.