On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finishe...  Read More

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. We have spent this week walking through what we have been calling the Ephesus Effect, and it all comes down to this...  Read More

Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. There is a man in the New Testament that most people skip right over, and I think he might be one of the...  Read More

Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. There is incredible evidence in Acts 19 that something real happened in Ephesus, and here's what I need ...  Read More

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” When I look at the story of Scripture from beginning to end, ther...  Read More

But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, We have this way of ...  Read More

Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. We've walked through this parable all week, and we've seen three things.Fruit was the purpose, because God set up the vineyard and gave us everything we need to be fruitful.Fruit was the problem, because the tenants made it about themselves instead of rendering it bac...  Read More

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. When Jesus finally delivers the verdict in this parable, He doesn't soften it and says, "The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits." And that word should stop every one of us in our tracks, because Jesus is not threatening a distant nation...  Read More

And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' And they took him and threw him out of...  Read More

"When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit." Yesterday we saw that God gave the tenants everything they needed. The vineyard was equipped, the tools were in place, and the purpose was clear. But today we come to a moment in the story that shifts everything, because the season for fruit drew near and the master sent his servants to collect.And you kno...  Read More

"Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country." There was a master who planted a vineyard. And when He planted it, He didn't just throw seed in the ground and walk away. He put a fence around it. He dug a winepress in it. He built a tower over ...  Read More

"And he said, 'With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.'" If you want proof that Go...  Read More