GRINDIT podcast

Right there with the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin is the parable of the prodigal son. It is one of the most misused parables because, in context, it's really about the older brother and how they represent the Pharisees who are mad over the people Jesus in ministering to. The context for this parable as well as the other parables Jesus tells in Luke 14-16 is set up in Luke 14 when Je...

Luke 15 starts off with the Pharisees questioning Jesus about the people he hangs out with. They believe if he were really God, then he would know what kind of people they are and he would never be hanging out with them. So Jesus is going to give them three parables that tell the Pharisees what his mission is, to seek and save the lost. The lost being those who know they are sinners, who need God,...

In this interview with my teenage daughter, we talk about her battle with anxiety, depression, and some things she does that help her cope with it. We hope that you will find encouragement from her interview if you struggle with anxiety and depression.

Over the last two years the suicide rate has increased significantly which also means many friends and loved ones suffered broken hearts and are left with many unanswered questions. Young people to older adults have lost hope and made the decision to give up on life. Why? This is probably the biggest question that never gets answered? Feelings of abandonment to anger overtakes the ones left behind...

“If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple...that's the words of Jesus. But I thought God is a God of love? Unconditional love so why is Jesus telling us we have to hate everybody if we want to be his disciple? It's all about putting him fir...

Janet Jackson released a song in 1986 with the title "What Have You Done For Me Lately" and that title sums up the attitude of many people today when it comes to helping meet the needs of other people. Or we say something like this, "If I do this for you, then what are you going to do for me?" Jesus has been invited to a dinner at a Pharisee's house and he is trying to get them to learn some humil...

Jesus was eating a meal at a Pharisee's house when he noticed they kept trying to sit at the head of the table because they wanted to sit in the higher places of honor but when someone with higher honor than they had came in, they had to get up and move down the table to a lower place of honor and suffer the embarrassment. Jesus ends up telling them if they would just sit at the foot of the table...

Jesus gives three parables to the crowd trying to help them visualize what the kingdom of heaven is like. He uses a mustard seed that is a very small seed yet when planted, it grows into a huge tree that birds use to build their nests in. Then he uses yeast. Yeast is a catalyst that makes dough rise. In these two examples it took something that seemed insignificant to many and it became something...

If repentance plays such an important role in us going to heaven, then we might ought to understand what it means! John the Baptizer’s message was to repent; Jesus’ message was to repent; and the apostles’ message was to repent. So what does it mean to repent? It is saying “I’m sorry” or is it more than that? If where we spend eternity rides on it, then we better know what repentance is! Also, Luk...

I heard a guy say, "God hates me!" because of something he was dealing with...But is that true? Luke 13 starts out with a tragedy. Some Jews had come to the Temple to offer their sacrifices to God and for some reason, Pilate has them murdered. Jesus takes this opportunity to teach the crowd, and his disciples, that death is imminent and it doesn't happen because we are worse sinners than someone e...

How do we know if the Kingdom of God is our top priority? How do we know that we are putting God first in our lives? Because we will be focused on others and not ourselves which is Jesus’ point to the man in the crowd that asked him to help get his inheritance from his brother. It’s all about focus. Where is yours? Is your focus on earthly things? Are you concerned with working a lot so you can bu...

As Jesus was talking to his disciples, there was a man who interrupted him. He said, “Jesus, my brother will not give me my part of the inheritance. Will you say something to him so he will?” The Bible is not a weapon for us to use to bully someone and get our way. When we can’t control or manipulate someone, the last thing we should do is try to use Jesus, or the bible, to get our way and that is...

Death is coming and there is no way around it. As morbid as it is to think about, it’s still a fact. Once we take our last breath on this earth, we take our first breath in eternity. Where will you spend it? Where your fear is will give you the answer! Jesus said, “Don’t fear someone who can kill your body but fear the One who can send your soul to hell!” Do you fear God? The One who literally has...

Jesus was talking to his disciples as a crowd gathers around them and he begins to teach them to not be like the Pharisees. In chapter 11 Luke gave his version of Matthew 23 where Jesus pronounced the “Woes” on the Pharisees. What he is doing is exposing their hypocrisy. A hypocrite is simple terms is someone pretending to be something they are not. It’s a term that comes from Greek theatre where...

In verses 14-28, Jesus casts a demon out of a man who couldn’t speak. After the demon was gone, the guy could talk. You would think people would be excited about this but nope, some of the people in the crowd accused Jesus of getting his power from Satan. They must have been murmuring amongst themselves because Luke says, “Jesus knew their thoughts” and he called them out on it telling them a king...

Jesus, as he does so eloquently, tells the disciples a story to illustrate the power of prayer and what is going on when we do pray. Some guy wasn’t prepared for the guests that will soon be arriving at his house so in a panic he goes to a neighbor’s house while they are all in the bed, knocks on the door, and asks for three loaves of bread and he explains why. The neighbor is reluctant because he...

How often do you pray? Every day? Once in a while? Only when trouble comes your way? When you are desperate? Jesus was constantly going off alone to spend some time with the Father in prayer. Prayer is how we communicate with God, it’s us having a conversation with Him. The disciples have watched Jesus do this for so long and they noticed there’s something special about the time Jesus spends with...

When the 72 disciples came back to Jesus they reported everything God had done through them and they were so excited because demons didn’t stand a chance against the name of Jesus! Jesus was moved by their excitement and was filled with joy but he tells them, “Don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” Miracles are awesome but the Miracle Wor...

Just as he did with his hand-picked 12 disciples, Jesus commissions 72 more people to go into more towns and villages to tell people the Kingdom of God is here. He gave them the power and authority to heal the sick and cast out demons to ack up their message. If the people accepted the message, they received a blessing but if they rejected the message, then they decided their own fate. Just like t...

Jesus takes three of his disciples up on a mountain to pray. This has happened before because Jesus would spend time with the Father in prayer but this time something is different. Jesus begins to pray like before but two men show up and they carry on a conversation about the death and resurrection that Jesus would soon experience. Luke tells us these two guys are Moses and Elijah. Moses represent...

Do you trust God? Seriously…do you fully rely on God? That was the message Jesus was trying to get his disciples to focus on. He knew he was going to die soon leaving them in charge so he was trying to get them to rely on God and not themselves. He even told them that he was going to die but what was they concerned with? Who is the greatest among them…Then Jesus has this mountain top experience in...

Have you ever wished you could walk into hospitals and lay hands on every person in it and heal them? Just bring so much joy to those who are suffering and to heal them from their pain? Maybe you, yourself, or a loved one has dealt with a life challenge and you would heal that situation. The fact is there is something greater than miracles…the Miracle Worker! Jesus! Jesus is who we should be focus...

In this last part of Luke 8 we see several examples of miracles such as Jesus calming the storm by speaking a few words when the disciples were scared out of their minds. When they got to the shore there was a naked man who came running up to the boat shrieking and making weird noises because he was full of demons. Jesus cast the demons out him into a herd of pigs and the shepherds take off runnin...

Jesus began to teach the crowds in parables. The first parable Jesus tells is about a farmer who sawed seed and prepared for a harvest. The seed fell on different places such as footpaths, the rocks, the thorns, and on good, fertile soil. The thing about the seed is that it was always useful, even on the footpaths because it became birdseed. Jesus interprets the parable for his disciples and he ex...

People want equality today but did you know Jesus was way ahead of his time when it came to equality? Luke 8 begins with three names of women who left everything to follow Jesus. Luke tells us these women were either healed of a disease or they had demons cast out of them. He mentions three by name, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, who was the wife of Herod Antipas' business manager, and a lady named Susan...