Through the Bible for Skeptics and Seekers

Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with him to the Garden of Gethsemane and asks them to pray with him as he was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” (Matthew 26:38) The disciples fell asleep. In contrast, Jesus prayed: “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” (Matthew 26:42 NIV)

Jesus references the final judgment where he will divide up the sheep and the goats where the sheep will go to an eternal reward and the goats will go to an eternal punishment. Jesus explains that when we serve those often overlooked, we are serving Him. These actions don’t give you a relationship with God, but those who have a relationship with God do these things. Our choices reveal the kingdom...

Jesus tells a parable about three people entrusted with bags of gold. Two multiply their money. One had the wrong view. Do you view God as a cruel taskmaster or as the One who provides for you, gifts you, and empowers you?

Jesus predicted what would happen after he left the disciples. Some came true. Some come true in every generation. Some have yet to come true. No one Know one knows when Jesus is coming back, so we shouldn’t believe those making predictions. Instead we should live a life of urgency, advancing His kingdom with faith, hope, and love.

Hypocrites say one thing and do another and the religious leaders were all about exalting themselves. They looked good on the outside but were not good at all within. Not acknowledging you need help keeps you from getting better.

The religious leaders try to trap Jesus with questions about paying taxes and marriage after the resurrection and even about the law. His answers were so challenging and brilliant. They never asked him another question.

Jesus boldly goes to Jerusalem and is hailed as the Messiah. He turns away the corrupt money changers before healing people who came to the Temple. We are hard on the religious leaders, but we can also get caught up in our career and building our own kingdom that Jesus’ new kingdom threatens us.

What Do You Want Jesus To Do For You? It’s a powerful question. At the end of Matthew 20 Jesus asked two blind men this question.  They were calling out for Jesus. They explained they wanted to see so he healed them. How would you answer this question from Jesus?

What impossible thing do you want God to do? What is impossible with humans is not impossible for God. A rich young ruler walks away from Jesus because he was holding on to one thing that he felt was more important than faith. The good news is that we all need God and we all have access to His love and a relationship with Him as long as we acknowledge we need Him and want Him in our lives.

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 K...

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.

When it comes to God, 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 H...

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.

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 op...

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 trus...

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 o...

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...

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 experienc...

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!

Jesus pushes against the religious leaders who felt they deserved God’s blessing for their righteousness. In reality they were also sinners in need of forgiveness, they just didn’t want to admit it. Jesus came to rescue all of us. The key is we have to acknowledge we need to be rescued. We need God’s help! Jesus most often healed people who pursued Him or they had someone pursuing Jesus for healin...

Jesus begins demonstrating He is the promised Messiah by healing a man with leprosy, a Roman Centurion’s servant, Peter’s wife, and several people who were demonized. Matthew points out that Jesus is fulfilling the prophecy that the Messiah “took up our infirmities and bore our diseases." Sometimes God heals instantaneously. Sometimes there is a journey towards healing. Sometimes God does not...

Jesus warns us not to judge other people but to instead examine ourselves and treat others the way we want to be treated. So how come Christians are known for being so judgmental? The spirit of religiosity can deceive us. We are to have open and honest conversations with others where we speak the truth in love. We are to be like iron sharpening iron. But we aren’t to put ourselves in the seat of j...

In his message called the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes life in God’s Kingdom. He continues to push against religion and move everything into the category of relationship when it comes to God, who He teaches us to see as our Father. He takes religious acts and turns them upside down. First and foremost, our priority needs to be to seek the Kingdom of God first in our life. Giving to the poo...

For us to go Through the New Testament for Skeptics and Seekers, here are some bonus resources: The Chosen television series The Bible Project "For Everyone" by N.T. Wright

Jesus’ message called The Sermon on the Mount inspired Gandhi and Dr. King in their efforts to bring freedom for their people leading to independence for the people of India and the Civil Rights Act in the United States.