Through the Bible for Skeptics and Seekers

Matthew 20 - 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? #NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #reconstructing #deconstructingchrist...

Matthew 19 - What Impossible Thing Do You Want God To Do? (Part 2) 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...

Matthew 19 - What About Divorce? (Part 1) 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 remin...

Matthew 18 - Are We Willing to Trust God and Trust Others? 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. #NewTestament #N...

Matthew 17 - 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 Him to sto...

Matthew 16 - Who Do You Say Jesus Is? 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.#NewTes...

Matthew 15 - What Makes a Person Clean? 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...

Matthew 14 - How Do We Respond When We Lose Someone We Love? 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 pa...

Matthew 13 - Do You Have Eyes to See and Ears to Hear? 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 quot...

Matthew 12 - Does Your Life Produce Good Fruit? 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...

Matthew 11 - Do You Believe To Be Blessed? 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...

Matthew 10 - Are You a Disciple of Jesus? 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! #NewTes...

Matthew 9 - What If We Were To Pursue Jesus for Healing? 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...

Matthew 8 - What If Jesus Had Power Over Disease? 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...

Matthew 7 - What If Our View Of People Is All Wrong? 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...

Matthew 6 - What If We Are Viewing God All Wrong? 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 K...

Matthew 5 - What If Our View of Reality Is All Wrong? The message Jesus shared called the Sermon on the Mount is a new way of seeing the world. In Matthew 5 and following, Jesus takes on religion - another danger to the movement He was starting. Jesus starts with blessed are the poor in heart - the ones who know they need God then Jesus calls us to an impossible standard and a call to be perfect w...

Matthew 4 - Do You Believe in the Supernatural? What have you experienced that you would describe as supernatural? Ever had an evil thought that scared you? While Jesus was in the wilderness, the Accuser tempts Him to take an easier path. Jesus overcomes these lies with Truth. Jesus announces the Kingdom of Heaven has come, and the way to enter this Kingdom is through repentance - acknowledging yo...

Matthew 3 - Who Do You Think God Is? Do you have a religious view of God or a relational view of God? John the Baptist confronts the religious leaders. Relationship begins with repentance - acknowledging we need God’s help. God proclaims His love for Jesus at His baptism before He ever taught a message, healed someone, or even began His public ministry. God has the same posture towards us! God lov...

Matthew 2 - Are You Open-Minded? Matthew was an eyewitness of Jesus writing his account of his experience with Jesus to help people discover that the Jesus is the promised Messiah. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about the Messiah which are mathematically improbable! We have copies of the Hebrew Scriptures that pre-date the life of Jesus so these fulfilled prophecies were not written up after Jesus...

Matthew 1 - Hope For Our Family? What if God put us in our family line to bring healing to those older than us and hope to those to come? Jesus’ family tree was filled with good guys and bad guys and people who were both! He came as a fulfillment of the prophecies of the One who will come to rescue us all. #NewTestament #NewTestament1Year #NewYear #Jesus #faith #spirituality #deconstructing #recon...

Deconstructing and Reconstructing My Faith I grew up hearing: "The Bible says it. That settles it. I believe it."The problem with that is I had lots of questions! I deconstructed my faith without throwing out baby Jesus with the bath water. I reconstructed my faith in Seattle with Gary Irby (Northwest Church Planting) , Dave Bruskas (Acts 29), and Norm Finch followed by 12 1/2 years with...

The Books of the Bible in 30 Seconds! I grew up doing Bible Drill and learning the books of the Bible. I may have had ulterior motives (free candy), but it's amazing how God has brought to mind some of what I learned as a kid. I can even say the books of the Bible in order in less than 30 seconds! :)Follow along as we read through the New Testament in one year - 1 chapter a day, 5 chapters a w...

Is the Bible Relevant Today? We need to read beyond our Western and individualized approach. Instead, the Bible can transform us and transform society. The Bible is to be read on our own and in community and understanding the context of what we are reading. Follow along as we read through the New Testament in one year - 1 chapter a day, 5 chapters a week. We start January 5, 2026! #NewTestament #N...

Is the Bible Misogynistic, Homophobic, or Racist? Too often people have claimed the Bible is misogynistic, racist, homophobic, and judgmental. What if God intended the complete opposite? What if this was misunderstanding came as a result of people using the Bible for their own agenda? Follow along as we read through the entire New Testament in one year - 1 chapter a day, 5 chapters a week.#NewTest...