gloryunveiled

The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt 6: A Costly Dragnet

As human beings we’re an inquisitive bunch. We exhaust billions upon billions of dollars and man hours probing everything from the ocean depths to the far reaches of the universe. Why? Often times it’s simply to satisfy our insatiable curiosity to know what’s unknown. Of all the kingdom of heaven parables, the last one, theContinue reading “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt 6: A Costly Dragnet”

The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt 5: Topped Treasure and a Sacrificial Seeker

Today’s Christianity boasts the finest experts in sin detection. Preachers, theologians and laymen alike have mastered the Law for diagnosing sin better than any health care professional with their X-rays, MRIs and CAT scans for diagnosing disease. These sin specialists hint at this beautiful, glorious, wonderful Jesus beyond their examination room, but don’t actually takeContinue reading “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt 5: Topped Treasure and a Sacrificial Seeker”

The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt 4: Transforming Leaven

Listening to some churches you might think the kingdom is heaven is about counting nickels and noses, the “church ABCs”—attendance, buildings, cash. Jesus’ kingdom of heaven parables, however, unmask its true essence. They epitomize the kingdom’s most fundamental facets held in tension and balance. The first three parables speak of King Jesus at work amongContinue reading “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt 4: Transforming Leaven”

The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt. 3: A Surprising Mustard Seed

Six parables. That’s all Jesus needed to demystify the kingdom of heaven, making recognizable its continuity from Genesis to Revelation and 2,000 years of bewildering Church history. Having laid the foundation that He Himself is the Sower of good seed in the world, He builds upon it another parable to reveal what else God isContinue reading “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt. 3: A Surprising Mustard Seed”

The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt. 2: The Sower of Good Seed

The kingdom of heaven is so vast, the Bible so colossally labyrinthine, and Christians so all over the map as to what this kingdom is all about that we desperately need light to cut through the fog. Jesus’ parables break forth as a breath of fresh air of simplicity in this stuffy room of complexityContinue reading “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt. 2: The Sower of Good Seed”

The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt 1: Have You Understood All These?

If you were asked to describe the kingdom of God, how would you do it? Oh, and you only get six analogies to compare it with. Here’s the kicker: your description of the kingdom of God has to encompass everything the Bible has revealed about it—all the Old Testament, the Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and allContinue reading “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Pt 1: Have You Understood All These?”

All He Asks of Me is to Shine

God has been shaking up the way I see Him in His world! What’s at the epicenter of this spiritual earthquake? Jesus’ parables. On Labor Day weekend I ventured west from Virginia in my ’09 RAV4 for a long anticipated journey to visit family and familiar landmarks from my childhood to college years in Indiana,Continue reading “All He Asks of Me is to Shine”

Looking Unto Jesus: From Abel to Today

What faith did saints in the Old Testament have? We believe in Jesus. What did they believe? The Lord has been showing me how their faith wasn’t all that much different than yours and mine today. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside everyContinue reading “Looking Unto Jesus: From Abel to Today”

More Precious Than Gold Pt. 2: Perception Matters

Remember how Paul fell off his horse on the Damascus road when he encountered Jesus? Only one thing. Neither Acts nor Paul said anything about a horse. Yet this pervasive perception is imprinted in our imagination of this scene. If we see through rose-colored glasses, the world looks rosy, right? Looking at the glass halfContinue reading “More Precious Than Gold Pt. 2: Perception Matters”

More Precious Than Gold Pt. 1: Teaser Intro to Peter’s Epistles

I’ll never forget my first whitewater rafting trip. Standing at attention in my blue life-jacket and yellow “brain bucket,” our young adult river guide warned of everything that could go wrong. Most ominous was the “High side right!”—an emergency scramble onto the raft’s right side (outside the raft) to avoid rapids swallowing us up. AsContinue reading “More Precious Than Gold Pt. 1: Teaser Intro to Peter’s Epistles”