Introducing Our New Series on the Parables of Jesus

Note: This post is part of a series about building a personal relationship with God by reading the parables of Jesus. You can browse the entire series here. 

We are very excited about the launch of our new “Parables of Jesus” series.

As RT Kendall says in his book The Parables of Jesus, a parable can be described as a “simple story that illustrates a profound truth. Telling parables was Jesus’ main way of helping his followers grasp spiritual truth. He was building a bridge from the natural to the spiritual.”

Understanding complex and deep spiritual concepts—let alone putting them into practice—can feel challenging. But Jesus gives us access to insight we could never fathom on our own through storytelling.

Anyone with a favorite movie or book understands the power of storytelling and how the best stories can stick with us years after we heard them. Jesus was the best storyteller and can help us connect with and understand God in ways we never could before.

With this series, we will explore twelve of Jesus’ many parables, using devotionals, podcasts, and videos to best understand and dive into these stories. We hope that we will all come out better thinkers, listeners, and friends to God and others in doing so. Join Russ and Mike as they discuss our newest parable series.

References

• Matthew 13:10-13 CEV Jesus’ disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you use nothing but stories when you speak to the people?” [11] Jesus answered: I have explained the secrets about the kingdom of heaven to you, but not to others. [12] Everyone who has something will be given more. But people who don’t have anything will lose even what little they have. [13] I use stories when I speak to them because when they look, they cannot see, and when they listen, they cannot hear or understand.
• The Parables of Jesus by RT Kendall – “A parable may be defined as a simple story that illustrates a profound truth, telling parables was Jesus’ main way of helping his followers grasp spiritual truth. He was building a bridge from the natural to the spiritual. It was Jesus’ way of helping people to make the transition that each of us must make every day of our life to move from the natural level of life to the spiritual level of life. Jesus revealed these insights through parables so that those for whom the truth was intended might know the meaning but those for whom it was not intended would not understand.”
• Nacho Libre
• Persecution and the Art of Writing by Leo Strauss
• Esther
• Dune
• The Matrix
• Jason Bourne