The book of Daniel is a story about a group of Israelites who have been exiled from Babylon, and the whole point is to explore what it means to be God’s people when you’re a minority. This book is about the struggle to maintain faithfulness and

Faithfulness in Exile: Daniel Part 2 - The National Idol

Feb 5th, 2018 55m 11s

I did this teaching a couple of years ago about Daniel Chapter 3. It is a famous story in the Old Testament about the three guys who get thrown into this Babylonian furnace because they won’t worship an idol of the kingdom of Babylon as if it i

The Cost of Following Jesus: New Testament Themes Part 2

Sep 4th, 2017 43m 17s

This teaching explores Jesus' call to a radical way of life in following him. It's based on Luke Chapter 14, which includes some very challenging sayings of Jesus about counting the cost of following him. We will consider the balance between Je

A Theology of Work Part 2 - A Future for My Work

Aug 30th, 2017 48m 3s

Should the fact that I am a follower of Jesus mean that I think differently about my work and career? If so, how? In this teaching, I explore how our hopes about the ultimate outcome of history have a significant impact on how we think about ou

An Update From Tim

Apr 8th, 2019 4m 32s

A message from Tim to let everyone know that we will be putting this podcast on pause for now. It will remain active online so you can still listen or re-listen to his sermons.If you want to hear more from Tim, check out The Bible Project Podc

The Crocus Flower and the Empty Tomb - Gospel of Matthew Part 35

Feb 11th, 2019 52m 12s

This story has changed the course of human history over the past 2,000 years. Of course the story is profound, but the IMPLICATIONS of what it means to the history of our universe leading up to Jesus’ resurrection is incredible. This teaching i

The Blood Cries Out - Gospel of Matthew Part 34

Jan 28th, 2019 57m 7s

We are in the final moments of Jesus’ story, and we focus on his trial, but also the story in Matthew about Judas after his betrayal of Jesus. Judas experiences extreme remorse and ends up committing suicide.These are grim stories, but they ar

Panic Attack - Gospel of Matthew Part 33

Jan 13th, 2019 57m 5s

We’ve come to (from my perspective) one of the most profound, mysterious, and almost terrifying stories of the Gospel. It is the story of Jesus right before he gets arrested and executed.He took his friends and followers to a small olive grove

The Passover Meal - Gospel of Matthew Part 32

Dec 31st, 2018 54m 1s

This teaching is actually kind of a replay and development of a teaching that I gave numerous times about the Messianic Passover. As we retell the story of Passover year after year, we can see that the story is forward-pointing as it represents

Gold, Darkness, and Dwarves - Gospel of Matthew Part 31

Dec 17th, 2018 51m 54s

Today we ponder a pretty well-known peril of Jesus that has been misused and abused in unfortunate ways when it is read out of context.This story is about a landowner who gives different sized investments to his servants and then expects them

Signs of the Times - Gospel of Matthew Part 30

Dec 3rd, 2018 59m

We go over Matthew Chapter 24 today, which in modern, especially American Protestantism, has become a very controversial text related to biblical discussions about “the end times”.The longer I’ve gone on to learn more about the bible and how s

Love and the Rebirth of the Universe - Gospel of Matthew Part 29

Nov 26th, 2018 54m 32s

We are in the “passion” week during Jesus’ stay in Jerusalem for Passover, and there are a series of controversies. Today we explore a controversy that Jesus has with some priests. They try to trap Jesus in a scripture-type puzzle, but he reall

Love Poems, Vineyards, and Rocks - Gospel of Matthew Part 28

Nov 19th, 2018 51m 48s

We look at a story from a controversy that Jesus was involved in in this episode. During his final week in Jerusalem for Passover, he ends up telling this famous story of God’s covenant with Israel leading up to Jesus. He tells it through a sto

Jesus, Prophet and Provocateur - Gospel of Matthew Part 27

Nov 12th, 2018 52m 35s

In this teaching, we take apart Matthew Chapter 21 and the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem during the week of Passover, and he creates a storm. He literally storms into the temple and turns over tables and stages a protest.Immediately fol

Forgiveness - Gospel of Matthew Part 26

Oct 28th, 2018 57m 45s

We slow down on Matthew Chapter 18 and address Jesus’ aside road trip in this teaching. He is trying to give his staff and disciples an idea of what it is like to live in the upside-down value system of the kingdom in our personal conflicts and

Of Millstones and Guardian Angels - Gospel of Matthew Part 25

Oct 22nd, 2018 45m 19s

This episode takes us into Matthew Chapter 18. Jesus was taking a road trip, and then he decided to go on a solo march towards Jerusalem for Passover. He had been trying to invite his disciples specifically (his closest followers). This chapter

Death and Taxes - Gospel of Matthew Part 24

Oct 15th, 2018 46m 10s

At this point, we take a look at Matthew Chapter 17 about taxes and death. This isn't the most famous story about taxes in the Bible, but it is one of the first. It is about how Jesus relates to power and the Jewish institutions within religiou

The Other Side of the Lake - Gospel of Matthew Part 23

Oct 8th, 2018 50m 22s

At this point, we look at Matthew Chapter 15. It is a story about a woman who approaches Jesus and asks him to heal her child, and Jesus HESITATES (which is totally bizarre because it doesn’t fit the portrait of Jesus, right?). The backstory of

Severed Heads & Hungry Crowds - Gospel of Matthew Part 22

Oct 1st, 2018 43m 58s

We’re looking at Matthew Chapter 14. I consider two stories alongside each other in this teaching. One is the story of John the Baptist getting beheaded by the royal family. It is followed by another story of Jesus providing food for hungry peo

Weeds and Wheat - Gospel of Matthew Part 21

Sep 24th, 2018 49m 20s

We consider one of Jesus’ parables in this episode. Jesus is explaining who he is and what the kingdom of God that he is announcing is like. He is trying to shift and recreate new paradigms for people and life and God. The “Weeds and Wheat” is

Jesus Gives Us a Sign - The Gospel of Matthew Part 20

Sep 17th, 2018 49m 25s

In this teaching, we address Matthew Chapter 12. Here, the leaders of Israel challenge Jesus and they want to make him prove his identity. Jesus responds by giving them a riddle and talking about the sign of Jonah.This story also raises a fasc

One Way Road to the Grave - Gospel of Matthew Part 19

Sep 10th, 2018 52m 34s

Matthew Chapters 11 and 12 are stories about people responding to what Jesus has been doing in chapters 4 -10. What we see here is one of the first notes of people’s rejection of Jesus by the Israelite contemporaries. So in this episode, we sit

The Hammer that Heals - Gospel of Matthew Part 18

Sep 3rd, 2018 42m 2s

We look at Matthew Chapter 11 today. It is kind of a puzzling story, where John the Baptist (who is actually Jesus’ relative and played a very key role in Jesus’ life early on) is in prison. John the Baptist is also expressing serious doubts ab

An Open-Minded Faith - Gospel of Matthew Part 17

Aug 20th, 2018 56m

This episode addresses faith in a story about Jesus healing a blind man in Matthew Chapter 9. In the Gospels, the word “faith” and specifically "having faith and trust in Jesus" really has a specific meaning.We see that different people have v

Who Can Forgive Sins? - Gospel of Matthew Part 16

Aug 13th, 2018 51m 20s

We unravel a well-known story that takes place in Gospel Chapter 9 about Jesus forgiving the sins of a man who is paralyzed in legs. Then, he heals his legs so that he can get up and walk away. However, this is a controversy around this healing