Category: Gospel of Matthew

“I hope this book will do several things. I hope it will give us freedom to ask questions and to express our fears and doubts. I don’t think we are served by stuffing these things away. More than that, I hope it will give the shaking, the rocked, and the devastated tools to process their…

NOTE: “Refiner’s Fire” is a mini-series within my overall series on the gospel of Matthew. To start from the beginning, go here and look for the Refiner’s Fire section at the bottom. # By now it should be clear that two years into his ministry, Jesus was failing to live up to John’s expectations of…

NOTE: “Refiner’s Fire” is a mini-series within my overall series on the gospel of Matthew. To start from the beginning, go here and look for the Refiner’s Fire section at the bottom. # We’ve journeyed together now through John the Baptist’s understanding of the Scriptures. We’ve come to an understanding, as best as we are…

NOTE: “Refiner’s Fire” is a mini-series within my overall series on the gospel of Matthew. To start from the beginning, go here and look for the Refiner’s Fire section at the bottom. # The post-wilderness John was a recognized type in his own time and an almost incomprehensible one in ours. Even in his own…

NOTE: “Refiner’s Fire” is a mini-series within my overall series on the gospel of Matthew. To start from the beginning, go here and look for the Refiner’s Fire section at the bottom. # Maybe even more than his connection with Elijah, John understood himself to be the messenger of Malachi and Isaiah. In the same…

NOTE: “Refiner’s Fire” is a mini-series within my overall series on the gospel of Matthew. To start from the beginning, go here and look for the Refiner’s Fire section at the bottom. # Several decades in the future, the apostle Paul wrote to his protégé Timothy: Timothy, my son, I am giving you this instruction…

NOTE: “Refiner’s Fire” is a mini-series within my overall series on the gospel of Matthew. To start from the beginning, go here and look for the Refiner’s Fire section at the bottom. # Luke, who tells John’s story with the most detail, does not specify at what age John left normal society and went into…

NOTE: “Refiner’s Fire” is a mini-series within my overall series on the gospel of Matthew. To start from the beginning, go here and look for the Refiner’s Fire section at the bottom. # In our Bibles, the Old and New Testaments are separated only by a blank and a title page. We can go directly…

NOTE: “Refiner’s Fire” is a mini-series within my overall series on the gospel of Matthew. It deals with the story of John the Baptist as a vehicle for navigating our own struggles with doubt, disappointment, and crisis of faith. I’m working on it daily and will release the whole thing as a book once it’s…

NOTE: “Refiner’s Fire” is a mini-series within my overall series on the gospel of Matthew. It deals with the story of John the Baptist as a vehicle for navigating our own struggles with doubt, disappointment, and crisis of faith. I’m working on it daily and will release the whole thing as a book once it’s…