Skillman Church Of Christ's Podcast

As Jesus continues to teach his disciples and even the religious leaders of his day about the Kingdom of Heaven, he challenges them to seek that Kingdom—the Kingdom of God—above the kingdoms of this world. He confronts the religious leaders and Pharisees about the kingdoms built upon religion, and he confronts our kingdoms today built around ourselves, or our ideas about safety and comfort. Jesus invites us into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he does so asking that we would bring everything and give it to God—that all of our fruit would be dedicated and devoted to God alone. As we continue to read and learn from Jesus in these parables, may we devote ourselves fully to the Kingdom of Heaven, and not to the kingdoms of this world or even the kingdoms that we ourselves build up around ourselves, and may God’s Kingdom continue to come on earth as it is in heaven.

This week, as we read the parable of the 2 sons, we must confront our own hypocrisy and learn to "hike to the mountaintop to see the forest," and to "turn our oven on self-cleaning mode."

The parable of the vineyard workers continues to teach us about the Kingdom of Heaven and how God’s kingdom is unlike anything in this world. In God’s kingdom, God’s grace is not earned or deserved—you cannot even really work for it. Instead it is a gift from God. The work that we do is as a result of the promise of the gift. Not in order to earn it. Not only do we learn about how amazing God’s grace is as a gift, but we also learn that we can live joyfully and without resentment or jealousy. This week, as we read and remember this parable, may we choose joy. May we rejoice in what God has done for us and is continuing to do for all the other workers in the vineyard—even the ones who are brought in after us.

This week, we dive into the parable of the unforgiving servant and examine how we can and should forgive one another as God has forgiven us. We see in this story that the master of the servant forgives his servant by seeing him with compassion, canceling the debt, and let him go. The master expects us to follow his pattern.

Jesus continues his lessons using parables with the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast. These parables emphasize the growth of God’s Kingdom from small and humble beginnings and remind us that God’s purposes for creation are that all may participate in the Kingdom of Heaven. We know that it is through Jesus that this Kingdom is coming into reality, and we are encouraged to bring all the people of God’s creation into this Kingdom of abundance. We look forward to the day when this kingdom will fully be realized on earth as it is in heaven, and we join with the work that God is doing all around us as we see this Kingdom grow and spread.

In Matthew’s Gospel, we encounter a number of parables that are intended to describe the inbreaking of the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus is announcing. The first of these parables is the Parable of the Sower, found in Matthew 13:1-23. In this parable, Jesus instructs his disciples to hear, understand, and the bear fruit—meaning that they should listen to Jesus and act accordingly. As the Kingdom of Heaven arrives through Jesus, we join in the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount: that God’s kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. These parables teach us that God’s reality, God’s kingdom, is truly arriving in the person of Jesus, and we can join in bringing this kingdom to bear in our world.

Genesis 16 contains an amazing story of a slave woman who has been mistreated by her masters (God's chosen family of Abram and Sarai) but who is cared for by God. Because of Hagar's encounter with God, she becomes the only person in Scripture to give God a name. She names him the God who sees, El Roi. As a church family, we want to join the work of what God is doing in seeing those who are in need and caring for them. God sees those in need, and at Skillman, we want to see and care for one another because of the love that Christ taught us.

Listen to an incredible interview with Skillman's new Congregational Care Coordinator.  Excited times at Skillman!!  

This week, our youth minister shares the theme verse for the youth group for the summer as well as how our church as a whole can be transformed to having the mind of Christ. This summer, our teens will be participating in a number of trips and service opportunities as well as fellowshipping together and focusing on growing closer to one another. As a church, we can support our teens and even our children who are the church of today--not just the church of tomorrow.

Today, we use the cross as a symbol of God's love, grace, and forgiveness, as well as to remember the sacrifice that Jesus was willing to make for us. However, the cross did not originally mean that. It was a symbol, instead, of Rome's power--that no one dare revolt against or oppose Rome. But through the sacrifice of Jesus, the cross now declares victory. Victory against sin and death, and victory to follow Jesus as relationship with God has been redeemed and restored.

This week, John Mark and the praise team lead us through the lyrics and some of the theology behind the song, "Beautiful Things." This song reminds us of the biblical story that we are dust, but we are beautiful dust, and that God is working to restore the dust of this world to good relationship with him.

This Sunday, we will center our worship and preaching on the lyrics for the song “Amazing Grace.” This song was written during the last years of the slave trade in Britain by John Newton. It speaks of our need for God’s amazing grace to come into our lives because of our inevitable sinfulness. 25 years after retiring from the slave trade and joining the Anglican church, Newton wrote these words to reflect his experience. However, they have easily survived beyond his experience and come to be a representative song for all Christians, particularly in America over the course of the past 200 years. This Sunday, we will focus our worship, and our hearts on God’s amazing grace that comes to us all.

As Jesus himself prepares for the crucifixion (and resurrection), he prays to God, “if it’s possible, take this cup of suffering away from me.” No one ever said this way of following Jesus was easy. Even Jesus found it difficult. Yet, Jesus teaches us that the prayer doesn’t end there. Jesus continues in his prayer, “However—not what I want but what you want.” Jesus teaches us one of the most difficult lessons we will ever have to learn (and by the way, to face daily too): to give up our desires and to accept God’s. In the preparation for Easter, as we have observed the Lenten season, we prepare for Easter Sunday this week by understanding that God’s desire is that the love that God had in creation, the relationship that God had in perfect community with each person, creature, and even the created world itself be restored to harmony so that God might share the love that God has within God’s self with the created world—the entire created world. What will we do to help bring that harmony of relationship back to

In this passage, the aroma of Mary’s perfume as it is poured on Jesus’ feet fills the whole house. In other words, Mary’s action of giving, of sacrificing, is infectious and it spreads everywhere. Judas can’t stand the smell of this wastefulness, and yet Jesus defends Mary’s actions not as wasteful, but as a beautiful gift. As Easter comes nearer, we should understand that by participating in the “wastefulness” of Jesus’ giving of his life, we provide a gift that is sweet and that will fill up “the house.” Our actions, when they look the way that Jesus’ actions looked will have that sweet-smelling fragrance; it will be intoxicating and infectious too. We give of ourselves, following Jesus’ example, and for the sake of those who need to know about the good gift that Jesus gives to us through his life, death, and resurrection. 

As we continue to prepare for Easter Sunday and the resurrection of Jesus, we recognize that within each of us is a dangerous darkness and selfishness. We each desire to tell our story on our terms, and in such a way that we are benefited and blessed as a result. Often, this way of living is at the expense of others. In order for us to be benefited and blessed, someone else may have to suffer or to take a lower place than us. However, Jesus encourages us to intentionally choose someone else’s good over our own. It is in giving that we receive. It is in losing our lives that we find it. Jesus’ economy is upside down from our own. As we prepare for Easter and how Jesus gave his life for ours, we choose to participate in this upside-down economy of giving and losing instead of taking and benefiting at the expense of someone else.

During the course of his ministry, we often hear that Jesus knew his hour was coming, or that it had arrived. This week, we encounter Jesus telling a parable with time as a main character in his story. The gardener asks for one more year in order that the fig tree might produce fruit. Jesus’ intention is to ask us whether we are prepared now to bear fruit? The hour is coming when Jesus will give his life on the cross. So too for us, the time is approaching and even now is here for us to bear fruit for the sake of the people in our community, our city, and our world. 

Not only is the season of Lent a preparation for the resurrection of Jesus, it is also a reminder for us to examine our lives and to make the needed changes in order for us to become like Jesus. Lent asks us to repent and to change our hearts and lives. Lent asks us to give up the things that keep us from being like Christ. In this passage in Luke, Jesus challenges the religious leaders of his day to examine their intentions. Are they willing to see Jesus for who he is, even if it costs them something about how they understand their religion and faith to work? As we consider this story as religious people, we will ask ourselves what are the things in our own lives that may keep us from being like Jesus—how can we give those things up during these weeks of preparation?

As we begin our series on Lent, we read the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. During this time, Jesus is tested and tempted by Satan, and he relies on Scripture and his trust in God the Father to care for him. We learn from the temptation of Jesus that there is nothing (no item or idea) that is worth obtaining if we must give up who God has created us to be. Jesus refuses to sacrifice his calling from God for physical comfort, power, or security and safety. Instead, Jesus models sacrifice. As we prepare for Easter over the course of these next weeks, we participate in the sacrificial model that Jesus exemplified and modeled. Every good gift comes with a cost, and as we prepare to celebrate the resurrection and the promise of God’s victory over sin and death as the gift that it is to all of us, we ask ourselves what is it that we are willing to give up as we follow the example of Jesus in our everyday lives.