Study Series: Parables
A1: God's Salvation Program - The Sower
This parable is a primer on all parables, which are not designed to help everyone understand God's program of salvation. Salvation is on purpose, and God's work produces only 1 out of 4 results in every human heart. (Video* -- 62 mins; plus Study - 2 pgs; 2018) * Video goofs up at 19 mins, but recovers after 50 seconds.
A2: God's Salvation Program - Lost Sheep-n-Coin
A dozen lessons from the simplest of parables, about a lost sheep and coin. This study was done at a park next to a river near Thurmont, MD. (Audio -- 45 mins; plus Study - 2 pages; 2018)
A3: God's Salvation Program - Prodigal Son
The classic Christian illustration of God's salvation from a human perspective. We don't overtly sense Jesus fetching our souls from a lost estate, but we experience it in a very real and moving way. (Audio -- 63 mins; plus Study - 3 pages; 2018)
B1: Workers in Grace - Good Samaritan
Now that we're saved, how do we live? This study looks at this using a lawyer's question to answer who our neighbor is. (Video -- 61 mins; plus Study - 2 pages; 2018)
B2: Workers in Grace - The Vineyard
Salvation is God's free gift of grace; seems simple to understand. Yet when the reward of grace appears, there are shocking results, as some salaried farm-hands are about to learn. (Video -- 69 mins; plus Study - 2 pages; 2018)
B3: Workers in Grace - Wicked Vinedressers
Getting into a rental is quick and easy - all the hard work has been done, and it's cheap. Sometimes the long-term renters can forget who actually owns the house. Israel did. (Video -- 71 mins; plus Study - 3 pages; 2018)
C1: Christian Business - Stewardship
This unusual parable teaches a lesson about stewardship, but it's not obvious at first glance what Jesus is driving at. If we are to avoid the love of money as the root of all evil, how are we to emulate this unjust steward? (Video -- 61 mins; plus Study - 2 pages; 2018)
C2: Christian Business - Talents
It's rare to have two parables so closely aligned. What is a talent (or, a pound / mina)? And why is this gift from the Lord removed from the slothful servant at the end? (Video -- 62 mins; plus Study - 3 pages; 2018)
D1: The Afterlife - Wedding Feast
An intense parable that so majestically illustrates over 4,000 years of history into the after-life, all in 11 sentences loaded with gospel connotations. (Video -- 68 mins; plus Study - 3 pages; 2018)
D2: The Afterlife - Rich Man and Lazarus
Jesus gives powerful reasons to avoid coveting a luxurious lifestyle. All true Christians' hope in this life extend to our darkest, deepest gloom, with divine insight into one of two clearly cut eternal states. (Video -- 65 mins; plus Study - 2 pages; 2018)
