Hi, welcome to the Books
of Book series here at 3ABN.
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I'm Glenn Russell, your host.
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Let's meet our
teacher, Dr. Ranko Stefanovi?.
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Ranko, it's a great journey
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going through
this Gospel of Matthew.
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We got a lot ahead of us still.
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What's been your experience
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as we've been
doing this here at 3ABN?
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You've been a guest here before,
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you'll be a guest again.
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Tell us a little
bit about this ministry,
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you know, it's
just been a joy for me.
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How's it been for you?
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Yeah, every time
when I try to explain
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the Gospel of Matthew,
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I learn always
something, and for me,
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it's a growing
spiritual experience.
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And another aspect,
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I really want to
tell the viewers,
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is to be with these
wonderful people here.
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I'm so much motivated to
see how much they sacrifice,
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how much they have a
passion for this ministry.
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We have to support it.
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We have to do
everything to make this program
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and this-- This ministry--
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This ministry, we have
to make it really work.
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Let's pray together
as we begin our study.
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Lord, we pray for
3ABN Television Ministry.
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We pray for each viewer.
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And Lord, we pray that
now as we open Your word
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that You'll be our teacher,
that You'll be our guide.
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We need Your Holy
Spirit to help us understand
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this wonderful
gift of scriptures,
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in Your name we
pray, amen. Amen.
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Ranko, we have
been looking at Jesus.
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We've noticed that
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He is a powerful
teacher and preacher,
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but He's also a
doer. He is a healer.
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He's involved in ministry.
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He is a Savior
and compassionate.
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He is one who fulfills
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those many
prophecies of the Messiah.
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So Matthew has been painting
this portrait of his Savior,
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the one he followed
as we say last time.
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Give us a little
idea of what do we begin
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to see here in Chapter 13.
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When we go to the beginning
of the Gospel of Matthew,
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do you remember what we
read in Chapter 4, 4:23?
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That Jesus went and He was
teaching in the synagogues.
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People were there,
coming to the synagogue,
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Jesus would teach them.
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But more and more,
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with every passing
week the opposition
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were rising against Jesus.
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And the last time,
we started in Chapter 11
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that actually the
Pharisees for the first time
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stood in the position to Jesus
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calling actually His
work as the work of Satan.
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And Jesus for the
first time had to address
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the Pharisees in the
harsh way to give them warning
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telling them that the blasphemy
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against the Holy
Spirit will never be
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forgiven to any
person, He meant to them, okay?
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In this world or
the world to come.
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And actually, if we go
to the rest of Chapter 12,
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we will see that
Jesus really made
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those harsh things
against the Pharisees.
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So the door of the synagogues,
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they were becoming more
and more close, close to Jesus.
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Jesus could not
come to the synagogues
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and teach any longer.
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Jesus would go to the open space
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and gives the teachings.
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So can you imagine,
Jesus is there teaching.
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Who is there? We have people,
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sometimes 1,000s of
them, but on the other side
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there are
Pharisees spying on Jesus,
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watching and measuring
every word to Jesus said.
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It is at that point that Jesus
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changes the
method of His teaching.
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It must have been a
sad and oppressive thing
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that all the time
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He's having to watch and
worry about what He says.
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Every word measured.
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Because someone's
trying to get you.
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And you know,
some of you may live
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in a situation in a marriage,
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in a work
situation where it's tense
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and you always
have to be careful
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because somebody's gonna take
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what you say
and twist it around.
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Jesus knows what
you're going through.
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He experienced
opposition much greater
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and much greater extent.
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Okay, Glenn, can I
tell you something?
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We are all the
students of the Bible
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and sometimes
we study the Bible,
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we discover the
beautiful things about Bible
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and we tried to proclaim it,
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and it's so hard sometimes to go
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and to preach it when you know
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that they're
people just sitting there,
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instead of trying to see
those nuance in the Bible,
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they measure every
word to find what is wrong,
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to find one detail
to disagree, et cetera.
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This is such an
experience that Jesus,
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that Jesus went through.
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May I read the
beginning of Chapter 13.
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"On the same day Jesus
went out from the house
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and sat by the sea
and great multitudes
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were gathered together to Him,
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so that He got
into a boat and sat,
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and the whole
multitude stood on the shore."
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And then here's
something new in verse 3.
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"Then He spoke many
things to them in parables."
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Actually in
Greek, it says, He began.
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He started
teaching them in parables,
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so this is really the beginning.
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Prior to that, we don't
have any parables of Jesus.
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We had short
metaphors like to build us
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in the summit of the
mount, but not parables.
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Now, for the first time,
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we have Jesus changes
the method of His teaching.
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So we have to ask
why, what's the reason?
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First, let's explain
what the parable really is.
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The word parable in English
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comes from the Greek, parabola.
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Para means by or beside.
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Bola means to cast.
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So what is the
meaning of the parable?
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It means to cast beside.
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You see, you have a
saying which is enigmatic,
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difficult and hard
time to understand.
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Then you cast, you put,
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you throw an illustration beside
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and that
illustration really provides
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the insight in that hard saying
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what you're trying to
say. This is what a parable is.
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Parable is simply
given to illustrate
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something that is usually
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hard to understand
or hard to explain.
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All right, so we
got an idea of the word.
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Why does He use
this teaching technique?
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So evidently, we already provide
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that little bit of background.
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There is a two-fold reason
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and purpose of
Jesus teaching parables.
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The first one we saw,
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it's because there are
many spies measuring every word,
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trying to distort everything
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what Jesus said and
spread them among the people,
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so the first reason,
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why Jesus used the parables
was to disarm the hostility
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of the listeners to
introduce the teaching
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and that Jesus could not
be accused of something saying
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that was inappropriate,
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that was against the
tradition, et cetera.
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You know, you use the parable.
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And you illustrate
that saying, but people--
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you cover yourself
in many different ways.
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So it was a way
of teaching truth
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but hiding some dimension
because of the opposition.
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Yes. All right?
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There is also the second reason
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why Jesus used the parables.
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And it was to illustrate
and to explain the truth.
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This is really the main reason
why Jesus used the parables.
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So please, Glenn,
allow me just to explain
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what we mean that.
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Number one, is to create
interest among the listeners.
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You know when pastor
is there on the pulpit
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and wants to attract
the attention of the people,
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you start using
illustration and parable.
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Boy, suddenly
everybody is listening.
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All ages, we all love it.
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All the ages,
children and adults.
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Number one-- number two,
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to create a truth concrete
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through the commonly
familiar real experience.
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Jesus associated the
truth with daily tasks.
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I think that's
such an important point,
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Ranko, you're saying that,
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Jesus in His
observation of human life
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found connections
to heavenly things.
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So heavenly things were
explained through earthly.
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Can you imagine,
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I stand to preach
here in North America
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and I use illustration
about the soccer game?
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Yeah, that's not
relevant to the people.
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But if I use baseball,
everybody will listen to that.
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It's just, you know, an example.
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Jesus used the illustration
from daily life of people,
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farmers, sowing the
seed, fisherman, a fish,
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women who are
baking bread, et cetera.
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So this is very
important. Number three,
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parables could be
understood by everybody.
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Everybody.
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Children, adults, everybody
can understand parables.
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Number four, to
clarify the message by teaching
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unknown through known.
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The Kingdom of
God is like. Okay.
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The next one,
to enable listeners
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to discover the truth
for himself or herself.
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This is not in
the Gospel of Matthew.
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You remember the
parable of the Good Samaritan?
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Who is my neighbor?
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Can you imagine if
Jesus said to that person,
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even Samaritan is your neighbor.
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And the explanation of Jesus
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would be rejected
from the very start.
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So you're saying a parable
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takes the
listener on the journey
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and they become part
of the exploration of--
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Jesus asked that person,
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so who was the neighbor
of these people who said,
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"Do you want to help him?"
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He did not want
to use Samaritan.
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Jesus said, "You
go and do likewise."
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Parable is a powerful tool.
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And the last one,
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to make listeners discover
the truth for themselves
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and to judge their own action.
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By entering into the
store. Entering, yes, yes.
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It reflects back on themselves.
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Reflects back. Okay.
So we see this wonderful
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concept of
parables that He uses.
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And what a lesson for us today.
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I think all of us we, you know,
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as you share your
faith with someone,
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you have someone you
love, a family member,
00:10:01.28\00:10:03.52
someone at work, a neighbor,
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You're looking for
those connecting points.
00:10:05.60\00:10:07.78
You're looking for those things
00:10:07.79\00:10:09.03
that that will help you
illustrate the things of faith
00:10:09.04\00:10:12.59
that mattered so much to
you. This is part of mission.
00:10:12.60\00:10:15.39
This is part of
service and ministry.
00:10:15.40\00:10:17.68
Yeah, I was-- several years ago,
00:10:17.69\00:10:22.32
I was at one scholarly meeting
00:10:22.33\00:10:25.16
and I heard how scholars
were talking among themselves.
00:10:25.17\00:10:27.92
They said, "Boy, all
these beautiful findings
00:10:27.93\00:10:33.07
that we bring out of the Bible."
00:10:33.08\00:10:35.16
They said, "We're
talking to ourselves.
00:10:35.17\00:10:38.15
How we can make it
available to the people?"
00:10:38.16\00:10:40.68
And then the
conclusion was, you know,
00:10:40.69\00:10:42.66
these are scholarly people
00:10:42.67\00:10:44.16
don't want to
listen to such things.
00:10:44.17\00:10:46.87
And they started
discussing and said,
00:10:46.88\00:10:48.90
"But how is that?" And
they mentioned some series
00:10:48.91\00:10:52.20
that are really
based on stories.
00:10:52.21\00:10:55.77
How they have
really great success
00:10:55.78\00:10:58.98
among ordinary people?
00:10:58.99\00:11:00.42
And then they asked,
"Why don't we do something
00:11:00.43\00:11:02.67
similar about
the Bible studies?"
00:11:02.68\00:11:05.69
And it impacted my teaching.
00:11:05.70\00:11:07.66
When I'm in the classroom,
00:11:07.67\00:11:09.73
of course, sometimes, theology,
00:11:09.74\00:11:12.80
exegesis can be
hard and can be boring.
00:11:12.81\00:11:17.20
But I learned
something from Jesus.
00:11:17.21\00:11:19.71
I try always to
use illustrations.
00:11:19.72\00:11:23.25
Everything what we go
00:11:23.26\00:11:25.52
and deal with the
text and try to explain,
00:11:25.53\00:11:27.95
I support it with illustration.
00:11:27.96\00:11:30.06
And boy, my students or
my camp meeting audience,
00:11:30.07\00:11:35.17
or when you preach a
different church as they said,
00:11:35.18\00:11:37.46
"Wow, suddenly that
difficult text becomes clear.
00:11:37.47\00:11:41.36
It becomes close, close to you."
00:11:41.37\00:11:43.20
All over the world and
all the cultures stories work.
00:11:43.21\00:11:45.56
And God keeps
using stories, yes.
00:11:45.57\00:11:47.15
That's what the Bible is. Yes.
00:11:47.16\00:11:48.72
A Book of the Story
of Redemption, you know.
00:11:48.73\00:11:51.15
So Jesus uses these parables.
00:11:51.16\00:11:52.88
He spoke many
things to them in parables.
00:11:52.89\00:11:55.55
Now it's
interesting you mentioned
00:11:55.56\00:11:56.93
that the parable helps
people understand for themselves
00:11:56.94\00:12:01.95
but apparently some people
00:12:01.96\00:12:02.98
didn't always
understand, others did.
00:12:02.99\00:12:05.33
So there is some hiddenness
00:12:05.34\00:12:07.21
that sometimes He
explains to disciples privately.
00:12:07.22\00:12:10.44
There are some
parts of the story
00:12:10.45\00:12:11.91
that not everybody
understands publicly.
00:12:11.92\00:12:14.74
So it's quite
complex and a wonderful tool
00:12:14.75\00:12:18.81
that He uses to
communicate His message.
00:12:18.82\00:12:21.22
Yeah. Talking
about the parables,
00:12:21.23\00:12:25.26
we have to understand
00:12:25.27\00:12:27.42
that Jesus did not
invent always those parables.
00:12:27.43\00:12:31.46
There are books written.
00:12:31.47\00:12:32.46
And you can see,
that many of the parables
00:12:32.47\00:12:34.68
that actually Jesus
spoke were already used
00:12:34.69\00:12:37.18
by Rabbis, et
cetera, but what Jesus did.
00:12:37.19\00:12:39.89
Jesus simply didn't go
and took those parables.
00:12:39.90\00:12:42.65
Jesus always
changed their meanings.
00:12:42.66\00:12:46.15
If those parables
that Rabbis preached
00:12:46.16\00:12:47.89
where negative, you know,
00:12:47.90\00:12:49.36
Jesus always turned
into a positive, et cetera.
00:12:49.37\00:12:52.47
So Jesus really was in the line
00:12:52.48\00:12:54.79
of the common trend of teaching,
00:12:54.80\00:13:00.63
but actually what Jesus did,
00:13:00.64\00:13:03.42
it's something that
couldn't be compared
00:13:03.43\00:13:05.47
with any teaching of the
Rabbis or any other teachers
00:13:05.48\00:13:10.88
that were during those
time delivering their teachings.
00:13:10.89\00:13:14.97
So what Jesus did really
was a unique during that time.
00:13:14.98\00:13:18.75
No wonder, no wonder,
you have 5,000 people,
00:13:18.76\00:13:22.60
you have 4,000 people.
00:13:22.61\00:13:24.45
For three days,
there were almost
00:13:24.46\00:13:26.31
mesmerized by Jesus' teaching.
00:13:26.32\00:13:27.97
They were sitting there.
00:13:27.98\00:13:28.99
They even forgot on their
daily necessities like food.
00:13:29.00\00:13:31.43
They have not
eaten for three days
00:13:31.44\00:13:33.85
by listening there to Jesus.
00:13:33.86\00:13:35.35
And they
responded, they responded,
00:13:35.36\00:13:37.04
they decided to follow
Jesus and to be His disciples.
00:13:37.05\00:13:40.50
It says here that the multitude
00:13:40.51\00:13:42.63
stood on the shore
to listen to Jesus.
00:13:42.64\00:13:44.67
There was not
enough room for them.
00:13:44.68\00:13:46.70
And so this shows the response
00:13:46.71\00:13:50.50
Jesus had a
hearing to the people.
00:13:50.51\00:13:52.20
He was speaking to their needs,
00:13:52.21\00:13:53.41
not something irrelevant,
00:13:53.42\00:13:54.88
far off abstract
things as you said.
00:13:54.89\00:13:56.77
He took abstract
things and brought them
00:13:56.78\00:13:58.97
close into their
world, into their lives.
00:13:58.98\00:14:01.60
Through the parables,
00:14:01.61\00:14:03.10
Jesus brought the
heavenly truth down to the earth
00:14:03.11\00:14:05.98
that people can
understand and accept it.
00:14:05.99\00:14:08.11
Well, I want to learn a little
bit more about those parables.
00:14:08.12\00:14:10.27
We're gonna take
a break right now
00:14:10.28\00:14:11.60
and then we're gonna come back
00:14:11.61\00:14:12.97
and explore a little bit more
00:14:12.98\00:14:14.20
of Chapter 13 of
the Gospel of Matthew.
00:14:14.21\00:14:17.02
We'll be right back.
00:14:17.03\00:14:18.10