Before I get to the parable of “The Farmer and the Seed”, I thought I'd take a few paragraphs to explain why I had decided to do a sermon series on the parables of Jesus in the first place.

Although I have promised not to be "preachy" in this blog (and I intend to keep that promise), I think you'll understand that part of my job description as a pastor is to be "preachy." I don't mean that in the sense of laying a guilt trip on people, but simply helping point people toward Jesus. To be effective in doing this requires an understanding of the culture of the people you are trying to reach. Although there is a definite Christian sub-culture in the United States, this is not the group I am trying to reach, but rather those outside of this Christian sub-culture.

This group, for the most part, has little respect for the Bible, the Church, or Christianity as a religion. Simply saying "It's in the bible so you should believe it" has little,...

Here is my first installment of my blog in which I plan to chronicle my exploration and discovery of the Bible as I prepare for my weekly sermons. I am currently in the middle of a series of messages entitled “Ancient Texts, Modern Times” which explores some of the parables of Jesus. As you probably know, a parable is simply a story that makes a philosophical, moral, or spiritual truth. The Greek word “parabole” literally means to set one thing beside another in order that the two may be compared. So a parable is just a story that is placed beside a truth to serve as an illustration.

The parable certainly does not have its origin with Jesus. To the contrary, parables were very much in common use during the first century by both secular and religious teachers. Greek philosophers such as Plato popularized the use of parables, and Jewish rabbis of the day used them often as well. So it comes as no surprise that when Jesus wanted to share his message with his listeners that he,...

When I saw that the new site allowed for users to create their own blog I thought, "Wow, now we will really be able to see some wasted bandwidth!" I'm sure there will be all sorts of blogs initiated, with most of the authors imagining that thousands will read their words and be inspired by their creativity, entertained by their wit, and impressed by their command of the english language. But I suspect that the vast majority of these blogs will go largely unread, and many purposely ignored.

So with that in mind, I figured why not begin a blog of my own? After all, surely one more badly written blog won't have any significantly negative impact on the world, will it? To the best of my knowledge, the act of me blogging will not hasten global warming, encourage drug trafficing, or encourage one more adolescent to refrain from the use of punctuation. So why not, say I.

After reaching a verdict to the "to blog or not to blog" decision, the next...