Several years ago, a story circulated about a mountain rescue team sent to save stranded hikers after a sudden storm. The rescuers knew something the hikers did not: the only safe route down the mountain was not the scenic ridge they had climbed. That ridge was now unstable and deadly. The only way down was a narrow, steep, exposed descent that felt more dangerous than staying put.

When rescuers reached the hikers, some argued.

“That path looks worse.”
“There has to be another way.”
“Why would the safe way feel so hard?”

But the rescuers had the full picture. They knew where the avalanche risk was. They knew which ridge would collapse. The path that looked hardest was the only path that would save their lives.

From the hikers’ limited perspective, resistance felt reasonable. From the rescuers’ perspective, resistance was fatal.

In Matthew 16, Peter is standing on that mountain. Jesus says, “We must go through suffering. We must go to Jerusalem. I must be killed and raised.” Peter says, “Never.”

From Peter’s limited view, suffering made no sense.
From God’s eternal perspective, it was the only way to save the world.

Very often, obedience to God looks like the harder path. But heaven sees what we cannot.

(21) From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

(22) Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

(23) Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

(24) Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (25) For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

(26) What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? (27) For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

(28) “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

We have finished Matthew’s accounts of the parables~ YAY We are take some time to flip back now in the book of Matthew to capture some of the major teachings of Jesus for two weeks, then we hit the last couple days of Jesus' life leading to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead on Easter Sunday.(our superbowl sunday - April 5th) Start praying about who you can invite now.

(13) When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

(14) They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

(15) “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

(16) Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

(17) Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. (18) And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (19) I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (20) Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. THIS IS GODS WORD

(13) Jesus and the disciples came to the region of Caesarea Philippi. Geographically this place is roughly 25-35 miles North of the Sea of Galilee and about 120 miles north of Jerusalem. This is the most northern edge of Israel.

It is here that Jesus affirms He is the Messiah.

It is here that Jesus says I will build my Church.

It is here that preaching the gospel opens the kingdom of heaven to all people.

(14) “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. (15) To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. (16) He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. (17) So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. (18) But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. (19) Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. (20) And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ (21) His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ (22) And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ (23) His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ (24) He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, (25) so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ (26) But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? (27) Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. (28) So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. (29) For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. (30) And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

ASK so what have we been given?

God has entrusted us with each other.

We are what belongs to Him, His very own possession.

1 Peter 2:9 says: But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

He has the entrusted us with the Great Commission: Matthew 28:19–20 (NIV): "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age".

This passage is a call to faithful stewardship of God’s possessions. It is a heart check as we await the second coming of Christ. It is a lifestyle check to ask: Am I putting full effort into furthering His Kingdom? It is a soul check to confirm our joy that HE has fully forgiven us — and that our response is a life of grateful, purposeful obedience to further the gospel of Jesus.

It is not a sermon on investment strategies, or putting money, abilities/talents to work… my heart as business coach can find some crossover LOL. Actually one of my favs.

This parable is part of the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24–25), Jesus' extended response to his disciples' questions about the destruction of the temple, his coming (parousia), and the end of the age (Matthew 24:3). This discourse, delivered on the Mount of Olives shortly before his crucifixion, emphasizes watchfulness, preparation, and faithful living in light of the Messiah's return and coming j

This is the third parable in a series that depicts people who refuse to respond properly to being invited into the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is about the joy of receiving an invitation to the grandest wedding of all time. Revelation calls it the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. WOW

This is the third parable in succession that deals with rejecting the Kingdom of heaven. And it forces every listener to answer one question: What is my response to the Kingdom of God?

Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: (2) “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. (3) He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

(4) “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

(5) “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. (6) The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.

(7) The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

(8) “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. (9) So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ (10) So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

(11) “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. (12) He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend ?’ The man was speechless.

(13) “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

(14) “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

We mentioned this is the third, in a series of parables about responding to the Kingdom invitation. Matthew 21-22 - bam bam bam (podcast)

Imagine renting a house where everything has been provided for you. The owner built it, maintains it, and trusts the tenants to live there responsibly and take care of things. But over time, something shifts. The tenants stop answering the owner’s calls. They decide what they owe the owner is optional. When a representative shows up, they send him away beat up & bleeding. Eventually, when the owner’s son arrives, they kill him so they can keep the place for themselves and manage it as they like.

That sounds extreme, but at the core of our sin is not confusion about God—it is resistance to His authority. We want to run our lives our way. We want independence. And when that independence is threatened, we resist the Owner, which is God. We start out as good “tenants” and end up God’s adversary.

This is why the Big Idea matters: God owns the vineyard, and the question is not how busy we are in it, but whether we are submitted to the Son and producing fruit that belongs to Him.

In the Bible, There are passages in Scripture that comfort us—and there are passages that confront us. This parable does both.

(23) Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

(24) Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. (25) John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’

(26) But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” (27) So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

(28) What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

(29) “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

(30) “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

(31)“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.

(32) For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

The Parable of the Two Sons is not soft. It’s one of Jesus’ hardline messages—spoken not to outsiders, but to the religious insiders, even to us Christians, if you will. And Jesus is very clear: there is not more than one way into the Kingdom of God. There is one way, and that way is narrow.

Jesus Himself said it plainly: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

No exception to this rule. No religious loopholes of doing good versus bad. No alternate entrances of secret knowledge. It is Christ alone and that is good news. It's not based on works, it’s based on Jesus.

This parable forces us to ask a piercing question:
Is my faith merely something I say—or something I actually live? Is obedience something I pick and choose or is it my lifestyle?

Today we will examine this parable in three ways:

1. What is leading up to this parable?
2. What is Jesus’ point with this parable?
3. What do we learn from it for today?

We are back in the parables of Jesus and when we finish the parables we will then teach on the major teachings of Jesus, which this begins with...

Jesus has just told His disciples how difficult it is for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. So they asked who then can be saved?

(26) Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

(27) Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

(28) Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Intro…Our desire for you is that you desire to make 2026 a great year because it’s rooted in God’s purpose and presence. Growth doesn't happen by accident—it happens through intentional faith, daily practice, and fixing our eyes on Jesus.

Together, these will equip us to live boldly, purposefully, and victoriously in the year ahead.

Defense YEAR - hard year - it was fine but wasn’t fulfilling.

1. Intentional Faith: Choosing Life with Purpose Over Passivity

The intentional life is living a wise life. Those who are wise take advantage of every opportunity including trials to grow in their faith. But someone who lacks wisdom is like being a ship adrift at sea, tossed by every wave and wind without any direction at all.

That’s life without intentionalility—a mere reaction to circumstances rather than a deliberate pursuit of God’s will. It’s simply reacting to life. Playing defense. Hebrews defines Faith as confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see, and James implores us to ask for wisdom to live our life to ask that God will give you wisdom to endure trials, but goes on to instruct us…

James 1: 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.