Summary Jon opens with a story from his time managing an NGO project in Liberia, where an outside auditor, not his own word, had to certify that the work was actually done. He uses that to introduce Luke 18:9-14, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector: one man presents his own righteousness to […]

Summary Continuing the summer series on the parables of Jesus, Alf Dyck taught from Matthew 21:28-32, the story of a father who asks two sons to go work in his vineyard. The first son says no but later changes his mind and goes; the second says yes but never goes. Jesus told this story to […]

Summary Continuing The River’s series on the parables, Jonathan Culley taught on the story most people call the parable of the talents, from Matthew 25. He opened by explaining that a “talent” was originally a unit of weight, about 100 pounds of silver, and that the English word for ability actually comes from this story, […]

Summary Jonathan opened with a story from a university microeconomics class, where every student in a packed lecture hall received the exact same material, yet the results on the final exam ranged wildly, from strong scores down to a 6%. That gap, he said, wasn’t about the quality of the material. It was about the […]

Summary Alf Dyck continues The River’s summer series on the parables of Jesus with the parable of the mustard seed, drawn from Mark 4:30-32. He works the parable two ways: as a picture of how the kingdom of God grows from humble, unimpressive beginnings into something enormous, and as Jesus’ own image for faith itself, […]

Summary Mike Bakker teaches Matthew’s telling of the Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14), preached during Passion Week against an audience of priests and Pharisees who had just recognized themselves as the villains of the previous parable. He walks through first-century betrothal and wedding customs to show what real hospitality and celebration looked like, […]

Summary Jonathan Culley teaches on the parable of the persistent widow from Luke 18, correcting a common misreading that turns prayer into wearing down a reluctant, distant judge. He argues God is nothing like the unjust judge in the story – He is a loving father who already wants to give good gifts to His […]

Summary Mike opened with a story about finding a vintage 1957 Fender amp at a garage sale for a few dollars, then selling it too soon, before its value multiplied. He used the story to introduce Jesus’ back-to-back parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great value, both about someone who sells everything […]

Summary Patti Culley walks through the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) as part of the church’s series on the parables. She reframes the story away from a good/bad, pass/fail reading and toward a question of intimacy: all ten bridesmaids looked prepared, but only five carried the extra oil that let them sustain the […]

Summary Jonathan Culley takes on the story most people know as the parable of the prodigal son and argues the traditional reading misses the point. Rather than a story about a good son and a bad son, he proposes renaming it the parable of the father’s table, read alongside the two short parables that precede […]