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Welcome to Kingdom Now, the podcast featuring Faith with an Edge, as we celebrate the Kingdom of God within you.

I am your host, Dr.

Lee Ann Marino, apostle, author, podcaster, professor, and theologian, and founder of Spitfire Apostolic Ministries and all the works that go along with it.

I am excited to share this program with you as we explore the ins and outs of Counterculture Christianity as you live out the Kingdom of God in your everyday life.

And to learn more, visit my website at www.kingdompowernow.org.

And now, our program, which features a variety of formats here, just for you.

Interviews on a variety of relative topics, teaching and preaching proclaimed everywhere from my North Carolina studio to Sanctuary and Beyond.

And powerful insights here for now as we turn the world upside down everywhere we go.

[Applause] Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening.

Happy whatever time of day it is wherever you are.

And to our listeners in Japan, we say Konichiwa.

We hope that whatever time of day when you are listening, that you are having a good one.

And I welcome you to this edition of the Kingdom Now podcast.

And I am your host, Dr.

Lee Ann Marino here as the Spitfire serving as the voice of Counterculture Christianity, where we feature the theme of faith with an edge.

And if you would like to learn more about the world of Counterculture Christianity, feel free to visit my website at www.kingdompowernow.org.

And I do encourage you to keep an eye on www.kingdompowernow.org because we have a lot of new and exciting things coming very, very soon.

And today, parables for normal people.

For the last few seasons, I typically take one episode and devote it to an understanding for normal people, meaning that we talk about something we all encounter as Christians, whether it's the Bible, Biblical Law, or something related therein, without the complicated specifications of seminary language.

Because I am very much of the opinion that faith shouldn't be something that becomes so elite, we can't understand it regardless of where we are at.

And yes, I acknowledge that the complications of things like Greek grammar and Hebrew word associations and studying the in-depth details of things such as cultural association and geography might not be the most favored activity of your average believer.

I get that the things we ministers love to dive into aren't the most interesting for the average person.

But that's where we make what we study, what we learn, understandable for everyone else.

And sometimes that happens, and sometimes with some leaders it doesn't.

But more than anything, we are supposed to take what we learn and teach it to you in a way that makes it so you are able to have a greater walk of faith and walk away from our messages, classes, sermons, and so on, with a greater understanding of your spiritual lives.

So for our normal people, episode this season is parables for normal people.

Most of us are familiar with parables in some semblance, even if we might not understand everything about them, or know many of their details.

But we know the parables as stories, as things we can kind of understand because they are basically illustrations of our faith.

So let's dive in and learn all we can about parables so we hear the full message God gives to us through them.

Let's start with what are parables.

Parables are stories given through prose or verse that have specific characteristics.

They are succinct.

They aren't long narrations that could fill a novel, but are short, detailed stories.

They are didactic.

Their purpose is to teach or instruct something specific.

They always have human characters rather than fables that might use animals, plants, or inanimate objects as the focus.

They are metaphorical analogies.

They use one thing to illustrate something else.

The word parable literally means to throw alongside, meaning it is a comparison or illustration to something else.

The literary form was first identified by the Greek rhetoric to describe the illustrations of short fictional narratives.

Biblical parables were likely inspired by a mashelim, which is kind of the Jewish version of the Greek parable.

A mashil, singular form, is a short proverb or story with a moral lesson or religious allegory.

The difference is a mashil, is a little bit broader and also includes other rhetoric forms, such as fables, which are distinguished from parables.

They are used to help people understand Torah or law and the essence of it within their lives.

If we study the Old Testament, we do see forms of parables present therein, as well as symbolic stories or other stories that are kind of a kin to parables in their ancestry.

Judges 9:7-20 is a story of trees who wish to crown themselves as a king, and the fruitful trees not wishing to abandon function except for the Bramble, and this illustrates the futility of crowning kings.

In 2 Samuel 12:1-4, we find the story of a poor man who raised a single lamb, which a wealthy neighbor took to set before a guest.

And this story illustrated David's sin with Bathsheba.

2 Samuel 15:6-8 is the story of the wise woman of Tacoma, who induced David to make peace with Absalom.

His king's 20:39-40 was a story of the prophet's disciple showing Ahab his wrong course.

Isaiah 5:1-6 is the story of a vineyard that doesn't thrive, illustrating Israel's degeneracy at that point in history.

Isaiah 28:24-28 is a story of a farmer who doesn't plow continually, but prepares the field in so-sis seed showing God's methodological activity.

There are also four proverbs that relate to Babylon, the taunting riddle and Habakkuk 2:6-20,

the riddle to the house of Israel, in Ezekiel 17:1-10, the parable to the rebellious house

in Ezekiel 24:3-14, and the parable against the king of Babylon, which is found in Isaiah

14:4-21.

These proverbs illustration stories and parallels were based on specific illustrations common at the time, thus they were relatively easy to understand and follow.

And the tradition of these teachings, these short moral lessons, became prominent through the taumud, or teachings of Jewish law, down the centuries.

They are also seen in apocryphal gospels.

Epistles are also seen in other religions, including Islam, especially in the Sufi tradition to teach lessons and values.

There are Buddhist parables, there are Persian or Iranian parables, and there are ancient parables put into a book back in 1779 titled "Fables and Parables." And even modern philosophical parables, such as the Parable of the Broken Window, introduced by a French economist in the 19th century.

So we can say it's safe to say that parables are recognized as a literary practice in much of the world, simply because they carry a practical value and purpose worldwide to everyone?

When people come at them from the right perspective, when we have the right spirit to receive them, parables are definitely life-changing and we can understand the truth they contain.

The most famous parables, however, are the parables of Jesus, and we find those in the gospels in the New Testament.

So to talk a little bit about where they are found, the gospels are narrative stories, specifically about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And these stories give us insight into who Jesus is, they prove his life and work while down here, and contain details and information to supplement such proof.

That might be a little simplistic of a definition, but for the sake of what we are doing here, that's what we're going to go with.

And the parables of Jesus are found in the gospels.

They are contained within this larger genre of biblical text.

And so saying that, why did Jesus use parables?

Why didn't he use a different literary form?

Well, I think we can start with the fact that Jesus knew even then that people don't always have the longest attention span.

We all know what it's like to be in a class or a lecture or even church, where the person speaking won't shut up, and they just aren't holding our attention.

I was telling the story about that the other day with somebody how I was once in a service and the preacher just kept going on and on and on.

And when I went back and I looked at the chapter that they came from, it was actually very, very short.

But it just seemed like they went on and on and on for so long.

I'm starting to think if in terms of memory they actually cover different chapters, and I'm just remembering that particular thing in essence because it just seems so much longer than maybe it really should have been.

When people don't hold our attention, we don't listen and we can miss things that are important.

And just like the example I gave, I've said in a lot of meetings in my day and the ones where I couldn't wait for the person to stop talking.

Honestly, I often don't remember a lot of the details of what they talked about.

I might remember the general gist, but I don't remember the essence.

And so in essence, that message is lost.

Sometimes we need to get our point across quickly.

And in the situations where Jesus spoke parables, he dealt with crowds and with disciples and with people who were learning on the fly, not to mention they were learning an entirely new way of living.

And while yes, Jesus did talk longer at times than others.

And I imagine he talked much more detailed with his disciples exclusively.

Not every message needed to be long and involved.

The point could be made in a way someone could understand quickly, a quick revelation, if you will.

I also think along with what was just said, Jesus needed to separate followers from non-followers quickly.

He only had so long on earth to teach his message and that many didn't have a lot of time to spend with people who weren't going to take the teachings to heart.

Did they have the same chance to receive him as everyone else did?

Absolutely, of course they did.

But if they weren't going to do it, Jesus didn't have the time to stand there and argue with them and try to convince them that they were wrong.

He had to move on and teach those who would be receptive to the words they heard.

And this was an important point of parables because most of us assume Jesus used parables because everyone would be able to understand them.

But the New Testament tells us otherwise.

I think the point of them was that they were so obvious and they pointed to such important illustrations of faith that if you didn't get it, you really didn't get it.

And let's look at Mark chapter 4.

And I'm reading from the New International Version.

He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you.

But to those on the outside, everything is said in parables so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving and never hearing but never understanding, otherwise they might turn and be forgiven." The third reason was to teach almost spontaneously.

Often in response to a question he received or an argument he overheard, perhaps of opposing views.

Others make it easy to discuss very difficult or complex ideas.

And they proved Jesus could teach on his feet often with little to no preparation, especially without a long time to prepare.

So how are parables constructed?

Within each parable there's usually some sort of moral dilemma or decision to be made.

Some are contrasts as in two different people make different choices.

For the main character makes a choice and has to wrestle with those consequences.

Some are without contrast.

It just shows the result of decision or action and while the situations might pose dilemma in a bigger or more existential sense, we don't see them as a dilemma, just the results of the decisions they make.

Within the subtext of a parable is the way someone should believe or how they should respond to their beliefs.

It makes for discussion to discuss issues more clearly that are otherwise very complex.

So let's look now at Bible parables.

Most Bible parables contain essential themes to one another.

If we recognize the idea of grouping parables together, the largest body of Jesus' parables relate to eschatology or things that shall happen in the world to come after Christ's second coming, 9 in total.

They also relate to things that may happen after death, such as relating to the afterlife heaven and hell.

The Kingdom of heaven or the Kingdom of God has a total of 6 parables as do general parables that don't have a specific heading.

There are three each on love and forgiveness, loss and redemption and prayer.

So there's a total of 30 parables in the Bible, three being in number to represent manifestation and the revelation of the Godhead.

So we ought to pay attention to these important teachings.

And while obviously for the sake of this program, we can't read and do an in-depth study on all 30 of these different parables, that's something that you can definitely do.

Maybe aim to study one parable per day for a month for 30 days.

And see what you're able to get from studying each of them independently slowly one at a time.

Here, we will give some general overview of these different categories and the contents of each of the parables and help you to find your way as you start to grow in your faith through these essential stories.

So let's start with the Kingdom of heaven parables.

The overall themes present in these are hearing, seeking and growing.

And they use common everyday items familiar to those of agrigarian society.

Some of these include sewing seeds, treasure, pearls, growing seed, mustard seeds, and heaven.

The imagery used taught of invisible hidden things to the naked eye by using common everyday items.

First is the parable of the Sower, a very common one and well known that's found in Matthew

13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.

And a summary is seed sewn indiscriminately fall on four different types of ground.

No soil, rocky ground little soil, in thorns and in good soil.

The only soil that produces a harvest is the good soil is the last one.

The others either die immediately never root or are choked by thorns.

And it represents the gospel and people's responses to it.

There's the parable of the hidden treasure in Matthew 13 verse 44.

A man buries a great treasure in a field, then sells what he has to buy that field.

And it reflects the kingdom of heaven is a source of joy and worth any and all costs to make sure that one has it.

There's the parable of the pearl in Matthew 13:45-46.

There's a merchant seeking godly pearls who finds one of great and immeasurable value, and sells everything he has to buy it.

Similar to the parable of the hidden treasure because it shows the value of giving all for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and that it's done with anticipation and great joy.

The parable of growing seed is Mark 4:26-29.

There's a man who scatters seed on the ground and then goes about his life, but he doesn't understand how this natural process occurs.

And in other words, basically, how seed becomes plants.

This describes the growth of the kingdom of God is belonging to God, not human efforts, and that we don't often understand it, but we participate in the harvest.

The parable of the mustard seed.

Matthew 13:31-32.

Mark 4:33-32, and Luke 13:18-19.

It compares the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed, which is a tiny seed that becomes a huge towering plant when it's planted.

So basically the kingdom starts small, but grows great, and you can't judge the future of the kingdom based on the smallness that it might seem when it's in seed form.

The parable of the leaven is Matthew 13:33, and Luke 13:20-21.

Much like the parable of the mustard seed, this time it uses the analogy of a small amount of leavening or yeast being mixed into a dough to make it rise.

So the kingdom of God once again might start small, but would rise.

Then there are eschatology parables.

This is a parable of the faithful servant, Matthew 24:42-51, Mark 13:34-37

and Luke 12:35-48.

So a major theme in eschatology is often the need to be watchful and aware, and this parable follows that theme.

It follows the parable of the ten virgins, which follows a similar theme, which we'll discuss next, that we need to be prepared for Jesus to return at any time, not finding ourselves undressed or unprepared for our master to return, as is the illustration in this parable.

The parable of the ten virgins, Found in Matthew 25:1-13, is the illustration of five foolish young women and five wise, both sets of whom are set to be part of a wedding party.

And then the groom is late to the wedding, but only five brought enough oil for their lamps, while the others ran out.

And then the foolish, ask for the wise's oil, to which the wise said no, because there wouldn't be enough for them, and enough to share.

The bad in the mind of this is we are to be prepared, no matter how long it is for Christ to return.

The parable of the great banquet or the wedding feast is Matthew 22:1-14, and

Luke 14:15-24.

So in this particular parable, which I find most interesting, we have a man who prepared a huge wedding feast for his son, and he invited everyone who was relevant to the banquet, that they refused to come.

They all made light of it refusing to show up.

And in one story they grabbed the servants and killed them, and response the king sent his armies to destroy the city and kill the murderers.

Ultimately, he decides that people invited weren't worthy, and sends his servants to get anyone they can find whether good or bad to show up.

But then there is a man who snuck in wearing the wrong attire, and he was cast out in comparison to being cast into hell, for many are called, but few are chosen.

Luke's gospel has a shorter narrative, and more specifically talks about going to get the poor cripple blind and lame to come to the banquet.

This one gives a few essential messages about hitting the call when it comes, not ignoring Christ due to busyness, remember busyness shall continue until the Son of Man returns.

But those we expect might not be present at the banquet, and that when we come we need to come right.

It's not about our personal state, but about thinking we are going to sidewind in wrong when we need to come right.

The parable of the rich fool is Luke 12:13-21.

This one was inspired by someone who wanted Jesus to resolve an inheritance dispute.

Most of us understand this issue is one of greed, and perhaps we can explain it by saying that when life ends, whether the world is we understand it or our specific lives, we can't take it with us.

The parable of the wicked husbandman, Matthew 21:33-46, Mark 12:1-2, and

Luke 20:9-19.

This is a complicated parable, by which tenets of a vineyard beat and killed the slave of the owner, who in return sends another one who is also killed, and then he sends his son, assuming they will respect him, but instead they killed him, knowing he was the heir to the vineyard.

There's a few interpretations of this parable, but the biggest one is the rejection of Jesus, seeing others not recognize who he was and leaving as such to his death.

The parable of the tares, Matthew 13:24-43.

This parable depicts a farmer who's eager to pull weeds, but waits until the wheat grows up so he doesn't disturb it for harvest.

Weeds are identified as the children of the evil one, the wheat the children of the kingdom, and the harvest with the end of the age.

In other words, God will let both good and bad grow together until the time of harvest when things will be sorted out.

The parable of drawing in the net, Matthew 13:47-52.

Much like the wheat and tares, it depicts the separation of the wicked and the righteous at the end of the age.

The parable of the budding fig tree, Matthew 24:32-35, Mark 13:28-31, and

Luke 21:29-33.

Using a fig tree, which is used throughout scripture, sometimes to indicate prosperity, but also to predict judgment, and is also an image of the temple.

We find this fig tree in bloom.

As one watches the tree, they know that things are near, so the kingdom of God is also near as one recognizes the signs.

This parable is particularly associated with the destruction of Jerusalem.

There is also the parable of the barren fig tree, which is Luke 13:6-9.

It is about a fig tree that had been around long enough to produce fruit, but wasn't doing so, so it was given another year to bear fruit, or it would be torn down.

This is definitely a call for Christians to bear fruit, because judgment all one day come.

Next we have loss and redemption parables, better known as the redemption trilogy.

The themes present in the redemption trilogy are the same, just with different characters and illustrations.

And their major themes include losing, searching, finding, and rejoicing.

So we have the parable of the lost sheep, Matthew 18:12-14, and Luke 15:3- 7.

The shepherd leaves this flock of 99 sheep to find one that is lost.

So this shepherd is Jesus, and we are the one when we go astray.

And when the sheep is found, there is rejoicing, so when we return, when we are found in him, there is rejoicing.

The parable of the lost coin is Luke 15:8-10.

A woman searches for a lost corn, looks through her whole house, and then rejoices when she finds it.

And the parable of the prodigal son, which is Luke 15:11-32.

I have a message on the prodigal son, told from the perspective of the other son, titled, "I hate everything about you, a message for the rest of us" from an earlier season.

I will likely dust it off and redo it next season, but in the meantime, look it up in the archives.

The story of the prodigal features a wealthy man with two sons.

The younger asked for his estate, not planning to return, and he receives his inheritance, goes off, squanders it, and during a severe famine, comes to his senses and goes home with the intention to be his father's slave.

But his father rejoices when he sees him and calls for a party because his son was lost and now is found.

The other son, however, is bitter and angry because he feels overshadowed.

The father reminds the son that they are to rejoice for his brother has returned.

Next we have lovin' forgiveness parables.

The parable of the good Samaritan, found in Luke 10:25-37.

And in it a traveler is stripped beaten and left for dead on the side of the road.

And what we know from history is that the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, known as the way of blood, because it was often a spot for robbers.

And he's avoided by a Jewish priest and a Levite, but saved by the mortal enemy of the Jews, a Samaritan.

This passage is about doing right, finding grace in unexpected places, and not letting regulations or our perceptions of them stop us from doing the right thing.

The parable of the two debtors, Luke 7:36-50.

Its told in response to outrage that a woman wiped in anointed Jesus' feet with a jar of ointment and was regarded as a sinner.

Jesus addresses the parable to Peter, with a creditor and two debtors, one who owed 500 denari and the other 50, both of whom were forgiven.

So the question was, who was most grateful?

The answer being the one with the larger debt.

The parable of the unforgiving servant, Matthew 18:21-35.

In teaching unforgiveness, the example through the parable is made of a king who forgave the debt of a huge sum, having mercy on the servant.

In turn, that servant went out and found another servant who owed him a few dollars.

He demanded that he was paid and then refused to have mercy on the other servant.

The king found out and resented his mercy because he refused to be merciful to someone else.

So yes, the message is about forgiving others with a merciful origin.

In their parables about prayer, the parable of the friend at night, Luke 11:5-8, where a friend helps his neighbor do to his neighbor's persistence rather than friendship, despite the inconvenience of it.

This is a call to pray without giving up.

The parable of the persistent widow has a similar theme in Luke 18:1-8, where a woman continually confronts an uncompassionate judge seeking justice.

Even though he rejects her initially, he comes to honor her request.

If an unjust judge will listen, imagine how much quicker God will respond when we petition him.

Then there's the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, Luke 18:9-14.

A self-righteous Pharisee and a tax collector, a publican, stand in the temple.

The Pharisee compares himself to the tax collector, standing in self-praise, while the tax collector stands back and says, "Have mercy on me a sinner." We find what we need in prayer when we sincerely come in humility.

Then there are the parables that don't have a particular theme to them.

The parable of the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7:24-27 and Luke 6:46- 49.

The story displays two individuals, one building on a rock and one building on sand.

The one on rock was able to withstand the storm.

This teaches us about the importance of building one's life on Christ.

The parable of the lamp under a bushel.

Matthew 5:14-15, Mark 4:21-25, and Luke 8:16-18.

It's a continuing discourse on salt and light, pointing out lamps and a household aren't hidden but used for light.

It says that believers should also shine this light having no darkness within them.

The parable of the unjust steward, Luke 16:1-13, is a controversial parable that nobody quite knows what it's about.

It involves a business manager, probably a slave, who recognizes he's about to be fired, so he gets his master's debts reduced and his master's commendation.

But the story itself appears to be about the master as much as the servant, and that at some point riches fail.

And in this instance, dishonest Gain turned a situation around, but such doesn't last forever.

The parable of the rich man in Lazarus also Luke 16, but verses 19 through 31.

Another parable that nobody quite knows what it's about.

A beggar named Lazarus lives a horrible life and dies and goes to Abraham's bosom, which was an old Jewish custom for where they were waiting for the Messiah to come and release them into heaven or into the afterlife.

A rich man who lived a fantastic life died and goes to Hades or the grave, where he's tormented from far off.

And from where he is, he sees Lazarus in comfort in Abraham's bosom.

There in Hades he prays for mercy but doesn't receive it.

Some believe that this might actually have been an event, but it probably wasn't.

Others say it may very well be about conscience.

Others argue it was a satire against the Sadducees who didn't believe in the resurrection or life after death.

Some also see it as a primitive picture of the Christian afterlife.

The parable of the Talents, Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:11-27.

Tells the story of a master who puts his servants in charge of his goods while he's away on a trip.

Upon his return each servant is evaluated by their stewardship and how wise and faithful they were to invest his goods to obtain a profit.

Each one receives their own reward, but there's one unfaithful servant who receives nothing with even what he had given to something else.

The parable of the workers in the vineyard.

Matthew 20:1-16.

Two sets of workers were hired at two different times of day, one in the morning and one in the evening and paid the same.

The first crew is angry while the master asks them, "What's it to you if I want to be generous?" Those who come into the kingdom last still come in and no one need be jealous because it doesn't interfere with anyone's reward.

So having looked at all those, and I definitely am sure you're probably going to want to download this and revisit some of what we talked about with these specific parables, why study them?

Well, if you want short, simple spiritual lessons that offer great insights, the parables are definitely the place to go.

If you're into learning about the history behind text, there's also lots of history to learn about the parables because they draw on inspiration from various sources.

And they've also been an inspiration for commentary artwork and songs throughout history.

Learning the parables brings us closer to Jesus because we're able to do so as we learn what he desires in simple ways.

I thank you for listening to this episode of the podcast today, and if you would like a book that helps to break down faith in a simple way, I recommend my book, "Ministry School Basic Training," be all that you can be in God's Army, a guide for lay membership.

That's "Ministry School Basic Training," be all that you can be in God's Army, a guide for lay membership.

You can find that wherever books are so, but look me up, Dr.

Lee Ann B.

Marino on Amazon, or anywhere else that you search for books that all my titles will come up.

There is definitely something there for everybody, and a lot of my books are undergoing revision so you even get to receive new insights into some of them.

So definitely go and check that out today.

Also, I encourage you to check out my Patheos column at patheos.com/blogs/leadershiponfire.

That's patheos.com/blogs/leadershiponfire.

Leadership on fire is a blog all about leadership, so if you're interested in leadership, want to learn more about it, you're called to it, or you're currently in it, there's definitely something there for everyone, go check that out today.

Also connect with me across social media @kingdompowernow.

That's @kingdompowernow.

I'm on Facebook, Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, TikTok, and beyond.

Check me out @kingdompowernow.

Let's have that discussion.

Let's know what you like, what you'd like to hear more of.

Let's get started and connect today.

Also if you'd like to learn more about the World of Counterculture Christianity, feel free to visit my website at kingdompowernow.org.

And if you are looking for an affordable seminary that you can do from home, where you will use everything that you learn, feel free to check out Apostolic Covenant Theological Seminary Acts for Short at acts176.org.

That's acts176.org.

And if you're in the Charlotte, North Carolina area and you are looking to connect with other believers that will help you to grow your faith, we have fun and that we really do strive to be the best in Christian community.

Check out the work, Sanctuary International Fellowship Tabernacle, SIFT for Short at welcomeinthisplace.org That's welcomeinthisplace.org And if there is a question you have that's not answered on the website, feel free to reach out.

We will get back to you.

And this is Apostle Dr.

Lee Ann Marino reminding you in closing that brilliant teachings, powerful teachings don't have to be long.

So study some parables today and get a short lesson filled with power.

Until next time, be blessed.

Thank you for joining us on the Kingdom Now podcast today.

I pray it is proven to be a blessing in your life.

To learn more about this work, ask a question, submit feedback, advertise with us, be a guest, or donate to support this work.

As our podcast is sponsored by listeners like you, visit my website which contains essential information, projects and looks for other points of contact around the web at www.kingdompowernow.org.

Also, if you are in our area and would like to visit Sanctuary International Fellowship Tabernacle, visit welcomeinthisplace.org Until next time, this is Apostle Dr.

Lee Ann Marino reminding you.

That the Kingdom of God is within you.

And that means the Kingdom is now.

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