Everyone loves a good story and a good storyteller.

But there is no storyteller like the Lord Jesus, and there are no greater stories told than the ones Jesus shared.

In this study, spiritual stories, we consider the parables Jesus told

and their application to us. These are truly the greatest stories ever told, and the Lord

has something He wants to say to you through them. Let's join Scott Pauley now.

Today we begin a brand new study that I have been thinking about and praying toward and working toward for some time.

And it is a study of the parables of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, parables are actually found all through the Word of God, not just in the ministry of our Lord, but it was Jesus who gave them perfectly. He was the master teacher, the master preacher,

and the master parable user. And so we're going to study these spiritual stories.

Perhaps as a child, you heard someone say that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly

meaning. Well, I think that's true, but I want to remind you that the heavenly meaning has a

personal and present application.

Don't get the idea that this is some far-off truth.

No, my friend, in fact, exactly the opposite.

The reason Jesus used parables was to bring the truth he wanted to teach near to our lives into everyday understanding.

So really what we're going to do is we're going to study the parables

Jesus told and their application to us. It was Charles Spurgeon that said the sermon doesn't even

begin until the application begins. I would argue that if you study the Bible, any portion of the

Bible, and especially the parables, and failed to make application,

you've missed the whole point because Jesus never wanted us to be hearers of the word.

He wanted us to be doers of the word.

So before we launch in to the individual parables of Jesus, let's begin today just with a little

...