S4:234 Matthew 20-21

Join The Journey

Watermark Community Church, Dallas, TX

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Christian, Bible, Devotional

5 • 827 Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"What does Jesus' parable in Matthew 20:1-16 teach us about God's justice and why might it feel unfair to us? In Matthew 21, why does Jesus cleanse the temple and curse the fig tree? In today's episode, Emma Dotter and Watermark member, Baker Flagg, talk about Matthew 20-21 and answer these questions by unpacking these stories. Additional References: Romans 3:23; 6:23; John 15:2-6; Proverbs 3:5-6 You can also check out the Join The Journey Jr. Podcast: Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/join-the-journey-junior/id1660089898 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6SG7aaE1ZjjFkgB34G8zp3?si=c960a63736904665 Check out the Join The Journey Website for today's devotional and more resources! https://www.jointhejourney.com/ Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Watermark-Community-Church/author/B0BRYP5MQK?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1755623322&sr=8-1&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=8aeeec3b-6c1c-416d-87ae-5dfbbb6981df Check out the study sheet for the book of Matthew: https://assets.ctfassets.net/t8fa2ob1jrlx/5i70m1Udg6twAQhWIxyWyS/2f298cba3d5e53ca762b9f0e7dcf341f/40-Matthew-Study-Sheet.pdf "

Transcript

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0:00.0	Everybody, what is going on?
0:02.5	You know what time it is.
0:03.6	You're listening to join the Journey podcast with your host, Emma Daughter.
0:08.4	Thanks for joining.
0:09.4	Today we are reading Matthew 20 through 21, and I am in the podcast studio, not with today's
0:15.5	Devo writer, but with today's Devo writer's husband, faithful watermark member, Baker Flagg. Thanks, Emma. It's great to be here. And hello to everybody that's listening. Yes, my better half is actually the one that wrote on this. But she's currently at home with our almost 12-week-old baby. So figured I could take this off of her plate. That's right. And I'm so glad you said yes. So thank you, Baker. For those who
0:38.9	don't know you, what has God done in your life? What are you up to today? Well, thanks, Emma.
0:42.8	So I was blessed to grow up in a wonderful Christian family. I became a Christian at a very young age.
0:47.9	And for years, I thought that that meant that I had a boring testimony, which is so far off the
0:53.6	mark because for two reasons. One,
0:56.5	it assumes that it was somehow less remarkable that God saved me versus someone who was a
1:02.7	hellion, let's say. And also it denied the magnitude of the sanctification work that God was
1:09.9	doing in my life. And so one of the main themes
1:13.3	of that sanctification has been a fixation on achieving and deserving. And I worked really hard in high
1:20.2	school. I got the chance to go to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and then serve as an army
1:25.7	officer for eight years. It was a dream that I had had for most of my life.
1:31.1	And the thing with that fixation on achieving and deserving is from a worldly sense, it served me really well in those places.
1:39.3	Sure. I excelled. I was able to participate in some pretty remarkable things and have some pretty great experiences, but internally I was racked by anxiety, self-consciousness and this feeling of,
1:50.8	am I doing enough? Am I being a good enough steward of what God has given me? What if I fail
1:55.8	and I'm not able to fulfill God's purpose for my life. And that all came about because I had a very
2:03.5	skewed perspective on who God is. I thought of him as a benign but strict like football coach
2:10.3	or military commander. And the work of God over the last couple of decades of my life has been
	...

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