Jesus & the Gospels
The life, setting, and sayings of Jesus, read in their first-century context.
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The Strength Jesus Calls Meek

Most people hear meek and picture a doormat. Episode 4 of Coffee Chat with Hank looks at Matthew 5:5, the Greek word for a trained war horse, and the people Scripture calls meek. Continue reading
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Why Jesus Blesses Those Who Mourn

Jesus pronounces the favor of God over people with red eyes. Episode 3 of Coffee Chat with Hank looks at Matthew 5:4, the Greek words for mourning and comfort, and the One called alongside. Continue reading
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What It Means to Be Poor in Spirit

The first word of the Sermon on the Mount is blessed, and Jesus says it over beggars. Episode 2 of Coffee Chat with Hank looks at what it means to be poor in spirit in Matthew 5:3. Continue reading
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Pull Up a Chair for Coffee Chat with Hank

My new YouTube show, Coffee Chat with Hank, opens with Daily Bread, forty short teachings through the Sermon on the Mount. Episode one is ready to watch. Continue reading
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This Church Needs a Scandal: The Full Series

An eight-part series on the unorthodox things Jesus did and the religious ruts the church still falls into. Start reading here. Continue reading
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The Scandal That Saved the World

Every offense in this series was building toward the biggest one. The cross as stumbling block, the empty tomb, and the specific scandal the church is called to carry. Continue reading
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Turning Over the Tables

He saved his hardest words for the most religious men in the room. A study of the temple cleansing, the word hypokrites, and the rut of just looking alive. Continue reading
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The Wrong People Get In

Jesus kept handing the front-row seat to the outsider. A study of the Good Samaritan, the word neighbor, and the lines the church draws without ever voting on them. Continue reading
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Bad Company

Table fellowship declared who was in, and Jesus kept eating with the wrong people. A look at the open table, the word hamartolos, and the lists churches quietly keep. Continue reading
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Breaking the Sabbath on Purpose

He could have waited for sundown. Instead he called the man to the front and healed him in full view. Why Jesus broke the Sabbath on purpose, and what it says to us. Continue reading
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Who Do You Think You Are?

Before Jesus healed the paralyzed man’s legs, he forgave his sins, and the scribes cried blasphemy. They were right that only God can do it. That was exactly the claim. Continue reading
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The Man Who Touched Lepers

Jesus stretched out his hand and touched what the Law said would defile him. Instead, cleanness flowed the other way, and it says everything to a church that keeps its distance. Continue reading
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This Church Needs a Scandal

The people who knew Scripture best looked at Jesus and saw a heretic. A new series walks through the scandalous things he did and holds each one up as a mirror to the church. Continue reading
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Tetelestai: The One Word That Changes Everything About the Cross

From the cross, Jesus said one word in Greek that was stamped on first-century receipts and on courtroom sentences. Tetelestai. Paid in full. Sentence served. Continue reading
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The Week That Was Written in Advance: Reading the Passion Through the Prophets

The last week of Jesus’ life is dense with layered meaning. The prophets had scripted much of it centuries before. The men carrying it out had no idea they were reading the lines. Continue reading
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The Widow’s Two Mites and the Loudest Silence in the Temple

The temple treasury was loud. Rich men poured coins down trumpet-shaped receptacles you could hear across the courts. The widow’s two mites barely made a sound. Continue reading
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What Was in Their Hands: How Everyday Objects Carry the Weight of Jesus’ Teaching

Jesus reached for what every hand in the crowd had held that morning. A coin, a seed, a wineskin, a needle. The ordinary object carried the weight. Continue reading
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Why the Father Ran: The Cultural Shock of the Prodigal Son’s Welcome

A dignified Middle Eastern patriarch did not run. When the father in Luke 15 ran to meet the prodigal, he was doing something the original hearers gasped at. Continue reading
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The First-Century Body Knew Things We Don’t: Customs and Gestures in the Gospels

Every culture teaches its body things. The first-century body knew an enormous number of things the modern body has never been taught. Recovering the gestures recovers the Gospels. Continue reading
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What ‘Born Again’ Really Means in the Greek (and Why Nicodemus Missed It)

The Greek word behind ‘born again’ carries two meanings at once: again and from above. Nicodemus heard the lower one. Most modern readers do too. Continue reading
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When the Word Itself Is the Sermon: The Greek and Hebrew Under the Gospels

Some sayings of Jesus turn on a single word that carries two senses at once, an idiom the English flattens, or a pun in Aramaic. The original language is doing the work. Continue reading
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What ‘Living Water’ Meant at the Feast of Tabernacles

When Jesus offered living water in John 7, he stood up in the middle of a temple ceremony that had been begging for the Spirit. The calendar makes the saying land like a thunderclap. Continue reading
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The Calendar Was a Teacher: How Jewish Feasts Shape the Sayings of Jesus

Jesus timed some of his most explosive sentences to specific moments in the Jewish festival calendar. The feast was the setup. The sentence was the punchline. Continue reading
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Why Did Jesus Choose Caesarea Philippi? The ‘Gates of Hades’ Saying Decoded

When Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against his church, he was standing in front of a cliff the locals called the gate to the underworld. The location was the sermon. Continue reading
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When the Place Was the Sermon: Recovering the Geography of Jesus’ Teaching

Jesus did not teach in a vacuum. He preached on located ground, and the location was often half the sermon. Here is what we miss when we read past the geography. Continue reading
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The List You Always Skip

The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 is the gospel before the gospel. Every name on the list is doing work, and most of us have been skipping it for years. Continue reading
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Daniel, the Magi, and the Fulfillment of Prophecy

When Matthew tells us about the birth of Jesus, he includes a surprising detail: “Wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?’” (Matthew 2:1–2). Think about that. Foreign scholars, Gentiles, traveling hundreds of miles, guided by a star, arriving in Judea to worship… Continue reading
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The Son Before the Manger: Finding Jesus Throughout the Old Testament

There’s a question I get asked more than almost any other: “Where is Jesus in the Old Testament?” It’s a good question—one that opens up the Scriptures in ways that can transform how we read our Bibles and deepen our faith in the God who has always been working to bring us to Himself. The… Continue reading
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Judas Iscariot: Disenfranchised Disciple?
[Mat 26:17-25 NKJV] 17 Now on the first [day of the Feast] of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” 18 And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says,… Continue reading
The Believer’s Creed
I believe in the eternal God—
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—
One in essence, infinite in glory,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
whose wisdom shaped all things seen and unseen.
I believe in Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God,
conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
holy and humble, yet Lord of all.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
He descended into the depths of hell,
and on the third day He rose victorious.
He ascended into heaven,
and now reigns at the right hand of the Father,
from where He will come again
to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the breath and power of God within us,
who gives life, convicts hearts, and sustains faith.
Through the Spirit, the Church is made holy,
a communion of saints across all generations.
I believe in the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting in the presence of God.
I believe in the sacred mystery of the Trinity—
not three gods, but one holy unity:
Father, Son, and Spirit—eternal, unchanging, divine.
I believe in the sacred story revealed in Scripture:
that from the beginning, light has warred against darkness,
and though the enemy rose in pride,
God’s promise prevailed through the Seed—
Christ Jesus, born of a woman,
who triumphed through His cross and empty tomb.
I believe salvation is a gift of grace—
received by faith, sealed by repentance,
and made real through the transforming love of God.
I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God,
a lamp for our path and truth for every soul.
I believe in the call of baptism—
a burial of the old, a rising to new life in Christ.
I believe the Holy Spirit empowers believers
with gifts of healing, wisdom, and tongues,
that we may glorify God and serve the world in love.
I believe in divine healing,
for the power that raised Christ from the grave
still moves with mercy among His people.
The Believer’s Charge
We believe that we are called and anointed—
not as spectators, but as servants of the living God.
We are His witnesses in all the earth,
ambassadors of reconciliation and bearers of His light.
We believe that Christ has commissioned us
to go into the world and proclaim His gospel,
to speak truth to the lost and hope to the broken,
to open blind eyes and set captives free.
In His name we move without fear,
for the Spirit goes before us with power and signs.
We believe the promise of our Lord:
that these signs will follow those who believe—
we shall cast out demons in His name,
speak with new tongues of heavenly fire,
lay hands upon the sick and see them restored,
tread upon the works of the enemy,
and walk in the authority of the risen Christ.
We believe that the Spirit within us
confirms the Word with power and grace—
that we are vessels of His love,
agents of His mercy,
and temples of His presence.
We choose to live as those sent by God,
our hearts aflame with His gospel,
our hands ready to serve,
our voices lifted in praise,
our lives poured out for His glory.
The Blessed Hope
I believe in the glorious return of Jesus Christ,
who will restore all things
and reign in righteousness and peace.
And I believe in eternal life—
the home prepared for the redeemed,
and the solemn truth of judgment for the unrepentant.
This is our faith, our confession, our calling, and our hope.
To God be the glory—forever and ever.
Amen.
