The Bite

On today's episode, Bryant and Greg talk about the realities of grief and how to navigate the effects.

John 15:1-2 - The Final Episode ... For Now We're bringing The Bite to a temporary close in this season as God prunes us and prepares us for the next chapter! Listen in for how you can be praying alongside your Hope Brooklyn fam for what's to come! Week of August 12th, 2019 By: Russell Joyce

Matthew 14:22-23 - The Yes Men What does God require of us in order for God to take action? It might be more, and less, than we think. Week of August 12th, 2019 By: Nathan Cousins

Matthew 14:14 - He Had Compassion On Them Nothing marks Jesus' ministry more than his compassion. Week of July 29th, 2019 By: Joshua Zepeda

Matthew 13:54-58 - Haters in Your Hometown The people in Jesus's hometown fail to grasp the new thing he is doing. What can we learn from their mistakes? Week of July 8th, 2019 By: Joseph Capehart

Matthew 13:51-53 - Creepy Crawly Storage Room Is new treasures better than the old stuff, and what might Jesus have to say about the state of your storage room? Week of July 1st, 2019 By: Nathan Cousins

Matthew 13:47-50 - God, Love, and Hell How can hell exist when God is suppose to be a gracious and loving Father? Week of June 24th, 2019 By: Bryant Nam

Matthew 13:45-46 - He Came, He Saw, He Sold it All The merchant in Jesus' story flips the script when he happens upon a merchandise almost too good to be true. Week of June 17th, 2019 By: Joshua Zepeda

Matthew 13:44 - Costly Treasure The Kingdom is treasure hidden in a field. That's not exactly good news, FYI Week of June 10th, 2019 By: Russell Joyce

Matthew 13:36-43 - Turn off the Radio How practicing entering into the awkwardness of total silence can bring us closer to the presence of God. Week of June 3rd, 2019 By: Anna Joyce

Matthew 13:34-35 - Why Imagine When We Can Remember For someone who is supposed to be calling us forward, Jesus sure does point back a lot. Week of May 27th, 2019 By: Joseph Capehart

Matthew 13:33 - Fresh Baked Bread "Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories" -Madeleine L'Engel Week of May 20th, 2019 By: Nathan Cousins

Matthew 13:31-32 - God is in the Details Even though our faith in Jesus may seem small, Jesus reminds us that He will make something beautiful out of it. Week of May 13th, 2019 By: Bryant Nam

Matthew 13:24-30 - The Sower Knows How Care For His Field The Sower knows his field and instructs his laborers to be patient, to use discernment, and trust him. Week of May 6th, 2019 By: Joshua Zepeda

Matthew 13:18-23 - Plain Speech Jesus explains things very clearly. Are we sure we want such blunt honesty? I'm not. Week of April 29th, 2019 By: Russell Joyce

Matthew 13:13-17 - When I am Both the Crowd and Disciple The posture of our hearts will determine whether our questions are coming from a place of being His disciple or in His crowd. Week of April 22nd, 2019 By: Anna Joyce

Matthew 13:10-12 - What's the Point of Parables? Why does Jesus only speak to the crowd in parables? Why not give it to them straight? And how should that inform how we share the Gospel? Week of April 15th, 2019 By: Joseph Capehart

Matthew 13:1-9 - God is Not a Very Good Farmer Jesus is telling stories again, this time about a wasteful farmer and mostly infertile environments, in this to-be-continued parable that says something about God and about us. Week of April 8th, 2019 By: Nathan Cousins

Matthew 12:46-50 - Family Matters Family is a value that God cherishes deeply throughout the Bible. So what is this new family that Jesus speaks of and why is it even better? Week of April 1st, 2019 By: Bryant Nam

Matthew 12:43-45 - What's Wrong with the Pharisees? "In the New Testament, to know and not do, is to not know at all." - Howard Hendricks Week of March 25th, 2019 By: Josh Zepeda

Matthew 12:30-42 - Gods, Robots and Human Belief The Pharisees ask for a sign. But they really don't. What they ask for is proof. And proof simply is not possible in the human experience - ever. You don't get proof. You get phenomena - and faith. Week of March 18th, 2019 By: Russell Joyce

Matthew 12:33-37 - Sticks and Stones; Life or Death A cautionary tale from Jesus, about watching "what we eat" so to speak. For what we eat, we metabolize into words, which carry the power and the opportunity at holiness, to acknowledge the human being before you, and to build her up, or tear her down. Week of March 11th, 2019 By: Nathan Cousins

Matthew 12:30-32 - The More You Know What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? How can there be a sin that is unforgivable? Week of March 4th, 2019 By: Joseph Capehart

Matthew 12:22-29 - I Will Not Come as You Expect Not being able to see the full picture, we often put expectations on God in terms of how he will show up in our lives. Most times He shows up in ways that are far different than we expect, but better than we think. Week of February 25th, 2019 By: Anna Joyce

Matthew 12:15-21 - Our Broken Champion How can we have hope in a world that is filled with injustice? As we reflect upon Jesus' mission we see the impact of his silent, yet bold ministry. Week of February 18th, 2019 By: Bryant Nam

Matthew 12:9-14 - Hard Hearts Don't Rest Jesus calls us to rest from our afflictions and the power of evil by resting in his power and dominion but our hard hearts resist him. We can believe we need his help, and that we need his teachings, but we refuse to believe we need him to free us. Until we see Jesus as our savior king who delivers us we will never rest. Week of February 11th, 2019 By: Joshua Zepeda

Matthew 12:1-8 - Mercy or Sacrifice? As we step into a season of spiritual practices, let's make sure we're not doing it for the wrong reasons. Otherwise, we'll become the Pharisees. What are those reasons? Jesus explains... Week of February 4th, 2019 By: Russell Joyce

Matthew 11:25-30 - The Way of Life There is a tension in Jesus. He allows us to be where we are without coercion. But he unapologetically says that he knows the way of life and if we are not experiencing fullness, it is because we have not chosen it. Will you trust him? Week of December 24th, 2018 By: Russell Joyce

Matthew 11:16-23 - Turn To God, Receive His Kindness Jesus’ rebuke is a reminder that we don’t turn to God because of his power, we turn to God because of his kindness. And we can’t see his kindness until we see that we are truly unworthy of it. Week of December 17th, 2018 By: Joshua Zepeda

Matthew 11:7-15 - A Kingdom for the Dogs Jesus takes a surprising detour in reacting to John's doubt and explaining who the Kingdom is actually for. Week of December 10th, 2018 By: Nathan Cousins

Matthew 11:1-6 - Jesus the Stumbling Block What happens when a faith giant like John the Baptist doubts Jesus? What can we learn about how God interacts with our doubts? December 3rd, 2018 By: Joseph Capehart

Matthew 10:40-42 - Radical Hospitality What does it mean to be rewarded for the hospitality we extend to those who are messengers of God? Week of November 26th, 2018 By: Bryant Nam

Matthew 10:32-39 - The Backwards Logic of God's Relationship It doesn't make sense but if you give up what you think you have you'll get it back and even more than before Week of November 19th, 2018 By: Russell Joyce

Matthew 10:24-30 - The Banality of Evil The first Christians bringing a message of love were convicted and executed as 'haters of humanity'. How is this so? Week of November 12th, 2018 By: Russell Joyce

Matthew 10:16-23 - The Christian Life Is Not Easy There's no burden too heavy, no burden too hard for the one you love. - Leonard Ravenhill Week of November 5th, 2018 By: Joshua Zepeda

Matthew 10:5-15 - Ripe for the Pickin' Jesus gives some instructions to his disciples on sharing good news, and not only does he give them the who, the why, and the how, but the criteria for the kind of person to let their peace rest upon. Week of October 29th, 2018 By: Nathan Cousins

Matthew 9:35-10:4 - Sheep, Workers, and Evangelism Jesus is big on analogies. What might an analogy about sheep and harvest workers teach us about how we understand evangelism today? Week of October 22nd, 2018 By: Joseph Capehart

Matthew 9:27-34 - Tale of Two Miracles Why does Jesus heal some and not others? Does our faith have an immediate correlation with the miracles we receive? Week of October 15th, 2018 By: Bryant Nam

Matthew 9:18-26 - New Wineskins The new wine of grace is immediately put to the test and the results are shocking. Week of October 8th, 2018 By: Russell Joyce

Matthew 9:9-17 - New Wine Why is it that those of us who are "more" religious have a tougher time seeing Jesus for who he is? Week of October 1st, 2018 By: Russell Joyce

Matthew 9:2-8 - The Son of Man The works of Jesus are part of a larger story. One that's meant for us to see what He does as a representation of who He is. Week of September 24th, 2018 By: Joshua Zepeda

Matthew 8:28-34 - Meanwhile, Back at the Gadarenes While the laconic Christ in Matthew's story seems to sweep in like the lone ranger, the response of the townsfolks to this miracle worker isn't quite what's to be expected. Week of September 17th, 2018 By: Nathan Cousins

Matthew 8:23-27: Even the Winds & the Waves When Jesus sets a plan for our lives, not even the strongest winds and waves of our circumstances can overcome it. He asks us to have faith and continue the course. Week of September 10th, 2018 By: Joseph Capehart

Matthew 8:14-17 - The Authority of Redemption Jesus had all the authority and power in the world, we can clearly see that in his miracles. We also see that authority exercised to bring grace and redemption to our lives instead of the judgment we deserved. Week of September 3rd, 2018 By: Bryant Nam

Matthew 8:18-22 - But if I Follow... I understand why people don't want to follow Jesus. He clearly warns us that there is great cost in picking up and following him, because you truly don't know where he will take you. But if you do... Week of August 27th, 2018 By: Anna Joyce

Matthew 8:5-13 - Two Poles of Objectivity There are two places by which you can see Jesus clearly - one is from the absolute inside and the other is from the total outside. And to reject the former is to end up in the latter Week of August 20th, 2018 By: Russell Joyce

Matthew 8:1-4 - Is Jesus Kind? The story of Jesus is a story filled with miralces. Each one helping us to see that the story of Jesus is not merely a story of his power, but a story of his kindness. Week of August 13th, 2018 By: Joshua Zepeda

Matthew 7:24-29 - Sand and Stone At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus leaves us with a call to action; from the black and white of the page, into the gray and ambiguity of the real world Week of August 6th, 2018 By: Nathan Cousins

Matthew 7:15-23 - It ain't what you Do, it ain't what you Say, It's... Jesus distinguishes between the true prophets and the false prophets, and what separates the two might not be speech or deeds but something entirely more invisible. Week of July 30th, 2018 By: Russell Joyce