Claim OwnershipThe Living Word: A Daily Devotional with Jeff & Dale from The Jenkins Institute
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© 2026 The Living Word: A Daily Devotional with Jeff & Dale from The Jenkins Institute
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The Living Word is a daily devotional featuring Scripture and encouragement from Jeff and Dale of The Jenkins Institute. Each episode offers a thoughtful reading to coincide with the daily devotional guides from our annual devotional books. They are designed to help listeners begin or end their day grounded in God’s Word.
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Have you ever attended a party or a special dinner and found yourself “underdressed” or even “overdressed?” There is an old saying, “The clothes make the man.” The formality of the occasion determines the style of dress one is expected to wear. The right clothes honor the host or hostess of the function. Dressing sloppily is an insult to the host. I want to please God, don’t you?
Have you ever received an invitation in the mail and, after reading the complete invitation you saw these small letters at the end— R.S.V.P.? Many in our busy culture do not pay attention to those small letters, but they are very important. The letters are from the French language, and mean: “répondez s’il vous plaît.” This directly translates to, “Respond, if you please.” The acronym is often used to confirm attendance at an event, such as a wedding, birthday party or baby shower. If a R.S.V...
A parable is defined by some as “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” This parable should be read along with the accounts by Mark, Luke, and John. The other writers differ somewhat, but Matthew’s account is listed during the final week of Jesus’s life on earth. If I had to give a title to this parable, it would be “You Have Been Invited to a Banquet... Please R.S.V.P!”
What brings you joy? There might be many things that God has given that come to mind. Your spouse, your children, your friends, your job, traveling, working out, coffee, reading, watching and playing sports, hiking, cooking, gardening…the list could go on and on.
What happens when you don’t have enough money to pay for an item you want? Do you give up and walk away? Or do you find a way to pay for it? Our man in Matthew 13:44 found a way to pay for it. He sold everything else that he had to pay for it! He knew that what he would receive from the field would be far more valuable than anything that he already had.
Married people…do you remember when you first started liking your spouse? That moment when you thought, “This person might be the person for me!” Maybe you were not so sure that your crush had the same feeling for you. Maybe you were afraid that you might miss out on the opportunity to date and marry this person. Maybe one of the scariest thoughts to you was the possibility that they would eventually become interested in someone else.
In February of 2025, a couple of hikers in the Czech Republic stumbled upon an aluminum box that was hidden in a stone wall. Imagine their joyful shock to open it and find several items, including 598 old gold coins and 17 gold bracelets. The hikers immediately brought their amazing find to the Museum of Eastern Bohemia and had a coin expert evaluate it. The gold is worth well over $300,000.
What do pirates, Indiana Jones, and California miners in 1849 have in common? They wanted treasure! Name a time in history, and you can name a successful pursuit for treasure. Jesus is going to capitalize on this universal desire in this short parable (Matthew 13:44). Today, we are going to analyze the parable. In the days to follow, we will make application. • “The kingdom of heaven…” Jesus often referenced this “kingdom”
“But all my friends are Christians, didn’t James warn about friendship with the world and didn’t Paul tell us about how ‘evil companions corrupt?’” (James 4:4; 1 Corinthians 15:33). True, but we must remember God left us here to be ambassadors for Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:20); that Jesus commanded us to go into all the world (Matthew 28:18-20); and to be salt and light in a world that needs the Light (Matthew 5:13-16). So, our mission while here is to spend our time influencing others in the di...
So in scene one, the Kingdom is a treasure in a field that is worth everything to the one who finds it. In the second, the Kingdom is like the one who found it and is now seeking great pearls in which to invest. We suggested that these priceless pearls are souls that were lost and that we, these merchants, are seeking them There seems to be an obvious question. Why?
We hinted at it on Monday—today, let’s take it apart. It’s easy to assume these three verses are two illustrations of the same truth: the value of the Kingdom. In the first, a man finds a treasure, hides it, then sells everything to buy the field. The Kingdom is shown as a treasure of great worth. But our friend Cecil May often reminded us, “Well-known verses should be read more carefully.”
I imagine most of us have, at some point, dreamed of discovering a treasure—a distant royal relative who leaves us a fortune, an old lottery ticket we find on the ground that turns out to be the big jackpot, a dusty painting in the attic revealed to be the work of a now-famous artist, or a document hiding a mint-worthy Declaration of Independence, or a clever invention that suddenly fills our pockets.
In Matthew 13:34-35, we read in part, “All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable…” Consider the strength of that statement! Sometimes preachers are criticized for being “story-tellers.” While stories can sometimes distract from the main message, we must never forget that Jesus used many of them. He knew—as every good communicator knows—that people connect through stories. A well-told parable can carry truth deeper than direct inst...
As we conclude our week reflecting on Jesus' short parable in Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:20-21, let us think together briefly about different elements in this parable: the kingdom of heaven or God, the leaven hidden, the three measures of flour, and the leavened bread. Each is significant. We know the kingdom of Heaven is the church with its very precious cornerstone, Jesus Christ (Acts 4:11). The kingdom is the one body, the church of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:13-18). Notice the...
Context! Context!! Context!!! Despite the negative spiritual connotation of leaven—as a symbol of sin and something to be removed from nearly every grain offering and feast —there were a few exceptions. In the very short parable recorded in Matthew 13:33, found in a chapter full of parables using similes and metaphors for the kingdom of Heaven, Jesus says, “The kingdom of Heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened” (ESV). Luke records ...
We have seen how leaven symbolizes corruption and evil, both in the Old and New Testaments. However, is it not interesting that the only sacrifices and remembrance celebrations in which God permitted leavened bread were the peace offering for thanksgiving (Leviticus 7:13; 23:17) and the Feast of Weeks?
Bread used in most Old Testament feasts and sacrifices, as well as in the Lord’s Supper under the New Testament, is unleavened—that is, made without yeast or leaven. When leaven or yeast is used to make bread rise, it ferments and develops an acidic content that causes the bread to rise and become sweeter.
This week, we explore one of Jesus’ short parables, one verse in Matthew 13:33 and two verses in Luke 13:20-21. Matthew records, “He told them another parable. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened’” (Matthew 13:33, ESV). In his parables, Jesus used many illustrations familiar to his listeners. Perhaps none were as close to home as His mother baking bread as he grew up in Nazareth. Leaven or yeast in Bible times wa...
“Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn’” (Matthew 13:30, ESV). “No Justice, No Peace!” We hear this phrase shouted repeatedly by protesters who feel they have been wronged by the powers that be. They are not alone. Everyone wants to receive the justice they feel they deserve. However
“So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.’” (Matthew 13:28-29, ESV). Jesus Christ is a patient and loving Savior, and he demonstrates this in his answer to the servants who want to remove the weeds from amongst the wheat. We must remember that the wheat and the weeds represent real people who follow or do not follow Jesus. It is not an “insignificant effort” to remove these we...
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