Apprentice 2 Jesus

Eat This Book

  • Jesus Mean and Wild

    We like the “meek and mild” Jesus. The tough side of Jesus gets hidden. (Mark Driscoll reverses that, but he’s another story.) In Matthew 8 and 9 we have a lot of stories about miracles and few stories about discipleship. In Matt. 8:18-22 we have one tough lesson on discipleship. The question is basically this:… Read more

  • The Sermon on the Mount and the Process of Discipleship

    For years I have taught that the Sermon on the Mount is the clearest teaching on the Kingdom of God in found in one place in Scripture. Going through Matthew this time as our church prepares for Sunday, I’ve walked through the passage again to find if that still holds true as a statement for… Read more

  • Am I Conducting the Business of My Master?

    Matthew 25:14-30 is the parable of the ten coins (or talents). The question I come away with in this parable is this: Am I conducting myself in the way my Master would conduct business? Have I paid enough attention to what he has said that I know how to live life while he is away? The servants… Read more

  • The Bold Brash Claims of Faith

    For all the years I have spent reading the Gospels, I still am blown away by the bold claims of faith. 18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except… Read more

  • Building Spiritual Muscle

    In Matthew 6 we get those verse that talk about trusting God for the basics of life. What to wear, what to eat, etc. Trust him. Easier said than done, I know. Wow, do I know! I live in more anxiety than I’m willing to admit! (And I happen to be admitting some, so just think…) So,… Read more

  • In the Kingdom the Clean “Infects” the Unclean

    Matthew 8 is bold. Jesus touches the leper. The rule of the day was to quarantine the “unclean” because if the “unclean” touched the “clean,” the “clean” would become infected. Jesus reverses the effect. The Kingdom is about reversal. As Dallas Willard points out, that’s the whole point of the Beatitudes. It is demonstrating that… Read more

  • Surpassing the Righteousness of the Pharisees

    This week our church is reading Matthew in our journey through the New Testament. One of my favorite passages to camp is the Sermon on the Mount. I am blown away by the high calling of the Kingdom of God. Jesus makes the astounding claim that he hasn’t come to abolish the Law or the… Read more

  • The Core of Why We Must “Eat This Book”

    Our reading for this Sunday is Philippians, 1-2 Timothy, and Titus. As I read through 2 Timothy 3:10-4:5, I am once again convicted by these words. These verses are probably core to why the Spirit has led us on this journey as a church to read the entire New Testament this summer. 2 Tim. 3:16-17… Read more

  • Common English Bible and Romans 5:1

    I have enjoyed our New Testament reading this summer in the Common English Bible. Yet, I still find a couple of awkward phrases. (Every translation provides that, however.) Rom. 5:1 in the CEB is interesting: Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness combined with our faith,[a] we have peace with God through our… Read more

  • Speaking the Truth Doesn’t Always Work Out

    25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.  But mark this: There will be terrible times in the… Read more