Apprentice 2 Jesus

Spiritual Formation

  • Everyone Gets an Education

    One of my favorite quotes from Dallas Willard over the years is, “Everyone gets an education. Which kind you get is up to you.” In The Divine Conspiracy, he puts it this way: You are somebody’s disciple. You learned how to live from somebody else. There are no exceptions to this rule, for human beings… Read more

  • The Weeds

    I am preaching this Sunday on the parable of the wheat and the weeds. What is so challenging for me is to understand a couple of things: 1. Jesus works this all out in the end. We are so busy trying to work it out NOW. We want to identify the weeds and pull them.… Read more

  • Dallas Willard Paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer

    Based on what Dallas taught in The Divine Conspiracy on the Lord’s Prayer, he wrote this paraphrase: Dear Father always near us, may your name be treasured and loved, may your rule be completed in us — may your will be done here on earth in just the way it is done in heaven. Give… Read more

  • Lord, I’m a Wimp

    Dallas Willard’s book The Divine Conspiracy walks us through the Sermon on the Mount. I have been posting from time to time this summer on his book as I work my way through it again. I want to understand more fully the cost of discipleship. The section he has on the Lord’s Prayer is helpful.… Read more

  • The Lord’s Prayer — “Forgive us our trespasses”

    Dallas Willard’s thoughts on this particular part of the prayer get right to the point: Today even many Christian read and say “forgive us our trespasses” as “give me a break.” In the typically late-twentieth century manner, this saves the ego and its egotism. “I am not a sinner, I just need a break!” But… Read more

  • The Lord’s Prayer — Give Us This Day

    One key element of prayer Jesus taught his disciples was the request for immediate sustenance. God provides for the basics. Whatever we need to live in a functional manner is sourced in God. “Give us this day our daily bread.” This is a tough request. It is a request based in confidence. Our Father does… Read more

  • Come Now Your Kingdom

    Dallas Willard walks through the Lord’s Prayer in a way that gets my mind to think more deeply about the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. He taught them to PRAY. I lack that passion at times in my own life. Today’s message is from Matt. 11:25-30 where Jesus invites the followers to take his yoke… Read more

  • Being Yoked to Christ

    As I was doing research for this Sunday’s message based out of Matthew 11:25-30, I came across some thoughts from Paul Tillich in The Shaking of the Foundations. The sense of being burdened “is the general human condition to be heavy laden and to labor restlessly under a yoke too hard to be endured.” For… Read more

  • Matthew 10 — Take up your cross

    I read Matt. 10:38 and think back to my first class at Luther Seminary a few years ago. Jim Boyce was teaching the Gospel of Mark. The line was this: “When you follow Jesus you don’t have to go looking for a cross. One is readily provided.” We sometimes like crosses of our own creation.… Read more

  • Matthew 10 — The Separation Factor

    Jesus pulls no punches. It’s almost like he says to people in his day, “Here is what the Kingdom of God is ALL about. Measure this out. Count the cost. It is WORTH it. BUT… if you think you have a better offer somewhere else, take it.” How else do you explain it? Jesus never… Read more