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Discipleship — The Vision of What is Possible
I am currently working my way through the book, The Theology of Dallas Willard: Discovering Protoevangelical Faith by Gary Black, Jr. It is refreshing me on the thoughts and theology of Dallas Willard. The quotes Black gives plunge me back into the thoughts of Dallas Willard, reminding me of what I read over the years. I am also reminded I need…
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Jesus will force you into some decision at some time
Faith isn’t simply an intellectual exercise. Faith is also about the heart… passion. When we truly understand our sins are forgiven, when all of that has truly hit us, the passion of thankfulness can be unleashed. It’s the picture of the woman washing Jesus’ feet with her tears (Luke 7:44-47). Dallas Willard puts it this way: “When we see Jesus as he…
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This is what we do
The power of the Kingdom of God can have an impact in so many ways. The kingdom is seen in a store line. Last night at Target as we were checking out, a man in the express lane was buying milk. Something with his transaction didn’t work. A young couple behind him noticed he couldn’t pay right then so the…
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Being an Apprentice
Jason B. Hood in his book, Imitating God in Christ: Recapturing a Biblical Pattern, gives a description of being an apprentice that easily describes why I use the blog name “Apprentice2Jesus.” “As apprentices, disciples follow an expert and absorb their master’s mindsets and practices until they become capable on their own. Jesus’ disciples do not graduate from apprenticeship to perfection…
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Engaging the Kingdom — Overcoming Evil
“Our willingness to yield up everything when we are bidden to do so is our willingness to have enough in Jesus Christ alone, to desire to follow him alone. Our voluntary renunciation of counterviolence confirms and proclaims our unconditional allegiance to Jesus as his follower, our freedom, our detachment from our own egos. And it is only in the exclusivity…
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Hype
I will say on this on a blog. This will then automatically connect to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. So, what I’m about to say goes against how I am going to communicate it. That’s the hypocrisy of this exercise. This is about hype. It’s about how in the western Church we are all about what is “epic” or the…
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Engaging the Kingdom — Treasure
“They have their treasure well hidden, they have it at the cross.” (Bonhoeffer, Discipleship) The pursuit of the Kingdom of God produces vast spiritual wealth. The treasure of the Kingdom is pursued, but it is pursued like no other treasure. The pursuit always goes through the cross of Christ. The road of abundance in the Kingdom has a narrow entrance: about…
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Engaging the Kingdom — Ask, Seek, Knock
Matt. 7:7-11 Jesus seems to lay down the impossible before us when it comes to being in the Kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount can be read as incredibly demanding and grueling. The King doesn’t ask his disciples to do the impossible. He lays out the means to climb to what seems impossible. It lies in those very simple words:…
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The Absence of God
“Any understanding of God that doesn’t take into account God’s silence is a half truth — in effect, a cruel distortion — and leaves us vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation by leaders who are quite willing to fill in the biblical blanks with what the Holy Spirit never tells us.” — Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
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When Things Go Wrong — Constructing a Moralism
I have picked up Eugene Peterson’s work Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places again. I have picked at it for the past several years and find myself drawn to his words again. In the chapter “Christ Plays in History” Peterson deals with the threat of “moralism” in our lives. His contention is we have a tough time dealing with Christ in history,…
Tag: Discipleship
