Discipleship in The Beattitudes
Who should we consider to be the one blessed or favored by the Lord? The poor in spirit The mourner The meek The one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness The merciful one The one who is pure in heart The one who makes peace The one who is persecuted for being in the right […]
Video: Applying the Bible Study Method to the Parable of the Sower
I took the outline I gave in the last video and used the Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13 to show how it would work on a specific text. I have found this approach quite helpful. We need to be in the word. I often hear people talk about how they don’t have time […]
A Discipleship Exercise
I want you to picture in your mind this scene from the Gospel of Matthew, “18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will […]
From Disciple to Apostle – Their Shift is Our Shift
Jesus didn’t just teach his disciples. He also sent them out to teach what he taught (the kingdom) and do what he did (heal people). We see this in the sending of the 12 and the 72 in the gospels. In Matthew 10:1-2 we get a very interesting shift in language, ” Jesus called his […]
The Sermon on the Mount and the Power of Self-Deception
The sermon on the mount is one of the most powerful sermons ever preached. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned that one of Jesus’ longest sermons was only a few minutes long if we have the whole thing recorded. Sometimes less is more. But in these three chapters of Matthew (5-7) Jesus gives […]
Prophets Unaware
Several times in scripture we have people doing things that are prophetic without them recognizing it. There are several instances in the Gospels where the Gospel writer informs us of what is going on. One of those instances is in John 11. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead the Jewish leaders began plotting as […]
What Do We Know About Joseph?
The New Testament doesn’t give us an awful lot of information about Joseph but we do know a few things from what we have in Matthew, Luke and John. First, we know that Joseph was Jewish and a descendant of David and originally from Bethlehem. Matthew tells us that in his genealogy in Matthew 1. […]
Re-envisioning the Manger: 7 Common Misconceptions about the Nativity of Jesus
A few fun facts about the ancient world and the birth of Jesus. 1. Mary wasn’t necessarily about to give birth any moment on her way to Bethlehem. The classic image of Mary riding on a donkey about 11 months pregnant probably wasn’t the case. Luke 2:4-6 – “4 So Joseph also went up from the […]
Past, Present and Future Components of the Lord’s Supper & Our Spiritual Formation
Past “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.” – Exodus 12:14 “and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do […]
Fascinating Story Order in the Gospels
Sometimes the Gospels have stories that are ordered in such a way that it just blows my mind. Because these connections span multiple stories it can be easy to miss because we often study one unit of the text at a time rather than looking at the whole or at least big chunks to see […]