Tag: disciple
-
Ready! Set!
Luke 5:1–11; Luke 6:12–16; Luke 9:1–6; Luke 9:28–36; Luke 24:44-49; Acts 2:14 (read online ⧉) What’s your 6-month plan? What’s your 12-month plan? What’s your 3-year plan? What’s your 10-year plan? Some variation of this question is often asked of high school students, college students, recent graduates, job interviewees. In this particular time of COVID-19,…
-
That’s a Christian?
Psalm 26; Matthew 23:11–15; Titus 1:5–16 (read online ⧉) “One of their very own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. For this reason, rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith and may not pay attention to Jewish myths and the commands of…
-
Resurrecting Hope
Psalm 39; Luke 24:8–35; Acts 26:1–8 (read online ⧉) Brian Sanders (Executive Director of Tampa Underground) shared some very interesting thoughts regarding the Emmaus Road story. Cleopas and the unnamed disciple hadn’t yet seen the Resurrected Jesus. Like any of the “outer circle” disciples, they didn’t see Jesus immediately, and many of the inner circle…
-
Peace and Blessings
Numbers 6:22–27, Luke 10:3–12, John 14:25–30, John 20:19–28 (read online ⧉) The Levitical or priestly blessing has been a mainstay for the Jews and Christians for millennia. The pronouncement of blessing, protection, acknowledgment, grace, favor, and peace pretty much sums up what a life with God should result in. What makes this tiny passage even…
-
Consequential Freedom
Psalm 75, Amos 1:3–2:8, Ezekiel 18:25–32 While Israel is being foretold of its doom, it is probable that a great many people were responding to the prophets (and therefore, God) that God just wasn’t being fair. Why shouldn’t they be able to be “free” as the other nations? While the focus is on them, their…
-
Denial and Grace
Luke 23:50–24:12, John 19:38–42, Matthew 10:32–33 Joseph of Arimathea is described differently by Luke and John. Luke describes him as good, righteous, and looking forward to the kingdom of God. John describes him as a secret disciple of Jesus. On the surface, these appear to be different. And, depending on the audience, they can be…
-
Blindly Seeing
Luke 24:13–35, John 20:1–18, John 21:2–14 Poor Cleopas. Literally walking with Jesus and he didn’t have a clue. Luke’s choice of words makes it pretty clear. Cleopas couldn’t have been that oblivious. He had to have been prevented from recognizing Jesus. That makes perfect sense from Luke’s perspective. What is it about this resurrected Jesus…
-
Wednesday after Easter
Genesis 1:24–2:1, Genesis 3:6–13, Psalm 11, Matthew 6:22–23 Up through verse 25, God’s creative acts end with the epithet, “…God saw that it was good.” Then God made mankind. With the completion of that act, “…God saw that it was very good.” The word very can also be translated as exceedingly. Look around. Do we…