Becoming a Man of God

  If you're like me, you've been enjoying The Chosen  as a great binge substitute. I especially love how the portray the twelve and give them their own unique personalities while also trying to stay biblicaly accurate. I specifically enjoy seeing Peter's character develop, even if they do extrapolate a little bit. Speaking of Peter, my quiet time was in  John 18 this morning, which records Gethsemene through Jesus's arrest from John's perspective - a perspective that's important to identify, given that John witnessed firsthand just about everything he writes, especially this chapter.  I won't take you through it all, but most of us who are fairly familiar with the Gospel, know that with Jesus's arrest come Peter denying that he knows Jesus three times before the rooster crows, as Jesus predicted. What struck me today, was that - as John reminds us - denying Christ was Peter's second  failure. All four accounts of the Gospel mention that one of the di

  I've been watching The Chosen, and I have to say, it is the best depiction of Jesus and his ministry I've ever seen. Their attention to detail and depiction of what it was like to be with Jesus is amazing, so much so that I haven't been tripped up by the creative extrapolation like I normally would. The above picture is Jesus hugging Simon Peter - the love of Jesus is captured beautifully.  The TV show, in addition to being a great alternative to normal binge watching entertainment, has had me thinking more and more about discipleship. What is a disciple? Why did Jesus come to make disciples? And why was making disciples the main focus of His time on earth? In the next few paragraphs, join me in the asking and answering of these questions:  1. What is a Disciple? This is something I've been very specific in learning over the years. It feels like there are so many "discipleship" programs going on in churches and ministries around the world, but they all seem

  This is a little bit of a lighter topic - I realize that I focus a ton on the cost to follow Jesus, the mission He has us all on, and the heaviness of that responsibility. Every once and a while though, God will remind me of the softer edge he so gracefully - the one that I often times neglect to communicate very well.  This part of Jesus is more experienced than anything - it isn't something we focus on, or even something you can explain or articulate to someone who hasn't experienced it, but here I am, attempting that very thing.  Jesus desires you. He desires a relationship with you. He loves  you - so much so that He moved heaven and earth to be able to be with you. From Eden to Calvary, that was God's desire: to have an individual, intimate relationship with us. Here's why I am convinced of this very thing . . .  1. Walking in the Cool of the Day When Adam and Eve had sinned, it is recorded in Genesis 3:8 that they "heard" the Lord walking in the Garden

I'm sitting in a Panera bread at the moment thinking about this topic - it's a workday and I'm only a half of coffee into my day, so I feel a bit foggy. Blogging always help to meditate through these thoughts, so thank you for joining me on my journey.  I've been thinking about God's love for the individual. I've been having my quiet time in Ezra and Nehemiah for the past few weeks, and that theme has become increasingly put in front of me. Ezra and Nehemiah were both individuals that God specifically used to impact the many. It seems God loves to start a fire: one spark that ignites a movement. This was certainly the case with Nehemiah, and as I've meditated on my understanding of the Word, I realize that this pattern is everywhere; so much so that I'm to the point to say that it is the essence of God's plan. God desires the individual. My theory is that God has this focus for two reasons:  1. God desires a relationship with us individually. 2. The

  Two blogs in two day? Yeah, I'm a little inspired I suppose. I'm currently on a conference call for work, and it's one I really don't have to be too mentally engaged with, so I figured instead of playing online chess which has been my custom, I'd jump on here and think on things that are more noble, true, right pure, lovely and admirable.  Recently I had a quiet time in Mark 4 which is Jesus' parable of the sower - he says something interesting in verse 13:      And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?" There are two major things Jesus could be communicating here: 1. Jesus think this parable is so simple that if you miss it, you'll miss the rest. (I'm not inclined to think this is correct, given on just how much is packed into this one parable.) 2. Understanding this parable is the key to understanding all the parables of Jesus. Personally, I'm more inclined to believe the latter

I'm not one to be a consistent content creator, but I found this blog recently and couldn't help but drum it back up. God has been hitting me with this topic as of late, and I truly wanted to free-write (somewhat) my thoughts.  God has really developed my convictions regarding obedience. Obedience seems to be on every page of the Bible, Christ's teaching, and my quiet times lately. Jesus came to the earth in obedience, demonstrated what obedience to God looks like, and then willingly died on a tree - all out of complete devotion to His father.  Let's state what should be the obvious - complete devotion to Jesus is complete devotion to obeying Him. We cannot separate the two.  One who claims to recognize Jesus Christ as the radiance of the Glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature (Hebrews 1) and who claims to believe that they have fallen short of that glory, and thus deserving of death just as every man / woman since Adam / Eve was deserving, (Genesis 3, Romans