John 14 concludes with Jesus and the disciples leaving the Upper Room, so Jesus’ teaching and prayer in John 15-17 happens somewhere between the Upper Room and the Kidron Valley opposite the Mount of Olives. On the walk down toward the valley, before crossing over and entering the olive grove in the Garden of Gethsemane …
Have you ever thought about how Jesus strategically used His teaching to prepare His disciples for the harvest work He had invited them to join Him in? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each record large portions of teaching that the disciples were exposed to, and besides considering the themes and audience present for Jesus’ teaching, …
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29 NIV How are you doing with rest these days? There’s this interesting …
I’ll never forget the moment when I was struck with the fact that Jesus intentionally used short-term, cross-cultural mission trips as part of his disciple-making process. It was the spring of 2013, I was sitting on a bench made from rough-cut logs on a beautiful day at the property of the Latin America Multiplication Center …
“Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.‘” John 20:21 This past weekend, we moved our daughter into her new dorm at the University of Florida. The weekend before that, we drove another daughter up to Long Island University for her final year as a musical …
If Jesus’ disciples were to fulfill the Great Commission to “make disciples of all nations” and be His witnesses “in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,” they needed to be equipped to minister cross-culturally. How would this differ from the equipping they would receive in the Jewish towns throughout the Galilee …
Jesus-style equipping was purposeful, practical, and portable. Immediately after He challenged the disciples to become “fishers of people,” He took them on people-fishing expeditions. They were learning in the laboratory of real life how to bring the good news to both the religious and irreligious, to people with varying backgrounds with a multitude of needs …
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up…” Ephesians 4:11-12 Our primary role as ministry leaders is to equip people for works of service. What does it mean to equip people …
I spent the last four days in Daytona Beach equipping students to be, and make, disciples of Jesus. While we had to improvise because of COVID-19 restrictions, the students were still fully engaged and excited about how their faith was being challenged. We used Sonlife’s Reverb training to energize and equip the students to live …
Back in 2016 I decided to take a deep dive into Jesus, studying a different harmony of the Gospels every month throughout the year. In 2018, I did the same thing again, revisiting a few of my favorite harmonies from 2016 while studying through several new ones. In 2021, I plan on taking another deep …