7 results for tag: follow jesus

Jesus: Historical and Experiential – Jim Fowler

An unfortunate separation has often been made between the Jesus as narrated in the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the Jesus explained in the rest of the New Testament writings, particularly in the Pauline epistles. In the minds of some the Jesus of history and the Jesus of experience are detached as two different entities or two different stories. How do we explain the differentiation between the physical, visible, and tangible presence of Jesus recorded in the Gospel accounts, and the risen, ascended, invisible, and spiritual presence of Jesus in the remainder of the new covenant literature? In the Gospel accounts there ...

Gathering – Once Upon the Ink – Kerri Lynn

The sun is a ball of overeager energy; its bright, fat, fingers of heat clutching the small windows and doors, trying to push their way inside – the smell of hot dirt and clashing cooking spices wafting through the air already, though it’s only morning. I sit, resting my head against the cool, clay bricks of the wall behind me; content to be sitting cross legged in the shadows on the floor close to Jesus, watching him as he waits. He just got the news about John, and I can see grief in the tilt of his chin, the way he glances out the window now and then. The seriousness hidden behind his eyes. It comes at him in waves, what happened to his ...

Jesus on “What-About-ism” – Brad Jersak

"What is that to you?" - Jesus' final words from his final conversation, recorded in the final Gospel (John 21:23) were gentle rebuke to the apostle Peter. "What is that to you?" is the interrogative form of "None of your business!"  The same reply rings through the centuries to our current era, when our society has a knee-jerk reflex that some call "what-about-ism." "What-about-ism" is a typical form of deflection when we feel the discomfort of our complicity in some wrong. It is a defensive strategy where we are tempted to react, "What about them?" "What about them?" "What-about-ism" tries to redirect attention elsewhere, especially when our ...

“Follow Me”: Footprints in the Snow – Brad Jersak

Matthew 4:18-22 -- 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 send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. "Follow Me" When Jesus called the core of his band of ...

Walking With Jesus – Greg Albrecht

During Jesus’ earthly life, walking was the primary and popular form of transit. Most people traveled from point “A” to point “B” by walking. If they needed food, they didn’t walk out the front door and get in their car, nor did they step out the front door and hop on their donkey and go to their local Super-Sol/Super-Sal (the largest supermarket chain in Israel today). They didn’t call Door Dash, Grubhub or Uber Eats for a home delivery. They walked. There are of course times when the word “walk” is used in the Bible in a literal sense, describing how people moved their bodies on foot from one place to another. But the ...

Follow Your Heart! Really? (part 1) Brad Jersak

“Follow you heart.” There’s something about this bit of proverbial wisdom that sounds so right, so refreshing, so healing. To those who’ve shaken free of the restraints of religious moralism or experienced the bankruptcy of rationalism, the rediscovery of one’s heart is a thrilling find indeed. To uncover this precious gift from beneath a thousand layers of emotional limestone is, in a deep way, to be born again. And what a wonderful surprise to find out that perhaps the human heart is, at its core, not some monster to be destroyed, but a pearl to be reclaimed and cherished. And so we hear this anthem, this slogan—Follow your heart!—...

March 2017

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Articles: Two Parades – pg. 1 A Son or a Hired Hand? – pg. 2 Grace Notes – pg. 5 No More Gatekeepers – pg. 7 Quotes & Connections – pg. 8