Living in the Kingdom: The Sermon on the Mount

"Blessed are the poor...You are the salt of the earth...Unless your righteousness is better than the Pharisees...You have heard it said..."  These are familiar words from Jesus. Many times they are said to be "a new Torah" or "the constitution of the Kingdom," and they can be a tad frightening if

Eternity Is Now

Dallas Willard, in one of his books, says "Eternity is now in process."  Wow, that is encouraging! How do we eternity this way?  Well, we've discussed here that the Kingdom of God is already here, and will fill the whole earth at the return of Christ. In the same way, eternity is

What I Learned about Discipleship at the Gym

I don't like going to the gym.  Now, I don't mind work, and I get sweaty and tired fairly often, but that's usually from working in the garden or something else productive, as opposed to running in place on a treadmill. Then too, I get intimidated by the people at the gym who look in much better condition than I.  But I've realized that working out looks a lot like being a disciple of Jesus. How's that?

Understanding the Kingdom of God

This week, instead of writing my own post, I'm going to direct you to one written by my friend and boss, Joseph Tkach.  He gives us some good words and a good analogy about the kingdom, based on modern technology: a rocket.  See if you agree:  http://update.gci.org/2014/02/understanding-the-kingdom/. 

An Apprentice of the Carpenter

Preachers talk about "following Jesus" but what does that mean? We could use technical language and give a 100-word definition. But simply, it means to be his apprentice in living. Learning what he does and how he does it, learning to pay attention when he teaches, practicing and getting it sort of right, and practicing some more. Since Jesus was a carpenter, maybe

Living in the Kingdom

Are you in God's kingdom yet? Or do you hope you may be someday? These questions miss the point:  the kingdom of God is already active on earth, and has been for almost 2,000 years. How so? Because Jesus began his ministry by announcing that the time has come, and the kingdom of God was near (Mark 1:15).  He said it was

In Jesus, We See God

It's an axiom of theology that God is what's called "transcendent." That is, he is above and outside of his creation, and he is not part of it. Because of that, we can't see or touch him, we can't know his mind and we can't understand his true nature and glory, even