2 Minute Disciple
Episode Archive
Episode Archive
191 episodes of 2 Minute Disciple since the first episode, which aired on November 30th, 2021.
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Episode 127: Sermon On The Mount Part 5
Episode | April 8th, 2022 | Season 2 | 5 mins 5 secs
audio bible, daily bible, daily devotional, jesus christ, self care, spirituality
It is so hard to not worry or be anxious, but worry and anxiety don’t work, they just make things worse. When we focus on God and how he works and provides for us, we can let go of those worries and watch God go to work for us. I needed to hear this today and I need to ask God to help me to make this a reality in my life. Worry and anxiety rob us of what God wants to give us and we are valuable to him. This week I have struggled to see what I have gained in a career given to vocational ministry. I’m having a hard time switching careers and seeing my value. However, when I think about my career in ministry as storing up treasures in heaven, I realize that my skills used to his glory were not wasted and that I can trust him to help us through this hard transition even if we can’t see it. I’m still a work in progress, however, because I just want God to hurry up already.
What is God showing you today? -
Episode 126: Sermon on the Mount Part 4
Episode | April 7th, 2022 | Season 2 | 4 mins 58 secs
audio bible, daily bible, daily devotional, emotional wellness, self care, spiritual journey, spirituality
We all want to live these well curated lives that make people look at you and say wow, they have it all together. However, that’s not what God wants from us. God wants us to live fully for him and to worship him with our lives. What we do is for him and not for others to applaud us or stroke our ego. We get to live in partnership with God and by doing our part, we get to see God in action and he gets to enjoy us in action. Sometimes I forget that part, I don’t need the applause of people because God’s appreciation is more than enough to satisfy my soul.
A good sermon steps on your toes and makes you uncomfortable with the tension between the reality of your soul and what God wants from you. This sermon from Jesus sure delivers the punch and I hope that you are wrestling with these words of Jesus. What is the tension that you are feeling as you wrestle with Jesus’ words? -
Episode 125: Sermon on the Mount Part 3
Episode | April 6th, 2022 | Season 2 | 4 mins 38 secs
audio bible, daily bible, jesus christ, kingdom living, spiritual journey, spirituality
I had a rough day yesterday and I poured all of the anger, hurt, doubt, and junk that I have been stuffing inside, out onto my journal (no you can’t read it). It was a shake your fist at God moment for me and he prevailed. The words that spoke to me the most in this reading today are “Grow Up!” & “live like it.” Jesus’ way of living seems counter intuitive, but it really is life giving to be honest and open and to not dress yourself up in religious lace just to look the part. Living as citizen of God’s new government is not about looking the part, but it is about really living it out in the grit and grime of life. You can’t have one foot in and the other foot out, you have to be all in or all out of God’s way of life. Are you ready to grow up and be all in for God’s new government?
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Episode 124: Sermon on the Mount Part 2
Episode | April 5th, 2022 | Season 2 | 5 mins 21 secs
audio bible, daily bible, jesus christ, spirituality
Just getting by with doing the minimum requirements is not good enough in God’s kingdom. We tend to view righteousness from the outside, by only observing behaviors, however righteousness needs to be observed from the heart. Our behaviors spring from what is on the inside. If our hearts are pure and our motives righteous then our actions will follow. To live in God’s kingdom, your heart has to be right before him and if your heart is his, then you will live a righteous life.
This is what Jesus is saying in this section, just checking off boxes doesn’t cut it. How is your heart before God? -
Episode 123: Sermon on the Mount 1
Episode | April 4th, 2022 | Season 2 | 6 mins 3 secs
audio bible, blessings, daily bible, high-speed, jesus christ, kingdom, sermon, upside down
Jesus introduces his sermon with a hook that really make you scratch you head. Matthew 5:3 (The Message): 3 “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” When I’m at the end of my rope, I don’t consider myself blessed, I’m wondering what has cursed me. It’s upside down from conventional wisdom, but remember that Jesus is introducing us to his new government with God in charge and things are different.
Dallas Willard illustrates this brilliantly in his book, The Divine Conspiracy: Recently a pilot was practicing high-speed maneuvers in a jet fighter. She turned the controls for what she thought was a steep ascent—and flew straight into the ground. She was unaware that she had been flying upside down. This is a parable of human existence in our times—not exactly that everyone is crashing, though there is enough of that—but most of us as individuals, and world society as a whole, live at high-speed, and often with no clue to whether we are flying upside down or right-side up. Indeed, we are haunted by a strong suspicion that there may be no difference—or at least that it is unknown or irrelevant (Willard, pg.7)
Jesus shows us how the world is supposed to look when it is right side up. These blessings give us a picture of what life should look like and what we can expect as we proclaim God’s kingdom in partnership with him. I love the two illustrations of light and salt as to what our impact on the world is when we proclaim this new government.
What comes to your mind as you read this introduction to Jesus’ sermon? -
Episode 122: Matthew Chapter 4
Episode | April 3rd, 2022 | Season 2 | 6 mins 15 secs
audio bible, daily bible, fishing, following jesus, jesus christ, spiritual journey, spirituality
I love Jesus’ call to follow him, it’s simple, direct and for anybody and everybody. His call is so simple because he just invites us, “come follow me...” and he promises to change our lives as we are introduced to his new government. He is ushering in an era of renewal and putting things to rights. People are being healed and transformed in to a new kind of person. All of this happens after Jesus passes his test with the devil. Jesus is now able to usher in the new kind of rule.
When I have read this before, my mindset is usually that Jesus did all of this stuff so that if I believe in him, I will get to go to heaven with him when I die. However, that’s not what Jesus was talking about. He is ushering in a new era and we no longer have to settle for the status quo of this sin stained life. We can now be transformed and put back together to live for God’s glory. I like the sound of that so much better, I get to be apart of this new government now and proclaim this new life now and not as some kind of fire insurance for after I die.
I’m ready to sign up now, how about you? -
Episode 121: Matthew 3
Episode | April 2nd, 2022 | Season 2 | 3 mins 58 secs
audio bible, daily bible, daily devotion., self care, spiritual health, spirituality
The idea that everything is coming together in Jesus is a key thing that we want to pick up on and follow the thread. We also see those little details that God is interested in, Jesus being baptized and the Spirit coming down with a voice from heaven. God is bringing everything together in Jesus and he is still working in this world today. May we open our eyes to him working. Let’s pray.
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Episode 120: Matthew Chapter 2
Episode | April 1st, 2022 | Season 2 | 5 mins 23 secs
audio bible, daily bible, daily devotion, self care, spirituality
The thing that hit me in this chapter is that God is a master of details. He is fulfilling his promises that he made to the people in the genealogy and he is making sure that even the stars announce what he is doing. This is important because there are people who notice what goes on in the stars. God did not miss a trick in announcing the birth of Jesus, and not only that, he protected Jesus from harm and got him right where he needed to be in Nazareth. Every little detail was covered and Jesus is fulfilling God’s plan.
Today, look for God in the details of your life and you will find him fulfilling promises for you. -
Episode 119: Matthew Chapter 1
Episode | March 31st, 2022 | Season 2 | 7 mins 41 secs
audio bible, daily bible, jesus, prayer, selfcare, spiritual journey, spirituality
We are going to change things up a little in this new season, instead of changing translations every week, we are going to stick with the Message for the whole season. I am also going to read the introduction to the book of Matthew from the Message before I read the first chapter of the book. I will do the same for the other books too. I am also going to be adding more bonus episodes, more guest readers and guest conversations about following Jesus. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me. We are back at Matthew chapter 1, so lets dive in…
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Episode 118: Acts Chapter 28
Episode | March 30th, 2022 | Season 1 | 6 mins 19 secs
audio bible, daily bible, daily devotion, jesus, self care, spiritual journey, spirituality
I love the last 2 sentences of the book of Acts, “He explained everything about Jesus Christ. His door was always open” (Acts 28:31 The Message). I want that to be said of me. What about you?
Tomorrow begins a new season for the 2 Minute Disciple Podcast. We will start back at Matthew Chapter 1 and journey through the Gospels again to discover who Jesus is and what it looks like to follow him. See you tomorrow. -
Episode 117: Acts Chapter 27
Episode | March 29th, 2022 | Season 1 | 7 mins 22 secs
audio bible, daily bible, daily devotion, jesus, personal development., spiritual growth, spiritual journey, spirituality
All through Acts, we have seen God move his people to spread the message of Jesus and his new life from Jerusalem to the ends of the world. He is now taking Paul to Rome as a prisoner on a ship through a storm. Paul is assured that he will survive to get to Rome, but not without a shipwreck disaster to go through. We find that God did what he said and continued to give Paul an audience for his message.
This makes me think about my calling to this podcast, it kind of feels like I have been through a shipwreck to get here. However, we are almost to 2000 downloads and quit a bit of encouragement to keep going. Once we finish Acts tomorrow, we will begin again in Matthew Chapter 1 for season 2. -
Episode 116: Acts Chapter 26
Episode | March 28th, 2022 | Season 1 | 8 mins 12 secs
audio bible, christianity, daily bible, jesus, spiritual journey, spirituality
I love this chapter, because we get to hear Paul’s turnaround story again and my favorite part is the two different responses. The first response is from Festus, and it’s the "You’re crazy" response that many of us who follow Jesus have heard before. The second response is from King Agrippa, and it’s the "if you keep this up, you’ll make a Christian out of me response". This is the response that we really want to hear. What strikes me here is that Paul was ready for both responses and expected both. I think that sometimes we just want the second response but when we get the first, we give up and stop sharing. Not Paul, he kept going and I love what he said to Agrippa in verse 29 (The Message): Paul, still in chains, said, “That’s what I’m praying for, whether now or later, and not only you but everyone listening today, to become like me—except, of course, for this prison jewelry!”
His response is a challenge to me, because I tend to pray more selfish prayers and I need to be praying for this when I talk about the Gospel with people. What do your prayers look like? Are you willing to pray for others the way that Paul did? -
Episode 115: Acts Chapter 25
Episode | March 27th, 2022 | Season 1 | 5 mins 13 secs
audio bible, daily bible, daily devotional, jesus, spirituality
In this chapter, we find Paul appealing his case to Caesar. The Jews wanted him brought back to Jerusalem so that they could kill him and Paul knew that God wanted him to get to Rome so that he could proclaim the Gospel to Caesar and others in Rome. In the meantime, Paul gets to share the Gospel with another leader named King Agrippa. God just kept putting the audience before Paul and all that Paul had to do was speak. That got me to think about the audience that God has put before me through this podcast. My job is to stay faithful and keep reading the Gospels and Acts and sharing it with anyone who will listen. Who is your audience?
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Episode 114: Acts Chapter 24
Episode | March 25th, 2022 | Season 1 | 5 mins 13 secs
audio bible, daily bible, faith, life change, listen, repent, self improvement, spirituality
In this chapter, we find Paul given access to the Roman Governor, Felix. Paul is able to speak with him many times about being a Christ follower. I find it interesting that Felix was looking for a bribe from Paul but instead kept hearing more about Jesus and his way. Paul stayed in jail and kept sharing the message of Jesus. I am struck by the way that Paul continued to share the message of Jesus even when his circumstances are not good. I can’t help but think that if I was in jail like Paul, for no reason, that I would not be as positive and faithful to sharing the message. What about you?
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Episode 113: Acts Chapter 23
Episode | March 24th, 2022 | Season 1 | 5 mins 49 secs
audio bible, daily bible
In this chapter, we see the brilliance of Paul and God’s guidance in moving Paul to be able to proclaim the Gospel in Rome. I was struck by verse 11, Acts 23:11 (CEB): The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Be encouraged! Just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so too you must testify in Rome.” This scene uplifts and encourages me to know that God was right there with Paul in his struggle and that he is right there with me in my struggles.
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Episode 112: Acts Chapter 22
Episode | March 23rd, 2022 | Season 1 | 6 mins 36 secs
audio bible, courage, daily bible, opportunities, partnership, speak to power, spiritual journey, spirituality
It’s interesting to me how God chooses to partner with people to take the Gospel to those who need to hear it the most. I am struck by the way that God uses what we have been through to shape us for the job ahead. Paul is able to gain access to unique audiences because of where he had been in life. He was an up and coming Jewish leader who was climbing the ranks when Jesus stepped in and he was also born a Roman citizen which will open other doors to him for the Gospel. I know in the moment, the things we go through don’t seem to be important, but God takes those things that have formed us and uses them in partnership with us to spread the Gospel where only we can.
Today, I want you to ponder this question, what have I been through that God can use in partnership with me to spread the Gospel?