2 Minute Disciple

Sermon on the Mount 1

Article  |  April 4th, 2022
By Nick Oyler
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 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?

Matthew Chapter 4

Article  |  April 3rd, 2022
By Nick Oyler
fishing, following jesus, healing, jesus christ

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.

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?

Matthew Chapter 3

Article  |  April 2nd, 2022
By Nick Oyler

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.

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.

Matthew Chapter 2

Article  |  April 1st, 2022
By Nick Oyler

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 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.

Despair

Article  |  March 31st, 2022
By Nick Oyler

This is me sharing my emotion with the world. This is not the pretty, curated, on brand me that I want you all to see, but the raw emotion that I feel in my bones.
Be gentle!

Matthew Chapter 1

Article  |  March 31st, 2022
By Nick Oyler

Hey everybody welcome to season 2 of the 2 Minute Disciple Podcast, I’m Nick and it is amazing to be here with you today. 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…

There are three things that strike me in this first chapter of Matthew, first is the fulfillment of God’s promises. This is seen through the genealogy of Jesus. God made promises to these men and women that are fulfilled in Jesus. The second thing is obedience. I mean it oozes out of the genealogy with people like Abraham, Ruth and David to name a few. Then Joseph obeys God and takes Mary to be his wife. The third is that there are five women mentioned in this genealogy. As a dad of two daughters and a girl dog, I find this inclusive nature of the Gospel fascinating, that it is for everyone, even the foreigner and the prostitute. God’s kingdom is now and it is for everybody. Let’s pray.

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…

Acts Chapter 28

Article  |  March 30th, 2022
By Nick Oyler
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.

Acts Chapter 27

Article  |  March 29th, 2022
By Nick Oyler
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.

Acts Chapter 26

Article  |  March 28th, 2022
By Nick Oyler
audio bible, daily bible, daily devotion, jesus, spiritual formation, 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?

Acts Chapter 25

Article  |  March 27th, 2022
By Nick Oyler
audio bible, daily bible, daily devotion, jesus, personal growth, spiritual growth, 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?

Acts Chapter 24

Article  |  March 25th, 2022
By Nick Oyler
audio bible, daily bible, jesus, spiritual journey, 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?