Jesus never messed around with words. When Satan tempted him, Jesus responded with Scripture (He especially liked Deuteronomy). When Jesus was ready to gather disciples, he walked up to people and said, “Come, follow me.” Interestingly, four of the first disciples were fishermen from Capernaum in Northern Israel. He chose common laborers rather than the religious elite. In fact, much of Matthew’s Gospel reveals Jesus blasting the religious leaders of his day while healing, teaching, and performing miracles among everyday... Read more

I’ve loved the handwritten Bible process so far! Up to Matthew 14, but reflecting on one chapter per day and share today from Matthew 3. Here, for the first time in the New Testament, we spot a picture of what has historically been called the Trinity. Since it is one of the foundational distinctives of Christianity, I thought it would be worth sharing. The specific scenario is the baptism of Jesus. He is baptized by his relative John after a... Read more

“You’re doing what?” Yes, I’m handwriting the New Testament. That’s 260 chapters, 7,957 verses from the   NIV. Looking at Matthew 2 that I completed this week, two interesting observations stand out. First, Matthew really likes to makes connections with Jewish prophecy. He makes three such comments in this chapter. The first two come from Micah and Jeremiah. The third, about Jesus being called a Nazarene, is just confusing. It is not from a direct quotation from the Old Testament, but... Read more