If you asked ten Christians to define the word ‘disciple,’ you’d probably get eleven answers—and most of them would sound like ‘a follower of Jesus,’ without really explaining what that means in real life. So today we’re going to clear the fog. In the first century, a disciple wasn’t a casual listener or a weekend attendee—discipleship meant apprenticeship: proximity to Jesus, obedience to Jesus, and transformation into the likeness of Jesus. We’re also going to draw some necessary boundaries—what discipleship is not, how you can be busy around church and still avoid surrender, and why the difference between Judas and Peter isn’t that one failed and the other didn’t…it’s what they did with their failure. This is an honest conversation about the cost, the call, and the daily reality of reorganizing your life around Christ.

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Be honest—when you hit a genealogy in the Bible, do you read it… or do your eyes suddenly develop spiritual speed-walking? Today we’re talking about why Scripture spends so much ink on names, and why that’s not a pointless detail—it’s a pattern. In the Bible, names aren’t just labels; they’re identity, calling, and often a clue to what God is doing in the story. We’ll look at the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, why certain names show up on purpose, and even why John bothers to name Malchus in the garden. Because the Bible doesn’t just tell stories—it remembers people. And if God is that intentional with names on the page, it might tell us something about how personal He is with the people in His story… including us.

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Copyright 2025 First Christian Church, Champaign, IL.

Last time, we talked about why the Old Testament matters, but today we’re getting into the how. If we’re honest, most of us have felt the 'Bible Guilt'—that feeling that Scripture is just a textbook we’re supposed to study or a checklist to complete. But what if the Bible isn't just a book of information, but a place of encounter? Today, we’re talking about the power of hearing God’s voice through His Word. We’re diving into the ancient practice of reading Scripture aloud, why your 'quiet time' might actually need to get a little louder, and how to move past the 'I have to' mindset into a genuine 'I want to' relationship with the Living God. It’s time to stop just reading the page and start listening for the Voice behind it. Let’s get into it.

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Copyright 2025 First Christian Church, Champaign, IL.