Access All Areas

By Jeff Lucas

It’s what you’d want if you were attending an important event: a front row seat. That way you’d be guaranteed a great view, and up close and personal look at the performance. No wonder the best seats are sold at a massive premium.

Jesus made the decision to allow his three closest friends, Peter, James and John, access to a number of episodes that nobody else - the rest of the disciples included - enjoyed. These were not VIP passes. It isn’t that Jesus considered the three to be more important or significant than the others, but there were strategic reasons for their inclusion. Over the next couple of months, we’ll take a seat alongside them, and see what we can glean from the unique vantage point they enjoyed. As they watched a young girl being raised from the dead, were stunned on the Mount of Transfiguration, and then fought sleep in Garden of Gethsemane, we’ll ask: how did these episodes shape their faith, and prepare them for the joy and pains that they would face as they moved toward apostolic responsibility? And what can we learn from their journey?

• Language: English
• Publisher: David C Cook
• Release date: Aug 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780830780846

Jeff Lucas

Author and speaker Jeff Lucas travels internationally in a ministry of Bible teaching which carries a specific vision to encourage and equip the church.  Jeff is the author of twenty-two books, as well as a number of study guides, booklets and a DVD teaching series called ‘Life Journeys”.  Jeff’s books have been translated into French, Italian, Korean, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and German.  He writes a monthly column for Christianity Magazine.He broadcasts three weekly radio shows.  Jeff and Kay live in Loveland, Colorado, where he holds a teaching post at Timberline Church, Fort Collins.

Book preview

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Amazing Grace That Calls Us Close

2. Peter: Follower and Fisherman

3. Peter: An Ordinary Life

4. Peter: A Good Brother and Friend

5. Peter: Honesty and Questions

6. Peter: So Very Right, and Then So Very Wrong

7. Peter: Don’t Define Him by His Worst Moment

8. James: A Common Name

9. James: Family Impact

10. James: A Junction Day

11. James: Leaving Immediately

12. James: Two and Two Makes Five

13. How about a Throne?

14. James and His Mother: A Worrying Thought

15. John: Yes, Jesus Loves Me

16. John: Asking Questions

17. John: We’ve Got the Franchise

18. John: A Cup, a Promise, and Reconciliation

19. John: Please, Look after My Mother

20. Nicknames or New Names

21. Gethsemane

22. Gethsemane: Disappointment

23. Gethsemane: Mind the Gap

24. Gethsemane: Pray with Me

25. Good Friday, Gethsemane: Alone

26. The Birth of Belief

27. Jairus’ Daughter and a Desperate Woman

28. It’s Not about Formulas

29. To Boldly Ask

30. Faith Faces the Facts

31. Mission Impossible?

32. Avoiding Sarcasm

33. Compassion

34. Life Isn’t Fair

35. Whatever Faith

36. Get Out Now

37. Death Is Sleep

38. Let’s Get Practical

39. Mountaintop Experiences

40. Communion Transforms

41. The Big Story

42. Revelation and Ridiculous Ideas

43. Listen to Jesus

44. What Really Matters

45. It’s Really Real

46. How, Not When

47. What Happened to Them?

48. Grace to Step Back

49. James

50. James Killed, Peter Spared

51. John: Faithful to the End

52. John: Legacy of Love

Notes

Introduction

It’s what you’d want if you were attending an important event: a front-row seat. That way you’d be guaranteed a great view and an up-close and personal look at the performance. No wonder the best seats are sold at a massive premium.

Jesus made the decision to allow His three closest friends, Peter, James, and John, access to a number of episodes that nobody else—the rest of the disciples included—enjoyed. These were not VIP passes. It isn’t that Jesus considered the three to be more important or significant than the others, but there were strategic reasons for their inclusion. Over the next couple of months, we’ll take a seat alongside them and see what we can glean from the unique vantage point they enjoyed. As they watched a young girl being raised from the dead, were stunned on the Mount of Transfiguration, and then fought sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, we’ll ask: How did these episodes shape their faith and prepare them for the joy and pains they would face as they moved toward apostolic responsibility? And what can we learn from their journey?

As ever, thanks again for joining me.

Day 1

Amazing Grace That Calls Us Close

Hebrews 4:14–16

Hebrews 10:19–25

It’s a familiar sight in movies: the bouncer outside the club allows a privileged few VIPs to tread the red carpet and have access to the exclusive party within while a line of hopefuls wait outside, barred because they, apparently, are not very important.

Certainly, Jesus had an inner circle, a cabinet that was a privileged trio who were granted for your eyes only access to some of the key junction moments in Jesus’ life and ministry. So why were Peter, James, and John so honored? There are some ancient commentators who want to suggest that these three were superior to the rest of the disciples; they were handpicked for exclusive, private moments with Jesus, because, to use a familiar song lyric, they were simply the best. John is especially commended by the ancients because of the tradition that he was a lifelong virgin; Peter is picked out as the prince of the apostles because of the development of the idea of papacy. But before we launch into our journey, I want to make a foundational statement. As we’ll see, there were strategic reasons for Jesus operating with a close-knit core of friends who witnessed what others were excluded from. That said, it’s important to affirm that, as always with Jesus, we are blessed, not because we are better, but because of grace. Just as the three did not have front-row seats because they earned them, so we do not earn God’s insight, interest, love, or provision in our lives. God allows us to come close too, and draw near with confidence, not because of who we are, but because of who He is. In the kingdom of God, everyone wears a VIP badge: we matter enough to God, that He sent His Son to live and die for us (1 Cor. 8:11).

Pray: Thank You, Lord, that I too am invited, not to stand at a distance, but to draw close to You by faith. Grant me a sense of Your presence and Your activity in my life today. Amen.

Day 2

Peter: Follower and Fisherman

Matthew 4:18–22

Luke 5:1–11

Ask any congregation