This Sunday we are starting a brand new series looking at one of the most important aspects of our faith, becoming an apprentice of Jesus. Dallas Willard writes this:“The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.”
I think this is true. The world doesn’t need more people who know about Jesus. The world doesn’t need more people who like Jesus. The world needs more people who are willing to follow, sacrifice, and become like Jesus. This is what the world needs; this is what your community, family, and neighborhood needs too. I know this is what I need too in my life.
So on Sunday we are going to start looking at how to become an apprentice of Jesus. We are going to discover how it starts and how we can start to practice our faith. Because I’m sure of one thing, becoming an apprentice doesn’t mean just learning more things about Jesus. It means starting to practice living like Jesus. In Matthew 7:24 Jesus says the wisemen hears his words, and puts them into practice. So on Sunday we are going to discover the very first and most important practice disciples are to take to start to follow Jesus. It has everything to do with where your heart is at and faith.
So before we get there I want to ask a simple question that I’ll try to answer on Sunday. What is faith?
Because I’ve seen pastors struggle to answer it, I’ve heard theologians muddle answers, and I think that’s where following Jesus starts. So how would you answer it – What’s faith?
{ Andrew Mills } 
For me, faith is the quiet, confident ‘knowing’ that Jesus–God in the flesh, God with us–died for me and I belong to Him, in spite of my imperfections, sins and failures. But sometimes it’s declaring boldly, what my heart struggles to grasp–the same truth as in my previous statement–when the enemy attacks me, and accuses me because of my sins, failures and imperfections. When I am confident in nothing else, when my spirit is defeated, I am still His, still saved through Jesus. (Not a deep theological answer, but it is my raw experience with Jesus.)
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I think that’s a beautiful way to put it. Quiet confident trust in Jesus. Your right its not a “theological answer” and that’s what makes it beautiful. So often theology answers take something personal, relational, and moving and make it lifeless. But that answer has so much life to it that makes it so true!
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