Category: Discipleship

You Light My Path

Posted in Discipleship, Running2 Comments

I could hardly sleep last night because of the anticipation of trying out my new Petzl Tikka Plus 2 Headlamp at 5:30 am this morning.  I went with this particular model because it had great reviews and was very affordable.  Until this morning, I had never run with a headlamp.  On several recent morning runs, I ran along the unlit path blindly–hoping that I did not trip or step on something.

BUT….this morning, thanks to my Petzl Tikka Plus 2 Headlamp, that ALL CHANGED!  I could see!  I could see well!  Now, I couldn’t see everything because it was dark, but I could see the path well.

I was reminded of the fact that God’s Word is like a headlamp.  It lights our path so we can see where to take the next step.  God does not always show us the entire horizon in life, but He promises to “direct our steps” and He promises to “light our path.”  I have personally found God to be very faithful to those promises in my life.

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”  Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

“If the Lord delights in a man’s way, He makes his steps firm.”  Psalm 37:23 (NIV)

Fights and Quarrels in the Church

Posted in Church Chat, Discipleship, Funny, Life Happens2 Comments

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.This week I’ve been reading from the New Testament written by James, the brother of Jesus.  In the passage above, James asks the question, “What causes fights and quarrels among you?”  Then he answers his own question by saying, “Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”  James 4:1-3, NIV

This week I have been reading the New Testament book written by James, the brother of Jesus.  I love his letter written “To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” (James 1:1) because it is very practical and very direct.  We need more preaching and teaching like that today.

In the above passage (4:1-3), James identifies the source of most “fights and quarrels” in the church–they derive from our selfish, personal desires.  The greek word for the term “desires” is the source of the word “hedonism.”  Dictionary.com defines “hedonism” as “the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the highest good.”

We live in a day when many believe that the church exists to serve them, to entertain them, and to make them happy, but actually the opposite is true.  The Church does not exist to serve us; as Christians, we exist to serve the Church. 

May the Lord help every believer in every Christ-honoring church to set aside his or her personal desires for the church to pursue the desires that the Lord has for His church!  May it begin in me.

The “Skinny” on Spiritual Growth

Posted in Church Chat, Discipleship, Life Happens, Ministry1 Comment

The last few weeks at Shelbyville First Baptist Church, Pastor Andy McDonald and I have been teaching our second-level foundational class called Maturity 201.  The class includes some of the material written by Dr. Rick Warren as well as material I personally wrote for the class.

In Maturity 201 we discuss the important subject of spiritual maturity.  Here is a brief excerpt from the class:

FACTS ABOUT SPIRITUAL MATURITY

  • Spiritual maturity IS NOT automatic.  A Christian believer must be disciplined and work at achieving spiritual maturity.  We can’t just sit back and “hope” it happens.  We have to develop and practice the spiritual habits that lead us to spiritual maturity.  For more information on this topic, read my other entries under the “discipleship” category. 

“You have been Christians for a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others, but instead … you need someone to teach you … When a person is still living on milk, it shows he isn’t very far along in the Christian life … He’s still a baby Christian!”  Hebrews 5:12-13 (LB)

  • Spiritual maturity is a journey.  Ultimately, spiritual maturity will take a lifetime.  It is a process–a lifelong journey of becoming more and more like Christ.

“Learn to be mature.”  Proverbs 8:5 (GN)

“Continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our savior Jesus Christ.”  2 Peter 3:18 (GN)

  • Spiritual maturity takes discipline.  Spiritual maturity is not complicated, but it is not easy.  It takes discipline to be spiritually fit just like it takes discipline to be physically fit.

“Take the time and the trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit.”  1 Timothy 4:7b (Ph)

“Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”  1 Timothy 4:7b (NASB)

 

Are You That Man? Woman?

Posted in Church Chat, Discipleship, PreachingLeave a comment

In his book, The Making of a Christian Leader, Ted Engstrom shares the following, powerful statement about what the world needs to see in Christian leaders:

The world needs men (and I might add women) who cannot be bought; whose word is their bond; who put character above wealth; who possess opinions and a will; who are larger than their vocations; who do not hesitate to take chances; who will not lose their individuality in a crowd; who will be as honest in small things as in great things; who will make no compromise with wrong; whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires; who will not say they do it “because everybody else does it”; who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity; who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning, and hard-headedness are the best qualities for winning success; who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth when it is unpopular; who say “no” with emphasis, although the rest of the world says “yes.”

Are you that man?  Are you that woman?

How Much Does It Cost to Follow Christ

Posted in Discipleship9 Comments

18Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.  And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”  And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”  Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”  And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”  Matthew 8:18-22 (ESV)

Today I have been looking at this passage in depth.  As a result of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and a series of miracles that followed, Jesus had an enormous following.  Instead of embracing what many of us would have viewed as success, His words seemed to be aimed at weeding out some of the crowd.  He seemed to know that many of them were not sincerely committed. 

He then did something very unusual–He prepared his main disciples to leave the crowd behind by sailing across the Sea of Galilee.  Most “preachers” would stay with the crowd, but Jesus’ desire was simply to do the will of His Heavenly Father.  He did not let the crowd set His agenda.

What do you think about His statements in this passage?  What do you think He is saying about the cost of following Jesus?