Doing Discipleship

10/10 Guidance for Next Week’s Assignment

dennisjohnston — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:43:35 +0000

For Next Week: Our Assignment

I just wanted to follow up from Thursday and give a little more direction for next week.

As you do your reading, you can use the SOAP method or whatever works best for you. A couple things that may help for all of us to do, not just those who are presenting, to get the most out of the study is to do the following as you read:

S- Scripture –
The passage you are reading – this week is Ephesians chapter 1

O- Observations –
Write down some facts/observations that stuck out to you while reading.

I – Interpretation – Dig Deeper into what you observed – maybe a word, a verse or a whole section of the

passage

   – look at the context in surrounding verses.
     Look up a word to find its true meaning in the original language
     Cross-reference a verse to see more depth to the meaning of the verse.
     Are there any of the Literary Elements used that we discussed on Monday night (see attached Bible Study

Basics) Click on this link:

bible-study-basics

Is there a Biblical/theological principle in the text that we should be able to take away

A- Application –
How can I apply the verse to my life so that I can change and become more like Christ?

P- Prayer

Here’s a short example of one Mark did yesterday:
S– Eph 1:3-14

O– Verse 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I asked what does Blessed mean here? What was Paul trying to convey?
I also observed how many times it refers to God working

“3He blessed us,

4He chose us,

5He predestined us to adoption, He freely bestowed grace, He lavished grace on us, He made know to us,” etc
I found it interesting to note that all through this introduction Paul gives praise and glory to God and says that God has done all the work through His grace. This is going to setup the rest of the book as we will see.

I – The word Blessed here comes from the same Greek word as eulogy, which means to praise or commend. This is the highest duty of us as Christians (and of all of God’s creation) – to give Him praise.
I cross-referenced a couple verses with Eph 1:3 that were in the center column – 2 Corinthians 1:3 & 1 Pet 1:3. Both of them are introductions to other books where the authors start out there letter by giving praise and glory to God for who He is and what He has done.
I noted all of the action verbs/roles (#8 & #12 from the list of Literary Elements attached) associated to God’s work in my life.

A– If it was important to the apostles to start off by giving praise and glory to God, I should start off my day, my conversations, my new endeavors, – everything I do – by giving God praise and glory. I should also always point to Him as the one who has provided everything for me and never think that anything comes from myself or by my doing.
When someone tells me I’ve done a good job, I can praise God and give him the glory instead of receiving it for myself.

P – My prayer – God help me to dig deeper into your word and to always focus on giving you praise and glory as my loving, forgiving, providing God.

10/9 Heart & Attitudes

dennisjohnston — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:23:12 +0000

Looking up a few verses and thinking about the heart and attitudes we approach the Bible with. These attitudes will reveal the heart condition necessary for meaningful Bible study.

Summarize the attitude of each verse:

Psalm 119:18 NIV

Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

As disciples, we are followers – that is, students of the Word and the behaviors/actions of Jesus Christ and others who have lived out their faith filled life before us. A few thoughts about this verse:

Ø Implies God is the revealer of truth (he will open my eyes/heart to understanding)

Ø Humility

o Be clothed in humility – Colossians 3:12 NIV

o God is the giver of grace to the humble – 1 Peter 5:5 NIV

Ø Faith

o Lack of faith – Mark 6:6 NIV

o Increase in faith – Luke 17:5 NIV

o Belief or Expectation to receive – FAITH – Hebrews 11

Ø God’s Word is complete (wonderful), not burdensome

o Gods word judges my heart and attitude – Hebrews 4:12 NIV

1 Corinthians 2: 6-16 NIV

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written:

“No eye has seen no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”

10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:

16”For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Hebrews 11:1-2, 6

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for…………..6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

James 1:22-25 NIV

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.

Ø Caution – do not merely listen.

Ø Command – do what it says.

Ø Renewed strength – Isaiah 40:31; Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:16

Ø Freedom – from bondage of sin (doing what you know is against God’s perfect law

Ø Blessed

Ø Progression of doing (daily) – results in God blessing our actions

o Bearing fruit – Matthew 7:16; John 15:5, 16: Romans 7:4; Galatians 5:22; Colossians 1:10

For Next Week:

Let’s read Ephesians Chapter 1. We will study this book in depth over the next several weeks. Let’s study this chapter and the circumstances surrounding it.

Whenever you begin a study of an entire book of the Bible, you should ask five questions:

1. Who wrote it?

____________________________________________________________

2. To whom was it written?

____________________________________________________________

3. When was it written?

____________________________________________________________

4. Why was it written?

____________________________________________________________

5. What’s the main message?

____________________________________________________________

10/2 The Benefits of Studying God’s Word

dennisjohnston — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:03:07 +0000

The Benefits of Studying God’s Word

Why should we look at the benefits of studying God’s word?

If we don’t recognize and desire the benefits of studying God’s word, then we will not value spending time in God’s word. Other things (sports, hobbies, work, TV, etc) will be desired more and will fill our time.

Here are my reasons – they are in line with my life mission statement: “I want to live my life with a passion for God and compassion for people”. You can come up with your own personal ones.

Reason #1 – To know & love God more personally & deeply

Reason #2 – To learn and grow in the ways of God

Reason #3 – To show God love progressively more every day – by spending

time/communion with Him, prayer, giving, working, parenting, serving, etc – In

everything I do. Col 3:17

The progression might look like this:

KNOW (Dt 6:5)à GROW (2 Tim 2:15; 2 Pet 3:18) à GO SHOW (1 Cor 13:1-8; James 1:22, 25)à

The benefits of Personal Bible Study: The rewards the Bible claims for itself

Psalm 119:9, 11

Psalm 119:105

Matthew 4: 1-11

John 15:5-7

2 Timothy 3:16-17

1 John 5:13

What does God do through His word?

Ps 119:

1-2 Blesses me

1-3 Shows me the law and the way of God

6- keeps me from shame

9- helps me keep my way pure

12- keeps me from sin

24- counsels me

25- Revives me

27- helps me know God and His wonders

28- shows me my sin

28- strengthens me

33-34 teaches me, gives me understanding of God and His ways, allows/enables me to keep it

Assignment for this week:

Look up the following verses and think about the heart & attitudes you approach the Bible with.

They reveal the heart conditions necessary for meaningful Bible study.

You may want to memorize these or put them in the front cover of your Bible to refer to before studying your Bible.

Summarize the attitude of each verse, and we will discuss them next week.

Psalm 119:18

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Hebrews 11:1-2, 6

James 1:22-25

9/25 My Purpose in Life

dennisjohnston — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:05:50 +0000

My Purpose in Life

What is your purpose in life? My purpose?

“Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me.” Psalm 119:75 NIV

HOW DO WE DO THIS?

If you spend much time watching the news (by the way, I don’t) you get the idea that everything is falling apart. You can become hardened about the poor, the hungry, the “natural” disasters and the death that is left behind – the amount of crime (etc.).

“Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your decrees. 136Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed.” Psalm 119:136-136 NIV

1^st – I should be broken over my sin. I can almost miss it – like monopoly where I acknowledge to God, pass

Go and collect my $200. Grace is so easy.

2^nd – the sin around me should grieve me. I shouldn’t respond only intellectually with “Wow, can you

believe that?” I should experience sorrow and grief. It should move me in my prayer efforts.

We can easily get so used to our sin and the sin of the world.

LOVING GOD = LOVING HIS WORD

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.” Psalm 119:97 NIV

You can’t separate your love for God and your love for His Word!

So the question is:

HOW DO I GET TO THAT POINT?

Last week – remember the progression (What I need to do – 12 steps)

BALANCE – doing God’s Word (quiet time) to delighting in God’s Word

I MUST DO IT FIRST, BEFORE I CAN DELIGHT IN IT!

Remember last week? We discussed the discipline of learning to play an instrument – the guitar.

I have often times been troubled why I’m not DELIGHTING IN/LOVING God’s Word. Gee, I wonder what’s wrong with me. The reality is, we observe it before we delight in it. Let me share an example from this morning:

Your child is playing Tee Ball. When he starts, he begins by hitting the Tee only. Not much delight in that. J As he spends time with a coach and continues to practice he begins hitting the ball. As he matures, he can hit pitches. The point is this – we have to have the discipline of studying/reading God’s Word prior to delighting in God’s Word. From this morning – a farmer works diligently preparing the soil for the harvest that will come in the fall. He is disciplined before he ever tastes the fruit of his labor.

HOW DO YOU KEEP STUDYING DURING “DRY” TIMES?

You can follow belief or feeling!

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9”As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:8-11 NIV

WOW – what a great promise! Most of us have a DESIRE to see God manifest Himself in our lives. We can be assured that God is doing something when we walk away from our quiet time “feeling” a void. We can walk in confidence with our belief that our lives are changed – we have been renewed.

For Next Week:

List of benefits of being in and knowing God’s Word based on Psalm 119.
What does God do through His Word?
What do we gain?
How do we get to the point of better delighting in God’s Word?

“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” Psalm 119:18 NIV

Prayer:

Father, let my life be one of praise to You! I desire to love You and Your laws more today. Teach me Your truths and give me understanding as I study today. In Jesus’ name.

9/18 Walking in God’s Word

dennisjohnston — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:22:22 +0000

Observations and how/what to pray/do from Psalm 119

God wants all of us – all of the time.

“Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.” Psalm 119:2

We discussed the idea of disciplining ourselves to read and study God’s Word prior to taking delight in it. We talked about beginning to play an instrument – let’s say the guitar. If I begin to play today – I’m not going to have much delight in it. In fact, it will be a bit frustrating. I will need to discipline myself to the process before I ever see the results of my efforts. A simple, but practical example when we look at studying the Bible and taking “delight” in His Word.

We shared the “cycle” many of us have experienced in our maturation process as Christ followers. Yes, we are all still continuing that journey. J It looks like this; however, please understand that this is just a model. Your experiences may be different.

What I need to do:

Observe (v. 2)
Seek (v. 2)
Walk (v. 3)
Keep (vv. 4-5)
Give thanks (v. 7)
Learn (v. 7)
Meditate (v. 15)
Delight (v. 16, 47)
Trust in (v. 31)
Trust in (v. 42)
Wait for (v. 43)
Believe in vv. 44-45)

What I need to ask God to do (especially vv. 17 – 40):

Bless (vv. 1-2)
Help establish my ways to keep His law (v. 5)
Do not let me wander from your statutes (v. 10)
Teach me (vv. 12, 26, 33)
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things from Your law (v. 18)
Take away reproach and contempt form me (v. 22)
Revive me (v. 25)
Make me understand/give me understanding (vv. 27, 34)
Strengthen me (v. 28)
Remove false ways from me (v. 29)

We looked at “WALKING-IN” God’s Word:

Ephesians 2:10 NASB – walk in
Romans 6:4 NASB – walk in
Colossians 3:10 NASB – walk in
1 John 1:6-9 NASB – walk in the light

Some key phrases in Psalm 119 – psalm-119-study-notes

For next week:

Let’s look at verses 89-176.

9/11 Delight in God’s Word

dennisjohnston — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:48:36 +0000

A. Importance of studying God’s Word rather than just reading it – 2 Kings 3:11-15

But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord through him?” An officer of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.” 12Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do we have to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” “No,” the king of Israel answered, “because it was the Lord who called us three kings together to hand us over to Moab.” 14Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you. 15But now bring me a harpist.”

2 Kings 3:11-15 NIV

Ø Harpist – preceded a prophet receiving God’s word in the Old Testament

Psalm 24 – Read before singing Jeremy Camp song entitled, “Revive Me”

    1The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains,
         The world, and those who dwell in it.
    2For He has founded it upon the seas
         And established it upon the rivers.
    3Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
         And who may stand in His holy place?
    4He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
         Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood
         And has not sworn deceitfully.
    5He shall receive a blessing from the LORD
         And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
    6This is the generation of those who seek Him,
         Who seek Your face–even Jacob. Selah.
    7Lift up your heads, O gates,
         And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
         That the King of glory may come in!
    8Who is the King of glory?
         The LORD strong and mighty,
         The LORD mighty in battle.
    9Lift up your heads, O gates,
         And lift them up, O ancient doors,
         That the King of glory may come in!
    10Who is this King of glory?
         The LORD of hosts,
         He is the King of glory. Selah.

4 Reasons to Study God’s Word – Review from last week

It will give you an ability to think for yourself (form our world view)
It will prepare you to better evaluate the ideas of others
There’s no greater joy than personal discovery
It will enable you to fall in love with the Author all over again

How do we get into the mind set to study God’s Word?

B. Psalm 119 – studying this week

Psalm 119: 1-24 NASB

    1How blessed are those whose way is blameless,
         Who walk in the law of the LORD.
    2How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,
         Who seek Him with all their heart.
    3They also do no unrighteousness;
         They walk in His ways.
    4You have ordained Your precepts,
         That we should keep them diligently.
    5Oh that my ways may be established
         To keep Your statutes!
    6Then I shall not be ashamed
         When I look upon all Your commandments.
    7I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart,
         When I learn Your righteous judgments.
    8I shall keep Your statutes;
         Do not forsake me utterly!

    9How can a young man keep his way pure?
         By keeping it according to Your word.
    10With all my heart I have sought You;
         Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
    11Your word I have treasured in my heart,
         That I may not sin against You.
    12Blessed are You, O LORD;
         Teach me Your statutes.
    13With my lips I have told of
         All the ordinances of Your mouth.
    14I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
         As much as in all riches.
    15I will meditate on Your precepts
         And regard Your ways.
    16I shall delight in Your statutes;
         I shall not forget Your word.

    17Deal bountifully with Your servant,
         That I may live and keep Your word.
    18Open my eyes, that I may behold
         Wonderful things from Your law.
    19I am a stranger in the earth;
         Do not hide Your commandments from me.
    20My soul is crushed with longing
         After Your ordinances at all times.
    21You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed,
         Who wander from Your commandments.
    22Take away reproach and contempt from me,
         For I observe Your testimonies.
    23Even though princes sit and talk against me,
         Your servant meditates on Your statutes.
    24Your testimonies also are my delight;
         They are my counselors.

DOING vs. DELIGHTING

– invigorating

– refreshing

Ø PAST – often times we are concerned about doing God’s Word

Ø NOW – we look at how we can meditate on God’s Word and delight in it

Newborn Baby – the example was given that for a newborn when it’s time to eat that toys (etc.) don’t matter. It’s the same with desiring/delighting in God’s Word. Nothing else is a priority!
Driving – the example was given that as we drive we can take delight in the mountains, trees, and the birds rather than the beginning and ending part. Take delight and enjoy what God has put before us. The mountains (etc.) aren’t God, but we can see Him in these and take delight in His creation.

C. God’s Word – not written as a bunch of rules, but…..

So that we can know our sin
God is Holy
Relationship with Him
See our need for God

So how do we get there?

D. What are the pre-requisites? Consider this first…………………

Mind – to know
Will – desire & drive
Emotions – love, delight, desire

Ø Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength

Ø Commentaries – we tend to be engaged with the mind & disengaged with the heart

Ø Apply my will

E. Pre-requisites to doing Psalm 119

Recognizing your sin
Recognizing His Word as the source of change
Know God – be in a relationship with Him
Faith in His power to change us (v. 2)
Desire to change – learn & grow (v. 5)
Have the dedication to change – to growth
1. How do we go from knowing to desire?
2. The demons know

i. Many were possessed by demons; and the demons came out at his command, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But because they knew he was the Messiah, he rebuked them and refused to let them speak. Luke 4:41 NLT

c. Get DEDICATION!

Praise Him and thank Him (v. 7)
1. As we give THANKS & PRAISE to God – He opens the door to relationship and God speaking and the ability for me to listen.
2. We hear God in greater ways when we spend time recognizing who He is by PRAISING and THANKING Him.
Ask Him to do it
1. Ask – Seek – Knock (Matthew 7:7)
2. Ask In His name (John 14:13-14)
3. God wants to give us understanding and delight (Psalm 119:12)

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

Before reading His Word – make verse 18 your prayer!

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.” Psalm 119:18 NASB

For next week:

Let’s focus of the first half – bring something that God is showing you as you read through Psalm 119:1-88

9/4 Why Study the Bible?

dennisjohnston — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:34:59 +0000

Hi Guys,

As always, I enjoyed spending time together and sharing what God is teaching us. I wanted to share a few thoughts for those who couldn’t attend this morning.

Discipleship is HARD! We are all involved in this journey and I find it difficult to make it a priority at times. I have seen the result of my complacency over the past couple of months. I would ask you and myself this question.

Have I committed this discipleship time to the Lord?

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3 NIV

I would encourage each of you to spend some time prayfully considering what it would mean to your relationship with God and His ability to “bear fruit” in your life by being intentional in your plans with disicpleship. I can definitely do better. Here’s my thoughts: Yes, I’m showing up and sharing and all is well. Unfortunately, it’s half-hearted and God knows it. I’m fitting it into my schedule and walking away putting a check mark in the box and asking God to bless it. That’s my reality. Fortunately, the Bible is, “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV).

So, I go forward committing this time to God and knowing that means a commitment on my part to read, study, pray, and apply truth’s to my life on a daily basis. I can do this with the expectation that God is doing something in my life and using me in a greater way. It’s the EXPECTATION part I like – read Ephesians 3:20. It’s great.

Here are the notes from this week – thanks for leading us Mark!

Why study the Bible?

Gain Knowledge, wisdom – Learn about God and the truths He has given.

Learn God’s statues so that I can obey them and please Him

I believe God gave us the Bible for 3 basic reasons – the same reasons we should want to study the Bible.

To tell His story of His glory and that of His only son, Jesus Christ. (Gospel & Glory)
Because He loved you and wanted you to intimately know Him, the 1 and only true God, and teach you to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. He wants a relationship with us. (Salvation)
Because He wants you to become like His Son, Jesus Christ, and learn to love your neighbor as yourself.(Sanctification)

Deut 10:12-13 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

Psalm 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

I believe that God cares more about our application of what we know than about the quantity of what we know. He wants us to Move from knowledge of the Bible to Application.

Inductive Study = Learning to understand and apply the truths of scripture through careful reading (Observation), study (Interpretation), and understanding/application.

Charles Spurgeon said, “There’s two opposite errors that beset the student of the Scriptures. One is the tendency to take everything secondhand, from others, and the other is the refusal to take anything from others.”

4 Reasons to Study Inductively

1. It will give you an ability to think for yourself (form world view)

2. It will prepare you to better evaluate the ideas of others

3. There’s no greater joy than personal discovery

4. It will enable you to fall in love with the Author all over again

For Next Week:

Let’s read Psalm 119 (yes, the entire Psalm). It’s good you look at the notes if you have a study Bible. At the same time – write down what God is teaching you. Take your Bible, pen, and a notebook and ask God to teach you as you read His Word. He has something He wants to show each of us.

As we move forward we will be focusing on one particular book of the Bible. We will go through each chapter and expect to be renewed and transformed. Very exciting!

Please take a few minutes and read this, then spend some time and listen to what God wants to say to you.

9For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all the steadfastness and patience; joyously 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the in inheritance of the saints in Light.

Colossians 1:9-12 NASB

Prayer:

Father – Your Word helps me to live and increase in my desire of You. It’s how I know You. It’s how You speak to me. I pray that You give me a passion to read and apply Your Word so that I may bear fruit for You. In Jesus’ name.

I look forward to seeing each of you next week. Have a GREAT week.

Our Awesome God

Mark — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:36:07 +0000

We talked yesterday about how awesome God was (see the notes from 8/28 on the left tab). I mentioned about how it struck me as I was praising God this week for the rain and his provision for us that as self-sufficient as we think we are in our advanced technological society in America today – we can purify water and create all kinds of high-tech gadgets and send men into space, but we cannot create water. Without God sending rain to water the earth, (or bringing up the sun to shine) we would soon have no life – the plants and crops would die, the animals would die, and all of us would soon perish as well.

I hope some of you got to see the amazing lightning storm last night. Check out my post and the video about this here – I hope you will enjoy.

True Disciples

Mark — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:32:08 +0000

I saw a devotional today by Pastor Greg Laurie about True Disciples. I often think about Jesus call to his disciples to “Come, follow me”, and how they gave up everything – their career, their family & friends, their home – to go and follow Christ… to learn from him what it means to be a disciple and then to go out and change the world with the message of the gospel.

I think his call to us today as disciples is still the same – “come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” – and “go and make disciples of all nations”. However, I think that often our response to the call is far short of the dedication & surrender that his disciples had. Lets continue to strive to surrender every area of our lives to Christ and to grow closer to loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. To do this we must put God 1st in our lives, our family, our time, our finances, our every decision each and every day.

Daily Devotional with Greg Laurie for Wednesday August 20, 2008

True Disciples

“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”
Acts 17:6

The Christian life is more than just saying a prayer or walking down an aisle and getting “fire insurance,” as it were. The Christian life is meant to be dynamic. It is meant to be exciting.

It is meant to have a radical effect on the way that you live and your outlook on life, because Jesus Christ not only wants to be your Savior. He wants to be your Lord. Not only does he want to be your friend, but He also wants to be your God.

But I’m afraid that many today are living a substandard Christian experience. That term is really an oxymoron in many ways, because if it is a Christian experience, then it shouldn’t be substandard. In a sense, that isn’t even a technically correct term.

You really can’t be a substandard Christian. Yet there are many who are failing to receive all that God has for them.

How did a handful of ordinary people living in the first century turn their world, as they knew it, upside down? They did it without television, without radio, without megachurches, and without all the resources that we think are so important today in reaching the goal of world evangelism.

How is it that they were able to do it? I think you could sum it up in one word: disciple.

They were disciples of Jesus Christ;not fair weather followers, but true disciples. They weren’t living an anemic, watered-down, ineffective version of the Christian life. They were living the Christian life as it was meant to be lived;as Christ Himself offered it and as the early disciples apprehended it.

If we want to impact our culture today, then we, too, must be disciples.

Memorizing God’s Word

Mark — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 04:40:05 +0000

I have been thinking a lot lately about memorizing scripture. I know I should do it regularly and yet I often fall short in follow-through in this discipline of the Christian walk. Jesus modeled to us the importance of memorizing God’s word as he used it to defeat temptation as he quoted scripture to Satan in the desert as he was tempted for 40 days.

I have used business-card sized sheets for memorizing in the past, and I carry them in my pocket and read them during down time (sometimes while driving too, although I can’t recommend this). I have also used a “top 10” verses for the month before and had them taped to my computer screen. Heard of others who put them in a plastic sleeve in the shower and I may try this one out.

Here are some great Bible Memory Websites

Feel free to post your comments to this and share what you are studying/learning this week.