Morningside Devotionals

RRR_Unselfish

2025-10-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

I'm selfish, most of you who know me know that I grew up without brothers or sisters, but in a good family. In a non-nuclear family, I never knew my father, who left when I was 2 years old and evidently never looked back that I'm aware of.

But I had a great family, had a mom; gramma, a couple of uncles; who helped raise me, but I was raised as an individual amongst adults. And so as a result, my outlook was very "me"-istic and in today's culture, a meistic outlook, fits in real well, because today's culture is all meme meme.

And I don't mean that, as in me-me's ;meme has been social media, I mean, that, as in a very heightened sense of me, almost narcissistic to the point of being a phobia in our culture. I actually know, ladies 25 to 35 years old, whose entire concept of who they want anything to do with, is, who makes them feel the best, who makes them happiest consequently their very difficult to deal with as disciples. Because the idea of giving something up and sacrificing something for an unknown entity, whom they may not see any proof of is a difficult concept to get across to them.

We tend to look at the advent of social media as an unleashing of technology and an unleashing of information. It is way deeper than that. It is emotionally addicting. It is exceptionally experiential, and as a result, when you consider the way that our culture is going, you begin to realise that being unselfish is a trait that is disappearing from our culture.

And when a trait is disappearing from a culture(?); what do you as an individual who wants to make disciples as Christ commanded and bring them back to him in order to learn of his ways, do? Because his thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. God The father is not a human that we should expect that he would act and react as we act. And react, we are made in his image created to please and worship him and that concept isn't for a narcissist.

Consequenctly social media based culture is a difficult one for people to consider, and when we're talking about the power of young ladies to influence, young men who are extremely easily influenced, by them; now we have an entirely different picture.

Consider this. In 2023, the human race began a 3.2% decline in birth rate. And what that means is in a very distant future we won't exist.

We are making ourselves extinct.

Because we cannot be unselfish. That is a very dangerous place to be. Do you think that Jesus was unselfish? Tell your disciples about that.

RRR_Tact

2025-10-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

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The idea of tact is often more easily expressed than being tactful itself. Tact is explained in many different ways, but it actually is an ability to allow people to do the things that they most naturally would like to do anyway, allow people to make the choices that they need to make in order to satisfactorily, live out their lives with as much dignity as possible; with as much respect as possible with as much favorability as possible; amongst each other.

And that's a difficult thing because all of us are so different and all of us are so devoted to our differences. Even though we'd like to think that we're not. That in the instance of an individual who is so tightly wound to their own perception of who they must be; with regard to other people around them. Tact is a trait that is really appreciated when it's applied, but very difficult sometimes to master.

When we were in the military, it was said the tact is the ability to get soldiers to follow you into hell and to thank you for the journey.

I don't know if that's a good explanation of tact, but I know the tact involves the ability to express what needs to be done to other people without them being offended in the process, but nevertheless getting the process done, and often this means something that's not going to be comfortable to them.

I always remember my football coach and I always remember that he would say to us things about needing to practice and needing to become stronger. And he was saying words that had pain in them, because trust me, when I tell you that two a day practices are painful.

But in the end, when you have applied those 2 a day practices to the routines of running your plays in a game, you win. And so the exercise of tact in behalf of the coach in getting us to do those things that we needed to do. And yet, not losing any dignity and yet, being happy about the process. My goodness that was something that was not easy to do.

And yet it was accomplished by him and how I think about him, saying things to us like, "Look after you win the game, be gentleman, go over there and shake their hands," or he would say "You represent a football team that is the extraordinary of the students in the school because as you've noticed not all of the young men in this school have decided they want to play football, So you're extraordinary in that instance, you're going to also be extraordinarily good leaders and on Friday, you will dress and you will wear a tie and you will help the teachers in your classes and if I ever hear that you're not helping your teachers in your classes and you're not being leaders, you and I will meet and we will discuss it privately in my office. But, you will not like that conversation."

He would say things like, "We are a small team. So what we have to be as fast, but also what we have to be is enjoying the game fellas, you get to play the game, and that in and of itself is reward enough."

Coach was an inspiration, but he did so tactfully, you know, I don't remember him; ever raising his voice and yelling at us? I don't, I think that he just had this ability to communicate by his presence, that he had the power. And that he had the ability to to lead us, to do the kinds of things that we needed to win.

Tact is a trait that can be learned. Dale Carnegie training is worth taking. Join a toastmaster's speech training club, a club that is positive in its basis and will help you to become better educated about how to relate to people.

Be a club officer, seek out the opportunities to lead others. Because tact is something that as you apply it, you grow it; if you never speak in groups or lead groups, then you don't have to use much tact and so you may not have much tact. But if you have to use it as you use it, you'll make mistakes. But as you grow; from making those mistakes and learning from them, you'll develop this. After all the master; is Jesus.

RRR_Loyalty

2025-10-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

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Loyalty is a trait that we believe that we understand because loyalty is something that we believe that we can easily see. And that we can render into a believable category in our minds, as we think about what it means to have the characteristic of loyalty.

But loyalty may not be exactly what we think most of the time. For example, when a person is with someone everyday day in Day Out, 24/7 is that loyalty or is that presence? Does presence merit loyalty?

Here's a simple contention to consider. Loyalty is the characteristic of an individual being by your side; when being by your side is going to cost them. Now loyalty is also the characteristic of remaining in your way of teaching or in the master's way of teaching when that's going to have a cost ascribed to it. Otherwise, it isn't necessarily loyalty so much as it might be merely a relationship. A loving relationship, a friendship, a loving friendship, a kind relationship that exists among people among human beings.

But when we talk about Jesus, and we talk about loyalty, it's really not something that you can describe with adequate words, for example. When Jesus went to the cross, only one disciple is recorded as standing with Christ's mom and the other ladies; that were there at the cross. And that was John the other disciples left and we don't know exactly why they left.

I don't know that the Bible spells out why they left. We presume that they left for many different motives. Maybe fear may be trying to prepare for something else. Maybe they simply didn't have any clue at all what was going on? And at that moment, would they be guilty of disloyalty or not being loyal? That we don't really know?

And in my sense, it's best never to presume. But here's one thing that we can for a fact know. John was loyal. And loyalty in this instance meant that it would cost him. Because we believe that John was the son of a rather well off man. And that he was also probably a Rabbi, a well represented member of the synagogue, who now because of this deeper association with Christ, who is hanging on the cross and being crucified by the Romans, John is setting his future interactions in terms of any religious merit, which in the synagogue; was essential and for a rabbi to exist was essential. John is setting his course in a whole different direction.

Based upon his association to a leader, a loyal follower is one who is with them when the chips are down. When everything is going fine, when everything is going good, there's nothing to standing with the leader. But when a leader is getting blasted when they're getting lamb basted when they're getting talked about in mean and cruel ways, standing by them, and often even standing by them, when they have no idea that you're standing by them; is one of the most important aspects of loyalty.

Because nothing calms the quacking tongues of gossiping folk, more than an individual who says that's not how it is because I know this leader, and that's not how they are.

Now in the case of your disciples in bringing them back to Jesus is Jesus loyal, how about 100%? And what actually is forgiveness and grace, if not the characteristic of loyalty to his people whom He has saved. So who better to bring a disciple back to than one who is 100% loyal, and to point to Jesus and say this Is the definition of loyalty?

RRR_Knowledge

2025-10-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

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Any fool can know. The point is to understand. -Albert Einstein.

Knowledge is power. -Sir France's Bacon.

An investment in knowledge, always pays the best interest. -Benjamin Franklin

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. -Unknown?

So we have a lot of sayings about knowledge. We have a lot of knowledge about knowledge, and you probably believe that you understand what knowledge is?

So one of the things that we want to try to understand is that knowledge is not just something that you possess inherently, and naturally, but that knowledge is one of those attributes that can be enhanced through a process of education, knowledge is not just retention. Knowledge is not just the ability to spew back out what you have taken in; there is some mysterious aspect to knowledge that has to do with its use; its application?

And then there is a thing about knowledge that is visionary. The individual who can look at a street and see that it doesn't go far enough. And that if it were connected with another street, it would form a way for people to get from point A to point B without as much hassle. And that's vision. Vision is seeing things as they are. And then seeing things as they might be improved, and then seeing what those improvements might amount to and then seeing what those improvements might amount to.

What I'm thinking of now is something that you've seen all of your life which is the change that has taken place in you, the reason that you read this material, the reason that you take in the Bible daily. The reason that you pray; pray for knowledge. If you want to have your knowledge increased and you do not pray for your knowledge to be increased; your knowledge may be increased anyway, but it won't be increased as easily and it won't be increased as gratefully and it won't be increased in as much totality as it could be, if you had prayed for knowledge.

Something that we don't talk about in our culture. Because we; Me; in the American culture in 2025, and even in the global culture in 2025; have begun to become independent in our belief about acquisition. We believe that a person should stand on their own two feet.

Be all that you can be be.

Be as strong as you're capable of being.

And not depend upon anything or anyone else. And that runs in the face of Christianity, which says, kneel before your King Jesus and depend not upon your strength but upon his. And that difference makes a great deal of difference; when it comes to knowledge.

Knowledge, that's just acquired for knowledge's sake; will become knowledge that becomes stale because it will not become used. Knowledge that is only acquired for the individual to enhance the individual's understanding of something is not knowledge that is used; and knowledge that is not used is knowledge that is abused.

Knowledge that is not used is knowledge that is abused.

If you don't remember anything else remember this, the acquisition of knowledge is not about you, it's about disciples. Learners that you're going to bring to Jesus, you bring them constantly back to Jesus.

That knowledge is eternally blessing knowledge.

Some knowledge blesses right now. This instance, today, the kind of knowledge that makes life right now today better. Enhances the life that you have right now. Today, better, like good Creamer, with a great flavour in a good cup of coffee. It enhances the coffee right now. Today, but let that sit there for a while and then see how good it tastes in a couple of days?

Knowledge without use becomes stale, use the knowledge that you have, but constantly gain in; refresh, new knowledge. How(?) by reading reading; constantly?

Reading; reading is much better than listening, and you're listening, but I hope that you're also reading. Bring your disciples to Jesus. Bring them back to Jesus. And that my friend might be the beginning of an adequate statement about what it means; means to have knowledge.

RRR_Justice

2025-10-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

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Justice, well, we could try to define justice. We could think about justice as the absence of injustice. That's always an interesting way to think about things. The opposite of dark is the presence of light? That in a totally dark room lighting, just a small candle, takes all of the total darkness out. However darkness has a power to it. In a totally dark room, you and I both know that, that little candle's light; yes, it shines bright down in that corner. But it does not light up and illuminate the whole room.

Justice is not a concept. Although it is an idea and a concept; justice is a result. Justice is the action that takes place and is a result of what is happening in the life. So justice is an outcome, and justice is also the input to achieve that outcome. Justice is not as easily understood, nor defined as we might believe. We have certain paradigms in our minds that we believe define justice, and therefore, we believe and think that we understand justice.

But there is so much human emotion and feeling tied in to justice. But many times that's not justice, it's revenge. And very clearly in the Bible, God says that vengeance belongs to him and him alone, and we have trouble understanding that in our sense of self, our ego our pride, our human and our humanity and our way of believing in ourselves. And there is nothing wrong in believing in yourself, but if you don't temper that belief in yourself with an understanding of almighty. God, before whom you bow. What hope have we for justice?

We know justice. We know justice in the sense of most of us root for the underdog, it's almost the American culture to root for the underdog, or at least at one time it used to be, however, nowadays. There's a subtle shift, we no longer really cheer on the underdog. Do we want what(?) the winner we want the Nietzsche Superhuman, we don't want to have to go through rooting for the underdog and climbing to success, we just want success. We want to train for and achieve perfection, and guess what(?) we are imperfect, and you are imperfect, and anyone around you who likes to try to believe and support and exist in a perfection; is lying to themselves because it is human to be imperfect. And imperfection means that we are by nature under Dogs and we are by nature, inclined to be seeking after justice.

Justice means rectifying. justice means sanctifying or being set aside. Justice means that you are in a position where what was wrong against you can be made right. It does not mean that the judgement that said that you were guilty was in error? In fact, that judgement was probably correct. What it does mean is that in justice there is a sense that there can be a restoration, a redemption, and that's really the story of the Bible. Isn't it?

And that's really the story that you want to pass to your disciples, about the Jesus that you're bringing them back to, isn't it, that he redeems us with his precious blood. And that, when we confess and repent of our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive forgive us, since he doesn't wag his stern Justice, well, we could try to define justice. We could think about justice as the absence of injustice. That's always an interesting way to think about things.

The opposite of dark is the presence of light? That in a totally dark room lighting, just a small candle, takes all of the total darkness out. However darkness has a power to it. In a totally dark room, you and I both know that, that little candle's light;
yes, it shines bright down in that corner. But it does not light up and illuminate the whole room. Justice is not a concept.

Although it is an idea and a concept; justice is a result. Justice is the action that takes place and is a result of what is happening in the life. So justice is an outcome, and justice is also the input to achieve that outcome. Justice is not as easily understood, nor defined as we might believe.

We have certain paradigms in our minds that we believe define justice, and therefore, we believe and think that we understand justice. But there is so much human emotion and feeling tied in to justice. But many times that's not justice, it's revenge.

And very clearly in the Bible, God says that vengeance belongs to him and him alone, and we have trouble understanding that in our sense of self, our ego our pride, our human and our humanity and our way of believing in ourselves. And there is nothing wrong in believing in yourself, but if you don't temper that belief in yourself with an understanding of almighty. God, before whom you bow. What hope have we for justice?

We know justice. We know justice in the sense of most of us root for the underdog, it's almost the American culture to root for the underdog, or at least at one time it used to be, however, nowadays.

There's a subtle shift, we no longer really cheer on the underdog. Do we want what(?) the winner we want the Nietzsche Superhuman, we don't want to have to go through rooting for the underdog and climbing to success, we just want success.

We want to train for and achieve perfection, and guess what(?) we are imperfect, and you are imperfect, and anyone around you who likes to try to believe and support and exist in a perfection; is lying to themselves because it is human to be imperfect. And imperfection means that we are by nature under Dogs and we are by nature, inclined to be seeking after justice.

Justice means rectifying. justice means sanctifying or being set aside. Justice means that you are in a position where what was wrong against you can be made right.

It does not mean that the judgement that said that you were guilty was in error? In fact, that judgement was probably correct. What it does mean is that in justice there is a sense that there can be a restoration, a redemption, and that's really the story of the Bible.

Isn't it? And that's really the story that you want to pass to your disciples, about the Jesus that you're bringing them back to, isn't it, that he redeems us with his precious blood. And that, when we confess and repent of our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive forgive us, since he doesn't wag his stern finger against us and condemn us and say that there is no redemption.

No, he allows by grace for redemption that any human finds so remarkable that may be an essential painting of justice.

RRR_Judgment

2025-10-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

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First Kings, chapter 3 verses 16 through 28. Tells the story that one day, 2 women came to king Solomon, and one of them said your majesty, this woman, and I live in the same house not long ago. My baby was born at home in 3 days later, her baby was born. Nobody else was there with us one night while we were all asleep. She rolled over on her baby and he died. Then while I was still asleep, she got up and took my son out of my bed, she put him in her bed, then she put her dead baby next to me in the morning, when I got up to feed my son, I saw that he was dead. But when I looked at him in the light, I knew he wasn't my son, the other woman shouted, he was your son, my baby is alive. The dead baby is yours, the first woman yelled mine is alive. They argued back-and-forth in front of Solomon, and finally, he said, both of you say this live baby is yours someone bring me a sword. A sword was brought in Solomon, ordered. Cut the baby in half that way each of you can have part of him. Please don't kill my son the baby's mother screamed your majesty. I love him very much, but give him to her. Just don't kill him. The other woman shouted go ahead and cut him in half. Then neither of us will have the baby. Solomon said, don't kill the baby, then he pointed to the first woman. She is his real mother, give the baby to her. Everyone in Israel was amazed when they heard how Solomon has made his decision, they realise that God had given him wisdom to judge fairly.

When we discuss judgment It's almost impossible not to go back into this incident. This story, of course, it's interesting to realise how many thousands of years have passed since this story took place. But here it is, etched in clay and passed down to us so that we have this record of this amazing decision. This is judgment.

There's a famous movie. Many current generation Gen Z's and millennials have not heard of; but it's a it's a movie called "Judgment at Nuremberg,"and Judgment at Nuremberg is about the time when the planet earth wanted revenge. They wanted revenge on Adof Hitler and his henchman, not saying that that revenge wasn't merited, not saying that that revenge wasn't even in good keeping, with steadfast justice; which we're gonna discuss next, but in terms of judgment, judgment at Nuremberg is in the very title of the movie? And actually, this is a dramatisation of actual events.

This trial really took place. What is judgement? How do you judge? Well, one of the things about judgement is this. There's a famous passage in the Old Testament, where it talks about the prophet, Daniel and handwriting on the wall. And we realise that, that handwriting was there, and that was miraculous, and the frightening the king was miraculous. But the truth of the prophecy was that your life has been weighed and found wanting.

Judgment is often pictured as a lady blindfolded with scales in her hands, meaning that the good and the bad have to be weighed, and what overcomes the other is how the weight falls down on one side, or the other. Judgment is not a simple dychotomous matter; we would love it to be. We would love things to be black and white, but are things ever black and white?

When Jesus was dealing with the Pharisees, I am now discovering after many years of research and study that these were actually people that may have been in his lineage, because they may have arisen, the Pharisees, from within the line of the Lion of the tribe of Judah. So it's important to understand that many times what we think is an accurate judgment may, in fact not be an accurate judgment.

So how do you know(?) well judgment can most definitely be learned? Take courses on decision-making, take courses on logic. Learn about logic, read about logic, read about decision-making because it's not just a blind process where you throw issues up against the wall and see if they'll stick! Judgment means that you have taken the time to bother to gain the knowledge to properly assess situations.

RRR_Integrity

2025-10-01T04:59:00.000-07:00

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Integrity is one of those words that everyone thinks that they understand what it means and they probably basically do. And that they would define it, as don't ever lie. However, there's a lot more to integrity than that.

Because in the considerations of what it means to have a leader who has bearing, courage decisiveness, dependability, endurance, enthusiasm, who has this quality of initiative. Then, there is integrity, but there's also a sense of justice, a sense of judgment, knowledge, loyalty, tact and unselfishness.

But integrity is the prime factor when you're talking about, who, what, when where, how or why of any event that takes place in a person's life, and any information concerning that event, no matter what the event is, the event can be as simple as a family dinner well, who's going to be involved? In it, where's it going to be? When's it going to take place? What are we having to eat? And why are we having this? This family dinner at this time is a regular thing. Do we always meet and have dinner every night?

Which you're going to find in America is not usually the case anymore used to be my family always had dinner regularly at 5:30 in the afternoon. And everybody in the family was expected to be there. Then, there were few exceptions. And if you didn't show up, you better have a very good reason because Grandma Tot had been cooking all day and she would let you know. "I've been cooking all day and you couldn't even be here on time?" On time was part of the thing.

And on time is part of integrity, because integrity encompasses who you are not just what you are not just why you're doing, what you're doing, not just when you're doing it. And not just, you know, whereabouts, you're doing it or who you're doing it with integrity involves all of those things. So integrity is a big word, and to a leader; to someone who's who's going to lead people, the primary factor is this. Can they trust you? Can they trust you?

Can these people put their faith in you now when it comes to disciples? And it comes to Jesus, my suggestion is always bring people back to Jesus which means in our time, bring them to prayer and the Holy Spirit but mostly bring them to what the Bible, the word of God. And defend the truth of the Bible, defend the absolute factual truth of the Bible.

The archeological discoveries that have supported the Bible, the fact that the Bible constantly says that there are archeological facts that at first many people who are into archeology deny, and then later on, they discover "guess what?" the Bible was right.

For example in Luke, he says that the reason that Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethlehem to get her to have Jesus, was to be measured, measured for a census, because Quranius was the governor do you know for years? Historians said Quranis wasn't the governor that was a mistake. Guess what they've discovered within the last couple decades. Yeah, as a matter of fact, he was the governor; as a matter of fact; the political climate and scenario of that realm involving Pontius Pilate and everything else had to change in order; that Quranius would be the governor so when Luke said that he was exactly correct, the Bible is exactly correct.

We're talking about a set of writings that historically read you; as you read them. Put together by 40 different authors over a period of 1500 years. On as many as 5 or six different continents, or as many as I've heard 15 different continents; and in as many as 4 primary different languages, Greek Hebrew, Latin and Aramaic, but also I think there's maybe a fifth language in there that has to do with ceriliac or Sumerian languages. So the Bible is an absolutely truthful document.

Why? Because it has over 16000 different links between the prophets and the book of revelation of John, there are over 16000 connecting links of interlinking facts. There's over 315 times that the prophecies of Christ, as the messiah, are exactly correct down to the fact that he would ride a donkey into Jerusalem that had never been broken. Which is exactly like, what is prophesied of him?

So when you're talking to your disciples about integrity, and you're talking to your disciples about working with their people in a way that they can be trusted, what does that really add up to I think in your case, because you're taking the time to learn this. Yes, it means a lot. I think Christ and the Holy Spirit and God are proud of the fact that you're getting involved in. Trying to help people come back to Jesus and come back to Jesus, in the New Testament, come back to the Bible, come back to prayer, rededicate, reconfess and repent, and live a life of repentant. Solidarity, and that is integrity, I think.

RRR_Initiative

2025-09-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

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Initiative is a strange characteristic. Because a person who takes initiative is a different kind of individual. And we all know that because we see people who are going to the front, to make sure that things take place, and we wonder, where does that come from(?); initiative can be a learned characteristic. Because if you stand back and you look at a picture image and you think, you know, that skyline would be perfect. If it only had one more tall building in there, initiative is drawing in that building, and then painting it in; so that the painting will be complete, or another way to look at it is an individual with initiative; sees that something needs to take place.

For example, if there's a lack of general education about how to repair things initiative goes toward trying to help others learn how to do that. I have a friend who's a plumber And what he discovered is that other plumbers weren't being created weren't being taught, weren't being mentored. So initiative is seeing that. And then doing something about it, it's important because initiative comes from within you, but it is also a learned characteristic.

And that you can see initiative in others, and you can learn by watching what they do, how it is that you can emulate, what initiative is. So initiative sees that there is something, for example, young people who do not know how to drive, and they don't have parents who take them out and teach them how to drive, so what's needed? Aha, a driver's education class initiative is the individual who says, you know what I'll do it, I'll sit with them in a car while they learn how to drive. That's initiative is making that class happen.

But it comes from within, you, not from without side Now, there is also a kind of initiative that comes from outside, which is to say that there is a cause of causes, let's say that there is a very obvious difficulty in the culture there is something lacking. That needs to happen. What I'm thinking of now is the kinds of situations that developed places where people could gather and jointly benefit one another and these kinds of clubs and organisations used to be very popular, because it was where young men who didn't have fathers could go to learn what it was like to be a young man. These were called young men's Christians association YMCA.

Today, those have largely been attacked as not being places of good growth; anymore. But at one time that was the place to be. Initiative, was the individual who put those places into existence. Well, why have those Places come under attack. Why have those programmes gone out of being so popular? It has to do with the inner moral construct of our culture today and the inner ethical imoral challenges to our culture today. And that's a gap in our culture.

And there's a very dire need for someone with some initiative to go into the culture and to provide those kinds of situations where folks can learn proper etiquette, proper training, proper actions, proper behaviours, the way that we can all get along better initiative is seeing to it, that those things take place.

Initiative is very difficult to explain when Jesus went to the cross. It was under his own initiative because being God, Jesus could have not done that, but being God, Jesus had to do that in order that his blood could be shed. To save you to provide redemption for you from your sense, so with your disciples, you want to be sure to share with them that when taking the initiative, they want to make it in such way that it's going to be beneficial to others.

RRR_Enthusiasm

2025-09-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

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As we go through these characteristics of a leader, these are all pronounced characteristics. They are things that leaders have learned to emulate, and to teach others how to emulate, and for they themselves as leaders to emulate, but most normally, these are characteristics that individuals possess, because as they've grown up, they've been educated by leaders as leaders.

But that is kind of changing in our culture. It's hard to explain the difference between a family that is patriarchal with a father who is present. Who is himself a leader and is teaching his children leadership and a non patriarchal family that is not centered in that way. So those lessons aren't passed on in that way. I'm thinking about such men as, for example, Gen. Patton and the relationship that he had with his father see those kinds of dominant leading men.

Well, I think that they are changing in our culture, and I believe that in our culture, we need to get back to the kind of individual who understands enthusiastically, because here we're talking about enthusiasm, an individual who understands enthusiastically that it is important that what you have and understand to be a level of joyous excitement about things that is, enthusiasm; is not something that has to come from some external motivating factor but rather enthusiasm comes from an inner part of you where you are in touch with a deeper joy, that resides within you.

When I remember the kinds of behaviors that I had as a younger man, when I did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, those were enthusiastic days undoubtedly, and I was always known as a kind of positive and joyous individual, although not necessarily a happy individual. And I think that after Christ, people would generally say that I was a joyous individual, that it was a rare day when you saw me, when I wasn't joyous and smiling and enjoying life.

And in fact, enjoying life became my pattern of existence, because what was there not to enjoy when I had a relationship with Jesus Christ(?);and Jesus himself brings joy into your heart in the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life is all of the enthusiasm that you could ever want or wish or ask for.

And that includes those times when things really aren't going good. When things aren't really as you would like them, when you've run out of gas in the middle of a stretch of of the dark portions of the highway. And you don't know where in the world, you're going to go to get gas, and someone comes driving up and says, Hey, you look like, you need a hand what can I do to help you out?

Enthusiasm comes when you are down. I mean, down you have just been through a test that you failed or a job that you lost or a health crisis, that was beyond description and you are down and enthusiasm comes from within you, built by the power of the Holy Spirit in you.

That brings this residing deep well of joy where you realize this momentary difficulty is gonna pass. Because as the Bible says, joy comes in the morning and Jesus Christ is the bright and morning star.

RRR_Endurance

2025-09-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

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Endurance is easy to say very difficult to prove out. What does endurance mean? If you really want to test endurance, just to see how long your endurance actually is, get somebody with a gallon jug of water in a car. And just take off, walking and let them follow you and just walk until you can't walk anymore. You may make 3 miles, you may make 5 miles, but at some point you're gonna say, this walking is getting old, get in the car, have a drink and you'll know your level of walking endurance, you'll know how long you can keep on walking without it being to the point where you don't feel like walking any more.

We view endurance with several different aspects of perspectives and vantage points. Endurance is also easily associated with long distance running. People are familiar with the idea of building up endurance, but in Christianity, building up endurance, takes on an entirely different meaning we think of and usually hear sermons about testing. How the Lord will put us in circumstances that will measure our faith from which we learn whether or not we have enduring faith. And also there is this term in the New Testament martyrios, which is the term martyr. And it is the idea that you have to make choices that run up against your faith, and most of the time, those choices are rarely direct. They're mostly very indirect, so you're not really sure, is this a faith choice, a measure of endurance, a test, what's going on?

Satan uses that confusion to try to fool people into not thinking that they have endurance, when in reality, if their back was up against the wall, they have a lot more endurance, and a lot more faith in what they would realise or give themselves credit for having. And by doing so they take away credit from the Saviour who died on the cross and shed his blood that they might have the availability of that endurance?

Peter said we could endure. Paul said we could endure; John says we can endure; Jude says we can endure; Philemon, says we can endure. Endurance is a statement of the New Testament Peter endured? After denial, Peter endured in the face of direct instruction in discipline by Jesus in in front of the other disciples, whom Peter had been leading; as one of the primary disciples to Christ. Peter James and John, the men who had gone up on the Mount of Transfiguration, and now, here's Jesus addressing Peter about the issue of whether or not Peter loves him?

Peter's faith endured. It endured through that kind of trial, it endured through the trial of his life of building the church, and overcoming his own set of Jewish instructions and legal ideas, people think that Peter was prejudiced against the gentiles. That's not the case. Peter was Jewish. He had Jewish thinking in his background, and so he wanted to observe the things that he was supposed to observe about proper food etiquette; while the Lord instructed him about a huge amount of ethics and ways and choices of morality that he should make regarding not just food but the genitiles! That which God had created, he said when He brought down all of those different creatures in the sheet, that which he had created is not unclean, and therefore you can partake of it, but it had to be shocking to Peter that vision.

Look at Paul! Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, the one who had started out persecuting the the Christian church persecuting those who had turned from what Paul believed was proper Judaism, educated at the feet of Gamiliel, the head rabbi of Jerusalem; Paul had endurance, Paul endured. What(?) long-suffering sweeping shipwrecks being bitten by Paul endured?

He had enduring faith and that creates the question for all of us in modern Christianity. Do we have enduring faith? And my contention is, yes, you do. And my Also contention is, if you will give yourself and your Savior credit and Holy Spirit sway in your life, you will discover endurance that will surprise even you, and then it will certainly surprise disciples that you are bringing to Christ?

RRR_Dependability

2025-09-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

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Dependability means more than just being able to be trusted to be somewhere at a specific time and event. Dependability means that you have shoulders that can be leaned on. You have strength of character that can be trusted, that you can be depended upon, to act and react to certain circumstances in certain ways.

Dependability in a leader means that when you suggest to folks, or even order folks that something must be done; that you've thought it through that you're not going to ask them to do something that you yourself would not be willing to do. So that the reason that you're delegating is not because you don't want to do it, but because you have the idea. And it needs to spread, and it needs to be done by other people. In order that the overall progress of the organisation can be furthered, so dependability in a leader is an essential trait, and it is fundamentally a trait that can be learned.

All of my life. because I grew up basically as a single child. And so I was given many things that many other children didn't get, but in terms of family. I was a single child, no brothers, no sisters. So the sets of responsibilities that I had in my life were organised around myself, which gives you a very self centered approach to life. So dependability is not one of your real structural components, you tend to be rather wishy wash most of the time. Single children often have a difficulty with this.

So dependability is important because it can be learned. I remember the first time that I took training about this. It had never dawned on me. The importance of time and the importance of being on time for events or meetings or circumstances involving other people.

Dependability means that not only are you there on time, but actually you're early. Why(?) out of respect for their time? Because what's one of the most precious things that we have; time? And so to abuse it by being late; to me now; is just an unconscionable thing.

But earlier in my life, I didn't view it that way; earlier in my life, if I was 10 minutes late for a meeting; I was 15 minutes early, which is a crazy way to live. However, creative people sometimes have this nuance. They're not as aware of time as other people are. So I think that sometimes it's important to understand in dependability that there is this, rogue attitude that must be dealt with, and it has to be brought under constraint and discipline.

And so that's one of the things about dependability is, are you capable of being disciplined? Are you capable of handling being dependable? Can you be trusted to be on time? Can you be trusted to do what needs to be done? If you're told to do 10 tasks, can you be trusted to accomplish all 10 or are you going to stop at 8 and then say that the other two were just too difficult?

When it comes to dependability. It's one of the things that you can learn, and it's one of the things that once you learn, it is very helpful to you and to other people.

So when you're working with your disciples, remember that dependability is a set of circumstances that is dependent upon you to function at your peak, when you need to function at your peak, and you need to do whatever you need to do. In order to be in that frame of mind, pass that onto your disciples when it comes to relating to Jesus Christ; is the master, understand that he is the master for a reason. So if we follow him, we're doing the correct things that we need to do.

RRR_Decisiveness

2025-09-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

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Years ago, there was a movement in business, especially in business schools, universities and colleges had to do with just make a decision! Because after the decision. Obviously there's going to have to be adjustments and there are always adjustments in every project that's ever proposed. So the big statement was just make a decision.

Well, here's the thing about decisiveness. It's not so much that you're just making a decision, it's actually taking into consideration the factors that need to go into the result that you're considering. So decisiveness is a learned behaviour and it's very much a behaviour that can be improved upon.

I love to play Chess. And more than loving to play it, I love to win and I hate to lose, but I also just love to play the game. Well here's the thing after learning a style of opening in Chess. You can win an awful lot of games because it's a very hard opening to combat against. So there's some decisiveness involved in that; decisiveness is not just jumping blithely off the cliff, and saying, I hope something catches me on the way down. That's not decisiveness. Most folks would say that has to be considered foolishness, so decisiveness is extremely important in levelled amounts.

It means weighing things out there's a statement in the old testament "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin;" (Dan 5:25 vv.) it was the handwriting on the wall. It said that the Empire was in trouble, it said that the king was in dire trouble and what it said was that his life was weighed and found wanting in the measure. Decisiveness is weighing the good against the bad, and so it is, in some sense, a dychotomous decision-making process. But much of what decisiveness involves is not just a dichotomy's oppositional kind of logic, but a way of looking at things from the other aspect, looking at things from not just the result, but from even the effort of the journey that goes into the result.

Decisiveness is a learned behaviour and as a learned behaviour it is one that can be improved upon. So one thing to pass on to your disciples is that if they feel like they are not capable of being decisive even after prayer, even after spending time with the master Jesus; because if there's ever been a master of decisiveness, it was Jesus Christ, and so even after spending time with the master. If they feel inadequate about decision-making processes. Take some time to learn; particularly logic. Particularly, the ways that decisions are made, because decisiveness can be improved upon.

So don't ever think that you can't improve upon it and pass that on to those who are learners that when you're striving to get closer to Jesus and back to Jesus, decisiveness would seem to be a prethought to a permanent thought to make that happen regularly.

RRR_Courage

2025-09-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

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Courage is a word that gets thrown around a lot. And people have a lot of interesting pithy, sayings about courage, courage is not the ability to just stand there and fight without any sense of fear, courage, is the ability to fight in the face of fear.

I personally like Winston Churchill's quote that says "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." I really like Winston Churchill when it comes to statements about courage, because if it weren't for Churchill, I'm not sure that we'd be speaking American in America, I think we might be speaking German. But I don't know for sure, history has been kind to us in America. History has been very kind. We are a fortunate nation. We are a nation, however, founded. I believe personally on courage.

If you had to take one of the traits of leadership from bearing courage, decisiveness, dependability, endurance, enthusiasm, initiative, integrity, judgement, justice, knowledge, loyalty, tact and unselfishness. If you had to take one, that is absolutely indispensable, it would be integrity. But if you had to take the number two and 3 bearing and courage would be in there, somewhere. Courage is the thing that, you know, a person has, you just know. They have it, and you follow a person with courage, because, you know that what they're talking about is real.

I've heard lots of people make lots of speeches. And I've heard lots of statements made about things that are courageous, but I have personally known a courageous man who stood there in the face of opposition and took it. And took it and took it again, and he wasn't a bigtime politician. He certainly could have been he could have been very high up in the political structure, but he chose to remain local, and he chose to fight the honest and true fight, I got to know him personally.

And one thing. about courage that I can tell you; those who are courageous, don't really have a big deal about themselves about being courageous. I don't know really the right words. They're not braggadocious about being courageous, because they know that courage is being afraid, but functioning anyway.

John Wayne said, courage is being full of fear, but saddling up anyway, John man, you talk about somebody with courage I tell you that John Wayne lived an enormous life.

A big life but where he became most courageous was when he faced certain death. And he didn't lose his courage, and he didn't lose, spirit and a lot of people didn't love John Wayne because of his political stances; but I'm going to tell you right now. The man has been indispensable in American history, especially for those people who grew up watching movies in the 60s. He was an immense movie star.

I loved his Westerns and what was the deal in a John Wayne western? The good guys won the bad guys lost and that's how it was; but always he was fighting a fight where his back was against the wall and he had to display courage. Sometimes courage means that you're not going to do something that if you do it, it's going to result in something happening that will be simple and easy, but courage means not doing it. And taking the harder result, courage is a difficult thing to talk about.

It is an incredibly difficult thing to emulate. So I believe that courage in our day and time is seen; so much in our armed forces, people who have to fight in countries that we will never inhabit to maintain a peace and freedom that many times we very, very loosely appreciate.

Now most of us; you put our back up against the wall in America, we appreciate freedom, and we say thank you to the troops who defend it. Most of us. But there's a faction of America. Where you have to defend free speech and their right to exist that don't believe in such things, I have no idea what they believe in.

I have no idea why they live in America, because they don't really support freedom, and really courage is just an absolute essential aspect of freedom with no courage, there is no freedom. And of course, with no freedom. How can there be courage?

So courage is a supporting foundation that you want to pass on to your disciples about Jesus Christ, who was the most courageous of all.

RRR_Bearing

2025-09-26T09:18:00.000-07:00

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47 years ago. November 11th 1978, I received the Gen. Douglas McCarthur award for distinguished leadership from the Bad Toelz NCO Academy, Seventh Army NCO Academy.

It was a high point a real high point, because what they instructed us in was bearing, courage, decisiveness, dependability, endurance, enthusiasm initiative, integrity, judgement, justice, loyalty, knowledge, tact and unselfishness. The characteristics of a leader.

And the shocking thing to me was that the staff sergeant in charge of teaching leadership said that in the opinion of most military greats such as Eisenhower, Patton Marshal, etc., the greatest military leader of all time, was Jesus Christ Because with 12 men, he changed the world forever.

Now That was a little bit shocking to me, because you would expect, great military leaders, Alexander the Great; Hannibal things like that. Marcus Aurelius out of Rome, but no in their opinion, in these real military men; this staff sergeant had seen 3 tours of combat in nam; these were rugged military, fighting men, and in their opinion, the greatest leader was Jesus Christ.

That first characteristic of bearing is a characteristic that you can actually learn and improve upon. Bearing is not just that you are clean in appearance and well-dressed and well-groomed. Bearing is also the attitude that you bring with you that you have. Within you, the control and discipline and power to examplify what it means to be a better person to other people around you. Bearing comes from within, as well as from without, it is an internal set of decisions in standards and values in paradigms.

Bearing is incredibly important. Now, obviously the list of characteristics is alphabetized, so bearing would be first, but in many instances without bearing how can an individual lead and this is where the questions get deeper. What kind of bearing did our Savior Christ exemplify?

My statement would be perfect bearing. Because when challenged in ways that none of us can even actually fathom, in other words, if you were stood up and it was told to you. If you will say one thing you will live, but if you say another, you will die. And you choose to say the thing that would keep you alive. We call that sane rational, but last couple of years back; over 1200 people made the choice to maintain their faith and be martyred, and we don't hear about these in the news.

You don't hear about these, but if you go and become a part of a group called the voice of the martyrs, then you will hear these sorts of informations and facts that you don't hear commonly in the marketplace of information. What is bearing, sometimes bearing means bearing up under the load.

And sometimes; sometimes, bearing isn't pretty, but bearing is absolutely essential, so when you're dealing with your disciples bear in mind that it's important to have great bearing.

RRR_Enemy

2025-09-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

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In 2012, Ron Carpenter Jr., wrote an amazing book called "The Necessity of an Enemy.," and in it what he proposes; is that enemies make us stronger? Because we have something to fight against. And as we fight against it, we gain strength; that if there is no fight against an enemy, then your strength wanes. It's a good idea. It's a great book, and it makes a great deal of sense.

Because the adversary to God is; at least the adversary to God on earth is; Lucifer. Satan cast down-to-earth and this evil satan is the enemy of Christianity. The enemy of God; Certainly, the enemy of Christ and one of the things that in Christianity today is taking place is the merging of cancel culture thinking into Christianity as a standard. So what's that mean well, in Christianity(?) today there's the big moral push.

Don't watch movies that are going to have a bad influence on your morals and ethics. My suggestion would be that what that is; is a replacement of Christ culture now don't misunderstand me.

I believe that if you read the Bible daily. If you pray all through the day and you have a relationship with Jesus and you keep that relationship alive. I believe you're going to run headlong into a world that doesn't; now if you don't know anything about that world that world will shock the life out of you. But if you understand that an understanding of the world supersedes the power of the world, so you don't get caught aghast.

All right, let's make that make scriptural sense, how many times in the New Testament; do you see Jesus saying to the scribes, the recorders of the law that then became interpreters of the law that then became this very powerful sanhedron group. How often do you see Jesus saying to the scribes? "Oh, man, you got me with that one. I hadn't thought of that."

How about with the pharisees? How often does he say to the pharisees; "Wow, you sure outwitted me with that little political maneuver that you made there to try to catch me, boy, you guys are sharp." I don't remember ever reading anything like that. In fact, Jesus was so sharp that he was ahead of all of the curves with even the symbol representing the religion and the faith in Jesus Christ ichthyus the fish. Because the Romans had a fish God. So they had no problem with Christians going around making fish symbols. They thought they were worshipping the Roman fish god.

Now, look, we need to understand that canceling out certain portions of things that represent evil in our lives; really doesn't make sense in terms of understanding what it is that we're up against! So Ron Carpenter Jr. has this great book. "The Necessity of an Enemy," and I gotta tell you, he makes a great deal of sense, because your strength as a Christian becomes stronger when you're up against it than when you're not. When is your faith strongest, I've often heard and I think it's probably true; when the only thing that you've got to rely on is God; and you rely on God, your faith is strong.

Paul said that when he was weak; then, he was actually strong? Faith, is an odd opposite to no faith. You can't be apathetic. You can't be a wet one. You can't be the one that Jesus spews out of his mouth because you're apathetic; and be a Christian, it just doesn't fit together. So be sure to consider these thoughts when you're thinking about what it means to bring disciples to Jesus Christ.

RRR_Defending_God

2025-09-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

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Are there questions that don't get asked? Remember that there are always questions that don't get asked. And the reason that these questions don't get asked is that these questions make us uncomfortable.

Take, for example, a section of the New Testament, the gospel of John, that goes from 7:53 to chapter 8:11. And here's what it says "this paragraph can no longer be considered a part of the gospel of John, but it is in all probability a true story of Jesus."

Now, this comes from A.T. Robertson, in his harmony of the Gospels, which is copyrighted in 1922. And then this reprinted version is copyrighted 1950. A.T. Robertson's harmony of the Gospels, is considered as a seminal work and a great harmony of the Gospels, but it's his inserted comments that are great.

And this is at the bottom of page 115, he says that "in all probability, it is a true story of Jesus very likely, drawn by early students from the collection of Papa pious published about AD140, and he says that we should see Hovey on John, in the American commentaries on the New Testament, observe that without this section, 98 goes on right after 96." And that's in his harmony.

So this particular incident that most people are familiar with where they had set up a woman evidently, and so they're able to say as they come into the area there where Jesus is. And they throw her down at his feet. And they say we caught her in the very act. Well, there's only one way that they could catch her in the very act right? And the scribes and the pharisees bring a woman taken in adultery and having set her in the midst, they say unto him master. This woman has been taken in adultery in the very act. Okay, so how could that happen? If they hadn't been doing those sorts of things?

My point is that sometimes when you are trying to do good things, evil people, perhaps even people who believe that they are in the right And sometimes those are even the most evil of people? Because they believe that they're defending the righteousness of God, and they've chosen a course that's going to run contrary to the word of God, see, that's what's happening here, the very word of God, Jesus is in this temple area; and they bring this woman that they have obviously involved in a situation. And that's how they caught her in the very act, and they throw her down at his feet.

Because what they want to do is stone her. And very often, people who are defending religion defending the law, defending God, who, by the way, God needs no defending. Does He Does God; need any defending? His word is the Bible. Does the Bible need defending really? So what we've got here is an incident that never should have taken place.

But most people are familiar with the result. The result is the famous statement The one of you who is without sin. Let you cast the first stone.

We live in an age in 2025 America, where casting stones has become an art form. Is that the art form that you wanna pass on to disciples? I think not. What we might want to pass on to disciples is something called the great love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who bled on a cross that our sins might be forgiven. Let's pass that on to disciples.

RRR_Quiet

2025-09-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

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It's very quiet right now. It's early. Remember that there was a time in your life when it was quiet. Remember that time? Remember that quiet. Quiet is an interesting place because we live in a noisy world. One of my favorite movie scenes is in a movie that many Christians just can't bring themselves to watch because it has a lot of R rated content in it. But it's called midnight in the garden of good and evil. It was a Clint Eastwood movie and John Cusack is in it and he plays a New York reporter who brings a recording of the noise of New York City with him. And he plays it so he can sleep. Imagine quiet. My bet is that you've never heard it much. One time we went camping in north Arkansas. With the youth group from the church, and it was up by a place called Albert Pike, I think it was; first of all, there was no noise in that forest. So when I recount that moment of remembering that quiet, I recount that as one of those times when miraculously, it was all so dark, because we're surrounded by so much ambient light in the United States of America, that many of us have never seen the darkened night sky. When your eyes get what's called dark acclimated, your pupils open up wide, and when you first see that Milky Way in a dark sky night, you gasp. Because, you realize there is some power here that we simply cannot comprehend. And we make that statement, and what really makes me kind of giggle a little bit as a theologian, I mean, me, getting a doctorate in theology is kind of akin to a person with no arms and very little intelligence learning how to become a master French chef. It just should never have happened. But somehow we drove through all of the bureaucratic barriers that the seminaries try to throw up so that people cannot actually attain what they need to in order to study theology. And so this recertification, is that Christ is so much more powerful than what we can apprehend, let alone comprehend. God is not a thinker like we think. His thought. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways, and we read that in his word, the Bible, and we do not understand it. We believe that it is all so well-defined, and so well defended that we've made it like a gigantic vault within which we've placed what we believe is the truth. And the fact of the matter is, he's always going to be immensely bigger than anything that we can believe that we portray. So recertify to your disciples that the Christ that they serve isn't even bound by the grave. He is a resurrection power that no one can comprehend, but can only apprehend to love and ask forgiveness for our sins from and follow.

RRR_Soon

2025-09-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

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Remembering is so close to recounting, but it's different in the subtle way that remembering manages to bring in flavors that the more accounting resembling recount does not. And it's for a purpose.

Remembering is to fortify to lift up to elevate, to bring into more dense relationship with Christ, your faith. Remember that in the past, you're a sinner, so you've committed sins, and in the past, you've asked him to forgive you of your sins, and what has He done? And that remembering allows you to understand that no, we do not want to sin, because our way of living our way of understanding our way of relating to a holy God; is not the same at all?

But by the same tick, by the same standard, we are sinners, we will fall, and when we do, what happens to us an extension of Grace by Christ. So Paul asked the question, well, does this mean that we can just go on sinning? And of course, the response is no. Our hearts are not that way slanted, our understanding is not that way. Given any wisdom that we get from the word indicates to us that that is our enemy, that is our death, that is our way of not having life.

But then the accuser, the adversary comes and whispers in your ear that it, you know, it's not that big a deal. It's, it's just eating something from a tree of knowledge, and why would he, why would he not want you to know that? The adversary uses our very senses against us? It will feel good, it will be okay nobody will know about it.

We count those times that grace has been extended to you when we didn't even have the sensibility as disciples to ask and confess and repent. Yeah, that's grace. So when we recertify our faith, when we recertify the fact that Christ has faith in us, not just that we have faith in him. But that He has faith in us.

Now the nature and determination of the project changes. It's not you seeking disciples whom you can disciple whom you can discover for that. You know, no, it's listening to the Holy Spirit and establishing relationships with 4, that he indicates to you that he wants to bring into the kingdom of God. And then bringing them back to Jesus, bringing them back to Jesus, that's making disciples getting them to learn with you to pray with you, to experiencing daily the majesty of the Hebrew language so that you can become deeper in your walk with Jesus Christ, because this is about Christ, it's not about us.

It's about Christ, it's not about you. It's about those 4 disciples and their four and their four disciples and ad infinitum. It is not about you. It is a message from the Holy Spirit from the word from God Almighty, to people who do not know him via the only vehicle that will effectively reach them at this point.

And we're running out of what? Time, because none of us knows when Christ comes back, that's up to the Father; and it will be soon.

RRR _Faith

2025-09-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

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What is an aspect? An aspect is a slant. A side of a diamond . There are many different facets to a diamond. There are many different ways that light reflects through a diamond, adding aspects to the fact of the diamond in the beauty of the colors that are transmitted from the light. Remember that at 1 time you did not know Jesus. At all.

Somehow, you were brought to a point where you began to recognize that he's for real Then, came the moment when you realized that what you wanted to do was follow him. And the process of following him meant that you were going to have to deal with those ways that you did not adjust your life to live according to his standards of righteousness. So you would confess your sins. Remember that confessing your sins is absolutely necessary before you can repent.

Because you have to recognize that you have a difficulty; a problem; before any cure to the problem can be attempted. So confession and repentance are part of a natural paradigm of growth. When you move to recounting, you're recounting that growth, it's important to realize that that is meaningful to you as a Christian following Jesus, but it's going to be even more intensely meaningful to those that you are trying to give a hint to about what it means. To walk with the Lord, What it means to walk with Rabbi Jesus, it's incredibly important that the Rabbi's saying of being so close to the Rabbi that you get the dust of the Rabbi on your sandals is incredibly important.

When it comes to following Christ, be that close to him. When you recount those moments be able to transmit that to your disciples, when you're discipling someone you're simply bringing them back to Jesus, back to Jesus, and that process of recertifying your faith in Christ means that the obviousness of your confession and repentance should stand out so solidly, there is no way that your disciple could mistake it for anything else.

Therefore, there is very little of you left in any of the recertifying that you do, because what do you want to do? You want to emulate John the Baptist's famous statement that he must decrease because Christ must increase. You must decrease Christ must increase in everything that you do in every way that you say it, you have to bring your disciples to a point of respecting Jesus, a point of loving Jesus, a point of walking with Jesus, a point of confession and repentance, is a daily mode of life in contact with the Rabbi. The great and only Rabbi Jesus, whose dust we are unworthy to have on us. But whose dust we so desire to have as we walk that closely to the Rabbi that his dust will get on us.

RRR_Fellowship

2025-09-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

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Ever hear something and you say that's just profound? One time I heard somebody say that in order to love other people. You have to love yourself. In order to forgive other people, you have to forgive yourself.

If you have an unforgiving spirit, if you have an unloving nature, you're gonna find it actually impossible to forgive other people and to be loving. I think one of the things that it's really good to remember is we're all sinners. We're all saved the same way; by grace through faith. We are all sinners, and the truth of the matter is we sin, constantly, not because we want to; not because it's deliberate, not because it's something that we feel that we have to do.

We sin volitionally; volitionally constantly, and here's the thing(!). Remember that because we're sinners, and because we're all saved in the same way, there is no levels to faith, there are no super saints if you're born again, you're in the boat.

You're wanna take a thought about recounting the fact recertifying the fact that you're in the boat, the fellow ship and the fellowship means there's no superiority. There's humility and service that's what Jesus instructed us to be. Servants to one another serving one another.

You want to know what's hard to do? You want to know why the body of Christ is having difficulties in the "Rock-a-Billy's social media? Let's get it done in a second. And if you don't respond precisely, as I want you to, I'm going to be upset, buddy; age"? That's what's come upon us; in 2025; is instantaneous, everything we've gotten used to instantaneous everything, and we've also gotten used to disposable. So when it comes to recertifying faith, we've gotten used to the idea that if something doesn't work, you just throw it away, if you don't like something that someone's doing you just cancel him out, you just take them off your list of friends. You just don't have anything to do with them anymore.

And so when it comes to recertifying, we don't want to fight the fight that is involved in loving folks. Because love means discomfort. Agapao love means sacrificial love;and there isn't anything when it's sacrificial, that is not gonna cost you, and if it doesn't cost you, it's not sacrificial.

So the final step of recertifying your faith, you've remembered that you're a sinner saved by grace, and that we're all sinners, and that there are no super saints, and that you don't Lord anything over anybody in this walk with Jesus. And as you recount, the number of times that he's forgiven you for being how you are when you get that way, then it comes to the fact that we want to recertify that we are in touch with our own fallibility, and we want to let people that we're trying to bring back to Jesus, those people that were working with as disciples to bring them back to Jesus, we want to let them know, we know we're sinners.

One of the best things that Pastor Terry Hughes has ever done as a Pastor is he is humble, and he's humble when it comes to the fact of the matter that we're all sinners, and he has projected that loving nature he has into the body of Christ around him. He is a disciple maker of the first nature and a man that I am proud to say, is a fantastic Pastor.

When you are no longer working with your disciples. What will they say of you? I want your legacy to be that legacy, where people say, "You know, what(?) we knew Corrie, but we didn't know; she wrote that book? We didn't know about the hiding place. We didn't know she was gonna be Corrie Ten Boom we just thought she was Corrie, who hung out with us." "We knew that was put upon her with the wheelchair, but to us she was just always Joni."

Listen You have the ability to touch people's lives that no one else can touch, don't ever let the adversary. Satan, take that away from you. Because Christ put that in you through his blood.

RRR_Group

2025-09-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

View on Vocaroo >>

Always something to bear in mind noone can remember the things that are part of your existence and experience that are not also a part of theirs as a shared experience. So remember involves only you, if it doesn't involve others. So which are the richer memories? Those that involve just you or those that involve others and on top of that, which are even the more memorable, those times when you had you and perhaps one of the friend or those times when you had lots of folks around. And you were all celebrating, which is stronger?

The time you met privately with a friend to confess that you had done something that you didn't need to do. And they listened and said it was going to be okay or the birthday party that everyone participated in and you all enjoyed memories are precious.

How we do them is a recounting thing, and how we recount them is magnificently important in our lives, the very words that we use to add up to the recounting matter. Every part of what we participate in as recounting matters. I've heard of philosophy that says a 100 years from now will anyone care? Well the problem with that kind of stoical statement is a 100 years from now nobody has any idea what anybody is gonna be caring about.

So the time that we need to be invested in recounting is precious time. Absolutely precious moments that we have to build up memories that are enjoyed marvellously. And one of the things that you can really learn how to do is how to express your resertification; in a massively impacting way.

This means that recertifying often involves a lot of learning and folks, sometimes think, "well, I don't want to go into a lot of learning," but Jesus didn't say go and make people dumb, make people stupid go and make people. incapable of learning, no, he said, go and make learners; disciples.

Now, we have adjusted it slightly to say, bring them back to Jesus, bring them back to Jesus, but that is also a form of massive learning of wisdom, because who is wiser than Christ? No, one. Who can give you more wisdom than the Holy Spirit? Only God The father only Christ the son. So God is God; Jesus is God; The Holy Spirit is God. God is not Jesus. God is not the Holy Spirit, okay, so Jesus is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not Jesus. The Trinity is designed in a recertifying process for us that allows us to bring our disciples back to Jesus as a centering point to a magnificent triangulation of faithful momentum in order to make disciples of all nations, Jesus would not give a command that could not be followed? Would He?

Worth_Remembering

2025-09-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

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There are many memorable closing scenes in movies that people can reflect on. This current generation in 2025. America; doesn't really know "Gone with the Wind" like a former generation did. But "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn," is pretty famous.

And Clark Gable at that time, was an enormously famous actor that, in this current generation, in 2025, many young people don't even recognise his name. So remember that your life may be worthwhile. Your life may be worth remembering those closing words in Taylor Sheridan's writing about Yellowstone. I think that's exactly what we should be looking at. But too much focus on legacy stalls your discipleship.

Remember to disciple not remember to become paralysed by analysis. Recount with the remembrance of your life, being worthwhile; worth remembering.

Recount, so that you're recounting moments; the things that were important in terms of disciples, discipling, pay attention to those disciples; to your own ones, your own needs, but to their wants. And their needs, and that changes the way that your life is counted, so that when you recount, you're actually going to be recounting times when Christ has moved you forward for the sake of someone else, and that is all Agapao love.

That as you recertify your faith in Jesus Christ you function as one who makes disciples and it is incredibly important. It is perhaps the most important function of people who believe and follow Jesus, if you're going to believe in and follow Jesus, then follow his command go and make disciples.

Now that means that you're recertifying is going to be to them, and that you function as knowing that the Holy Spirit is in charge of you. Then guiding you and you listen to the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will always take you toward God toward Jesus. The Holy Spirit will always be talking about repent. Because our natural nature is to be sinners. Therefore, our natural stance to the king of kings and the Lord of lords Jesus Christ is one of repentance.

RRR_Patriotism

2025-09-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

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We are in the midst of one of the most profound times perhaps in US history, we haven't seen anything like what's happening? Because I'm not sure that there's ever been anything like what's happening in the past in America, you had gangsters and you had law enforcement, and you had a constant battle between them.

But what's taking place today is much more extensive. We just witnessed a great campus evangelist and also a great campus representative of patriotism in America, everyone calls him a conservative as though there were anything wrong with that. But actually, Charlie Kirk was not just a conservative, not just a Republican, he was a representative of patriotism an idea, we remember that has become in America, something that we Either support or we don't.

But do you know that evil wicked people in our midst have turned the concept of patriotism against our own country in behalf of what(?) some ideas of values in ethics that they portray as being more worthwhile than the actuality of being patriotic towards your country. That has given you everything blessed under God to do. So I hear people all the time. Tell me "I don't know if I see America in the New Testament? What do you think the Eagle is? What do you think our national symbol is? What do you think our way of life is? What do you think our values are? What do you think our morals are? What do you think real Americans think about trying to help one another?

I tell you that the thing that is actually going wrong in America is the same thing, that brother Kirk saw going wrong in America, which is what his not-for-profit TpUSA is all about.

And in 2025 that kind of movement, where what you're seeking to do is restore and recertify, takes a recounting, because when you recount how great this great country is when you recount the amazing things that America has done for you, if you really, really appreciate the freedom that we have; because we do have it now.

There were times in my life when I thought economics and money were the limiters of the freedom that I actually have, but I can go out get in my vehicle and drive anywhere in the United States that I've got gas to go to; and the great thing about America is, if a run out of gas. I can put my thumb out on the highway and I'm free to go. That's not true in many other places on this globe.

Now, yes there are alot of other free countries but not like the United States of America, and so in my opinion, and this is just "Danaology." Yeah, America, most assuredly is in the Bible and God has most assuredly blessed this nation, which was formed by men and women who recertified, their belief in Jesus Christ; their belief in the Bible, remember that our founders left the Anglican oppression in England and escaped to become pilgrims in our nation.

And people who retell history against those facts are retelling history inappropriately. Our nation was a God-fearing nation, and today we are slowly drifting away from that so when you re certify with your disciples and your learners, and you take them back to Jesus, make sure they understand patriotism.

RRR_Courage

2025-09-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

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Remember the courage to overcome. Overcoming is part of faith. When people read the statement in Hebrews, that faith is the evidence of things hoped for, they don't realise that that's a description of courage.

Because anytime that you determine that something actually needs to take place, because it's self-evident. We hold these truths to be self-evident. One of the things about self evidentiary, uh, matters is that it takes courage to jump into them. Let me make that make sense. When you are faced with things that you recognise are evil in their nature and should be corrected, because your faith eyes see them, it takes courage, remember that.

Courage to act upon what you realise what you see and what you hear. So what you're doing is you're recounting the times that your eyes were opened. And your ears were opened and you saw and heard with faith. Don't expect that during those times people are going to applaud your actions.

In fact, if you undertake a project that you believe is based on faith and everything just goes smoothly. I'm not so sure that that's the Holy Spirit instructing you to reach. More of my experience is when the Holy Spirit instructs, you to reach which is faith, you're going to encounter opposition, because Satan is going to try to trip it up somehow. So whenever in my undertakings of faith, I've watched projects go along. If they encounter a lot of heat, if they encounter a lot of difficulty I smile because that's meaning that it attracted the attention of the evil one.

Now, you really shouldn't smile about that cause evil one really isn't fun. There isn't anything fun about Lucifer. There isn't anything fun about the lies of Satan, so we recertify as we remember courage and we remember faith, and we recount the times of faith has acted in our behalf. We recertify by the presence of faith, not just to ourselves, but to those whom we have, who are learners, those 4 people that we're close to, and that we are intimate with and that we are totally realistic with; and that we are as truthful with as we can possibly be.

That we are confessing with and repenting, with and working with Because those disciples need your precious faith, and they need to know that you're real. Paul said when it comes to sinners, I've got you all beat, because I am the greatest of all sinners, and this was a man who was nearly beaten to death for his faith. Shipwrecked for his faith, bitten by a Viper for his faith; told off and told out of the Jerusalem council for his faith, and yet this man followed Jesus.

Because he knew after encountering Jesus; that Jesus was real. So the question becomes, have you encountered Jesus? Is Jesus to you real, and can that be dispatched to the four people that you consider precious enough to have them be disciples? Bring them back to Jesus.

RRR_Learners

2025-09-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

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Remember the importance of your presence and the things that you talk about 'n discuss with your disciples; with your learners. You wanna remember that you're pointing them back to Jesus?

As you get involved in their lives, your task is to be with your Saviour and to listen to the Holy Spirit. And to guide your learners to Jesus, that's making disciples, your job is not to do anything else. Because if you get into doing anything else, that's going to be on your own time; and do you have any of your own time? Remember who's life it actually is; remember who's heartbeat it actually is; who's food it is; who air who's everything it is who's life it is we owe our lives to Christ. We are the creation of God, the father. And we do not own anything. We are just sojourners travelling through this existence, and our purpose remember is to do what make disciples off Matthews end chapter of chapter 28.

Recount, The Times that you have seriously thought about what you're doing, recount them, you may not find many or you may find a lot of contemplative times times when you thought, you know, I don't get this, I don't get what's going on. I don't understand it, but I'm going to keep doing it by faith. By what by faith, see faith has an element in it that is identifiable. It is when you act not on what you would love to benefit from, but on what others will benefit from, because that's Agapao love, and that's the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Well, how do I know it's the Holy Spirit guided me? because the Holy Spirit will never Take you away from God or give you things that are contrary to Jesus Christ, our Lord and saviour and the New Testament scriptures in the Gospels, they're identifiable.

So we certify the fact that, yes, the New Testament presentation of Jesus is a record that is meant for a purpose, and that purpose is you, and what is that purpose to make disciples? And how many do we suggest that you start off with? Well, it seems that the pattern is for Peter Andrew James, John, they were brothers, they were brothers, Jesus, chose 2 sets brothers.

Can you think anybody harder to get along with than a brother? So it's almost like Jesus is saying, yeah, I hear you that it's tough finding for friends or 4 people that you love enough, that you wanna Get with them because they're turned on to Jesus, but you want to bring him to the scriptures, you want to bring him to deeper study, you want to bring your deeper revelations, you want to bring them into the existence that is more deeply joyful as a walk with the saviour then the one that they might presently be involved in.

You might be surprised they might be way deeper than you might believe that they are, on the other hand you might also be surprised they might be looking for a deeper walk, and they've just been waiting for somebody with courage enough to approach them and say I'm interested in you and I care about you. And in Jesus name, I love you That's a tough that's a tough pill, but do it, you're gonna find it, has tremendous joy and tremendous blessing within it.