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Casting the Vision for Lifestyle Disciplemaking
It happens over time in large and small Bible studies. Women are excited to study God’s Word. But as their knowledge accumulates, the next thing you know they are being snippy about the study questions or whose group they are in or the table decorations. I have seen it happen among godly women in very successful Bible studies. I call it restlessness because we easily get stuck in discipleship and forget our purpose for disciplemaking. I believe that is from Jesus calling us back to our purpose. This post will cast the vision for you to answer the call from the Lord and leap into lifestyle disciplemaking. Jesus followers become…
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Never Too Old to Have Impact for Christ
Don’t forget Anna! As you recount the Christmas story and tell about the angels, shepherds, Mary and Joseph, the baby in the manger, and the wise men, don’t forget Anna. Who was she? Anna was an 84-year-old woman who also brought gifts to the parents of the Christ-child and others around her. No one is ever too old to have impact on others for Christ. Anna, an old woman with impact on others This is what Luke wrote about Anna, “Now when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord…There was also…
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Old Testament Disciplemaking (2 Chronicles 17-20)
Have Christians who really love God been strong influences in your life? How have they helped you to stay faithful to God in the midst of a culture that wants to rip you away from your faith? When we know the stories of faithful believers in our great God, even with their faults, we can counterbalance our culture’s attempts to distort our view of ourselves as Christians by belittling our past. But that requires a commitment to follow God and intentionally teach the next generation about the true heritage of those who walked with God before them. That is what King Jehoshaphat did. Ever since first being introduced to Jehoshaphat…
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Off the Shelf Discipleship
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Recently I ran into a researcher who received a grant to determine how pastors are doing discipleship these days. When I asked him what he’s discovering, he said, “Pastors are going to the Christian book store and buying what’s on the shelf.” Off the shelf discipleship. Whatever looks good. Whatever works. Now there are several good discipleship resources on the shelf, and many pastors are consulting what others have done while putting their own thinking together, a very good step. Yet many others could be making two serious mistakes that are giving disciple making a very short shelf life in…