People need to feel welcome in our churches and accepted. Jesus accepted people right where they were at in life BUT He never left them there, He gave them the truth. This is what we must do as well, accept them, welcome them, and serve them the truth with love.
You might have heard the old saying “Give someone a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach someone to fish, and you feed him for the rest of his life.” The same holds true for life itself. If you give someone an answer, a rule, a principle, you help him solve one problem. But if you teach him to walk with God, well then, you’ve helped him solve the rest of his life. You’ve helped him tap into an inexhaustible.
What is wrong with us? We are crippled by the fear of greatness. And we have confused popularity with greatness. A large church is not greatness. Being a mascot for the rich and famous is not greatness. Satan laughs at our idea of success. He does not respect sermons that merely entertain a tame audience. He only respects and fears disciples—men and women sent from God, anointed by God with conviction and authority who are ready to obey the marching orders of the Holy Spirit.
Being a Christian is not essentially about joining a church or being a nice person, but about following in the footsteps of Jesus, taking his teachings seriously, letting his Spirit take the lead in our lives, and in so doing helping to change the world from our nightmare into God’s dream.
So often we focus on Jesus’s mission on the cross to save us from our sins. As marvelous as that is, it’s critical for us to grasp the importance of his mission on earth as a rabbi. His goal was to raise up disciples who would become like him. As followers of Jesus, we are still called to live out the adventure of discipleship, becoming like Jesus through the power of his Spirit at work within us.
I saw that the kingdom must be interior before it can be exterior, that it is a kingdom of ideas, and not one of brute force; that His rule is over hearts, not over places; that His victories must be inward before they can be outward; that He seeks to control spirits rather than bodies; that no triumph could satisfy Him but a triumph that gains the heart; that in short, where God really reigns, the surrender must be the interior surrender of the convicted free men, and not merely the outward surrender of the conquered slave.
April 28, 2020
Nominal Christians are like marathon runners who signed up for the race, got their official number, and bought the fancy running gear—but never went out and did the actual training ahead of time. They can’t run the race because they have not prepared. They haven’t developed the habits of faith—like prayer, Bible study, and worship—that would transform them into true disciples. They are not part of a community that can sustain and inform their worldview. They have the T-shirt but not the ability to complete the race. So they run in vain.
Ed Stetzer
If you are not intentionally being discipled by Jesus, you will unintentionally be discipled by the world.
What does a leader with the heart of Jesus look like today? What is true discipling in today’s world? From my experience, people are looking for vulnerable, approachable, honest people who can share their wisdom as well as being good listeners. No one can possibly ‘know it all.’ We must let go of any pride and be open to learning even as we lead and teach from humble hearts. People I have led and encouraged for years are teaching me so much now. They make me a much better person.
I am a big proponent of the concept that Christianity is more “caught than taught” and that a person’s meaningful involvement in the process is critical to them experiencing the power of the gospel in their lives. This meaningful involvement takes time and persevering love.