Category Archives: Discipleship

Sep 11

Firm Foundation

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Throughout history there have been people who once followed God but somewhere along the way turned back and no longer follow Him. Just take the nation of Israel for example. Israel had been repeatedly warned by both, Moses and Joshua, and yet, after the dead of Joshua, there arose a generation who did not know God (Judges 2:10-13).

One might quickly wonder what went wrong? How did this once proud nation of God’s people, find themselves as a generation “Who did not know God?” It appears the people failed to appreciate the repeated words of God.

Sadly, not a lot is different today. More and more people who were brought up in “Christian” homes are turning their backs on God. Floods of young people are leaving the church and walking away from Jesus. What can be done to stop this exodus?

  1.  RESPECT GOD AND HIS WORD. If we want young people to love God and His Word, we must demonstrate our respect of God’s Word by taking time to read it (Psa. 119:97). If we are honest, few of us probably read the Bible like we should. Instead of treating God’s Word as a letter with purpose, too many of us treat it as an ancient historical document that has no place in our lives. Young people need to see our love and respect for the Bible through our fervent study.
  2. LISTEN AND OBEY GOD’S WORD. It is not enough for us to just read what God says, we must also do what we read. Ultimately, listening and obeying His word means we live differently from the people around us. There will be things the world says yes to that we say no to and vice versa (Gal. 5:19-24). Young people need to see our obedience to God’s Word.
  3. TEACH GOD’S WORD. Church attendance cannot replace biblical instruction in the home. As parents, we must diligently talk of God and teach His ways to our children. The more opportunities we take to teach, the greater our influence will be on our children (2 Tim. 1:5; 3:14-15). Let’s not rely only on what they are hearing in Bible class, let’s be proactive in teaching them ourselves.

Parents, grandparents and concerned members of the church, a lot is riding on whether we are teaching our young people to love God and His word. If we are, that’s great, let’s keep it up. However, if we aren’t, why not? Friends, what’s the soul of a young person worth to you?

Now that’s Something to Think About!

 

 

 

Jan 21

Stop Talking About It!

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This past weekend over 1,600 people from across the southeast attended an annual event in Savannah, TN known as Evangelism University, including 21 of us from Karns. This is always one of our group’s favorite events of the year. EU is a weekend devoted to training high school students to be more evangelistic among their peers.

Students are typically given a booklet to take home and study with a friend. Over the course of the weekend, the students are led through the course themselves so they will better understand how to teach the material to their friends who have never obeyed the Gospel plan of Salvation.

On Saturday night I got to thinking about what it would look like if everyone in attendance made just one disciple for Jesus this year. What an incredible impact such an action would have on the Lord’s Kingdom. Unfortunately, some of us who attended will choose to let multiple opportunities pass us by this year for one reason or another.

Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20a).

Jesus has commissioned us to go into the world and make disciples. Notice this is not a suggestion for us to follow but rather a command for us to obey. What if all 1,600 who attended EU this year went back home and made one disciple for Christ? Just imagine the impact. Now, let’s not stop there. Imagine if each of you reading this made at least one disciple for Christ this year. How incredible would this be?

When are we, who claim to be disciples of Jesus, going to stop talking about being disciples and start acting like disciples? Jesus commanded us to GO, MAKE DISCIPLES and TEACH. What are we waiting for? There’s no better time than now. Jesus promised, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).

Let’s stop talking about making disciples for Christ and actually start making disciples. Why not make this the year we lead at least one lost soul to Jesus. Just imagine the impact!

Now that’s Something to Think About!

Aug 13

Dream Great Dreams Pt. 3 – Dreams We Should Dream Con’t

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We are in the middle of a 4-part series called, “Dream Great Dreams.” If you have not read the first two posts in this series, click below…

            Part 1 – Unlimited Resource

            Part 2 – Dreams We Should Dream

As we continue in this series, let’s consider a couple more dreams we should be dreaming as Children of God.

We should dream for Christians to make disciples of all nations. One of the final commands Jesus gave to His disciples was, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20). As Christians, we place a great emphasis on baptism and we should. However, did you notice what Jesus told His disciples in the passage above? He said their goal was to make disciples by baptizing them and then teaching them. Sadly, I’m afraid this is where we have failed in the church. We do a decent job of going on mission trips, both foreign and domestic, and teaching people to obey the Gospel. We urge our young people to obey the Gospel before the graduate high school. Both are important, but this is not the only thing we should be doing. Once a person obeys the Gospel, their journey is just beginning. This is the time they need us the most. They need older, mature Christians to disciple them. They need to be taught what it means to live and walk as a follower of Jesus. We should dream for Christians to make disciples of all nations.

We should dream for Christians to hunger after God’s Word. Peter said, “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Pet. 2:2). The word translated long in the Greek language means, “To pursue with love, to long after, to lust.” As people who claim to be the people of God, are we pursuing after His word with love?  Do we long to spend time each day reading and studying from the greatest book ever written? If we are truly people who are hungering after the Word of God it will show in our behavior. People will be able to tell by the way we live. Do you remember the milk ad where celebrities would drink some milk and then they would be left with a milk mustache? The milk mustache made it obvious what the celebrity was drinking. Can people notice we’ve been hungering after God’s Word? Do people see the evidence left in our behavior? We should be dreaming for Christians to hunger after God’s Word.

There are plenty more dreams we should be dreaming as Christians, but I think this is enough to show there is a lot of work left to be done. My hope and prayer is for Christians to start dreaming great dreams and making an eternal impact on the world around them. What are you dreaming?

Now that’s Something to Think About!