Category: Christian Life

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Why Discipleship Matters

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I live in East Africa as a missionary. What I have found where I live is that there is a passion for outreach and evangelism that is lacking in many parts of the world. In almost every church there is a willingness to gather together for open-air gospel crusades, door-to-door evangelism, and other forms of outreach. This is very different than where I come from in America. As a former leader in multiple churches in Bible-belt, Texas I know from experience that it is a difficult thing to get large numbers or Christians together for sharing the gospel, and if you try to do an open-air meeting, it is usually not-well attended.

In Nigeria and other places, Reinhardt Bonnke leads mega crusades attended by millions of people daily. It is an incredible sight, seeing the faces of people stretching past the horizon. However, a few years ago, I attended a Bonnke Crusade in Houston, Texas – one of the largest cities in America – in a stadium that only has about 22,000 seats plus whatever can be added at ground level. From my perspective, the stadium appeared to be one-third of the way full. I don’t think that is the fault of Bonnke. It is because the churches and believers in Houston weren’t unified to see the crusade become a success.

Here in East Africa, the church is good at outreach. They lead big crusades. Churches coordinate together to form mass choirs. Teams are able to canvas an entire city, door-to-door, in a few days. And it is common to see thousands of people put their faith in Christ. I am truly impressed at what I see here!

Can I tell you what the church is not good at in East Africa?

We are not good at bringing the harvest into the barns and preserving the fruit! All too often, the harvest is simply left laying out in the field where it was picked. Churches go out and lead many people to Jesus, yet do not do well (on a large scale) at turning those converts into disciples! 

This is not just an East Africa problem. This is epidemic! It is becoming a whole-church problem!

The Great Commission

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has  been given to me. 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.’”

Matthew 28:18-20, English Standard Version

The problem with the lack of discipleship strategy is that the commission of Jesus on the church was not to Go and make converts! It was never to simply to go, preach the gospel, and lead people in a prayer to accept Jesus as their savior. It wasn’t even to go and do signs, wonders, healings, and miracles so that people see the power of God!

All of those things are great, and we need to do them even more. However, until we take those who pray the prayer and those who are touched by the power, and bring them into the body of Christ and disciple them, we are failing at the mission given to us by Christ.

If someone gets saved, but does not get discipled, we are picking the fruit from the tree, but leaving it laying in the field. To say it another way, we are becoming spiritual fathers and mothers to people, long enough to give new-birth, then leaving them as bastard children in the world, with no nurture or guidance to help them grow.

Defining Discipleship

The Lexham Theological Workbook says: 

“Discipleship is the process of devoting oneself to a teacher to learn from and become more like them. For the Christian, this refers to the process of learning the teachings of Jesus and following after his example in obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit. Discipleship not only involves the process of becoming a disciple but of making other disciples through teaching and evangelism.”

So discipleship is the process of taking a lost person, seeing them saved by introducing them to Jesus, and then walking with them into maturity as a believer in their relationship with the Holy Spirit. 

I used to think that discipleship looked different: The first steps begin small – things like repentance of sin, baptism, church attendance – then as time goes on, the person should grow to learn to pray, study the scriptures, and serve. Eventually, they step into leadership and begin evangelizing the lost, teaching biblical truths to others, and discipling others in their own Christian walk.

Those things are good and necessary, but as I have grown in the Christian life, I have come to know that those things are only the actions of a disciple. They don’t make a disciple.

Converts vs. Disciples

Truly making a disciple is taking the now-saved person and helping them draw closer to the Lord; to Hear His voice; to walk in obedience to Him; to learn their identity in Christ, and leading them to fulfill the destiny God has for them in such a way that gives all the glory back to God. That will involve all the action steps listed above, but it is also so much more!

Let me break this idea down a bit:

Q: Should a new believer come to Church?

A: Yes, obviously!

Q: Is it the goal to simply get a new believer to attend church? Is that “success?”

A: No.

The goal is that the person learns to worship the Lord and serve God’s people! Church attendance is necessary, but it is not the final goal. Church attendance should lead the people into the life of worship and service.

I hope you can see the difference: A convert becomes a church attender. A disciple becomes a worshiper and a servant.

Our job is to take a lost person, bring them to Christ in conversion, and then continue the process of leading them to become mature disciples. This is how we preserve the harvest Christ has given to us.

Discipleship matters because the world is full of converts to the Christian religion, but God’s desire is mature sons and daughters. We have to do more than go into the field as harvesters, we have to invest the time, energy, and resources to preserve the harvest God has given.

We would love to hear from you in the comments: Have you been discipled by mature believers in your Christian walk, or were you left to struggle on your own? How are you investing in the next generation of believers to see them grow to full maturity in Christ?

In This Series

In this series on discipleship, we will look at:

As we go deeper into how discipleship works, I pray this series helps you as a believer to create a strategy for discipling others. Don’t forget to subscribe! You might also enjoy this video teaching I did recently on this topic, also called “Why Discipleship Matters.”

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The R.E.A.P. Method of Bible Study

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Do you struggle with daily Bible study? You know you should go beyond just reading a passage, or relying on a personal devotional, yet real Bible study seems like a lot of work. Not to mention the need of time and resources to get it done. How can anyone make it a daily practice? 

I have recently stepped in as the interim pastor of one of Sozo Ministries’ village churches in Uganda. This has given me the opportunity to return to ongoing discipleship and mentoring of regular Christians. It is an enjoyable change from my normal mode of dealing mostly with leaders, and doing higher-level ministry trainings. Even still, the thing I cannot get past in either case is the need for Christians to be in the Word of God, daily, and applying the truths of scripture to their lives. 

I want to share with you a simple method of Bible study that can be applied to your daily reading, no matter how much time you have to give. Whether you have ten minutes or two hours, this approach can be a great benefit. You won’t need to have a massive library of Bible commentaries; just a place to sit, read, and pray. This tool will help make the scriptures accessible to you, and it is called the ” R.E.A.P. Method.” It is not a method I developed. It is one I was taught a few years ago in my home church in Texas, who also learned it elsewhere. Despite not knowing its source, I will tell you that it is one of the simplest and most beneficial methods you can learn, to start studying the Bible on your own. 

R – Read

The obvious first step in Bible study is to read a passage of scripture. It is completely up to you and the Holy Spirit where you need to focus your attention each day. If you aren’t sure where to begin, you cannot go wrong by beginning with one of the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. There are also thousands of Bible readings plans available online, or possibly even in the back of the Bible you use each day. Don’t hesitate to find a reading plan that makes sense for you. Just don’t fall into the trap of shame and condemnation if you miss a day or two.

E – Examine

Anyone can read a passage of scripture. Only those committed to grow from it go further into Bible study! Once you have read the passage of scripture, the real work begins. You must now seek to understand what this scripture is trying to teach. Obviously, the world is full of resources that can help you go deeper and deeper into your understanding of any passage; however,  if you are new to Bible study, that is not necessary. 

The beauty of the Bible is that it was written by God for men to read and understand. It is therefore fairly straightforward in what it says. Still, God did not expect us, with the lingering presences of a sin nature drawing us back to untruths, to navigate the Bible alone. He has given us the Holy Spirit to “teach you all things…” (John 14:26). As you seek to understand the scripture, ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten your mind to understanding, and to reveal any hidden wisdom within the passage.

Now, as you examine the passage, you should learn to ask these questions about what you have read:

  • What does this passage teach about God?
  • What does this passage teach about mankind?
  • What does this passage teach about sin and salvation?
  • What does this passage teach about Jesus and the Holy Spirit?
  • What does this passage teach about new life in Christ?

In the beginning, you may only ask the first two questions about each passage, which will definitely grow your knowledge of truth. Still, as you grow in Bible study, always take your examination deeper with these kinds of probing questions.

A – Apply

Once you have spent time  understanding the text, it is time to apply what you have learned to your own life. Remember, Bible study is not just a practice to gain knowledge. It should be connected to your own discipleship and your growth into the image of Christ! 

The simplest way to apply what you have learned is to ask yourself, “Based on what I have read, what do I need to do or change in my own life?” Don’t forget to include the Holy Spirit’s guidance in answering. Once you have finished wrestling with this question, you have taken the first step in application. You now must commit to doing whatever the Holy Spirit and the scriptures are leading you to do. This is how the Word of God transforms you.

P – Pray

The final part of the process is to go back to God in prayer. Even though you have sought the Holy Spirit’s help in each step up to now, this step should pull everything you have done together and bring it back to Him for help living it out. 

Begin by thanking God for what He has taught you. Walk through the process of repentance if there is an area of need. Ask for grace and strength to make the necessary changes in your life. Trust the Holy Spirit to help you as you begin to walk out what you have learned. Finally, ask Him to reveal to you someone in your own life who needs to hear what you have just learned. Seek an opportunity to share with someone else, what you have just been given.

That’s it. You have just successfully completed a real, authentic, personal Bible study! Not too bad, right? Now make it a part of your daily walk with the Lord! New levels of glory await (2 Corinthians 3:18).

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Gospel or Gifts: Which Follows Which?

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I was raised in a conservative Christian family. Some of my family were Baptist, some were Church of Christ. Needless to say that when my own spirituality gave way to sin, legalism abounded in my upbringing. Even when I began my own pursuit of Christ at age 16, I joined with a fundamentalist Baptist church because I didn’t know much else existed. 

This was a great season for me, as I had never learned much of the Word of God, and the emphasis they put on teaching the scriptures enabled me to learn very quickly the core truths of the Christian faith. However, something was always lacking. Even as I began sharing the gospel, and slowly seeing some of my friends turn to Christ, I always longed for something more.

It was another four and a half years before I was baptized with the Holy Spirit and began seeing the power of God come into my life and ministry, but when it came, it changed everything! What interests me, today, is how the power of the Holy Spirit comes.

Which came first, the gospel or the gifts?

As I read the Bible, there seems to be two contradictory teachings on how the spiritual gifts would become active in the life of a believer.

The first is found in Mark’s version of the great commission, where he writes:

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany [other versions say “follow”] those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Mark 16:15-18; English Standard Version

Gifts Follow Gospel

What Mark seems to be saying is that when we go out to obey the Great Commission, sharing the gospel and making disciples, that the gifts of the Holy Spirit will just automatically come along to testify of the power of God. This makes sense, because as Paul states, “the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power” (1 Corinthians 4:20). I take this to mean that without the power of God at work in our efforts to share the Gospel, we are not giving the true gospel, or at least not the full gospel. However, the good news, it seems, is that when we simply obey the Great Commission, the power will come naturally; we do not need to do anything to bring it about.

I like that. It sounds so easy!

The problem is, that isn’t how things actually seem to work.

Gospel Follows Gifts

In my own life, I was a Christian and sharing the gospel regularly for many years, and never once saw the sick healed or demons cast out. I believed in those things. I even hoped for them to happen at times, but I never experienced them. There are many generations of Christians who would testify the same thing. Just read the biography’s of the “generals” of the faith, such as Smith Wigglesworth and John G. Lake.

Even the disciples, whom Jesus delivered the Great Commission to personally, did not just begin preaching publicly and then see the power show up. Jesus actually gave them another set of instructions, which seems backwards to this original position. Rather than telling them “preach the gospel and the gifts will follow,” as Mark teaches, Luke records that Jesus told the disciples to not attempt ministry until the Holy Spirit came on them with power! 

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now…But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:5-6,8; English Standard Version

So in one instance, Jesus tells them that as they go to make disciples the power will follow them, and in the other, Jesus tells them to wait for the power which will then enable them to make disciples. 

So which is it?

The truth is, I think it is both. In each teaching, there is a dynamic presented by Jesus in which the foundation of both receiving the power of God and proclaiming the Gospel of Christ hinge on our response to His promise and His command. They become inseparable.

In the book of Acts, Luke tells us that the disciples were to wait for the fulfillment of God’s promise. They already had this expectation that the Holy Spirit would empower them to be Christ’s witnesses supernaturally. They had already got a taste of this in the earthly ministry of Jesus, and they had already touched the power of the Holy Spirit themselves, through Jesus, which enabled them to heal the sick and cast out demons. They expected the fulfillment of the promise that this Holy Spirit would one day come and baptize them, and then the power of God would remain on them, just as it did with Jesus. 

Their waiting for the Holy Spirit to come was borne out of an expectation that He would come, and they didn’t just sit idly by twiddling their thumbs. They anxiously pursued the Lord in prayer to see the promise come:

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying… All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Acts 1:12-14; English Standard Version

This prayerful pursuit of the power of God isn’t incongruous with the Great Commission in Mark! He teaches that we are to be walking in obedience to preach the gospel to the whole of creation. That is not optional. Yet in discussing the gifts, Mark tells us that these signs don’t just follow a preacher, but they “accompany those who believe.” 

It may be that to preach the gospel without the power of God is not just a failure to share the full gospel, as I stated before, but is actually a failure to believe it ourselves!

This was the case in my own life! I spent years believing that God’s power was alive and working out in the world, but I was also filled with so many excuses as to why it wouldn’t happen in my own life. I knew that God was healing the sick and casting out demons through those missionaries who live in the remote regions of the world, and I always believed their testimonies when they came to our church, but I was just a nobody kid living in America’s “Bible-belt.” We had a church on every corner preaching to gospel. The testimony of Jesus was surely well-established where I was, so why would God do something supernatural through a barely-saved teenager like me, when there was so much “evidence” of the gospel all around?

As I moved closer in my journey to being filled with the Holy Spirit and seeing the power come alive in me, I necessarily went through a major period of “discovery” that reshaped my beliefs. There were testimonies I began to hear of the power of God at work in urban America, not just the jungles somewhere. There were stories of revival in history, from the Great Awakening to Toronto. Then I began to hear of how God had done miraculous things in my own family’s history — such as when He miraculously healed my grandmother from appendicitis as a young girl through the laying on of her sister’s hands, after the doctors said nothing else could be done for her. I then began to hear of how my own friends were seeing hints of this power happening around them, from crazy (but accurate) prophetic words, to actual supernatural healings.

Even though I believed the gospel and was enrolled in Bible college to become a preacher, this process was taking me to a different place where God was chipping away at my unbelief. Once that path was cleared, there began to arise in me a hunger to see these things happen in my own life. I began praying desperately for God to give me the baptism of the Holy Spirit, without anyone to guide me or tell me what it would be like. (Remember, I was Baptist. Everyone I spoke to was discouraging this pursuit as futile or even an opportunity for demonic manipulations.) 

One night at three in the morning, it finally happened. Sitting on the side of the bathtub in my college dormitory, I was overcome by the presence of God and began praying in unknown tongues. From that day on, everything changed.

The Necessity of Desire

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, stating that “I do not want you to be uninformed” about the Holy Spirit’s gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1), and he spends the next three chapters discussing their use and purpose. The problem in that church was that there was a hyper-spiritualizing of people with certain gifts, and a neglect of others whose gifts were deemed less important. In some cases, there was flat out abuse of the gifts for self-glorification. However, contrary to the reaction of many modern teachings on the gifts, Paul never told the Corinthian church to cease using the gifts. Instead, he corrected them. He explains to them that the goal of every gift is love of others, and summarizes this argument by commanding them: ” Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts…” (1 Corinthians 14:1). In fact, this command to “earnestly desire” is repeated again in verse 39, concerning the gift of prophecy. 

The words “earnestly desire” come from a single greek word, ‘zēloo,’ which according to Strongs Concordance means “to burn with zeal,” “to be heated or to boil with envy,” and “to desire earnestly; pursue.” It is a present, active, imperative verb, which means that we are  commanded to be full of this desire all all times, and to actively be pursuing the gifts in our lives. Despite it’s possible vulgar connotation, the best example I have heard to explain this word’s intensity is that we are to “lust after” the gifts, like a young man in pursuit of a woman.

Paul’s language here, then, solidifies the argument that without a belief for the gifts, and a burning pursuit of them, we do not get the power, which enables us to be a witness. They will not passively come upon us.

This throws out the argument I hear from many cessationist friends that, “I am not opposed to the gifts, but God has never given them to me,” and “if God wanted me to do those things, He would give them me.” The truth is that He has shown us, in scripture, that we are to obey every command He gave the first disciples, which includes, “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, cast out demons,” and so much more. He has also shown us in scripture that to receive the power to do these things, we must pursue it. They do not come without hunger.

The Secret to More

Presently, I have the opportunity to share the gospel with thousands of people each year, in different nations of the world, and can honestly say there is nothing more satisfying than to see people give their lives to Christ. Nevertheless, I can also tell you that I am hungrier than ever for the power of God to work in my life and ministry! Dr. Randy Clark is famous for proclaiming, “there is more!” Well, I want more. I am not satisfied to see the power of God remain stagnate in my life, and I have come to expect greater things to come, as I grow in Christ. 

So what is the secret? How do we get the “more?” 

Stay hungry, and preach the gospel! 

As we preach the gospel, it gives an opportunity for the power to come! It all begins when we are hungry and seeking, but it grows as we use the gifts of God in obedience to the Great Commission! As we go and minister to other, more comes. As more comes, our hunger grows, and we pray. As we pray, more comes, and we receive more power to go. The cycle continues on and on. 

So to answer our original question, which follows which? Do the gifts of God follow the preaching of the gospel? Or does the preaching of the gospel follow the arrival of the gifts?

The answer is yes to both!

The scriptural pattern is that the gifts follow those who believe in the promise of God, and prayerfully burn to receive them. Once we receive them and use them in obedience to the Great Commission, they will grow and more will come!

The gospel and the gifts always follow one another, in both directions, because in the plan of God you cannot separate His power and presence from the Gospel presentation. You cannot fully share the gospel with another person in the absence of God’s power to reveal His Kingdom. And you cannot steward the gifts of God in you if you are not using them to share the gospel with others. The scriptures declare that you cannot have one without the other, so let’s stop trying. Let’s get hungry; let’s pursue the gifts, and let’s proclaim the gospel! We will be amazed at what God does through us when we do.

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No Shame

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Hi, my name is Scott, and I am an analytic…

I am also an introvert, and a perfectionist. And while none of these characteristics are completely negative in and of themselves, when they work together for long periods of time, it can sometimes go badly.

I used to drive an 18-wheeler, overnight, in the oilfields of west Texas. Most of my waking hours were spent in the cab of that truck, out in the middle of nowhere, not seeing another person for hours on end. As an introvert, it was a kind of oasis for me a lot of the time. As I look back on my relationship with Christ through the years, I also realize that I had some of my most intimate times with God sitting behind the wheel of that truck. It gave me a lot of time (12+ hours a day) to engage with the Holy Spirit in prayer and private worship. At the same time, as anyone who has spent time in the presence of God knows, when He shows up in such powerful ways, your sins and shortcomings are also, always exposed.

Being an analytic, I overthink everything. So what would happen in those moments is that as I engaged with God, I would often have an amazing time of worship and prayer, and then God would lovingly expose the negative things in my life, to correct me and lead me in His perfect plan for my life. (This is good, and necessary for the Christian life. This season was a great time of sanctification in my Christian journey!) I would finish the workday  on fire! It wouldn’t simply stop there, however. I would go home, shower, go to bed, and then usually wake up the next day still feeling the conviction about those things. And this is where things could get problematic. 

As the new day would roll along, still analyzing what God was revealing to me the night before, one of two things could happen. Either I would continue to engage with God in worship and ask Him to continue to root out the things I need to deal with, or it would go negative, and I would begin to dwell on the failures that God exposed in me, with self-loathing. 

In addition to being an introvert and an analytic, I also have those perfectionist tendencies. So being the over-thinker that I am, and having a high level of expectations for myself, I would usually find myself in this second position. In God’s amazing grace, He would lovingly expose my flaws, but instead of dealing with them in repentance, I would obsess on the failures in myself with shame and disgust. The result? Self-condemnation, depression, and even a feeling of being unworthy of the intimate time God granted me the night before. This positioning would inevitably be followed by ‘avoiding’ God for a while; hiding in my shame like Adam in the Garden of Eden.

When this happens, it is the old orphan spirit rising up inside, forgetting who Daddy is.

The God Who Doesn’t Shame Us.

The great thing about God is that He will not leave us sitting alone in our shame. He is faithful to show up and push us toward a response to His love (repentance); offering forgiveness in Christ. There is no greater feeling for me than when God breaks in on my self-loathing with His love! In the times I am feeling unworthy of God and hiding, it amazes me how He shows up, calling me out.

What every Christian needs to realize about our God is that He loves us. He finds pleasure in His children, even the ones who aren’t the best at following directions. Psalm 149:4-5 tells us, “For the Lord takes pleasure in his people…” Possibly the greatest lesson for every believer to learn is, “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). He doesn’t shame us, He rejoices over us?

To my brothers and sisters in Christ: I just want to offer you a reminder of the love of God today. I don’t know what you are struggling with right now. I don’t know what your emotional state is telling you about God. But I know this. God loves you, and through Christ, He is pleased with you. No matter how you feel right now, look to Him and let Him break in on you. Meet Him intimately wherever you are at. Sing for joy. God is near. He doesn’t come to condemn you or leave you in shame. He wants to spend time with you, showing His love to you, more than you can ever know.

(This post was originally published August 1, 2011. It has been revised and edited for reposting.)

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Commissioned: Go and Make Disciples

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If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you are surely familiar with the passage called ” The Great Commission, found in Matthew 28 and Mark 16. This is where, at the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus tells the disciples to go into all the world preaching and making disciples. Up to this point, the disciples have spent three years with Jesus. They have heard his teachings, seen Him minister, and observed countless miracles. They have been scattered and hid when Jesus died, however, now the resurrection has taken place, and Jesus has been appearing to them to build up their faith. At the great commissioning, it seems as if Jesus is telling them, I am leaving, but you are now ready to do what I have been doing. Finally, their training will be put into practice, right? 

“I’m still working on myself…”

As a senior leader in an international ministry, I have the privilege of speaking to people at every level of life in Christ, in many different cultures, and yet one thing that comes up often, no matter where I am, is people who say things like “I am not ready to share the gospel; I’m not prepared,” or “I still need to work on myself, before I try to help others.” This sounds spiritual and to some extent, there probably does need to be some time ‘settling in’ to Christian life and understanding what Jesus has done for us, before a person goes out and tries and make converts. Still, this usually sounds more like an excuse for being uncomfortable and insecure, than it does a sincere desire for growth. 

If we look back at the disciples, at the moment of the Great Commission, it would be easy to say, “well, Jesus had trained them for so long, until they were finally prepared, so we should be trained and ready before we try our hand at evangelism, too.” The problem with this interpretation is that, although this is Jesus’ last instruction to the disciples before He left them — to “go and make disciples” — it was also the first instruction He gave them when they first met.

The First Commission

In Mark chapter 1 we find Jesus walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where He comes across the brothers, Simon and Andrew fishing. As He calls out to them, his invitation is, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” From this first call, Jesus is essentially saying, “Come and be my disciples so that you can go and make more disciples.”

We know that many of these first encounters with Jesus were followed by the immediate sharing of Jesus with others. John the Baptist upon seeing Jesus through a prophetic word, shares the truth about Jesus with his disciples who immediately go and follow Jesus themselves (John 1:29-39). Philip, after meeting Jesus, goes and tells Nathaniel, who also ends up leaving what he was doing to become a disciple of Jesus (John 1:46). Throughout the Bible (and Christian history), there is clear evidence that a single encounter with Jesus, His gospel, and the power of God, is enough to then turn   around and take the Gospel to others, as well. 

As we follow along with the story, it doesn’t take long for Jesus to have a large crowd of followers in which he heals the sick, casts out demons, and to whom He preaches salvation from the Lord. In all of this time doing ministry, Jesus never says to the disciples, “sit close and take notes because one day, you will take over when I am gone.” In fact, it is only a short time later that Jesus tells them to go out in pairs and do what they have seen Him do: heal the sick, cast out demons, and preach salvation. Essentially, “Go and make disciples.” (You can read about this in Luke 9.) 

When they return to Him after this first mission trip, they had many amazing testimonies to share (and probably some problems to discuss as well) but after some debriefing with them, Jesus simply returns to the work He had been doing all along. It doesn’t take long before He sends them right back out again; this time with a larger number going than before. (You can read this in Luke 10). 

“Go” requires obedience, not perfection.

When we look at the disciples, we can easily say that they weren’t prepared to go. Just look at some of them. Peter will soon deny Jesus three times for his own self-preservation. We can’t exactly say His faith was solid at the time. Even Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus for money was one of those who had been sent out doing the work. Despite all these flaws and imperfections, Jesus never said that they needed to step back and work on themselves before going and reaching others. What He demonstrated was that the Kingdom of God is too big to be contained and must be taken into the world with urgency. 

The commission to ” go ” never required perfection on the part of those being sent. It simply required the boldness to be obedient. More than that, though, what those who went out discovered was that it is actually through their going that they themselves grew in the grace of God, in theological clarity, in personal holiness, and in love. We cannot grow in the fruit of the Holy Spirit, without sowing into the lives of others. It is impossible. 

If we really want to grow, both in our ability to reach out to others with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to work on our own development as disciples, then it is time to get up and ” go. ” Tell someone about Jesus today. Don’t wait. There will never be a perfect time, and you will never be ” ready,” but if you will just do it, it will be worth it. I promise. Seeds will be planted in those you meet, and your own fruit will begin to steadily grow,   as well.  

(This post was originally published September 29, 2008. It has been revised and edited for reposting.)

Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash

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The Process of Repentance

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It’s the beginning of 2019, and just like I try to do every January, I have been pursuing God and making plans for the new year. I have been very excited at the potential that this year holds, yet it seems that this season has also been filled with an unusually large amount of spiritual attacks from the enemy. One financial breakthrough leads to ongoing attacks on finances immediacy afterwards. Personal pursuits of the Lord are disrupted by strife with the family. And of course, for a guy, a major part of this warfare comes in the form of sinful temptations toward lust, apathy, and depression. I am sure you have had these kinds of seasons of life as well, and if all of us are honest, there are times when we don’t win these battles with the enemy when they come. 

I have learned that when times of failure happen it must be my goal to ask for God’s forgiveness immediately, and confess to my accountability partner as quickly as possible. Running to God rather than away from Him when we sin should be the normal pattern for the Christian life, and doing so is a way to prevent the enemy from getting a foothold in our lives. The quick confession to another person also sets us up to find support and rebound from our failures, rather than walking in shame and trying to hide our guilt. 

Recently, after walking through the process of losing a battle with temptation, and walking through the forgiveness and confession processes, I took some time to prayer journal, asking God to speak to me about true repentance and how to fight a better fight next time. I believe some of the things He showed me will be helpful to you as well, so I wanted to share.

First, you need to understand that there is a difference between confession or asking forgiveness, and true repentance. Confession is recognizing our sin and is taking a step towards repentance, but it is not repentance itself. The same is true with asking for forgiveness. We can always find forgiveness when we look at the cross and let Christ take the punishment we deserve, reconciling ourselves again to God, but this is just another step toward repentance, and not repentance itself. 

While these two things put us back on equal footing with God as though the sin never happened, they are still not repentance. Repentance is the next step in this process, which sets us up to prevent the sin from happening again.

Repentance is a Two-Part Process.

First of all, it is changing the way we think, followed by changing what we do. Let’s look at these two steps in order.

1. Change the way you think.

The first step in repentance is changing the way we think. We must recognize that it is not our actions that are the root of the problem, but the beliefs we hold inside that guide our decision-making. This means before we can change our actions, we must first identify the false beliefs within us, which led to the action in the first place. These false beliefs can come from our life experiences, whether good or bad, or can come from lies the enemy directly speaks to us that we are unaware of, yet we nevertheless believe are true. 

We have to identify these thoughts and beliefs — pulling them out in the open to be seen for what they are — and then bring them into submission to the word of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 10:3-6). It is by bringing these false beliefs into subjection to the truth of the gospel that they lose their hold in our lives. This process is accomplished through meditation on relevant scriptures, spending time in prayer, and asking the Holy Spirit to write the truth of God into our hearts. 

Unfortunately, this first step in repentance seldom happens in a moment of time. It cannot be fully realized by simply quoting a verse to ourselves or quickly making a commitment to do better next time. Sadly, these are the casual attempts most of us tend to make. The reality is that most often this process will require us to wrestle with the truth before it truly sets in, which is why even fasting and other spiritual disciplines are sometimes tied with biblical repentance. It is in this meditation and wrestling with truth to overcome those lies which the Bible speaks of as “being transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2). This is overcoming strongholds of the kingdom of darkness and letting the truth set us free (John 8:31-32).

2. Change the way you act.

Once the unbelief and erroneous thought patterns have been identified, wrestled with, and broken by the truth, then our fleshly habits can be broken as well. This is when we can effectively commit to the change of action that is required as the second part of the repentance process. Do not hear me wrong, to do this will still require discipline on our part, but when these efforts are tied to a renewed mind set on Christ and His truth, then it is not legalistic works, but it is putting to death the deeds of the flesh in a joyful pursuit of Christ-likeness.

This makes repentance sound like a lot of work. I understand that. However, nowhere does scripture indicate that the discipleship process would be easy. Jesus said it is daily taking up your cross and following Him(Luke 9:23). I believe that repentance is the most personal act of spiritual warfare that we, as children of God, are called to engage in. It is a battle that starts by fixing our eyes (mind, and hearts) on Christ, and letting His truth set us free.

Confession and seeking forgiveness is an admission of failure in battle, but that is not enough. True repentance is making a commitment to continue in the fight by biblically transforming your mind and life.

If you truly want to be the man or woman God desires you to be, there are no shortcuts in this process. As Martin Luther once declared in dramatic fashion, “the entire life of the Christian is one of repentance.” I hope you will come to see that this lifestyle of repentance is better than giving up the fight and continuing in your sin.

(This post was originally published January 14, 2015. It has been revised and edited for reposting.)

Photo by Elena Taranenko on Unsplash

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