From the Blog
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Doing Discipleship Together
Many Christians don’t know how to be a disciple and they certainly don’t know how to make one! Many have the wrong impression that discipleship is for super Christians only, as if there were such a thing. But discipleship should be a condition of being a Christian. The fact that the Church has neglected this, that believers have neglected it, thinking they could receive Jesus as Savior without following and obeying Him as Lord, has resulted in a great many believers not experiencing the profound peace and abundant life that Christ came to give.
What can we do? How can we experience the peace and abundant life Christ promises? In the apostle Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he instructed him as the pastor of the church at Ephesus to lead them to be a disciple-making church. Christ commands us to be a disciple-making church. -
Making Disciples Together
Jesus has given us a Great Commission to be and make disciples together! Yet, we often neglect this command. You can decide to be a disciple of Jesus and to obey His command to come together and make disciples.
In the gospel of Matthew, the resurrected Jesus commanded his followers to go and make disciples of all nations. We call this the Great Commission. This commission was given to all of His disciples together, which is another way of saying He commissioned the Church. We can obey Christ’s commission to the Church by making disciples together. -
Growing Up Together
Do you feel like you are stuck in your own personal growth? Stuck in a dead end job, battling the same arguments with your spouse for the last decade with no sign of progress? When is the last time you read something new, learned something, developed a skill, or more importantly heard from God? There is an old saying, “healthy things grow,” which implies that dead or dying things don’t grow. As we will see today, Christ has called us and equipped us to grow up together.
In Ephesians chapter 4, the apostle Paul instructed the church of Ephesus that Christ Jesus had equipped them to grow up together in every way into His fullness. We can grow up together in every way into the fullness of Christ. -
Man-Made Morality
Unlike the earlier chapters, these final five chapters are so spiritually dark, and Israel has drifted so far from God, that these chapters are almost never preached. Indeed, these final chapters are so disturbing that you may be tempted to cover your ears and look away. Unlike the earlier chapters, in these final chapters, there is no foreign oppressor. The enemy is within, not without. No judges are named. This is Israel on its own. Editorial comment by the author on Israel’s sin is minimal, leaving the reader the burden of interpretation.
Last week, we covered the first “case study” depicting Israel’s spiritual decline into “Man-Made Religion.” Now this week, we’ll look at how Israel’s moral condition has become more like the Canaanite peoples around them than the people God had called them to be as His holy nation, in a sermon called “Man-Made Morality.” -
Man-Made Religion
We Americans love a good buffet! Are you guilty of making up your own religion? Or do you have faith in God as He reveals Himself through His Word and through His Son, Jesus? In Judges 17-18, Israel began to follow a man-made religion that displeased God.
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Blind But Now I See
What did it take for you to turn to God? Living in America, we are so blessed that we tend to focus on the blessings rather than the Blesser. Outwardly, we look like we have it all together. But on the inside, we’re a mess! Nice job, nice house, nice car… but on the inside… marital woes, family issues, in debt up to your ears… And where’s God in all this? Has God forgotten you? Or like Samson, have you forgotten God?
In Judges 16, God revealed much about Himself in answering Samson’s humble prayer for help. We can see how God reveals Himself to who humbly seek Him. -
The Wedding Crasher
Are you struggling today with a compromised faith? Do unbelievers notice that you are different, that you are a committed follower of Jesus? Or is your life indistinguishable from the world?
The Philistines represent the most deadly enemy of all because they have tempted Israel to compromise their faith. Little by little, if they don’t recognize the truth, they will lose their faith as a nation and become just like the world. A compromised faith is much more dangerous and insidious than a persecuted faith. In Judges 14-15, God worked behind the scenes to rescue Israel from their compromised faith that had put them under the rule of the Philistines. We can recognize that God wants us to have an uncompromised faith. -
What’s In a Name?
What about your name? Does God know your name? We all love to be called by our names. It means that someone knows us. They recognize us. And yes, God knows your name. He knows you better than you know yourself. As we return to our study of Judges today, we’ll see that God not only knows us, but by His grace, He reveals Himself to us that we might know Him.
In Judges 12-13, the Lord sent His angel to reveal to a barren woman and her husband that she would conceive and bear a son who would begin to save Israel from the Philistines. We can learn much about God from the revelation He gave this couple. -
Misunderstandings About God
What’s your view of God? How do you see Him? Is He up in heaven with a gray beard, wearing a black judge’s robe, with a gavel in His hand, ready to judge you? Or is He like a celestial Santa Claus waiting patiently for your wish list to come in through the prayer line? Maybe you see Him as a hippie guru holding an “All you need is love sign”? Or maybe He looks like Morgan Freeman in the movie Bruce Almighty? Where do you get your view, your understanding of God?
As we continue through Judges, we see the people of Israel declining in the knowledge of God. With every generation, they remember less of His revealed Word to them. They see Him as the pagans do their false gods. In Judges 10-12, the Israelites continued their downward cycle of sin and rebellion against God, becoming less like His special called people and more like the people of the world. When they cried out to the Lord, He empowered another judge to rescue them, yet they have become so worldly that they no longer understand the character of their Lord. We often misunderstand the character of God. -
When Spoils Spoil Us
“Spoils” are the reward of having won a victory, as in the “spoils of war.” For in our study today, we’ll see how Gideon’s victory, his success, actually revealed a problem that he had, indeed that we all are apt to have, namely–– we often let success go to our heads. It’s one thing to trust God when we are in a season of lack or trouble. But what about when we’re going through a season of plenty, of prosperity?
In Judges 8-9, the Lord gave victory to Gideon and the Israelites over their Median oppressors, but they let the spoils of war spoil their relationship with God and with one another. They didn’t know how to handle God’s blessings. They let success spoil their hearts. What are the warning signs that success is spoiling our hearts?