Discipleship Series

The bible tells us many things about Jesus.
In Hebrews, he is called the author and the finisher of our faith, (Hebrew 12:2) letting us know our faith both begins and ends with Jesus Christ.

Knowing his death was near and knowing the confusion, fear, and despair his disciples would experience, Jesus took time to offer them words of comfort to sooth their soon-to-be deeply troubled hearts and minds.

Only hours before being arrested, Jesus spoke heartfelt words to his disciples. Knowing his death was near and knowing the confusion, fear, and despair his disciples would experience, Jesus took time to offer them words of comfort…

Jesus concluded the sermon on the mount with a powerful illustration. He told his audience that if they would take his words and put them into practice, it would be like building their house upon a rock: a solid foundation on which their lives could securely stand. He also issued a stark warning: ignoring his words would bring disaster, ruin, and collapse. In his short illustration, Jesus established the importance of God’s word and its authority.

Catholic monk named Martin Luther had posted on a church door a list of 95 reasons that men could not be forgiven their sins by paying money to the church. This was known as the 95 Theses. The document proved to be the flame that started Protestant Reformation. The Roman Catholic world, led by Pope Leo X and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, attempted to silence Martin Luther. Their attempt failed, and the Christian world divided between Roman Catholics and Protestants.  The reformers’ disagreements with the Roman Church were summed up by something we called the Five Solas of the…

Jesus taught his disciples something revolutionary. All the commandments of the law and the prophets were based on a singular principle and basis: love. Love for God and love for our neighbor. This revolutionary revelation is so powerful that it completely reoriented the lives Christ’s disciples.

Jesus told his disciples that their love for one another would be a mark by which all men would recognize them as his disciples. Knowing the great importance Jesus attached to love helps us understand why his apostles went into so much detail to explain the love of God in their writings. We have been blessed by scripture to have a full explanation of the qualities and characteristics of godly love. As an example to us, Jesus lived a perfect life demonstrating perfectly the love of God. (2 Peter 2:21) In a letter to the Corinthian Church, the Apostle Paul…

During his ministry, Jesus shared different indicators that would serve to identify his disciples. “Bearing much fruit” was one of those indicators and is closely connected to his command to love another. Being fruitful is one of the most important indicators that we are disciples of Christ. In fact, without being fruitful, Christ warns we risk being thrown away and burnt. Seeing that being fruitful is an important pursuit for all Christ’s disciples, it is beneficial for us to have a good understanding of just what it is. So what is fruitfulness? How does it work? And how can be…

The fruit of the spirit have been described as the nine graces of Christian character. Though there are nine of them, they are always spoken of singularly. The nine form a singular indivisible fruit, with each aspect working with and complimenting the other aspects.

In each of our lives, God has placed gifts and talents. You, and everyone around you, is unique in their own way. Some are talented at administration, some are gifted teachers, some are endowed with the ability and the means to be generous, some are gifted at giving exhortation and encouragement, others are talented musicians or singers. Some are fountains of wisdom and knowledge. These are just a few of the ways God has given us each a unique capacity to serve those around us. In examining the gifts and talents given by God, it is important to first acknowledge…

The first time Jesus Christ talked about the church was when he promised to build it upon a personal revelation of who he was. (Matthew 16:13-18) In their epistles, the apostles wrote in great detail about the church, what it was, how it was to function, its purpose, and its mission.

Corrie Ten Boom was a middle aged woman living in Holland. She was single and lived with her elder father and older sister. They were a family of devout Christians. When their country was conquered by Nazi Germany in 1940, things began to change quickly. Their jewish neighbors began to be arrested and sent to die in German concentration camps. Seeing their plight, Corrie and her family decided they had to help them.

Prayer is a fundamental part of following Christ. Private prayer is a time of personal communion with God. It’s a time when we can share with God our deepest longings, our hurts, our griefs, our desires, the challenges we are facing in life, ask our big questions, confess our sin, ask for forgiveness, and so much more. Prayer is how we talk to God. It is a special privilege each of us have.

When I think of the word “refuge” the immediate word I connect to it is “refugee”. The definition of refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

One day Jesus sat by a well on the edge of a Samaritan town. As he sat there a woman came to draw water, and Jesus began a conversation with her. The woman had lived a difficult life. She had many lovers and many rejections. She became an outcast in her community and lived a life with little hope that things would ever get better. But then she met Jesus.

Every Promise in the Book is Mine. God gives the promise and we say Amen. Every promise is yes. There’s not one promise that God is going to deny you from. Every promise is yes. You say, can I be healed? Yes. Can I be saved? Yes. Can my family be there with me in heaven? Yes. Every promise is yes. God says yes, and we say Amen.

Philip had been with Jesus the day he ascended up into heaven. He was there when Jesus commissioned all his disciples with a great mission to fulfill. Jesus instructed them to share the gospel and to make disciples of the people of all the nations. Philip heard Christ’s command and went out to do his part in fulfilling the great commission.

There is a difference between people who practice external religion and those who have a relationship with Jesus Christ: it is the Holy Spirit. Those who have been born again are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and their life is being transformed not just in an outward and external way, but they are being transformed at a spiritual level. Their life is being led by the Spirit.

The book of 3rd John is a letter from the aged apostle to his dear friend Gaius. The church in Gaius’s community was taken over by a man named Diotrephes who began to conduct himself and lead the church in a manner that did not align with the teaching of Jesus.

Writing a letter to the believers, the Apostle James spoke of a perfect law of liberty, a freedom we have been called to and given by Jesus Christ. Liberty, or freedom, is a topic frequently spoken of by Jesus and his apostles in the New Testament. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the law of ordinances was also nailed to the cross with him. Jesus thus fulfilled the law of the Old Testament, setting us free from the requirement to keep it. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the law of ordinances was also nailed to the cross with…

Everyone loves a story of redemption: a story where the characters are swallowed up in events and circumstances that look hopeless; but then, almost miraculously, their direction is changed. Rags become riches, sorrow becomes joy, and their time of hardship and suffering is transformed into the phrase “and they lived happily ever after.”  A story of redemption is a story with a happy ending.

Few topics excite followers of Christ like the topic of his second coming. Throughout his ministry Jesus had told his disciples he was going to leave them and return again. The promise of Christ’s return to earth is repeated many times in scripture. On the day Christ ascended to heaven, two angels appeared to the disciples and explained that Christ would return just the same way in which he left: through a cloud of glory in the sky. Jesus also described different signs that would precede his coming to his disciples….