25th Wedding Anniversary Break

I am taking a 3 week break from this blog to visit CFIC church in the Bay Area (California) and from there turn around and head for home to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary.

In the meantime here are a few links that will hopefully continue to inspire and motivate you to go and make disciples and pray:

This first post is an audio link from our EN chuch in London. The message is all about discipleship. It was a bit of unique situation as I was asked to preach inside an authentic English Pub. Had to stumble through the idea of people sitting around holding glasses and smoke coming up from the lower floor, not mention jet lag, but in time I got my bearings. Talk about a church that inisists on being culturally relevant: Discipleship Demystified.

If you want some inspiration on prayer click on this message I preached at the Every Nation Church in Singapore: Enjoying Fasting

And if you just want to read about the latest things going on with my life including some of Marie's posts about our 25 years together click here: One Last Trip And Then Its Our 25th Anniversary

He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD. Proverbs 18:22

I will be back in 3 weeks. All the best to you all!

Discipleship and Wolves

(5th Post on Zoo Thread)

Part of our task in making disciples is outlined in the following verses in Acts, it warns us of the presence of wolves and how we must keep watch:

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Acts 20:28-29

We are being admonished to “shepherd” Gods people, His Church. And what does it mean to shepherd God’s people? One of the ways we shepherd God's people is by guarding and protecting them from savage wolves. The scriptures are clear that they will come even from among us.

Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. Acts 20:30

How can you tell if someone is a wolf? Wolves distort the truth and secondly they draw people away from the flock and want them isolated to themselves.

One of our roles as disciple makers is to connect people to other disciples in meaningful relationships. It is always healthier to have multiple anchors and relationships than to remain isolated and alone. This we can do when we ourselves have meaningful relationships with proven Christians.

In Matthew 7:15, Jesus himself warns us that one of the ways these wolves will come is in the form of false prophets. People who can deliver good words, messages and even enthrall with their gifts.

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

Regardless of how gifted one might be, the question remains is he or she distorting the truth and drawing the people away from their God given relationships.

In the meantime don’t let the presence of wolves detract and distract you from your mission of making disciples. Keep your eyes focused on the harvest despite the presence and reality of wolves in the field.

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Luke 10:2-3

How does one protect himself and the flock from wolves? By trusting the Holy Spirit. He will reveal who the wolves are. In the mean time be innocent as doves but shrewd as snakes while keping watch for wolves dressed in sheep's clothing.

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Matthew 10:16

See Also: Prayer and the Swiss Ball

Discipleship and Foxes

(4th Post on Zoo Thread)

One of the books that I enjoyed as a child was Aesop’s Fables. I am sure you have heard of the “Tortoise and the Hare” and “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”, these are but two among the many popular Aesop’s Fables.

Another favorite story was the “Fox and the Grapes”. It was a story about a fox that was trying to reach for some grapes hanging high above on a vine. Unable to reach it he declared: “the grapes are sour anyway.”

It is from this story that the proverbial term “sour grapes” comes from. In essence the lesson behind the story is it is easy to despise what you cannot get. A more Biblical term for these emotions is bitterness and resentment.

There are several “discipleship is relationship” lessons we can glean from this story:

1. Don’t be bitter when people don’t get the Gospel right away, when they do not agree with you or when they persecute you.

2. Some people get bitter and resentful when things don’t happen their way. They may get bitter with God and even with you. Do not allow their bitterness and resentment to defile you. Try your best to keep the relationship, in time by the conviction of the Holy Spirit people can still change.

3. Bitterness and resentment can easily destroy relationships and cast doubts about others. Avoid listening to negative words people say about others, it clouds your view of the other person and defiles you.

See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:15

See also: Prayer and Swimming

Discipleship and Indian Elephants

(3rd Post on the Zoo Thread)

When speaking of elephants the blind men of Hindustan always comes to mind. It is an old tale about 6 blind men who went to see an elephant.

One touched his legs and thought he was holding a tree. The second held his side and concluded it was a wall. The third grasped its tail and was sure it was a rope, another laid hands on his ears and was certain it was a fan. Still another grabbed his tusks and thought he had a spear and finally the last man surmised his trunk was a snake.

This is true about people and their understanding and knowledge of God. All to often their view of God is grossly limited. Like the blind men and the elephant they draw conclusions about God from the limited perspective they have. In a very real sense they are like the blind men of Hindustan – only their blindness is not physical but spiritual.

Herein lies the need for discipleship relationships. God is far bigger than an elephant and has facets that the Scriptures gradually unfolds as people learn of Him. Discipleship is not simply building relationships rather it is about building relationships with the expressed intent of teaching people the Scriptures so that they too may have a complete understanding of God.

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16

God wants to lead the spiritually blind into ways they know nothing of, unfamiliar paths they are not accustomed to. He wants to turn their darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.

And who will He use to reach and guide them? You and me, we must never tire of making disciples and bringing the blind into the light of God.

See Also: Prayer and Runner's High

Discipleship and Lions

(2nd Post on Zoo Thread)

No zoo can rightfully be called one if it does not have lions, after all they are the “king the jungle”. Lions can be scary creatures, just watch these 2 videos: Just Missed and Man vs. Lion and you will know what I mean.

Early on in Genesis the Bible speaks of the lion. It was the picture that the Holy Spirit used to describe the tribe of Judah from where King David and Jesus Christ Himself were to emerge from.

You are a lion’s cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness — who dares to rouse him? Genesis 49:9

Eventually the resurrected Christ was to be called the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Revelation 5:5

A lion is also a picture of the boldness and fearlessness that a righteous person enjoys.

The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. Proverbs 28:1

Proverbs 30:30 says a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing;

These are the characteristics of those who have learned to walk in discipleship relationship with their God. You and I are lions raised by the creator of all things. Be bold be strong… go and make disciples.

See Also: Prayer and Weight Lifting

Discipleship and the Zoo

I just ended a thread on discipleship and things found at Walmart. In my next posts I am starting an all new thread on discipleship and the zoo.

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. Isaiah 11:6

The verses above talk about animals living together. They seem to describe a picture of a zoo. Picture a lamb, leopard, goat, baby cow and a lion living together. Better yet with a child leading them.

The only way that picture will work is in a zoo where animals are caged. Such a picture is simply not possible in real life, the lamb, goat and yearling will immediately be devoured by the leopard and the lion. The child will cease to exist.

Yet this was the picture that the prophet Isaiah saw. As the verses continue Isaiah adds the cow, bear, cobra and others. Yet he closes with the verse that says they will not harm or destroy each other.

The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:7-9

The vision that Isaiah saw was a prophetic picture of the church. Imagine people of differing economic and social backgrounds, political affiliations and temperaments living together in harmony without bars and fences to separate them.

This is only possible as people are transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus. This happens when people learn to live in discipleship relationships. Relationships where Jesus Christ is center of all of life. What it takes to make discipls of men and women to be full of the knowledge of the Lord just as the waters cover the sea.

See also: Prayer and Aerobics

Discipleship and Dole Pineapple

This is my last post on things you find at Walmart. Next week I start on an all new thread, Discipleship and the Zoo.

Dole Pineapple traces its roots in the year 1901 in Hawaii. It didn’t take long for Dole to capture the taste buds of the mainland, eventually the world. The secret lay in determining whether a pineapple was best suited to be canned as fruit or made into juice. Ripe fruit was canned and unripe fruit was made into juice.

The trick was to be able to tell which was ripe and unripe so that they can be canned as fruit or made into juice immediately after harvest. By putting the fruit in a vat of water they discovered which was which, ripe fruit float and unripe fruit don’t.

This is true of discipleship relationships. Too many Christians write people off just because they are not ready to receive the Lord at the time of their encounter. What they don’t realize is someday like a pineapple they too will ripen. The key is to stay connected in a relationship.

In time like ripened pineapples those who are ready to receive the Lord will float and become obvious. Instead of trying to convert people we need to simply keep the relationships and trust the Holy Spirit to show us who are ripe fruit and are ready to receive the Lord.

Fact is almost everyone will ripen someday and even if they don't you can enjoy the uniquness of each indivdual relationship God allows to cross your path. Keep sowing, be patient and harvest those relationships that have become ripe. In the meantime enjoy the juice of their friendship.

He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain-first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." Mark 4:26-29

See also: Prayer and New Balance Shoes