timewithgod

Thank God for busy days.  The phone rang incessantly, people filtered through my day like they were coming through a revolving door… thank God for busy days.  After a number of phone calls, one emergency call came in from Dr. John!  I’M HUNGRY!  He shouted!  When can you meet me for lunch.  I ran to Brix where we shared some personal details of our lives.  When I got back Tony was ready for me to dig a ditch so he could fix our septic system.  I jumped on the backhoe and missed 2 pipes, 1 conduit, and only nicked the two manholes that were all in the way!  Carl stopped by… as did a few other folks!  Then it was time to work out at Kyle’s where they were turning a mannequin into a pumpkin head therapist.  Finally it was back out to church for men’s meeting which was awesome!  Wish you were there!

Today’s Scripture reading is 1 Chronicles 29; Isaiah 51; Acts 16:16-40

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Today’s thought comes from Matthew 28:16-20  “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17  When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19  “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, 20  “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

“Do you have a RED Bible?”  (Thinking… hmmm what color is my Bible anyway?  Blue?  Brown?  Black?)  “EVERYBODY ought to have a READ Bible.”  Ever got caught by that little play on words before?  It’s cute.  The Bible is a BIG book.  There’s a lot to know there.  I have a huge concern for the young people of our day.  There is a tremendous poverty and illiteracy gap among today’s teenagers when it comes to God’s Word.  So many kids today grow up with almost no knowledge of God’s Truth.  It’s a travesty!  They are being taught something, and believe me, it’s not our value system!  They are growing up with beliefs that are hostile to Christianity and out of step with our countries heritage.  We are about to see the largest paradigm shift of world views in US history.  If you listen, you can hear the rasping of the hinges just before the door slams shut on the Christian world view.  Enough whining!  What’s the solution?  Same as it’s always been.  Make disciples, “teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you.”  Previously I suggested that Jesus wants ALL of us to do what he asked his original 12 disciples to do.  Get your own group.  Teach them.  Raise up a dozen disciples who are willing to get their own group and raise up disciples for Jesus.  How do you do that?  It takes maturity.  We must somehow get those disciples to grow up enough to see that their mission is to raise up other disciples.  They must be willing to enter into the intensive training of the twelve!  Jesus put it this way, “When a disciple is fully trained he will be just like his teacher,” Luke 6:40.  That’s a lot of training!  We throw out the net like a fisherman (The net:) “Every individual in your group must come to see himself as a potential leader!”  When you see God working in a life, you pull him aside and suggest that they become “one of the twelve.”  You ask them to become a disciple.  That’s because “Every leader must come to see himself as a discipler of disciples.”  We have a two year training course that will “teach them to observe all things I have commanded you.”  (Or at least get a good start on it!) We teach about Grace, submission to God, and the whole council of God.  By the time a disciple comes out of this course, he should have his own group, and then he will look to find other disciples.  We don’t teach knowledge for knowledge’s sake.  We teach to produce disciples.  Reproduction is the goal.  Are you on the discipleship track?  If not, let me know so I can get you on it!

Dear Father.  I want to be a disciple of yours.  I want to learn the “whole counsel of God.”  I am willing to disciple others.  If you are willing, I will follow you in discipleship and disciple others.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

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