Category — Discipleship

Five Tips to Get the Most from Reading the Bible

1. Always read God’s Word expecting to meet with him. Approach God’s Word relationally. Listen for his voice. What is he saying to you personally? What do you see from his Word that reveals God’s character and ways? Where do you need to align your life with his character and ways?

2. Set aside a regular time to read God’s Word. I don’t know about you, but I need the discipline of a schedule. It helps knowing that I always spend this time listening to and conversing with God. Self-discipline is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We do not cultivate self-discipline by always being spontaneous or only reading and conversing with him when we feel like it. [Read more →]

Recently we challenged the men of our church to a New Testament read-thru using the schedule below. The point of the challenge is to get to know God better by spending time with him in his Word. And as we draw near to him and get to know him better, we cannot remain unchanged!

Already, men are reporting how God is meeting with them and changing them as they spend time with him in his Word!

Let me challenge you too, to draw near to God and deepen your relationship with him as you simply read his Word. If you’re not a reader or simply prefer another alternative to reading, check out the free tools for listening to the New Testament on your iPhone, Blackberry or MP3 player: www.sccprimed.org. [Read more →]

A few years ago a friend of mine and I were hiking in the woods near Anchorage, Alaska. It was fall and therefore mating season for moose. At one point on our hike we heard a crashing through the brush and out trotted a large cow moose with a bull hot in pursuit. The cow was irritated by the bull already and seeing us on the trail only worsened her mood. So Ed and I veered off onto another trail to avoid this testy cow.

About 20 minutes later, Ed I were just cresting the top of a hill when here came that same cow up the other side of the hill toward us. In angry moose fashion, she laid her ears back, dropped her head, the hair on the back of her neck bristled and she began stomping the ground. Ed and knew she was not happy about sharing the trail with us and we were about to be chased! [Read more →]

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” (Proverbs 4:23 NLT)

We have adopted a culture in which we all find ourselves victims. We are told that we are victims of our upbringing, victims of our environment and even victims of our own emotions. We hear a husband lament, “I can’t help it if I don’t love her anymore.” Or after a serious burst of anger the angry individual excuses his behavior with, “It’s just the way I am!” Perhaps a wife threatens, “I could never forgive him for what he did.” And a child is heard to say, “I didn’t feel like studying.” Or, “I don’t feel like sharing.”

Don’t believe this victim mentality for a moment! Know this, a victim never wins! Never! [Read more →]

A while back I was reading the account of Abraham again in Genesis. God appeared to him in his homeland and told him to leave and go to a land that he would reveal to him when he got there. Think of setting out on a thousand mile journey with your household, livestock and belongings on wheeled carts not knowing where you were going! I couldn’t help but see his walk with God as one big adventure. Paul calls Abraham the man of faith and I realized that a life of faith really is a life of adventure.

Webster defines adventure as “an undertaking or experience that involves hazard and requires courage.” My mind went to Luke 9:22-23 where Jesus called disciples, “And he said, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.’ Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’” [Read more →]

A core teaching of biblical Christianity is the fact that our salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22). We understand that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ and his finished work through his death, burial and resurrection. An equally important truth is not so well known, or at least understood. For not only are we saved by grace through faith, but our sanctification is also a work of God’s grace by faith.

In Romans, chapters 6, 7 and 8, Paul explains that in Christ we can now “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4); we are “no longer enslaved to sin” (6:6); we are to present the members of our body as instruments of righteousness to God (6:13); God’s plan for us in Christ is “that we may bear fruit for God” (7:4); and God’s design for us is “to be conformed to the image of his Son” (8:29). [Read more →]

“Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything your land produces.” (Proverbs 3:9 NLT) To honor God is to show our regard, esteem, value, respect, and prizing of him. When we give to the Lord, we demonstrate to him, to others, and to ourselves that he is supreme in our lives.  When we give, we attest that he is our most valued treasure. Giving shows that our hearts are set on him and not on our money or belongings. Giving honors God as supreme. Giving to him is an act of worship.

But there is both a non-giving and a giving that dishonors God. Not giving simply fails to honor God. Not giving demonstrates that we treasure our wealth and possessions above God. Not giving to God withholds honor from him and hoards that honor for us. By not giving we deny that all we have comes from God and belongs to him. Not giving also fails to show gratitude and thanksgiving for all God has blessed us with. So, not giving dishonors God. [Read more →]

Marlene was married with four children – all boys. Fairly early on in her marriage she contracted a crippling disease that if not checked would become terminal. The disease kept her mostly bedridden and unable to cope with even the simplest of her household and motherly chores.

Marlene’s husband was saddled with the responsibility of going to work every day and then coming home and taking care of the household, the children, and his invalid wife.

The pressure of this situation continued for 12 long years until one day when Marlene turned to Jesus Christ and asked him to heal her. She desperately longed to be the wife her husband needed and to take care of her children and home. [Read more →]

Jesus urged his disciples, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33) As 21st century Americans, we typically read this verse, “Be sure to make God your first priority and everything else will fall into place.”

But “seeking first his kingdom” has nothing to do with priorities. God does not want to be a priority among priorities! He is the I AM, the Alpha and Omega. “I am the LORD, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:6) Instead, “seeking first his kingdom” has to do with singleness of heart. 

Many of us fail at cultivating singleness of heart because we compartmentalize our lives. We have our family lives; our work lives; our social lives; our recreational lives; and our spiritual lives or God-time. We neatly segregate these various areas of our lives into compartments like a super-organized California Closet. [Read more →]

In my new found relationship with God, David was one of my heroes. As I learned about him in 1 and 2 Samuel and read his prayers in the Psalms I wanted to imitate his love and passion for the Lord. David’s strong, masculine relationship with God also demonstrated for me what God wants to do in and through a man who follows him.

After God delivered David from those who were trying to kill him David wrote Psalm 18. There he credits God with the strength and protection that spared his life. I love the way he expresses his dependence and diligence as a man trusting God. In verse 29 (NLT) David shouts with joy to God, “In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.” I too wanted to be a man who is following Jesus Christ and trusting him for strength and leading.

Well, at 19 years old, we were still at war in Viet Nam and the draft was still in force. So when I received a letter from Uncle Sam informing me that I was being inducted into the military, I remember feeling a sense of excitement and anticipation. I knew that nothing like this could happen to me without God’s sovereign direction. The military was not something I had shown any interest in, but I took it as an opportunity to grow in Christ and serve my country. [Read more →]