Category: Discipleship

Fight the Good Fight in Community

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Discipleship, Practical5 Comments

Fighting Men

Sin is something we don’t like to talk about. Something we would rather keep hidden. It is certainly not something we want to tell others about. James, however, tells us we should tell others about our sin. He writes,

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16).

James exhorts us to confess our sins to one another, so that others might pray for us. Do you confess your sins to others? Do you ask others to pray God would remove sin in your life? If you don’t, I would encourage you to find someone you can trust, confess your sins, and ask them to pray for you. Don’t try to fight temptation and sin by yourself. Don’t be a Lone Ranger Christian. Fight the good fight in community!

Why Can We Confess Sin to Others?

Often confessing sin to others is hindered by what we believe others will think about us. We don’t want to appear like we don’t have it all together. We are afraid others will look down on us, if we confess our sin.

Christians shouldn’t think that way. The gospel should encourage us to confess our sins to others because it tells us we are not accepted based on our works, or what others think about us. We are accepted based on Jesus’ work for us. Concern for what others think shouldn’t dissuade us then from confessing sin. What others think doesn’t matter because our acceptance is not based on what others think.

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you confess your sins to others so they can pray for you?
  2. Are you worried about what others might think of you?

Resource

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On Prayer

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, Discipleship, Quotes14 Comments

If all regenerate church members in Western Christendom were to intercede daily simply for…

…the most obvious spiritual concerns visible in their homes, their workplaces, their local churches and denominations, their nations, and the world and the total mission of the body of Christ within it,…

…the transformation which would result would be incalculable.

Not only would God certainly change those situations in response to prayer – we have Christ’s word that if we ask in his name he will do more than we ask or think – but the church’s comprehension of its task would attain an unprecedented sharpness of focus.

Perhaps much of our prayer now should simply be for God to pour out such a spirit of prayer and supplication in the hearts of his people.

Question for Reflection

  1. How is your prayer life?

Resources

Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life, 160.

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What Disciple Making Should Look Like

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, Practical3 Comments

Questions for Reflection

  1. Do you believe the church is your building or the people?
  2. How is your church training its people to engage those in their circle of influence with the gospel?
  3. What do you believe works better an event/program driven church, or a church on mission? Why do you believe what you believe?

Resource

This is Discipling from The Foursquare Church on Vimeo.

Living as a Missionary in Your Community

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, Practical5 Comments

Coffee Shop

I have been reading Tim Chester and Steve Timmis’ book Everyday Church this last week. In chapter 2, everyday community, they explain the need to live like missionaries in our own communities. In order to live like a missionary, we must ask the questions missionaries ask.

Questions Missionaries Ask

Where?

  1. Where are the places and activities we can meet people (the missional spaces)?
  2. Where do people experience community?
  3. Are there existing social networks with which we can engage, or do we need to find ways of creating community within a neighborhood?
  4. Where should we be to have missional opportunities?

When?

  1. What are the patterns and timescales of our neighborhood (the missional rhythms)?
  2. When are the times we can connect with people (the missional moments)?
  3. How do people organize their time?
  4. What cultural experiences and celebrations do people value? How might these be used as bridges to the gospel?
  5. When should we be available to have missional opportunities?

What?

  1. What are people’s fears, hopes, and hurts?
  2. What gospel stories are told in the neighborhood?
    • What gives people identity (creation)?
    • How do they account for wrong in the world (fall)?
    • What is their solution (redemption)?
    • What are their hopes (consummation)?
  3. What are the barrier beliefs or assumptions that cause people to dismiss the gospel?
  4. What sins will the gospel first confront and heal?
  5. In what ways are people self-righteous?
  6. What is the good news for people in this neighborhood?
  7. What will church look like for people in this neighborhood?

Conclusion

Reaching our communities with the gospel, means we need to know our neighborhoods, it’s people, and their stories, values, worldview, and culture. Asking these questions will help us to know and understand our communities better. It’s going to take some work, but it is worth it in order to reach our cities, communities, and neighborhoods. So let’s get to work answering these questions and living like missionaries in our own backyards.

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you believe it is important we live as missionaries in our own neighborhoods? Why or why not?

Resources

Timmis & Chester, Everyday Church, 42-43.

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Respectable Sins: Anger | Part 4

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical, Respectable Sins3 Comments

Angry Birds

In the last post in this series, I answered the question: How are we supposed to respond when others sin against us? Today I will look at how we show our anger and how we should handle our anger in a God honoring way.

How Do We Show Our Anger?

Different people show their anger differently. Here are three different ways people show their anger:

1. Some externalize their anger with strong emotional responses and hurtful language.
2. Others externalize it by making belittling or sarcastic comments about or to a person who is the object of their anger.
3. Yet others, tend to internalize their anger in the form of resentment.

These are not all the ways people show their anger, but it is a start. With that in mind, let’s answer our second question: How do we handle our anger in a way that honors God?

How Do We Handle Our Anger in a God Honoring Way?

First, recognize and acknowledge our anger as sin.

We cannot deal with anger until we recognize our actions as anger, and recognize that anger is a sin.

Second, ask why we became angry.

Did we become angry because of our pride, selfishness, or desire to be in control? Is there an idol we are protecting?

Third, change our attitude toward the person by forgiving them.

Meditating on Scriptures may help to change your attitude toward the person. Here are a couple I recommend: Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13

Fourth, if our anger was outwardly directed toward someone, we need to ask the person to forgive us. 

We cannot let our anger fester, nor can we allow our sin against another. We must deal with it quickly before it escalates. Anger and unreconciled relationships only cause disunity in the church and hinder our ability to worship God.

Finally, we need to hand over to God the occasion of our anger.

Jerry Bridges says,

“We must believe that God is absolutely sovereign in all the affairs of our lives (both the good and the bad) and that all the words and actions of other people that tempt us to anger are somehow included in His wise and good purposes to make us more like Jesus.” [1]

Questions for Reflection

  1. How do you handle your anger?
  2. Do you recognize your anger as sin?
  3. Are you willing to seek out and ask others forgiveness?

Looking Forward

In the next post in this series, I will talk about why we often get angry at God.

Resources

Post adapted from Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, 121-28

[1] Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, 126.

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Why Should I Repent?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical12 Comments

Castle

In Matthew 4, Jesus begins his ministry. His first act is to preach, and His first message is:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Not necessarily a motivating message by today’s standards, or is it?

While many pastors desire to motivate their congregations to commit to Jesus with promises of health and wealth, Jesus motivates in a different way. Even though His call to repent and be His disciple is radical – He calls us to choose Him over our family, give Him the right to direct our career, our entire life, allowing Him to use us as His instruments for His purposes – it is worth it.

What is Our Motivation to Repent?

In the simple message Matthew records for us, Jesus provides us with motivation for why we should turn from our sins and become His disciple. “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” He proclaims, making the Kingdom of Heaven our motivation to repent.

Why is the Kingdom of Heaven a motivating factor?

(1) The Kingdom of Heaven is ruled by God Himself and is a perfect kingdom.

There is no injustice or unrighteousness in it, no oppression or poverty, no disease or sickness. It is a perfect kingdom. A kingdom for which we all long, and it is here now.

Jesus has come to put everything right. Where the fall marred the perfect kingdom as sin entered the world, hindering relationships and bringing death and disease, Jesus has come to set class struggle, family breakdown, disease, sickness, and death, right. He has come as the perfect King to establish a new and perfect kingdom. A king and kingdom for which we all long.

(2) All those not in the kingdom will be judged and sentenced to an eternity in hell.

John the Baptist is the forerunner of Jesus. His preaching minister preceded Jesus’, preparing the people for Jesus’ arrival. In his messages leading up to the ministry of Jesus, he provides us with our second motivation for repentance. He tells those who came out to him:

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matt. 3:11-12)

He pictures Jesus with a winnowing fork in hand separating the chaff from the wheat. The chaff is burned, while the wheat is put in the storehouse. John’s message tells us that those who do not repent will be sentenced to eternity in hell. While those who do repent, will experience eternal life with Jesus in His kingdom.

For at least those reasons, we are motivated to repent of our former way of life and turn to the Lord.

Challenge

While the biblical motivation to repent differs from that of the world, it is right and good. So today, if you have never repented and turn to Jesus as your Savior, want you do so now? Turn from your sins toward the Lord. Call on Him as Lord and Savior. Submit to His rule over your life. Make the perfect King your King today!

Questions for Reflection

  1. Does knowing that Jesus is a perfect King who rules over a perfect Kingdom motivate you to follow Him?
  2. Can you think of other biblical motivations to repent?
  3. Can you think of other worldly motivations?

Resources

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