Archive for Discipleship

Birth of The Church

Sep 18

In my recent readings and research I was reading through Acts as I have read countless times. Acts is one of my favorite books in the Bible. To preface this Peter and the Apostles were in the upper room awaiting the promise of the Father—the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2 the Holy spirit came upon the Apostles and they began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Then it hit me—check this next part out; I had never read it like this before but check out Acts 2:5 where it says “And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.” On the day of Pentecost, God made it possible for the Holy Spirit to overflow beyond the borders of Israel. Gods timing was so perfect that he had travelers to be present, ones who would carry the gospel back to their homes and begin local bodies of believers within their own communities. On that day three thousand people “accepted his message and were baptized” (Acts 2:41). Peter’s message would mark the birth of the Church. However the impact on that day reached beyond the walls of Jerusalem. Gods timing is so perfect and right on time.

Post to Twitter

Filed Under: Discipleship, Ministry

Think Offense not Defense

Jun 17

The book of Acts–(a book of action—It is called “Acts” and not “Reacts”) begins with a bang where Jesus speaks His final words to His men. Even though they are now leaders and not followers they ask Jesus when His Kindgom would come:

Acts 1:6
they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Jesus doesn’t tell them, but instead communicates a vision about reaching the world.

Acts 1:8
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me[a] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth

His men thought defense, and Jesus wanted them to think offense.

Post to Twitter

Filed Under: Discipleship, Leadership

Act Like A Son

Mar 10

A) Stay when under fire:
• When it gets tough a son will stay and an employee will leave—a son lays down his life

John 10:10-13—-11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep

B) Sons are submitting not questioning:
• Sons naturally honor the chain of command rather than constantly question authority.
• Can you submit to someone you don’t like?
• Jesus was clear about designated authority—rejecting it is rejecting him.
• Son honor the chain of command rather than question authority.

C) Make adjustments not excuses:
• A son will take responsibility for a mistake and make adjustments rather than give excuses.
• It’s a natural human response to give an excuse.

D) Build the house not ourselves:
• Building the house is more important than working in the house.
• Sons will bond new people to the family not themselves
Acts 20:30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them
• Son’s know that the vision of the house comes first because the vision came before the son. Sons don’t try to change the vision but build it.
• Vision is there before they were—build the vision
• Vision is non—negotionable—-the way we do it is up in the air
Philippians 2:20-22 20 I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. 21 For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel

Post to Twitter

Filed Under: Discipleship, Leadership, Serving/Volunteer

Speak Like A Son

Mar 9

A) Talk about the team and not about self:
• Language
Words Like: us, our and we
Not words like: me, my or mine
• The real heart will be exposed when times get tough.
• It’s easy to speak family when all is well.
B) Honor not exposure:
• Fathers are not always perfect but we are commanded to Honor.
• Sons were never intended to correct Fathers.
Genesis 9: Noah and Ham —- Noah drunk and naked in the tent
One brother started telling people
Two brothers knew their honor was attached to their father and covered him
• Father is going to make mistakes—normal life stuff—wrong word, bad decision, wrong attitude—a true son of Gods vision—will honor and cover up any of those short comings—

C) Extend honor down not just up:
• All dream teamers—honor them as much as possible…even sometimes more than the senior pastor—always lifting them up….always honor someone—-
• PUBLIC honoring means more—-honor the mother for the student—speak highly of people around the senior—bring up the name—so he knows—
• Speaking highly of the students in front of their parents

D) Transparency not false cover:
• You need to be secure otherwise you might just say the things others wants to hear.
• Because of the security of their relationship, sons are willing to share their hearts and feelings with the father without retribution or punishment.
• If you are not a son you are afraid to be truthful
Luke 16:12, And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own
• How you treat the senior pastor it is how your people treat will treat you

Post to Twitter

Filed Under: Discipleship, Leadership, Serving/Volunteer

Feel Like A Son

Mar 8

Feel like a son

1. Building not maintaining:
• Feeling the success of the church is more important than my personal reward.
• It’s more about building the house of God rather than your account—building the business.
• We are Co-Heirs with Christ in the house.

2. Inheriting not taking:-
• If you are not trustworthy with what you get you wont get more.
• You are being tested when in disagreement with your boss/senior pastor/authority.
• God is thinking can I reward you later on with your own—mindset of inheriting not taking—The reward is sometimes far away.
• A son will wait to be “sent” with a blessing rather than leave on his own.
Luke 16:12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?—
3. Embrace discipline or correction:
• Discipline is for children not “to” children, Discipline is Not rejection.
• This is the toughest one.
Hebrews 12:7 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
• There has to be relationship in order for the correction to be received.
• If no correction—we might want to be concerned—that means that the authority over us is not going concerned about our growth.

4. Hold yourself to a higher standard:
• Be the one hardest person on yourself
• Be the right person.

Post to Twitter

Filed Under: Discipleship, Leadership, Serving/Volunteer

Sonship Daughter-ship Teaching Part 1 Think Like a Son

Mar 7

I wanted to start a 4 part blog series based on a leadership teaching we recieved from Church Of The Highlands in Birmingham.

God builds everything through Sons and Daughters—principle of Gods Children

Romans 8:16-18 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us
Galatians 3:26-You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus
Colossians 3:17,22-24, And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him 22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving

In every arena of life we must work at everything with all our heart and for the Lord. In every arena of life I think we can act as sons!
Home—Family
Work—Career
Church—Ministry

We are not just serving the Senior Pastor—but serving the vision of the house—The Senior Pastor is leading the vision—but also serving the man through the vision—if we have the heart and mind of the son

The principle to make this work in our lives on a daily basis is: SONSHIP
4 Areas

1) Think like a son

4 points under think like a son

A) Think family not issues
A son will think family not issues. Issues can divide servants not family. Churches split because of issues not family

B) The heart is more important the issues—-Matthew 6:5-Jesus said that doing things for how they appear on the outside was a mark of hypocrisy.
Heart is more important than the house–for instance when the boss walks in and you start working harder-wrong—make sure the heart is right
C) Be teachable not an expert—
Son always eager to learn from the father—heart—-not a know it all or an expert

D) Learn how the father thinks—WWJD…what would Jesus do—WWSPD–what would senior pastor do
God will honor the decision—even if it is a bad decision—but if it is honoring the house—God honors the structure above the person

Post to Twitter

Filed Under: Discipleship, Leadership, Serving/Volunteer

Grow

Oct 23

God wants every one of us to grow in His wisdom and knowledge. I have been doing just a little something each day so I can change and grow. There are many things you can do, but “Just Do It” like Nike says.

We really need to be making sure we are changing our environment if we want to change our future. What I mean by that is; your thoughts and words can control where you will be in a year. I have heard it said, review what you read, the people you hang around with, and the places you go and you can see where you will be in five years.

In Psalm 90:12 it says, “Teach me to make the most of my time so I may grow in wisdom”

You have to also be hungry for knowledge in order to grow. You want to have the hunger to see God do the extraordinary as demonstrated by humility, sacrifice, and perseverance. I was challenged recently to make sure that I continue to have the hunger to grow.

Rick Warren’s said; “the greatest detriment to today’s success is yesterday’s success.” Whatever you do today, do it better tomorrow.

Ask yourself these questions:

1) When was the last time you did something for the first time?

2) What have you learned and applied this month?

3) What do you do daily to facilitate your growth?

4) Are you teaching others what you are learning?

Final statement is as rewarding as it is to grow personally, it’s even better when you take the journey with others.

I want to thanks Joshua Canizaro for sharing these challenges with me.

Post to Twitter

Filed Under: Discipleship, Inspiration, Ministry, Overcome

#TheLast100days

Sep 23

Last Night I challenged my small group to read through the entire New Testament in the next 100 days.  I have broken it down to make it easier below.  This was from a challenge I found on Twitter for the #thelast100days to develop us into making daily habits of reading our bible.  I also feel this will catapult us into 2010 and continue a daily habit of reading the Word.  I will also be sending out and updating questions of our daily readings that I want to challenge you also to answer.

9-22 Matthew 1-4
9-23 Matthew 5-6
9-24 Matthew 7-8
9-25 Matthew 9-10
9-26 Matthew 11-12
9-27 Matthew 13-14
9-28 Matthew 15-17
9-29 Matthew 18-19
9-30 Matthew 20-21
10-1 Matthew 22-23
10-2 Matthew 24-25
10-3 Matthew 26
10-4 Matthew 27-28
10-5 Mark 1-3
10-6 Mark 4-5
10-7 Mark 6-7
10-8 Mark 8-9
10-9 Mark 10-11
10-10 Mark 12-13
10-11 Mark 14
10-12 Mark 15-16
10-13 Luke 1
10-14 Luke 2-3
10-15 Luke 4-5
10-16 Luke 6-7
10-17 Luke 8-9
10-18 Luke 10-11
10-19 Luke 12-13
10-20 Luke 14-16
10-21 Luke 17-18

10-22 Luke 19-20
10-23 Luke 21-22
10-24 Luke 23-24
10-25 John 1-2
10-26 John 3-4
10-27 John 5-6
10-28 John 7-8
10-29 John 9-10
10-30 John 11-12
10-31 John 13-15
11-1 John 16-18
11-2 John 19-21
11-3 Acts 1-3
11-4 Acts 4-6
11-5 Acts 7-8
11-6 Acts 9-10
11-7 Acts 11-13
11-8 Acts 14-15
11-9 Acts 16-17
11-10 Acts 18-20
11-12 Acts 21-23
11-13 Acts 24-26
11-14 Acts 27-28
11-15 Romans 1-3
11-16 Romans 4-7
11-17 Romans 8-10
11-18 Romans 11-13
11-19 Romans 14-16
11-20 1 Corinthians 1-4
11-21 1 Corinthians 5-8


11-22 1 Corinthians 9-11
11-23 1 Corinthians 12-14
11-24 1 Corinthians 15-16
11-25 2 Corinthians 1-4
11-26 2 Corinthians 5-9
11-27 2 Corinthians 10-13
11-28 Galatians 1-3
11-29 Galatians 4-6
11-30 Ephesians 1-3
12-1 Ephesians 4-6
12-2 Philippians
12-3 Colossians
12-4 1 Thessalonians
12-5 2 Thessalonians
12-6 1 Timothy
12-7 2 Timothy
12-8 Titus-Philemon
12-9 Hebrews 1-6
12-10 Hebrews 7-10
12-11 Hebrews 11-13
12-12 James
12-13 1 Peter
12-14 2 Peter
12-15 1 John
12-16 2 John-Jude
12-17 Revelation 1-3
12-18 Revelation 4-8
12-19 Revelation 9-12
12-20 Revelation 13-16
12-21 Revelation 17-19
12-22 Revelation 20-22

Day 1 Matthew 1-4

1. Chapter 1 is sometimes known as the “begat chapter.” Why do you think it is important for Matthew to include this genealogy?

2. What do you notice about Matthew’s Christmas story that is different from what you are used to hearing?

3. What prompted Jesus to go into the wilderness following his baptism?

Post to Twitter

Filed Under: Discipleship

Iron Sharpens Iron

Jul 24

Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

Tonight we had our annual Low Country Shrimp Boil at Turning Point Church where we had a big group of men show up.  As I sat there and looked around I was immediately humbled by the amazing group of men God has surrounded me with.  I could not imagine not having this group of men in my life.  We do life together, we crack jokes at each other, we pray for each other and we are there for each other.

Way too many times in my past I have tried to separate myself from people and not allow people to actually know the real me.  I think if they really knew what I have done and been through would they still be my friend.  So for a long time I was afraid to open up to other men.  But after going to this church and God delivering me from the wrong mind sets I am completely filled with joy with the people God has placed around me.

Post to Twitter

Filed Under: Discipleship

My Turning Point Part 4

Jul 16

We had recently watched the movie The Passion by Mel Gibson, so we stopped at a Bible outlet in Mobile Alabama to purchase us some new Bibles.  Stacey was driving and I started reading the books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John about the last 12 hours of Christ to see how the movie compared.  I got to Luke and started to weep.  I could not understand how someone could go through all of that just for me.  Why would He not just call forth his angels and show those Romans who He really was?  And with His last words prior to His resurrection..It is finished. I received Christ as my Lord and Savior and never turned back. 

I continued to serve at my local church until in Gods timing I got promoted and moved up to South Atlanta.  We visited several churches in the area but could not find our match.  We visited Turning Point Church and instantly knew we were home. I started serving on the praise team playing guitar until I was asked to do some other things in the ministry.

Four years later God took a huge directional change in my life and I decided to go full time into the ministry.  With a 70% pay cut, I definitely took a step out on faith, but God has taken care of my needs and far exceeding my expectations.  I truly love what I do for a living now and have dedicated my life to serving Christ.

Post to Twitter

Filed Under: Discipleship, Inspiration, Overcome
Next Page »