Inform

If you are reading this and you were not at gracespring Bible Church this past Sunday to hear me speak, you will want to read this post to help you make sense of it all.

Learning Method #1: Inform

·                                    Resources:

o   Websites

§ Biblegateway.com – Great way to read the Bible while on a break at work or home.

§  thegospelcoalition.com – Great catalog of blogs, sermons, and articles.

§  gotquestions.org – Awesome website that has an app as well. I agree with 95% of their conclusions, as always, read with discernment.

§  gracespringchurch.org – The parents section of each of the student ministries pages have   awesome resources. 

§  gotandem.com – One of the coolest Bible reading options  EVER developed!

o   iPhone and Android Apps

§  YouVersion – Bible available on                           your phone. Includes reading plans, audio Bible, and personal profiles to track your progress.

§  GoBible – dramatized reading of the Bible

§  Glo Bible – Yes it’s different than GoBible, this one will cost a pretty penny, but great for more in depth study.

§  iDisciple – I actually don’t know if this exists, but it’d be sweet if it did!

o   Books

§  Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden – I read this with Scott McCloughan and used it with a few of my disciples.

§  Crazy Love – Great book about learning how to love others by Francis Chan

§  Building a Culture of Discipleship by Mike Breen – This is written for church leaders, but the first part of the book is phenomenal for anybody and it’s what a lot of my lesson was based on.

§  A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller – Life changing book about writing a better story for God’s glory.

§  Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller – Must read for anybody under 35.

§  The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller – Beth and I are reading this together right now and it has been a tool we have used to grow closer to Christ as a couple.

§  What book has really challenged you? Comment below to share with others.

·                                      Ideas: 

o   Individuals

§  Increase your Bible reading by 1 day a week or by 5 minutes a day for the next month and then double it after that.

§  Buy a journal and write out what you learn from reading the Bible, reading a blog, or listening to a sermon online.

§  Pray for 5 minutes right when you wake up.

o Married Couples

§  Start reading the Bible together 10 minutes a day.

§  Read a chapter of a book on your own and then discuss it together afterwards. I wrote about that experience here.

§  Take turns praying at meal times – simple yet effective.

§  Pray with passion and purpose for your spouse – when you pray with them! (Powerfully intimate experience…which sometimes leads to other powerfully intimate experiences!)

o   Parents

§  Create a personal devotions time for your family – find a day or two a week when you as a family can go off individually and do devotions. 10, 15, 30 minutes…doesn’t matter. That part’s up to you!

§  Pray with your children every night before bed.

§  What else do you do with your family? Comment below to share with others.

These are just a few of the resources I love and have learned a lot from as a disciple. Most of these ideas are things that Beth and I have done or are things that I have stolen from somewhere else.

My prayer for you this week is that you get to know God more this week by getting more informed about Him through. 

GO - It's Not An Option

This past Sunday at my church, gracespring, where I am the Assistant Pastor to Students, I had the honor of teaching about Jesus’ commissioning of His disciples in Matthew 28:16-20, before He left this earth. Over the next week, I will be making three different posts that are based on that message. I wanted to give my readers who weren’t there, the backstory of my lesson to help them understand the other posts.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. …”

Jesus commands us to GO and make disciples. This is not an option for Christians. This is a command. We need to get off the sidelines of life and get in the game. This world needs the life-changing message of Jesus Christ and we have it to give!

 

“…Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,…”

In order to be out there making disciples, we need to be disciples ourselves. In the Greek, disciple is the word mathetes, which means learner. Simply put, being a disciple of Jesus means that we are to be lifelong learners of His. We should be learning about God so that we can get to know Him better.

“…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. …”

So we are called to go make disciples, we can’t make disciples without being one, so how do we become lifelong learners? Well, I believe that if we combine three learning methods that Jesus used with His disciples,  we will be learning more about God on a daily basis if we make that choice.

Learning Method #1: Inform

This method includes lecture-style learning, reading books and blogs, listening to podcasts, etc.

Jesus Modeled This When: Matthew 5 – Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount.

How are you getting informed as a disciple?

Learning Method #2: Intertwine

This method is very hands-on. It is like having an apprentice, or an intern, or a padawan for my Star Wars friends! I like to define it as intentionally involving someone else in some of your daily life for the purpose of teaching them how to respond to situations.

Jesus Modeled This When: John 2 – Jesus and the disciples go to a wedding together. They are living life together.

Learning Method #3: Immerse

We learn this way by putting ourselves in situations or environments that are new, unusual,  or uncomfortable for us. We learn things we would have never thought about when we purposefully place ourselves in unfamiliar situations. For instance, going on a missions trip to a foreign country, visiting a homeless shelter, etc.

Jesus Modeled This When: Luke 9 – He sent the disciples out to experience preaching the gospel without Him by their side.

Within each one of these learning methods there are a lifetime of examples and resources. I want to narrow it down to a few resources, ideas, and suggestions over the next week. So each learning method, Inform (Monday), Intertwine (Wednesday), and Immerse (Friday) will have a post dedicated to it with a consolidated and creative list of ways to help you be a more effective “discipler" and equipped disciple.

 “…And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”