The Status Quo is Impossible
Last week, as I was beginning my daily workout ofrunning 3 miles on the treadmill, an interesting thought occurred to me. I’ve been running 3 miles a day for over a year and half. When I first started running again, it felt like my body was falling apart. Everything hurt and I could feel every step all the way to my head. But after a few weeks, I noticed that the running was becoming easier. Besides becoming lighter in weight, my body was adjusting to the stress.
I have continued my 40 minute 3 mile workout ever since. After a year and half, I would have thought that the routine would become much easier. But that’s not the case. The workout is still as hard as it was after only 3 months.
Why?
I’m sure there’s a physiological reason for this, but my thought is that it’s really hard to maintain the status quo. The only way that the 3 mile run is going to get easier is to push myself to run 4 then 5 miles. Or challenge myself with a different workout that forces me to use different muscle groups.
There’s a spiritual lesson here. Paul said to “run (the race) in such a way as to get the prize”. Whenever we decide to coast spiritually, to be satisfied with where we are, we will begin to slip. The only way to keep our faith growing is to accept greater challenges, to trust God more, to become more like Christ.
Becoming satisfied with our spiritual maturity only proves our spiritual immaturity.
Read MoreTwo followup questions from last night…
I’m getting tons of feedback on last night’s “EQUIP: Personal Discipleship” session today. While the presenters did an incredible job, there are some other things that we’ll tweak in the future to improve those nights. We could’ve done better from a planning and preparation standpoint and will in the future… but HUGE THANKS to the 100+ of you that were there.
Here are two recurring questions I’ve gotten today following last night’s session (copied and pasted from emails)…
What about introverts? All of the presenters were extroverted people so relationships will come more naturally to them. Can an introvert enter into a relationship that “deep”?
Introverts, let me encourage you. YOU, not the extroverts, have the best personalities suited for personal discipleship. While someone who leads larger group discipleship (a church, a ministry, a House Group) needs to be able to maintain relational quantity by having lots of relationships, someone who’s investing in someone for personal discipleship needs to be able to maintain relational quality by having a few deep, meaningful relationships with the people they’re investing in.
This is where most introverts I’ve known thrive. They’re not going to walk into a party and “own the room”, but they’re going to find someone in the room and own their heart. THAT is the foundation for personal discipleship. I know initiating the relationship at the beginning will be more intimidating for introverts, but in the long haul they’re built for the deeper relationships of personal discipleship. Introverts, God created your personality for a reason. The Kingdom needs you!
I’m afraid if I ask someone if I can disciple them they’ll jump to a defensive stance – “So you think YOU can disciple ME?!” How can I avoid that?
Here’s why this is tough: the less spiritually mature someone is, the easier it is to offend them and your probably going to be looking for newer Christians to disciple. A few things…
- Rule 1: PRAY. Seriously, pray that God will move someone to ask you to disciple them. You already know that this prayer is in line with God’s will so He’s going to answer eventually.
- The people you should consider discipling need to be people who respect you tremendously. If you’re afraid someone will respond like this, you probably haven’t paid the relational rent necessary to earn their trust and respect yet. Focus on relationship building right now.
- Look for God to open the door for discipleship by someone coming to you with their problems. I’ve only asked someone one time if I could disciple them. What usually happens is a friend comes to me with their problems and I’ll say, “Hey man, I’ve struggled through this before too. You want to meet before work on Tuesdays for the next few weeks to talk about what you’re going through?” Then we’ll start reading or memorizing portions of Scripture together and it turns into a discipleship relationship without them even knowing!
Hope this is helpful. Keep the questions coming! If anyone wants to get in touch with any of the presenters from last night here’s some contact info…
Josh Howerton – josh.howerton@bridgesh.com
Rick Howerton – rick.howerton@lifeway.com
John Howard – john.howard@bridgesh.com
Eva Howard – johnevahoward@bellsouth.net
Read MoreEquip for Discipleship
I am going to steal some of Josh’s thunder and blog about tonight’s Equip class!!
First, WOW!!! The presenters/teachers did a fabulous job with the VERY short time frame they were asked to work within. For a 2 hour “class” the time seemed more like 45 minutes at the most. The material was packed full of great advice and practical insights as well and challenging us to a higher level. Christopher Stedman said that one of the greatest things about tonight was the amount of material we were able to take with us to continue to unpack after the class – Great insight and so very true!
Thank you to Josh Howerton, Rick Howerton, John Howard and Eva Howard for investing in The Bridge family.
One insight that I had personally reinforced this evening for me personally has been on my mind for a couple of weeks. I need more personal time with Jesus.
My work is virtually all within a ministry context. Connections Pastor, Warehouse Manager for World Vision, Trainer for LifeWay and Real Estate. Well, not as much in the RE world, but you get my drift. It is WAAAAYYYYY too easy for me to let my personal relationship with Jesus slip into a “trellis” type of relationship instead of tending the “vine” as Jesus has explained in John 15:5; “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
All the “stuff” I do is great for the Kingdom and probably counts as “good works” for me. BUT – the works do not improve my relationship with Jesus anymore than mowing the grass helps my relationship with Marianne. It is a “good work”, but if all I did toward our relationship was do “stuff”, our marriage would suffer greatly. Conversely, if I did not do any “stuff” I don’t think Marianne would fall deeply in love with me as everything around us continued to decay. As Josh often says, the answer is often in the middle…
Balance = continue the “good works” but spend more time with just the two of us, Jesus and me, heart to heart.
Read MoreMaybe our Kids’ Ministry could launch a 2nd campus…
Few things have made me laugh this hard in a long time. The following picture was posted to facebook by Shelley Stedman, one of our Bridge members. This is a picture of the Stedman kids “playing church”…
Things that are awesome about this picture…
- The “Kids are dismissed to Kids’ Ministry” sign complete with an accurately drawn Bridge logo
- Jimi Williams is here represented by a guitar-carrying penguin
- The furry monkey on the right is using what appears to be a spoon for a drumstick
- I choose to believe that monkey is representing Jeff Hollandsworth
- The teddy bear on the left reminds me so much of Scott Shoopman doing the announcements that it makes me wanna slap my mama
- If you’re going by seating position, I’m being represented by a horse wearing a pink and blue blouse
When Is Enough Enough?
In the last day, 2 different things have brought this question to my mind.
First, our family watched the movie “The Blind Side”, which is about an affluent white family who adopts a teenage black boy. The unconditional love and provision provided by the family altered the course of the young man’s life and quite possibly the course of many lives as their story is retold.
Secondly, I committed Christian (my son) and I to a Guatemala mission trip next June. While reading up on Guatemala, I found that the average income per year is around $2,500 and the illiteracy rate is the highest in central America.
As Christians, we tend to error in one of two ways regarding wealth:
1. By believing it is wrong for any Christian to accumulate wealth and that we should take a vow of poverty. We cite Jesus’ words in Matthew 19 where he tells the rich guy to “go sell all that you have and give to the poor”. Yet, Jesus had no beef with Zacchaeus who voluntarily vowed to give away only half of his net worth. Seems that Jesus is more concerned with the state of our hearts instead of the state of our bank accounts.
2. By believing that we are “off the hook” if we tithe (10%) to our church and give other money away on occasion. We cite passages in the Old Testament of Abraham, King Solomon and Lot who were blessed by God with great wealth. We also cite passages in Proverbs saying it’s wise to save for unexpected circumstances. Yet, Jesus says that if we see someone in need and have the resources to meet that need, we should.
At the root of both of these extremes is a wrong heart attitude. We must recognize that all we have belongs to God. We are wealth managers, not wealth owners. When we separate ourselves emotionally from our wealth, it’s easier to make good spending decisions.
The family who took Michael Orr into their home decided to use their wealth for good. Choosing to go on a mission trip to serve the poor is a good use of wealth.
God is not anti-wealth. If fact, the ability to make wealth is a gift from God. But he does want us to remember that it’s all His, not ours. And when he says “give”, our obedience will result in great joy.
Read MoreQuotable Quotes: John Piper on the relationship between missions and worship
From Sunday…
Read MoreMissions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.
Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It’s the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white hot enjoyment of God’s glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. “The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!” (Ps 97:1). “Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!” (Ps 67:3-4).
But worship is also the fuel of missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish. Missionaries will never call out, “Let the nations be glad!” who cannot say from the heart, “I rejoice in the Lord…I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High” (Ps 104:34, 9:2). Missions begins and ends in worship.
– John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad
More Information
CLICK HERE