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Video: Justin Taylor and Jonathan Dodson on “Gospel-Centered Discipleship”

The terms “disciple” and “gospel-centered” are thrown around often in Christian circles these days, but what do they really mean? Join Justin Taylor and Jonathan Dodson as they discuss Dodson’s book Gospel-Centered Discipleship and discuss these oft-used terms. You can watch the whole conversation below or jump ahead to these highlights:

0:10 – In an ideal world, if Gospel-Centered Discipleship accomplished exactly what you wanted it to accomplish, how would churches, disciple-makers and disciples look different?

2:31 – What does it mean to be a disciple?

5:08 – So many people are using the term “gospel-centered” that it can seem like a buzz word or a fad. Why did you choose to use this phrase in the title of your book?

7:44 – You talk about not only sharing your faith but also your failures. Looking back at the last ten years of discipling others, how has your disciple-making changed? What are the differences? Where did you drop the ball?

11:35 – How are “Fight Clubs” different from the typical accountability partner or accountability group?

14:50 – Justin Taylor: “I had a hard time putting the book down, and I hope other people not only pick it up but read it and then apply it.”

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March 16, 2012 | Posted in: Sanctification/Growth,The Gospel,The Holy Spirit,Video | Author: Lindsay Tully @ 1:34 pm | 0 Comments »

March Madness & Worship

As March Madness kicks off, brackets have been filled out, TVs are tuned into SportsCenter, and fans all across the U.S. are ready for some competition.

In his forthcoming book, The Explicit Gospel, Matt Chandler writes:

It’s the greatest sporting event. (I say that because it’s also the last athletic venue in which David can still beat Goliath. There’s not really another venue like it where a college you’ve never heard of that has, say, eight hundred people in it can upset superstar powers in the basketball world.)

But here’s the thing about fallen men and women who love March Madness. All over the country, fans are nervous. I’m not joking. They’re nervous in their guts, they want their team to win so badly. They watch the games and yell at their televisions: “No! Yes!” Kids are crying in fear, wives are running for more nachos—it’s chaos. It’s madness.

With victory comes elation and surfing a thousand websites to read the same article over and over and over again, and with defeat comes destitution of spirit and days of mourning and moping, angrily arguing on a blog about who really deserved it or an official’s botched call.

As we all ramp up for some NCAA entertainment, let it not make us indifferent and unmoved by the realities of eternity. Will we exult (show or feel elation or jubilation) in the Lord the way we exult in a successful bracket or our team’s victory?

Chandler continues:

Every bit of those affections, every bit of that emotion, and every bit of that passion was given to us by God for God. It was not given for basketball. Where is the nervousness in our guts when we’re coming into an assembly of those pursuing God? Where is the elation over the resurrection? Where is the desolation over our sins? Where is it? Well, [this month]…it’s on basketball.

This month as many of us participate in (let’s face it, most of us are merely watching) March Madness, let us not forget that worship of him is why we were created.

Learn more about The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler.

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March 15, 2012 | Posted in: Event,Worship | Author: Angie Cheatham @ 8:00 am | 0 Comments »

NCAA Tournament and Shadows of Victory

Adapted from Game Day for the Glory of God by Stephen Altrogge

It’s March. That means basketball, competition, and trophies are on our mind.

Why is it that we love victory? Why is it that within minutes of sitting down to watch a game, I find myself instinctively rooting for one team over another, even if I have no connection to either team? What is it that drives men and women to sacrifice their time, energy, friends, family, social life, and even spiritual life in the pursuit of victory? We love to win.

Our passion for victory is not always pure.

Unfortunately, our passion for victory is not [always] pure. We are arrogant and proud and often desire victory solely for the praise it will bring us. Losers have never been admired throughout history, and we certainly don’t want to be lumped in with those chumps. But does this mean that it’s wrong to desire victory at all?

In victory we see a snapshot of the nature and character of God.

We live in a world that’s opposed to God. Like a great plague, sin has ravaged all of creation. Sometimes it seems that evil is winning all the battles.

Scripture acknowledges that evil has filled the earth, but it doesn’t stop there. We serve a God who always conquers his enemies! He’s an unbeatable and unstoppable warrior and His victory is inevitable.

  • Psalm 110:1: “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
  • 2 Corinthians 2:14: “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.”

Victory in sports is a faint reflection of our victorious God.

God has created us to love victory. Part of the reason we have such a passion for victory is that it allows us to catch a faint glimpse of God’s glory. God is the great victor and conqueror. When we witness victory, we are witnessing a small piece of the character of God.

We also love victory because it proves that diligence is rewarded. Throughout Scripture we are told that God is pleased by those who do their work faithfully. Proverbs 13:4 says, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” Impressive victories rarely come without hours of grueling work and preparation. It’s good and God-honoring to see a team’s hard work pay off.

So by all means, pursue victory! Pursue the joy that God gives to the victorious. Not for your own glory or honor, but because in victory you will see a glimpse of God himself.

When you find yourself on the winning team…

  • Direct your heart and mind toward God and praise him that he is always victorious.
  • Thank him for the joy that comes with victory.
  • Praise him for the victories that he’s achieved in your life.
  • Praise him that he always leads you in his triumph.
  • Acknowledge that he’s the only one who never loses and is always victorious.

Learn more about Game Day for the Glory of God, buy the eBook this month for only $1.99, or follow Stephen Altrogge’s blog at The Blazing Center.

March 14, 2012 | Posted in: Gratitude,Hope,Pride and Humility | Author: Angie Cheatham @ 4:56 am | 0 Comments »

7 Steps to Walking the Spiritual Walk

Life in the Spirit is a journey, and while there are many great passages throughout Scripture that discuss the role and person of the Holy Spirit, Romans 8 is perhaps one of the most insightful. In his book, Walking in the Spirit, Ken Berding provides 7 suggestions that will fuel a passion for the things of the Spirit and further educate how to live a life directed by him.

7 Steps to Walking the Spiritual Walk
(Modified from Walking in the Spirit by Kenneth Berding)

  1. Walk in the Spirit – (Rom. 8:4)

    2. There is no shortcut to learning how to walk with the Spirit. It’s not just for ultra-spiritual people nor is it reserved for charismatic Christians. Life according to the Spirit is not simply trying to do the right thing, nor is it trying to live according to God’s Law. Walking in the Spirit is the central metaphor for describing what it means to live as a Christian. The person who walks according to the Spirit will in fact have the essence of the Law fulfilled in his life.

  2. Set your minds on the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5)

    3. The question “how does one overcome the pull of the flesh?” sounds like an old riddle: How can someone extract all of the air out of a drinking glass? The most direct way to get all the air out of a glass is by filling it with something else. You cannot extract thoughts that displease God from your mind. Like [the solution to the riddle], you need to be filled up with thoughts—indeed with an entire mindset—that is oriented toward the things of the Spirit (e.g. Gal. 5:22-23).

  3. Put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit (Rom. 8:13)

    4. The person who has been regenerated by the Spirit is not stuck in sin. By the Spirit, the pull of the flesh can be resisted. To ‘put to death the deeds of the body’ is pretty much the same thing as ‘saying no to sin,’ but unlike the anti-drug campaign among youth many years ago, ‘Just Say No’ by itself will never be successful. Just saying no will never allow you to consistently overcome sin. Then what must you do? You must say no by the Spirit. Read more.

  4. Be led by the Spirit (Rom. 8:14)

    5. The Holy Spirit leads us broadly (always) and more specifically (sometimes). He always leads us through his written Word, which was revealed to the prophets by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:20-21). We are to prayerfully, carefully, and humbly apply broad biblical wisdom to the situations we face in our lives.

    Sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us directly.  The Holy Spirit can choose to act in any way and according to any timetable that he wishes; we do not dictate to him how or when he will move. Since the Bible gives many examples of him acting more specifically, we should anticipate that he will sometimes choose to lead us directly if we are open and available to his guidance.

  5. Know the Fatherhood of God by the Spirit (Rom. 8:15-17)

    6. Without the Holy Spirit, we would never know our freedom and identity as God’s adoptive children. Thankfully, God has freely given us his Holy Spirit, and these verses from Romans 8 display three amazing things the Spirit does:

    1. He acts as the go-between who takes us out of a place of slavery and fear and brings us into a place of adoption and acceptance.
    2. He helps us to cry out to God as Father.
    3. He testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.

  6. Hope in the Spirit (Rom 8:22-25)

    7. The biblical concept represented by the English word ‘hope’ is so strong that it is almost a synonym for ‘eager expectation.’ The focus of the expectation isn’t that life will get better here; it is absorbed with the glorious life to come.

    What is the role of the Holy Spirit in all this? Rom 8:23 says: ‘ We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.’ Paul claims that it is because we have the Spirit, not despite it that we groan. In this passage, it is precisely the presence of the Spirit within you that causes you to feel this particular kind of suffering—the longing for final redemption in the midst of a fallen world. In this way, the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives reminds us of the stark contrast between the wonderful things God has prepared for us who believe and this fallen world that is so full of sin, suffering, and futility.

  7. Pray in the Spirit (Rom. 8:26-28)

    8. These two verses (Rom 8:26-27) are so rich and helpful in our lives in the Spirit.

    1. We learn that we are weak when we come to prayer. We often don’t know what to pray for in any given situation. The concern is not about the manner of prayer (the ‘how’), but rather the content of our prayers—what do we actually pray about?

    2. We learn that the Spirit joins to help us when we are struggling to know how to pray by interceding for us with wordless groaning. It is not, as some propose, that we should just pray whatever we want since we don’t have any idea how to pray, and that the Spirit fixes them up and prays on our behalf to the Father. Rather, the verb often translated as ‘helps’ has a preposition attached to the front of it, which suggests that it really means ‘joins to help.’

    3. The Spirit is searching our hearts and knows that we have a mind-set that is focused on him, even if we do not know exactly what we are supposed to pray.

    4. The result is that our prayers are prayed ‘according to the will of God’ because the Holy Spirit is moving us thus to pray and is presenting the prayers that he is guiding us to pray to the Father.

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March 13, 2012 | Posted in: Adoption,Hope,Prayer,Sin & Temptation,The Holy Spirit | Author: Ted Cockle @ 8:00 am | 1 Comment »

Personal Actions of The Holy Spirit

Last week we blogged about the cementing effect of communing with the Holy Spirit and offered some practical steps we can take to commune daily with Him. Today we wanted to meditate on who the Holy Spirit is and what he does.

The Holy Spirit is a personal being with definite characteristics.

The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and Son in his deity and personhood. He’s not merely an impersonal force or an emanation of the power of God. The baptismal perspective of Matthew 28:19–20 puts the Spirit on an equal plane with the Father and the Son in his deity and personhood—“baptizing them in [or into] the name [singular] of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  (See also Matt. 3:13–17; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:4–6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4–6; 1 Pet. 1:2).

The personal nature of the Holy Spirit is evident in his title “Comforter” or “Helper” (Greek, Paraklētos) found in John 12:26; 14:16, 26; 15:26; and 16:7. Jesus says he will send the Comforter, who will take his place as his disciples’ helper: “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). An impersonal force could never provide comfort as Jesus did. The Holy Spirit must be personal in order to fulfill this most personal ministry.

Scripture speaks of several activities of the Spirit that can be performed only if he is a personal agent:

Comforts:

John 12:26; John 14:16; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:7

Teaches:

John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:13

Speaks:

Acts 8:29; Acts 13:2

Makes Decisions:

Acts 15:28

Grieves Over Sin:

Ephesians 4:30

Overrules Human Actions:

Acts 16:6-7

Searches the Deep Things of God & Knows the Thoughts of God:

1 Corinthians 2:10-11

Determines Distribution of Spiritual Gifts:

1 Corinthians 12:11

Interprets & Brings Prayer Before the Throne of the Father:

Romans 8:26-27

Assures Believers of their Adoption:

Romans 8:16

Bears Witness to & Glorifies Christ:

John 15:26; John 16:14

Questions for reflection:

  • Am I communing with the Holy Spirit on a regular basis?
  • What steps can I take today to do so?
  • What do I tend to disbelieve or forget about who he is and what he does daily in my daily life?

Content modified from Life’s Biggest Questions by Erik Thoennes.

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March 12, 2012 | Posted in: The Holy Spirit | Author: Angie Cheatham @ 11:44 am | 0 Comments »