Discipleship
Below are some materials that I have included to help you in the area of discipleship, which refers to your Christian walk and spiritual growth. I pray that God uses these to help you in your spiritual journey.
If you encounter any problems playing the audio (mp3) files, position your mouse pointer over the link and right-click your mouse. From the resultant menu choices, choose "Save Target As" and simply save the file to your Desktop (or some other file location of your choosing). You can then open and play the audio file "locally". I won't be offended if you delete it from your hard drive after listening to it. You can always come back here to retrieve it again, anytime you would like.
Subjects
- Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
- - God is a great composer of symphonies, and He is always looking for new instruments and new ways to use existing instruments. Are we allowing God to expand our horizons so that we can contribute to His work in ever-changing ways? Or do we, like Debussy, believe we know beforehand what every symphony "should" sound like, what instruments should and should not be included, and how they should be played, without taking the time to seek God’s desires?
- Being Mediocre Isn’t Good Enough
- - Are we overachieving Christians? Or have we established "average" goals? Do we really think Christ wants us to be mediocre?
- Bits of Wisdom
- - A few simple but profound pieces of wisdom that God has revealed to me over the years.
- Christian Growth
- - A few lessons surrounding Christian growth and maturation.
- Climbing Black Mountain
- - The Christian walk is not easy. In fact, it is not unlike climbing up (and down) a steep mountain. This discussion explores serveral parallels that are applicable to these two activities, including preparation, faith, focus, and discipline.
- Evangelism: Is The Church Forceful Enough?
- - A discusion challenging us as Christ followers to reach out, go out, and aggressively seek the lost and dying, and to do it forcefully.
- Evangelism: "Jesus, Where Do We Drop Our Nets?"
- - A discusion surrounding Jesus’ call for us to be "fishers of men" and the importance of being ready and willing to follow Jesus’ instructions — versus relying solely on our own "professional" opinions.
- Evangelism: The Good News!
- - A discusion surrounding the blessing that we and others receive when we proclaim the Good News of Jesus our Savior.
- Facing Tough Challenges
- - An 11/01/09 Sunday morning sermon at Southview Baptist Church; Scripture References: James 1:2-4,12; Matthew 6:25-33; 1 Corinthians 9:24; Hebrews 12:1-3.
- From "Compassion" to "Cambodia": Defining the Real Meaning of Missions
- - An 03/14/10 Sunday morning sermon at Southview Baptist Church; Scripture References: Acts 11:19-30 and 13:1-5
- GFW: God, Family, Work
- - A lesson challenging us to apply the ordered priorities of God, Family, and Work to our daily lives.
- Growing in Christ
- - A lesson exhorting us to pursue spiritual growth, as we help others do so as well.
- God Sees My Bald Spot
- - A discusion challenging us to look at ourselves in God’s mirror, to ensure that we are not ignoring the hidden areas of life that need attention.
- Investing Tips (for 2009 and Beyond)
- - A discusion challenging us to expand our financial and spiritual porfolios with investments that will produce unparalleled returns, both now and throughout eternity.
- Keeping the Sabbath Holy
- - A discusion regarding the challenges we all face in achieving spiritual balance in our lives, particularly as it applies to God’'s commandment to "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." (Exodus 20:8)
- Living a Life Pleasing to God (mp3 file)
- - A 12/30/07 Sunday morning sermon at Southview Baptist Church: Scripture References: Jeremiah 29:11, Matthew 6:31-34, Romans 12:1-2, Colossians 3:1-3
- Mountain Moving
- - A discusion regarding spiritual and chuch growth, the challenges that will undoubtably follow, and a God who will enable us to "move mountains" in overcoming these challenges!
- My Dog Doesn’t Know God (mp3 file)
- - A 10/25/09 Sunday morning sermon at Southview Baptist Church; God has chosen to reveal himself to us in multiple ways, so there is no excuse for mankind not to know and believe in Him and in His Son Jesus. If we look for Him, he will reveal Himself to us as well. Scripture References: Rom. 1:19-20; John 10:30-33; Rev. 1:18; Rev. 21:6; Rev. 22:13; Col. 1:15-20; John 1:1-3; Eph. 3:4-5; Acts 1:3-8; Acts 9:31; Matt. 5:17; Luke 24:13-27; 2 Pet. 3:15-16; 1 John 1:1-4; Isa. 55;11
- New Year - New You - New Me
- - Five areas of our behavior that we should focus on improving in the new year.
- Obedience: What Does The Lord Require Of You?
- - A discusion emphasizing the importance of actively seeking, listening to, and following God’s will and direction in our lives.
- One Prayer
- - If you could ask one prayer and know that God would answer it, what would that one prayer be?
- Prayer Aids
- - Some information, references, and online resources for enriching your prayer life -- a critical component of discipleship.
- Purpose: Seeking God's Will for Our Lives
- - A discusion regarding the assurance that God has a purpose for our lives and that he had that purpose in mind before each of us was created.
- Putting on the New Man: New Year’s
- - A lesson about adding a few Biblically-based resolutions to our list for the New Year.
- Running The Race � Even If You’re Not A Runner
- - In God’s kingdom, everyone has a race to run. We don’t need to be an Olympic sprinter in order to qualify as a "good and faithful servant".
- Running The Race � How’s Your Cadence?
- - A few insights from cycling that have applicability to our effectiveness as a Christian.
- Scriptual Tools for Being an Effective Witness TEST
- - Are you equipped to witness and disciple? Here’s a quick test
- Seeing God’s Face
- - Numerous passages in the Bible refer to "seeing God’s face". Can we really see God’s face? This discussion assures us that we can, if we "seek" it first.
- Sola Fide (Only Faith) (mp3 file)
- - A 03/08/09 Sunday morning sermon at Southview Baptist Church; Sola Fide asserts that God’s pardon for guilty sinners is granted to and received through faith or belief alone, to the exclusion of all human efforts or works.
- Waiting on the Lord
- - A lesson about one of the hardest things for a Christian to do.
- Worship: The Awareness of Divine Presence and Our Response to It (mp3 file)
- - A 04/03/05 Sunday morning sermon at Southview Baptist Church; Scripture References: John 4:24, Hebrews 10:25, Matthew 18:20
