THE PROBLEM WITH THE WORD 'NONVIOLENCE' is that people think they know what nonviolence is apart from Christ. Then nonviolence becomes a marker more determinative than Jesus – it conceives peace apart from the crucifixion. But in reality, discipleship is the defining...
02977 – Jesus Followers
"They follow the Lamb wherever He goes" (Revelation 14:4). You’re looking at one of the clearest definitions of discipleship in the whole Bible. Our mission first and foremost is to be Jesus followers. Unless we do that, little else matters. from The Heart of...
01469 – The Cost of False Fundamentals
It seems that a whole lot of people, both Christians and non-Christians, are under the impression that you can’t be a Christian and vote for a Democrat, you can’t be a Christian and believe in evolution, you can’t be a Christian and be gay, you can’t be a Christian...
01274 – Jesus Modeled Flexibility
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken. This beatitude cannot be found in Matthew 5's listing, but it certainly has clear biblical principle behind it. Dr. David Schroeder, in his study on discipleship, asserts that discipleship is not so much about...
01166 – Discipleship Priorities?
Seek ye first what you are going to eat, what you are going to wear, which house you are going to buy, which car you are going to drive, which job you are going to take, who you are going to marry--and then, if any time is left, and if it's not too uncomfortable,...
00698 – We are Called to Worship, Together
Whatever else God calls us to do, we are called to worship, to do so together and to do so in the promised company of Jesus Christ. It is in worship that our lives are expressed before God and informed and converted by God’s Word. It is in worship, that through song,...
00464 – Cheap Grace vs. Costly Grace
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus...
00431 – Finding Our Organizing Center
The reason why our childhoods were one enthusiasm after another was that we hadn’t yet found an organizing center for our lives and a goal that would demand our all and our best. The Christian faith is the discovery of that center in the righteous God. Christian...
00424 – Obedience to Jesus’ Call
The road to faith passes through obedience to the call of Jesus. Unless a definite step is demanded, the call vanishes into thin air, and if men imagine that they can follow Jesus without taking this step, they are deluding themselves like fanatics. …The following two...
00422 – Journeying with Jesus
Journeying with Jesus also means to be in a community, to become part of the alternative community of Jesus. Discipleship is not an individual path, but a journey in a company of disciples. It is the road less traveled, yet discipleship involves being in a community...