Wisdom

Discipleship

This past Sunday I had the honor of preaching for the first time since being ordained. I knew if I was only given one chance to preach, then I knew exactly what I would preach about – DISCIPLESHIP.

I thought I would share a link to our Sunday service at Mouth of Richland Baptist if you wanted to watch.

Discipleship is VERY important to me, and as a follower of Jesus it should be to us all.

The core of the message was explaining the characteristics of a disciple of Jesus:

A student of Jesus who:
increasingly loves God,
increasing loves others,
helps others do the same.

The Question of Divorce

The religious leaders were trying to trap Jesus in a legal issue on the legality of divorce according to Moses. The leaders really didn’t want to be answered – they wanted to trap Jesus.

But in typical Jesus form, He didn’t respond with an answer that would trap Him. Jesus gave foundational answers and let them decided how the issue should be handled.

I cover the foundational issues of sex, marriage and adultery as Jesus discussed in Matthew chapter 19.

the foundational characteristics of a Biblical marriage

Restoring a Brother/Sister

I liked the heading in my Bible for Matthew 18:15 – Restoring a Brother. Jesus is talking to His disciples about how to restore a relationship with another Christian that has gone bad. It may have just went bad a little, or a situation that is big and been around for some time.

As humans we have issues because of disagreements or just plain misunderstandings.

The point in Jesus’ teaching is there is a right way to restore that relationship. Follow the teaching of Jesus and watch out God takes care of the situation in ways we could never imagine!

Restoring Christian relationships

Honeybee package

My new package of honeybees came in the mail recently! I was so excited to install the package, and thought I would share the process.

It will take a year for them to grow the hive and be able to produce extra honey that I can extract, but this year they are a HUGE help to all my fruit trees and certain goodies in the garden. Their pollination in the area is a big benefit of honeybees, and of course some extra sweet honey one day.

Noble Thing for Jesus

This week’s study of Matthew 26 prepares our hearts and mind for Easter.

We look at the actions of Mary who poured expensive oil over Jesus’ head. Her worship of Jesus was described by Him as a noble thing for Jesus.

How can we also do a noble thing for Jesus? That is the focus in the video.

Salvation – Now What

We have been talking for the past few weeks about how to share Jesus without fear.

Let’s say that God has inspired you to do just that – share your faith with someone. And let’s say that person you shared with accepted Jesus as their Savior and asked Him into their heart!

Absolutely wonderful! Now what?

The truth is – salvation is the starting line – not the finish line!

Once we have accepted Jesus as our Savior then we have the rest of eternity to develop a relationship with Him! But our relationship should start out on the right track. All too often satan will begin to attack and discourage new believers. There are a few things we need to do with a new believer so that they will begin to be a disciple of Jesus.

Tell Your Story – Ask Others

The last session of Share Jesus Without Fear looks at telling our story and asking others theirs.

As a disciple of Jesus it is so important to share how you came to believe in Jesus. Our story is unique, because it is our own story. Telling how we came to believe in Jesus is encouraging to us and those who hear our story.

Same with asking others their story. If they know Jesus then sharing their story is a wonderful conversation.

If they don’t have a story, then you have the opportunity to go back ask the probing questions, share scripture and then ask if they are ready to surrender to Jesus – just as we have learned the past four weeks.

You just don’t know where to start until you start to ask questions. Tell and Ask !

Share Jesus without Fear – the Decision

If you have asked probing questions of your friend and they want to learn more about Jesus.

And they have read and understood the scripture then they have a decision to make.

Do you want to ask Jesus into your heart and surrender your life?

I believe there are 3 responses that a person will give. Watch the video to learn, or download the file for your reference.

Download: Share Jesus Without Fear – the Decision