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Showing posts from August, 2009

Discipleship Part III

Luke 9:23 (KJV) 23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Have you run into a difficult person lately? Working with people is mandatory in terms of getting somewhere in life. Unless we have self-sustained lives on a deserted island, we will be encountering people…all kinds of people. While some are kind and delightful, there are those who can be downright nasty. Sometimes we console ourselves with the explanation: ‘This difficult person must have issues.’ It is reminiscent of the following story: One Sunday Morning A woman wakes up late on Sunday morning and realizes that church will be starting soon. She feverishly tries to wake up her husband, but he merely yawns and rolls over. She tries again…no success. Then the woman becomes louder and more aggressive: ‘Wake up, it is time to get ready for church.’ Finally the man slowly rises upright and says, ‘I don’t want to go to church!’ The wo

Discipleship Part II

In a day of change, challenge, crisis, and confusion, it is good to know that God has prepared a better way. A way forward. A way to true freedom. God’s way is nothing new and was announced thousands of years ago. It comes via Jesus Christ. Jesus gives an open, all-inclusive invitation to ‘whosoever will.’ Yet once a decision to accept the invitation is made, that man or woman, boy or girl, becomes part of an exclusive group. Jesus is inviting us to follow Him, to learn of Him and to become like Him. In other words, He is welcoming us to become His disciples. True disciples of Christ are a rare and blessed breed. A disciple in the strictest sense of the word is a ‘student’ or ‘learner’ of a worthy person. But the studies are not done in a mere classroom, with lectures to listen and assessment tasks to complete. The disciple is essence becomes an ‘adherent’ or ‘follower’—a ‘full-time follower’—like an apprentice in a trade. They live and learn from the Master, day in and day out,