Knowing and Doing

I am just now listening to John Maxwell’s Audio CD’s from Christmas of 2009 that my wife gave me.  They have been on the shelf for quite some time and I haven’t had time to.  He spoke of key principles that are good for teaching discipleship and in mentoring relationships in the church as we read Scripture: 1.  Relationships 2.  Attitude (Luke 9:23, Romans 12:1-2, John 15, etc.) 3.  Equipping (Eph. 4) 4.  Leadership (1 Timothy, Titus, Eph. 4) I want to pick on relationships today.  Many people in Fannin County you will find claim to have a relationship with the Lord but do not have relationships with other believers or a body of Christ.  We find a picture of the early church in Acts:  “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship , to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”  (Acts 2:42) The New Testament Greek word for fellowship is “koinonia” and it would mean “living together in community".  ...

I have been reading Joshua in my quiet time and thought I would share some interesting things I found to be leadership nuggets…some I dare say I could work on in my life. 1.  ”I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5)  We read the same promise in Hebrews 13:5 which is a paraphrase of the same principle.  Even though the Hebrews verse talks about money, the point is that God keeps his covenant to provide for His people.  How does that build your confidence that you serve a God that cares about your well-being? 2.  “Be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:6).  Even though this message is for Joshua in its context, we can take comfort in knowing that God is our strength today.  He is our Refuge where we can get strength from in times of trouble.  Paul writes to the Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”  It is by God’s strength that we can endure each with the things that need to get done for His glory....

What do you think when we read in the Gospel of John about “ABIDE“?? "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”  (John 15:4) I would answer that a large part of ABIDE (a vital connection with the Lord Jesus) is Prayer…simple prayer.  Prayer is communicating with God.  It is our direct response to what understand and know about God, Jesus and Holy Spirit.  It is also communion with God…..it’s one of the ways we deepen our relationship with God.  Why?  We are expressing our love to God. My son and daughters love to talk right after school.  They tell me about their day and the fun they had with friends and teachers learning and playing.  They can’t wait to get off the bus to tell me.  We have learned to take turns.  God offers believers His ears when we talk to Him and we should be eager to spend time with the Lord in prayer every day. WHY...

This month, Telephone Baptist will start a four week emphasis on sharing the gospel with others. The main point of doing this is to follow the Great Commission…Matthew 28:19-20.  “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." I was curious to look up the word “commission” in the dictionary:  a formal written warrant granting the power to perform various acts or duties.  The believer has been given authority and power to complete this Great Commission and we have been commanded to “make disciples” at all costs.  Jesus has given the believer the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower us as His witnesses of who the Lord is and how He saves us through our own salvation. Preacher Paul Washer asked in a sermon “What has the Great Commission cost you?”  If the believer in Jesus Christ h...

Interesting that I would be reading this yellow pages of a book entitled Family Ministry and that there would a big section on stress in families that really caught my attention.  A good question is posed to the family….what does the family value the most????  You and should carefully answer this and come up with several answers.  If it is the Lord, then what are our families doing to show that value.  Are we teaching about how to have a relationship with God to our children?  Are we keeping our relationship with God healthy and vibrant?  Marriage stress…parenting stress…work stress……Instant stress as we think of what to do. If it is education, we work hard at helping our children with their homework, communicating with their teachers, or some even homeschool their children in order to spend a great amount of time educating their children themselves.  We even tell our kids that “this is their job they are to focus on”.  But what if a child comes h...

I enjoy reading books. Telephone Baptist Church has a wonderful library with a wonderful librarian that keeps everything organized and in most cases current. Lately, I found one of the current books written by a well-known Southern Baptist pastor in 2005 that would be similar reading to The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. I saw that I could tackle this book in a week or so, and found that I was the first one to check it out. Oh boy!! Until I got to the first chapter or "principle" if you will. I have found that throughout the years, I have tried to train my senses to throw up serious theological flags if I hear or read something against God's Word. In some instances I have been successful at it, then at other times, things can whiz by me or completely take me surprise. I am still working on that!! The place I read when I slammed on the brakes is: "Three days after the Crucifixion, He rose from the grave. Today He lives within those who pray a simple pray...

I must admit that through the years, I have collected many books to define what church is. The User Friendly Church, the Purpose Driven Church, Simple Church, recently Transformational Church, and many more. All telling us what the author's view of church from Scripture and how they relate to that view. It obviously was a defining moment in their life as they have written a book on those moments of knowledge and understanding. Gene Mim's writes in his book, The Kingdom-Focused Church, that the definition of a Kingdom-Focused Church is: (drum roll...please) It is a church that exists to transform unbelievers into Christlike believers and mature these believers into kingdom multipliers of the message of Christ. What activites of the church can you pull out of this definition? I can pull out presenting the gospel message to unbelievers, transforming unbelievers by teaching and preaching the Word, mature believers by understanding of Scripture and spiritual biblical discipline...