Spiritual Life & Growth
Biblical teaching on the normal Christian birth into spiritual life and the normal Christian life of ongoing spiritual growth – a resource for discipleship.
Discipleship
eBooks
Apostles’ Teaching, The
Acts 2:42 tells us that following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the Christ Followers of the primitive church “continually devoted” themselves to “the apostles’ teaching and fellowship”. In this article we consider the content, the nature, and the goal of apostolic teaching. What did the apostles teach? In accord with the Lord’s commission, they taught everything Jesus taught them – namely, teaching ABOUT Christ contained in the Old Testament, and teaching OF Christ contained
Abide in the Vine
By considering the context in John’s gospel where Jesus told His disciples to “abide in Me”, we can better understand what it means to Abide in The Vine. We can get insight into WHY Jesus exhorted His disciples in this way shortly before His arrest, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. There is much to learn about “abiding in the Vine” but we can begin by making this clear and simple deduction: Without abiding in Him, we will not be able to love
Christ-centered Discipleship & Equipping Ministries
Before His ascension, Jesus told His disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples….” Since it takes the authority of Christ to make a disciple of Christ, authentic Equipping Ministries will, by nature of the case, share the life of Christ – that is, they are Christ-centered, disciple-making relationships through which Christ is revealed and relationship with Christ is nurtured. In his Letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul tells us that
Quo Vadis
God is always moving forward in His kingdom plans and purposes. He never moves backward. And for those who love Him, He never stops moving in our lives for His glory. But to continue moving on with God “from glory to glory” requires our living “from faith to faith”. It takes an act of faith to begin walking in “newness of life”; and it will take continuous acts of faith to continue walking in “newness of life” – namely, to
A Terrifying Thing: Falling into the Hands of the Living God
This message deals with the following topics: The Discipline of the Lord, The Judgment of God, His Judgment on His Household, His Judgment on Individual Believers, as well as “Suffering in the Flesh”, “Ceasing from Sin”, “Self-Discipline”, “Pursuing Holiness”, and “Seeing God”.
Forsaking All to Follow Jesus
What Does a God-centered life look like? In this message, we look at what “forsaking” means, what “all” means, and what “following Jesus” means. The impetus for writing this message came from observing the spirit of materialism in our current generation – even among God’s people. The message identifies this materialism, and discusses Self-centeredness, Man-centeredness, and the love of this World. The Way of the Cross is discussed as the path to God-centeredness. The goal put forth is to live
Vineyard of the Lord, The
Using the scriptural word picture of The Vineyard of the Lord, this article takes a look at the current condition of the Church. In response to this, it then takes another look at the commission of the Church, addressing various aspects of discipleship all in light of the New Covenant, with a particular focus on the Christ-centeredness of apostolic teaching and apostolic fellowship.
Husbandman, The
A presentation of the disciple-maker as “Cultivator”, through the use of word pictures of The Husbandman.
Facing the Future
The key words in the title give the subject matter. There is a fact which we all must FACE; and that is: the FUTURE is coming. Whether the prognosis is good or bad – whether we want it to come or not – the FUTURE is coming – we must FACE IT. What is in the FUTURE? Jesus already gave us the answer: TRIBULATION. The scriptures tell us that God has His purpose in TRIBULATION. The future will require FAITH.