Growth

Observable

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Observable

Christian leadership, specifically discipleship, is meant to be done in such a way that our life in the grace of Jesus is meant to be observable. Jesus had a circle of friends who could observe his life. Paul had a circle of friends who could observe his life. These were invited in and challenged. Timothy while in Ephesus received a letter from Paul in which Paul challenges him to pursue this pattern of life:

12Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1 Timothy 4:12-16

Is your progress observable? By anyone? What adjustments would be required in your life for at least a few others to see your progress and journey with you?

This is the disciple-makers challenge!

The Source of All that We Admire in Christ Jesus

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When Jesus entered into our relationships, taking on flesh, He continued to live int he communion of the Father and the Holy Spirit. Living in the midst of our brokenness Jesus was subjected to the same temptations we are. Yet He did not sin. Why not? He lived loved. He lived fully in the reality of His Father’s love for Him. Check out what happened at Jesus’ baptism:

21Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Luke 3:21-22

Jesus spoke of His communion with the Father and the Spirit. In John 5 Jesus connects even the authority of what He did to the reality of being loved by the Father.

19So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.
John 5:19-20

Live loved.

Stuck at a crossroads.

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I remember feeling stuck!

Not sure what to do next I worked myself into a corner trying to figure out God’s will. Discernment is often a process. We can get impatient. But I also felt stuck with the foreboding sense of fear: “I might make the wrong decision.” It was a major decision. Literally. What was I going to study?

The following verse from Psalm 37 helped me to relax and trust that God would use, shape and change the internal desires of my heart as my heart took delight in Him. All of Psalm 37 is helpful in setting a course of life during these periods of decision and transition.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord! I began to know that I could make a decision. Aim at something. And trust that God would lead me to the next decision.

To make God my delight is turn the affections of my soul first to Jesus and to trust that He will guide me into how to relate people, the stuff of earth, and myself.

What did you learn about God?

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What did you learn about God from this text?

I had to cut short a “discovery study” with a new believer this week. We stopped with this question for the following text.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation of our sins.”  1 John 4:7-10

Love is from God.

We can be born of God.

We can know God.

God is love.

God makes His love known.

God made His love known by sending Jesus, His Son, into the world.

God wants us to live through Jesus.

God loves us even when we do not love Him.

God loved us when He sent Jesus as the sacrifice to take away our sins.

 

All this generated some joy for me.

And this text causes me to ask, really, what’s the evidence of knowing God?

Love.

Sometimes I think I need an enlarged vision of love.

Therefore, I need a clear vision of God. So I will fix my attention on Jesus, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

Key Verse ~ Work

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The Gospel redeems you and your work.

23Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.   Colossians 3:23-24

Our relationship to work is to flow from our relationship with Jesus. Therefore what we do is an offering to Him.

What’s your work? Who’s your work for? “Working only for the man” or the dollar, can rob work of meaning, generate bitterness in relationships, and truly make us slaves of rotten bosses and systems.

What’s your work? Do it heartily for Him. Let Him redeem your time, energy, passion, skills, and heart.

Study heartily for the Lord.

Solve problems heartily for the Lord.

Serve heartily for the Lord.

Lead heartily for the Lord.

Teach heartily for the Lord.