Category Archives: Spiritual Growth

Evangelism and Discipleship

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“Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.” John 4:36 ESV[1]

Read John 4:35-38 & Matthew 9:35-38

Several years ago, in a class I took, I heard an illustration equating evangelism and discipleship to the two wings of an airplane. The premise was, just as an aircraft must have two equal wings to fly, ministries must include both outreach activities and Biblical training sessions for those ministries to be balanced and effective. I related to that illustration and often referred to it as my team and we planned activities or evaluated the effectiveness of our ministry. But as time has passed, I have begun to see problems with this illustration.

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For Power and Direction

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And when it was day, He departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought Him and came to Him, and would have kept Him from leaving them, but He said to them, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”  Luke 4:42-43 ESV1

Read Mark 1:35-39 & Luke 4:42-44

Jesus is the Son of God. The Angel Gabriel said it (see Luke 1:30-33). The Apostle Peter confessed it (see Matthew 16:16). Jesus Himself claimed it when He said He was equal with God (see John 8:56-58), that when one saw Him, he/she saw God (see John 14:6-9), that He had the authority to judge and give eternal life (see John 5:21-23), and that He and the Father were One (see John 10:30-33). But did you ever notice that Jesus called Himself the Son of Man?

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Jesus Prayed

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He [Jesus] went out to the mountain to pray, and all night He continued in prayer to God.  Luke 6:12 ESV1

Read Luke 6:12-49

Why did Jesus make the effort to climb a mountain and take the time to spend all night in prayer? Was it because He had an important decision to make in selecting twelve of His closest disciples to become His apostles? Because that is what He did immediately following this time of prayer. Their names are listed in verses 13-15 of Luke 6.

Was it because He knew He was going to have to be empowered to conduct a particularly draining time of ministry the following day? Because, at the foot of the mountain, He was met by a great crowd of people. Luke 6:19 tells us, “All the crowd sought to touch Him, for power came out from Him and healed them all.”

Or did He spend all that time in prayer, because He was planning on giving a very long and radical speech that would challenge the most basic beliefs of his audience? Verses 20 through 42 of Luke 6 record a sermon which names as blessings situations most everyone would consider curses, pronounces woes upon those things for which humans constantly strive, and commands that one must love one’s enemies and stop judging others. (Matthew records an even longer version of this sermon in chapters 5-7 of his book).

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The Great Exchange

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“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God…whoever believes in [the Son of God] may have Eternal Life.” John 3:5 & 15 ESV1

Read John 3:1-21

Nicodemus, a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, and a teacher of Israel, came to Jesus under the cover of night. Was he trying to hide, and if so, from whom? The other Jewish religious leaders? the Jewish people? Was he concerned about his reputation, or was he just a very busy man trying to seek an uninterrupted audience with another very busy Man, and late one evening, the opportunity provided itself? We don’t know why Nicodemus came to Jesus because before he even got through his introduction, Jesus cut him off.

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Know Your God

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Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:23-24 ESV1

Some things about God are just unknowable for us as humans. We don’t have the vocabulary to explain them. We don’t even have the brainpower to understand them.

But some things about God are knowable for us. It is God’s desire for us to understand and know Him, so He has given us His Word, and He shows up in our circumstances. We can come to know God on a deeper level by studying the Names by which He identifies Himself in Scripture. God’s Name reveals His character and demonstrates His ways. “The Name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10). “Those who know [God’s] Name will put their trust in [God]” (Psalm 9:10). David praised God saying, “You have exalted above all things Your Name and Your Word” (Psalm 138:2). So, let’s take some time to search God’s Word for His Names.

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Tackling Temptation

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Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. Matthew 4:1 ESV1

Read Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, & Luke 4:1-13

Temptation is bad, isn’t it? Why then was Jesus led by the Spirit into temptation (see Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:12, and Luke 4:1)? We are supposed to plead with God not to lead us into temptation (see Matthew 6:13). And the Scriptures tell us God “tempts no one” (James 1:13b). Yet, God, through the Holy Spirit, led Jesus right into it. Why?

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A Child of God

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Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”                Matthew 3:8-9 ESV1

Read Matthew 3:1-12

In the time in which Jesus walked the Earth there were groups of very religious people who were absolutely sure that they, above others, were right with God. They studied the Scriptures, followed very high standards of holiness, and taught others to do the same. Two of these religious groups were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Shortly before Jesus began His earthly ministry, his close relative, John the Baptist, was preparing the way for Jesus by preaching, “‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 3:2). A great number of people from the region believed John’s message. “[They] were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:6). Presumably, because they were serious about matters of faith, “many Pharisees and Sadducees [were also] coming to [John’s] baptism, [and] he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come’” (Matthew 3:7)? Why was John so rude to those wanting to do the right thing?

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