Deep Well Discipleship

WATCH YOUR STEP "Watch your step, there are land mines out here..." The words echoed in the mind of the Army Private. He had to be mindful of each and every move he made because one wrong step could be disastrous. As Christians Christ calls out to us "Watch your step, there are land mines out here..." His call is to another type of land mine, the land mine of sin and destruction of our testimony. Christ knows that as we walk in him there is one who looks to tempt us and destroy our testimony before others.  It is Satan's duty to "kill, steal, and destroy" (John 10:10). The desire of that serpent of old is to take our focus off of God and place it on ourselves, our circumstances, our situations, and keep us from focusing on Christ and our walk with him. This is the call of Christ to "watch your step... and be mindful of how we walk." Daily the danger exists of spiritual land mines and if we are not focused on Christ and walking with Him,

SEEKING SOLITUDE T he world is a very busy place.  It is full of noise, distraction, and competes for every moment of our time every moment of the day.  We are a busy people with something going on every second of the day.  We are hurried, harried, tired, ever moving, and getting busier by the moment.  Today's technology keeps us tightly knit to the world around us, we know at every moment who is happy, who is mad, who wished they were not at work, who wants to make something new, who is getting married, who just broke up, etc...  We can get calls, e-mails, texts, anywhere we go.  Truly finding a place of rest takes intentional focus. T his morning my wife called and asked me if I had ever noticed in Matthew 14:13 that prior to feeding the five thousand Jesus had withdrawn to a desolate place, a place of solitude.  She then prodded me further asking "Do we need to do this?  Do you need to do this?"  As a pastor and a lover of people this was a tough question, and

For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, “They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands." Nehemiah 6:9 (NASB) How often do we find ourselves discouraged, quitting the work we were called to because it seemed like the odds were against us? How often have we been distracted taking our eyes off of the divine call only to find ourselves trapped in the mundane busyness of the world? Our walk with Christ is often like Peters in Matthew 14:22-33, we start walking by faith and the fear creeps in, or the world whispers and we foolishly listen, and our footing fails because we take our eyes off of Christ. When God calls us He does so, not because we are the best or most perfect, but because He is. He calls us and equips us to do the work for His kingdom. When the work of Christ begins we find Satan, our flesh, the world all teaming up to spoil that calling. We start listening to all of the noise

He is listening... Most of us know 2 Chronicles 7:14, but today as I was meditating on this chapter it struck me that 2 Chronicles 7:15 is equally as powerful in its position found in this text. 2 Chronicles 7:15 reads "Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place." Solomon had prayed and sacrificed prior when the temple was dedicated to the LORD. It was not the words nor the sacrifices of Solomon but the position of his heart that truly cried out to the LORD. His devotion and love that drew the attention and response found in verses 11-22. Verses that give conditional guidance and strict warning about spending time with the LORD. Warnings that clearly state even if great catastrophe comes, you must spend time with me, you must keep this very same heart you have today (1 Chr 7:13, 17-18) Many of us take prayer and time to read the Word as something we do when we have time. Our prayers are weak, given only at

Praise and Prison "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them." Acts 16:25 One of the commercials that I remember as a child is the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercial where two people accidentally bump into each other. One has chocolate and one has peanut butter and surprise - they find two great tastes that go great together. I submit to you that they are right, I love Reese's and yes chocolate & peanut butter are excellent together. In the book of Act's we find two things that shouldn't go together - praise and prison. Now praise is an incredible thing but prison, not so good. In Acts 16 we find Paul and Silas in prison (verse 24). They are locked up, not for some great crime, but for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We find them not merely locked up but the are chained up within the prison as well. Now for most of us we would be absolutely miserable. We

“I have been reading the Bible and recently I have found that there is more than one way to heaven.”  The man leading the Bible study at church smartly said to those that were listening.  “I have seen a greater way by which God saves and Jesus is just one of those ways by which God has ordained to save his creation.”  The class sat silently and in awe of this man who had taught them for many years.  The questions began “Did God really reveal this to him?”  “Is there really another way to God besides Jesus Christ?”  For years the class had been taught that Jesus was the only way and now one of their beloved teachers, along with a few others, was telling them that this was not the case.  They went home questioning and wondering about this new piece of evidence saying, “Can this really be true?” Today there is an outbreak of the above happening in churches across America and this is nothing new, this pitch is as old as satan.  It is the greatest lie ever told and the unf

MAN UP Part 3 of 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 Why are there so few men left in the world?  As a culture the growth from boyhood to manhood has taken a detour through the maze of adolescence; adolescence (as a word or descriptive phrase) was not even heard of or used in the development of children until the twentieth century and at that time was used to describe a child between the ages of 13 and 19, presumably the age of one in high school.  Today, in stark contrast, some argue adolescence starts at the age of 10 and may not stop until the age of 24 or older.  Even more shocking is that today more women are in colleges then men and boys are staying longer and longer in an adolescent state and fewer men are emerging.  Perhaps today more than ever Christian young men need to be reminded to act like men, not boys, and certainly not adolescents, but men. Paul called out the men in church of Corinth and said ACT LIKE MEN.  The understanding of the word here is not merely in th

STAND FIRM We began a study on 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 yesterday with the first part of the verse in focus, “be watchful”.  Today we move on to the next 5 words of the text, which are “stand firm in the faith.”  What does it mean to stand firm?  When I served in the military stand firm meant holding your ground against enemy attack.  When you were standing firm in the face of danger.  The text here is very much the same.  The greek word steko ( steko) literally means to stand firm in faith, to be constant, to persevere, to remain steadfast, to continue in a state, to be persistent . Paul gives a good antithesis to standing firm in 1 Corinthians 6:18 when he tells the church in Corinth to “Flee immorality” to literally continue to fun from it, and keep running from it.  As much as the word flee means to run as hard and fast as we can away from something steko, stand firm, means to be immovable.  Within the text of 1 Corinthians 16 Paul tells us to stand firm, but he gives

BE WATCHFUL I believe that Christ gives us tangible means through His word in which we are to walk in Him.  Over the next 5 days I am going to try and unravel 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 because I do believe it is a powerful verse in the life of the believer.  It is one that gives us direction, instruction, and truly sets a course for our lives.  It is practical theology that we can grab ahold of.  It is applicable to our lives on daily basis.  It is tangible and livable. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14."Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love."  As Christians, especially Christian men, we are to: Be Watchful Stand Firm In The Faith Act Like Men Be Strong  Let All You Do Be Done In Love Lets look closely at this verse and start with the beginning – Paul tells the church in Corinth to “Be watchful”.  What does that mean? Let’s start with the word “Be”.  Th