And in January...
I know that every month I do this, and it's probably jumbley and overwhelming, but a lot of the reason I write these is for myself. I don't usually revisit journals, so this is a way of taking notes on important things that I will hopefully check again some day. Of course my hope is that you are blessed by it too, and also that you check out these awesome sermons I've been listening to.
These are all from this series, which I haven't finished yet. It's probably the best stuff I've found on that particular website. All by Gene Warr.
- People often measure their Christianity by what they do not do, but love always finds a way of expressing itself.
- Loving God begins with an act of the will.
- God is more concerned with availability than ability.
- The reason more people aren't drawn to Christ is becasue people don't see Him as He is, but a character of Him in us.
- The fruit of the Spirit is love, the first word in the list - all the others are forms of love.
- Teaching
- Training: skilled in the word & ministry
- Building: impart character
- A qualified laborer:
- Knows what to do
- Activity is no substitute for productivity
- How do do it: skill
- Committed to the task
- Why make disciples?
- Jesus' name needs to accomplish this -- it not, don't do it.
- You only have to be one step ahead of your disciple
A Disciple Is...
- A learner: humble, teachable, hungry
- Born again
- Loves God
- Under Christ's authority: just like Jesus is under God's. It's a matter of choice.
- Abide in the Word: take it in, ponder and live it. If you believe it's God's word, then obey it!
- Loves the brethern: servant heart, one in the spirit = peace. Positive action. The object of all instruction is love.
- Bears fruit: manifestation of the Holy spirit & people coming to Christ.
- Willing to forsake people
- Positively identified with Christ
- Willing to forsake possessions.
- There are degrees of discipleship, so don't quit if you don't have all 10 of these.
- How to be panic-proof in the face of adversity...believe these things:
- God is soverign
- God knows what is happening
- God has all the power
- God loves me
- Are you growing in faith?
- Do you trust God more today than you used to?
- Growing in faith requires:
- God's word
- Praising God
- Exercising faith: applying his word and promises.
- You must take root downward before bearing fruit upward.
- You must first be a disciple to make disciples.
- God selects men, not us. Our selection might not be God's.
- Take what you have, where you are & do what you can
- Characteristics:
- Availability
- Heart for God
- Love for people
- Faithful
- Recruit a disciple to Jesus, not to the church, the ministry or yourself.
- Dangers:
- Pride
- Playing "junior Holy Spirit"
- Make sure he knows he's not doing me or God a favor
- Help includes the whole man
- You have to let them leave if they want
- What motivates?
- Convictions
- Needs: real needs, felt needs, unconscious needs
- Goals
- What do we need to motivate?
- Motivating mindset: motivation = thought + plan + action
- Right motive
- Right attitude
- Recognize everyone's infinite worth and potential
- Recognize everyone's continuous need for motivation
- Always love: love produces loyalty
- In working with people, always love them and never give up
- Listen, probe, retreat, pray
- Build convictions in disciples
- Change someone's mindset with: humility, empathy, understanding, involvement
- Ask him to do stuff based on convictions (i.e. - bible study on his topic)
- Meet his needs
- Remove emotional road blocks
- Have a clear game plan with where he is to go
- Build confidence by giving him a job to do & let him make mistakes
- Sometimes you ahve to create a need in him to teach him something
- Reward & punishment:
- Equip him to do the job
- Be fair, impartial & consistent
- Empathy is key
- Hindrances to motivation
- Lack of concern
- Lack of personal contact
- Lack of listening
- Lack of thinking/ planning
- Measure success by individual progress
- Motivation never ends
- Motivation is a two-way street
- Your own life is the most important tool you have
- Teaching:
- Develop the quiet-time
- Necessity of the word
- How to pray:
- Adoration
- Confession
- Thanksgiving
- Supplication/ Intercession/ Petition
- Praying for yourself is last!
- Evangelism: his testimony in 5 minutes or less
- Memorize verses
- Fellowship
- With Jesus
- Value of teamwork: protection (rarely fall into deep sin with others around), faith, peer pressure (in a good way)
- Follow-up: find his point of resistance and push him
- By example
- Teach him how to do a quiet-time by doing it with him
- Check his bible verse memory
- Get him in a bible study
- Have prayer with him
- Take him out on evangelism
- Expose him to others for cross-training
- Give him responsibility
- Trust God & him
- Create structured learning opportunities
- Arrange for resource people
- Possible problems:
- Zeal out of balance
- Don't make methods principals
- Pride, exclusivism
- Busyness in activities
- What to do when you're too busy:
- Write down everything I have to do
- Order them with how I think God would want them prioritized
- Cut off the bottom 3
- Repeat if necessary
- Ignoring spiritual gifts of the dude
- Pushing methods versus principals
I also listened to this, from Eric Arakawa at the Christian Surfers Conference:
Daniel's Extraordinary Spirit
- Attitude
- Faithful in his work
- Personal purity
- Consistent walk with God
I've also been listening to Ray Vander Laan sporadically, which is always a huge blessing. He really focuses on the Jewish roots of Christianity. There is a whole world of information we don't get to apply to scripture because we just don't know the culture of the time in which it was written. Ray Vander Laan really helps with that.
- "...you are a temple of the Holy Spirit..."
- "You" is plural, "temple" is singular.
- God lives in believers, in community -- we aren't meant to live alone!
- Jesus had a ministry of interruption
- Almost every notable thing He said or did was because of an interruption.
Comments
Post a Comment