Jesus Disciples

Jesus Disciples

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Called to a Relationship with God. The roots of biblical discipleship go deep into the fertile soil of God's calling. That calling is expressed in the pattern of divine initiative and human response that constitutes the heart of the biblical concept of covenant, manifested in the recurrent promise, "I will be your God, and you shall be my people."
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; John 8:31

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Is It "Rat Christianity" or We Do That Because It Is Right? Is the only reason we "obey" God's rules is to get a reward? Even rats can do that.	Commit to the Lord Is it perverse to believe that God will grant our fervent wishes carte blanche – whatever?
Book Learning We prize "book learning." Is it the only and the most reliable source of Spiritual knowledge?	Resolution Promises, promises is that all there is?
The Scramble for the Head Table Why do we try so hard to get the advantage over our brothers and sisters in the faith?	Faith/Works This new strategy must help churchgoers identify what is necessary for them to advance along the "Faith/Works Continuum.
Be Still Relax, to stop struggling so much, to leave matters to God	Who Am i God's conversation with Moses
Apostles In selecting the twelve, was Jesus singling out these few to be an elite class within the church?	Curb Your Advice How seriously should someone take the "advice" of a Christian and accept salvation when there is no telling him from anyone else?
The Fifty Minute Hour The average Christian makes appointments with God. We "pencil Him in;" "set aside time for Him" in our busy schedule.	And Make Disciples Does a disciple "graduate?" Is there a point when we have learned sufficient that we may stop?
See Them As Jesus What an example Jesus set not only with what He said, but also by what He did?	It’s Never Too Sunday – Complain about the moral decay of our Nation and demand governmental action to stop it while we are watching desperate housewives and going to the liquor store on Sunday. That’s schizophrenic
Brethren – If we could just learn that we Christians are a family. If we could learn just that one thing.
It’s OK, We’re Not in Church Well, isn’t that how we act – one way in church and another out of church?	A Relational God – His Name Is Jesus How often do we as Christians use the phrase, “a personal relationship with Jesus?”
The Kingdom Syllogism Do we, like the ancient Israelites, want to look like, act like, be like everyone else?	The Jesus Paradigm It doesn't seem our plans for the world and universe are working; what might His be?
He is Patient for Our Sake He would that not one would be lost.	If You Continue in My Word And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God
The Reformation of the Fruit of the Spirit Can the music emanating from most churches be described as "dough," come to me?"	Thy Kingdom Come Is all we have to do is sit around until we’re "caught up"
Get the "Lay" out of Ministry Is the day is over an ordained minister of Word and sacrament in every church	The Outcome Is Already Known In doubt about the future? Don't be!
Ich Und Du (I and Thou) What is this love we are to strive for?	Ambition If you can dream it, should you do it?
Its God's Plan for My Life When we say it do we know it? How?	Preach the Gospel When is preaching the Gospel second best?
Building the Body or the Body Building Does the "church" help us disciple or do members build buildings?	Our Prayer Lives How much do we really believe in the effectiveness of prayer?
Our "If-Then" God Do we really think we are in a position to bargain with God?	Is the Christian Life a Journey filled With Good Fortune? We, above all, are so very blessed. How could we want for anything?
Pride We all need to be "empty" waiting for the urging of the Holy Spirit	In The Foot Or In the Head? We Christians are famous for "shooting our wonded."
Our Purpose, Our Mission Why the Disciple Newsletter exists. The only reason for its existence.	Get the "I" Out And The "Him" In Is there a new breed of "self-centered Christians?"
Your Insecurity is Showing We spend most of our lives seeking approval from others.	Who Is Our Enemy? It does not seem that hatred is to be in our emotional vocabulary
How Important are Relationships? In the face of the "mega church" and "arena crusades," can we really claim Christianity is a relationship-based faith?	Your Eyes Shall Be Opened It seems we don’t sin once in a while, we don’t "backslide" now and then, but that we are, by our very nature sin.
Is My Name Earl? The contrast between the "My Name is Earl/Horatio Alger" infection of our American Culture and the truly Christian message is overwhelming.	I Did It My Way "Eight in 10 Americans—including 68 percent of evangelicals—believe that more than one faith can be a path to salvation"
Faith and Reason And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive	Mindless Christianity – the attitude before His throne that "woe is me, my life is so meager I have so little can’t you give me more?"
Mindless Christianity II How much of what we do is "vain repetition?"	What Goes Around, Comes Around Are we so naïve to believe we can deceive God?
Is That Enough? The world’s pattern of religious affiliation remains virtually unchanged. Why?	Holy Communion It is an interesting conundrum that Christianity is a singular individual experience in a unified body of believers.
The Lost Art of Humility When we think we are, we aren't	Extraordinary Christians Or at least some act and think as if they were. Perhaps they should be called "saints"
Parables Why did He speak in parables?	Conundrum Stuck, the average Christian, like the average Jew in Jesus day is uninvolved
Truth About Discipleship What is a “disciple” anyway. The chances are we first think of the Twelve original ones (well, maybe 11) and the chances are we first think of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (what?) would have some difficulty naming the rest.	Be Careful What You Ask For Gluttony has been elevated to a fundamental right of every Christian
Superstars Do who we consider our "super stars" tell us (and others) something about what we consider important?	Top of the Heap – Explores if it is getting to the top of the heap that should be the purpose that drives us or exactly what the heap is made of.
What If It Were True? What would the world be like if we all tried to be disciples?	I Felt Called Into Ministry Our ministry just might be who we are with and what we are doing right now.
Conquering Heroes Who comes to mind as the champion we wish to discover in ourselves?	Pathos And the "lust" is a desire or craving of other things, not just for persons of the opposite sex.
Are Disciples Parrots? Did they simply repeat what they were told to say/write?	Fellowship Isn't this another name for Christianity?
How Can I Get Any Work Done With Your Constant Interference? - A traffic gridlock will show the difficulty of bearing His "burden."	Servanthood What purpose(s) drives our lives?
If It Walks Like a Duck – Sometimes we Christians live in a “Let’s Pretend” world pretending things are as we want them to be rather than what they really are.	Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth – With all the different points of view present in Christianity, how are we to know truth from fiction?
Complacent Christianity Time to wake up and smell the roses	On Love and War Our first reaction to an insult is usually to insult back; when hit to hit back, when hurt, to hurt back. Who can blame us? But is that as it should be?
Under The Bridges Of The Santa Ana River Charity begins where?	Do We Cheat Our "Boss?" First, we have to figure out who our "boss" really is.
The Purpose that Drives Us - Sharing If we love our neighbors as we are supposed to, won't we share the Gospel with them?	Super Christian Instead of resisting the lusts of life, we are being taught to seek after them.
Discipleship Training – Explores the 12 elements of True Discipleship	Help Wanted – God doesn’t need our help, He wants it.
Dead Canaries How do we “preach the Gospel” other than by example.	Catalytic Converters Christian "Converters" work. or should work, behind the scene just like the automotive type
Poof! What ever happened to the Ark of the Covenant?
Saved Jesus tells us that not everyone who calls out His name is saved.	I Press Toward The Goal To Win The Prize Where we wind up does depend on what prize we are pressing toward
A Testimony Against Them There were those who rejected Jesus and His Disciples. We should expect no more.	The Financial Benefits of Spiritual Gifts Did God provide Spiritual Gifts for us to profit from their use?
Charity Begins At Home That's true on several levels. Most fundamentally it should begin within our church family	You Can't Do Church Alone By its very nature, Christianity is a community, a fellowship. It just "can't be done alone."
The Gap The history of Ancient Israel is a history of distrusting God's Word. Are we any better?	There Are No Favorites God really does not play favorites.
I Baptize Thee Who is doing the baptizing and what are people being baptized into?	The Truth Truth isn’t like power, fame and fortune that we must seek after and strive for. We have it. Then why is it so hard to find?
Void As In Null And Void It’s inescapable that some will attempt to reconcile Scriptures and science. But as one of the early advocates of the Gap Theory recognized the "Church is weakened when man’s philosophies are used to interpret God’s Word.	The Disciple's Workshop How is it we argue so vehemently against works as though it were some deadly poison?
Winners or Whiners? Do the "blab it and grab it" preachers have it right who the winners and whiners are? People are betting eternity on the answer.	The Helpless American Syndrome We just sit around expecting everything to be done for us. Is it a false hope?
Peace And Prosperity There are growing numbers of Christians having difficulty understanding that in this life we will not find peace and we will not find riches.	Troubled Waters Contrary to what so many soothsaying sermons tell us troubles and pain and suffering are to be expected in this life
Peace Be Unto You With these words Jesus the Christ commissioned His followers to continue the work He started.	A Certain Man Christians of today are fig trees enjoying a special place chosen for us and singled out for special care.
Why Deals with the age old question of bad things happening to good people.	Perfect Practice We can and often do practice our mistakes and we become perfectly wrong.
Covetousness What was so upsetting to Jesus in the "Court of the Gentiles?" Isn’t that just "business as usual?	The Holy Catholic Church and the Communion of Saints How is it we can pretend to love the world when we don’t even show respect for members of our own congregations?
Charity Does how we treat the poor say something about our level of Sanctification?	Sell Out How differently do we treat Jesus than Judas?
No Difference What we find is that Christians outside of church (sometimes even in church) are indistinguishable from the herd.	I Want It All And I Want It Now If those "blab-it-and-grab-it" preachers really knew and understood the Word.
What Are Our Life's Ambitions? What is "significance, a "meaningful life," or enjoying the "good things in life" for a Christian?	The Wrong Way Is Christianity supposed to be a collection of "rugged individualists" who stand alone unconcerned about the welfare (spiritual and material) of others of their "faith?"
Prophets Where did all the Prophets go a long time passing?	On Bottles Needles and Things How is it that so many Christians appear to admire, and in too many instances emulate the defunct behavior of "Hollywood stars" and other celebrities?
Principles For Life How would Jesus respond if He saw us just sitting in church knowing that we thought that was all we had to do?	Go Into All The World Jesus didn't just commission the eleven.
The Star of the Show Those who seek the head table are revealing their inadequacies.	Speak No Evil "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot."
Lord, Lord Those who yell the loudest, thump their chests the hardest, proclaim their faith the most boisterously, may have need of a fire extinguisher.	Manna What we put off until tomorrow tells us what is important in our lives.
Why Do We Go To Church? Is it commitment or just an old habit? If it's a commitment, a commitment to what? If it's an old habit, go back to sleep	Live Like A King Now! Some think that God wants us to live like kings now, in this corruptible world
Enthronement As Christians, weren't we to get over all of that "fluff." the pomp and circumstance, the sound and fury that means nothing? We haven't.	What Is Our Focus? What is our prayer life like? What does it tell us about our Christian Life?
Outsourcing It affects practically every aspect of our lives, including our Christian experiences - or the lack thereof.	Volunteerism They set the example
Duplicity For Christians, there should not be any so-called "moral dilemmas."	Cracks and Termites Like a house or any building, cracks in the foundation and termites will destroy the structure.
Division Part of the reason for all the divisiveness in Christianity as that we have been too long on "baby food."	Fellow Disciples We often overlook the most obvious way to share the Gospel. How we treat our fellow brothers and sisters in the faith.
Why Study Anyway If every Christian studied and showed himself approved, a workman that was not ashamed and who rightly dividing the word of truth, who knew the Scriptures and could discern the Truth. Would we have such moral questions as confronts this Nation today?	Chukkim (Because He Said So) Why do we need to look for any other reason to obey Him?
A NARROW PATH There isn’t a more poignant testimony to the power of Jesus’ saving grace in a person’s life than when he lays it down.	Half the Story Since we are already saved, is it time to sit back and relax?
Imagine The Shape We're In We worry so much about our waistlines when there are weightier matters of concern	Inert - Or Poor As Church Mice Where did Christians ever get the idea they were to passively accept every word spoken from the pulpit as the Truth? Oh yes, from the pastor - who else?
My How Time Flies Before you know it, sooner than you think, it will be too late to do anything about it.	Discernment Do we still need it or with all the seminaries now, is it outdated?
The Good Life If marginal Christians could just figure out what the "good life" really is, the world would be a better place.	Let the Good Times Roll! This article raises the matter of prayer content. Do we sometimes get so wrapped up in our asking that we forget to say thanks?
Paul, The Archetypical Conversion The conversion of Paul should be an example, a lesson, to us all.	A Strong and Steady Faith How easy it is to ignore an infinite God and place our trust in our puny mental capacities. We want to reduce Him, the Great I Am, to our level. Look around, does that seem prudent?

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