you're called, but do you know it?

If you're an authentic believer/follower/disciple of Jesus Christ, then you have been commissioned...you have been called to make disciples...wherever you are.

I'm not talking about necessarily vocational ministry. I'm talking about engaging whoever might be around you with the Gospel.

When I was in High School, I was trying to reach my student/peers in the FCA and in evening and summer Bible studies.

When I was in College, I was involved in College ministries, and the local church...looking for opportunities to move people closer...to play my part...in moving people closer to Christ and to encourage those already in Him to grow and to engage in reaching those around them.

When I was a young family man, it was ministry in local churches, teaching and leading the young married Sunday School classes, starting men's Bible studies, meeting with men one-on-one in mentoring relationships.

In business, I used the resources I had, and the relationships I made, as a platform for ministry...to peers, employees, vendors, younger men in business, ...you get the point.

Now, it looks like I am going to make the jump to full-time vocational ministry, which will have it's own set of challenges and opportunities.

I'm not writing this here to brag about my exploits. They're really not that impressive. But, I do want to encourage you to see in practical terms, that the Lord has called you to make disciples...wherever you are. Look for the opportunities. Commit to following the Lord's commands in obedience.

If you're in college, are there opportunities to get involved with younger kids? Are there opportunities to get involved with your peers on campus? Do you need to get involved with an existing college ministry on campus or at your local church? Do you need to start something new? (I'm not talking about sitting in a large room singing some songs and listening to a speaker once a week...I'm talking about actively engaging in making disciples...being one first, and then doing your part in God's plan and effort to reach others...the lost...those who aren't going to church, etc.)

If you're in the business world, are you looking for opportunities to engage and to reach out to the people around you?

Are you actively involved in your local church? Are you being equipped for effective ministry? Are you purposefully encouraging and equipping others?

the courage of conviction

had an email exchange today with a man who was a seminary professor at a seminary that I thought was very conservative, with a high view of Scripture, who recently resigned because the seminary is now actively promoting an egalitarian stance...women as elders, and pastors.

It is discouraging to hear that this particular institution is capitulating to the culture in this way.

It is encouraging though to hear that at least one man is willing to put himself at risk in order to stand for Biblical conviction.

life out on the radical edge

I've just been listening to a pastor's testimony about a trip he made where he met up with several Korean Christians who had been kidnapped by the Taliban. When all these believers had all their things taken from them, and they knew that things were going to get rough, they somehow managed to hang on to one pocket Bible. They tore that Bible into 25 parts so that each of them would have a little piece of the Word to read it and get some encouragement from it. Ultimately, a couple of them lost their lives...pastors.

Man...I can hardly choke back the emotion as I even write this now. That's life out on the radical edge...following Jesus Christ...putting yourself - your life, your livelihood - completely at risk for Him, for His Gospel...willing to die...willing to be abused, ridiculed, beat up, marginalized, ignored for His sake. It's intense.

I can't explain to you what it's like to be in a place where you fully understand and have confidence in God's sovereignty, and yet, know full well that it might be His plan and His purpose for you to suffer.

I can't explain what it's like to live through things where you are pushed absolutely to your limit...and then pushed farther...where it's just you and God and the pavement...nowhere else to turn but dependence on Him.

I can't explain what it's like to know that the next bold words out of your mouth about Christ could very well bring some kind of reprisal.

I can't explain what it's like to know that your family is fully in the hands of the Lord, depending on Him, and on His Body to meet their most basic needs, and then to see the Lord provide, faithfully through these people whose love is motivated by Christ.

The boldness, the fellowship with Him that those trials bring, are fantastic. Your life is purified. So many of the things...the affections of this world...are shaken loose. The boldness and the confidence in Him, the hatred for sin...all the changes you go through are crazy. How does that happen apart from suffering?

...even for Kings

"First of all, then, I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people, even for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim 2:2-4 NET)

Don't have to like their policies.
Do have to pray for them.

read Romans 1 lately?

Rom 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts44 were darkened.
Rom 1:22 Although they claimed45 to be wise, they became fools
Rom 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings46 or birds or four-footed animals47 or reptiles.
Rom 1:24 Therefore God gave them over48 in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor49 their bodies among themselves.50
Rom 1:25 They51 exchanged the truth of God for a lie52 and worshiped and served the creation53 rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones,54
Rom 1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women55 and were inflamed in their passions56 for one another. Men57 committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Rom 1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God,58 God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.59
Rom 1:29 They are filled60 with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with61 envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips,
Rom 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers,62 heartless, ruthless.
Rom 1:32 Although they fully know63 God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die,64 they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.65

what's next?

Watching the election results come in.

Just keep thinking about Romans 1. We've systematically rejected God and pushed Him out of every possible place in society...education, government, the arts...even the church.

wondering what's next for our nation.

John Piper on the Election

pay attention to how you live and what you teach...

"Be conscientious about how you live and what you teach. Persevere in this, because by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you." 1 Ti 4:16 NET

devoted to what in ministry?

Acts 6:4

"...but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word..."

the pulpit

Bruce Thielman...

"...the pulpit calls those annointed to it like the sea calls it's sailors..."