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January 10, 2008
Application Questions from "The Priority of Following Jesus"
Last week we talked about the priority of Discipleship. After looking at several passages it's hard to see how a North American Sunday morning, 1.5 hour long Christianity fits in to what Jesus was calling his followers to when he commissioned them, as well as at other different times when he called people to follow him. It's hard to come to any other conclusion but that Jesus calls his followers to an all or nothing approach to following him. Pastor Ed's challenge for us in 2008 is that we would surrender and give ourselves to this way of following Jesus. To that end, he suggested we consider the following questions on a regular basis....
Considering the fact that our lives will be interrupted in 2008, and that some of those interruptions will not feel good. How can we see those experiences as ones where Christ wants to grow us. To that end we should ask the following questions...
1. What are you going through right now, that God can use for your personal gain and his glory?
2. What do you need to do so that God is in control of those (your) circumstances?
3. What needs to happen, right now, so you can continue to grow deeper into Christ? (the way he commissioned us & asked us to and Paul reinforces)
4. How can others (in the Church help you in this? Christ makes it clear that this (discipleship) is a journey that isn't done alone, so what needs to happen in your life so that someone, or some people are helping you to follow Jesus the way he calls you to?
5. Is there anything that you have to drop because it's extra baggage weighing you down or even keeping you from the journey?
*The more honest and specific you are with your self in working through these, the greater the opportunity for God to show up and be free to rule in your life!
Posted by: ed