Running with determination! Hebrews 12:1-4 By: Ysrael De la Cruz During the Olympics, athletes represent their nations or countries. These nations send their best athletes in their discipline to compete and bring honor to their countries. Following Jesus is spoken of in Scripture as entering a race. The moment you agreed to be a follower…
The folly of Relativism Judges 17:6 By Ysrael De la Cruz A worldview is the platform upon which you stand to make sense of the world. It is your mindset, outlook on life. Everyone has a worldview. Relativism teaches that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, historical or personal context…
If we truly wish to understand our mission as followers of Jesus, we must take a closer look at Jesus and how he reached people. Last week we talked about how Jesus is calling everyone to follow him, to become his disciple. Jesus’ first disciples were fishermen. Jesus said follow me and I will make teach you to catch people. Jesus calls people to follow him and to learn from him how to reach others with the message of the gospel.
Everyone believes in something or someone; our beliefs are the foundation in our lives, for what we do is driven by what we believe; in fact our values flow from those things we believe. We believe consciously (intentionally) or unconsciously (mechanically). However, you must understand that something is not true, just because you believe it to be true.
“A kingdom person” is the one willing to adjust his decisions to God’s decision even if God’s decision is not the one preferred.” (Tony Evans). Based on this definition a kingdom person is the one willing place God’s agenda over his/her own.
That definition is simple, the complicating part is knowing when my decisions are God’s decisions and not just my own. With every decision we make in God’s kingdom, we either help advance the kingdom or we hinder its advancement. Even in church we may hinder the kingdom of God from moving forward because we are not willing to adjust our expectations to God’s expectations.
There are a great number of people who claim to be Christians or followers of Christ, who think they can follow Jesus in their own way, in their own terms. This is the kind of people that Kyle Idleman calls “fans” of Jesus, not followers of Jesus. Francis Chan says it this way. “There are people who truly believe to be followers of Jesus but their lives look nothing like His”
Very often we wonder why some people grow faster than others; or why there are some who hardly grow in their faith. Scripture tells us why some people mature and others don’t. We have read that story many times; but I think we don’t see ourselves in it when we read it. It’s been around for two thousand years now. Wouldn’t you like to know what keeps people from growing? Why some grow at a faster rate than others? Jesus tells us the reason using a very common illustration. Farming or gardening. You know that a seed will not grow the same way on any soil in which you plant it. The condition of the soil is very important; it will determine the productivity of the seed. So also the condition of your heart will determine your growth.
Last week we talked about prayer. We discussed that Jesus modeled prayer and his followers were committed to it. We also learned that what most people know as the Lord’s prayer is truly a model prayer; a prayer given to his followers as a pattern or model. Prayer is not meant to be about meaningless repetitions.
