DISTINCTIVE DISCIPLESHIP: June 2014

Monday, June 30, 2014

Desperately Seeking in Prayer

Edward F. Lundwall, Jr.

Desperately Seeking in Prayer: Praying Psalm 28

Ps. 28:1 Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

Ps. 28: 6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

O my Lord, I cry to you in quiet desperation! Time is going by so rapidly, and my efforts to disciple others is progressing so slowly that I feel as if I have been dragged into pit of the failure and non-accomplishment. I truly want to do what you have commanded with all authority in Heaven and on Earth. I beseech you! Must my cries be vocal? Your Word does say that you search the hearts of men, and before we utter a word you know our motives, thoughts, and words completely.

O my father, I thank and praise you for the knowledge you have already given me. In teaching others Lord, teach me to express my thoughts simply so that they can understand quickly before they lose interest. Help me to know how to express these thoughts at the moment that they will have the most impact.

O, My Shepherd Savior, teach me your character and your ways of shepherding that I might be a shepherding scribe. O Lord Jesus, open doors of opportunity and enable me with the power of your Holy Spirit! Bear fruit through me before both I and the people who so desperately need to become disciples pass from the scene.

Thank You, Lord, for those who are doing something. It is a marvel of your grace! Be gracious to me and mobilize me. Then I shall be able to praise you for what you have completed through me and not simply for your blessings to others.

I hope in your mercy and grace; I preach this to others that you may be glorified in them, a testimony of your grace that both saves and sanctifies when people can see your answers. They cannot see my faith, nor be persuaded by my secret prayers. Hear my heart cries for then I can testify to the world that you, Lord God, and only you are my strength and shield.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Taking Your Spiritual Temperature

Edward F. Lundwall, Jr.

Vital to being a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, is checking the condition of our spiritual health on a regular basis. “And if any man thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man loves God, the same is known of him.” (1 Corinthians 8:2-3) Use this brief exercise to diagnosing your condition and relationship with God on a regular basis.

I. List and describe the five worse conflicts/sins with which you struggle.

Read 1 John 1:19

Visualize Jesus blood washing them away.

Read Revelation 20:12

Visualize the consequences and punishment you will not have to face with them washed away.

Read Psalm 50:23

Thank the Lord for providing such a gracious and merciful escape.

II. List and describe the five areas of your life which you want the Lord to change.

Read Psalm 139

Visualize ways you might use each area to give the Lord total credit (glory) and honor (praise).

III. Entrust each area to God knowing that He can and wills to bring blessing to and through them.

Read Luke 7:36-48

Imagine each area as an expensive and precious gift of ointment

Visualize yourself pouring it out on the Lord to transform and use.

Read John 4:21

Anticipate the beauty and blessing that God will bring out of what you have given Him.

True spiritual health is based on giving your all to and for the Person who loves you most completely, and whom you love the most. “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8, 9)

Celebrate God’s love for you and your love for Him by reading this old hymn aloud.

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;

For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;

My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,

And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;

I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,

And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;

And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,

I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;

I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

William R. Featherton, 1864

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Faith Facing Death

From a dear friend---

She took joy in teaching God's Word, so I am including her message to me as she senses death stealing into her cancer ridden body. This was perhaps her last lesson---rejoicing in the midst of the last process. May it bring blessing and reassurance that there can be joy in the face of death since it is the entering of eternity to live with our Lord Jesus Christ in His glory forever.

“Hey, Ed... I thought I'd better give you an update on my health. I have been getting steadily weaker this past couple of weeks, and can barely get up and walk across a room without having to sit down and rest for a few minutes, and it's getting harder and harder for me to breathe I suspect that my body is beginning to shut down and I think my time is getting very short. I just have no strength or energy at all. I'm going home soon, Brother! Glory Hallelujah!”

"Thou wilt make known to me

the path of life

In Thy presence

there is fullness of joy.’

In thy right hand

there are pleasures forever."

Psalm 16:11

What a tremendous message of faith! My wish is that we all can have such peace and joy when we know we are getting ready to leave this life. It is a wonderful modern illustration of 2 Timothy 1:12, “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

Monday, June 9, 2014

Preface to John Stott's The Radical Disciple

John Stott

Let me explain and justify the title of this book, The Radical Disciple.

First, why ‘disciple’?

It comes as a surprise to many people to discover that the followers of Jesus Christ are called ‘Christian’ only three times in the New Testament.

The most significant occurrence is Luke’s comment that it was in Syrian Antioch that Jesus’ disciples were first called ‘Christians’ (Acts 11:26). Antioch was known to be an international community. Consequently its church was an international community too, and it was appropriate that its members were called ‘Christians’ in order to indicate that their ethnic differences were overcome by their common allegiance to Christ.

The other two occurrences of the word ‘Christian’ supply evidence that it was beginning to come into common currency. So when Paul was on trial before King Agrippa and challenged him directly, Agrippa cried out to Paul, ‘Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?’ (Acts 26:28).

Then the apostle Peter, whose first letter was written against the background of growing persecution, found it necessary to distinguish between those who suffered ‘as a criminal’ and those who suffered ‘as a Christian’ (1 Peter 4:16); that is, because they belonged to Christ. Both words (Christian and disciple) imply a relationship with Jesus, although perhaps ‘disciple’ is the stronger of the two because it inevitably implies the relationship of pupil to teacher. During his three years of public ministry the Twelve were disciples before they were apostles, and as disciples they were under the instruction of their teacher and lord.

One wishes in some ways that the word ‘disciple’ had continued into the following centuries, so that Christians were self-consciously disciples of Jesus, and took seriously their responsibility to be ‘under discipline’.

My concern in this book is that we who claim to be disciples of the Lord Jesus will not provoke him to say again: ‘Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say?’ (Luke 6:46). For genuine discipleship is wholehearted discipleship, and this is where my next word comes in.

So, secondly, why ‘radical’? Since this is the adjective I am using to describe our discipleship, it is important to indicate the sense in which I am using it.

The English word ‘radical’ is derived from the Latin word radix, a root. Originally it seems to have been applied as a political label to people like the nineteenth-century politician William Cobbett and their extreme, liberal and reformist views. But from this it came to be applied generally to those whose opinions went to the roots and who were thoroughgoing in their commitment.

We are now ready to put the noun and the adjective together and to ask our third question, namely why ‘radical disciple’? The answer is obvious. There are different levels of commitment in the Christian community. Jesus himself illustrated this in what happened to the seeds he describes in the Parable of the Sower. The difference between the seeds lay in the kind of soil which received them. Of the seed sown on rocky soil Jesus said, ‘It had no root.’

Our common way of avoiding radical discipleship is to be selective; choosing those areas in which commitment suits us and staying away from those areas in which it will be costly. But because Jesus is Lord, we have no right to pick and choose the areas in which we will submit to his authority.

Jesus is worthy to receive
Honour and power divine.
And blessings more than we can give
Be Lord for ever thine.

So my purpose in this book is to consider eight characteristics of Christian discipleship which are often neglected and yet deserve to be taken seriously.

From here.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Praying Psalm 26

Edward F. Lundwall Jr.

Psalm 26: God’s Affirmation of the Accused

Key Verse: “But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity:

redeem me, and be merciful unto me. (KJV)

Father, I give thanks to you for the privilege of sharing the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings. For did not He suffer persecution when He walked in your ways and communicated them to others? So has it ever been, even from the days of Abel, that the disobedient persecute the righteous.

I would like to think of myself as Job of old and protest my blamelessness in the face of my accusers, but instead I must ask for your examination through your Spirit’s searching within me. For I am human and too often, I suffer with blind spots, even when I am most careful. I give thanks to you that you know the steps I take to be godly and to not identify myself with those who are ungodly enemies of yours. On the contrary, I gladly identify myself with you and your people.

Indeed, there is joy in seeking correction from Jesus Christ who died to cleanse me from sin. I praise you, Lord God, for not only the cleansing from sin, but the cleansing of my hands, feet and heart when I come humbly before you! However great the satisfaction is when you vindicate me in this life, in the end, it will be boundless joy to hear your voice say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of Your Lord!” Yet even this crowning reward of my life, I must lay at your feet, for all commendable about me has been resourced and inspired by your loving provision. All the honor, power, and glory that you may have graciously given me, I will joyously lay before you in worship.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

And all that is within me,

Bless His Holy Name!

And forget not all His benefits.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

How Faith Overcomes – Part I

Edward F. Lundwall Jr.

“. . this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” (1 John 5:4b)

Apart from Satan himself, the culture can be called the chief enemy of mankind. The “World” as the Bible describes culture is like the promiscuous woman described in the Proverbs who appeals to the naive young man with every irresponsible pleasure to be followed, but only brings corruption and death on multiple levels of human life. The intended influence of the world is to stimulate desire beyond out of control. Second Peter 1:4 describes it as “…corruption…by lust.” First John 2:16 defines it this way: “… all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Present appeals to conformity with the “world” value are embodied in the following phrase: “political correctness,” “everyone's doing it,” “fashion trends,” “the latest thing,” and “the wave of the future.”

When a culture or nation's social and spiritual life is seduced by these appeals, corruption and decline begin. When Israel began to see the licentious idol worship of the heathen groups among them, they fell into similar practices which eventually led them into Babylonian captivity. When the Roman Empire legalized Christianity under Constantine, after year of persecution, it brought into the church, the cultural practices that led to the superstition of the Dark Ages, the violence of the Crusades, immorality, greed for wealth and power within its clergy, and the cruel judgments the Inquisition. The loosening of morals of the “Roaring '20s” in America along with the rejection of biblical teachings by liberal theologians, and the prevalent “If it feels good, do it!” attitudes has now established personal desires (what the Bible defines as worldly lusts) as personal rights or entitlements.

Presently, politically correct cultural morays have become the “enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.” (Philippians 3:18, 19) Organized apostate atheists (authors, proponents, and followers of the Humanist Manifestos I and II) say to the effect: “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!" (Psalm 2:3). They basically advocate and support cultural policies and practices that Isaiah 59:2 describes as “…iniquities (that) have made a separation between you and your God…”

How has all this affected American culture? About 50 million babies have been aborted “in the name of Constitutional rights. Drug abuse is out of control and instead of dealing with what destroys people’s lives daily, it is now being made legal. The United States prison population of millions fills many prisons beyond capacity. Public identification with the Holy Bible reading and prayer to the Christian God has become an offense, declared a violation of other’s right and therefore, the United State Constitution. This in spite of President Thomas Jefferson’s requirements to the study the Bible in the Washington, DC schools and who wrote the letter which liberal have twisted to prohibit any public endorsement of Christianity. His correspondence said that the “wall of separation” between church and state was for the protection of the community of faith (church) from government interference, not prohibition by the government. This is culture (the world) pit against the people of God.

Yet faith remains the key for spiritual victory over the worldly sins that create the barrier that separates human beings from God. How faith overcomes is the topic to be addressed in these new series of posts.

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Monday, June 30, 2014

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Monday, June 9, 2014

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Sunday, June 1, 2014