7 Days on Discipleship—Part 3

One of the most important parts of disciple making is keeping Jesus at the center of it. The reason that this is so important is because when Jesus is not at the center, we tend to become more focused on the results than the relationship.

Let me try and explain it this way: When I am the focus of the discipleship process, then people begin to depend on me for all their answers instead of depending on Jesus. In a sense, I become an idol to those I am discipling…and that’s a bad place to be.

So we have to keep Jesus at the center of everything we do. We’ve talked about this many times…Jesus has to have first place (or the “preeminence”). If He doesn’t, then He’s not what people will see, and people will start worshiping other things rather than God…and that’s not good at all.

How do we keep Christ at the center of everything? It’s a daily discipline (do you see the word “disciple” in that word?) of prayer, reading the Scriptures, and seeing Jesus in all that we do. When that happens, we are able to walk in the ways that God intended us to walk.

We also do it by being intentional about looking for God at work in the world around us. Did you witness a beautiful sunrise this morning? That’s the hand of God! Did you see someone be kind to someone who hurt them? Thanks God at work. Were you able to respond calmly when someone yelled at you? That’s God’s grace in your life. So keep an eye out for those moments…they’re always there. And it will help you keep Christ at the center!

Think about that today! And God bless you!

Supreme

In our day and age, everything we have is supreme. There is a supreme size, supreme shape, supreme pizza, supreme taste…everything comes with an offer of being supreme.

But if we want to know what is truly supreme, we need look no further than Hebrews 1, in which, the author tells us that there is only One who is supreme…and that is Jesus. Throughout his letter, we find that he is comparing Christ to the angels (beats them), to Moses (beats him) and even Melchizedek (beats him, too, even though he was great enough to have Abraham give offerings to him).

Jesus is greater than the supreme pizza from Pizza Hut, and He’s better than any other supreme you can think of. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever! Don’t forget it folks. This same Jesus is not going to relinquish His title of “SUPREME” anytime soon. Why?

First off, He is the creator of all things. And the person who creates is greater than the creation. Therefore, He is far above them. Not only that, but He holds all of these things together…He keeps them from spinning out of control. He’s greater than anything or anyone. If you doubt it, read Colossians 1:15-18 again, and tell me it isn’t so.

So, dear reader, may I make a point here…make sure that your life is in submission the Supreme. Don’t look back or look to one side or the other. Keep on track with Him. Allow Him to have the rule in your life. This is called having Christ as the LORD of your life. It’s important, and we’ll talk about it more tomorrow.

In the meantime, have a great rest of your week, and we’ll see you on Sunday!

Enough

Yesterday, we were challenged to make sure that we were keeping God as enough in our lives; that HE was enough for us, and that even if all else was taken away from us, we would still rejoice because HE was enough.

I got to thinking about this last night as I was trying to sleep, remembering that I hadn't set up a blog post for today, and really trying to make sure that in my life, God was enough for me. I then got to thinking about my day, and how I really spent the day doing things at the house, getting it ready to move in and such (for those who don't know, we bought a house at the beginning of the month and have been working hard to get it ready to move in by November 1st). As I worked, I realized that I hadn't thought of football at all for the whole time I was working. I was just working and singing and thinking. Then I got home and got ready for dinner, and my son asked me who won the game. I told him I hadn't a clue. God seems to be taking my passion for football and transferring it into a love for my family and for Him.

It's interesting that when we ask God to do something for us (like keep Him first in everything we do, or ask Him to be enough for us), He is more than willing to make it happen. When we pray according to His will, He delights in answering those prayers. When we pray, "Lord, help me put You first." He is right there to answer that prayer, because He wants to be first.

I guess I share all of this because I believe that when we ask Him according to His will, not only does He hear us, but He will answer, and that should be enough.

We'll see you on Sunday!