Through our relationship with him and our relationships with other believers, God is in the process of restoring his image in us. He is making us like himself.
He does this by his Spirit, as his grace and Word are applied to our lives through the incarnational ministry of believers one-to-another. God uses means to inform and transform us, and the primary means that he uses to do this are relationships in the local church.
Dear Leader,
Leadership matters! It is listed in the Scripture as a spiritual gift (Romans 12:8), there are books in the Bible dedicated to what happens when God empowered leadership is embraced (Ezra, Nehemiah, Judges, Esther) and God has called you and raised you up for the purpose of making a difference.
One of the most challenging issues when it comes to leadership and ministry is dealing with people (other than that, it's quite simple).
AND, if we are not careful we will allow ourselves to become so distracted that we will actually begin to care for other things way more than the people that Jesus died for and has called us to take care of.
Revival is a gift from heaven. We don’t work it up. God sends it down. When Jonathan Edwards described the awakening in his church, he had to use words like "surprising," "extraordinary" and "astonishing." The Bible says of the early church that "awe came upon every soul" (Acts 2:43). We can’t program that into our worship: 10:45 AM – Awe comes upon every soul.
Since revival is of God, we should pray for it. But how? The Bible teaches us how to pray: Isaiah 63:15-64:12 is a biblical prayer for revival.
Some years ago a friend of mine used these three simple categories to objectify the stages of a church’s rise and fall:
- Movement
- Monument
- Mausoleum
Recently I wrote an article here about tips on how to talk with your neighbors about Jesus, where I shared a story of someone I encountered becoming a Christian through those tips. Right after I wrote the article, I was in a situation where I was verbally opposed for my sharing my faith.
Inevitably, we will face opposition in talking to neighbors about Jesus, and in fact, if we’re consistent in doing it, we will face consistent opposition.
Discipleship is truth transferred through relationship. Discipleship involves a lot, but one of the most important things you can do with a new believer is read the Bible with them, teaching them how to read, understand, respond to, and apply God’s Word.
