One of the Most Important Resouces of a Strong Disciple

Your knees......be in prayer; fervently! One of the most important things that a disciple of Christ can do is pray for their walk, their friends and family, and that the Lord will use you to spead the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ to all you come in contact with.

A new discipleship resource

ENJOY, and be challenged......

http://www.discipleshipresourcecenter.com/Articles/Discipleship_Articles/Christian_Discipleship/

Over Myself

I am over myself. I challenge you to get over yourself. Get over your desire to do what you want, and to be who you want to be. Surrender your life to Christ, FULLY! Do it today. Be serious with what is keeping you from being fully committed to Him, and get rid of it. Don't allow yourself to settle for loving yourself more than Him. Love Him, and get over yourself.

Joshua 22:5 But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."

Mark 12:28-31 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Today's Resource

Check it out......

http://www.godsquad.com/discipleship/practical.htm

RUBBISH

Philippians 3:7-10 (NASB)

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Reflect this week on whether or not you can echo Paul’s sentiments. Do you really count all things as loss for the sake of Christ? Have you given up the notion that you can direct your life for the realization that the only thing that can be done with this life of LASTING value is to surrender to Christ unreservedly and follow Him with complete surrender. I suspect that we often cannot honestly say that we count all things as rubbish in comparison to an intimate, thriving relationship with the Creator of the universe. In word it is easy to commit in this way……Take the challenge to show this commitment in your life; in your actions; in your walk!


In Christ

A late night discipleship resource post

But not one that was a last minute thought......check out this great resource!


http://www.discipleshipresourcecenter.com/Contemporary/John_MacArthur/Fundamental_Christian_Attitudes%3A_Obedience/

Short, Sweet, and Exhorting!

This post will be short and sweet:

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
- 1 Timothy 4:12


Reflect this week on the need to be as this verse admonishes, and pray that the Lord would help you to live upright and above reproach. You are not too young to do this. Step up! Live the life……and set the example.

Another Great Resource for Disciples

http://www.godsquad.com/discipleship/lifeconcepts.htm

Check this site out. Great resource for basic doctrines of the faith if you are a new believer, or are meeting with someone who is.

Beware: Enemies of the Cross are All Around!

"I say it with tears in my eyes, that there are many who are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose future is eternal destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame. They think only of this life here on earth. But our citizenship is in heaven; where also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power He will use to conquer everything, everywhere. " Philippians 3:18-21

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Enemies of the Gospel come in many forms. The wise disciple is discerning, and takes caution to understand that though there are many enemies of the cross of Christ that are overtly in opposition, there are also many that claim to be advocates, but do more harm in their actions than those that openly oppose it. Be on guard against enemies of the cross, and be sure that you are rooted in God's rich Word, not unaware. Avoid being like them, with their god as their appetite. Many follow after their desires, and desire "consumer Christianity;" My Way, Right Away (Like Burger King).


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Ephesians 4:14-16


I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Matthew 10:16

Disciple's Resource of the Week

Check out Crosswalk.com for Bible study tools galore!

http://bible.crosswalk.com/

Keep Your Eyes on CHRIST

Hebrews 12: 1-2

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When is the last time you really took a good, hard look at how you are doing in the race? Have you checked recently to see if there is sin that is entangling you, running the race that is set before you? In the busy world that we live in, we are often so caught up in the doing of things that we don’t remember / make time for / etc. the laying aside of the encumbrance of sin that we sometimes find ourselves in.

If you are like me, you want to run the race exceptionally well, but you feel at times like you are merely jogging. Do a “runner’s inventory.” Take a look to see areas that you’ve become stagnant. Pray that God would reveal unrealized or unacknowledged sin that needs to be dealt with. Ask the Lord to change sinful attitudes, habits, etc. Whatever is keeping you from running with endurance needs to go. Stop worrying about your pride, and think about your stride. Our walk with Christ suffers when we walk as fools in sin and allow the encumbrances to “win.”

How can we learn to avoid these encumbrances? How do we shed them? Look to Christ. And no, this isn’t a children’s Sunday School answer for a difficult problem. The longer we fix our eyes on Jesus Christ, the more our faith (which he authored) is perfected. As we grow in our relationship with Him and learn more about who He is and what He calls His followers to do, we begin to “get it” more and more. Suddenly, we are living the life that Christ called us to. We die to self and begin to live like Him.

I challenge you this week to study the following verses, and see what application they have to your journey toward running with endurance the race that He has set for us. Stay the course, and let’s run the race together!

(Ephesians 4:14-16)
(2 Peter 3:17-18)
(Romans 12:1-2)
(John 3:30)
(Luke 9:23-24)

Lord, This is a Hard Teaching

Read & Study John 6: 43-68

The challenge of a faithful disciple is to follow even when following is "difficult." In John 6:43-68 we see Jesus present His followers with the idea that He is the Bread of Life. He is telling them that He is the nourishment for their souls that has come down from Heaven. Shortly before this, Jesus had fed thousands with earthly bread that He multiplied to accomodate their hunger. In this case, He is offering nourishment to their starving souls.

These words of Christ admonishing to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood refer to a "spiritual eating" of Christ by faith. To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to acknowledge that Christ came in flesh and blood (completely human though also completely deity) and was really man. His flesh was to be given for the life of his people, and his blood was to be shed for their sins. His sacrifice made possible for the believer such blesssings of the faith as redemption, pardon, peace, justification, etc.& This "feeding" on Him should be done daily, just as we do with earthly food. We wouldn't consider going days without food and water, so why should it be any different with Christ and spending time in Him. This is how we maintain a healthy spiritual life; regualr, consistent, and deep contact with the Lord.

Many who follow today find this to be a "difficult teaching," and are unwilling to commit to the Lord in this way. The challenge for us this week is to make the commitment to the Lord to daily "eat of Him," and to pray that He would give us a craving for Him as we do food. May we feast on Him and grow in a strong and healthy relationship with Him, not turning away from the challenge of committing to Christ in this way, but acknowledging Him as Lord and understanding as Peter states in John 6:68 "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Choose to follow even thought the way is often difficult, for Christ is the ONLY one that can state that He is the Bread of Life from Heaven that can nourish our weary souls.


Eat up, fellow disciples!

This Blog's Purpose

Hello all RIOTeers......I have established this site as a place to communicate to all of you with some resources, web tools, trainings, etc. to help you grow and learn how to be a disciple. I am excited to be able to use this to help us all grow in Christ and in our ability to be effective disciples and disciple-makers. Hope that you will be able to add many tools to your discipleship tool box.


:)
Chris