Making the Most of Every Opportunity

I've been sharing some of my thoughts on Jesus' command for us in Matthew 28. I've looked at the promise , the call to go , making disciples , and baptism . Today, I'll share my thoughts on teaching: And Jesus came and said to them,   “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.   Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,   teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you . And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Ah... teaching. There is value in bringing people in our lives to hear the Word preached at church and sending them to conferences or websites of national teachers. We are certainly not all gifted teachers. BUT- Jesus called all of us to teach, not just the gifted. He didn't challenge us to do anything more than teach them to observe all that He commanded us. Teach them wha...

I've been going through Jesus' command for us in Matthew 28 and shared first the promise as we obey, then that it starts when we go and engage others, and that discipleship involves pouring Christ through pouring our our lives into others over time. Today, I'll look at baptizing: And Jesus came and said to them,   “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.   Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,  baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ,   teaching them to observe all that  have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” There's an obvious application here- physical baptism. It's an incredible joy to see someone you love receive Christ's salvation. Water baptism is a public profession of that faith and a tangible showing of their death to sin and life in Christ. Sweet memory- My first 'disciples b...

I've been going through Jesus' command for us in Matthew 28 and shared both the promise as we obey and that it starts when we go and engage others. Today, I'll look at the next chunk: And Jesus came and said to them,   “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.   Go therefore and  make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,   teaching them to observe all that  have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Making disciples has been key to me. When I go and reach out to share Jesus, I also stay. By that I mean, I go to them and intend to stay in their lives. Jesus taught many, but poured into 12 men. He shared His teachings, but also brought them into His daily life of weddings, ministry to others, travel,  and even asked them to pray during His darkest hour. He explained God's wa...

I shared how God gave me a fresh glimpse of His nearness through Matthew 28. In that post , I gave a brief sentence about God guiding us through the Great Commission in tangible ways to give us vision and goals to reach our neighbors and the world. Some of you asked me to share what I've gleaned from this passage. So I'll share in this series a few gems God taught me through Matthew 28:18-20. Today I'll just share one phrase: Go! And Jesus came and said to them,   “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.   Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,   teaching them to observe all that  have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” It seems pretty straightforward, but God spurs me on daily with this word: Go. He gave us His authority. He's with us. I don't go alone or in my...

I've been writing about ways we can seek God's glory intentionally as we eat out. Feel free to go back and read the rest of the series. I mentioned thinking about daily life intentionally in Post 1, pouring into family while eating out in Post 2 , and eating within a budget in Post 3 . This last post is the part of our eating out that we love the most: pouring into others . We love good food. But the food is only one part of our experience eating out. Our favorite part is building relationships where we can encourage others in Christ. Eating together is a great opportunity to build relationships with people and eating out has given us relationships with restaurant owners/ employees that we met because we love their restaurant. We have grown in so many relationships with people by eating together regularly. Eating together after church became a regular habit in a group of friends we had when we were first married and it was such wonderful weekly fellowship. Once our group s...

We are learning as we parent just how full of sin our hearts are. Though we are starting to address it in our kids, God is drawing out our hearts and it's been beautiful. I shared in this series how change comes from the heart, outward and we use many ways to help our kids see their sin and also know Jesus who loves us and draws His own out  of sin and gives us new hearts to love Him. Read these posts about 1) our hearts , 2)   how parents can choose ease instead of heart training , 3)  questions to draw out the heart , 4)  when to go the next step beyond questions , and 5)  what our correction process looks like . We are not hopeless in sin. We are confident that God changes hearts and brings freedom. So that is what we teach. We teach it from His Word and through our daily actions and conversations. "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh ...

Please read post 1 , 2 , 3 , and  4 to gain a better perspective of this post. All correction in our home comes from a loving call from God to engage our children to see their hearts, know their need for a Savior, and see the incredible love and grace of Jesus Christ who is that Savior. Today, we'll look at our "next step" beyond questions in correction when there is outright disobedience. God lead us here through a children's pastor (who our friends introduced us to through a conference cd) As he shared his wisdom and experience with a local church body, we gleaned so much biblical truth. We later read a similar process in Tedd Tripp's book, "Shepherding A Child's Heart" . *Let me stress here that I believe the MOST loving thing God has done was to lay down His life for us. Correction shows love and is an important way to show Christ's love for us, but I do not say it's the only or even the best way . Just one way to show love out of ...

I've shared throughout these posts about our call as parents to show our boys their heart of sin so they can better see the beauty of Christ's great forgiveness for those who are His and how by beating death, He redeemed ALL that our sin destroys. You can read more in post 1 , post 2 , post 3 . Before I share our full process of correction in sin, I thought I should share how we gauge when to correct. We always look at character and heart, not action! Many things are bad and harmful, but we want our boys to see their sin and seek God. We know that once they are Christ's, their actions will begin to change over time to reflect Him. So we set boundaries to reveal their sin and teach them God's ways.  "Train up a child in the way he should go;  even when he is old he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6 We start showing their sin while they are young. This is to lay a foundation of boundaries and show them how they continually fail. Seeing sin and failu...

I've been sharing about our hearts. In post 1 I said that everything we say and do flows out of our hearts. In Post 2 I shared my tendency to want an easier way than the time it takes with my kids to help them see their hearts. Some of you have (naturally) asked what process we go through with our children to help them see their sin. We have nothing new or unique to us, just what we appreciated as solid biblical truth expounded on by Paul Tripp in his dvd conference "Getting to the Heart of Parenting" and by his brother, Ted Tripp in his book, Shepherding a Child's Heart (discipline process on page 150). Both are amazing and I highly recommend getting them and going through them as a couple. Our main purpose in these questions is to help Jimmy (and Caleb one day) to see that everything he does flows out from his heart... and that is where the lasting change in him will come from as well. Always from the heart outward... "... for out of the abundance of t...

For the   Lord   sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the   Lord   looks on the heart.”  - 1 Samuel 16:7 I shared in my first post in this series how the Bible teaches that our our behavior flows from our hearts. I've been watching myself as I parent. Some days I'm SO tired from conversation after conversation with Jimmy. We have a whole process we go through to address his disobedience. We start with 5 quick questions for him to show Jimmy how the disobedience came from his heart. Sometimes, we then go through a correction/discipline and prayer time. Always, he gets to "try again" and be fully restored. It's really cool to walk through his sin with him and come out fully restored. We have no anger or hardship afterwards, but can continue on in our fun as family. We have AMAZING conversations about Christ during it, BUT, it's a long process and as sin compounds on sin, sometimes I can't even remember when we started or what ...

I just read a really helpful blog for many of us who want to share Jesus as we come together with our extended families and friends this Christmas. It's a blog on CJ Mahaney's website called "Home For the Holidays " sharing tips from Charles Spurgeon (a pastor in the 1800s!) that applies so well today. He taught from the the passage in Mark 5:1-20 where Jesus exhorts him to  “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (v. 19) Some quick tips he expands on: Christmas is suited for sharing the gospel with family and friends. Aim to share the story of God’s grace in your life. By sharing we edify believers. By sharing we reach lost friends and family. Be alert for one-on-one opportunities to share your story. Don’t expect this sharing to be easy. Overcome this fear by sharing to honor your Savior. Share your story with gratitude to God. Share your story with humility. Share your story truthf...