Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

John

Living in Obedience

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Because of my Scottish heritage, I think I’m biased towards Scottish thinkers and writers. One of my favorites is Andrew Murray, a minister in the 1800s. Murray was a devoted disciple who left many soul-searching and convicting books as his legacy. As I was reading some of his writing this week, I saw this: “The Father in heaven asks, requires, and expects all of His children to give Him whole-hearted and entire obedience all day long, every single day.”

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It seems like a daunting task, but then I suppose if it was easy, we would find many more joining us. If it was easy, the path would be wide instead of narrow (Matthew 7:13-14). No, following Jesus is not the easy path in life, but it is the only one worth following. And if we will brave this path, we must understand it requires our obedience to Jesus every step along the way.

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Self-Promotion

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To me, the teachings of A. W. Tozer remain timeless. Perhaps no one else in history resonates with me as he does. Though he passed away nearly sixty years ago, his words are as relevant today as they were when he was preaching. The things he said are almost prescient. In a quote I read from him this week, he said, “I am not in the business of promoting myself; I am in the business of surrendering to the Holy Spirit.”

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Today, self-promotion is all the rage. It’s all about how many followers we have on Facebook, how many likes we have on Instagram, and whether we’re trending on Twitter. A new goal for many is to produce a video that goes viral on YouTube. Today the aim is getting the eyeballs of others to look at what we’re doing.

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Discipleship

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer pulled no punches. In his classic, “The Cost of Discipleship”, he wrote, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” I write extensively on discipleship for the same reason. If you aren’t pursuing a life of discipleship with Jesus, I believe the Bible is clear: Jesus does not know you (Matthew 7:21-23; John 14:15). That’s a strong statement, I know. But we’ve been dancing around this subject for too long.

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We don’t want to seem judgmental or offensive, so we add caveats and couch our words to make them seem less harsh. The result is that millions of people who believe they are Christians are not. It is perhaps the most sinister and ingenious deception Satan has ever unleashed. He continues to deploy this strategy today. It has so infected our churches that most don’t even realize the deception under which they are living.

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Live Like Jesus

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“This generation of believers is responsible for this generation of souls”. Keith Green said that about 40 years ago, and it still resonates with me today. If we don’t model Jesus for others, how will they ever know who He is? As David Platt recently said, “People can’t be what they don’t see.” The apostle Paul said, “How will people come to know Jesus if we don’t tell them about Him?” (Romans 10:14). It is the responsibility of every believer to tell others about Christ.

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We also must make disciples out of those who respond to God’s call (Matthew 28:19-20). We are the boots on the ground for the Kingdom of God. We have a mission. Now is not the time to get lazy. The battle is raging hotter than ever before and we have a role to play in it. Our job is to live like Jesus so others can see what it looks like to follow Him.

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Awaken and Rise

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How do we as followers of Jesus show up in a world that seems to have lost its collective mind? I avoid the news as much as I can because for at least the past forty years it has been driven by advertising dollars, political agendas, and sensationalism. It’s all but impossible to discern truth in what is being reported. There is so much noise and distortion it will deceive and distract you. You don’t have to avoid the news and social media as I do, but I will say you watch and listen at your peril.

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As Kingdom people, we mustn’t get caught up in the salacious stories and agendas of the media and politicians. Everyone has a bias and an underlying motive. Ours should always be a bias towards loving every man, woman, and child, with the underlying motive of sharing the incredible news of the gospel with them.

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