Even If i Walk Alone

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

Matthew

Hard Questions

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kyle idleman,not a fan,gods at war,commitment,hard questions,faith,love,service

Kyle Idleman, author of the fantastic books “Not a Fan” and “Gods at War”, recently wrote of his experience with the persecuted church in Southeast Asia. When someone there is contemplating becoming a follower of Christ, they are asked some very difficult questions: “Are you willing to lose your job and home?”; “Are you willing to be beaten and thrown in jail because of your faith?”; “Are you willing to die for Jesus?” This is in stark contrast to how the Western Church leads people into the Kingdom. We ask them to raise their hand, pray a prayer, and maybe come to the front of the group; and we have the audacity to say these actions require great boldness!

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All or Nothing

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tozer,commitment,aw tozer,a.w. tozer,new years resolutions,jesus first,jesus is Lord,Lord of your life

As I write this, it’s the time of year when most New Year’s resolutions have faded into the ether. Best intentions have been sacrificed in the name of comfort and convenience, waiting to be resurrected again next year. Failing to keep some resolutions is trivial; others will be harmful to our health, while some will be detrimental to our walk with Christ. A commitment to Jesus should be more than a non-binding resolution. When we surrender something to God and then take it back, it shows the true attitude of our heart; it is obvious that we do not consider Him Lord of our life.

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Safe Prayers

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jefferson bethke,Jesus is greater than religion,safety,prayer,discipleship,nik ripken,insanity of obedience,sheep among wolves,jesus,religion

Reading through Jefferson Bethke’s book, “Jesus>Religion”, I was struck by his comment that too many Christians say “safe” prayers. Let me give you a couple of examples of what I mean by “safe” prayers. When we pray for missionaries or those facing persecution, we tend to pray for their safety. Pastors pray for the safety of those with them before doing an outreach event in some more dangerous parts of town. The problem is I never see Jesus, His disciples, or anyone in the early church praying for safety. Where did we get this model? I propose we start praying different prayers, prayers that are more aligned to what Jesus taught, and prayers that are far more relevant and powerful.

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We Could Feed the World

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rick grover,feed the hungry,feed the world,blck friday,christmas spending,christmas shopping,stewardship,the church,life mission

Every now and then you hear a statistic that nearly knocks you off your feet. This week my pastor mentioned in his sermon that $450 billion dollars will be spent on Christmas shopping this year. That’s mind-numbing enough, but he had one more statistic to add. We could feed the entire world for $15 billion. Quick math shows we could feed everyone who is hungry 30 times over, just on what we will spend on Christmas this year alone. We’ve gotten things upside down in the Kingdom. We love to say, “Jesus first”, but our spending habits dictate otherwise.

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Generalities

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specific action,specifics,lukewarm,intenional,rick warren,purpose driven lifediscipleship,follower of Jesus

Christians love to speak in generalities.  As long as we don’t get too specific, we can all just get along. As long as we don’t get too specific, we can live just like everyone else. Did you ever notice how Jesus only dealt in specifics? It was as if He didn’t even recognize gray as a color! Jesus never left any wiggle room; it was always black or white. As followers of Jesus, our own lives should be identified by the specific things we do, not by some general sense of what we believe. A general knowledge of anything yields little; specific action is how results are delivered.

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