Tag: discipleship

June Books – Packets of Wisdom!

I enjoy reading and I learn a lot from books. I believe that books are packets of wisdom. In the first week of every new month, I would post a list of the books I read in the previous month and the books I have bought or borrowed to read in the next month. I hope that I would be able to inspire you to read some of these books and share some good books that you have read with me. At the same time, I hope that this habit would inspire me to read more :).

Completed in June

Here are the books I completed in June. This means that I finished reading the book or listened to it on Audible. It does not mean that I started reading or listening to it in June. I may have started earlier.

  • Contagious Disciple Making by David and Paul Watson
  • The one thing by Garry Keller
  • The gospel comes with a house key by Rosaria Butterfield
  • The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

Currently Reading

These are books that I am currently reading or listening to on audible. Yes I read more than one book at a time.

  • Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelly
  • Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman
  • The Forty-Day Word Fast: A spiritual journey to eliminate toxic words from your life. by Tim Cameron.

Hope to start reading this Month

These are books that I have already purchased or borrowed and I look forward to reading.

  • The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster by Darren Hardy
  • Spent Matches: Igniting the Signal Fire for the Spiritually Dissatisfied. by Roy Moran.
  • The Kingdom Unleashed: How Jesus’ 1st Century Kingdom values are Transforming thousands of cultures and awakening His Church by Jerry Trousdale and Glenn Sunshine.

Have you read any of these books? Do you know some good books that you think I should read? Please suggest them in the comment section below. Thanks.

A man reaps what he sows!

What comes to mind when you think of sowing and reaping? Some people think of negative seeds and hope they don’t reap multiples of negative harvest. Some think of positive seeds and hope for hundred fold return and a few think in terms of real seeds and harvest.

The apostle Paul made this statement in his epistle to the Galatians!

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:7-8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As disciples of Jesus and BiVo Ministers we are reminded that many times we may not feel like reaching out in love to the people around us! You may be tempted to get tired of making sacrifices to connect with people at work. Let’s remember that seeds sown do not immediately turn into harvest. It takes time and nurture and the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit!

It takes discipline to be a fruitful disciple maker! Praise God we have a helper in the Holy Spirit. There are times when I have wondered if all that I’m doing is even making a difference. Then I sense the Holy Spirit saying, “it’s hard to see yourself grow. Have faith in God! Those seeds of love are blessing the people and they are changing you too”!

Sowing to please the flesh is yielding to the desires to do things that make you look good, feel good and get the glory! The aim of the flesh is self glory and preservation. These things don’t look bad to the natural person but to the disciple of Jesus they are destructive!

Sowing to please the spirit is doing things in obedience to the Holy Spirit. It’s is doing things that bring glory to Jesus! Things that showcase the love of God, the holiness and joy of the kingdom!

Let’s keep sowing to please the Spirit. Let’s meet the needs of the people around us and share the good news of the kingdom of God. If you are not currently making disciples then take the BiVo Minister Course today.

That they all may be one?

Jesus prayed a lot while he was in His body on earth. We don’t have a lot of His prayers recorded. So you can imagine how precious the few we have would be. Jesus prayed that all His disciples would be united.

““I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (‭‭John‬ ‭17:20-21‬ ‭NKJV)‬‬

As we in Canada celebrate the unity of the country, I think about the unity of the body of Christ and unity in general.

Unity is the by-product of unconditional love. It is what happens when God’s Kingdom comes on a community! Any time we move toward unity, it means that we are choosing to love. Although naturally our love is polluted with pride and selfish tendencies.

Unity starts from the individual. If I unite with Christ and allow Christ to live through me, then I am able to love those who are different from me and pray for those who hurt me.

Unity is not uniformity! When United we see each other’s differences and we celebrate them and use them to make the bond stronger!

As a disciple of Jesus, I must always pray and allow Jesus to use me to unite His body. This includes the multitudes who are yet to be added to the body! And continue to love and pray for those who choose not believe at this time. Jesus is available for all to enjoy!

God is purging His Church

Is the church in trouble? Will the lockdowns and accompanying restrictions cripple the church? I don’t think so. I believe God is reviving His church. The church of God is getting stronger. The body of Christ is being renewed! I see all this as a world-wide revival in the making.

What are your thoughts? Please share in the comments section below.

Cannot be my disciple?

Yes you read it right! Following Jesus is not for everyone that say that they like His teachings! Not everyone that applies is accepted! To follow Jesus, there is a condition. Do you know what the condition for acceptance is?

The condition for acceptance by Jesus has many names but they all point to the same thing! Here are a few names:

  • Repent
  • Believe
  • Call on the Lord
  • Confess the Lord Jesus

All these terms mean that a disciple chooses willingly to abandon his or her life of self rulership to receive the supernatural and righteous life of Jesus. Which means that the disciple lives a life of unconditional love powered by the Holy Spirit and activated through simple obedience to Jesus! To be saved is to agree that you need a new life and that you accept the life and rulership of God through Jesus Christ.

Here is how Jesus puts it:

So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:33)

Forsake ALL: what does that mean for you daily? For me it means going out of my way to express the love of Jesus to people around me by meeting their needs and sharing the good news of the kingdom! It’s unconditional love no matter how you spin it. This love is expressed differently in each disciple but it must always lead to an invitation for them to receive this life as well!

Many times theses days it’s just being a true friend to people around me, come rain come shine!

Please let me know how forsaking all that you have looks for you daily! Use the comments section below!

You wicked and lazy servant?

Have you ever wondered why the servant with one talent in the parable of the talents was called wicked and lazy? I get lazy or foolish but wicked? (Matthew 25:14-30).

These days I sense the Lord saying to me that a wicked servant is not really a servant! A wicked servant is one who is not interested in the progress of his master. I sense from this that anyone who is not interested is sharing the good news of God’s kingdom with others is not in the kingdom!

If the servant with one talent had given the money to the bankers he would have been a lazy servant! There are many lazy servants in the kingdom of God!

This particular servant was an outsider! He did not see himself as part of the kingdom. The same applies to anyone who is not interested in the salvation of others! Anyone who doesn’t wish that everyone would be saved is not saved themselves!

Please check your heart. Are you a wicked servant? Maybe you are not saved. Then repent of your sins and receive the salvation purchased by the blood of Jesus and Jesus Christ will receive you!

Are you a lazy servant? You are doing very little to share the gospel of the kingdom of God! Wake up now and begin to invest! There is nothing on earth that is better than leading a lost soul to the savior! NOTHING!

It’s Invaluable!

Eternal life! The very life of God! The love of God! The light and wisdom of God! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ! Unspeakable Joy! A loving family! Forgiveness of sins and deliverance from the bondage to sin! All these and more are available to you and I curtesy of Jesus Christ!

Wow! What did we do to deserve all these? Nothing. All these are available because God loves us!

So how do we access this? You must be born again! It’s an exchange! Our messed up life for His eternal life!

You cannot have His eternal life if you think your present unregenerate life has some value!

Unless you see your life without Jesus as useless in comparison to what God has for you in union with Jesus, you will not see the Kingdom of God! You will not appreciate the kingdom of God and you will not accept the kingdom of God!

Now that you see what making disciples involves, you can see that for anyone to be born again, a miracle must occur! The good news is that there are miracles already prepared by the Holy Spirit for you and I to discover!

I’m on the lookout for a miracle as I share the invaluable blessings of the Kingdom of God with all the people around me!

Share your thoughts! What made you give up your useless life for eternal life? For me. Jesus opened my spiritual eyes to see and desire the unconditional love of God that was revealed in Jesus. It took some years though for me to fully accept that my life without Jesus is completely useless in the context of eternity! Your turn!

Do not criticize?

It’s really easy to see other people’s faults! It’s even sometimes easier to see their faults when you have a version of the same problem! These days everyone has a reason to call another person a fool, a bigot, proud, immoral, devilish, idol worshippers and the list goes on! My question is this! As disciples of Jesus, how do we bring a balance? What is the kingdom approach?

At one point Jesus says we are to first take out the plank from our own eyes before attempting to take out the speck from another person’s eyes (Matt 7:5) . At another point he says that the person who has no sin should be the first to throw a stone at the sinner (John 8:7)

Negative criticisms makes people want to defend themselves! It doesn’t open them up to correction. I remember reading in a book titled – How to make friends and influence people that even criminals see themselves in a positive light!

So what do we learn from Jesus? How can this truth help us to make disciples for Jesus? We choose not to criticize people even in our hearts! We make up our minds to always be prepared to be part of the solution as long as the people are open to discussion.

I’m not saying that we should not speak out against evil or sin! What I believe the scriptures is saying is that if we are ever going to be the light to a dark world, we must be willing to accept first that without Jesus we would be as lost and as wicked as any wicked person!

Jesus is the solution to the moral problem of the human heart! The immoral behavior of people or sin is the problem of the world! Jesus therefore must be introduced to everyone so that we can have progress in our fight against all the terrible things going on in our world.

If you know that the reason you are kind is because you got help, you would be less inclined to criticize someone else who doesn’t have the same help!

Preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God and Jesus as the only way is an urgent and very important task! Let’s not delay by point fingers at the people we should be serving!

Please share your thoughts below!

Who is your Boss?

Is the customer the Boss? Or is the one who pays your salary the Boss? As a disciple of Jesus, who really influences your decision the most? Is it Jesus or the people you are sent to love? Think before you answer.

The customer is the boss as long as his demands are within the boundary of what the boss who pays the salary is willing to offer. When the customer begins to demand things that are outrageous, she stops to be the boss, you are expected to say no to that customer and find a solution that is reasonable.

Similarly, in loving the people around us, we must stick to the message of “Repentance (Act 2:38)”! For the kingdom of God is near”. No matter who you are. The way to the kingdom is through repentance (to change your boss)!

Here are some questions for you! And yes for me as well. When it comes to the way you react to the people around you who do not seem to have the capacity or desire to add to you in any way, how do you see them?

Do you see them as people sent to you by the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you see them as people that you are called to serve in the name of Jesus? Do you see them as people that you are called to be a blessing to? Freely you have received, Freely give. Do you see them as people that Jesus sent to bless you in way you cannot even imagine?

When you are with people who are ahead of you financially, in your career or in any aspect of life how do you act?

Do you try to get them to like you or do you wish you can show them that all that they have is equal to nothing because if they don’t have access to the Kingdom of God? Do you try to prove that you have something too, not just Jesus, or do you wish that they would know that serving Jesus is infinitely more precious than any position on earth? Do you allow Jesus to show you the best way to love them? Many times we forget that Jesus is the Lord and that we don’t need to make Jesus look good!!

Jesus is the boss! He loves us and he knows why he sends these people into our lives and paths. Those we like and those we don’t like so much!