Uncategorized – Page 58

Knowledge vs. Discipleship

Posted on November 11, 2010 by johnmarkum

1 Corinthians 8:1 tells us that, “Knowledge puffs up; but love edifies.” It is common in church for us to think that we are “mature” disciples based on our knowledge of God and the Bible. Let me be clear that the more we know about God and His word, the more we can be obedient to Him and His word. But there is a chasm of difference between knowledge and discipleship.

Knowledge makes it possible for me to be a mature follower of Christ; it does not garantee it. You and I need to be ever-learning, ever growing disciples. But we do not become more like Jesus until we behave more like Him. If we can quote the entire New Testament, but fail to love people the way Jesus did, we are not mature disciples. If we know when to stand, sit, and speak in church like a well-trained puppy, but we hold onto grudges, we are not mature disciples.

James 1:22, “But be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” In other words: If we think that hearing and knowing the Word makes us disciples without doing the Word, we’re spiritually dillusional.

Let’s be doers of the Word this week.

Blessings,

John

REAL: “Speak Life”

Posted on November 9, 2010 by johnmarkum

This past week, we wrapped up series “REAL: life meets church” with a message called Speak Life, (Proverbs 18:21, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue…”) in which I shared the story of my teenage friend, Bryce, who literally spoke life into me when I was on the verge of suicide. You can read all about that under my post here. We looked in James 3:1-12 which deals with the potential power that our tongues possess to do good or destruction. We also looked at a few other passages and took some principles away from how we talk to people:

Your sin is my business. And my sin is your business. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to call one another into our potential to be Christ-like. Hebrews 3:12-13
Build up, don’t tear down. Whenever we speak to others, even when correcting, we use words of life to build them up not tear them down. Jesus did this even when confronting an adulterous women. He did not condone her sin, but called her out of that lifestyle and into her potential.
Don’t be a fool. Proverbs 12:15, “A fool is wise in his own eyes; but the wise receive counsel.” Assume that you can learn something from anyone.
Deal with the person. Matthew 18, Christ tells us how to handle conflict with people which begins with “go to them…” Don’t try to deal with a tense situation over facebook! Go to them, or at least call them.
Stay out of it. Refuse to listen to someone else tearing another person down. It’s gossip, and you should refuse to receive it or spread it. Period. Don’t give-in to your curiosity at the expense of someone else’s reputation.

You can watch the message here if you want to more. God bless!

John

“Man vs Woman”

Posted on November 7, 2010 by johnmarkum

Beginning next Saturday, a new minis-series about the differences between men and women. We’re really excited to bring this series to our Saturday night worship experience, and we know this will be one of the most exciting things we deal with all year. We’ll be taking a look at how we each have our strengths – and weaknesses – and how God designed us to be like Him in our own unique ways. It will be funny, enlightening, and challenging in a variety of ways. I’m praying now that this series will strengthen marriages, improve singles’ relationships, and call men and women alike into their full potential in Christ.

On a side note… I believe that there will be more men attending this series, because the men will get more of their friends to come than the women will! Women, I dare you to prove me wrong! I suppose we’ll see!

Check out the preview video below (borrowed from Nike…)