This week, we are proving you with a complete discipleship volunteer training resource for you to use, change, and go crazy with. Let us know what you think!
2010 Discipleship Training (160K, WORD doc)
2010 Discipleship Training (303K, PDF file)
The #1 Resource for Church Technology Creativity & New Thinking
by Jeremy Smith
This week, we are proving you with a complete discipleship volunteer training resource for you to use, change, and go crazy with. Let us know what you think!
2010 Discipleship Training (160K, WORD doc)
2010 Discipleship Training (303K, PDF file)
by Jeremy Smith
I absolutely love this passage. It’s Jesus’ first miracle that could not have been at a better place, a wedding. And Jewish weddings were amazing. There was no such thing as a honeymoon, instead the couple kept open house for a week. They were treated like royalty, dressing in fancy clothes, crowns on their heads., and whatever they asked for, they received. Evidently, there were more guests than expected because we see that the wine ran out and there was fear that the celebration was going to end before it should have. Enter Jesus, stage left, to turn water into wine.
But the mystery is not in the drink, but instead at the conversation surrounding it. Mary, mother of Jesus has requested that Jesus turn the water into wine. Yet, Jesus, God made flesh, has said that “My hour has not yet come.” Read the passage below:
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” 11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
It’s amazing, the family dynamics in complete enmeshment with our theology. Is Mary allowed to tell God the Son what to do? When Jesus said it is not my time, is He caving into her wished or, and this might be heresy at it’s worst, was He wrong? I love the complexity of such a simple miracle. Yet, Mary was not disrespectful, instead telling the services “Do whatever he tells you” and left it in the hands of her son. And how much more faith does she have to know that He will be able to do something that He has not yet shown He can do. It’s not like she can say, “Jesus, you walked on water, of course you can make more wine.” Instead, she believed every word the angel told her and trusted in the power of Jesus, knowing He would come through.
In the end, we find that this example is actually Christ fulfilling one of the Ten Commandments and in the process continuing not to sin. The first miracle has been done, the party can go on, and Jesus’ ministry has just begun.
by Jeremy Smith
The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul was an easy read that was both inspirational and deep. I have to admit that I really did not know who R.C. Sproul was before reading this book and was afraid that this content would be too dated. He was up front and honest about his struggle with coming to understand some of the doctrine, making him relateable. At the same time, I feel like he did not overdo it on the illustrations (though several of the details were a bit winded) and yet was Biblically grounded in everything he explained.
This is a refreshingly bold book that does not skirt around sin, hell and it’s relationship to a holy God that cannot stand either. There is one chapter that I do not agree with where he discusses that we naturally hate God. In fact, naturally, what God intended for us, is to love Him and Satan with sin has distorted this. But I understand that he meant our actions of sin, leading us away from a holy God, would resound as hatred for Him. We must make a clear distinction with this theology.
The premise of the book is how we understand the holiness of God and how it affects every area of our life. Because we are unholy, our first impulse is fear since God is holy. Holiness provokes hatred and so the greater the divide between God’s holiness and our own, the greater the hostility toward God from man. This is why Jesus was rejected by his own people.
In a culture that smirks at sin and criticizes faithful biblical teaching, Sproul presents the clear teaching of Scripture, which is not popular even among some Christians today. I found this to be a great work in which I came face to face with my sinfulness in light of a holy God. The book was challenging. It was uncomfortable, it shone light into a dark part of my heart, and I was literally brought to my knees before the Holy of holies and Lord of lords.
I give this book a 4 out of 5.
by Jeremy Smith
I have come to absolutely love Diddy – Dirty Money‘s music video, “Coming Home.” I have attached the video below for those that do not know the song.
The lyrics and authentic expression has really hit me. The pain of what he now knows his kids see and want to be. That he has nothing to show for what he has done. And the desire for forgiveness, grace, and a place to come home. Here are the lyrics to the chorus:
I’m coming home, I’m coming home, tell the World I’m coming home
Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday
I know my kingdom awaits and they’ve forgiven my mistakes
I’m coming home, I’m coming home, tell the World that I’m coming
I get that P. Diddy does not hold to Christian beliefs and his intent with this song was not to share Christ, yet I see the love of Christ flowing from this. Some see the beauty and design of God in nature, others in the intelligent design. I have always seen Christ in the love and compassion of relationships, even more so in the family where a father comes to truly love his children.
by Jeremy Smith
The book Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite A Holy Mess by Matthew Paul Turner is essentially a comedic, autobiography of his life raised in the American church and how it scarred his life forever.
A blurb from his website about himself actually describes the book in whole:
There were two streams of thought that ran throughout Turner’s upbringing: the first being that the outside world was evil; and the second being that someone (or some thing)—the devil, Democrats, Disney, Hollywood, the ACLU, Catholics, tobacco, alcohol—were out to destroy Bible-believing evangelicals. Evil was around every corner, the world was going up in flames, and it was up to the redeemed to stand firm.
If you are looking for a book with life altering spiritual meaning or deep theological content for your Seminary paper, you might invest your time better elsewhere. If you enjoy novels of Christian satire from a child’s perspective, this is perfect for you. Unfortunately, I went in with a mindset that this would be an informative book for how to engage students in the Church who are looking for purpose, structure, and/or meaning in their lives. At the same time, I am in a stage of life where I am sick of hearing endlessly about how the Church is messed up without a follow through of ideas on how we can fix or begin to mend the situation. This left me with a bad impression of the book where in other situations with an open heart, would have found this humorous and inviting to read.
The book had great quips that made me chuckle and brought about memories of my own life where this “church thing” just did not seem to measure up correctly. Being a pastor’s kid, I can say that I have gone through a couple of these things as well, but come out of it with a deep appreciation of authentic Church that I would not give up for anything. He does approach his faith with humor, honesty, and the awareness that the answers aren’t as easy as traditional fundamentalism seems to portray them, but shines an extremely negative light on Christian families as well as tradition without giving cause to offer any kind of defense to why they conducted church as they did. I think his points about fundamentalism are genuine and in many ways correct and need to be stated, but in a fair context that gives light to the reasoning for their actions that is consistently lacking throughout the entire book.
Overall, I give the book a 2 out of 5.
by Jeremy Smith
A Passion for Parables
I have always loved Jesus’ parables, the complete narrative of the story that has the defined lesson, but that seems to apply to so many people’s lives where ever they are at in life. The Parable of the Bags of Gold, or the Parable of the Talents as it is commonly preached, is one of those commonly used passages that basically preaches for itself. I have heard this piece of Scripture preached as an illustration for Christians in many different ways. One is to do their best with what God has blessed them. A talent, one bag of gold, would have been 20 years worth of wages for these men, so for us to apply this, we need to use God’s investment for His glory for the next twenty years and see abundance come out of it. Another illustration is that it doesn’t matter if God gives you many things or a few, He will still love your intentions and effort equally. Notice in verses 21 and 23 are an exact duplicate response, even though the two men brought back significantly different amounts.
But my issue is not with the lesson of the parable, but instead integrating it into my life. Here is the passage I am struggling with:
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Confronting the Scriptures
Since I can remember, I have always believed that I was the man that received the five bags of gold. I have lived a fairly blessed life with amazing parents, wonderful siblings, a wonderful set of gifts quickly revealed to me, and a faith that has been deeply rooted in Scripture and a relationship with Christ. Luke 12:48b states, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” With God blessing me so much, I have felt a huge desire and responsibility to deeply and richly understand my faith and share it with much of the world.
So last week in one of my counseling classes, we were talking about those we might interact with, many who will come from broken homes and terrible issues. At the beginning of this discussion, I would have thought these people were the one bag men. But as our discussion progressed, someone stated that they would have thought that our clients who overcame adversity, a woman who went from abusive parents to a compassionate pastor or a son with had to earn everything he wanted would graduate with a Doctorate from Yale, would be the person with five bags of gold.
My Theology Was Rocked
The foundation of my faith was not shaken, but I quickly reflected on the fact that I was too obsessed with who I was on this list. I had begun labeling people, including myself and potentially limiting my own understanding of all of my relationships. If I would hold to this, I could miss the passionate poet in the high school jock at youth group or be oblivious to the deeply caring Justin Beiber obsessed middle school girl. So while the lesson of doing our best is learned from this passage, I have come away with a worldview-altering compassion for the individuals I am in relationship with. I now want to see the whole person of everyone I am in contact, beyond the emo hair or “I have it all together” persona.
What do you think? Anything deeper you can glean from this passage? Have you been stuck labeling people instead of going deeper into truly knowing those you care about?