Guests never do any work or preparation; family members always pitch in. We try and impress guests with our hospitality; family members expect to be “part of the flow” and help themselves to whatever they need. Are you treating people like guests or like family?
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we ask the question: do the people coming to your church service each week, and the folks coming to your home, feel more like guests or like part of the family? Caesar is joined by his wife Tina to share how and why we can help everyone feel like true brothers and sisters.
Building strong relationships of trust is a key factor in discipleship. But many of us are not good at building friendships, or we seem too busy in our lives to make the investment of time that it takes.
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, join me as I mine the wisdom of author Twyla Franz and uncover practical ways to start growing deeper friendships today.
Everyone I know feels maxed out on their schedules with the commitments they already have. Yet we are all living with a rhythm that provides one of the most valuable and recurring opportunities for discipleship in our families: Dinner.
This week on the Lifeschool Podcast, we show you how to re-tool and repurpose your Family Dinner Nights in a way that will make them fun, more focused, and a perfect way to naturally engage in discipleship and missional rhythms as a family.
As Christians, consistently praying for your kids may seem obvious. To pray for your child’s future spouse may be less obvious, but it’s a privilege that carries with it some pretty awesome blessings.
This week on the Lifeschool Podcast, we’ll show you seven ways and reasons to pray for your child’s future, and their potential spouse. The earlier you get started, the bigger the blessings!
Blessed to be a blessing sounds at once awesome… and a little daunting. Where do we start blessing people when there are SO MANY needs around us? That should make it easier, but honestly, it can kind of shut you down, not knowing WHO to bless or HOW.
This week on the Lifeschool Podcast, we talk about how to live fully enjoying the blessings in your life, but also how to live “blessed to be a blessing” to others as a family on mission.
The way of the world is: We do things (perform, serve, work etc.) to have value in the eyes of our family, friends, parents, spouse, siblings, boss, pastor etc.
If we do a good enough job and are perceived as valuable, then people will want us around. We will be wanted. Out of this activity we often form our identity. What we DO has led to who we ARE. Or at least we think it has. But there is a huge problem with this, it is terribly dangerous, it eventually crushes us, and it goes against how God now sees us.
Don’t believe the DO=BE lies anymore.[clickToTweet tweet=”If we are in Christ, then the Bible teaches we have been transformed and given a new identity.” quote=”If we are in Christ, then the Bible teaches we have been transformed and given a new identity.”]
If we are in Christ, then the Bible teaches we have been transformed and given a new identity. We have become part of a family of missionary servants, sent to serve the world and make disciples of Jesus.
This is who we are. This is our new identity. This is the secret.
And this is true of us as Christians EVEN IF WE NEVER KNEW IT. This is our birthright!
The more we understand and believe this to be true, the more our lives will be transformed.
We’ve all seen and heard this before if we’ve ever been baptized or witnessed a baptism ceremony. But maybe we missed it. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus laid out the entire picture and command for us, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” There it is. The mission of the Church and the means to accomplish it.
Our baptism is not some salvational magic spell or just a culturally ancient ritual; we are baptized, soaked, established into a new identity. Into the NAME OF the Father, and the NAME OF the Son, and the NAME OF the Holy Spirit…all a huge identity statement. This is who we now are. Looking briefly at each of these…
We are baptized into the name of the Father.
Our name has everything to do with whose family we are a part of. God is now our Father. We are his dearly loved children. In Christ we are brothers and sisters; That makes the Church a family. It is part of our transformed identity.
We are also baptized into the name of the Son.
We have entered into an identity relationship with Jesus. He is our King, who came and lived as a servant to all, and we now are his servants, serving his glorious mission, as we serve others as a way of life. Being a servant is now a part of our renewed identity.
Finally, we are baptized into the name of the Holy Spirit.
Throughout the New Testament the Holy Spirit is the sending agent of the Church. He empowered Jesus while on Earth, he guided and comforted the early Church and his indwelling presence transforms our identity into “sent ones”: literally missionaries.
As Christians we are alI missionaries.
Because of who God is, and Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, we truly have become a family of missionary servants sent as disciples who make disciples.
This is our birthright. You may not have always known this to be true about yourself…but the next best time start believing it is now!
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