Choose the Life by Bill Hull
growth, financial stability, and a congregation free of conflict. Try this stuff out on the church in Rwanda, where 75 percent of the pastors were killed in tribal genocide in 1994 and 15 percent more fled the country.
The average income in Rwanda is one hundred dollars a month. They dont expect it to go smoothly. So why is it that these godly men and women dont have all the resources they need? Dont they read the right books and send money to the right televangelist?
•Satan loves it when we allow our culture to set the standards for the church. He wants us to believe in a Christianity built on Western capitalistic social structures. Jesus, however, promised difficulty and persecution, saying that we should be glad because he will turn it into good. (Matt.5:11-13, John 16:33, Rom.8:28-29, James 1:2-4)
•GK Chesterton wrote: "Jesus promised his disciples three thingsthat they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble."
•Whatever comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. AW Tozer
•Pray the scriptures:
1.Turn to a scripture passage that is simple and practical
2.Come to the Lord quietly and humbly
3.Read a small portion
4.Do not move on until you sense the very heart of what you have read
5.Take that portion and turn it into prayer
6.After you have exhausted the deeper sense and how it applies to you, move on to the next small section, a verse or two.
•The key to developing character is brokenness before God. This brokenness is a product of humility and submission. These are the very qualities that Jesus modeled as his core.
RETURN TO MAIN
•Christianity has no cost in America. We've made it way too easy to be born again, perhaps much easier than Jesus intended. When do we get to the point at which we accept smaller numbers of intensely devoted people rather than feverishly investing in filling auditoriums and stadiums with massive numbers of the lukewarm Christians that Jesus promised to spew from his mouth? George Barna
•Obedience is evidence of our love for God. (John 14:21)
•When the church goes deep, we get real transformation; there will be revolution, there will be revival; there will be reproduction; and there will be multiplication.
•God is opposed to earning salvation through the practice of any set of disciplines. He is not opposed to effort.
•There is no need to despair; hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a brief sojourn in the Enemys camp and are now with us. All the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favor. CS Lewis, Screwtape Letters
•The key to inner transformation is making the spiritual disciplines habit forming.
•What are we like inside:
1.Will: the power to initiate/decide (1 Cor.7:37)
2.Spirit: the part of us that is distinct from the body (1 Cor.2:9-16)
3.Heart: the core or center of a person (Col.3:1)
4.Conscience: an inner knowing of right and wrong (1 Peter 3:16)
5.Mind: the rational center of our being (Rom.12:2)
•What event or experience causes the most important spiritual transformation? Trauma and Accountable relationships.
•Can people change? I do believe we are hardwired with a temperament and a basic personality. Every parent knows this to be true, especially if they have more than one child. The differences in peoples temperaments and personalities are illustrated nearly every day through everything from what we eat to how we handle adversity. But I also believe that our personalities and bents can be shaped to reflect kindness instead of harshness, forgiveness rather than grudge holding, submission in place of rebellion.
•Why is the most common prayer in Christendom, May the event go smoothly? It joins the chorus of other platitudes: Gods work done Gods way will never lack Gods resources. Gods blessing is in evidence in numerical
Exploring a Faith that Embraces Discipleship
Author: Bill Hull
Baker Books
•We live in a world where 95% of preaching is directed to 6% of the Western worlds population, yet the church is shrinking.
•5 dimensions of discipleship
1.Believe what Jesus believed (transformed mind)
2.Live as Jesus lived (transformed character)
3.Love as Jesus loved (transformed relationships)
4.Minister as Jesus ministered (transformed service)
5.Lead as Jesus led (transformed influence)
•Discipleship is a choice; we dont drift into it or amble our way halfheartedly down the path of obedience.
•The whole point of the gospel is to be transformed into the image of Christ.
•We have made the test for salvation doctrinal rather than behavioral.
•We must remember that discipleship is not one of the things the church does, it is THE thing the church does.
•New Testament model of discipleship:
1.A disciple submits to a teacher who teaches him or her how to follow Jesus
2.A disciple learns Jesus words
3.A disciple learns Jesus way of ministry
4.A disciple imitates Jesus life and character
5.A disciple finds and teaches other disciples for Jesus
Faith that Embraces Discipleship:
We live in a world where 95% of preaching is directed to 6% of the Western worlds population, yet the church is shrinking.
Raising a Modern Day Knight Half Time Authentic Faith Choose the Life Rumors
The Ishbane Conspiracy The Unstoppable Force When the Game is Over It All Goes Back in the Box Spirit of the Disciplines
The Dangerous Duty of Delight A Million Miles in a Thousand Years Paul Follow Me Sacred Pathways Buried Alive