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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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 We sometimes aren’t very clear about what it means to “make disciples.” I think the answer is in the words Christ used in the Great Commission. Go. Making disciples means going or a change of place. We can’t make disciples by sitting at home or huddling up in church. That’s not to say that disciplining activity can’t take place at home or at church. It means we have to get out of our  comfort zone and meet the loss where they are. “Go” is also an individual command. Making disciples isn’t for a chosen few. We are all charged with making disciples. This is because disciplining can’t take place in a mass meeting or on television. Disciplining  is a one-on-one activity. Baptizing. Baptizing is part of disciplining. It includes all three types of baptism: baptism of repentance, water baptism, and baptism in the Holy Spirit. To become a disciple we need to turn from […]

I try to generally stay serious in this blog. Sometimes, however, I don’t have a serious thought. Sometimes the day is beautiful and I feel frivolous. Sometimes I find something that’s funny and true and I can’t help sharing it. I found an article entitled 21 Rules that Men Have. There were only 19 which made it even funnier. So blame the beautiful weather and have a nice laugh. 1. Men are not mind readers. 2. Learn to work the toilet seat, you are a big girl.  If it is up, put it down, we NEED it up, you need it down.  You don’t hear us complaining when you leave it down. 3. Crying is blackmail. 4. Ask for What you want.  Let me be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it! 4. Yes and NO are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question. 5. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it.  That is what we do.  Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for. 6. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.  In fact, all […]

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 1 Thessalonians 3:12 Last night we had a great connect group with the above verse as the theme. We have been dealing with Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World.  So far we have been advised to Stay Calm and Love Everyone. We seem more stressed than ever in nearly every part of our lives: physical, spiritual, financial, political. Chaos seems to reign. As Christians, we are moving from a majority to a minority position. We are no longer “loved” for who we are. We are marginalized and even hated. Don’t be shocked. Scripture predicts this time. That doesn’t make it any less stressful and chaotic. Stress and chaos, however, are matters of perspective. There is always someone worse off than  you no matter how bad things seem. Step one is not to panic. Stay calm. God is in control. Step two in reducing pressure and stress is to find someone worse off than yourself. This takes your focus from yourself and makes you realize that  you really have things pretty good. That helps. Step three is to love […]

The Ragin Cajun Baseball team is expected to be really good this year. They have several starters back from last year and some exciting new players. They are picked to win their conference almost unanimously. The season started on Friday night. They lost. They went on to win three of four games over the weekend. In baseball you play a lot of games. You better learn how to lose. Even a great hitter will get an out about every 7 out of ten times he steps up to bat. You better learn how to lose. Life is like that. Most days we don’t get home runs or even singles. We strike out or ground out or fly out. Sometime, however, we get a walk, or get a hit, maybe even a home run. That happens if we don’t quit the many times we “lose.” That happens if we learn from our losses. We lose a lot in life. There is a danger we will get use to it. We can become losers. Losing can be how we define ourselves. The secret is to take our losses in stride without becoming satisfied with them. Our losses should motivate us to […]

      For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Psalm 108:4 Faithful You are ever faithful You are ever faithful To us God Sunday during our worship time we sang about our Faithful God. The song and its words have been stuck in my head. I think we don’t fully comprehend the faithfulness of God. Consider the synonyms for faithful: ” loyal, constant, true, devoted, unswerving, steadfast, dedicated and committed.” Faithful means “keeping promises.” These aren’t common qualities these days. What struck me about the words, stuck in my head, is that God is faithful “to us.” He deserves Faithfulness; we don’t. He is faithful, although we are almost universally “unfaithful.” He is committed to us; when we aren’t often even mindful of Him. It’s difficult for us to comprehend a faithful God because we are so unfaithful. We are fascinated by the new and different, whether it’s products, programs or people. Sticking with just one of anything really isn’t very cool. We drift from relationship to relationship, job to job, church to church. As soon as something no longer excites us or meets our needs, we move on. No […]

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.Luke 18:19 I found myself recently making a common mistake: calling someone good. That’s just not right and it’s not right for several reasons. The main reason, of course, is that Jesus told us that only God alone is God.  That should be plenty enough reason. When we call a person “good” we cut the value of the word. God is good because he’s perfect. When we describe anything as “good” except God, we allow the word is include things which aren’t perfect. It’s tough enough to describe our Holy God without negating the few words that accurately portray Him. I shouldn’t do it because it leads to lazy speech. When I say someone is “good” I know that’s not what I mean. I’m trying to express some other quality, but “good” is just an easy substitute. The last time I used “good” to describe someone, on further thought, what I really meant was: faithful, kind, and gentle. I should have used those words. When we describe folks as “good” we set up a “grade on the curve” mentality. That’s very dangerous. We tend to think […]

My church lost one of its really good men yesterday when Glen “Doc” Williamson passed away in his sleep. Doc had been a hard worker at church. He served on the Board. He was a faithful usher. He and his lovely wife were members of the prayer team. I don’t think he was an “official” greeter, but his firm handshake and bright smile greeted me every Sunday. Last Sunday I filled in for our Pastor at the 9 a.m. teaching and as usual Doc and Virginia were present. During my presentation, he had a look of deep concentration on his face. I thought perhaps he was not agreeing with what I was saying. However, afterward he sought me out and greatly encouraged me with how much he had enjoyed my talk. As a matter of fact, every time I have spoken and he was present, he came forward after with a word of encouragement. Doc was a great encourager. One of the things I mentioned during my talk was how unfortunate it is that we really don’t get to know other folks in the church as we should. It’s sad that we often learn things about a fellow worshiper for the […]

Most Christians don’t seem to experience the joy and satisfaction they expect from the Christian walk.  I think the main thing is that they fail to work in a ministry. The most fulfilling and joyful times in my walk have risen from opportunities to work in ministry. If we are called to fulfill the great commission, we can’t expect fulfillment in anything else. Finding our place in ministry is tough. The modern church is  very “clergy” oriented. We are trained to believe that ministers minister and that the “lay” people just give money and prayer support. That concept did not exist in the 1st century church and has no basis today. We are all called to serve. Finding a spot to serve is tough. There just don’t seem to be that many opportunities out there. What about training? Most ministry requires training, doesn’t it? Don’t we have to go to seminary or bible college first? What about time? Our days are so filled with work and family responsibilities. When can we find the time? Then there’s fear. We know that at least we all have a salvation story to tell. We just never seem to be brave enough or […]