Nick’s Walk

John 14:6 English Standard Version (ESV) 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the truth, and 

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:25–26). There is no question that this is strong language. You can bet it cut down on the large crowd that had gathered to see Jesus perform miracles and teach. At a minimum, Jesus calls us to an exclusive relationship with Him. He wants us to the exclusion of all others.  That’s a pretty high standard. How can we measure up to that? Here are some test questions that might help. 1. For whom do you sacrifice? Our most “valuable” possessions are our time and our money. Look at where you place yours and you will have an idea if your relationship with Jesus is exclusive. “Where your treasure is, your heart will be also.” In Matthew 6:24 Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” You can’t follow money and Jesus. Those paths go in different directions and you have […]

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain… Genesis 4:1 Adam didn’t read about Eve or hear all about her from someone else. He knew her in the intimate way that God has gifted to those of us who marry. One of the amazing things about some of the guys at Angola is their knowledge of scripture. They can quote scripture Chapter and Verse. Yet until they spend a weekend being listened to and loved they really don’t know Jesus, they’ve never met Him.  A fan may be able to quote thousands of facts about his hero: how many touchdowns he has scored or yards he has gained. Yet he has probably never even met the man. Many of us who claim to be Christians are the same. We have spent hours in Sunday School or have memorized scripture verses, yet the important thing is to have met Jesus.  The kind of knowledge we are talking about is possible only between beings who have dropped all pretense and have made themselves completely vulnerable one to the other. God has made such knowledge of Him possible to those who commit to Him and, of course, as […]

Have You Made a Decision for Jesus or Have You Committed to Jesus? Idleman, Kyle (2011-05-24). Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus (p. 32). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  For the next several days I will be looking at the differences between Jesus’ fans and His followers. Please accept for the moment that He calls us to be His followers and that just being a fan isn’t good enough. With me, please consider if you are a fan or a follower and what that means. It is common in church to ask folks to “make a decision” for Jesus or to “accept” Him. This is usually interpreted to mean to “believe” in Jesus. It’s not enough to believe in Him. The demons believe. Jesus asks for a commitment to follow Him, to forsake all others. It is usually possible to distinguish between the believers and the followers. The lives of the followers show real change. They produce fruit.  In our zeal to get people to make a “decision” we sometimes fail to explain what is really involved. Consider this: There is no forgiveness without repentance. There is no salvation without surrender. There is no life without death. There is […]

Our church is in the process of selecting a new pastor. Since we are an independent, non-denominational body, the process is not cut in stone and the congregation plays a significant part. No outside authority will pick someone and send him to us. We are already in receipt of some resumes and, I guess, will be having some guest sermons soon. It seems to me, however, that there are some preliminary matters that need to be considered before we start parsing resumes and evaluating sermons. There are some questions that need to be asked. Before we can know what we should look for in a pastor, we need to know: 1. What kind of church do we want to be? There are, no doubt, some simple and some simplistic answers to this question. We can pull out verses from the Book of Acts. We can embroider the “Great Commission”  on banners and hang them about. But it is a question that requires some thought. There are many different kinds of churches these days. There are thousands of denominations. Many of those are doing a great job. Many are not.  What kind of church do we want to be? It […]

John 13:35 English Standard Version (ESV) 35  tossed back and forth by the waves, 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, that is, Christ. Yesterday was a great day. I always seem to enjoy the days I spend with my Kairos brothers and sisters. I wish I could say it’s because they are all perfect Christians; but they are not. They do seem to have the basics down. They are the most loving group I know. It’s awful that Our Lord told us that others would know us by the way we love each other; yet, the world’s  opinion of Christians is that they are “unloving.” I understand that part of the reason is that the world can’t handle the “truth” that Christ has given us. But I believe we need to accept some responsibility for this negative view of our kind. Notice how unloving speech is a product of immaturity. It’s something that infants do. So do those who are not grounded in the truths of the faith. Speaking the truth in love is a sign of maturity. Kids may say the darnedest things, but loving Christians shouldn’t.   I believe the root of the problem is our failure to understand “speaking the truth […]

There is no forgiveness without repentance. There is no salvation without surrender. There is no life without death. There is no believing without committing. Idleman, Kyle (2011-05-24). Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  Is it any wonder that we have “Christians” who do nothing when we teach that there is nothing required of us to be a Christian. The Christian life is joyful and the only life man was created for; but  that joy requires repentance, surrender, death to self and commitment. We make it seem that being born again is a magical experience that doesn’t result in a new person with new direction, desires and commitment.  We should not expect converts to bear fruit if we don’t teach them that they are to be a new plant grafted into a new vine. We become new creatures through the power of God, but God doesn’t do that without our assent. He will forgive us for every sin that we turn away from. He will save us if we surrender our lives to him. He will make us new creatures if we are wiling to die the old self. He will […]

Jesus says “Believe in me” about five times. But care to guess how many times Jesus said “Follow me”? About twenty times. Idleman, Kyle (2011-05-24). Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus (pp. 32-33). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  I am not a fan of Jesus. Fans get all excited about their hero. They wear t-shirts exalting his praises. They love the things He does. They can recite numerous facts about their hero. It’s pretty cheap to be a fan. I guess you can go all nuts on fan gear, but you don’t really have to spend a fortune.  But fans don’t really know their hero. They know about Him. They don’t get down on the field and fight next to Him; they just cheer Him on from the sidelines. If He doesn’t do well in a particular situation, they can slip his t-shirt off and not talk about him. In fact, they usually don’t talk about Him in crowds full of fans of other “heroes.”  I want to be more than a fan. Consider this I have folks I love greatly, my wife, children, grand children and great grands. I want them to have fans; but what […]