Is this true?

Teenagers views on Eternity
Is this true?

What about you guys???

This is a great website Lifeway research.

You should spend some time on this site!!!

PODCASTS You should be listening to...

These are the podcasts that I have on my iTunes library. I listen to these all the time. Listen to these guys, turn off the music sometime and listen to something that will bless your soull . (Yes Christian music is good but seriously the same lyrics over and over don't hold a hat to Biblical teaching or conversation.) If there is a 1 means listen to it, it's the jam. I would love to hear what you guys have to say about these in the future.

I have them divided into 1. Church planting, Church, Culture, these are the ones that I find interesting about Cultural issues, Church and Church planting stuff. Preaching it different places I listen to good Biblical preaching. Finances are something that I take and interest in I am hard core about staying out of debt and glorifying God through giving and building for the future. Lastly are the weirdos, these are the crazies I listen to to keep up with what the other side is saying.

I am going to break these down by topic and here is the key.

(1). Listen to this one and don't miss a one

(2). Listen to this when I get a chance but really enjoy what it says

(3). Listen to this when I am doing research

(4). I pick and choose who I want to listen to from this one.





Church Planting, Church, Culture stuff

1. Acts 29 Network Podcast: http://www.acts29network.org/mediafiles/sermons.xml This podcast are the sermons and lectures fromt he acts 29 events which include thier Church planting boot camps and general conferences.(1)

2. Dallas Theological Seminary Dialogues: http://www.dts.edu/feeds/dialogue/ Dallas Theological Seminary does this every once in a while and they cover different hot topics in culture, very thoughful and interesting. (3)

3. Inside Lifeway: http://feeds.feedburner.com/InsideLifeway Lifeway is up to some really cool things in culture and research. This is surprisingly interesting. (1)

4. Ravi Zacharias International Ministry: http://www.rzim.org/includes/rss/jtPodcastRSS.php Ravi is an incredibly good thinker, a great philosopher, and wonderful to listen to. (2)

5. North American Missions: http://feeds.feedburner.com/NamWeeklyPodcast Dr. J.D. Payne, my church planting prof at Southern, does this on Church planting Issues in North America, does a great job and is worth the listen. (1)

6. North American Mission Board: http://www.namb.net/cpgpodcast This is NAMB, North American Mission Board, podcast it is good kind of outdated but useful to understand Church planting. Worth the listen definetly.. (4)

7. Renewing your Mind Podcast: http://broadcast.ligonier.org/podcast/podcast.xml R.C. Sproul is a great thinker and theologian. Sproul has been doing this for years and there is a treasure chest of things to listen to here. (1)

8. The Albert Mohler Program: http://albertmohler.com/rss/podcast.php Al Mohler is the president of Southern Seminary (the one I go to) he does a fabulous job interacting with culture from a Biblical worldview. I never miss one of these, great place to hear about current issues and how to think Biblically about them. (1)

Preaching Podcasts sermons etc...

1. Capitol Hill Baptist Church: http://www.chbcaudio.org/?feed=rss2 This is the sunday sermons and also the special events that Mark Dever and his staff do at CHBC in Washington D.C. I love this Church and never miss one of these. (1)

2. Song of Solomon: http://dbcmedia.org/podcasts/love_song_podcast.xml Tommy Nelson Podcast on Song of solomon, this is a world known study that he has done, great resource for anyone. (3)

3. Desiring God Radio: http://podcast.oneplace.com/dg/9999999.xml John Piper is one of the most influential people in my life. I read lots of his stuff and I don't go a week without listening to this. Piper preached through Romans for 8 years just finished this past January. This is the Web Radio Show of his sermons, Desiring God (his ministry) takes his sermons and cuts them up into 15 or so minute bites and puts them out there. There are interviews commentary etc here as well. USE THIS!!! (1)

4. Desiring God Sermon Audio: http://desiringgodorg/feeds.sermonAudio/ Bethlehem Baptist Church; This is updated week to week and is the up to date with the sermons that John Piper is preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church. I don't miss this ever!!(1)

5. Mars Hill Church: http://rss.marshillchurch.org/mhcsermonaudio Mark Driscoll is another great influence in my life, I love the stuff he does and really he is one of the best out there in thinking, preaching, cultural interaction I never miss it. (1)

6. Paul Washer sermons: http://www.sermonaudio.com/rss_search.asp?speakeronly=true&keyword=Paul+Washer Paul Washer tells it like it is. Great guy to listen to you should listen to him. His preaching is incredibly convicting. (2)

7. Resurgence Podcast: http://theresurgence.com/podcast/feed/itunes I never, I repeat never miss what is on this podcast. Mark Driscoll oversees this ministry and it is spectacular. Things about culture, theology, scriptrue, family. There are youg guys, older guys all across the board but very missional and very conservative. (1)

Seminary/University Podcast

1. Southeastern Seminary: http://www.sebts.edu/chapel/chapelPodcast.xml Great seminary and there are some great sermons hear. (4)

2. Southwestern Seminary: http://www.swbts.edu/audioswbtspod.xml Refer to the previous (4)

3. Southern Seminary Podcast: http://www.sbts.edu/rss/chapel.xml Refer to the ones above but the difference is this is my seminary so there you go. (1)

4. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary: http://www.nobts.edu/chapel/podcast/ New Orleans Seminary Chapel Podcast is good, I listen to it when there is someone good preaching, depends on who is doing it. (4)

5. Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary: http://www.mbts.edu/audio/podcast.xml(4)

6. Dallas Theological Seminary: http://www.dts.edu/feeds/chapel Theologically this school and I have some differing views but it has some good stuff on it. I pick and choose who I listen to on here, no just anyone. (4)

7. Union University Podcast: http://www.uu.edu/audio/podcasts/chapels.xml Really good stuff on this, they have some good speakers and they have some good conferences as well. (4)


Finances

1. Crown Financial Ministry: http://crown.org/radio/podcast/programs/moneymatters.xml Crown has been huge in my life and Christians is regards to using your finances to glorify God. Intensely practical more so about what God has to say about money. USE THIS!!!! (1)

2. The Dave Ramsey Show: http://www.daveramsey.com/media/audio/podcast/podcast.xml Another great place for financial advice, a little more secular but still Dave is a Christian. There is a wealth of things here, listen to it and avoid debt and using your money to consume and instead of glorifying God. (1)



Weirdos...

1. Emergent Podcast: http://www.emergentvillage.com/podcasts/emergentpodcast.xml I have to say I DO NOT AGREE WITH THESE PEOPLE THEOLOGICALLY AND MANY WAYS PRACTICALLY. I like to keep up with what the otherside is saying and doing so I can know how to talk about it. (3)

2. Doug Pagitt Podcast: http://rss.mac.com/pagitt/iWeb/pagitt%20PodCast/rss.xml Refer to the disclaimer and explanation above. (4)

3. Relevant Podcast http://www.relevantmagazine.com/beta/podcasts/relevant.xml Really funny people on this one. There is some good stuff but overall it is an entertaining podcast. (1)

4. Tony Campolo Podcast: http://www.tonycampolo.org/podcast.tonycampolo_podcast.xml Dude, is crazy but good to listen to the other side. Remember the weirdos I don't agree with on most everything but they are good to listen to. (3)

5. Catalyst Podcast: http://catalyst.libsyn.com/rss This podcast is the Catalyst organization they do stuff on leadership and are affiliated with John Maxwells group. Theologically there are issues with these guys but they are great to understand what all these different leaders think and do the very good and the very bad. (2)

Misc Podcast soon to come.

Sick?

Today I had a heated discussion with someone about strip clubs, and I made the comment that those going there are "SICK." Not sick in the sense of making sexual sin a disease, but in the sense of the perverseness of it. I was disagreed with(this person usually disagrees with everying I say, but that's beside the point). He made the point that all of our nation's military, or at least a huge percentage of it, that this is their bread and butter. I said, "they're sick." Well, the rest of the details are frivolous, so I want to tell why it is "SICK".

When you have royally screwed up, which feels better, when someone says "ahh you can do better next time", or "you screwed up, keep on pluggin"? Well, stupid question, but humor me. Of Course, the first one feels so much better. While both are expressing something was done wrong and both exhort the person to keep on troddin', secular "psycho-babble" has told us to not say the way things are. Instead of saying you lost, we say betterluck next time, or instead of saying you are sinning, we say that there are character issues. We make things sound so much nicer rather than the reality of the situation.

How many times have we said "I am struggling", or "I struggle with X...., you know everyone does" "I could always do better in X...." I mean just look at that language and I think I would not be pointing this out if this method would have helped. But IT HASN'T. We have a bunch of people out there who could justify anything and make themselves feel better for everything that they have done wrong. Seriously. Now, I know there are those that want to quote, "A harsh word...", or the fruits of the spirit and I want to assure you that those texts are completely taken into account with this. Those passages don't say, "you're wonderful, you're nice, and dawgonnet people like you." They say you need to strive for this becasue you love God and ya know what you MISS THE MARK.

So what in the world does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Saying that going to a strip club is sick is NOT being mean or judgemental, Matthew 5 does that far too well and authoritatively. No, depravity is sick, women putting their God given (and something altered) bodies to be gawked at rupped on and paid for like some animal is sick. And men paying money to visually rape, take advatage of, and be turned on by such a person is just what I said, SICK! We need to pluck more eyes and cut off more hands for goodness sake. It is sick and so is sin itself, put it into perspective ye who justify your sin. You are willingly shaking your fist at the Holy of Holies and spitting on the gift he has given, choosing the maggot ridden dirt over the lucious steak that has been provided. We are playing the whore as a people and we need to call it what it is and repent because we LOVE God and more importantly HE loved us first.

THE END!!!!!!!!!!

Continually Convicted:Thoughts on the Last Things and Beyond...

I just finished preaching to a group of great students, who have a great youth minister, ministry-oriented church etc... I preached on what is one of my top five most taught and studied passages in the Bible,I Corinthians 15. I love this chapter in the Bible because it is one that brings me the most hope for both today and forever. It makes me excited to be a Christian, and causes me to love Christ even more.

I firmly believe that because of our view of the body and eternity, it is no wonder that abuse our bodies, please ourselves sexually, avoid suffering for the sake of Christ, and don't even share our faith... It is no wonder. Verse 32 says, "If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”" That verse explains perfectly, that if we do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, then we should consume all that is because the sinful pleasure of Earth is all the exists for us (not all pleasure is sinful). Let's commit all fornication, let us commit all drunkenness, let us commit all debauchery. Seriously, it blows my mind to think of the inconsistency of many who don't believe in this and still lead moral lives. That is craziness, you are selling yourself short if this time on Earth is all that exists for us...

But think, oh think of the pleasures of God, of the glories of God. Oh Lord, we will have a body that can experience pleasure for eternity. Oh God, we will take pleasure in you for eternity, oh yes Lord... We will rule, we will work, we will be in relationships, we will feast, we will joy in all things. And yes God, we should pursue pleasure, joy, IN you. Wow, God I can experience sexuality in its fullness in You. Yes Lord, thank you that you saw fit for marriage, that sexual expression is something beautiful there. Lord, I can pleasure with food in you, thank you God for taste and feasting. Lord, I can take pleasure from the joys of this Earth IN you. Lord, thank you for the pain you allow, and the suffering that you allow in you. Thank you that we can persevere and glory in you throughout it all. Yes Lord, thank you Lord, that you allow me joy and pleasure now, and an even fuller Joy in eternity. Thank you God, thank you.

Hedonism & Hurt

There is so much of this in music today, and it is just a mircrocosom of what the world is going through, below there are some lyrics of Billboard top 100 songs, both in the top 10, and there are many more that could be added to this list, but for time and content, they've been left out.

Disclaimer: These are some hard lyrics, and while they have been censored, the fact that people would really sing these things is still tough to swallow. It is altogether sad and convicting. Take a look:

Lisa is stuck up in the world on her own

Forced to think that hell is a place called home

Nothin else to do but some get some clothes and pack

She says shes bout to run away and never come back

Little erica is eleven years old

Shes steady tryin to figure why the world is so cold
So she pops x to get rid of all the pain

Cause shes havin sex with a boy whos sixteen

Emotions run deep and she thinks shes in love

Never thinkin bout the consequences of her actions

Livin for today and not tomorrows satisfaction

The days go by and her belly gets big

The father bails out he aint ready for a kid

Knowin her mama will blow it all outta proportion

Plus she lives poor so no money for abortion

This is why I’m hot Catch me on the block Every other day

This is the other side of this post!!

Another ____ another drop 16 bars, 24 pop 44 songs, _____ gimme what you got

I’m in there driving cars Push them off the lot I’m into shutting stores down so I can shop

If you need a bird I can get it chopped Tell ne what you need you know I get ‘em by the flock

I call my hommie black meet me on the ave

I hit wash heights with the money in the bag we into big spinners

See my _______ never dragged Find me with different women that you ______never had

For those who say they know me know I’m focused on my cream

Playa you come between you’d better focus on the beam

I keep it so feen the way you see me lean

And when I say I’m hot my ______ this is what I mean

Look at this, what are they feeling? Like I said before, these lyrics are not isolated incidents, just scrolling through the top songs, most all of them could fall into either some talk of hurting or a glorifying of hedonism (def- Pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses). There are some exceptions to this, of course, but the point is still clear; there is an immense amount of pain in the lives of the world, and there is a lifestyle of solely pleasing the senses.

What are the implications of this?

Think of this, what is the utopia of the hurting songs? If we could map out the end result of what these people are looking for, what would it be? "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", When I Wish Upon a Star". No, they would want all the pain in their life to dissipate, I would generalize, ladies would most likely for a strong loving caring man, to come and save them from it. These two girls in the lyrics (three in the actual song) would want all this junk to be gone, and would either want a father figure to come and make it right or someone that they would fall in love with to come and make it right. (yes I know there are exceptions.....there always are). Now think about the converse of this, that person comes and they protect and care for them, they take away the hurt, but to what end? What happens then, happily ever after? Wait 'till the sequel. No, we who are in relationships know that our fathers royally screw up in our lives, we who are in relationships know that us men (husbands, boyfriends, fiance, or friend) mess up terribly. We have said things to the one we care for that brings us great pain to relive, we miss the event, or forget the promise, and these are not isolated incidents. So, what happens to the saving, the fixing, what happens now?

Take the hedonism, what is their utopia, all the sexual pleasure one could fathom, food, touch, smell, possession, power that could possible be experienced or consumed? We see this played out regularly in the lives of the wealthy and immature. Cars, houses, clubs, women, (or men for that matter) consume, consume, consume. Different partner as often as wanted, endless resources, the list can go on. So what is the other side of this dystopia?

Often there is a string of broken laws, hearts, and promises in the wake, all in the name of pleasure. Litigation, child support, death, deceit, mistrust, loss of power, respect, and prestige. We can see this in the amount of large sums of money won in different events, or young persons given large sums of money with power and notoriety at a young age, and the lives of the person in 5-10 years (or 1 month-2 years) are no longer envied.

The point is clear, we have to know what is happening here. We can eaves drop on many different conversation out in the public sphere and see this. The selfishness, narcissism in the conversation. How many times I, me, my, mine, how often the stories always directly relates to them. People are living for things that will last for about a minute. Music is such a huge part of our experiences in life. These songs, along with many others, are a fire alarm to a missional Christian. The hope of Jesus Christ destroys all the pain, it overturns the life of pleasure and it sills it will a love that will not wane, and a pleasure that cannot be compared. There is unspeakable hurt, the empty tomb shows eternal healing, there is a hedonistic lifestyle, there is Christian Hedonism. Are we hurt for the hurts, do we see the life of the hedonist, and does it bring us pain? Christian does it, listen to the lyrics of the cultural influences and tell me what they are thinking....

Hedonism-Hurt

These are two very distinct kinds of music today.
1. Hedonism talking about the escapades that one goes down and does when they are under the influence of a substance a person or a feeling
2. Hurt all the pain in the world seems to be displayed in these songs, abortion, someone leaving someone, a parent was horrible, rape, murder, fired etc etc etc.........

Check back soon to see some more on this subject and how these two genres are barometers fort he culture and how as Christians we can interact with these in a God honoring sort of way!!!!!!!!!!

"If Someone asks me to Disciple/Mentor them, what do I do? D-Ship 3.1

So in the last post I talked about who to mentor, how to approach it, and how to start it, but now let's get into the nitty gritty of it.

"Living life together" This is a phrase that is used a lot now, but what does it look like and what does it mean?

I want you to know that there are people who have outlines, curricula, and several step processes for mentoring someone. The Navigators organization, Campus Crusade for Christ and other organizations such as these have done a fabulous job, the kingdom has been eternally impacted in part because of the work of these organizations. There are tons of places those things can be acquired.

First, you need to have goals for the person: things that you want to see in, from, and out of the mentoree by the end of your time together. This will dictate how you do what you do.

You as the one mentoring/discipling are the person that is passing something down. You are pouring into the person the things that the Lord has taught you. You are making a family line of disciple that you are the beginning of. Someday, you will be able to look down and maybe see generations upon generations of disciples that were made from this very first person that you mentor.

Imparting of our lives..
So what does this look like? Once again let's reference what Jesus did with his disciples. He imparted what the Lord had shown and done through him. He did this through public teachings that those he was discipling witnessed. He did this through personal conversations with small groups of them and individuals. He also did this through showing them, in his actions, the things he wanted them to know. When they asked a question, he would give them answers. He would often make them think about the answer, whether through asking them a question in return, or through a parable. He often did not come right out and give them an explicit answer, but he prodded them on to thinking for themself.

So when we are mentoring someone, we are giving them the experiences, the successes and failures, and the information the Lord has given us. Essentially, we are going to be a book for them to read. This requires a lot of transparency in our lives as mentor and mentoree and it takes intentionality as well, purpose.

Training

Train them by our example but also by instruction. Jesus trained his disciples in teaching, he trained them in disciple-making, he trained them in healing, among other things.

Training is vital. There are some things that we need to be aware to train those we disciple in.
Scripture- training the person to read it, understand it, it's importance, how to talk about it.
Disciple-making-sharing their faith, maturing a young believer, discipling the person as they go along, instilling in them a passion for God's people and those who are not, YET
Life- Life decisions, like "what about that person of the opposite sex", "what should I do with this job opportunity", "how should I handle this _____".
Family- Men who mentor men will train them to be Godly men, husbands, and fathers. Women will mentor women to be Godly women, wives, and mothers. Teach them how to lead their families if their guys and how to submit to their husbands and nurture the whole family if you are the mother. Train them how to work and have families, train them what it means to have a family Bible time.
Teaching- This is what Paul did with his disciples, he taught them to teach others, how to pass things on. Each disciples needs to know how to share the Scriptures with others, this will bless their families, peers, evangelistic encounters.

Folks, you do all these things not through written lectures, but through life experiences. You ask them when you get together about how things are going in the last few weeks. Ask "what did you read in the Bible this week", and look at it together. How is your relationship with ________, lets talk about that.

Guys, seriously, these things will require times of the mentor talking at length about something. It will require you and the person going on evangelistic encounters together. You go out with some people or someone who you have been sharing your faith with, well bring your disciple along with you so they can watch and learn. Have them in your homes to experience your family with them. Go to games with them, malls, parks etc. Also do things that are working together with them, allow them the opportunity to watch you doing things that help others.

There is more to say but it can be on a case by case scenario, but that's it. Have your goals for the person you are mentoring, and make your time with them point towards that. If your goal is to make a Godly mate for someone one day, or a Godly parent for someone one day, or a Godly person in the world, then you need to take them to the places for them to witness you , and experience with you those things.

You see, while this is low key, it is a huge deal but at the same time it is not a huge deal. It is intentional, sacrificial, authentic, relationship.

"If Someone asks me to Disciple/Mentor them, what do I do? D-Ship 3

Mentorship/Discipling, what is that?

Now, I first off have to differentiate between some things. The family is the primary engine for discipling someone, especially young people, however scripture does have examples of people being made a disciple by other people. Secondly, it seems that many people think that you should exclusively mentor people that have been believers for a while.

People who think this way neglect the Making of Disciples, the going mandate of Matthew 28. This was written in the sense that evangelism and discipleship could be synthesized. This text does not make a distinction between the two in the Great Commission, so this means going to the unregenerate(the unbelievers), sharing the Gospel (the good news of Jesus Christ), and discipling them if they become a Christian .

That is in the great commission Evangelism and Discipleship are intertwined in one term and it is MAKE DISCIPLES. So, before I continue that had to be made clear.

Once again much of this can be found in the Book Master Plan of Evangelism By Robert Coleman, there is also an earlier edition.

The remainder of what I say is applicable to New Christian converts as well as Christians in need of direction, and can be transposed to someone who wants to know how to be mentored or mentor.

First off, who do you approach? If you are a growing follower of Christ, be on the look out for people that the Lord might have you be a mentor to. Keep this in mind because there are a great number of "babes" in our Churches that have been there for years, but are still "babes" spiritually. So look for those who are really interested in growing. These people are noticeable, eager, engaged, have things to add to the conversation. These people don't just show up to corporate worship and walk away, but rather, these people are truly wanting to grow. They are also people that you mesh with personality-wise. You don't necessarily have to have the same personality, but it is such that you would be able to spend large amounts of time and energy with the person. I have had guys that I started to mentor only to point them to someone else because of the stark differences in our personality.

Another way of finding the person that you will mentor is letting them find you. If you are in a position to teach, then maybe you should teach on the topic in your Small Group, ministry meeting, large group, or maybe a group of couples or families that go out to dinner or come over for dinner and strike up the conversation, and direct it in a way of talking about your mentoring, or being mentored. SIDE NOTE. Sometimes you have to plant the seed by educating the people before they know that they need to act on something. This has been my method I have taught about when I was in a position to teach, or I talked about it in a general sense with persons I thought were ready but wanted to see if they thought they were ready. I had one guy that while we were just chatting about the need for me to grow in their faith and I started talking about mentoring. He talked to me a few days later, and I started to mentor him. This took place in a very casual way, not a big deal.

Now when a person approaches me, if they are a person who has been in Church a long time I ask them to read something in scripture and come back to me and let me know,
1. Why would I have them read that in light of their request, and two are there in questions that you have about the passage. I try not to tell them what the passage means. I want to see several things, one are they committed enough to finish the task in a timely manner.
2. It lets me see how they best learn. (do they make a detailed outline, did they just summarize it for me, do they make bullet points and question)
3 It helps to start the wheels on being in the word and starting all this on the word of God.
4. What do they hope to have happen from their time with me?
5. Their conversion story; this is pivotal to understand before you press on.

So from there, we talk about Sin issues in their life, and about where does the enemy know where to get us. The big ones come out and that gives me a base to break down where the sin is in their life and how it manifests itself. I write this stuff down for my viewing only (for the sheer fact of remembering, I don't know about you but memory is not the gift that I am known for). A great book that covers the sin issue and uncovers lots that we don't even see is "The Pursuit of Holiness": By Jerry Bridges

Then this is where the Coleman book comes in, I now know the person on some level I understand where the enemy attacks them, I can see how they learn, read, regurgitate, how they came to know Christ etc.....

D-Ship 2.1

Family Worship

Here are some resources for you guys to peruse and get some great ideas from. The Catechism is basically a confession of faith. Most everything that we believe was articulated in a Catechism. I have met tons of people who catechize their families (sounds scary, huh). This involves memorizing the questions and the answers contained in the Catechism along with the Bible Verses that go with them. In the last 2 years, I have spoken to lots of people who are doing this with their families. They have told me about how this has brought their families together, and it has lengthened the attention span of their children who have ranged from 2-17 years old.

I asked several questions in regards to this when I speak to these people.

How did it work with your young kids?
-"Sometimes it is difficult, but since we started at a young age with our first one, when the other kids were born and get older, they are used to that set time, and they also want to be like their older siblings, so they usually stay in line."

How about when they were older with all the time consuming things that kids do?
-They have said that since this has always been in the family, when the kids got older, it was just a part of life. They also made the point that they had to live a life dedicated to expanding the kingdom of God by obedience to His scripture and Spirit. Soccer practice didn't interfere with this, nor plays, homework, TV, Church things or whatever activity. (Hardcore huh?)


Website By Donald Whitney, Look for the part that says Family Worship
http://www.spiritualdisciplines.org/articles.html#fworship

Website: By John Piper
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TopicIndex/104/

Website: Baptist Catechism Adapted to Modern English
http://www.corefellowship.net/catechism.htm

Website: With the Westminster Shorter Catechisms
http://bible.crosswalk.com/History/AD/CreedsandConfessions/Catechisms/TheWestminsterCatechism_Shorter.html

Website: By Brandon Porter Family Care Pastor at Living Hope Baptist Church
http://www.covenantlifetoday.org/2006/04/online_library.php

Website: Bible Reading Plans for a year
http://www.bibleplan.org/

Resource: A Bible companion that is rich with Biblical insights and life application (Living Hope Baptist Church is as a Church reading book 1 together for the year.)
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=48154&event=CF

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=48162&netp_id=449397&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW

Some other Ideas,

A basic Study time can be from something just as simple as reading a passage in the Bible together, to having a full out Family worship time.

Basic Bible reading: Start with a time of prayer, pray for: 1. Family (immediate, and extended) 2. Friends 3. Lost persons 4. Missions 5. Country and officials.
After a time of prayer, read a Bible passage together and talk about what it means. This is where something like a study Bible with concise commentary would be helpful, but better yet, get the "For the Love of God" book Vol I, II.. The link above will take you to a place to buy it. Then end the time with prayer.

Worship service: Start the same with prayer as seen above, and then move to a time of singing or reading a Psalm together. Read a passage or chapter from the Bible, and talk about what it means. End it with a time of prayer and reflection on what has been read.

If you decide to do a Catechism, read the question and then the response, and then do it again, but have the family respond with question from the answer you have previously read. Then, go to the verses associated with the questions, and look at what it says and how the writer of the catechism came to the question.

Know that you can incorporate any and all of these things into your family worship time. This can be done with a family of Mom Dad and kids, or something that singles do by themselves or with a friend on a consistent basis. It can be done between brothers and sisters whose parents do not come to Church, or are not interested, or with a single mom or dad and the kids. These ideas are not set in stone on a method for family worship, but the bottom line is WE NEED TO DO IT.

Next post will be about mentoring someone else. Mentoring is an extremely important thing that is not done very much at all. 2 Timothy 2 is what we are going to endeavour to do.

D-Ship 2

So what I am advocating here,

Last post I gave a historical background on D-Ship. I discussed what it's not (not just Sunday night topical classes, or working through workbooks) and now it is time to tell you what it is.

Once again, I need to reiterate that I am getting much of this material from antiquity, a modern writer, Robert Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism, my personal discipling of others, and being discipled as well.

This is extremely important to the passing on of the faith. First and foremost, discipling of the family needs to happen. Fathers, you need to lead your families in the ways of the Lord. Mothers, you need to disciple your children, not just when they are young, but also when they are tweens, teens, and young adults. This happens at all levels of life.

So how do you disciple someone, either in your family or outside of it?

In your families, discipling needs to happen by example first and foremost. If we want our children to read their Bibles on a consistent, ongoing basis, than we need to be modeling this action for them. Fathers, when you do your quiet time, do it at a time when your children will be around. Do it in your favorite chair, in the living room, or at the kitchen table. Mothers, same deal. Have your children see you read your Bibles. When you are reading, or after, tell them what you are reading and what you are learning, in a real, authentic, natural sort of way. Prayer: pray in the evenings or in the mornings when your children are around, mother and father, both together and separately. Pray audibly so that if your kids are wandering in and out of the room they can hear and see you doing so. This goes to all sorts of ways of praising the Lord, fasting, meditation, singing songs of praise, etc.....
This is not just limited to two parent homes, but is definitely also for homes of one parent. If you are in a single parent home, then you should incorporate these things into your daily routine and let your kids see what you are doing.

The place to start is by living it yourself and teaching your children without saying a word. Teach them by what you do and say, but also having those teach through moments with them that are so natural. I will tell you straight that if you do this, then incorporating a family prayer time and family Bible study time down the line will be much easier because they will have seen you do these things, and it would make much more sense to them...

A key part to this that must be emphasized for those two parent families that the mother and father are not divided on this but it is a collective thing. They are not only separately doing these things, but also as doing these things as a couple.

In my next post I will give suggestions for how to do a family devotional time.....