Discipleship 101: How to Disciple a New Believer
How do you disciple new believers?
Discipleship involves a lot, but one of the most important things you can do with a new believer is read the Bible with them–teaching them how to read, understand, respond to, and apply God’s Word.
There are two men in their 20s who came to faith in Christ in recent weeks through the ministry of our church. I’m discipling these guys right now. I baptized them a few weeks ago. One of the core ways I’m discipling them is through weekly Bible reading meetings. This is how I do it:
-Every Wednesday night these guys come to my house to join in our Neighborhood Group with a bunch of other people from our church and neighborhood.
-I have the guys come 30 minutes early so that the three of us can read the Bible together.
-Each week we read one paragraph of Scripture together and talk about it. Right now we’re reading Philippians because it’s the book I’m preaching through, it’s the book all of our Neighborhood Groups are studying, and because I think Philippians is a pivotal book to master for new believers.
-Each week I ask the guys two questions about the text: 1) What did this text mean in its original 1st century context? 2) What does this text mean for our lives today? As we work through these two questions I connect our thoughts to Jesus and the bigger storyline of Scripture.
-From 30 minutes of Bible reading and these two questions we end up covering a ton of theological and practical ground. Last week’s study of Philippians 1:3-11 led to conversation about the Trinity, the second coming of Christ, how to pray, and God’s sovereignty and human responsibility.
Most believers have never been intentionally discipled and most believers have no clue how to go about discipling a new believer. The problem is that people don’t have a good understanding of what discipleship is. Here’s a definition for you:
Discipleship is truth transferred through relationship.
It’s that simple. What I’m doing with these two men on Wednesday nights is transferring truth through relationship. I love these two men, and they know it. In relationship with them I’m teaching them the truth, and at the center of that process is teaching them how to read, rejoice in, and apply God’s Word.
What are you waiting for? Find two people you can start doing this with.
Don’t Confuse Entitlement with Salvation
A Christian is someone who knows they need to be saved not only from their bad deeds, but also their good deeds.
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. -Isaiah 64:6
Many people who sit in church think they are Christians because of their righteous deeds.
This is where nominal Christianity comes from. For many who grew up in the church/Christian culture, salvation is no longer salvation–it’s entitlement. Some believe they’re entitled to salvation because of their righteous deeds.
That’s not salvation. Salvation is knowing that you’re a sinner–that even your best deeds are disgusting to God, for they are unable to save you. Salvation is humiliation, seeing that you are desperately lost in your sin, under the wrath of God for your sin, and that your only hope is outside help.
Jesus is that outside help. Jesus saves sinners. It’s all of grace. Entitlement has zero place in Christianity.
Jesus doesn’t save the righteous and the entitled. Jesus saves the sinful and the desperate.
I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. -Jesus
Hot Tub Baptisms on a Trailer in the Street
On Sunday we had our 2nd round of outdoor street baptisms at Garden City Church. One of my great joys of the day was baptizing Sameer, who left behind 20th row tickets to the 49ers playoff game to worship with his new church family and be baptized.
Join us this Sunday, 4pm, at Garden City Church.
Tired of Being Obese? Start Running in 2012.
Some of you who are reading this would be considered obese. Obesity is not good. It can kill you.
God gave you a body and he wants you to take great care of it. Approaching the new year is a great time to decide to take better care of your body. My favorite way to take care of my body is through running. I’ve never been obese, but three years ago I did get rid of twenty extra pounds I’d slowly put on after college football (I’d kept the football player appetite without the football player workout schedule), all through running.
I like how Ben Davis got rid of his obesity through running. I read about his story in Runner’s World. Whether your obese or not, watch this five-minute video. It’s inspiring. Watch the video, share the video, and start running in 2012.
I Love My Church
This is a guest post by Danielle Vargas, a member of Garden City Church.
I LOVE MY CHURCH
Every week, and sometimes multiple times a week, I find myself saying, “I love my church!” I love that. Here are some reasons why:
1. What you see is what you get. The people are real, honest, and want to live life with you.
2. My church is passionate about non-believers AND believers knowing Jesus and understanding the gospel.
3. My church loves my city.
4. The mission and vision aren’t just sayings on a website, it’s the fuel that drives the members.
5. The leaders are visionaries. They inspire me to dream big dreams and pray big prayers.
My heart is prone to return to its stony, selfish, original state. It quickly turns inward and focuses on me, my life, and what I want. Before I know it, this inward self-focus causes a rapid downhill decay of my once alive, flourishing and joyful heart. I think this “hardening” must be what the writer of Hebrews warns about in Hebrews 3:13: “Exhort one another… so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
It’s by coming to church and hearing the gospel that once again my stony heart is broken, and my rebellious heart rejoices in God. My layers of self-absorption are peeled off one by one and I start thinking about others. Names of co-workers, unbelieving family members, hurting people come flooding into my mind. I begin to beg God to make my heart break for them. I ask him to give me a heart that wants others to experience the power of the gospel that changed me.
Being a part of Garden City is teaching me how to live on mission and placing in me a greater passion for God’s glory than I have ever had. And strangely enough, this frees me from my self. My heart that was wrapped up in its own kingdom is freed to partake in a more magnificent and infinitely more glorious Kingdom. God is using Garden City Church to help me be a person who, “no longer lives for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor 5:15). I consider it my privilege to co-labor and partner with Garden City Church for the gospel. I love my church.
Be Smart With Your Money: A Story
The latest issue of World features a 697 word article that succinctly teaches how to be smart with your money. Here’s the lead:
Here’s a brief story about personal finance—and maybe macroeconomics as well—that I first heard about 40 years ago. I wish I had heard it 50 years ago. I hope a few 20-somethings are listening to me now.
It’s the simple story of two young couples—let’s call them the Smiths and the Browns—who were eager to buy their first homes.
Read the whole thing. While you’re at it, consider subscribing to World.
The True Story of The World
I launched our new church plant with a seven-week sermon series called The True Story of The World. We’ve watched Jesus use these sermons to do something fresh in people’s lives. Click here to listen to the sermons.
The Gospel Makes us Christians, Not Ascetics
The gospel makes us Christians, not ascetics. Jesus Christ did not die and rise for you so that you would stress out about whether you’re being spiritual enough. So take a nap. Go for a walk in the woods. Play with your kids. Eat some chocolate. Watch a good movie. Christian, you are free.
Parents of young children know what a chore chart is. It is how we assign chores to each child and how we remind them of these chores. Sometimes we organize the chart according to a child’s age, aptitude, and interest. Different chores go in different columns.
The tyranny of hyperspirituality pictures the Christian life like a chore chart. But the gospel frees you to rest.
-Jared Wilson, Gospel Wakefulness p. 111
Authentic Manhood
My friend John Bryson and his partners are putting together some exciting material for men. Watch this 2 minute video.
33 Trailer from Flashlight Media Group on Vimeo.
New People at Garden City
We keep things simple at Garden City. This the card we hand new people who show up at our 4pm worship service on Sundays.
Please spread the word and pray for this exciting new church plant in Silicon Valley.
