1st Week Back

We have been able to hit the ground running. Since our return just over a week ago we have been cleaning house and catching up with friends and looking for rental property. We have also been able to make contact with some people who say they are interested in learning more about God's Word. What was really exciting was we had a man join us in our worship yesterday. He contacted us through our website and met with my friend prior to coming. He said that he was determined to go down this road (God's way). I preached on John 4. We talked about the fact that when we meet Jesus there are some things that we must leave behind. The woman had prejudice, pride, a past, and piety in her life. Jesus dealt with all these with her. In the end, she believed He was the Messiah and left her water pot to go bring others to Him.

It is interesting to learn the perspective of the hearers of the message. Afterwards we were talking and the man said that sometimes there might be good things in our life that we need to leave behind like our wives. I was a little shocked. I didn't think I heard him right. He was thinking about the verse where Jesus said that he who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62) We had a good discussion with him. The bottom line is he is struggling with the fact that if he makes this decision to follow Christ he may loose his wife, family, job, etc...So he is wondering if he should just go ahead and loose it now. I shared with him about my time in North Africa and about how the believers there decided to follow Christ even though it is against the law. I pray that after counting the cost he sees that Jesus is worthy of following.

More of my notes from North Africa

Here are some more of my notes. Maybe they will be a help to some of you.

One day, my friend when dealing with the men who Lord willing will lead churches in North Africa, talked about three categories of separation:

What must a person believe to be a Christian?
What things can we believe and be members of the same church? (For example because a Presbyterian believes in baby baptism, we cannot be members in the same church.)
What things can we disagree on yet still be members of the same church? (music, end-times etc...

This is a very good study because these men will face questions like this as they come in contact with other leaders in the country.

There is a tendency to want to make it easier on people, but we are not doing them a favor if we do this. For example one of the young men that is in training plays the guitar. Not as well as 3 other people there but he plays good enough. He is not good at staying on time, but how would he learn if he didn’t play? If he doesn’t learn, what happens when the foreigners are gone?

My friend also said that he is constantly talking about Jesus. In this way, if someone doesn’t want to follow Jesus they are not going to want to hang around him.

Steps before major leadership
1. I do. You watch
2. We do together.
3. You do. I watch.
4. You do.

Since discipleship is life-on-life you begin dealing with what they are experiencing in their life.
3 main ideas to get across to new converts immediately:
The importance of the church
The importance of being daily in the Word
The sanctification process. (We must spend enough time with them that we know what sins they are struggling with and other areas where they need to grow.)
Along with these comes the teaching of eternal security and baptism....