When we have an opportunity to walk along someone else in their journey with God (i.e. mentor them / disciple them / guide them) what should we do? Rather than quickly grabbing a book to read together or making a list of topics to address, what if we followed the way of Jesus? After His resurrection, Jesus walked alongside two followers and modeled a beautiful, loving, freeing and life transforming approach for discipleship. In this passage we discover that loving listening precedes helping others grow in their relationship with God.
Sermons from January 2017
When we are discipled by listening directly to Jesus’ voice in Scripture, we can trust His wisdom as being inerrant because He perfectly embodied all the spiritual disciplines we aspire to have. In contrast, when we are discipled by listening to others, we should discern which particular spiritual disciplines God has empowered each one of them to have. Because, as fallen people, even as devout followers of Jesus, none of us embody them all.
Have you ever walked away from a conversation thinking, “Why did I talk so much? Why didn’t I ask at least one question? Do you think they noticed?” How many questions did Jesus ask? Can you recall some of His best ones? What do you think is Jesus’ most famous question? What if we really followed Jesus? What if we sat with people, listened to people and asked them questions? Can you imagine how surprised and grateful our family, friends, classmates and coworkers would be
During His time on earth Jesus taught, healed, recruited, launched a worldwide movement and listened to people. Today we begin observing the Gospel writers portrayal of Jesus as a listening King who humbled Himself, sacrificed His time and gave people His love by sitting down to listen to them. Can you imagine the world’s astonishment if His followers did the same?
With the start of a New Year we are reminded how we all long for both continuity and renewal: our same bodies and new diets, our same responsibilities and more sleep, our same needs and improved budgets. Where does this hunger to see our present condition made better come from? Could it be evidence that we are a part of a larger narrative? When God came to earth He started a new era called the Kingdom of Heaven. Today we consider how our longings for new beginnings is evidence of the present and coming Kingdom. And we are reminded to pray and live so that it may come on earth as it is in Heaven.