Colossians 1:9-14 Fully Pleasing to God As the gospel transforms us from the domain of darkness into saints standing in the light, our lives are meant to be fully pleasing to God. Disciples strive to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Pray for Spiritual Wisdom (Col. 1:9) Knowledge is the content of truth, wisdom is the comprehension of …
We talk about making disciples, but do we know how to do it? In this series of lessons on Personal Discipleship, let’s pray that we start obeying the biblical mandate regarding discipleship.
Before we can make a disciple, we need to figure out what one looks like.
Colossians 1:1-8 Disciples Keep Growing Paul recognized the Colossian church as a group of disciples who had been changed and yet were still being changed by the gospel. As disciples, the gospel should be continually bearing fruit and increasing within us and through us. 9 Traits of Growing Disciples Disciples keep growing if: their faith is in Jesus – Faith …
In a time when few families watch TV together, eat a meal together, or share a Saturday playing together, the thought of worshiping together seems like a far-fetched goal. Our culture bombards us with the notion that children need to be independent and have room to develop on their own. Children use the overstated line that their friends get certain …
It’s a new month and that means it’s time for a new focus for the leadership at Rocky Creek. Each month, we are focusing on a specific area to really develop as a church body. Just to catch you up, here’s what we have been focusing on at Rocky Creek: January: Pastor – I am so thankful you allowed me …
As I began to plan for the 2018 preaching calendar, I asked the church to pray that I would receive clear direction. I set aside Sept. 26th as a day to fast, pray, and study. My specific prayer was to receive a good portion of clarity regarding 2018, but we all know that God does exceedingly abundantly above all we …
It’s a new month and that means it’s time for a new focus for the leadership at Rocky Creek. Each month, we are focusing on a specific area to really develop as a church body. Just to catch you up, here’s what we have been focusing on at Rocky Creek: January: Pastor – I am so thankful you allowed me …
If you want a church to grow biblically, you must focus on evangelism. Much of what happens in churches can be attributed to transfer growth vs. conversion growth. Evangelism can catch fire in a church when everyone assumes the responsibility to grow in the gospel. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To …
Biblical Blueprint Teach Your Children Diligently (Deut. 6:4-9) The Problem While the church provides important spiritual environments, the most critical spiritual environment is the one in which you live. You are called to be the primary evangelists and disciple-makers of your family. “Do as I say and not as I do” will not work in discipleship. It’s difficult for an hour-long …
God has a plan for your home. In May 2017, I will preach a sermon series at Rocky Creek entitled “Biblical Blueprint.” It’s all about family discipleship. While this topic started as a doctoral project, it quickly became a ministry centerpiece. I have had more opportunities to preach on this topic than any other. The concept hit a chord in …
Many churches talk about discipleship. Many Christians say that discipleship is important. If discipleship is so important, why aren’t we doing it? While there are many reasons why discipleship doesn’t happen in our churches, here are 5 hindrances to why it may not be happening in yours. Authority – If Scripture isn’t your source of authority, Christian discipleship cannot take place. …
Scripture commands believers to meet together (Heb 10:24-25) for mutual edification. Regardless of what you call the group, meeting together with a group of believers smaller than what you probably experience in church worship is essential for growth. In order to have successful groups, your group must focus on having the right elements: THE RIGHT LEADER. It is imperative to place …
Before you teach your children how to live for the Lord, have you taught them how to love the things of the Lord? Enjoy this video? Check out the growing collection of Family Alter videos!
Christians love talking about the day when we met Jesus or when we will see Jesus, but what about every other day when we are supposed to become like Jesus? Let me give you 3 theological terms that you need to learn: Justification – the declaration of holiness Sanctification – the process of holiness Glorification – the completion of holiness …
As of late, I have talked with a lot of people who have a whole lot of intention to follow Jesus, but they simply keep getting tripped up along the way. I hate to see someone who truly wants to change, but they can’t seem to get over making the same mistakes over and over again. What I have learned …
[Post from Discipleship Pastor Dick Williams] Growing up in a Christian home in a small, rural town in the south during the 1960’s-70’s, with WWII generation parents led to a lifestyle filled with many routine practices. These practices provided much stability, for which I am grateful. One such practice was a daily family meal around our kitchen table. Usually, that …
If you’ve been around North Side lately, you know that we are switching curriculum to The Gospel Project. I am really excited about this for 3 primary reasons: Unites Families – This curriculum will position our church to have every age, every group going through the same discipleship curriculum together. That means you don’t have to dig to find out what your …
I talk about the need for family discipleship often. My doctoral focus was on equipping parents to evangelize their children. My current job expects me to equip homes to be the primary discipleship environment for our families. My most frequent requests to speak center around family discipleship. I champion family discipleship regularly. I love seeing when it is happening in …
One of your children’s most beloved books in your home might soon be your high school yearbook. Your children know you as a responsible (or somewhat responsible) adult fully equipped with bills, a job, and a minivan, yet before they ever knew you, a lot of your life had already been lived. Seeing your extracurricular activities, fashion statements, and funny …
I searched for a chronological plan that would highlight key passages, and while there are many good ones out there, I chose to develop our own at North Side. While I think it is best to read the entirety of God’s Word, this plan is a good introductory plan for some of you or a good reminder of what you …
Homes for Hope went amazing Thursday night! Here is a snippet from an article from the Index Journal: Hopewood Haven Ministries in Greenwood is working to solve a problem brought forth earlier this year in a statewide report on human trafficking. The Office of the Attorney General in South Carolina released in June the South Carolina State Plan to Address …
It was a joy to preach last night to the wonderful family at Wellford Baptist Church. They put on the Deuteronomy 6 Conference focusing on the family. It was a great time in worship and a great time afterwards just sharing with all the great people there. We talked about the need for family discipleship. The problem for many churches …
September is usually the most challenging and rewarding month of the year for me. With programs blowing and going at the church, Lander classes starting up, college group at our house, events, programs, weddings, classes, etc., it is one of the most sleep-deprived times of my year. This year has been exceptionally busy yet exceptionally fruitful. Especially in the area …
The Agnews love to be outside. It is always fun sharing adventures together in the fresh air. When we were teaching the boys to throw and kick the ball years ago, something unique happened one evening in the front yard. I attempted to share the ball with the boys, but their favorite thing was not to have the ball themselves. …
Over a week ago, I had the privilege of attending the Montgomery’s Center graduation for doctors in residence with the Self Regional Healthcare network. It was my first time attending this ceremony, and I was excited to be there because over half of those graduating had been a part of North Side while they were in Greenwood. I promised not to “Cousin …
We started the service with a great intro video focusing on Psalm 103. After that, our worship team led us in some dependence on God songs as we focused on the family – “Everlasting God” and “Lord, I Need You.” After that, we got to see a pretty sweet video of the upcoming VBS week. You can register your children …
Our mission is to make disciples. Making disciples is simply intentional friendships that are saturated with the word of God and Christ-centered. This 4th week in our “Between Sundays” series was such a great reminder for me personally about our call to go and make disciples. We started our services with a great video on Memorial Day. After that, the …
This edition of Short Sermon Saturday features a clip of Greg Laurie at the Resurgence 2013 conference. In under 4 minutes, Laurie does a great job talking about how we should be as a church. He asks the question: are you creating consumers instead of disciples?
My wife and I both lead a discipleship group at our church. While we love doing things as couples, and our groups do that, we have found a lot of men and women who will get more real with each other if the group is not co-ed. Many of the guys in my group have wives in Amanda’s group. We …
In the last year, I have had many opportunities to speak with congregations about the need for family discipleship. While I love speaking with eager parents who want to apply the teaching immediately within their context, I also have this burden for empty-nesters. In every situation, I have had someone whose children are out of the home say, “I sure …
2nd week of our 2nd Peter series. Loving this study so far. The Peak band led us in worship today. They did such a fantastic job leading us. Their talent is great, but I love their heart even more! They began with “Our God” and “Always.” I loved hearing our church sing out – I feel like the church is …
I was privileged to serve alongside South Main Baptist Church in Greenwood yesterday. They are currently in a search for their next pastor and some of their staff and friends of the church have been asked to fill the pulpit until the interim pastor is selected. I am blessed enough to be considered a friend and got to preach for …
Have you ever heard of Dawson Trotman? He was the founder of the Navigators. Before he had a ministry program, he had a ministry. He didn’t wait for a discipleship program to disciple someone.
After seeing the benefits of basic discipleship principles in his own life, Dawson Trotman wanted to teach them to others, echoing the call of 2 Timothy 2:2: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”
Dawson began teaching high school students and local Sunday school classes these principles. In 1933, he and his friends extended their work to sailors in the U.S. Navy.
Spiritual multiplication can be seen in the story of Dawson and Les Spencer, a navy man on the USS West Virginia. After Trotman had been teaching Spencer truths from God’s Word for some time, Spencer brought a friend from his ship to Trotman and said, “Dawson, I want you to teach him all you have taught me.”
But Dawson said, “I am not going to teach him; you are going to teach him. If you cannot teach him what I have taught you, then I have failed.”
We had one of those days at North Side where you weren’t sure if the roof was gonna come off or Jesus was gonna come down! I love worshiping with our family when we get after it like that. I loved the diversity in our worship today and the intensity at every corner. Our worship team works so hard to lead people to Jesus each week and I am so honored to lead beside them! Today was simply a joy.
The above picture was my personal prayer focus for the day. We took time and prayed specifically for military chaplains serving today. As I was going through the prayer cards, I found one for a college friend, Jason Sluder. It was great to be able to pray for him and the other chaplains today with our Be the Church highlight. Such an honor to help support this ministry through our offerings each week!
Today, we worshiped to:
When you are still in school, summer can be a great gift for relaxation and, unfortunately, a great divergence for spiritual formation.
During the summer months, you have more time than ever to read the Bible, pray, and serve, but sometimes, that freedom can lead to laziness and apathy.
I’m hoping to help that for some of you.
If I think of a goal of parenthood, Psalm 112 sums it up perfectly:
Hallelujah! Happy is the man who fears the LORD, taking great delight in His commands.
His descendants will be powerful in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
This psalm explains the goal of a multigenerational legacy. God desires that parents will fear the LORD in every way. They will not only obey His commands, but they will enjoy doing so because His commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).
For the parent that accomplishes this, the desire is that his or her children will live mighty lives marked distinctly by holiness.
This destiny will not happen by accident.
Continuing on through the Book of Acts, we arrive at one of my favorite passages of Scripture. In Acts 5, Peter and the disciples are at it again. Preaching in the name of Jesus when they have been warned to stop.
They continue anyway.
While they are threatened, they show no sign of wavering. One of the Pharisees, Gamaliel, escorts the disciples out and tries to reason with the angered religious leaders.
His comments are incredible:
I am thrilled that NSU is starting up this Sunday, Feb. 10th!
North Side University is a 2-year intensive training for those interested in growing as a disciple-maker. The training is comprised of course information, practicum experiences, and intentional mentorship. At the end of the 2 years, a completion of this program would equip a disciple-maker to effectively carry out the Great Commission within his or her specific context.
THE 2-YEAR PLAN consists of:
I was his father. He was my son. But at the time, we were just learning each other.
I was in Ethiopia getting ready to bring my son home from the orphanage. We had many obstacles in his life to combat, but we really had faith that God was going to do some special things in his life.
When I called home to tell Amanda about our first encounters, I told her of how Eli was so handsome, funny, and energetic. I told her that the nannies called him the “bus driver,” because all the bus drivers in Ethiopia were short, fat, and assertive. Not sure if that was a good thing at the time or not.
She then asked if there was anything else that she needed to know.
Well, there was on thing for which she needed to prepare herself.
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