5 Smooth Stones

You may or may not know, but when David fought Goliath, he collected 5 smooth stones from a river before doing so (recall his weapon of choice was a sling) (1 Sam 17:40). There have been many theories hatched about why David took 5 stones? Was it an act of humility (mixed with stupidity) that he might need 5 attempts to drop the giant? Or was it rather youthful exuberance in that the other 4 stones were intended for Goliath's brothers? Only David knows. What I know however, is that I have had the good fortune (grace!) of having collected a couple 'smooth stones' myself over the years... One's that too have found their mark.

The 1st would surely be my personal adoption of specific spiritual disciplines that have profoundly impacted upon my ability to take on and down some giants in my life. I've included my top 3 disciplines here below;

1. Quiet times spent in the presence of God - including reading, praying and reflecting
2. Taking a Friday Sabbath rest - resting in the things (promises and performance) of God 
3. Keeping a weekly prayer list and a monthly testimonies list

The 2nd smooth stone must be my discipleship and fellowship with other men (brothers). That is the intentional calling and gathering of men in small groups with the purpose of building one another up in the faith on a weekly basis.

The 3rd smooth stone is undoubtedly my understanding and application of the spiritual gifts God has endowed me with. These include (for now);

1. Intercession (Prayer)
2. Leadership 
3. Faith

The 4th stone, is what I would like to talk more about here... and that is the understanding of, and relating to myself, as a spiritual man. If you or I want to know how something is intended to work, and therefore how it works best, we must 1st understand how that thing is made. Ferrari's are made for speed and the track, and Jeeps are made for durability and off-road. Mix that up, and you and your car will be very sorry!

As humans, we were made for God, and can only understand the things of God, through our spirits. Accordingly, we are 1st and foremost spiritual beings, created in the image of God, for relationship with God. Approach life with this in mind, and you will live the life God intended you to. Reject this truth, and you will live your life in opposition to God, and your design.

So, without further delay, here's a summary presentation and revelation that rocked my world, and hopefully yours too! 

Are You Ready for Battle?

Without being too philosophical, or overly optimistic, I think it's healthy too look for the good in 'bad things'. I mean, if we as Christians believe Romans 8:28, that is 'we know that for those who love God all things work together for good', then surely this is something we should become accustomed to doing / considering? COVID 19 being no exception of course... And already I have heard many stories of the unexpected good resulting from the circumstances this virus has forced upon us. Bearing in mind 'good' often comes in 'bad' packages!

About 2 years ago C2C developed a discipleship assessment as a way of putting our Christian faith to the test. That is, to assess one's biblical faithfulness and maturity across 10 foundational discipleship elements. This test results in the creation of a personalized set of discipleship blueprint reports, to be used to help build one's 'spiritual home'. Pretty nifty if you ask me (in my biased opinion). So what has all of this got to do with COVID 19 and 'bad' packages you might wonder? 

Well, I think in some ways, these reports were pretty exposing... That is, the test results were more often bad news. For example, I would estimate that the average score for the approximately 70 assessments conducted to date, is in the region of 50% (on the discipleship maturity index) - bearing in mind that the vast majority of the respondents have been church go'ers for most of their lives. Most concerning however, is that these results are unlikely to improve on the current faith trajectory of most respondents. In fact, it is more likely to get worse. The reason I say this, is that true faith, or to be more accurate, discipleship (that is actually following Jesus) always looks like something. That is, there are certain core elements that comprise being a disciple of Jesus, in the same way that their are certain core elements that comprise being a motorcar. 

For example, as much as I wish or want or pretend that my motorized (80cc) bicycle is a Ford Mustang, it wont be. That's because it simply can't be. It doesn't have the engine, the design, the brakes, the tires, the... on and on we could go. And so the best a brand new motorized bicycle can ever become, over time, is well, an old motorized bicycle. No Mustang here... And to think otherwise would be lunacy! This in my opinion, is sadly an accurate description of the church today. That is, calling ourselves disciples of Christ, but in fact, bearing very little resemblance to what, or how, the bible defines a disciple of Christ. 

And no matter how much I wish or want or pretend that my faith is that of a disciple, in reality, it bears little resemblance to the biblical definition thereof... And that's simply because it doesn't have the necessary 'engineering'. This then is the philosophy (or theology if you like) behind C2C's Discipleship Assessment. That is, good can come from (a) bad (report), but only where it's received with the eyes and ears of faith (Romans 8:28). If you haven't done your C2C assessment yet, or its been over a year since you did (and you'd like an updated version), Click here!

In saying all of this however, sometimes the bad news can be better packaged or positioned, and so over the past 6 months, C2C has developed a series of War Room videos to give more context, visualization and support to the Discipleship Assessment. This includes the development of C2C's latest discipleship tool - the C2C Battle Plan Checkup sheet. Because as we know, the Christian faith (and discipleship for sure), has been designed to be a team exercise, undertaken with the support and accountability of fellow soldiers, on a regularly, intentional and strategic basis. This, or what C2C refers to as Belonging, remains a vital competent or ingredient in the Building process required in our faith journey! 

I'm sure you'll all agree with me, that engineering and building a Mustang, is no accident. Well, in the same way, neither is building and finishing strong in our faith, remembering that as Christians, we are disciples of Christ, called to become men of war... A spiritual war that is! For there is a furious Battle raging all around us, all the time, and to think or believe otherwise, is to mistake a motorized bicycle (faith) for a Mustang (faith)! 

In conclusion, and in responding to the Lord's Call to Conquer, every disciple of Christ must learn how to Belong, to Build and to Battle - which is exactly what C2C's War Room Video series is all about. I hope to see you there my brothers!

Ready to see the wood (forest) for the trees?

This post's title is taken from the idiom 'not see the wood (forest) for the trees' - which means; to be unable to get a general understanding of a situation because you are too worried about the details' (or don't understand them). Of course, this has a myriad of applications in all of our lives, but I'd like to zoom in on one in particular - that of discipleship. However, just before we dive in, you should know something about me. I like numbers, not because I'm particularly good with them, but because they can help explain a great deal about life.

For example, consider money and time, 2 of the most important aspects of our lives. Both have different numeric values / metrics, but both are founded in numbers. In fact, without the ability to understand numbers, it remains very difficult to appreciate the value of time or money. In truth, few things actually define a person more than their relationship with time and money, or said another way, what they do with it. Jesus himself said that where your treasure is, there your heart is too (Matt. 6:21). One might then add that where your heart is, there your time is too, hence the saying; Time equals money! 

So let's get personal... How much of your time and money does God have? 

This of course, is where the numbers can help us see the spiritual wood from the trees. In this regard, there are a couple of equations that can be very useful. For example, "Kingdom allocated % of total time or money', or 'top 5 time or money allocation rankings' tell us very quickly where our hearts actually are (rather than where we intend them to be). Another insightful calculation is 'the impact of money or time invested in the Kingdom', as taught by Jesus in his parable of the talents.

Anyway, you get the picture, but just before you write me off as an overzealous religious statistician, let me add... many of Jesus parables and teachings were jammed packed with numbers. And do you know why? Because numbers don't lie, and numbers don't have feelings. Ask any auditor, and they'll tell you the same thing. Truth (or the absence of it) is so often caught up in, or derived from, the numbers! Accordingly, how a man spends his time and money, will likely tell you more about that man, than he can!

The bottom line?

It's time to sober up gents! Because when you and I stand before the judgement seat of Christ, we can be assured of 2 things... 

1. We'll meet truth (as often found in the numbers) like we've never known it before, and 

2. We'll meet grace face to face

And this God of truth and grace (Jesus) (John 1:14), has clearly taught and warned us in his word, that we need to get our numbers right while we still can. But enough about time and money for the moment, because this post is actually about a different set of numbers... a set that no disciple can afford to ignore, and one that probably provides us with the best indication this side of eternity, of how our date with truth and grace will go...

As we know, the end point or purpose of being a disciple, is to make disciples. In the end, it matters precious little how 'faithful' or 'wise' we have been with our time or money, if these talents (among others) don't ultimately translate into being stronger, and making better, disciples. Like shifting deckchairs on the Titanic, time and money without this purpose in mind, is useless. If this sounds a little daunting, there is good news, except it's got nothing to do with how we can get off the disciple-making hook. Rather, it has to do with understanding and adopting Jesus disciple-making strategy. Because of one thing we can be sure, nobody made disciples better than Jesus did!

And to help us see 'the wood for the trees' in Jesus discipleship model, I have included 3 graphs (and their associated numbers) below, to help illustrate my point, and the fruit associated with it. To begin with, let's examine the discipleship variables and assumptions that underpin the practice and process of disciple-making - in Jesus footsteps;

1. Discipleship conversion (to disciple-maker) rate = 25% (1 in 4 will conquer based on Jesus parable of the 4 soils) (Matt 13:1-23)

2. Number of disciples per disciple-maker = 4 (5 in the group) (best practice)

3. Number of years required to produce a disciple-maker = 2.5 years (Jesus took 3 years with 12)

4. Build the model from a single disciple-maker (like you or me)

As you can see in the graphic above, disciple-making is a slow process, at least initially. After 10 years of faithful discipleship-making, there are only 64 disciples to show for. After 20 years that number has increased in size to that of a large church gathering (1000 people). Importantly, this number has been achieved by the 1st disciple-maker (starting in year 0), producing 1 more disciple-maker every 2.5 years, and those disciple-makers doing the same. By year 20, he has produced 8 other disciple-makers (Only 8 I hear you say?!). By year 30 he's added another 4 (to make it 12) (what takes us 30 years took Jesus 3!), however with all the other disciple-makers doing the same (every 2.5 years), the total number of disciples has now compounded to 16,000. This is after 30 long years of faithful and persevering discipleship. But just wait, because God's discipleship model is only in 1st gear...

From years 30 to 50, the total number of disciples grows in size to that of a medium size city - 4 million. By this stage, our 1st disciple-maker is individually responsible for making 20 other disciple-makers. That's a 50 year investment in Kingdom advancement, for only 20 disciple-makers... Not exactly headline grabbing stuff right? 

Wrong...

Because from years 50 to 60 (10 years), another 63 million disciples are added! That's the power of compound discipleship! It's hard, unglamorous, and far out of the church lime-light / headlines... But it's more effective, more fruitful, and more glorious, than any other church planting / disciple-making model known to man! Critically too, it's a team sport to the very core... Not built on personality, gifting, talent, or money... But by simple and faithful obedience and perseverance (a lot of perseverance!), one disciple-maker at a time.

 

Perhaps now you have eyes to see, and ears to understand, why Jesus dedicated himself to only 12 men, for his short and intense 3 years of ministry? As well as why truly advancing God's Kingdom, is hardly as difficult or complicated or lucrative as the devil would have us all believe! 

And so here's the obvious question... 

Isn't it about time for us to follow in Jesus disciple-making footsteps, and do the same? The numbers don't lie, and help us to see the wood nice and clearly from the trees, wouldn't you agree?

Starting with you and I, and…

• A discipleship conversion (to disciple-maker) rate of 25%

• 4 disciples per disciple-maker = 4 (5 in the group) 

• 2.5 years (per group)

• For 60 years

• Equals 24 disciple-makers (made by disciple-maker no.1)

• But totals...

*67 million disciples!

(made by 16 million other disciple-makers)

To help equip you to be a part of God's disciple-making team, Called 2 Conquer has recently rebooted its website with new and updated resources, that assist you (and your fellow disciples) to start building and advancing the Kingdom of God just like Jesus did... Full of truth, full of grace, and full of confidence in the discipleship model His Father gave him, and he gave us...

What are you waiting for, mighty man? 

It's time...

(click on the banner to go to the C2C website)

*If you'd like to run the numbers for yourself, or enter your own discipleship variables, download the spreadsheet here>>>