What Christians Get Wrong About Discipleship, Relevant Magazine by Ann Swindell

T

o those of us who follow Jesus, discipleship should be a central aspect of our faith. This is because Jesus commanded His followers—in what is commonly referred to as “The Great Commission”—to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20).

It’s not a suggestion that Jesus makes here. It’s a command, a charge.

What is discipleship? Put simply, discipleship means intentionally partnering with another Christian in order to help that person obey Jesus and grow in relationship with Him—so that he or she can then help others do the same. Jesus taught His disciples to follow Him and obey His commands so that they could lead others to do the same after His death, resurrection and ascension. The Apostle Paul continues the pattern with Timothy and encourages him to keep the cycle going: “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (1 Timothy 2:2).

Discipleship Isn’t Easy.

Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost us our lives. Jesus put it bluntly:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” (Luke 9:23-25)

To be a disciple of Jesus means that we have given up our lives in order to follow Him wholeheartedly and unreservedly. It means that our lives are no longer our own—they are His.

Read more here:

Lunacy on sea: As Ministers agree to the world's biggest wind farm off Brighton, has Britain ever succumbed to a more catastrophic folly? Daily Mail

What should be our reaction to daft stories like the one recently reported in the Daily Mail about the 60ft wind turbine put up by the Welsh government outside its offices in Aberystwyth to proclaim to the world just how ‘green’ it is?

Erected at a cost of £50,000 to the taxpayer, it turned out that this turbine was so absurdly inefficient it was providing only £5 worth of electricity a month. It would take more than 750 years to make the money back.

In recent years, we have seen plenty of little tales like this, showing how often those who build these mini-turbines just to promote the wonders of wind power seem to get horribly caught out.

There was, for instance, the windmill put up next to a school in Portland, Dorset, which had to be switched off because it was killing so many seagulls that the headmaster had to come in early every morning to remove their corpses, so the children wouldn’t be upset.

Read more here:

From Eritrea and Sudan, the new migrant queue at Calais: Latest illegal encampment to spring up has hundreds who are currently waiting for the first chance to escape Daily Mail

Immigrants waiting in Calais, to get into the UK.

  Hundreds of migrants set up new illegal camp in French port of Calais

  Squalid, tented squat on town's outskirts has been nicknamed 'Jungle 2'

  It was set up two months after previous one in the town was bulldozed 

  Most of the migrants in the camp are from Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia  

They are desperate, defiant – and determined to get to England.

Many had scaled mountains, crossed deserts and sailed across an ocean to get here. 

Some of their companions had drowned, perished from starvation or been arrested before they made it.

They have nicknamed it Jungle 2 – a squalid, tented squat on the outskirts of the French port. The previous one in the town was bulldozed two months ago. 

That followed the clearance in 2009 of the original Jungle area on the outskirts, and the razing of the notorious Sangatte refugee centre in 2002.

All of that was meant to have put an end to the constant, ever-growing flow of hopefuls waiting to cross the Channel by any means possible. 

All it did was to drive them to other parts of Calais.

+5

Desperate: Two migrants try to break into a container lorry

 And so, Jungle 2 is currently a miserable but convenient stepping-stone to the UK for more than 500 itinerants, a population rapidly swelling with families fleeing Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia.

So it is not surprising that on Friday – despite threats of eviction, alleged beatings from police and an international outcry by homeless charities and migrant help groups – so many insisted they would stay for as long as it takes to get to England.

As one teenage Eritrean put it: ‘We will get there eventually.’

The new Jungle is situated on the seaward side of a road used by lorries heading to the port.  It is a swathe of wasteland and sand dunes, owned and used by a chemical factory to bury supposedly non-toxic waste. 

Read more here:

Further Reading:

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: The still-gaping holes in Britain's borders 

We will curb the parking cowboys, says Cabinet Minister: Victory for Mail campaign as official probe is launched into bully boys, Daily Mail

 Eric Pickles

  Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said rogue firms will not be tolerated, and launched Government investigation

  Parking squads across the country issue official-looking £100 fines, in some cases targeting the elderly and disabled

  Senior adviser to David Cameron today said the abuse by parking firms is worse than the PPI scandal

  Founders of parking firms have become rich from motorists' misery - including a CBE adviser to John Prescott 

Parking cowboys who threaten drivers with huge ‘fines’ will face a Government investigation, in a victory for the Daily Mail.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said ‘bully boy’ tactics would not be tolerated and rogue firms could be prosecuted.

The probe was announced as a leading adviser to David Cameron said abuse by private parking squads was worse than the PPI scandal.

Over the past week, the Daily Mail has revealed the aggressive tactics used by firms to coerce hundreds of thousands of drivers into paying inflated charges.

The parking squads issue official-looking £100 tickets, often to drivers just a few minutes late returning to their cars. Elderly and disabled people have been specifically targeted at hospitals and High Street stores.

Meanwhile, the firms’ founders have become multi-millionaires on the back of motorists’ misery. As the Mail reveals today, they include David Taylor CBE – who was a special adviser to John Prescott when he was Deputy Prime Minister.

Last night, Mr Pickles said: ‘We will stand up to rogue practices by corporate bully-boys, and we will be investigating the clear abuses that the Daily Mail has identified.

'It is not acceptable for any firm to be making money through misleading marketing or aggressive enforcement tactics.’

He warned major High Street firms they could also be breaking the law by employing parking cowboys and said they risk boycotts from consumers.

Mr Pickles said the Government was already ‘taking firm action to rein in the over-zealous town hall parking wardens who make life a misery for local shops, undoing Labour’s war on the motorist’.

Ros Altmann, a government adviser and pensions expert, compared the abuses to the PPI scandal, in which customers were mis-sold payment protection insurance.

Read more here:

Further Reading:

Ticket the old, they'll always pay: How the ruthless parking cowboys tell their wardens to exploit the vulnerable Daily Mail Parking Campaign

The parking ticket fat cats - one's a chum of Prezza and two drive Aston Martins. Meet the men who've made millions from motorists' misery 

Scientist who claims fracking is dangerous and argues against drilling applications is a 'fraud who has lied about his credentials' Daily Mail

·        David Smythe accused of being less than totally honest over his credentials as shale gas expert

·        Retired geologist has been prominent in highlighting dangers of fracking

·        Professor at his old university accuses him of 'pseudo-scientific scaremongering'

·        Geological Society demands he stops claiming to be chartered geologist

·        Mr Smythe insists he has done extensive research into unconventional energy extraction

• 

 The retired geologist and former punk rock guitarist has been prominent in highlighting the dangers of fracking and last week helped to persuade a county council to reject an application to drill an exploratory shale well.

But a professor at his old university now accuses him of ‘pseudo-scientific scaremongering’.

The Geological Society has also written to Mr Smythe – who has the title ‘Emeritus Professor of Geophysics, University of Glasgow’ – demanding that he stops claiming to be a chartered geologist.

Glasgow University, where he last worked in 1998, has told him he must not suggest that its academics share his views. And Prof Paul Younger, Glasgow’s professor of energy engineering, said Mr Smythe – who played bass guitar in the 70s punk band The Rezillos – was unqualified to give expert evidence on fracking, having retired 16 years ago.

’He has published nothing on (shale gas) in any proper scientific forum – no doubt because he knows he would never get past peer review with his pseudo-scientific scaremongering

Read more here

Militant Atheists Give up on Forcing IRS to Censor Sermons

Militant Atheists Give up on Forcing IRS to Censor Sermons









On Friday a federal judge in Wisconsin dismissed the Freedom from Religion Foundation's (FFRF) attempt to use the Internal Revenue Service as a weapon to censor houses of worship that preach on moral issues having political implications.

After almost two years of litigation, FFRF asked the court to dismiss its own lawsuit once the Becket Fund stepped in to defend the rights of a small Wisconsin church and its pastor. FFRF had relied on the so-called Johnson Amendment, a law that politicians use to restrict what some private groups can say about them, and which—by an accident of history—caught houses of worship in its web when it was passed 60 years ago.

"This lawsuit was a bad idea from the beginning. Who thinks the IRS should be deciding what a preacher says in a sermon?" said Daniel Blomberg, legal counsel for the Becket Fund. 

Follow Your Heart' and 3 Other Potentially Dangerous Theories About Knowing God's Will, Charisma Magazine

Where do we find God's will? Is it in one of the following theories?

1. The Tightrope Theory

This teaching declares God's will is like a tightrope where one wrong move will ruin your life and require you to start all over again--or worse, be eternally out of God's will. This view assumes God is powerless to work through the faults of man.

The tightrope theory has a difficult time explaining how Moses could lead the children of Israel out of Egypt with first-degree murder on his record (Exodus 2:11-12) or how Peter could preach powerfully at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-41) when months earlier Jesus rebuked him and called Him Satan (Matt. 16:23). It seems God is not wringing His hands worried that imperfect men will mess up His will.

Read more here:

Mac on... ruinous hospital car parking fines Daily Mail

'Oh dear. That'll cost you. Visiting time ended three minutes ago'

Christian bakery criticised by new NI minister

Christian bakery criticised by new NI minister

The Christian bakers who are facing legal action for declining to decorate a pro-gay marriage campaign cake acted against the law, a new minister at the Northern Ireland Office has suggested.

MP Andrew Murrison said that businesses should “comply with the law” which “prevents discrimination against gay people”.

But Ashers Baking Company says their actions had nothing to do with the sexual orientation of the customer who placed the order.

Gathering 14 - Full Trailer!

Words for the Wise, Psalm 23 New International Version - UK (NIVUK), The Lord is my Shepherd

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    for ever.

The Bible Panorama

Psalm 23

V 1–2: SHEPHERD David knows, as we can, that the Lord is his Shepherd. The meeting of his wants, rest and refreshment come through that wonderful relationship. 

V 3: SOUL With his soul restored, he is guided by his Shepherd in the paths of righteousness ‘for His name’s sake’.

V 4: SHADOW Even when death casts its shadow in the valley, there is no fear of evil, because of the presence, protection and guidance of the Lord

. V 5–6: SURELY The present experience of being fed and anointed by God encourages David to know ‘surely’ that goodness and mercy will be his during the rest of his life and throughout eternity.

Abundant Life (23:2–3) Niv Application Commentary

The shepherd leads his sheep in pleasant places full of all the necessities of life: green pastures of grass and quiet streams providing water for drinking. Those who have visited the undeveloped lands of the Bible will know just how unusual this picture is. At best the land is a dry, rocky set of rolling hills covered with a sparse and tough grass. Water sources are few and often seasonal. Shepherds had to be ready to take their flocks on long migrations from one source of grazing and water to another.

The psalmist paints a scene of abundant life in three descriptive statements—each speaking of the shepherd in the third person and employing an imperfect verb form. The shepherd causes the sheep to lie down, makes them approach quiet waters carefully, and leads them faithfully on the correct paths. All three images emphasize the shepherd’s role as provider.

Obviously grass and water are the sheep’s staff of life, and the shepherd knows how to find them both and leads the hungering, thirsty sheep to them. Although “paths of righteousness” may have an unusual ring to our ears, it can mean no more than the “right path,” that is, the one that gets you where you need to go. The ambiguity of language and context, however, allows a moral quality to creep in. If the shepherd and sheep are images of a life fully dependent and trusting on Yahweh, then “paths of righteousness” take on the meaning of a way of life that fulfills God’s expectation for his follower. The sheep are not left to their own devices but are led by God himself to take the correct path—the one that gets the sheep where they need to go.

For his name’s sake. The shepherd (God) acts in ways that reveal and confirm his character and nature. In the Hebrew culture, a personal name was often thought to reveal the character of the individual named. God’s revelation to Israel of his personal name Yahweh at the time of the Exodus gave her unprecedented knowledge of his nature and access to him. This knowledge and access had to be protected by the prohibition against abusive use of the divine name. Closely related to this idea is the concept of reputation. To have a “name” is to bear agood reputation, while to be disreputable is to have no name at all (Job 30:8). Here, however, the shepherd/Yahweh acts to benefit the sheep, not just in order to preserve his character or reputation but in a way that is consistent with the nature the name reveals.

How mass migration hurts us all: No, it's not the Mail saying this, but the verdict of a top Left-wing economist from Cambridge

The findings are a major blow to claims that immigration has and will continue to bring major economic benefits. Over the past decade, widely-publicised studies by academics and liberal think tanks have repeatedly said that immigration will make us better off.

Among those reported by the BBC have been claims by the Labour-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research that immigrants are paying a disproportionate share of the nation’s taxes, and that they bring economic benefits because they do jobs that Britons will not take.

Last November the BBC reported a study by two senior academics at University College London as saying immigrants who have arrived since 2000 have made a ‘substantial’ addition to public finances.

However, since Tony Blair introduced an effectively open-door immigration policy after the 1997 election the Daily Mail has been reporting on the impact of migration on population; on the social make-up of cities; on unemployment, worklessness, and declining wages for low-skilled workers; and on the pressure it has brought on housing and services.

Read more here:

Isaiah 58:6-12 Nasb

“Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?
⁷ “Is it not to divide your bread ^[c]with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸ “Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The ^[d]pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
¹⁰ And if you ^[e]give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the ^[f]desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.
¹¹ “And the Lord will continually guide you,
And satisfy your ^[g]desire in scorched places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not ^[h]fail.
¹² “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the ^[i]streets in which to dwell.

Jaguar's new 1-Series rival exposed | News | Auto Express

Jaguar's new 1-Series rival exposed | News | Auto Express







Yes, Please!

How God Used a Woman Despite Her Weaknesses

How God Used a Woman Despite Her Weaknesses

"For the Lord is always kind; be not blind," wrote Amy Carmichael. Kind? To let me end up at Moody under such a cloud? Kind? To let me begin with the CIM under such a stigma?

Yes. You see, the Lord foreknew there was a work to be done in me before I sailed for China, and if I had ended Institute life with great acclaim I would have wrecked that work at the very outset. My self-confidence needed to be thoroughly jarred before He dare put this delicate affair into my hands. And He jarred it all right.

My Master is thorough, but He had also been meticulously kind—just as soon as He dared, He showed me why. And that experience of His enfolding love after my graduation ceremony has blessed me all my life.

Only by searching can we find out what He is. When the door opened for China again, I received a letter from a member of the Council, granting me unconditional acceptance by the China Inland Mission, and sending me off with their "loving prayers and blessings."

I bowed my head over that little letter and wept tears of gratitude. Yes, my Master is thorough. He wounds, but He binds up, and His balm of Gilead heals without stinging. It cools, refreshes and restores in every part. He gives the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness and brings beauty out of our ashes.