Too often, we think of discipleship and evangelism as two entirely distinct enterprises, but they are, in reality, two sides of the same coin. Both are sharing, proclaiming, and teaching the gospel. They only differ in their audience. During evangelism, we share the gospel with non-Christians, and during discipleship, we share the gospel with Christians. …
To be honest, I never thought of evangelism and witnessing as two separate actions until recently. In his short (and free!) ebook, What Is the Great Commission?, R. C. Sproul writes: Evangelism, on the other hand, is the actual proclamation—either oral or written, but certainly verbal—of the gospel. It is declaring the message of the …
We know that we have found the good news that Christ saves sinners from the wrath of God, but that truth is invisible to the outside world unless we make it known to them. One way we can do this is by living as a witness for Christ. Witnessing, or testifying, is about displaying Jesus …
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:42 ESV It is wonderful to speak about the importance and preeminence of making disciples; however, most of it is meaningless if we never ask the next question: How do we make disciples? There has …
Continue reading How Do We Make Disciples? (Making Disciples: part three)
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And …
Continue reading The Great Commission (Making Disciples: part two)
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Genesis 1:28 ESV The Great Commission is important because …
Continue reading The First Commission (Making Disciples: part one)
This Bible reading plan came about because of a few ideas. First, I wanted to have a daily reading from the Psalms. The past two years I went through two different reading plans: blended and chronological. I enjoyed both of them and certainly recommend them to anyone who might use them to systematically read through …
This Sunday I preached Matthew 7:21-23, which is easily one of the most solemn texts in all of Scripture. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said of these verses: "These, surely, are in many ways the most solemn and solemnizing words ever uttered in this world, not only by any man, but even by the Son of God Himself. …
For many Christians, giving tithes and offerings are a normal part of life. Even though I do not think that Christians are necessarily bound by a tithe (or 10%) today, I fervently uphold the principle of giving a portion of our finances back to God since they all came from Him in the first place. With that said, my …
My wife and I recently finished Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, and it’s been great. I’d say we aren’t terrible with our money, but we’ve always desired to be better stewards of the resources God has given to us. And it turns out that we weren’t quite as solid financially as we should be. Budgeting has …
B. C. Newton 