We’re on the fifth lesson of our current series, “The Advanced Lessons,” and we have a ways to go, so I thought it would be a good idea to do a quick refresher.
What is this series about, again? We’ve reached the transitional turning point in Jesus’ ministry where he’s turned His focus away from the crowds to His disciples. He’s preparing them with the final lessons they need to learn before beginning their own ministries.
Here’s what we covered in this series thus far:
Lesson 1: Faith – Jesus taught His disciples that their faith is supposed to grow, but it only does so by plugging into their power source, God, chiefly by the means of dedicating more of their time to prayer.
Lesson 2: Citizenship – Jesus taught His disciples to be good citizens of the nation they belong to so that they do not offend their nation, and by doing so lose the power of their message.
Lesson 3: Conversion – Jesus taught His disciples that greatness in His Kingdom begins with conversion which is only found by becoming humble and dependent before God.
Lesson 4: Danger – Jesus taught His disciples that it’s better to die a terrible death than to do anything to cause another Christian to sin. He also taught that the best thing that any Christian can do to avoid leading another Christian to sin is to first deal seriously with their own sin and remove any stumbling block from their life that causes them to sin.
This week’s lesson is about how we, as Christians, are supposed to care about one another. I challenge you all, just as I challenge myself, to not simply listen to these lessons every week, but take them for what Jesus intended them to be, training for personal ministry.
Have you challenged yourself to grow in faith by plugging in to God in prayer more often with a more serious and dedicated approach?
Have you challenged yourself to be a better citizen, not because you agree with all of our nation’s tax laws, but for the purpose of living above reproach so that your Christian message will be more believable to those who don’t know Jesus?
Have you challenged yourself to live a life that measures greatness by the same measure that God uses, humility and dependence upon God?
Have you challenged yourself by examining your life and removing things from your life that might lead you and others into sin?
You might ask, what difference can I, an individual person make? Jesus taught these same lessons to a handful of people and changed the world forever. The message is the same today and people are no different. God is no different now than He was then. He wants to use you. What will you do?
Much love,
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
