The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Prov 18:21
Tonight we had an excellent time together out West. Karen and Spenser led us in a study on the tongue .... so as an addition to our study I said I would post a link to a word I gave on the tongue at Crossway.
Thanks Karen and Spenser, you guys are awesome!
Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
It is interesting that in the midst of the pentecostal fire of the Holy Spirit, many conversions and the apostles seeing the ministry of Jesus continue through them, that the early believers automatically banded together. The immediate response to the work of the Holy Spirit was to build such a 'devoted' community so that these relationships were to become the 'glue of the movement'. Two of the four distinctive activities of this new Church - fellowship and the breaking of bread- were relationally foccused. The picture being painted is one of deep and committed (devoted) relationships bound together by a common cause. It was out of this connectedness that there came a genuine sharing of their wealth.
Acts 2: 44-45 All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
How much glue have you got in your world?
Floyd McClung's CPx students have returned from outreach ... I love some of the 'Jesus comments' he writes
... When Jesus sent out the 70 they came back with joy because of what God did through them. Jesus affirmed them, he taught them, and he corrected them. And he invited them to be leaders in the movement he started to change the world.
Jesus didn't come to waste his time or life for nothing. When we debrief the 70 we sent out we will invite them to give their lives for the same cause Jesus lived and died for. We believe in the power of the gospel to transform lives, but it only works if we lay down our lives like Jesus did.
Our 70 disciple/leaders are students in CPx, a discipleship/leadership training program. Many of them are enlisting with All Nations full time to keep on making disciples and training leaders and planting churches. Others will return to their home churches or movements to do the same thing. Others are going into the market place to make disciples and start simple churches.
Doing what Jesus did is the most important thing a person can do with their life. It's the most important thing a person can do to help change Africa. The non-Muslim parts of Africa have been evangelized many times over. But they have not been discipled.
The world doesn't need more decisions - it needs disciples, and disciple making leaders. It needs men and women who have had their hearts and minds transformed by the gospel, men and women who don't ask what they get out of it, but what they can do to give their life away.
In CPx we teach principles and practices to start disciple making, simple church planting movements, just like Jesus did. We do it in the market place and in the nations.
Read more
