The Christian Fight

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, ESV)

Fighting isn’t easy; if it was, it wouldn’t be called a fight. The Christian life is a fight, against cultural currents such as materialism, against my own sinful tendencies such as pursuing comfort, against the sin of others, which call for a gracious and forgiving attitude. Quite honestly fighting can be agonizing. In fact, the Greek word for fight here isagonizomai from which we get our word agonize.

The Christian life is a life-long marathon. At times it is agonizing, but Paul reminds Timothy and us of a couple things that will strengthen us in adversity. First, Paul reminds us that we are called. God has called us to run the race and fight the fight. God’s call always comes with God’s enabling. Notice I said ‘enabling’ not ‘easing’. The fight doesn’t become easy, but rather becomes possible. Are you finding it hard to live for Christ running uphill in a downhill world? Jesus promises to be your strength. We don’t simply live for Christ, we live through Christ.

Second, the fight is a good fight. We see fights in life that are good. A friend of ours is fighting cancer. Couples fight for their marriage. The Allied Forces fought against Nazi domination in World War II. The fight of faith is a good fight, a worthy fight, and ultimately a victorious fight. Often the temptation to give up takes hold when we lose sight of this. Our run slows to a walk. Our walk turns to a stand. Our standing fades to being carried by the downhill current.

How do we run with endurance? How do we fight with perseverance? Remember Jesus, who called you to join with him. If agonizing for the faith is part of the call, be sure that when the fight is won, consolation will be part of the reward. The fight won’t be easy, but it is worthy of our every stride, our every punch, our every breath, because it ultimately brings glory to him who fought your fight against sin for you, conquering it on the cross.

Disciples Church

Why are we changing the name of the church?

This short post is to explain why we have decided to rename Calvary Chapel Leatherhead to Disciples Church. Before I explain why we have changed the name, I would like to make it clear that we are still part of the Calvary Chapel network of churches. Our name change is in no way to distance us from Calvary, but rather to link us more to the community, in which we minister. Also we sought after a name that would describe our mission well.

We wanted a name that reflected who we are. We are disciples. Disciples are followers. They follow the Master. Disciples are on the move. As Jesus went about from place to place, his disciples followed him. They listened to his teaching, but more than that, they lived his teaching. God's desire for his Church is that we be disciples. But not only that, he desires that we make disciples too. This is the essence of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20, ESV).

“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 behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

To make disciples, we must be disciples. Disciples Church is about both being and making followers of Jesus. This is God's heart for the Christian. In fact, in the ESV Bible, the word Christian is found 3x, Believer(s) is found 15x, but Disciple(s) is found 269x! The purpose of our new name is to reflect this reality. We are a church that wants to follow Jesus and see non-followers begin following him too. As we all follow Jesus, we will all be walking together in unity to the glory of God.

Church Plants versus Established Churches

I received an e-mail from a friend today who asked me what my thoughts were on people who take part in a church plant versus an established church. Both have their positives and negatives, but here were my thoughts. These may not be accurate all the time, but they seem to fit my experience.

In this article, I am not implying that a church plant is better than an established church or vice versa. However it is good to know the pros and cons of both and see if we can implement the best of each in whatever type of church we are actively serving in as members.

Pros for Church Plants; Cons for Established Churches

Church plant members have a pioneering attitude.
Established church members have a maintaining attitude.
Church plant members are more willing to take risks.
Established church members are afraid of risks, preferring what is comfortable or 'established'.
Church plant members are willing to think in a way that is new and different.
Established church members prefer traditions and being able to anticipate the future.
Church plant members constantly look ahead to what is going to happen.
Established church members often look back at what has happened.

Pros for Established Churches; Cons for Church Plants

Church plant members are sometimes those who think they can make the church the way they want it.
Established church members are already content with the church structure.
Church plants often lack resources including qualified workers.
Established churches are often well funded and have more qualified workers.
Church plant members sometimes think they can showcase their talent because the church is usually small.
Established churches can discriminate more on who can fill roles because they are usually bigger.

Mix of Pros and Cons

Church plants tend to be more missional focused in outreach (going to where unbelievers are).
Established churches tend to be more attractional focused in outreach (bring unbelievers to where they are).
Church plants tend to have a stronger emphasis on evangelism.
Established churches tend to have a stronger structure for discipleship.
Church plant members expect something more grassroots.
Established church members expect something more professional.

The Ambassador and the Waiter(ess)

I saw this video by Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason, and thought it was worth sharing. As missionaries in our culture we are always to be looking to be a light to Christ where we are at. One of the places we find ourselves is in restaurants. Greg gives 3 über-simple steps to help us be witnesses in a restaurant.

1 Timothy 1:1-11 - Love Doctrine

Testing our putting the sermons on video. Here's the 1st video in the 1 Timothy series.

Prayer in the Church

This past Sunday we were studying 1 Timothy 2:1-7 looking at a praying church as critical for the mission of God. In our study we did a brief overview of the book of Acts on the issue of prayer. Acts chronicles the birth and early history of the church of Jesus Christ. If we were to ask whether prayer was an important aspect of the early church, we should be able to look at the church's practice in Acts to see this.

Here is a blitz look at prayer in the book of Acts:

Acts 1, gathered together in prayer in the upper room.
Acts 2, church birthed at a prayer meeting; Continued in prayer together daily.
Acts 3, Peter and John heal the lame man as they were going to pray.
Acts 4, brethren in trouble so church prays.
Acts 6, devoted themselves to prayer.
Acts 7, Stephen prays for his persecutors.
Acts 8, Apostles pray for new believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 9, Ananias comforted because Saul is praying.
Acts 10, Peter prays and is called to Cornelius.¹
Acts 12, Church gathered praying for Peter.
Acts 13, The Church is praying and sending out missionaries.
Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas prayed for the new church plants.
Acts 16, Paul and Silas pray from prison.
Acts 17, Paul’s spirit is stirred for Athens resulting in prayer.²
Acts 18, Paul prays in Corinth.³
Acts 19, Disciples in Ephesus are prayed for.
Acts 20, Paul prays with the Ephesian elders.
Acts 21, the Church in Tyre, Syria prays.
Acts 22, Paul speaks about his praying in the Temple.
Acts 23, Paul was in prayer in the night.³
Acts 27, Paul prays for all those on the storm tossed ship.⁴
Acts 28, Paul prays for Publius to be healed on Malta.

As the Church, we pray. A prayerless church isn't a church dependent on Christ. Let us learn from the God-given pattern in Scripture. It is in God that our life is found, and therefore it is in communication (prayer) with God that our dependence on God is demonstrated. Let us be a praying people.

1 - 10:9-16, prayer seen in Peter’s dialogue with Jesus.
2 - Paul’s spirit being stirred suggests that Paul began to pray.
3 - 18:9-10; 23:11, The Lord speaking to Paul implies prayer.
4 - 27:23-25, an angel being dispatched to strengthen Paul strongly suggests Paul was in prayer.

Why Should Someone Commit to a Church?

I often hear Christians say that they are part of the Church but not part of the church. In other words, they say they love Jesus and are having church wherever they go with other Christians. But the idea of committing to a local church is asking a bit much of them.

The local church is God's idea. Joshua Harris in the 2 minute video explains briefly why the church is important. He also wrote an excellent book called Stop Dating the Church.

God wants you to enjoy His fulness and part of that fulness is found in committing to a local body of believers. Don't miss this profound blessing.