I think vital religion has always suffered when orthodoxy is more regarded than virtue. The scriptures assure me that at the last day we shall not be examined on what we thought but what we did.

If we intend to become like Christ, that will be obvious to every thoughtful person around us, as well as to ourselves.

There are two things to do about the gospel. Believe it and behave it.

Remember putting your face above a headless frame painted to represent a muscleman, a clown, or even a bathing beauty? Many of us have had our pictures taken this way, and the photos are humorous because the head doesn't fit the body. If we could picture Christ as the head of our local body of believers, would the world laugh at the misfit? Or would they stand in awe of a human body so closely related to a divine head?

You know those little pincushion metal show the form of your face things? That's what it means to be conformed to the image of Christ.

"Books," said St. Augustine after his conversion, "could not teach me charity." We still keep on thinking they can. We do not realize... the utter distinctness of God and the things of God. Psychology of religion can not teach us prayer, and ethics cannot teach us love. Only Christ can do that, and He teaches by the direct method, in and among the circumstances of life. He does not mind about our being comfortable. He wants us to be strong, able to tackle life and be Christians, be apostles in life, so we must be trained by the ups and downs, the rough-and-tumble of life. Team games are compulsory in the school of Divine Love -- there is no getting into a corner with a nice, spiritual book.

In my intellect, I may divide [faith and works], just as in the candle I know there is both light and heat; yet put out the candle, and both are gone.

D.L. Moody once called on a leading citizen in Chicago to persuade him to accept Christ. They were seated in the man’s parlor. It was winter and coal was burning in the fireplace. The man objected that he could be just as good a Christian outside the church as in it. Moody said nothing, but stepped to the fireplace, took the tongs, picked a blazing coal from the fire and set it off by itself. In silence the two watched it smolder and go out. “I see,” said the man.

Every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And, taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a Heaven creature or into a hellish creature -- either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge, and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.

SYNCHRONIZE SWIMMING . . . BUT NOT DISCIPLESHIP This edition of e.quipper focuses on equipping the saints through a look at some of the principles presented in Greg Ogden's book, DISCIPLESHIP ESSENTIALS. In conversation this last week, Greg identified three core principles that form the foundation for disciple making. First, disciple making is a relational investment NOT a synchronized program. Classes don't make disciples; only personal investment will. Discipleship is more of a discovery process than a program. If it were illustrated, it would look more like a mosaic than a flowchart. WHAT'S ESSENTIAL? Second, disciple making is about transformation and transformation is the product of three essential ingredients: 1. Vulnerable, open confessional relationships 2. Exposure to truth content 3. Accountability SPREADING THE VIRUS Third, disciple making is fundamentally about reproduction, about spreading the discipleship virus so to speak. This involves training people to disciple others to maturity. The principle is what Greg calls "transferability" and the model he recommends is a peer mentoring model rather than a hierarchical model. This model focuses on discipleship in triads moving strongly away from one-to-one, to individuals inviting two others into a side-by-side relationship as they together walk toward maturity in Christ. For more on discipleship see Greg's DISCIPLESHIP ESSENTIALS: A GUIDE TO BUILDING YOUR LIFE IN CHRIST go to www.gospelcom.net/ivpress/title/toc/1169.html.

This is a story about a little girl who, on the way home from church, turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, the Preacher's sermon this morning confused me." The mother said, "Oh! Why is that?" The girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?" "Yes, that's true," the mother replied. "He also said that God lives within us. Is that true, too?" Again the mother replied, "Yes." "Well," said the girl. "If God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn't He show through?"

Alexander the Great, one of the greatest military generals who ever lived, conquered almost the entire known world with his vast army. One night during a campaign, he couldn't sleep and left his tent to walk around the campgrounds. As he was walking he came across a soldier asleep on guard duty - a serious offense. The penalty for falling asleep on guard duty was, in some cases, instant death; the commanding officer sometimes poured kerosene on the sleeping soldier and lit it. The soldier began to wake up as Alexander the Great approached him. Recognizing who was standing in front of him, the young man feared for his life. "Do you know what the penalty is for falling asleep on guard duty?" Alexander the Great asked the soldier. "Yes, sir," the soldier responded in a quivering voice. "Soldier, what's your name?" demanded Alexander the Great. "Alexander, sir." Alexander the Great repeated the question: "What is your name?" "My name is Alexander, sir," the soldier repeated. A third time and more loudly Alexander the Great asked, "What is your name?" A third time the soldier meekly said, "My name is Alexander, sir." Alexander the Great then looked the young soldier straight in the eye. "Soldier," he said with intensity, "either change your name or change your conduct."

Want to know how fast Slammer (a.k.a. Sapphire/SQL Slammer) proliferated? "This worm required roughly 10 minutes to spread worldwide making it by far the fastest worm to date. In the early stages the worm was doubling in size every 8.5 seconds. At its peak, achieved approximately 3 minutes after it was released, Sapphire scanned the net at over 55 million IP addresses per second." Nicholas Weaver and his team at UC Berkeley have a fascinating report on SQL Slammer at http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~nweaver/sapphire/

He became what we are that he might make us what he is. I've also heard it put as: God became man that man might become God.

Get a picture of Jesus, some darts, and some blank paper. Cover the Jesus with paper. Tell everyone you're going to engage in some therapy: draw a picture of a person who makes you mad and draw it on the paper. Throw darts at the paper. Then take the paper off, and show them the picture of Jesus. "As you have done it unto the least of my brothers you have done it unto me."

SALVATION MEANS DISCIPLESHIP, NOT FORMULAS In the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," as King Arthur and his knights seek the Holy Grail, they come to a bridge that spans an abyss of eternal peril. A bridge keeper allows people to cross this bridge only if they can answer three questions. Get one wrong, and you're tossed into the pit. Lancelot is the first tested. The keeper asks him, "What is your name?" Lancelot answers. "What is your quest?" Lancelot answers, "To seek the Holy Grail." "What is your favorite color?" "Blue." "Right," says the bridge keeper, "off you go." Lancelot crosses the bridge, amazed this was so easy. The second knight similarly states his name and quest. But the third question is now, "What is the capital of Assyria?" "I don't know that." The knight is hurled, screaming, into the abyss. The third knight, Sir Galahad, is nervous as he's asked his name and quest, but he answers correctly. "What is your favorite color?" Sir Galahad panics. "Blue...no, yellow--Aaaaahhhh," he screams as he is hurled into the pit. Finally, the king steps up. "What is your name?" "Arthur, King of the Britains." "What is your quest?" "To seek the Holy Grail." "What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" "What do you mean," asks Arthur, "an African or European swallow?" "What? I don't know that," answers the bridge keeper, who immediately is launched into the abyss. Arthur and his followers thereafter cross the bridge unhindered. Many people's idea of the gospel is that some day we'll get to the bridge to paradise and be asked, "Why should you be allowed to cross?" As long as we answer correctly, we make it across. Answer wrongly, and we're cast into the abyss. The gospel is redefined to be the announcement of the minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven.... Jesus never said, "Now I'm going to tell you what you need to say to get into heaven when you die." Jesus' good news is we no longer have to live in the guilt, failure, and impotence of our own strength. The transforming presence and power of God is available through Christ right here, right now. To live in that power, you must become his disciple.

Christianity can be condensed into four words: admit, submit, commit, and transmit.

You heard about the man who asked a mail-order company to send plans for a birdhouse. Instead of sending him the plans for a birdhouse, they sent him plans for a sailboat. He tried to put it together, but it just wouldn't work. He couldn't figure what kind of bird was going to live in this dumb birdhouse. So he wrote a letter and sent the parts back to the people. They wrote a letter of apology and added this post script: "If you think it was difficult for you, you should have seen the man who got your plans trying to sail a birdhouse." What plan are you using to follow Christ? One copied from society?

[note: Jerod gave me permission to use this however I want, whenever I want] Glen, So I am in Dallas with Crysten Coy attending Henri's support raising siminar. He used your video about how to relate with churches and it was very cool. He is emailing it out to a few of the people in the group who expressed interst in seeing it a few more time to take down the info. So in the support raising phonebook sized binder we are working through, there is a part on vision. One of the questions asks who has influemced you in your call to ministry? Of course I wrote you down as someone who influenced me. Then I thought about that for a second: the whole time I was doing my laundry and eating your food never realized that whole thing was a discipleship setup! I was being discipled, and I just now realized it. You are a tricky one Glen Davis. Tricky. I just wanted to say thanks for that. Now I have support raising homework to work on. Just thought I would let you know that. Godspeed. Jerod

Hurried Discipleship I disagree with the popular practice of involving young people in an intense regimen of Bible study, prayer, worship, leadership, evangelism and accountability where young people are challenged to “take the campus for Christ,”“be radical for Jesus,” and “give 110%.” I know; I know.How could any Bible-believing Christian not believe in a youth ministry that encourages young people to be “on fire for Jesus”? Well, of course I’m in favor of young people knowing Jesus.What I’m not in favor of is young people doing Jesus because what most youth-oriented discipleship programs are about is doing—reading the Bible, praying, worshipping, attending, leading, and evangelizing with no mention of intimacy, waiting, listening, noticing, and paying attention. Youth-oriented discipleship programs have reduced disciples to cheerleaders and political organizers. Discipleship has been turned into a measurable, external activity instead of an immeasurable, internal lack of activity. Spending time evangelizing has replaced spending time with Jesus, and sharing our faith with others has replaced growing in our faith with Jesus. But there is another, more serious problem. Young people are…well…young, which means they are immature, confused by their hormones, inexperienced, naïve and idealistic. None of these qualities are “bad”; in fact, they are wonderful gifts of youth that are needed in the church, but they are not neutral. Simply put, discipleship is a lifelong process, not a youth activity. Remember when you were a little child and you dressed up in your parents’ clothes? Such antics were cute, but clearly the clothes didn’t fit. Young people are being asked to dress up like disciples, but the clothes don’t fit. How could they? The Bible was written by adults, men who’d lived long lives, men who’d suffered greatly for their faith and the conclusions they reached had been squeezed out of pain and heartbreak and failure. We impose our adult views of discipleship on young people who couldn’t possibly understand what it all means. They haven’t lived long enough. But in a culture where youth is worshipped and idolized by adults, where young people are called young adults, where young people are portrayed in the media as wise, untainted gurus of insight, it’s no wonder we convince young people that they’re the hope of the world. Funny…I thought Jesus was the hope of the world.

It is difficult to be indifferent to a wide-awake Christian, a real live person of God. It is even more difficult to be indifferent to a whole body of Christians like this. You can hat them or you can love them, but one thing is certain. You can’t ignore them. There is something about them that won’t let you. It isn’t so much what they say or what they do. The thing that seems to haunt you is what they do. The thing that seems to haunt you is what they are. You can’t put them out of your mind any more than you can shake off your shadow. They confront you with an entirely different way of life -- a new way of thinking, a changed set of values, a higher standard of living. In short, they face you with the kingdom of God. There is no washing of hands. These people must be crowned or crucified, for they are either mighty right or mighty wrong.

I need the Christ in you, and you need the Christ that is in me. We need each other.

The way to grow in holiness is to be around people more holy than ourselves. We hear their stray comments and absorb their judgment of what’s important. We listen to their prayers and find that God is bigger than we’d thought. -- Oswald Chambers

Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can. -- Emmerson, The Conduct of Life, 1860

The pastor should always be pure in thought, inasmuch as no impurity ought to pollute him who has undertaken the office of wiping away the stains of pollution in the hearts of others... for the hand that would cleanse from dirt must be clean, lest, being itself sordid with clinging mire, it soil whatever it touches all the more. -- Gregory the Great

A fanatic is a man who does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case.

Jesus promised his disciples three things: They would be absurdly happy, completely fearless, and in constant trouble.

Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.

When the famous missionary E. Stanley Jones asked Gandhi how to become a better missionary, Gandhi said, 'Become more like the man you follow.' By: Jeff Comment Source: Mission in the Marketplace, 1995, MITM Publishing, p. 42-43

Emulation is pain caused by seeing the presence, in person whose nature is like our own, of good things that are highly valued and possible for ourselves to acquire; but it is felt, not because others have these goods, but because we have not got them ourselves. It is therefore a good feeling felt by good persons, whereas envy is a bad feeling felt by bad persons. Emulation makes us take steps to secure the good things in question, envy makes us take steps to stop our neighbor having them. <i>as related in Solomon Schimmel's The Seven Deadly Sins p 81</i>

Again, the important distinction between emulation and mere imitation must be made clear. Imitation is a counterfeit form of emulation. Imitators do not take the time and energy required to learn what constitutes the soul of those they admire. They merely rifle through their bag of tricks, confusing technique with essence.... Mere imitation is hazardous to your soul.

Jesus Christ in legal battle to get license Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Posted: 7:58 AM EDT (1158 GMT) CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) -- Even Jesus Christ can't circumvent the rules for getting a driver's license in West Virginia. Attempts to prove his name really is Christ have led the man born as Peter Robert Phillips Jr. through a lengthy legal battle and a recent victory in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. "This all started with him expressing his faith and his respect and love for Jesus Christ," attorney A.P. Pishevar told The Associated Press. "Now he needs to document it for legal reasons." Described by his attorney as a white-haired businessman in his mid-50s, Christ is moving to West Virginia to enjoy a slower lifestyle. He bought property near Lost River, about 100 miles west of Washington, and has a U.S. passport, Social Security card and Washington driver's license bearing the name Jesus Christ. But he still falls short of West Virginia title and license transfer requirements because his Florida birth certificate has his original name on it and he has been unable to obtain an official name change in Washington. "We just need official documentation that that's his name," said Doug Stump, commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles. "He will be treated no different than anybody else." Christ applied for the legal name change in May 2003, but it was denied by District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Tim Murphy because "taking the name of Jesus Christ may provoke a violent reaction or may significantly offend people." In his appeal, Christ's attorney argued that Phillips had changed his name to Jesus Christ 15 years earlier, and "has been using the name since then without incident." The appeals court last month sent the name-change proposal back to the lower court, saying some required hearings in the case had not been held. Any comment from the man in the middle of this legal tussle? "Christ is not speaking to the press at this time," Pishevar said.

The Law is like the stakes you put in the ground to make your plants grow up straight. Eventually the plant internalizes the structure and becomes straight because of its nature - it no longer needs to be bound to the stake. In fact, if it tries to conform itself to the stake too tightly it will become twisted and won't grow to its full potential. {paraphrased}