Category: Making Disciples

That All the Nations Might Know the Lord

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Exodus 7:14-8:32

I’ve always had a heart for the nations. As a little girl, I wanted a “rainbow family” of a dozen children adopted from all different nations. As a middle schooler, my closest friends were from the Middle East and the Far East. When I graduated high school, I spent a month in France putting those four years of French classes to use.

But all those years I was an atheist. I wasn’t trying to share the good news with anyone. I just liked traveling and trying new and interesting things.

Fast forward to my present stage in life, and God has fanned into flame my heart for the nations – because it’s His heart, too. Our Father God loves people from every different tribe and nation and tongue, every hair color and skin color and eye color. All are equally sinners in the sight of a perfectly holy God, and all are equally precious in the sight of a perfectly loving God.

“The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”

Exodus 7:5 ESV

God has dual purposes in bringing the plagues upon the people of Egypt. He is going to rescue His own people out of slavery, but He is also going to show Himself to the Egyptian people – that they will know that He is Jehovah, the Great I Am, the Lord God Almighty.

God has purpose for everything He does. Sometimes we can be so self-focused that we think that the things happening in our lives are all about us, forgetting that God is also showing Himself to the people around us through the trials and joys that we are in.

For me, losing a baby wasn’t just about me. It was also about my husband, and my older daughter, my in-laws and my neighbors, my friends at church and the people I’d meet twenty years later at the grocery store, and especially about a little boy who was going to be born halfway around the world and need a family.

Friends, if you know Jesus, then your life is no longer your own. You’ve been bought with a price so you can glorify God in your body. You have been made holy and acceptable to God through the sacrifice of His son, now let your life be a living sacrifice – an offering that keeps on offering itself day after day – back to Him, that all the nations might know that He alone is God. (See 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Romans 12:1-2, 1 Kings 8:60, Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:19-20)

Let’s pray together.

Heavenly Father, what a blessing and honor to be called Your child and to be used by You to accomplish Your purposes here on earth. Help us to remember that we are no longer our own, that we have been bought with a price – not with worthless things like gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God. We love You and we thank You for your mercy and grace. We pour our praise back to You with hearts full of gratitude. In the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

O Lord, Why Did You Ever Send Me?

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Read Through the Bible in 2 Years: Exodus 5:1-7:13

People have often asked me my thoughts about sharing the gospel in places where there is a very real risk of persecution. My response has always been something along these lines, “This world is not our home. We are all just sojourners, passing through a foreign land on our way to our final destination: heaven or hell. We have to stop being so earthly minded. We have to fix our eyes – and our minds – on eternity. We have to be faithful to share the gospel and make disciples of all nations like Jesus commanded in Matthew 28.”

I was thinking about that today when I read,

Then Moses turned to the LORD
and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

Exodus 5:22-23 ESV

Do you believe that heaven – and hell – are real? Are they eternal? How is a person’s final destination determined?

The answers to those questions will determine the answers to these questions —

  • What if I study the Bible with someone and they end up losing their job because of their faith?
  • What if I tell someone about Jesus and their husband ends up leaving them?
  • What if I share the good news with someone and they end up in jail?

I’m not saying we should be reckless, cavalier, or foolish. But I am saying that if God is calling you to share the good news – which He is – you should be more concerned about the results of your disobedience to Him than the results of your obedience to Him.

Indeed the Israelites faced greater temporary trials as a result of Moses’s confrontation with the Pharaoh, but the much greater long-term joys of freedom were coming!

Will you pray with me?

Heavenly Father, You have told us to go and make disciples of all nations. You have promised that You will be with us. Please strengthen those who are living in dangerous lands, and please strengthen us who are living lives of such comfort and ease. Help us to know You more and make us willing to suffer for the gospel and for our brothers and sisters who are in harm’s way. Please protect us all from the enemy’s schemes and to keep our eyes fixed on You. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Please, Lord, Send Someone Else!

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Exodus 4

Have you ever felt inadequate? Incapable? Inept? Have you ever felt like there was no way you could accomplish the task that has been set before you? Maybe you feel that way right now.

Maybe you can relate all too well to Moses’s words,

“Oh, my Lord,
please send someone else.”

Exodus 4:13 ESV

As a new homeschooling mom, I struggled for years with those kinds of feelings. “God, I can’t do this! It’s too hard! I don’t know what I’m doing! I’m going to ruin them! They’d be better off at school!”

So, every spring I’d make an appointment to go visit the local Christian school, and my husband and I would reconsider sending our kids there. But every spring we instead chose to recommit ourselves to the task that the Lord had given us to disciple our children at home.

This spring marks my 21st year homeschooling. I’ve successfully graduated my oldest three children, and only my youngest one is still home. I no longer visit the local Christian school every year and I no longer struggle with those feelings of inadequacy when it comes to homeschooling my son.

The Lord has grown both my skills and my faith. And the Lord has proven Himself so very faithful to give my family what we need to complete the tasks that He has given to us.

But, friends, what if I had chosen to send my kids to school? What if I had complained and complained and complained and refused the task that the Lord had called me to? What then?

Well, here’s what I think — I think God would’ve sent someone else. Like God sent Aaron to help complete the job, God would’ve sent someone else to teach my children. My kids would’ve learned to read and write and spell under someone else’s instruction, and I would’ve missed the blessing of having discipled my kids hour after hour and day after day and year after year.

My children would’ve missed the blessings of figuring out how to get along with each other. My children would’ve missed the blessings of doing chores together and memorizing the Bible together and singing off key together. But they would’ve gotten through school somehow.

God would’ve made a way, because He is God, and my children are His workmanship.

Listen, friends, if you don’t tell that person at the grocery store about Jesus, God will send someone else. If you don’t share the gospel with that lady sitting next to you at your son’s Little League baseball game, God will send someone else. If you don’t raise your children to trust in Christ, God will send someone else. I’m walking proof of that.

  • Jonah tried to run, but God sent a whale to change his mind.
  • Pharaoh tried to kill all the Hebrew baby boys, but Moses was spared.
  • Saul tried to wipe out the Christians, but God chose to open his eyes and open his mouth and make him His mouthpiece for the gospel.

God’s purposes will stand. No purpose of His can be thwarted. (Job 42:2) You aren’t that important. You aren’t that powerful. You can’t stand in God’s way.

But, friends, the joys and blessings that you’ll miss!!! Oh, to look back on the fullness of the last 21 years! To remember how the Lord carried us. To see how the Lord worked in me and through me, growing me and growing my kids – I would’ve missed it. To see people that I’ve discipled grow in their faith, there’s nothing like it. I don’t want to miss fulfilling God’s calling … and neither do you!

So, friends, let me encourage you — don’t be like Moses, complaining that you can’t do it and begging God to send someone else.

Rather, remember the words of Mordecai to Esther,

“For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther 4:14

Isaiah 14:27 ESV — For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

Daniel 4:35 ESV — all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Proverbs 19:21 ESV — Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, What a blessing it is to have a purpose in this life. What a blessing it is to be Your workmanship and to know that You have prepared in advance good works for me to do and that I can walk in them by Your Spirit in me. What a blessing it is to be Your child and to serve you! I pray that I will be faithful to accomplish each of the tasks that You have given me to do. I pray that my eyes will be fixed on You, the one who is able to do more than I could ever ask or imagine, the God of the impossible. Help me not to trust in my own strength or my own abilities, but to trust in You who is able to do all things. It is in the mighty name of Jesus Christ that I pray, Amen.

Names – Of Moses and the Great I Am

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Exodus 3

Each of my children’s names have special meaning for me. My oldest daughter was named after my dad. My oldest son’s name was chosen to reflect his Russian heritage. My youngest daughter’s name was chosen to commemorate her Christmas birthday and my youngest son was named in honor of a man of the Bible who was faithful to God through the hardest trials.

Today when I was reading Exodus 3, it jumped out at me that God called Moses by name when He spoke to him out of the bush. “Moses! Moses!” called God. (Exodus 3:4) Moments later Moses has a question for God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God’s answer is both simple and deeply proud.

“I am who I am.”
…
Say this to the people of Israel:
“‘I am’ has sent me to you.”

Exodus 3:14

Imagine being sent by the great “I am” Himself. The unmoved mover. The uncaused cause. The origin of all things. The Alpha and the Omega. The self-existent One. The One who spoke the world into existence. The One who breathed life into man. “I am” is speaking to you. The One who was and is and is to come. (Revelation 1:8) The unchanging God.

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

Psalm 90:2 ESV

“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.”

Isaiah 44:6 ESV

“”Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together.”

Isaiah 48:12-13 ESV

“And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Revelation 4:8-11 ESV

The Great I Am knows Your name and He wants you to know Him, too. He is speaking to you. Will you listen? Will you obey? Will you follow Him? It’ll be the best ride of your life.

Names of God – Laurell Hubick

The Spreading Power of Persecution

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Exodus 1

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad.

Exodus 1:12a

I recently read a quote that went something like, “When the authorities loosen their grip, the gospel spreads … and when the authorities tighten their grip, the church is trained and becomes more disciplined … but always we are in God’s hands.”

Today in reading the story of the persecution of the young Hebrew nation in Exodus 1, I saw the Lord’s hand in both spreading and training His people, but in this case, persecution is actually what caused the people to spread abroad.

Isn’t that what happened in the dispersion of the new disciples of Jesus Christ who were persecuted for their faith? And how about what happened when God confused the people’s languages at the tower of Babel in Genesis 11? God’s people were dispersed over the face of all the earth as a result of their suffering and hardship, but all the time they were in God’s hands.

I am reminded again and again as I read through the scriptures that my ways are not God’s ways. So often the very thing that seems straight from the pit of hell is exactly what God uses for His glory and my good – if I only keep my eyes open to it. No matter what, I can trust that I am in God’s hands.

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, Help us to trust You no matter what. Help us to believe that You are in control even when life feels out of control. You are always on Your throne. You are working all things together for good. Let us not be ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation for all who believe, both the Jew and the Gentile. Help us to want for the good even of those who persecute us and shame us and say all kinds of evil about us falsely on Your account. We love You and we trust You. Increase our faith, Father. In the matchless name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Making Disciples of All Nations

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Matthew 28

The ending of Matthew’s very thorough account of Jesus’s life and ministry feels so sudden. After reading twenty-seven lengthy chapters, Matthew 28 contains only twenty verses, summarizing the resurrection of Christ, Jesus’s appearance to the Marys, the Jewish leaders’ bribing of the Romans guards, and concluding with some of Jesus’s final words to His disciples,

“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.”

Matthew 28:18-20 ESV

So, as we wrap up four weeks spent studying the words of Matthew, let these be my words to you.

Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. He can do it. Nothing is impossible for Him. You can trust Him. Therefore, you can go with confidence, under His authority, by the power of His Holy Spirit, and make disciples of all nations. He wants to use you. You don’t need to be a ordained minister to share the good news. You don’t need a seminary degree to tell people how to trust in Christ. His Spirit and His Word are all you need. He wants you to share the good news with those who have never heard. But don’t stop there – teach them to observe all that He has commanded in His word. Being a disciple is so much more than just being a fan.

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. If you’d love to join me in international ministry, leave a comment or send me a message. I’d love to help you get plugged in! Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, What a blessing it is to be a laborer in the harvest! I am so thankful for Your Holy Spirit who lives in me and gives me wisdom. I pray that Your Spirit would guide me to those who are hungering to hear the good news and those who need to be discipled in obedience to Your commands. In the powerful Name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord we pray, Amen.

Are You Ready?

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Read Through the Bible in 2 years: Matthew 24

I remember many years when I was growing up and was left home all summer long under my big sister’s care while my parents went to work. We knew that our parents would be home sometime before dinner, but we never really knew exactly when that would be. When my sister would hear the back door opening, she’d demand, “Stop screaming, Kim! Be good! Mom and Dad are home,” and my steady stream of bickering would come to sudden hault. I didn’t want my parents to walk in on us mid-argument.

Fast-forward thirty years and I remember all those years when I’d have my kids clean up the house at five o’clock, so we were ready for their dad to get home. I wanted my husband to open the door to me preparing dinner in the kitchen, while the kids played quietly on the floor, the school books and toys put away. I hated for him to walk into the middle of the chaos that four rambunctious, homeschooling kids can produce.

Matthew 24 explains that though we won’t know the precise day or hour, we will know the season when Jesus’s return is near. Like “the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:37) If the people of Noah’s time had paid attention they would have seen Noah building a boat and known that a flood must be coming … but they remained unaware until the flood swept them away.

Friends, the days are near. Jesus is coming soon. He will not tarry forever! We must “stay awake.” We must “be alert.” We must “keep watch.” Though we do not know what day our Lord is coming, we can know that it will be soon. (Matthew 24:42)

Are you ready for Jesus to return?

Are you like that faithful and wise servant who is busy doing his master’s work, or like that wicked servant who is going to be caught unaware when his master returns?

Are you anxiously looking forward to your groom to arrive and call out, “Honey, I’m home” or are you distracted by the trappings of this world?

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, You are giving us so many signs that the days are short. Let us be about our Father’s business. Strengthen us for the task that You have given to us. Let us not be distracted by all that glitters and calls for our attention. Help us to fix our eyes on the heavens from where our savior will return for His bride. In the good and perfect name of Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, Amen.

The Man on the Middle Cross Said I Could Come

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Matthew 22

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.

Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”

Matthew 22:8-13 ESV

I remember one time shortly after moving to the South when I went to a moms-night-out for homeschooling moms. The social was in the evening, and it was being hosted in a fellow homeschooling mom’s home. I showed up in what I’d been wearing all day – what I wore every day – a Christian t-shirt and jeans. My curly hair was unbrushed and my face was make-up free. I walked into that room full of strangers and immediately wanted to turn around and walk back to the car.

Apparently I’d missed the memo: “Before you come, make sure you brush your hair, and put on some makeup and stylish mom-wear.”

This is not at all what Jesus was referring to in this parable of the wedding feast. Jesus doesn’t care about your makeup. He doesn’t care if you’ve brushed your hair or put on that cute new outfit. He doesn’t care how much money is in your bank account, or how many square feet are in your home, or which side of the train tracks you live on. He doesn’t care how tall you are or what color your skin is. He doesn’t care about your ACT score or what kind of grades you got in high school. In fact, He doesn’t care whether you’re from the North or the South, the East or the West.

The banqueting table of the Lord is long and wide. He has invited all kinds of people – men and women, rich and poor, and every shade of skin, eye, and hair color – to His wedding feast.

Like Jesus’s parable of the net (Matthew 13:47-50), every kind of fish will be gathered – trout and salmon and tuna and brim and red snapper – at the end of the age. But, ultimately, there are only two kinds of fish: good fish and bad fish.

When you breathe your last breath, what’s going to matter is this: Are you wearing a wedding garment?

There will only be two choices: Yes or No. There’s no A, B, C and D on this test. You either have a wedding garment or you don’t.

And there’s only one way to get those wedding garments. They must be given to you by the groom, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the man on the middle cross.

So, I’ve got to ask you: Has Jesus given you the wedding garments? Or are you trying to get in with your own clothes, not realizing they are only filthy rags?

Friends, God knows your heart. No amount of makeup or hair styling or clothing or good deeds can cover up your need for a Savior.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.””

Revelation 21:1-8 ESV

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV

Have you been given the groom’s pure white wedding clothes?

Have your sins been washed away by blood of the Lamb?

May today be the day of salvation, and may we be faithful heralds of the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father, I come humbly before Your throne of grace and ask You to send out Your Word to draw many into Your kingdom, to clothe them in the pure white garments of the Lamb without blemish. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit and make us hate our sin like You do. Be our God and make us Your people. Make us new and wash us clean in the spring of living water. Thank You for Your grace. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.

The Tale of Two Sons

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Read Through the Bible in 2 Years: Matthew 21

“”A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went.

And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go.

Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.”

Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”

Matthew 21:28-32 ESV

Think of how deeply this parable must have resonated with Matthew. I can just imagine Matthew writing furiously, trying to record every word as Jesus spoke. Matthew had been a tax collector when the Lord called him. Yet, Matthew was a Jew, grieving that his fellow Jews were missing the Messiah! Matthew was like that first son who had said, “I will not,” but later had obeyed. Matthew himself had rejected the ways of God, but later Jesus had “changed his mind and he had believed” like he wrote in verse 32.

I’m so thankful that the Lord led Matthew to record this parable for us. And I’m doubly thankful that the Lord has made a way for those of us who were once running headlong away from God – like Matthew and like me – to enter the kingdom. Let’s pray for those who think they are following God, who are saying with their lips, “Oh, yes, sir, I’m going,” but who are heading the wrong direction, trusting in their own good deeds to be saved, rather than the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father, I lift up before Your throne of grace those who think they are following you, those who think they are heading toward you, but will one day hear, ‘I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” I pray that You would open their eyes and soften their hearts to the truth that we can only be saved through trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Wake them up to this reality before it’s too late. In the Good and Gracious Name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.

Living like Jesus

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Read Through the Bible in 2 Years: Matthew 20

Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Matthew 20:26b-28 ESV

Being a disciple is more than just being a student. Being a disciple is modeling your life after your teacher.

Jesus modeled for us what it meant to serve, giving up his own life — not just preaching and healing and multiplying bread — but being a servant even to the point of death.

If you’re like me, it’s hard to get your husband a glass of water from the kitchen. If you’re like me, it’s hard to clean up after your kids. If you’re like me, it’s hard to put down Facebook and to pick up the phone and make a real live call to a needy friend.

But … I do it even though it’s hard, because I want others to be able to model their lives after mine, as I model my life after my Master’s.

My children are watching me. My sisters are watching me. Those who don’t know Christ yet are watching me. You are watching me.

Am I the real deal? I want to be.

Am I perfect? No, I’m not. Only God is perfect. But I’m not who I was…. And I pray that my changed life is evidence of Christ in me and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

I am no longer my own. I’ve been bought with a price and Christ has changed me from the inside out. I want to be a walking billboard that says, “I’M A NEW CREATION! CHRIST HAS MADE ME NEW! THE OLD IS GONE! BEHOLD THE NEW HAS COME!”

Heavenly Father, make us more like your son. Help us to die to ourselves and live for You. Help us to remember that Jesus died for us and that we have the power through the Holy Spirit to overwhelmingly conquer! Teach us to be servants – Servants of Christ and Servants of our neighbor. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Perfect Master and Teacher and King. Amen.