Stars and Whales Singing God's Praise

A Good Discipleship Article

Discipleship is one of the current big "fad" movements driving churches right now, which is good because it is the most important function of the Church.  However, because of this, there are a lot of fluffy little articles and posts constantly drifting through my Facebook feed.

While talking about discipleship is better than not talking about it, most of these articles have little meat on their bones other than a few plithy tips and comments that do little to truly inspire or instruct on how to become more effective disciple-makers.

I share a lot of these fluffy links on my Facebook page...  Why not?  But here's one I wanted to share here on the blog to keep a little more handy for future reference.

At first, I thought this would be little different (lists are usually pretty soft on depth), but what I like is the tremendous number of links the author provides to explore each of his points in greater depth.

I haven't explored most of these links yet, but I plan on it.  Hopefully they are more thoughtful than most of the discipleship content floating around out there these days...

5 Signs Your Disciplemaking Design Isn't Working (and 10 Ways to Create One That Works): " Isn’t obvious that certain results or a lack of results would indicate a bad disciple-making strategy?  Remember, “your ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results you are currently experiencing.”  If you don’t like the results, you must change the design. I love this line from Winston Churchill.  “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”  If you don’t like your results, change the strategy."

"If there are words for Him, then I don't have them..."

Below is the full video, but click on the link instead to get to the best part...

https://youtu.be/huFra1mnIVE?t=6m28s


"The Word" by Isaac Wimberley

"If there are words for Him then I don’t have them. 

You see, my brain has not yet reached the point where it could 

form a thought that could adequately describe the greatness of my God, 

and my lungs have not yet developed the ability to release a breath 
with enough agility to breathe out the greatness of his love, 

and my voice, you see, 
my voice, is so inhibited, restrained by human limits 
that it’s hard to even sing the praise of… 
You see… if there are words for Him then I don’t have them. 

My God, 
His grace is remarkable, mercies are enumerable, 
strength is impenetrable, He is honorable, accountable, favorable, 
He is unsearchable yet knowable, indefinable yet approachable, indescribable yet personal, 
He is beyond comprehension, further than imagination, constant through generations, 
king of every nation. 

But if there are words for Him then I don’t have them. 
You see, my words are few, and to try to capture the one true God, 
using my vocabulary will never do, 
but I use words as an expression, 
an expression of worship to a savior, 
a savior who is both worthy and deserving of my praise, so I use words. 

My heart extols the Lord, blesses his name forever, 
He has won my heart captured my mind and has bound them both together, 
He has defeated me in my rebellion, 
conquered me in my sin, 
He has welcomed me into his presence, 
completely invited me in. 
He has made himself the object of my sight, 
flooding me with mercies in the morning, 
drowning me with grace in the night. 

But if there are words for Him 
then I don’t have them. 
But what I do have is good news, 
for my God knew that manmade words would never do, 
for words are just tools that we use to point to the truth, 
so He sent His son Jesus Christ as “The Word”, living proof, 

He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation, 
for by Him all things are created, giving nothingness formation, 
and by His words he sustains, in the power of His name, 
for He is before all things and over all things he reigns, holy is his name, 
so praise him for his life… 

The way he persevered in strife, 
the humble son of God becoming the perfect sacrifice, 
praise him for his death… 

that He willingly stood in our place, that he lovingly endured the grave, 
that he battled our enemy and on the third day rose in victory

He is everything that was promised, 
praise Him as your risen king,
lift your voice and sing for one day he will return for us 
and we will finally be united with our savior for eternity, eternity. 

So it’s not just words that I proclaim, 
for my words point to “The Word” and “The Word” has a name, 
hope has a name, 
joy has a name, 
peace has a name, 
love has a name 
and that name is Jesus Christ.

Praise His Name FOREVER!"

Bono on Jesus