I have had one of those weeks where so many instances have stirred up in me a sense of nostalgia. On Sunday, our community group had it's end of summer social. It was a bake off with desserts of every kind to be sampled and enjoyed while sharing time with some of my dearest friends. But it was also a time to meet new ones, as many in our number invited neighbors and co-workers to join us. The sweets were aptly named, but the moment was even sweeter as I scanned the room and thought how the gathering, the mingling, and the family atmosphere drew me back to my south Alabama childhood. The children were playing physical games like hide and seek, kickball, and running around outside more like yesteryear and less like today's video gamers plopped in front a screen in a comfy chair. The adults were busting jokes, laughing at stories of mishaps and misadventures, arguing over whose football team was better this year, and even pulling some hamstrings trying to keep up in the children's games. It was pure, and it was together.
My Granny was often the hostess of similar events when I was growing up in Mobile, Alabama. She was southern hospitable to her core, opening her home and heart to countless people in her years of serving her Lord through gathering and welcoming God's people. Six years ago at her funeral, the pastor read a quote she had written in an old, tattered, well-read Bible found on her nightstand. In many ways the quote demonstrated her life's mission, her calling, her disciple makers spirit. See, she didn't host to be recognized. She didn't host to be applauded by her peers. She hosted so she could get to know you. The real you, so she could speak truth in love, share the gospel, and continually invest in you so you didn't just know Jesus as your Savior, but also how to live free with Jesus as your Lord. Those gatherings were temporary breaks from the stressors of this world, but they were also permanent investments in the people of eternity.
"Do not sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the temporary."
That was the quote written in the margins of her Bible next to 2 Corinthians 4:18. Paul was writing to fellow believers lamenting that if we fix our eyes on the temporary struggles of this life that are transient and temporary rather than fixing our eyes on the eternal unseen things like the love of our Lord and love of our neighbor, we miss the mark. Paul was encouraging us to be investors in the permanent and not stuck in the temporary.
As a discipler, you have been called to invest in the lives of a few men and women for a period of time that is temporary before sending them out to multiply the mission for the sake of the permanent. Your sharing life, instructing others through reliance on God's Word, and sharpening a brother or sister in the faith is not so accolades can come your way from your peers, but so a "job well done, my good and faithful servant" can be spoken at your eternal reception. I know my Granny was received by her King that way, and I long for the day that I can see her again and tell her that she can count me among the many she discipled because I heard what she said, I saw how she lived, and I know THE KING she served.
When discipling through affliction, my friends, give no fuel to the fire of the temporal costs. Only give thanks for being included in the eternal return for your investment in the permanent.
2 Corinthians 4:18 - "as we look NOT to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are permanent." AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!
The Real Reason We Don't Make Disciples
Last week one of our disciple makers at Highview sent me this article; she was convicted and motivated. I pray you are encouraged to stay in the fight to make disciples as an overflow of what we believe about Jesus.
https://www.imb.org/2019/07/29/the-real-reason-we-dont-make-disciples/
Disciple Makers Breakfast
Please join us for our next Disciple Makers Breakfast on Saturday, October 12th. During this time we will tackle some of the questions and challenges you guys have submitted over the last few months practicing discipleship. This will be a time of encouragement and celebration as we also want to highlight some key things God has done through D-Groups. You won't want to miss it. Register by responding to this email.
7th Art of Discipleship
We are gearing up for our 7th "Art of Discipleship Training" to be held on Friday November 8, and Saturday November 9th at Highview East campus. At the Art of Discipleship, you will be equipped with the vision and tools you need to begin making disciples who make disciples. Check out this informational video to learn more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6oorEPm07Q&feature=youtu.be
Spread the word to folks you have discipled and encourage them to register using this link.
https://highview.org/Registration/art-of-discipleship-fall-2019