2.09.2025

Disciplemaking A Community Project

This week's principle is Restoration from Lead by Paul Tripp.


Each week in February, class members share a summary of various booklets from the 9Marks Question series.  Here are the booklets we have covered so far.
This past Week's Class was Community in Discipleship.
Last week's lesson - Elders, Deacons, Deaconesses, & Congregation - was not a class on church governance.  It was the first part of the lesson on the importance of community in discipleship.  

The church plays an essential role in your discipleship and the discipleship of others.  Discipleship disconnected from a church is not Biblical Discipleship. 


"The Christian life is the discipled life and the discipling life."  (Discipling, Mark Dever)

Over the last two weeks, we talked about these two questions.

How Can I Find Someone to Disciple Me? 
2 Timothy 2:1-2 is a discipleship chain.   Paul taught Timothy and told him to teach faithful men who teach faithful men.  Strategic teaching multiplies.  Timothy was discipled by Paul to do the work of the gospel ministry.  

How Do I Disciple Others?
Matthew 28:18-20, the Great Commission passage, talks about teaching disciples "to observe all that I have commanded you."  
Psalm 78:4, 7 says, "Tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD and his might, and the wonders that he has done."  The purpose of this telling is so they will hope in God and keep God's commandments."
Discipleship is more than teaching information.  It is about helping people live out the truth of God's Word.   Discipleship is living out Biblical truth that is learned.  

Here is a very Basic Definition of Discipleship
SEEKING someone TO HELP YOU FOLLOW Jesus.
HELPING someone FOLLOW Jesus and

A new believer needs people to help him with Bible reading, praying, connecting with others, and serving others.  As this believer continues to grow, he looks for people to help him grow while looking for people to help him grow.  



Let's pray that our church will be filled with members who are growing in their fellowship with Jesus Christ and are seeking to help others grow into the image of Christ.


1.29.2025

Our Present and Future Hope

 

Krista, Jadyn, and I have been reading Everyday Gospel by Paul Tripp this year.

The daily devotionals have been a help in thinking about each daily reading through the Gospel.

Part of today's reading is Exodus 33:14 - 16.

And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight,  I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct,  I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

Moses states that he would not go to the Promised Land if the Lord was not with him.  Tripp writes, "Moses understands that there is no hope for Israel and no reason for Israel to travel further if God doesn't go with them."

"[God] will go with us wherever we go and will do for us what we have no power to do for ourselves—not because we deserve it, but because he is generous in love and mercy.  It really is true that he is everything we need."

Today's Bible reading and devotional, the Psalm passage I preached on January 12, and what keeps coming up in Trinity's Daniel series is that our hope needs to be in the Lord.

Moses needed God more than the Promised Land.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego needed God more than the king's approval.
Daniel needed God more than the safety given by this world.
Psalm 118:8 and 9 say, "It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.  It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes."

This hope in the LORD should affect how I pray, spend my time, interact with others, and do everything else in my life.


This Friday (1/31), I will be posting a summary of two 9Marks Church Questions books
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1.26.2025

Teaching and Serving Pt 2

In this week's class, most of our time was spent discussing the importance of approachability and loving honesty.  Part of this discussion was how to handle criticism. 
Preference criticism - example "You should be more like ________."
Improvement criticism - example criticism that might make your discipleship better.
False teaching criticism, examples are found in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John.

Very Basic Definition of Discipleship:  HELPING someone else FOLLOW Jesus.

Within this definition, approachability and honesty are very important.

Candor from Lead by Paul Tripp

The following is a prayer and some quotes from chapter 8 of Lead.

Lord, God, Three in One, the one who said it was not good that Adam was alone, 
Thank you for making us relational beings.  You want me to be comforted, warned, encouraged, rebuked, and instructed by others.  May my willingness to confess and share struggles not only be a help to me but also an encouragement to others. 
God, make me aware of my own heart struggles and areas of weakness. 
I pray that
pride of personal maturity,
the pursuit for the respect of others,
functional Gospel doubt,
ability to minimize sin, and 
identity in ministry

will not silence me.

Help me and those I lead with to lead and live, knowing the dark, despicable, destructive, and dishonoring nature of sin.  May we never attempt to rationalize sin and make it look o.k. 
I pray that the fear of a lost leadership position will never be great than the fear of giving sin room to do its evil work in my life.   
God, I want my life and my ministry to be about you and your glory!!! 
Amen!


Some quotes to consider

An isolated, independent, separated, and self-hiding Christian life is alien to the Christianity of the New Testament. (148) 

No one is so spiritually mature that he is free from a need for the comfort, warnings, encouragement, rebuke, instruction, and insight of others.  (148) 

A spiritually healthy leadership community is spiritually healthy when it is a safe place for struggling leaders to speak with candor and hope.  (149) 

"The ministry leaders I regularly meet with often share a personal experience, but they leave out how they themselves factor into it.  They talk about what happened and what other people did and said, but they give little sense of their own heart struggle as it was all going on.  (150) 

It is quite possible to be committed to leading robust gospel ministries and yet be denying the same gospel in your leadership community.  (152) 

A gospel-shaped leadership community will be a confessional community, where leader honesty is not only a constant protection but encourages a deeper and deeper dependency on God.  (152) 

It is in the soil of the devastation and humiliation of confession that servant leaders grow.  (153)

What silences us?

1.  Pride of personal maturity

2.  Ability to minimize sin

3.  Must have the respect of others

4.  Identity in ministry

5.  Functional Gospel doubt

Every leadership community needs to pray together for grace to see sin as dark, despicable, destructive, and dishonoring to God as it actually is.  Every leadership community needs to regularly cry out for help, admitting that sin doesn't always look sinful.  (155)

If I have [the leadership community] in the appropriate place in my heart, I will see them as God-given tools of grace and be free to be candid with them about my real issues of heart and life.  (155)

The Gospel promises us that the good things God calls us to will produce good in our lives, even if that good looks different from what we hoped for.  (157)

Do we fear the loss of leadership position more than we fear giving sin room to do its evil work in our hearts and lives?  (157)

Next week (January 2) is an often-missed part of discipleship - the role of elders, deacons, deaconesses, and the congregation in discipleship. 
Discipleship is NOT a solo project.  Discipleship is a community project.



1.19.2025

Teaching and Serving


This week, the Pray/Prepare class joined with the Overview of the Bible class.

John Van Tongeren has been teaching the class this quarter but needed coverage for the next few weeks.  I decided to take this week for two reasons:

  1. The Prah/Prepare class topic was Teaching and Serving Helps.  Throughout the lesson, especially in 1st John, we will look at some of the teaching tools John uses in the letter, and next week, the class will look at the lesson and talk about teaching techniques.
  2. The books 1, 2, and 3 John are heavy on the topic of teaching.
Here are some helpful teaching tips from How Can I Begin Teaching the Bible? by David Helm

Principles:

  • You need confidence.  Not self-confidence, but confidence in God's Word and the Holy Spirit.
  • You need the right convictions.  
    1. The Bible is God's Word.
    2. Prayer is a must.
    3. The local church is one of God's greatest gifts.

Preparation

  • Find the structure and emphasis.
  • Understand the context.
  • Highlight the message of the. Gospel.
Presentation
  • Know your goal.
  • Construct an outline.
  • Drive the Truth home.

One to One Bible Reading

Servants from Lead by Paul Tripp


 

1.15.2025

Ministry Wk 2

Next week's How to Pray/Prepare for Ministry'Missionss (1.19) is going on the road again.  We will likely be in the Fireplace Room as we look at Teaching and Serving Helps and study 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John.

Last week's Pray and Prepare for Ministry/Missions post was about general ministry principles.

This week's post aims to share specific information and resources related to specific ministries.  Before looking at each specific ministry, we must remember that ministry to children, young adults, women, and men involves specific studies and activities for each age group.  At the same time, each of these ministries and every ministry needs to remind believers that their identity is in Christ,  the church is God's plan for growing His share and sharing the Gospel, and everything we do, no matter who we are, should be done for God's glory.

Children and Family Ministry:

Zealous:  7 Commitments for the Discipleship of the Next Generations, from Truth78, is a challenge to passionately disciple the next generation by telling them "the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders he has done so that they should set their hope in God."  (Psalm 78:4, 7) 



About two years ago, the Christian Education team started reading Zealous.  Over several months, we would discuss one of the commitments, and I would share thoughts from the book at https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/search/label/Zealous

The joke around Trinity is that I always have a book to share.  There is always a purpose behind recommended books.  Here is what I shared in February 2022.
I would love to see Trinity Baptist Church continue to grow in its zeal for God and the discipleship of one another.  As a church we need to pray tht God would grow this zeal in each of us. 
I hope and pray that not just the children's ministry but every ministry is growing and continues to grow in these areas.
  1. Embrace a Biblical Vision for the Faith of the Next Generation
  2. Foster a Robust Partnership Between Church and Home
  3. Teach the Breadth & Depth of the Whole Counsel of God
  4. Proclaim the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ
  5. Disciple the Mind, Heart, and the Will
  6. Prayerful Dependence on God's Grace
  7. Inspire Worship of God, for the Glory of God
If you are interested in learning more about the 7 Commitments, here are three ways you can find out more
The Christian Education Committee
  1. The Zealous podcast https://anchor.fm/truth78/episodes/Zealous-podcast-introduction-e13g46m/a-a60bhdg
  2. Free PDF version of the book:  https://www.truth78.org/zealous
  3. I have a couple of paperback copies of the book.  If you are interested in one, let me know.
Young Adults Ministry:

The goal of the church is the equipping of the saints "for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."  (Ephesians 4:12, 13)

There are many different ideas of what young adult ministry should look like.  Despite these many possibilities, the purpose of young adult ministry should be Ephesians 4 - helping young people glorify God, grow in love for the church and the whole church, and go into the world to share the hope in Christ they have.

Women's Ministry:

I just wanted to share the purpose of the women's committee and a couple of links because Julie Lee and I talked about Women's ministry and Women's Bible study on the Trinity Life podcast.  See the link below.

The Women's Committee desires to do the following
  • Reach and encourage women in a socially or spiritually vulnerable stage
  • Equip and replicate faithful and fruitful women - not relying only on a few people
  • Incorporate evangelism and outreach to non-believers
  • Support and pursue things congruent with the overall ministry philosophy of the church and its larger ministries.
For the Women's Committee & Women's Bible Study podcast with Julie Lee, go to Trinity Life Podcast with Julie Lee.
For more about the Women's Ministry at TBC, go to  https://trinitybaptistgr.churchcenter.com/pages/womens-ministry.
For more about Women's Bible Studies at TBC, go to trinitybaptistgr.churchcenter.com/groups

Men's Ministry:

Information Coming Soon.