The Bottom Line, Ministries Christian News, Articles, & Poetry 
With all the people who have made decision to accept Christ since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, churches must take a step forward to disciple them. This is a must-do situation. The Christian community cannot allow these new believers to simply attend church and nothing more is done. This can be done in several ways. Have small groups meeting in homes, spiritual mentors, or church discipleship classes. If you are a pastor that has seen a big influx of new believers, you must take responsibility of seeing some form of discipleship. Take heed to I Peter 5:2. “ Shepherd the flock of God that is among you…”
While all these masses of people have accepted Christ, there has also been a mass exodus of so-called Christians leaving the basic tenants of the faith. Surveys show that over half of evangelical Christians no longer believe in the basic doctrines of the faith, one of them being that people do not have a sin nature, which is a basic prerequisite for salvation. There are many other “departures from the faith” that could be mentioned. Added to this is that, even though Bible sales have dramatically increased with 10 million sold so far this year, many Christians are not reading the Bible, at least not on a consistent basis.
How can we expect to disciple the multitude of new believers if so many Christians have left the faith? It doesn’t leave much of a difference to the next generation of Christians. There must be a return to solid Bible teaching and practice. The Bible must be viewed as the inspired word of God, and the new generation must see it as their source of truth. We must guard against what is said in the following quotation.
“ There is yet another group of men and women who have not rejected Christianity in deference to some other system. These individuals have attempted to dilute Christianity in such a way that they can still be in the camp with those who embrace orthodoxy, but not by embracing the whole truth… It is usually characterized by someone who is willing to embrace parts of the faith, but who finds it necessary in his or her own case to reject those parts, he or she finds inconvenient. Those people occupy a kind of spiritual neutral zone. They have a sense that there is some truth in the claims of Christianity but they reject the idea that everything its more committed followers claim to be the truth can really be so. They might believe in life after death, but they are hoping that things might not go so seriously when it is time for them to be evaluated. Although they might reject every main doctrine of historic Christian faith, they still see no problem with identifying themselves as Christians. They certainly would not view themselves in the same category as unbelievers, even though they reject the very truth that have given unbelief its name. The idea that they might be in spiritual danger, does not cross their minds.”*
There must be a return to real Christianity. “For those of you who possess authentic faith in Jesus Christ, and are committed to the historic teachings of the Bible… You are very important members of contemporary culture. Even though that has been the case throughout the history of Christianity, I believe it could be said that never has a culture needed you more than it does today. If change is to come, it must start with true Christians living out their faith. It is important that men and women of authentic faith live out their relationship with Christ in such a way that the church… regains the respect of the culture and the allegiance of its membership. It is going to take passion to change things, and only those who truly believe are capable of having it. True believers are going to have to go the distance.” **
“If your faith does not reshape your life, it is not true faith. Faith is not just intellectual assent to a body of truth. I’m afraid that’s what faith looks like in evangelical academic circles. But real faith radically rearranges your life.”***
This must be the kind of faith that the Christian community is discipling the new generation of believers into. Fortunately, there are still many true believers that are capable of doing the job. We must “contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints”(Jude 3).
*William Wilberforce, Real Christianity, Revised by Bob Beltz, Regal Books, 2006, pg 193
**Ibid, pg 195
***Paul David Tripp, Good Morning Mercies, A Daily Gospel Devotional, Crossway Publishers, 2015, October 5 Devotional
Yes discipleship is important, not only that but necessary because there are so many professing Christians out there who don’t take the whole truth of the Bible. Though many stories, it is one book and must be taken as an all inclusive collection of God Given Words. God does not promise a path of roses and smooth trails. But He does promise that through His Son Jesus Christ we can be assured that God will get us through every situation we encounter… every one of them despite how we feel while going through them. One good way to discover what God expects from us is to study His Word and learn the truth of what He says through study…Old and New Testaments, and the experiences of devoted Christian Soldiers who have been through what we may be going through right now. That’s why fellowship is important, and I have found that Bible Study Groups is the best way to learn, and one way I have found success through the years is by studying the Holy Bible word by word. The leader of the group needs a thesaurus of the Bible- (I have always used Strong’s Exhaustive concordance) The group picks a word from scripture and individuals in the group are asked to find that word where it is referenced according to the concordance and the group ends up looking at every way and every meaning of that word in each sentence referenced. Sometimes those words are used extensively and hold slightly different meaning in how it is used, then you get a real feel of what that word actually means and why God used it in that particular way. God Bless you John, you’ve been part of this ministry for a long time!
Wonderful to know that God is always in control no matter what is going on in this world. His wisdom even in this tragedy got peoples attention and there are those that were enlightened as they saw the division between right from wrong and good from evil. We all need the living water and the bread of life found in the person of Christ no matter how long we have been a believer. All the more for those beginning their journey in Christ.
I agree with Tim about Bible studies in the home or even a coffee shop apart from the weekly service. The interaction and a more openness to come together and share is a wonderful opportunity for growth.
We are seeing the wolves going in among the sheep in establishments which are viewed as the church when it is actually a den of thieves to try to fleece the flock who aren’t able yet to understand all the various pitfalls spoken of in the word of God. These are vulnerable to accept falsehoods that could stunt their spiritual growth and even question what following Jesus is all about. We all need refresher courses and I hope more people will open their homes to invite others to study the Bible alongside them.
I remember working with another employee who said that he was a Christian but the things his church started teaching was anything but biblical such as adapting an evolutionary theory where with eons of time things developed before the next day of another creation so that multiplied years would fit into long stretches of time between each new day which made the leader in the church align with the unbelieving world. Instead it should have been condemned for that is heresy. I hope you followed what I was trying to portray. It is confusion and baloney.
In fact it doesn’t even make sense when certain actions happen all in one day’s time so living things had to be complete in that 24 hour span of time, not something unintelligent working at perfecting itself in between the timelines. What foolishness abounds in the minds and hearts of multitudes carried about by ignorance.
Or that alcoholic beverages are OK. In one case with a man named Timothy, the apostle Paul advised him to take a little wine for a stomach problem which would be used as a healing property not fermented to make one vomit. It is a chemical fact that grape sugar is very close to blood sugar as mentioned in a sermon by Dr. J. Allen Blair recently. History has revealed that the Greeks used dehydration grape juice mixed in milk or water for a tonic but never fermented.
Wine is meant to be the good fruit of the vine in biblical terms not sour or spoiled drink as people want to believe.
Just a couple examples I thought about that I found to be a stumbling block for many.
Such matters that are questionable need to be understood so that God’s words are honored and people are blessed. Areas where we all need to know the differences in interpreting and discerning truth is priceless.
amen
John,
Phenomenal word – great message and clearly defined article which will bring clarity to many.
God Bless!