I had the great privilege of sitting in on an evangelism conference recently.
It was a great occasion. Met some wonderful brothers and sisters in the faith making some valuable Kingdom connections and appreciating again how this Family of God is diverse and beautiful when that diversity comes together in a wonderful unity in Christ.
The gospel of John was brought up significantly in two of the four main talks. One looking at unity from the perspective of John 17, which I found inspiring and tremendously useful and practical.
The other talk gave a perspective on discipleship in the book as a whole from the basis of what Jesus outlines about being the vine and us being the branches in John 15. I was blown away by that exploration of scripture and it hammered home again just how the issue of discipleship is not optional to faith, but fundamental.
As I pursued the theme of discipleship in the gospel according to John, I cam across this outstanding blog entry by Keith Marriner on discipleship seen in the first chapter of this gospel account. This is one of those blog explorations I hope will be the hallmark of the studies on tihs blog. It’s not an academic study, it’s one of those that provokes you to see the story in the text and take out what’s there and see how applicable it is to the context of discipleship.
There’s hearing about Jesus, there’s knowing others know about Him, but there’s something else to have an encouter with Him yourself and be touched to get in the business of following Him for yourself. It’s my desire to not just read about people following Him, but getting into the activity of taking people on the journey through the spectrum from total apathy to totally abiding in Him by His grace, for His glory.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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