Defending

I find it difficult to receive feedback about weaknesses or sin. When confronted, my tendency is to explain things away, talk about my successes, or to justify my decisions. As a result, I rarely have conversations about difficult things in my life.

Pretending

I strive to keep up appearances, maintain a respectable image. My behavior, to some degree, is driven by what I think others think of me. I also do not like to think reflectively about my life. As a result, not very many people know the real me (I may not even know the real me).

Hiding

I tend to conceal as much as I can about my life, especially the “bad stuff”. This is different than pretending in that pretending is about impressing. Hiding is more about shame. I don’t think people will accept the real me.

Blaming

I am quick to blame others for sin or circumstances. I have a difficult time “owning” my contributions to sin or conflict. There is an element of pride that assumes it’s not my fault AND/OR an element of fear of rejection if it is my fault.

Minimizing

I tend to downplay sin or circumstances in my life, as if they are “normal” or “not that bad. As a result, things often don’t get the attention they deserve, and have a way of mounting up to the point of being overwhelming.

Exaggerating

I tend to think (and talk) more highly of myself than I ought to. I make things (good and bad) out to be much bigger than they are (usually to get attention). As a result, things often get more attention than they deserve, and have a way of making me stressed or anxious.

This excerpt is taken from the excellent study called The Gospel-Centered Life. Week one, in which this excerpt is derived, can be downloaded for free.

“Throughout the world, the gospel is spreading, propagating, budding, flowering, bearing fruit. People hear it and by God’s mercy respond and are saved. But it does not stop there. Once the gospel is planted in someone’s life and takes root, it keeps growing in them. Their lives bear fruit. They grow in love and godliness and knowledge and spiritual wisdom, so that they walk in a manner worthy of their calling, fully pleasing to the Father, bearing fruit in every good work (Col. 1:9-10; 2:6-7)” (36-37). [emphasis mine]

“The New Testament envisages that all Christian disciples will be prayerful speakers of God’s word, in a multitude of different ways and contexts. In each context, the message is essentially the same. It’s not as if we come to know Christ through the gospel word but then use a fundamentally different message to encourage each other as Christians. The ‘word of God’, the message that he has revealed in and through Christ by his Spirit–this is what converts us, and it is also what causes us to grow, bearing the fruit of godliness. The vine grows, both in number and in leaves and in their quality and maturity, through the word and Spirit–through God’s truth being heard, and the Spirit making it effective in people’s hearts” (53-54).

Boom.

However, I haven’t seen many apps that address iphone videography. That is, until now.

A friend of mine has been developing an app that will give your iPhone professional features for video capturing and editing.  CinePro, which launched just yesterday, is the iPhone videographer’s one-stop app. Whether a novice capturing home video or looking to for mobile videography to share on social networks, this app delivers on numerous levels, including adjustments for exposure, ISO, filters, aspect ratio, frame rate, focal length, and white balance. How cool is that? Additionally, you can share directly from the app to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or upload it to a Dropbox account.

For a limited time, the CinePro app is available 60% off at just $1.99. If you are looking to expand your videography potential via the iPhone, that’s two bucks worth investing. After all, how often are you going to be carrying around your D-SLR or camcorder?

HT: Z

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So last Saturday night, I pitched the question on Twitter, asking people to define a disciple of Jesus by answering the question “What is a disciple of Jesus?” in 140 characters or less. To give you an idea of why definitions matter, let me provide you a sampling of some of the responses:

A slave.

Someone who has turned away from sin, and trusted in Jesus. And who keeps doing so.

Sitting at His Feet and eating His Word and living your life for Christ!

Life touching life.

[Someone who] follows Jesus, being changed by Jesus, committed to the mission Jesus.

A disciple of Jesus Christ is one loved by Jesus, bought by Jesus, taught of Jesus, dying to self and living by faith in Jesus.

One who is affected by the saving Cross of Christ in such a way as to strive to emulate the character of Christ in faith+works.

One who seeks to see from gods perspective, be in his presence and live out his purposes.

Bought by His blood so I glorify God with my mind and body to spread the fame of His Name that others may know the same gift.

5 Solas saved sinner: Joyfully submitted, faithfully obedient, content & thankful 2b dead 2 self & alive in Christ.

One who reads their Bible and does what it says.

Someone who is listening, learning, and leading others to the Word of God, the Son.

Someone who has been born into the kingdom by way of the gospel & who now loves, learns from, and leads others to the king.

One who now has the story of the gospel written in pencil, waiting for that day for it to be written in stone.

One who delights in and finds his deepest joy in Jesus Causing him to devote his life to pursuing that joy, living in community & on mission.

There are some common threads to this list of definitions, but there’s a lot of differences too. Granted, you can’t say everything you want to say in 140 characters on Twitter, but there is a value in being able to define your aim in a short and succinct statement.

At the very heart of the church’s mission is to make disciples. Do we know what we are making? Are we clear on what we are developing? How we are growing people? Without a clear definition, there won’t be clear direction. Could it be that a major reason a majority of churches today are not disciple-making powerhouses is because we don’t really know what we are doing? Could it be that a simple place to start in revitalizing churches today is to get back to the fundamental question of “What is a disciple of Jesus?” and set about implementing the biblical answer to that question as the governing filter of all that we do?

John Piper reflected on this vote through a blogpost on BBC’s website. He wrote:

On February 13, 1980, Bethlehem voted to call me as her pastor. The vote was 149 yes, 17 no (89.7%). Thirty-two years later the church is more united than ever behind her leaders. For this I am on my face with tears of thankfulness and joy.

Jesus Christ is the head of this church. And he means to have the glory. Let him have it from your heart and lips. Gather your family and friends and give thanks. Tell him how amazing he is. Exult in the cross of Christ. Without it there could be no such blessings on sinners like us.

Praise God for the unity He has given BBC, wisdom to the elders, and humble dependence upon God to shepherd them through this critical period in the life of their church.

Last year, I compiled a series of 36 blogposts based on tweets from Scotty Smith on “Signs You’re Growing in Grace.” I, and I know countless others, were greatly encouraged in the gospel by those daily tweets.  Another person who brings the gospel to bear regularly on twitter is Paul Tripp.  He has recently begun a series of tweets called “If You’re God’s Child . . . ” and I have compiled them for you as well.  Depending on how many tweets he does, I may make this into another blogpost category/series. But for now, here’s the fourth installment of “If You’re God’s Child . . .”

If you’re God’s child you have reason for hope no matter how hard things are or how weak you feel because Christ lives inside you.

If you’re God’s child you have been given an identity you didn’t earn and blessed with potential beyond your natural gifts.

If you’re God’s child you have to accept the bad news of your sin before you can celebrate the glorious news of God’s amazing grace.

If you’re God’s child, you have been called to be an ambassador of the same grace that has given you life and hope.

If you’re God’s child, you have been called to carefully obey, but not with the motivation of achieving acceptance with God.

If you’re God’s child your personal story has been woven by grace into God’s grand and glorious redemptive story.

If you’re God’s child you must remember that your faith is deeply relational – called to loving community with God and with others.

If you’re God’s child you must remind yourself today that your walk with God is designed to be a community project from beginning to end.

If you’re God’s child you still suffer from spiritual blindness and need the personal insight-giving wisdom of the body of Christ.

If you’re God’s child, your life doesn’t belong to you anymore, to act like it does never leads anywhere good.

» Colossians 1:6
» Colossians 1:21-23
» Colossians 1:28-29
» Colossians 2:6-7
» Colossians 2:17
» Colossians 3:1-4
» Colossians 3:5-15
» Colossians 3:16-17

I have attempted to make the case for the centrality of the gospel from an exegetical standpoint at a micro level, but I also see that it could be made from a macro level as well.

1:3-8      Praise for the work of the Gospel
1:9-14    Prayer for greater wisdom, walking, and working according to the Gospel
1:15-20 Person of the Gospel (Jesus)
1:21-23 Perseverance according to the Gospel
1:24-27 Purpose of God in revealing the Gospel
1:28-29 Passion for the Gospel’s sanctifying work
2:1-23   Polemic of the Gospel against all other shadows
3:1-4     Perspective-driven life according to the Gospel
3:5-4:1 Practical outworking of the Gospel horizontally
4:2-6    Presentation of the Gospel to the world
4:7-18  Partners in the work of the Gospel

I wonder how much of a role “remembering” has played in our discipleship process. How often do we tell people we are investing in “as you yourselves know . . .”? Take a look at this short letter to the Thessalonians how many times Paul does this:

because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
1 Thess. 1:5

For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.
1 Thess. 2:1-2

For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness.
1 Thess. 2:5

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
1 Thess. 2:9

For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
1 Thess. 2:11-12

Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker1 in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, 3 that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 4 For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.
1 Thess. 3:1-4

For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
1 Thess. 4:2

Compiling those verses like that, it sounds like Paul is a broken record! But then again, perhaps Paul is keenly aware of our natural tendencies to forget, to wander, to lose our focus. I think Paul’s letters are instructive to us when it comes to discipling others because we discover patterns of gospel transfer from the portrait of Paul’s life and ministry.

As you yourselves probably know this already.