David - So as you're walking through this journey with somebody else, or a small group of people, I think one of the things that's really key that we want to  emphasize over and over again, is that this is not just, okay, lessons, walk  through check off, we've covered that we've covered that now we've made  disciples, this is really sharing life with somebody, and the root of that, and what  this whole lesson is about as loving somebody else. I mean, you're in  disciplemaking, there's a real sense in which you're laying down your life. For  somebody else, you're saying, I pray for you, I want to be vulnerable with you, I  want to I want to do whatever I can to serve you to help you grow in Christ and  make disciples of Christ eventually in your own life. And so that whole process  just permeated with love. But that means it's not always easy, either. I mean,  

Francis - what's hard? For some people, I don't know the way you are, but I'm  very task driven. Like, if I'm reading a book, I want to get through it. Like, I just  want to finish it. And so it's easy for me if I had these lessons where I go, Okay,  we got to get through lesson three. And I get so focused on Okay, I got him  through it, I come to believe that we forget what Scripture teaches is love, love,  like Love the Lord your God, love your neighbor as yourself. You could do all  these religious acts like I Corinthians 13 says, but if you don't have love, you're a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. So I think it's a good time to think through the  people you're leading and going, do I care about them? Do I love that I really  pray for them this week.  

David - Yeah, and to really check yourself in that process continually. But I can  think of times where I've been walking through some kind of material with  somebody, and we're just walking through it, and they start to share something  that's even it's kind of open a window into some deep struggle in their life. And  then I'm thinking, Alright, what's the next question we got to get through? And  that's where I gotta pause and say, No, this point is not. And we're kind of  programmed to that to do that to think through, okay. Discipleship is what  happens in an hour, hour and a half meeting once a week, as opposed to No,  this is, this is a foundational time where you walk into the Word together. But this is, this is a bridge into sharing life on all kinds of different levels, even even when people are walking through, especially when people walk into difficulties.  

Francis - Yeah, like I was. I was in San Francisco, just walking the streets. And  this guy comes up to me, he goes, Francis, you know, and I started hearing his  story. He had just got out of prison, he was in a halfway house. And he was  telling about how they were doing the DVD series Crazy Love in prison. And so  he knew my face and everything else. I'm like, wow, that's, that's kind of crazy.  But I started hanging out with this guy, because he was telling me a story about  how he is trying to get a job. And no one wants to hire him because he spent the

last six years in prison. He's married, he's got two kids, and he just got his wife  pregnant. Again, he's going, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I only got a few  more months in this place. And, and this is unique, because a lot of times I'm  busy, and I just want to get past a conversation. But the more I got to know this  guy, like, the Lord really gave me a love for him. And so then it was like, when  I'm supposed to love him, like myself, and, and so it's like, okay, well, I'm going  to help you figure this out, I'll find a place for you to live and, and I'll find a job.  We'll figure this out together, and I'm going to help you with the word because I  just love this guy. And pretty soon as like, I can't find anywhere from the live, it's  like, okay, come on, you guys just all move in with us. You know, and so it's just  been this process, and it's been life, it's been, you know, seeing the way he  interacts with his wife and, and him getting to see how I interact with my wife. It's like, he sees how I raised my kids, it's, It's life on life, it's about love. And that's  the heart is, at the core of it is I love this guy, I want to see him walk with the  Lord, I want him to have a right relationship with other people with his own  children. And, and that's the heart of this.  

David - So you might invite me come out on the streets and invite them into your home to live with you. So that's one way this could play out or also, the big  picture is invite them into your life. Like, expose them to your life, with all of its  inconsistencies. It's not again, that anybody's ever got all this figured out. But  this is a picture of laying down your life as loving somebody. So how are you  praying for the people that you're discipling? How are you? How are you serving  them? And how are you inviting them into your life in an intentional way that  you're showing them what the life of Christ looks like in action? Make sure that's  central not just going through a lesson.  

Francis - Yeah, don't don't feel bad if you're going wow, I'm not really loving  because I've caught myself so many times doing that. In fact, I have in the, you  know, in my Bible, these questions I asked before I speak and the number two  question is do I even love these people? Because I'll just sometimes get up  there and do my thing. Seeing and not even care. I have the heart and so I gotta remind myself and God man, I'm supposed to love them. And so understand we  all struggle with this. It's a supernatural thing. We gotta pray Lord make me more loving. So throughout the week I'm thinking about this person that I'm teaching  and truly loving them in a supernatural way.



最后修改: 2023年07月10日 星期一 11:25