Just One (eBook)

Leading people in the way of Christ through the 12 Steps

Tom Gilbert (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
132 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-6993-1 (ISBN)

Infos

Just one is both inspirational and educational regarding Christian Discipleship and the 12 steps.

Tom Gilbert is a pastor, author, and counselor. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Philosophy from the University of Illinois, and a Master of Theology from Azusa Pacific University. His passion and strength are reaching people who are struggling, have reached a low point in their life, and/or have a mental or spiritual block to the idea of knowing and loving God. As a professional counselor for over 25 years, and pastor for over 10 years, Tom has successfully served people of all ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities, from Southern California's upper-middle class to Chicago's inner-city homeless. In Just One, Tom shares his experience and insight from his own recovery to help others find the true freedom that comes from knowing and loving God. Tom currently serves as the Lead Pastor of Home Away From Home Church in Southern Indiana, where he resides with his wife, two teenage sons, and their dog.

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Imagine what would become of the world if every person who knows Jesus as their Lord and Savior would not only share their faith but would walk alongside someone as they begin their journey of transformation. Just One, endeavors to be a guide in the process of discipleship as well as a manual on how to apply the 12 steps to that process. This book is right for the new or seasoned Christian and right for those looking to understand and "e;work"e; the 12 steps.

Textauszug

Just One

Just one, just one person. If every person who is now a Christian, leads just one other person to Christ, think how many Christians there would be in the world and how that would transform our homes, towns, and communities! There are approximately 2.3 billion Christians in the world. If every one of them led just one person to Christ, there would instantly be 4.6 billion Christians. Think of that, almost 5 billion people serving the Lord and doing their best to live rightly and transform the world! Of course, leading someone to Christ is only the beginning. Leading someone in the ways of the Lord, what we call discipling someone, is of the utmost importance. In fact, making disciples, leading someone or many to Christ, is not a choice or something reserved for an elite few, it is a command for every Christian. “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. ’Amen.’” (Matt 28:18-20 NKJV) Notice in this scripture, we are not only leading people to Christ, but we are also teaching them. While belief is enough for rescue, it is only the tip of the spear, but more on this later. We are disciples of Christ, being led, taught, and supported by other disciples of Christ! As Christians, someone or perhaps a multitude of individuals have “discipled” us, helping us mature in our faith and practice.

Much of my spiritual discipleship journey has been directly related to or influenced by a twelve-step program. The initial twelve-step program was Alcoholics Anonymous which was developed in the 1930s. This program, believed to be inspired by God, is an incremental process of removing the spiritual and sometimes literal baggage in one’s life. This baggage is the block to experiencing the life-transforming light of the Holy Spirit in your life. Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, experienced a sudden spiritual experience that transformed him inside and out. Bill, along with Dr. Bob, were burdened with the great task of developing a program that could make possible the same type of spiritual transformation that Bill had experienced that allowed him to remain sober for the rest of his life in addition to helping many others. (Alcoholics Anonymous Pg 1-16) Now there are hundreds of twelve-step programs dealing with all sorts of addictions, habits, and sins. Within these programs is a discipleship practice that they call “sponsorship”.

A sponsor is a guide through recovery and the twelve steps. Recovery is about healing, about finding freedom from those things, those sins, those addictions that are holding you back from being the person God created you to be, and living the life you were meant to live. It is usually understood that part of the sponsorship process is teaching the sponsee (person being sponsored) how to become a sponsor themselves someday. This is not something introduced later but is openly discussed early in the relationship and is emphasized over and over throughout the recovery process. The Christian Church stands to learn a lot from the 12-step community. In recent decades, programs like Celebrate Recovery have brought the twelve-step program back to its Christian roots, but even programs like CR are not promoted to the greater Christian community. Imagine if every time we shared the gospel and our story, we took the person with whom we are sharing under our wing. Then we could guide them in the process of getting to know Christ and practicing their faith through service and reaching out. Through sponsorship, the sponsee would learn how to share their testimony and how to practice the spiritual disciplines. This is what the twelve-step sponsorship model is poised to do in the church today!

Many of you reading this book may already be practicing the spiritual disciplines, are wanting and seeking to deepen your spiritual walk, trying to know Jesus at a more intimate level, and are sharing, or desire to share your faith with others. If not, why aren’t you? I think I might have some answers for you but will answer those questions in the section about sponsorship. My point is, the same point made to me by a profound man and teacher, my first sponsor! Quoting the AA textbook he would say, “You can’t transmit something you haven’t got.” (Alcoholics Anonymous Pg 164) You can only disciple others if you have been discipled.

God shared something with me recently that struck me as profound. I was mowing the lawn talking with God and the thought occurred to me, “How do I know I love Jesus?” You will hear this if you hang around church long enough, that we must love Jesus, in fact, that is one half of a two-part mandate by Jesus, to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.” (Lk 10:27 NKJV) Anyway, God in turn asked me a question, “Tom, how do you know Jesus loves you?” John 15:13 jumped immediately to mind. We know Jesus loves us because he was not only willing to, but literally laid down his life for us by being hung on a tree. (Acts 5:30 NKJV) In the same way we know we love Jesus when we are willing to lay down our life for Him! That means surrendering our plans, desires, and wishes to Him and His plan. It may, for some of us, mean literally laying down our lives. For most of us, it will not. But denying our self is another, hopefully lifelong way, we show our ongoing love for our Savior and Redeemer, what we all must do if we want to follow Him. This doesn’t mean we can’t do things we want to do, or that our life will be one of miserable servitude. Jesus wants us to live in the abundance of His love and joy as we serve. In this way, Love begets love, and we pass on freely what we were freely given. This is Discipleship, this is twelve-step recovery, this is “the way.”

I have heard it said very declaratively that discipling is “not a word and not something we do but something we are.” This is both right and wrong. We are disciples of Christ and therefore lifelong learners. God is clear that becoming Christlike is in large part why we are here on the Earth. But we do indeed “disciple” others, meaning we lead them in their spiritual pursuits to encourage and co-facilitate their transformation into Christlikeness; Loves likeness. Christ calls on us to yoke ourselves to Him, to be co-light bearers. (Matt. 11:28-30; Exo 19; Matt. 5:15-25)

Once, while listening to some familiar music, God struck me with the idea that sin is like a deep stubborn infection, it won’t go away on its own, and it may be causing harm in ways that we are unaware. Most people speak about and treat sin as something that is passing, fleeting, or episodic, rather than what it is, which is a part of the very fabric of our being. It was not always that way of course, but when the first man Adam sinned, it forever entwined sin and man. They are so entwined that our soul’s eternity is at stake. What does this have to do with discipleship, with the concept of just one? Everything. Jesus states in Matthew 7:21-23 that there will be many people calling on Him and doing great things in His name and to them He will say, “I never knew you . . .” I can’t imagine anything worse than to spend my life believing that my religious activity is a relationship with Jesus and will result in an eternity in Heaven with Him, only to find out that I’m wrong and then being cast out, forever! Jesus is clear that just because you serve at church, go on missions, or even partake in spiritual warfare, these activities will not earn you a spot in heaven. It is only the belief in Him that will result in you going to Heaven. But Jesus wants more, He wants you to know Him the way He knows you! While belief is enough for salvation, God makes it clear that it takes faith, it takes trust, it takes knowing Him to please Him. Makes sense, right? When Hell is the complete absence of God’s presence and Love in our lives (eternal separation), then Heaven must be the opposite, the full and complete immersion in God’s presence and Love through complete intimacy with Jesus the Christ! We learn how to immerse ourselves in Christ through discipleship. It is Christ who disciples us through the direction and support of a more mature and seasoned Christ disciple, or sponsor if you prefer.

Richard Foster wrote on page one of his book Celebration of Discipline, “Superficiality is the curse of our age.” He wrote this book in 1978, and in the decades since it was written, superficiality has worsened, especially in the North American Christian church. What do I mean? I mean that the consumeristic, cosmetic, voyeuristic, lukewarm Christianity that prompted Foster to write those words has gone from curse to plague. Christ warns us against being lukewarm, going so far as to say He will spit us out! (Rev. 3:15-18 NKJV) There are many reasons that lukewarm Christianity is becoming worse in the West. It has happened accidentally as part of a noble attempt at bringing groups of people to know Christ through mass discipleship. Group discipleship is an oxymoron. Group discipleship comes from the desire to bring more people to Jesus, as does the idea of being a “seeker-friendly” church. At first, seeker-friendly meant being a church that is approachable, that doesn’t make the way you dress, your financial status, or your lack of familiarity with “churchy” words and theological concepts a deterrent to attending or a barrier to getting involved, and that is good. The downside is, as churches began to grow bigger and bigger,...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.12.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Christentum
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-6993-1 / 9798350969931