Discipleship, Bible, Christian, Studies – C.S. Lewis Institute

Profile in Faith
Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899):  Evangelist and Master Disciplemaker
by Lyle W. Dorsett, Beeson Divinity School
 

The reputation of Dwight L. Moody had been well established prior to his death in 1899. Although the famous evangelist was only sixty-two years old when he died, he had already preached the gospel to more than 100 million people. This energetic and widely admired preacher with seemingly unbounded passion to see souls come to faith held the distinction of having preached to more people than anyone in history.

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Getting Intentional About Discipleship
by Regis Nicoll, BreakPoint Centurion & Author

Jesus was intentional about discipleship. For three years he invested himself in the lives of twelve men who would eventually take up the work he had begun. He gave them a call (to follow me), a command (to love as I have loved), and a commission (to make disciples).

From the Sermon on the Mount to the Emmaus Road, they received instruction, object lessons, and discipline to prepare them for their disciple-making work. Eleven completed the program and, after Pentecost, began preaching the gospel, living the revolutionary way of life they had learned from their Lord.

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Living Faithfully in a Fallen World
by Rob Norris, Senior Pastor
Fourth Presbyterian Church, Bethesda, MD

One of the great challenges for all Christians is to hold the balance between mind and heart, between doctrine and experience. If the doctrine is wrong, then the whole practice of our Christian faith will become distorted, and our Christian lives will be the poorer. Yet in our generation many Christians often say that they are looking for what they think is “practical” help in their living of the Christian life. When they hear of a “doctrine,” they become convinced that it belongs to the realm of the mind and dismiss it as having little or no practical value and consequently neglect or even avoid it. One of those doctrines frequently thought of in this way is sanctification.

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Discipleship or Grace: Must It Be One or the Other?
by Bill Kynes, Pastor
Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church, Annandale, VA

Christians can quite easily become subject to a kind of spiritual schizophrenia. On the one hand, we are told that the gospel is a message of grace. God sent his Son into the world to die for our sin so that we might be forgiven. In response we must renounce all efforts at self-justification and put our faith solely in Jesus Christ as our Savior, resting completely in what he has done for us in his finished work on the cross. We are justified by grace alone through faith alone.

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Following Jesus Christ
by Tom Tarrants, Director of Ministry
C.S. Lewis Institute

As Jesus traveled throughout Israel urging people to repent and believe the gospel, “Follow me” was a constant refrain in his message. At the beginning of his ministry, he called his first disciples with the terse command, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” As his ministry progressed, he told the crowds, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). At the end of his earthly ministry, he recommissioned the repentant Peter with the words, “Follow me” (John 21:19).

Have you ever probed the meaning of this phrase? If not, you should, because it can lead to a profound, transforming change in how you think about and live the Christian life. Perhaps this article can help get you started.

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Discipleship Any Follower of Jesus Can Do: The Legacy of Roy Cook
by Jim Hiskey, Co-Founder
C.S. Lewis Institute

Have you heard of Roy Cook? Not many people have.

He was a shy person, introspective and withdrawn. At his funeral earlier this year, his best friend said his schoolmates thought he was a nerd. He was often rejected. Once while a teen he thought about strapping himself with bombs and blowing himself up at the school.

It has been my pleasure to be mentored by and to walk with some influential spiritual leaders, including Dick Halverson, Carl F. H. Henry, Jim Houston, Bill Bright, and Charles Malik, all of whom have impacted the nation’s capital in some way.

But I know of no one who has had a more far-reaching ministry of discipleship than Roy Cook. Nor unnoticed. And, how he did it, can be emulated by any child of God.

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