a place for us to share ideas, talk about life, and learn together.
N.R. Getic George used to be full of energy but now he feels weak and tired. He cannot stay focused at school and does not feel like playing with his friends. N.R. Getic George needs help solving the mystery of how he lost his energy. This is clearly a case for a group of brilliant detectives to solve. The Bear den of Pack 277 went to work and solved the mystery!
Thank you Tracy M. for arranging the evening, and thank you Weis for your support of the community.
III. Element #3; Me
What do we say to them? Once we have found a person to invest our lives into, and we gave gone to share with them, what do we say? Acts 1:8 says, “you will be my witnesses . . .†A witness tells what they have seen and experienced. We share what we know of God, Christ, and Scripture. The interesting thing about this process is that how you do this will be completely different than how someone else will do it. So that a dentist will teach of Christ differently than a stay-at-home mother (or a doctor, see the book of Luke), or a fisherman (like Peter).
The lesson you share with other people will be unique to how God has guided you on your journey with Him (like Luke or Peter). Also, if we go back to the “Go and Multiply†element, you can take your life lessons and share it four times to four different audiences – your Jerusalem, your Judea, your Samaria, and your ends of the earth. Your life experiences can be used to disciple another person four times over!
What you share is also dependent upon what the other person needs and where they need to grow. And if they are willing to be discipled, or how far they are willing to go on the journey with you. Christ only had a few who stayed with him for the entire journey, an d if you count his trial then he had none.
So the third element is simply sharing what God has taught you so far in your journey with him – and if you wan to continue to disciple then you have a be a constant learner.
What role does the church play in this very individual discipleship process?
The church are the people who help guide you and whom you join with in this journey of following Christ’s commands and teachings.
What does all this mean for me?
Matthew 7:24-27 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. [25] And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. [26] And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. [27] And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (ESV)â€
We begin with an understanding of Christ’s teachings as a foundation and then we build a framed structure (our lives) on top of it. We begin by understanding that in this life, we are to make disciples (it is commanded by Christ); and then we add our self and personality to the teaching process. So it is a combination of the authoritative Word of God and our life’s lessons that we use to guide another person.
If you begin to live your life (your passions, hobbies, experiences) your focus is on yourself and not God’s glory. You will desire to pick and choose what you “feel called to do.â€Â Someone may say, “I don’t feel called to do foreign missions.†This is where we fit God into our schedule instead of shaping and arranging everything toward God.
We/mankind were created to bring God glory as his image bearers – to reflect Him all over the planet (Genesis 1:27-28). So we are redeemed to continue this purpose. So for the glory of God, we make disciples so that there will be more to reflect (to bear His image) and bring Him glory.
Let’s wrap up
Have you allowed Satan to remove these key elements from the chemistry set of your life – or are you making a difference right where you are and around the world? Who are the people you are discipling? How can I help you in this journey?
Suggested Reading:
David Platt, Radical (Colorado Springs, Colorado; Multnomah, 2011) 87-93.
When I was a kid, one of the best Christmas presents I ever received was a chemistry set. It had glass test tubes, beakers, a burner, various other scientific equipment and racks of chemicals. I would sit for hours and hours mixing, heating, boiling, and crystallizing. As a kid, I kept hoping that I would find the right series of chemicals and steps to make something explode.
I wanted to see some kind of a big flash, foam, a puff of smoke, or some kind of “cool†reaction.[1]  But no matter how many sequences, or combinations I assembled in my test tubes I was never able to get the cool reaction I wanted to see. After a few weeks the chemistry set went back into the box, and it stayed there for years. Why play with the set, if nothing really cool never happened? I was not content to see salt form, or water changing colors.
You may not have a childlike fascination with chemistry but I would be willing to bet that at some point you have wanted to see your life have a “cool†reaction for the Lord. You have desired to see people’s lives changed because of how you have ministered to them, or to see people receive Christ for the first time, or even see families reconciled, the hungry fed, the blind to see, or the dead to be raised. You are not a Christian, if these desires have not expressed themselves in some way in your life.
When I was in advanced high school chemistry I discovered that there were some key elements that had been removed from my kid’s chemistry set. I still had the kit tucked away in a closet, so I went and examined it. It was these key ingredients that would specifically keep those “explosions†from happening.
If Satan knew what these key elements were, and could remove them from your life’s chemistry set, do you think he would do it? My parent’s wanted a kit that was safe, and so that I would not blow up the house. Satan desires for you to be a safe Christian, and to not “turn the world upside down.†Is there anything sadder than a safe Christian? She has the potential to change the world, but settles for changing nothing.
The Elements that we are about to discuss have the potential to be explosive. When combined together, they will literally change the world. These are what Christ has commanded that we do, and it is what Satan fears you will discover.
The Elements
John 17:18, 20
Matthew 28
Acts 1:8
Christ has called all Christians to make disciples. His last command as He ascended into heaven was “go and make disciples. . .â€
I. Element #1; Invest
If we begin with the premise that Christ has commanded all of His followers to make disciples, then how do we do this? We make disciples the same way Jesus did, when he said, “Come and follow me.†For three and a half years Jesus invested himself in twelve men intensively and in thousands with less intensity. Jesus’ disciple making was done with an end-goal of sending them out to make even more disciples.
The focus is not the program, and the management of those programs. Instead, it is and has always been about people investing themselves in the lives of other people – for the express purpose of “making disciples†– and the end goal of sending them out to invest themselves in the lives of other people.
The people Jesus invested in varied from three to thousands. It varied from intense discipleship to “simply†a healing touch or conversation. But He invested himself none-the-less.
So the first element of a world changing life is investment. You can invest your life in others in varying degrees. For the girl at the grocery store, you may only have a minute. But for the little boy in your Sunday school class you may have a year. However much time you have, make wise use of it – never waste it.
David and the exploding film container.
While I was in high school my friend David and I experimented with chemicals that we would “borrow†from the advanced chemistry lab. David and I began a series of experiments that included various combinations of chemicals placed in a small black 35mm film container. Our goal was to have a delayed reaction from chemicals mixed together. We had little success until . . .
One evening after school we had planned to hang out and talk about our teenage diabolical plans, so we arranged to meet at my house. As David was driving into my backyard the canister that he had placed in his front shirt pocket suddenly and without warning exploded, sending hot sparks, and extremely stinky grey smoke all over him, his clothes, and the interior of his car. He had the presence of mind to stop the car, and put it in park and then jumped out. As he ran around yelling, slapping his face and shirt to put out the flames, I yelled with glee that we had finally succeeded! His eyebrows and hair were singed, and man did he stink. His clothes were ruined, and he was going to have a hard time explaining the interior burns of the upholstery to his parents. We had succeeded, but it was not exactly what or when we had expected.
When you invest yourself in the lives of others for the sake of Christ, you may find yourself suddenly very messy (even in pain), eyebrows singed, and stinky. But don’t forget that this is a success; you are a part of radical change in this person’s life. Just don’t expect it to be clean, neat, or quiet.
II. Element #2; Go and Multiply.
Where? So if we are to invest ourselves in the lives of others, where will these “disciples†come from? So, where are we to look for these people that we are to invest in? Do I just keep talking to people until I get goose bumps or a spiritual “funny feeling?†Should I wait on top of a mountain for them to find me? Christ tells us that we are not to wait for them to come to us, instead we are to go to them. Acts 1:8, helps us to answer this question.
Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (ESV)â€
When Jesus gave this teaching to the disciples he was in Jerusalem. So, he says that we are to begin at home, and then work outward. We are to focus the investment of ourselves in four areas of outward progression.
Notice that this verse says, “and†in Acts 1:8 but not “or/either.†We do not get to choose if we focus all our efforts into one of these areas, instead we are to balance our investment in all four. In financial terms this would be diversification.
[1] NOTE: I am not a terrorist, and my desire to see things explode has been surpassed by what I desire to see God do on other people’s lives. I would also like to avoid any entanglement with the Homeland Security Agency. I do not have any explosives, not even the chemistry set when I was a kid. But I do have a book that has drastically changed people’s lives all around the world. If there are any Homeland Security Agents, who happen to be reading this, who would like a copy of this book, just let me know.
Untitled from Drew Boswell on Vimeo.
This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching at Summit Trace Church who meets at Westview Movie Theater in Frederick, MD.
The Identity of the Messiah
Isaiah 53
(Introduction) Acts 8:34-35
I. The Promised One Would Be Rejected (vv. 1-2)
• Romans 10:16-17
• John 1:45-46
• Philippians 2:8
II. The Promised One Would Understand (v. 3)
• Luke 23:18-19
• John 1:11
III. The Promised One Would Save Us From Our Sins (vv. 4-12)
A. As A Substitute (vv. 4-6)
• Romans 5:6-8
B. As a Sacrifice (vv. 7-9)
• Matthew 27:12-14
• John 1:29
• 1 Peter 1:18-19
• Matthew 27:57-60
C. As a Complete Satisfaction (vv. 10-12)
I grew up along a rural road, in a rural county, in a state with some wide open spaces. There was no “my neighborhood,” it was more like, “my road.” Along that road children where peppered over ten miles – sparingly. So, in central Alabama it rarely snows, and when it does (trust me) it’s a big deal. But no one on “my road” had snow boots — why would they? Because 
when it did snow it was nothing more than an inch (at the most).
So we did what any frugal southerner would do when they wanted to play in the “snow.” We would tie plastic Piggly-Wiggly or Wal-Mart grocery sacks around our shoes, and off we would go. The smart kids would put the sack over their socks and then put them in their shoes, but that’s another issue.
Often when these storms would come, it would happen quickly and the snow would be gone within a matter of hours. So if you wanted to experience snow in Dixie, you had to move quickly.
“Mom, where are the Piggly-Wiggly bags!?”
This is often how life comes at you. Changes will occur, and you often feel ill equipped to handle it — why would you? You have rarely experienced “this” before!
Rick Warren says in his book The Purpose Driven Life, “Growth is often painful and scary. There is no growth without change; there is change without fear or loss; and there is no loss without pain. Every change involves a loss of some kind: You must let go of old ways in order to experience the new. We fear these losses, even if our old ways were self-defeating, because like a worn out pair of shoes, they were at least comfortable and familiar.” [1] So jumping off of pastor Warren’s metaphor of growth and shoes here are some things to think about.
Look down and see what kind of shoes are you wearing. If you happen to be in West Virginia, or live on my road in Alabama, look around you may not have seen any for a while, but they are in the house somewhere.
Hobo Shoes — You Have to Change, it’s Just a Matter of When.
In dealing with change and growth you may be (metaphorically) wearing different kinds of shoes. The first kind of shoes you may be wearing are Hobo Shoes. These shoes feel great. They breath when you wear them, even though those around you can’t. These shoes are well broken in. You know how they will feel, even before you put them on — that’s because 
there isn’t much shoe to put on.
These are the people who won’t change because what they currently have “works.” But let’s be honest, when people look at you, they are not going to trust you. “Why?” you ask. Because you look like a hobo. These are the people who say, “We’ve never done it just way before” or “If it was good enough for my daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy (you get the idea) then it’s good enough for me!” Why change — because the shoes you are wearing, have long since been worn out. If you wait too long to change you lose credibility. In the days of Covid-19 this this principle is especially true — how you led six months ago, won’t work now; and quit waiting for the good-ole-days to return because they aren’t (at least for a long time).
Track Shoes — As you Change, Constantly Evaluate.
Another type of shoe you may be wearing are track shoes. These people love to move, run, jump, and do hurdles. They are focused on moving forward (as fast as they can). They are focused, and they seek to improve their time. People who (metaphorically) wear track shoes keep their eyes forward, but they are listening for the sounds of pounding pavement behind them. The problem with people who wear track shoes while engaging change is that they are so focused on 
moving forward faster than anyone else, is that they fail to realize that they are running in circles.
Around and around they go, and never really going anywhere. it feels like things are being accomplished because there is movement. But in reality, the same issues keep popping up again, and again, and again. Track shoe people don’t like to stop and evaluate. If they stop, someone may get in front of them, and take their place. Their focus is the recognition, the prize, and the ribbons.
Kid’s Shoes — Keep Changing, Don’t Stop.
The last shoes are kid’s shoes. I have four kids and they are constantly going through shoes. It seems as soon as we buy a pair they have either “ragged them out” or outgrown them. So we are 
constantly changing shoes. This is the most healthy way of dealing with growth. When you are feeling the pinch of crowded toes, or the shoes are disintegrating, then get a new pair. Change your shoes.
You may get the wrong size, or they may not fit exactly right — that’s ok. Try them on in the store, give them time to stretch and break them in, and even exchange them if you need to. But never stop moving into new shoes.
Mom, where are the Piggly Wiggy bags? I think it’s starting to snow!
[1] Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids, Michigan:Zondervan, 2002), 220.
Update: 2/16/2021 While going through some old pictures I came across my piggly wiggly bag snow snows.