Tuesday, June 4, 2013

24

We began a new series this past weekend, 24, which will run for three weeks, culminating Father's Day weekend.  In this three week conversation, we will be exploring some of the key aspects of being a disciple.

The title gave us the opportunity to have some creative fun connecting it to the hit series from Fox "24" and building on the theme of that show to give us our big idea...we have a mission, time is short, evil must not win!  And in looking into Revelation 12:11 we concluded that our secret weapon is both being and making disciples.

Our connection to the number 24 came from studying George Wood's (General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God) five great growth lists.  They are...

Matthew 5:3-10
Romans 12:9-21
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Galatians 5:22-23
2 Peter 1:5-7

And in studying these lists for the past few years, I finally sat down recently in an effort to synthesize them, creating one complete list of virtues that paint a perfect portrait of the fully devoted disciple of Jesus.  After taking out all the overlapping virtues, this is my list...

8 from Matthew 5:3-10:  humble, emotionally honest, meek, desiring righteousness, merciful, truthful, peaceful, and devoted

4 from Romans 12:9-21:  affectionate, fervent, serving, and hospitable

2 from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:  faith and hope

8 from Galatians 5:22-23:  love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentle, and self-control

2 from 2 Peter 1:5-7:  wisdom and persevering

You should try listing all of them and see what kind of list you can find...but more importantly, may we all look deep into our lives and ask a more pressing question, how many do I find within me?

Pastor Fred

2 comments:

Rusty Pang, Awesome Asian said...

I've got a lot to work on. It's the nature of scripture (2 Timothy 3:16). If you had to prioritize your top 5. I'm curious what they would be.

Rusty Pang, Awesome Asian said...

I've got much to work on. It's the nature of scripture (2 Timothy 3:16). I'm curious though. If you had to prioritize a top 5, what do you think they are?