Mentoring Minutes

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect – 1 Peter 3:15

For far too long we have allowed the culture to define love and walked in their version of it.  At the same time, Lordship (Authority) has become a taboo that we avoid at almost all costs…and yet, these are two of the greatest blessings we have and if we walk in His Love and Lordship it will absolutely change our lives, our homes and our churches…even our culture!

A young, recently married gentleman walked into my office and sat down with a thud.  I had been sharing a series on marriage in our “Sunday School” class and he asked if we could meet to talk further.

He arrived on time and after the usual pleasantries I asked him what was going on.  He proceeded to tell me all that had happened since he got married and how his wife was just nagging him to death.  He was no longer able to do any of the things he’d done as a single man.  No more hours at the bars with the guys.  No more tennis with his friends.  No more spending all his time at the office.  No more this. No more that…he couldn’t even keep track of all the “no mores!”  He was incredulous at what his marriage and life had become.

He “wanted” it to work but she was not “the same person” that he’d dated, fallen in love with and married.  What could he do to make this work?  Better yet, how could he get his wife to see that if he could just be the same guy as he was when he was single everything would be fine? 

I heard his wife’s side of the story from time to time in our class.  Divorce was inevitable and soon became a reality.  Neither was willing to give up themselves for the sake of their spouse nor their marriage.  Marriage and life for both of them was all about self…and that never works.

I’d like to say that their situation was not the norm but unfortunately over the last 30+ years of teaching, mentoring and talking with men and couples, it is far too common.  It hasn’t always ended in divorce but I can say that unless at least one of them, preferably both, learned to die to self (Luke 9:23), even when they stayed in the marriage it was tolerable at best and miserable at worst. 

Does this sound familiar to you?  It doesn’t have to be.  There’s Hope! 

Here’s what I’ve found over the past 3 decades…the problems aren’t in the conflicts or their resolution, lack of communication, finances, in-laws, your past, even your sex life!  These are all just symptoms.  We can work through all the issues if we’re willing to address and deal with the problem…and that lies much deeper. 

Love and Lordship matters and makes all the difference. It’s not just the name of this message and ministry, it’s what we are called to in Christ and until we begin in our homes and churches to make His Word the Authority in our life, relationships, marriages and families, we’re not going to find it anywhere else.  This is the only way to negate the relativistic “love” of the culture and a find a Lordship, His Lordship, that is seldom talked about and/or largely ignored!

Christ is not only the Savior of the World; He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! He is the Authority because He is the Author! Isn’t it incredible that The Creator and Author of all that exists would offer Himself as THE sacrifice so we could be in relationship with Him? However, there is no relationship in Scripture that allows for Him to be Savior and not Lord. That’s what He saved us for…and what we must be growing in.

“Every relationship built on the Love and Lordship of Jesus Christ!”

Food for Thought… If He’s Lord of all that exists and He’s saved you for a
relationship with Him, then who’s Lord in your relationship? If He’s not, then He
needs to be. He is patient, loving and certainly gracious and merciful, giving us time to learn and grow in this incredible relationship with Him. However, He knows our heart and whether we are deceiving ourselves or truly desire Him as Lord of every part of our lives.

Action Steps…

1. Spend time with God and in His Word, prayer and listening every day…begin with the Scriptures in this message.
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
3. Honestly assess how you have been taught and defined lordship in your life and in our culture and churches and how that has affected how you live your life…who’s Lord?
4. Determine to know and love Christ as your Savior and as Lord. He is either Lord of all…or not lord at all.  

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus… Heavenly Father, thank You for teaching us clearly in Your Word what it means for You (Christ) to be Lord of our life and to love the way that You do. Help me to die to self and be obedient to Christ as Lord loving as He loves me. In Jesus Name. Amen.

“…the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13b)

If we could sum up The Lord God in one word we would have a hard time finding any word better than Love. However, I pray and hope that we are learning that it is not love as the world defines it or lives it out…quite the opposite.

We’ve come full circle…over the last 20 weeks or so we’ve focused on Love from the priority and perspective of God’s Word and His Covenant Order found therein. We began with the prayer and goal of fulfilling God’s commands by focusing on the two greatest commands that sum up all others…1) Love God with all our being and; 2) Love all others as we love ourselves.

This requires us first knowing God and He has been more than transparent in making Himself known in Creation and through His Son and His Word as well as His Spirit. In His Word we found that he explicitly revealed Himself through 75+ names that showed us the totality of His character. Not only do His Names reveal Who He Is and His character but with beautiful and powerful timing, provision, guidance and whatever else was needed. He wants us to know Him so we can truly know His Love and love Him…this was the purpose of the first series, The Names of God.

The second consisted of 10 or messages where The Lord revealed once again through His Word who we are as we are born again and recreated in Christ for His purposes and His Kingdom and Glory. The purpose of this second series was for us to be able to push aside and override how the enemy, the world and even our own sinful flesh likes to proclaim who we are so we could see truthfully who we are in Christ…The Identity in Christ series!

Finally we are wrapping up the third and final series, “One Another” in which we have found that there are by most counts at least 59 “one anothers” in Scripture that all point to how we are, as Christ’s disciples and in His Love, to treat others in that love. In most cases these commands were a call as to how to bless, encourage, build up, teach, forgive and humbly serve others as well as many others. In a few of the commands it became obvious that they were given as negative commands…what not to do or stop doing…in order to battle against the natural tendencies that we must admit to found in the negative and sinful nature of our own flesh…do not slander, don’t lie, and other related ones.

Ultimately each of these…what we are commanded to do with and for one another and what we are to refrain from doing point to the ultimate “one another” and that it how we are to “love one another” summed up in yesterday’s episode.

With that summary we are wrapping up our “one anothers” today and my prayer is that you’ve taken some time to go deeper in God’s Word and in prayer, in His Spirit, over the past few months as we’ve focused on the 1st and 2nd Greatest Commands (that sum up all the commands (law) and teachings of the prophets), again…1) Worship God alone and love Him with all your being (Mark 12:29-30) and; 2) Love others as you love yourself and as He has loves us (Mark 12:31; John 13:34)!

As you are led by The Holy Spirit and so inclined go back starting with Names of God, episode 1, and you will see the development according to God’s Word of these great commands beginning with the Names of God to know and love Him with all our being. Then you’ll find our Identity in Christ so we can know and love…be confident and content in…who we are in order to die to self (give our self away) for the sake of loving others…found in this last series, “One Another.”

My prayer is that you are choosing to follow His teachings in line with His Covenant Order and praying/desiring yourself to mature as a Christ follower in fulfilling the greatest commands ever given in order that many will come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord through your living out His Truth in Love. I also pray you are blessed of The Lord and that you are His blessing to others by showing them what His Love really entails…much higher, deeper and wider than anything that we call love in this world!

Allow The Lord to have His way in your life as His Spirit in Christ draws you to Himself to love Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and that you would see who you are and love who you are in Christ so you can show others God’s Love…the Love of Christ in and through you. May many come to know Jesus as Savior and walk as His disciple with Him as Lord as you live out the greatest of these…His Love!

Food for Thought…We’ve covered a lot in this “One Another” series and I hope you’ve followed along and/or will go back and check them out to see how you’re doing when it comes to loving others as you love yourself and as He has loved you. The greatest power in all the universe is God’s Love rooted in His Truth which leads to His Truth being lived out in His Love. If you know Jesus as Savior and Lord continue to walk out His Love by His Spirit so the world will know. If you don’t yet know this incredible Love by knowing Him as Savior and Lord why not today? Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com for more info and to find out how you can know Jesus as Savior and Lord, know God’s never-failing Love and share it with others.

Action Steps…

1. Spend time with God and in His Word, prayer and listening every day…begin with the Scriptures in this message.
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
3. Honestly assess how you have seen love depicted in your life and in our culture and how that has affected what you think regarding love.
4. Determine to know and love God according to His Word and from there learn to truly love yourself (who you are in Christ) so you can love others like He does. Find out what it means when His Word says, “the greatest of these is love.”  

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus… Heavenly Father, thank You for making it so obvious what love is and how we are to love in Your design and Covenant Order. Forgive us when we fail to follow Your Truth and try to love from our own flesh and desires. Help us to love You with all we are and in so doing learn to know and love who we are in Christ so we can love others as we love ourselves and as You love us. In Jesus Name. Amen.

“Love one another…”  (1 John 3:11; 3:23; 4:7; 4:11-12; 2 John 1:5)

I’ve asked this question many times, and it is the title of a classic rock-and-roll song, “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” Maybe it’s a question we should be asking in our Christian relationships, our churches and in our discipling of others to make more disciples of Jesus Christ. In a word the answer is, “EVERYTHING!”

The classic rock-n-roll song asks, “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” In a word the answer is, “EVERYTHING!” However, we must consider what we mean by love and more importantly, what God means when He talks of love…because He is Love. We then must determine whether we are loving as He has defined, taught and modeled for us in Christ and His Word…or if we are using the word and living it out in a way that  appeals to us but is far from love. 

We are going to wrap up the “one anothers” of God’s Word that I pray have helped us to grasp and live out more fully God’s love in and through us to love others. I think you’ll find it interesting that the final six “one anothers” in Scripture are found in the letters of the Beloved Apostle, John, and they all reinforce and encourage us in the all-encompassing “one another.”

In 1 John 3:11; 3:23; 4:7; 4:11, 12 and in 2 John 1:5, we find “the one whom Jesus loved” reminding us over and over again to “love one another.”

How profound that The Holy Spirit through John and guiding those who gathered and canonized the Scriptures would close out all the “one anothers” with multiple reminders of the greatest commands…love God with all you are so you can know and love who you are in Christ because the way others will know us is by our love for “one another.”

How have you been doing (or are doing) when it comes to loving others? Spouse? Family? Church family? Friends? Coworkers? Enemies? All of these we are commanded in some way or another to love and none better than our repeated commands of today to “love one another.”

I pray that you know Him and His Love and that you are spending time with Him daily to know and love Him more fully, allow Him to show you who you are so you can truly love yourself…and then we can “love one another” in a way that the world will want to know Him…Love Himself!

My desire today is simple, in line with God’s Words and commands…help me…you, us…die to our self (selfish desires of our flesh, our natural man) so that we can live in Christ. In so doing help us to love You with all our being…body, mind, soul and spirit…and worship You alone; help us to listen and learn from You, Your Word and Spirit so we can love who we are in Christ and let this overflow in our love for all others to point them to Him.

Food for Thought…As we conclude this “one another” series with the command in this episode remember that all of these are predicated on the Biblical reality that we are only able to truly love because God first loved us. We then can only grow in this love as we learn to and mature in our love for Him and as He reveals more and more of who we are in Christ so we can be fully confident and content in who we are recreated to be in Christ, i.e., loving ourselves. Now we are able to love others…apply all the “one anothers” because of Christ and His Holy Spirit abiding in us and empowering us with His love to do so.

Action Steps…

1. Spend time with God and in His Word, prayer and listening every day…begin with the Scriptures in this message.
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
3. Take a virtual trip back through this “One Another” series and consider all the ways that God has clearly called us to love one another. Consider your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to how you are loving others in each of these ways.
4. Based on what you determine in the previous step, pray and ask The Lord to show you where He would like for you to better love others…and then follow through!

Love is such a loaded word not only in our day and time but throughout history. Never has it been so easy to peddle love as it has been in our digital and otherwise easily connected world. And yet we are farther apart than maybe anytime in history because we have failed to keep and practice God’s perfect concept of Love…because He alone is love. Let’s return to His Word of Truth and love according to His Love and watch it change our lives and those around us as we “one another” others in His perfect Love…Christ and The Holy Spirit in us.  

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus… Heavenly Father, forgive us for thinking that we can live and love according to our desires, standards and definitions rather than Your Truth and how Christ modeled it for us. Help us to live in Your Love and see it changes our lives and relationships as well as those that we share it with.  In Jesus Name. Amen.