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Challenge Accepted!

Hey Readers!

For Leadership Track the other day we had the opportunity to teach on a characteristic of Jesus. I didn’t really know what to teach on because I knew I wanted it to be something out of the ordinary. Through a few discussions, I landed on the topic of Jesus As A Challenger. I found the material to be very challenging and thought I would share with you all what I presented to the class. 

**Most of the material was taken from a teaching on Rick Warren. 

Jesus As A Challenger

Basic definition of a Challenger:

Don’t let things stay the way they are, they go against something already in place.

Can you think of any examples of how Jesus challenged people in the Bible?

 

In the Bible we see many examples of Jesus challenging his followers.

  • Matthew 14:22-33 – Jesus walking on water, Peter gets challenged.

  • Jesus constantly challenged his followers. He challenged each of them differently because they were unique & needed different types of challenges.


Some ways that Jesus is still challenging us today is through our priorities, our faith, our small thinking, and our actions.


First off: Jesus challenges our priorities:

  • Jesus gets to set the agenda for our lives and in our ministries.

  • Jesus asks us to give up many things so that our priorities align with his.

  • Example: Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18-27)

  • We know that material wealth in and of itself is not an issue…the issue is that because of his wealth, Jesus was not this man’s #1 priority.

Secondly: Jesus challenges our faith:

  • Jesus asks us to do the impossible. It takes faith to do the impossible.

  • Example: Matthew 10:7-8

  • This is the message that Jesus proclaimed. The apostles power was an extension of Jesus’ power (authority).

Thirdly: Jesus challenges our small thinking:

  • Jesus has a much greater vision in mind – think “the Great Commission”

  • Matthew 28:16-20

  • When Jesus gave the GC, it was physically impossible to complete, but he used it as a way to expand the vision of his disciples and to empower them to start church planting across the world.

Lastly: Jesus challenges our actions:

  • Mark 8:34-38

  • A disciple must deny himself (die to self-will/control), take up his cross (embrace God’s will, no matter the cost), and follow Christ (literally).

  • Is there anything the Lord is asking you to die to?


Application as a leader:

  • Pray & Ask the Lord for wisdom about those you lead – ask Him how to challenge them – ask the Lord for specific strengths / talents / abilities that need to be called out.

  • Remember, challenging those you lead to do something they didn’t think they could do is very important. If those you lead only do things that they can rely on their own strength for, then they are living faithless ly, because when they do requires no faith.

—–

Some other neat things happening down here at the CGA are the opportunities I have from our Spiritual Empowerment Class. This past Monday we started going out to Atlanta Highway aka “Little Mexico.” We were split into groups of 4 and were told to do “Ask The Lord” – prayer walk, treasure hunt, evangelism, etc. My group encountered several people. After debriefing our time out, we were able to look back and see a theme of brokenness throughout all of our encounters. Most of the people we encountered allowed us to pray for them there on the spot. We saw the Lord show up in some pretty neat ways and I am hopeful that we will encounter these people again so that we can build relationships with them and keep pointing them towards the cross. 

Updated prayer requests: 
– Direction for what is next. For the Lord to open doors that I should walk through and closing doors that I shouldn’t walk through. My time at the CGA ends in just over a month and I am still unsure of what I am suppose to do after this time. I know that I would like to be in GA at least through September because of various events happening that month. 
– Strength/self-discipline and peace to endure this challenging season. If you read my last blog, then you know of some of the things I have been trying to change … it has not been easy, but I have only missed 2-3 of the daily total goals these past 3+ weeks.

As always, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message if you have any thoughts, questions, comments, concerns, or frustrations.

Keep Lookin’ Up,
Misha