I've taken a pretty serious break from writing over the past few months. Part of it was due to a busy summer schedule. Part of it was due to the fact that I was empty. I had nothing to say or anything worth saying. Over the summer, God has taught me some very meaningful lessons, the greatest of which is what a disciple truly is. That is not to say that God gave me any special knowledge. He did, however, open my eyes to the biblical description of a disciple. Over the summer and even now have been reading books dealing with discipleship. I began by reading David Platt's book Radical. Honestly, this is the best book that I have read in a long time. It challenged me to my core and has caused me to really reconsider the way that I live my life for Christ. Platt draws from Deitrich Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship. This book is a classic, so naturally, I read it (a second time). Bonhoeffer wrote during World War II in Nazi Germany, but it might as well have been written last week. It is rare that we look at what it costs us to follow Jesus. The truth of the matter may be that we have looked at the cost of following Jesus and have decided to leave well enough alone. Cost of Discipleship is worth the price of the book for the first chapter alone, in which Bonhoeffer talks about cheap and costly grace. However, the sections on the Sermon on the Mount will keep you engaged. These two books together have made such a deep impression upon me that I needed and wanted more. Currently I am reading Dallas Willard's The Great Omission, in which he discusses the lace of disciple-making in the modern, American church. We have done a good job at evangelism but have missed the mark on discipleship. Over the next several posts, I will be discussing what I call Radical Discipleship. These discussions come from a series of messages that I preached on Sunday evenings this summer. We will be looking at what a Radical Disciple is and what a Radical Disciple does. I hope that you will join me on this journey as we crash into the life of a disciple.
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