Discipleship Tape Ministries

What must we do? the Jewish people asked. Literally, the meaning is: “What precisely is God wanting us to do, and how do we do it?” Oh, what a powerful question. They had their steno pads handy. Their pens were poised to take down the Master’s list of “dos and don’ts”. They were ready for anything that He said. He said, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” Read lesson: 130...

Time alone with God not only renews our strength, it renews our realization that we can do nothing apart from Him. So we enter again into His rest where we belong. Where we belong, beloved, is where Jesus was: by ourselves, alone. It will transform our ministries, because it will transform our lives. Read lesson: 1308B

Can you set God free to be Himself without limitations? Go where the dying are, the lonely are, the crippled are, the weeping are. As you go, listen carefully. I think you will hear what Jesus heard. You will hear them whisper with all the strength they can muster, “I don’t want to stay this way, but there’s no one to help.” Read lesson: 1308A

Though we are often ignorant of our hypocrisy and prejudices, God isn’t. And so, in love, He reassigns us. The job goes sour, and we end up in a little town, far from the corporate eye. The ministry takes a different turn, and suddenly we find ourselves shoulder to shoulder with segments of society we’ve always avoided. Circumstances change and force us into fellowship with people we would like to...

If, in life’s little challenges, you fail constantly, take note. What will you do when the Jordan swells before you, and you have no place to go? If you have learned to stand eye-to-eye in humility, you will be ready for the swelling of the Jordan, or anything else the enemy sends your way. Jesus was our example. When the devil harassed Him and tempted Him, He simply humbled Himself. Read lesson: ...

Jesus Himself walked this Earth but never at any time departed from a position of total dependence, which is, in effect, total humility. Not even once, for a fraction of a second, did Jesus do His own thing. He just let the Father live through Him and in so doing, chose to walk in humility. Then He said to us: “Let this mind be in you.” Read lesson: 1306B

All God is asking us to do is: “To do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.” Walking humbly with our God means humbly letting our God do the walking. It means coming to the point at last where we’re tired of being in the driver’s seat, pretending to be passengers. It means finally saying to God, “I can’t, You can. Here, live my life any way You choose. Take my possessions. Take my chil...

What is humility? We can best define humility by looking at the life of Jesus. Never once did He act independently of the Father, instead He chose a life of servanthood. As we look at His birth, childhood, and baptism; we see that He gave glory to the Father. Do we glory in the Father as Jesus did? Read lesson: 1305B

When we cry out to God for the world’s accommodations, He may have to answer, “There are no rooms, my child. There are no rooms.” He may have to whisper to us, “Here, my child follow Me, and I will lead you to where you can be used.” We so often reply, “No, Lord, not here. Not in life’s stables. Not in life’s hospitals. Not in life’s unemployment lines. Not where the pain is. Not where the stench...

In this lesson, we pursue the next aspect of the life of a slave, how he goes about serving those his master sends him to serve. There are several passages that beckon to us, and we will be looking at two of them in this study. If we are serious about being the slaves we are, we had better become serious about looking at these living illustrations of servanthood from the Scriptures. Read lesson: 1...

The issue for us is simple, it is whether or not we are willing to be the slaves we are. The tests Satan throws at us are designed to have us rebel at the concept of being under authority, and so we chafe at the restrictions placed upon us by a Holy God. “We can’t eat of that tree? Why not?” – “I can’t have that job. Why not?” – “I have to go through that trial? Why?” Our tests are not so much des...

In the truest sense, you have no rights. God owns you. He can do with you whatever He wants, whenever He wants, for however long He wants. When trials come, it will not be up to you to “give up your rights” to happiness so you can patiently endure as a hero whatever He has allowed to come your way. You insult Him when you do that. As His servant, you should awaken every day, acknowledge His total...

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to become great among you must become your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.” The truly great in the Kingdom will be the ones who humble themselves the most. The greatest in the Kingdom will be those who actually become slaves of God and servants of men. Read lesson: 1303A

In this study, we go back to Philippians chapter two, and look at the next step downward Jesus took for us. It says very simply, “He made Himself of no reputation.” It literally means, “He emptied Himself” – He emptied Himself of what made Him God so you and I could be filled with the very nature of God in His place. Read lesson: 1302B

How do you resist Satan? You cast all your anxiety on God. To do that, you have to humble yourself even more. The more you humble yourself, the more grace He will give you, and that grace will sustain you, enable you, and lift you to even higher levels of victory. Read lesson: 1302A

The phrase “thought it not robbery” literally means “did not clutch at”. It means that Jesus willingly relinquished, abandoned, turned loose of 100% of the benefits that accrued to Him as God. We cannot grasp what that meant, and making application to that sacrifice in our own lives may well escape us if we are not careful. Read lesson: 1301B

In this study, we are going to try to see a panoramic view of what Paul was saying in Philippians chapter two. He has urged this band of believers at Philippi (and us) to reassess what Christianity is all about, not based on his concepts, but based on Christ’s life. It was as though he was saying, this is the second reason Christ came to Earth. The first was to die for the sins of the world. The s...

Jesus was a master at taking physical illustrations and weaving them into spiritual truth. He began to paint pictures of nature, or tell stories of incidents that were real, and then call upon His congregation to make “the spiritual switch.” The “spiritual switch” would be the process of taking that which God had created or allowed in the physical realm and laying on top of it spiritual principles...

What does the word “watch” mean? It is significant in studying the next parable concerning the coming of the Lord. It is important that we keep studying and learning. The more we know about His faithfulness, the more we will keep our eye on the eastern sky. We need to get in the habit of looking up and anticipating His return. That is our calling. Read lesson: 1366A

One of the most familiar passages in the Bible, the Good Samaritan, deserves a closer look. As a lawyer asks Jesus the question “Who is my neighbor?”, Jesus answers with this parable. There are three different characters with three different responses to the hurt man. In examining these three responses, we will come face to face with our own response. Find out which was the really good neighbor, a...

Jesus turns once again to a parable to teach us how to pray. His characters are a Pharisee and a publican, as He once again teaches us how to pray. The five principles taught in this lesson are persistence, privacy, pride, presumption, and penitence. Each of these attitudes are keys to approaching God’s throne in prayer. Read lesson: 1365A

This lesson focuses on prayer. Here, Jesus gives a practical story about prayer and a man who was persistent. Why are we to be so persistent in our requests to God? Why doesn’t God answer all of our prayers quickly? Does God grow weary of our asking? The parable of the persistent teaches us that waiting is an opportunity for asking – the silence is an open invitation for man to come closer to the...

Hell is a subject we do not like to talk about; however, it is the setting of a parable that Jesus told. Jesus made it very clear through this parable that there is a real heaven and a very real hell. There is a great gulf fixed between the two, and no one will pass from one to the other. The determination of who will be where are made on earth and binding in eternity. It isn’t what we have on Ear...

As we continue through the parables, Jesus is focusing on the issue of accountability. What can we learn from this parable? Watch God multiply resources. See how He teaches us to give an account. Learn how to gain eternal rewards. Be careful not to fall into the trap of deceitfulness – God’s best and the world’s best don’t mix. Learn to look at our resources from God’s perspective. Read lesson: 13...

This is the second lesson on the prodigal son. This lesson however focuses on the prodigal son’s older brother – and his anger. Instead of rejoicing upon the return of his brother, he became angry at the attention he received and, in his eyes, the unfairness of it all. Listen to how the Father not only responds when a sinner comes home, but also how he responds to His own children who can’t cope w...