The 5 Minute Discipleship Podcast

It’s so important to remember the Lord’s faithfulness. In our times of anxiety, fear, and discouragement, the remembrance of what God has done brings peace to our souls. Main Points: 1. When it comes to what the Lord has done for us, we cannot forget. Repeatedly throughout scripture, we are called to remember what the Lord has done. 2. Decides to remember God. A strategy for fighting discouragemen...

We must have a desire for the Scripture. It’s through the pages of the Bible that we come to know the author. My prayer is that we would develop a hunger for the Word of God, because we have a hunger to know God personally. Main Points: 1. If it’s true that the majority of Christians are not reading and learning from the Word of God regularly, there must be a deficiency in our discipleship. Our sp...

What a powerful promise! The blood of Jesus cleanses us from ALL sin. It’s not a partial cleaning, no, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Isn’t this amazing? We can be fully forgiven and completely cleansed of our sin, because of Jesus’ death and his blood shed for us. The blood of Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all our sins – past, present, and future. Main Points: 1. It might seem s...

Have you ever felt like you were on an emotional treadmill?  Our lives are going faster and faster, and we don’t know how to slow them down.  I meet people who say to me, “Pastor Loren, I am running on fumes.  I’m on empty.  I can’t go much further.”  Life has a way of draining us.  If you don’t stay closely connected to Jesus, our source of life, you will eventually find yourself empty.   Main Po...

Whether it’s your coffee pot, your phone, your computer, or your car, power is necessary for each of these essentials to operate. It’s the same in the Christian life. You need power. God does not intend for us to live powerless Christian lives. In fact, He promised to provide the power we need to live victorious over sin and to be effective in our calling and purpose. Main Points: 1. After Jesus’...

Nothing we can do for people is more important than leading them to the Savior who can forgive their sins.  We must do whatever it takes to bring our family and friends to Jesus. Main Points: 1.  One thing that is constant in all of our stories is that someone brought us to Jesus. We were brought through a personal witness, a sermon, a gospel tract, or a video, but God used a person to bring us to...

What an amazing truth this is! Our Heavenly Father has lavished his love on us. The word “lavished” refers to something generous or extravagant. God has been extremely generous in His love for us. So much so that He has adopted us into His family and He now calls us His children. We are the children of God. Main Points: 1. Because of our past sins, failures, and mistakes, we may feel as if we are...

Simple faith. Child-like faith. We must come to God with this same simplicity and sincerity. Just as a child can have complete faith in the protection and provision of their parents, so we must come to God with such faith. We must completely believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the he alone can save us from our sins. Main Points: 1. Let’s think for a minute what characteristics little children...

As Christians, we put the future in God’s hands. We cannot predict the future. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Many will choose to worry about the future, but instead, we can choose to trust our Heavenly Father. We trust His will, His plan, and His purpose for our lives.  Main Points: 1.  Tomorrow is on our minds. It’s likely you are thinking about the future as it relates to your family,...

My prayer for you today is that you will let nothing move you. Remain steadfast. Stand firm in the truth. When others compromise their beliefs and when others crumble under the pressure to water down the truth, I pray you will remain strong for Christ. Main Points: 1.  “Will we stand and will we remain unmoved in our faith, our beliefs, and our biblical convictions?  2. Just continue. Continue to...

Loving the world will result in losing our first love. When this happens, we begin to buy into the world’s value systems and eventually, our lives do not reflect Christ; they will reflect the world. Main Points: 1.  When we meet Christ, one thing that fundamentally changes is what we love. Before we met Jesus, our primary love was ourselves, but we also loved the things of this present world. But...

Today, everyone has natural faith. You step onto an elevator without any thought of its braking system. You fly on an airplane and you sit in a chair, both require natural faith. But to be born again, you must have saving faith. To be forgiven of your sins and to be in a right relationship with God, you must have saving faith. Main Points: 1. Hebrews 11:6 tells us faith is an essential component o...

Have you ever felt like you were on an emotional treadmill?  Our lives are going faster and faster and we don’t know how to slow them down.  I meet people who say to me, “Pastor Loren, I am running on fumes.  I’m on empty.  I can’t go much further.”  Life has a way of draining us.  If you don’t stay closely connected to Jesus, our source of life, you will eventually find yourself empty.   Main Poi...

Jesus is telling us that while God can do great things with small faith, our faith doesn’t have to stay small. It can grow. In fact, it’s God’s will for your faith to grow. A mustard seed can grow to become a strong, tall tree. So it is with your faith. The more you trust God, the more you will experience his power. The result is greater faith. Main Points: 1. Faith is essential for the Christian....

Apart from a heart of gratitude, we begin to be self-focused, self-centered, and self-pleasing. But when you and I, as Christ-followers, decide to live with a daily heart of thankfulness, it changes us. A peaceful heart is the result. Main Points: 1. Gratitude causes us to focus our hearts on God as the source of every blessing. Being thankful is a part of a lifestyle of worship. Gratitude keeps u...

Maybe you have wondered why some do not respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have often thought, “If they could only see how wonderful Jesus is. If they could only see how amazing it is to know the Lord and to be forgiven of our sins.” But that’s just it, they cannot see. They are spiritually blind. Main Points: 1. The God who spoke at creation and brought light into the darkness, is the same...

Our efforts at personal goodness, no matter how consistent they may be, will never save us. In fact, good behavior is incapable of bringing us into a right relationship with God. We must be born again. Main Points: 1. Everyone of us, no matter how kind, decent, and respectful we may be, are still sinners. We have sinned. We have violated God’s laws.  2. A newborn baby will need a second birth. It...

Think about this truth. God didn’t have to love us. He didn’t have to offer us grace and mercy. Nothing forced God to show us forgiveness. Nothing compelled Him to give us the precious gift of eternal life, but God chose to. He chose to love us. He chose to call us His own. He chose to make us children of God.  Main Points: 1. If you’ve ever been tempted to doubt the love of God, recognize this wo...

We must see that with God’s help, we have the power to flee and to run away from temptation. If we are hesitant, if we wait and entertain the temptation, we lose power against it. God’s Word teaches us to flee. Main Points: 1. Temptation is something everyone of us will face. No one is immune. To be tempted is not sin – it’s what you do with the temptation that’s important.  Even Jesus was tempted...

How many times have you and I come to God in prayer over a desperate situation, and we felt as if we didn’t have the words to pray?  We didn’t know what to say. In that moment, words seem to fail us. Main Points: 1. What a powerful truth this is! The Spirit of God knows what our needs are and in our moments of weakness, begins to intercede for us. 2. We need the Spirit’s help because we are so wea...

The giants we struggle with the most are not sickness, finances, pain, loss, or grief.  Our biggest giants are internal.  The battles that take us out are personal.  Struggles like lust, greed, selfishness, anger, bitterness, and fear can become giants that destroy our faith, our relationships, and our future.  We must guard our hearts and develop a close relationship with Jesus to defeat these gi...

The Bible teaches us that not only does God forgive us, but he removes our condemnation. Grace brings freedom. It provides healing for the soul. Sins are not only forgiven, but God lifts our sentence of guilt. Shame is erased. Main Points: 1. There is one universal thing every human has in common. We are all sinners. We have all made mistakes. We all have failures and shortcomings. 2. The story of...

You and I have a truth we can hold onto today: God is a promise-keeper. He will not fail. What He has said, He will do. What He has promised, He will perform.  Main Points: 1. Let this truth be an encouragement in your life today. No word from God ever fails. No matter your current circumstances, God's Word remains unshakable. In times of uncertainty, when others may question the reliability...

God, in His infinite wisdom, uses what the world considers foolish—the preaching of the cross—to confound the wise. The power of salvation is not found in human wisdom or eloquence, but in the message of Christ's sacrificial love. Main Points: 1. To an unsaved world, the salvation that God offers us through Christ seems incomprehensible to those who haven’t experienced it. It sounds like “foo...

The good news is that God specializes in restoring and rebuilding lives. Millions of people have experienced His grace and power. They have seen God pick them up out of the ruins and turn their lives around. Main Points: 1. Today, there are many whose lives are falling apart. Their marriages have been destroyed. There is conflict and difficulty within the family relationships.  Many have experienc...