The 5 Minute Discipleship Podcast

Today, you and I live in the river of a rapidly moving culture.  It’s a culture that is rapidly moving away from truth, righteousness, and morality. It’s a culture as the Bible defines that “does what is right in its own eyes.” As a Christian, who has been called by God and identified by God, you have to swim. With the power of the Holy Spirit, you can swim against this culture. You don’t have to...

We are all aware of the spiritual battle that rages. We do have an adversary. We do have opposition. We are in a fight but find encouragement in these verses. Christ Jesus will place us on a firm foundation. He is our firm foundation. He is the rock we have built our lives upon, and He cannot be moved. Main Points: 1. No matter how fierce the fight, no matter how difficult the battle, our firm fou...

The scripture says to us, “don’t forget about all of God’s benefits. Amid life’s challenges, don’t forget about all the good things God has done for you.” Main Points: 1. Even when life is good and our struggles are minimal, it’s easy for us to forget what the Lord has done. In the hustle and bustle of life, it's easy to become consumed by our daily routines, obligations, and distractions. Ou...

Who is Jesus Christ?  This is the most important question you will ever be asked. A good man? A great teacher? A revolutionary leader? Or is he the Christ, the Son of the Living God?  Who was he? Who is he? Your eternal destiny hangs on your answer. Main Points: 1. Jesus came as a savior and as a king, but not an earthly one. He came for a greater purpose. He came to save us from a greater oppress...

We cannot dismiss our lack of fruit by arguing that “at least we have been faithful.” Faithfulness in duty for Christ is not the same thing as abiding with Christ.  Main Points: 1. We often talk about faithfulness as the goal of the Christian life. After all, when we stand before Him, we desperately want to hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” While remaining faithful is a common...

Let me ask you a question. Do you love God with your whole heart? It’s a powerful question, isn’t it? Perhaps you feel a bit convicted by the question. Our hearts are so easily divided among a lot of things we love and desire. We can be tempted to love God, but to do so without giving Him our whole heart.  Main Points: 1. As I think about our lives, I recognize that one of the primary obstacles to...

Can I encourage you today with a powerful truth? The Lord fights for you.  Main Points: 1. As we face the many battles of this life, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, relational, and financial, we don’t face them alone. God has promised to never leave us or forsake us. 2. His Holy Spirit is in us and with us. He will give us strength when we are weary, peace when we are confused, joy when we...

Can we just take a moment for an honest evaluation? Among many churches, prayer is given very little emphasis. Church calendars are filled with ministry and activities, but often no prayer meeting is scheduled. In churches that do have a consistent prayer meeting, attendance is often very low. Main Points: 1. We must ask, “Why has corporate prayer become such a low priority? Isn’t prayer the engin...

I remember my Dad saying, “If God can get it through you, God will get it to you.” If God knows you and I can be trusted to be His channel of blessing through generosity, He will continue to provide the resources to do so. In other words, you cannot outgive God. Main Points: 1. When it comes to generosity, I don’t believe the struggle for most people is greed. I think the bigger struggle is fear....

I’m convinced that one of Satan’s strategies is to cause us to get stuck in the “why” question. As humans, we want to understand. We want everything to be logical and rational. When life is hard we don’t want to lean on faith, we want to stand on reason. Main Points: 1. The Christian life is a journey of faith. Our knowledge is limited. I can’t see and know everything about God and His ways. This...

Pray and ask God to search your heart. As the Lord reveals things that are hindering your spiritual growth, be willing to throw them off so that nothing slows you down. Main Points: 1. I must ask the Lord to show me if there is anything in my life that is hindering my relationship with Christ. Is there anything that is hindering me? Is there anything slowing me down and impeding my spiritual growt...

Unequivocally, I can say that God is looking for us to say “yes” to Him. Have you given God your yes? Have you surrendered your will and your life to God? Have you said “God, I’m yours. Take my life and use it for your glory?” Have you said, “God, I’ll say what you want me to say, go where you want me to go, and do what you want me to do?” Main Points: 1. Some of our greatest internal battles are...

How are you using your influence? Now, you might think you are not very influential because you define influence as position, fame, prominence, or name recognition. But listen to this definition of influence. Influence is the effect of something on a person; the power that somebody has to affect other people's lives, beliefs, thinking, and actions. Main Points: 1. Everyone listening to this p...

Our minds are not renewed automatically when we come to Christ. There are still old patterns of thinking that do not please God. But every day we have the choice to set our minds on things above. Will we allow the world to conform our minds, or will we invite God to transform our minds?  Main Points: 1. How do we do that? How do we set our minds on things above? Does that mean we go outside and lo...

No matter where you are or how far away from God you have run, you can always come home.  Our loving Heavenly Father is waiting with open arms. He is calling once again for you to come home. Today’s Scripture Verses: Luke 15:20 - “So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms...

“How good is good enough?”  Here’s the short answer. We could never be good enough to go to Heaven. It’s simply not possible for humans to satisfy the justice of God with our efforts at being good.  The Bible teaches us that being a good person could never save us. Instead, salvation is based on the goodness of Jesus, on our behalf. Main Points: 1. Jesus, in kindness and love, took our sins upon h...

Do you have a dream? Do you have a God-given dream? Is there something God has put into your heart to do, accomplish, and fulfill? Does the dream stay with you and never seem to leave? Is there something God is calling you to do?  Main Points: 1. Maybe you need a little encouragement. What God has called you to do, you need to do it. Do it now. Don’t put it off. Don’t say someday. Someday may not...

Today it seems as if maybe we have forgotten our mission. Those who follow Christ, those who have been saved and forgiven have received a mission from their savior. We are told to “go and make disciples.” Have we forgotten this is our calling? Have we forgotten this is our individual responsibility? Main Points: 1. We have come to believe the church is something we attend, not something we are, bu...

Unfortunately, one of the characteristics of humanity, even followers of Christ, is that our strength is exhaustible.  We are not superhuman creatures.  Our strength runs out and we face the common problem of weariness. Main Points: 1. We’ve sometimes bought into a misunderstanding that in order for you and I to be strong we must have good conditions. However, it seems that most of our spiritual g...

The Bible uses the metaphor of a marathon to illustrate the perseverance of the Christian life. It’s a picture we can understand. Today, you and I are still in our race. We are on a journey of serving Jesus. We have not finished it yet. We must keep going until we reach the end. Main Points: 1. Let me encourage you today. Don’t let anything stop you from running this race. Don’t let anything trip...

Here’s what I have come to believe. God has blessings planned for your future that you don’t even know about yet. God is actively initiating blessings. His blessings are not an afterthought. They are not the results of leftovers from someone else’s blessings. No God has designed plans to bless your life.  Main Points: 1. Have you ever experienced a blessing from God that you weren’t expecting? I’m...

Our relationship with Jesus is the source of the strength, wisdom, patience, and power we need to serve God, help others, and meet the challenges of today. Through our relationship with Him, we can overcome our uncertainty and feelings of inadequacy. Main Points: 1. In myself, I recognize my limitations. I am not talented enough, smart enough, creative enough, and I am certainly not strong enough...

Are you preparing for your next season? I believe God has a preferred future for your life. He’s not finished with you and wants to use your life for His purpose. Too many people have settled with a belief they have reached their potential or that there’s nothing more God wants to do through their lives.  Main Points: 1. Let me encourage you with this truth: Everyone has a next step to take. No ma...

Have you ever felt the temptation to take revenge? Your work colleague takes the credit for a project you have worked so hard on. Your so-called friend betrays your confidence and spreads lies about you. Your spouse has been unfaithful. Someone has attacked you, mistreated you, ignored you, or socially rejected you.  Main Points: 1. Revenge is the desire or urge to get even with somebody.  To puni...

What does it mean to be bold? The dictionary defines the word bold as “a characteristic of confidence and courage.” I believe God is calling for you and me to live our faith out loud with confidence and courage. How else will the world around us know the difference Jesus has made in our lives? Main Points: 1. Pastor and Author Craig Groeschel wrote, “Sometimes we function as ‘Christian Atheists.’...