The 5 Minute Discipleship Podcast

Recently, I was having a conversation about baptism with a new Christian. Several questions came up about the necessity and importance of baptism.  Water baptism is more than a religious tradition or ritual. Baptism is you and I publicly demonstrating our allegiance to Jesus. Pastor Tony Evans once said, “We would think it odd if a husband never wanted to go out in public with his wife. It would b...

20 years ago, I was on staff with a campus ministry at the University of California Santa Barbara. One day I was on campus and on my way to a meeting when God interrupted my schedule. I had stepped onto an elevator and before pushing the button for the third floor, I noticed a man hurrying to catch the elevator before the door closed. I held the door and invited him to jump on. I introduced myself...

I remember reading the story of three friends who decided one Saturday to go fishing. They jumped in a boat and motored off the west coast of Florida. Suddenly, and without warning, the wind picked up and five foot waves swamped the boat, drowning the engine. Helpless before the tide, they drifted into the Gulf of Mexico. The men weren’t worried though because the sea lanes had a lot of boat traff...

A couple of weeks ago, I had a reconstructive surgery on my face to close the wound left by the removal of a large skin cancer. I arrived early at the surgery center to go through the pre-opp set up. At the appointed time, I was taken into the operating room where I met with the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. Once again, the surgeon explained the procedure and they began to apply the anesthesia...

A few years ago, Joni Eareckson Tada wrote an article called “Reflectons on the 50th Anniversary of My Diving Accident.”  Just shy of her 18th birthday, Joni Eareckson Tada dove into the Chesapeake Bay. The water was shallower than she realized and she hit her head, fracturing her spine. She has been paralyzed from the shoulders down ever since. This young woman with a bright future was now faced...

My wife and I are blessed with three daughters. While they are all just about grown now, I still remember those months before their birth when Linda and I were discussing names. I remember us purchasing a book at Barnes and Noble that lists all the popular names. We each read through the names and made lists of the names we liked. We narrowed it down to a few and had many discussions about the nam...

In 1866 a man named Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. He developed the explosive power of nitroglycerin in stick form so that it would be beneficial primarily in mining and demolition work. People began to use dynamite to clear debris for the building of roads and bridges. The power of dynamite had the ability to improve the progress of construction and the development of roads and communities. But...

Think about an inexperienced sailor as he goes through his first storm.  The storm terrifies him because he doesn’t know if the ship will survive.  The waves are way bigger than he imagined.  He’s never felt the wind blow this strong.  Will he make it?  Will he survive?  But as the days pass and storms come and go, the sailor gains confidence that no matter how bad the storm, the strength of the s...

In this episode, Loren Hicks talks about the importance of forgetting the past and moving forward in Christ. “…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

I once heard Pastor Chuck Swindoll tell this story. Let's say we were to get twenty of the best long jump athletes in the world and take them to Huntington Beach pier in California and line them up. And let's say they were instructed, "We went you to jump as far as you can out into the water." Some could jump twenty-five feet. Some would come near the record and jump twenty-sev...

On January 23rd of this year, the talk show host, Larry King passed away at the age of 87. In his career, King hosted over 50,000 interviews. For the twentieth anniversary of Larry King Live, Barbara Walters interviewed the man who became famous interviewing others. She asked him direct and revealing questions. Two of the most telling responses came when she probed about fear and faith. Walters as...

In this episode, Loren Hicks talks about how Jesus became our substitute by dying on the cross. 1 Peter 2:22-24 – He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.  When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might di...

A teacher in a Bible school gave his students an hour-long exam. They were to spend half their time writing about the Holy Spirit and the other half about the devil. One student wrote steadily for the whole hour on the first subject, the Holy Spirit, and then wrote at the bottom of his manuscript, “I had no time for the devil.” That wasn’t the way to get a good grade on an exam, but his comment do...

There are hundreds of fears and phobias that have identified, but someone once said all fear comes down to three types: healthy fear, harmful fear, and holy fear. Healthy fear is the fear of doing something that may be dangerous or life threatening.  A young child learns to avoid playing too close to the road or not to jump out of a tree. It’s a healthy caution that protects us by putting up safeg...

Con artists are abundant in this world, but not just in the financial realm.  They also exist in the spiritual realm.  The Bible informs us that Satan is the master deceiver.  John 8:44 – Concerning the devil….”there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”   We also see from the Bible that Satan uses people to deceive others.  2 Co...

I heard a story about President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt that when he was president he got tired of saying the usual things all the time at those White House receptions. He noted that no one seemed to listen to anything he said and they responded with the usual platitudes. So one evening he decided to find out if anybody was paying any attention to what he was saying. As each person came up to h...

As you know, we just came through a presidential election. Every four years as we vote for the the office of the president of the United States, the candidates ask these questions: Are you better off than you were four years ago? Are we safer than we were four years ago? Is our country more prosperous than it was four years ago?  Having watched some of the debates in this past election cycle, I he...

I was recently reading a story of soldiers in WWII who were walking through a field where their enemy had planted explosive mines. As the soldiers made their way cautiously through the field. They put little flags in the ground on both sides of the trail. Once they made it across the field, there was now a safe path for other soldiers to follow.  Imagine with me how cautious every step was taken....

One New Year’s Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The funny thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas. Even though Christians have access to God’s unlimited power, if we do not take advantage...

The other day, I came out of my office to notice one of the tires on my car was almost flat. I had to do something I hadn’t done in a while. I had to change a flat tire. In the trunk of my car is a spare tire. I’m sure you have one too. Now, I’ve had this particular car for over two years and this is the first time I have even looked at the spare tire. I hadn’t even thought about the spare tire. I...

We live in a time where there is a eroding credibility of the Bible. We see this in the education field, popular media, and even in government. With what we are seeing today, it’s hard to imagine that in 1854 The United States Congress said, “The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in our schools.” We've never needed God’s Word in our lives more than w...

One of the greatest promises God makes the believer is the promise of eternal life. There are 422 verses in the Bible that talk about Heaven.  So, what do we know about Heaven? We don’t have a lot of time in this short episode, but let me give you a few things: We will be a part of a huge multicultural praise and worship gathering. I love the picture we see in Revelation 7:9-10 - “After this I loo...

Isaiah 6:8: “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” D. L. Moody wrote the following words next to Isaiah 6:8 in his Bible: “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do, and what I ought to do, by the grace of God I will do.” In the mid 1800’s DL Moody was...

Years ago, I was wresting with God over a life decision. I had an opportunity to serve God. It was exciting but it would require a big step of faith. We would leave what was comfortable for the unknown. We would move across the country to a city and state where we knew no one. During this season of prayer, fasting, and seeking God’s will, one night I was in our church auditorium, where we were pas...

When I was in campus ministry at UCLA, after one our meetings  a young man came to talk with me. He was quite upset. He told me he felt that God had given up on him. I asked him why he had come to that conclusion. He said he had grown up in a religious home, but when he came to college he had rebelled against everything he had ever been taught. He had broken his own convictions and he had broken G...