The 5 Minute Discipleship Podcast

Download a free copy of "25 Recommended Resources for Spiritual Growth. If you know Jesus as savior and Lord, you are among the most blessed people on earth. What a blessing it is to have this salvation and forgiveness of sins, and it comes to us freely by grace. While our salvation is free, Jesus calls us to take up our cross, to deny ourselves and to follow him. Have you ever wondered: How...

Download a free copy of "25 Recommended Resources for Spiritual Growth. It’s been said, that you and I as Christians, may be the only likeness of Jesus that people will see. This may be a scary truth for some of us. Because we often struggle though with feeling like we aren’t measuring up.  We might say, “I’m not as spiritual as I should be.  I’m not as close to God as I could be.  I’m not as...

Download a free copy of "25 Recommended Resources for Spiritual Growth. I’ve served a pastor for 26 years. I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to lead many people to Christ. I’ve had countless conversations with people in an effort to disciple them as followers of Jesus. But my most important discipleship responsibility is at home. The discipleship of my wife and my children are at th...

Download a free copy of "25 Recommended Resources for Spiritual Growth. On October the 8th, 1871, a cow belonging to Catherine O’Leary kicked a lantern in the barn and set some hay on fire. Within minutes, the entire barn was ablaze, and due to the high winds, the flames ended up spreading throughout the city of Chicago.  The fire burned a large percentage of the city, leaving 100,000 people...

Download a free copy of "25 Recommended Resources for Spiritual Growth. I was reading about President Bush’s comments during the funeral for President Ronald Reagan. He praised Reagan’s humility in his eulogy. At the funeral he told of the time in 1981, when Reagan was recovering from the gunshot wound he received during the assassination attempt. Just days after the surgery that repaired his...

Free Download: 25 recommended resources on spiritual growth and discipleship No question troubles the minds of thoughtful people more than, “If God is good, why is there so much suffering in the world?” If you have struggled with this question, I’m not surprised.  So have I.  There is no who stands by the bedside watching a loved one die from cancer who does not wonder, “Where is God in all of thi...

Free Download: 25 recommended resources on spiritual growth and discipleship There was a grandfather who took his little grandson for a walk in the woods.  As they were walking along they stopped and the grandfather asked his grandson a question:  “Do you know where we are?”  The boy looked up and said, “No.”  Grandpa then asked, “Do you know where we are going?”  The boy replied, “No.”  The man l...

Free Download: 25 recommended resources on spiritual growth and discipleship “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2) For the longest time, we have interpreted this verse as meaning that reading the Bible transforms the way we think....

Free Download: 25 recommended resources on spiritual growth and discipleship How would you feel today if when you arrived home after the service and you noticed that someone had broken into your home?  You would call the police and wait for them to insure that your home was secure.  And then as you walked through your home you began to notice that some of your belongings were missing.  All of a su...

Can you imagine a soldier in Bible times carefully putting on each piece of armor to protect himself and then going into battle without a weapon? That would be suicidal! While David could go up against Goliath without wearing Saul’s armor, he had to take his weapon! While the other pieces of armor were necessary to protect the soldier from the enemy’s attacks, they could not kill the enemy. Only t...

 In the late 1800’s George Mueller operated an orphanage that at one time had 1,000 orphans. One morning there was no food to eat, but he called all the children and staff together and prayed thanking God for the provision of food, even though no food was on the table. A few moments later a baker knocked on the door. He told Mr. Muller that God had led him to bake bread the night before and give i...

J. Hudson Taylor, who founded the China Inland Mission one hundred years ago. During the terrible days of the Boxer Rebellion, when missionaries were being killed and captured, he went through such an agony of soul that he could not pray. 189 missionaries were killed and 33,000 Chinese Christians.  Writing in his journal, he summarized his spiritual condition this way: “I can’t read. I can’t think...

“I beseech You therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1 Paul says “I beseech you”, or more accurately “I plead with you”, or, I’m “Begging” you. Paul said “... to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” The expression “living sacrifice” is set...

What is the golden rule? In Matthew 7:12, in Jesus’ sermon on the mount, he said, ““So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Did you catch it? Jesus says, this one sentence sums up all the teaching of the Law and the Prophets…”do to others what you would have them to do you.” Matthew 7:12 is so common that many people don’t know...

Shakespeare once said that a rose called by any other name would still be a rose. He said there is nothing in a name, but in a sense he is wrong. I can prove that to you very simply this morning because if I were to give you a check signed by my name for a million dollars, it would be absolutely worthless! If Bill Gates were to give you a check in that amount with his name upon it, it would be wor...

Can I ask you a question: Do you have “crutches” that you lean on?  Relationships, close friend, spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, reputation, popularity, job, finances, or health? If you find yourself saying, “I don’t know what I would do without….  I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have…” you might be leaning on a crutch.  A crutch can help you get through a hard time, but a crutch was never...

When I think about doubt, my mind wanders to one of the disciples of Jesus. His name was Thomas. For 2,000 years he has been nicknamed “Doubting Thomas.”  We find the story in John 20. Jesus has been crucified. His 12 disciples are in hiding.  The doors are locked.  The resurrected Jesus had already appeared to his disciples.  But, you know, it doesn’t hurt to lock the doors!  We learn something i...

Listen to James 4:13-15 - “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” It would seem...

Hey everybody. I’m Loren Hicks and this is episode 100 of The 5 Minute Discipleship Podcast.   I can hardly believe we are at the 100th episode. Several months ago, I sensed God leading me to step and out do something I had never done before. While I was an avid podcast listener, I had never recorded an episode, nor did I know how to do it. I’ve been a pastor for 26 years, I have devoted my life t...

Enroll in the free 7 day email course called "Reigniting Your Spiritual Passion." We live in a country fascinated with happiness.  Who doesn’t want to be happy?  We all do.  In 1776 the writers of our Declaration of Independence wrote, “God has given us three inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And pursue it we do!  Many surveys have asked Americans, “What is...

Enroll in the free 7 day email course called "Reigniting Your Spiritual Passion." One of the greatest promises in all of the Bible is found in John 3:16. It is God’s promise to us that he offers eternal life. It says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) How many of you believe thi...

Enroll in the free 7 day email course called "Reigniting Your Spiritual Passion." We are on a journey of faith. We have a clear destination ahead. We know the way.  Along the way there are unexpected difficulties and setbacks. There are hindrances and things that slow us down. These are attacks on our faith.  Some along this journey, have become discouraged. Some have even given up and a...

Sign up for the FREE 7 day email course: Reigniting Your Spiritual Passion. If I were to ask you to make a list of the things in life you truly need, you could come up with quite a list. No doubt your list would include oxygen, water, food, shelter, clothing, employment, high speed wifi, Starbucks coffee, and tacos. But the truths is, out of all of our needs, forgiveness is the greatness. You see,...

While we all pray for protection from physical harm, I wonder if we pray at all for spiritual protection.  This is the point Jesus is making in Luke 11:4. In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus taught us to pray… “Lead us not into temptation.” You and I are no strangers to temptation.  We battle with it every single day in various ways.  When you stop and think about how many times we have stared temptation...

Enroll in the FREE seven day email course called "Reignite Your Spiritual Passion." Have you ever felt like giving up?  Discouragement just might be man’s most deadly disease.  Why?  Because it is universal.  Everybody gets discouraged.  And it doesn’t just infect the body, it touches the soul.  More people have given up over discouragement than anything else.    I love the Bible because...