The 5 Minute Discipleship Podcast

Enroll in the FREE seven day email course called "Reignite Your Spiritual Passion." John chapter 6 is the passage where Jesus says he is the “bread of life. In verse 27 -  Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. In other words, most of our pursuits in life are for things that are temporary.  It’s like food.  All foo...

Convoy of Hope Sign up for the free 7 day email course: How to Reignite Your Spiritual Passion. In Matthew 5:9 Jesus said, ““Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Whether we have realized it or not, Jesus is calling us as his followers to be peacemakers.” While the Bible talks about peace hundreds of times, we don’t see a lot of peace today, do we? Think about it…w...

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but...

There’s a great story in Mark 9:33-35. “They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Can you believe this?  They are walking wit...

Can I tell you something that may sound strange and unusual? God doesn’t need you to be strong. God doesn’t want us to be strong. He wants to be our strength.  If you rely only on your strength you will fail, you cannot endure, you will discover you cannot make it. We may not realize what it means for God to be our strength until we’re weak enough that he’s our only option.  In the New Testament,...

If you have read the New Testament, you know that Jesus tells us that the second greatest commandment, after loving God, is to love our neighbor as ourselves. The idea of loving our neighbor is beautiful to think about so long as it remains an idea. But the concrete reality of loving our neighbor strips the beauty away. It is a astounding commandment, if we are to take it seriously. For us to live...

In John chapter 3 a man named Nicodemus comes at night to have a conversation with Jesus. He is a very important person in Israel. He is a member of the Jewish ruling council. He is a deeply devout and religious man. I believe Nicodemus comes to Jesus, not out of a sense of investigation for his job. He visits Jesus because it’s personal. He comes at night because he can’t risk his own position to...

Wherever you are listening to this podcast episode, the one thing I know about you, you are going through a transition. Life stops for none of us. Time waits for no man. Think for a moment about life’s transitions: High School to college College to career Dependent on your parents to becoming independent = Marriage Children Career changes Moving from apartment to apartment to purchasing a home Ret...

Definition: Webster – “An extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs.”  Do I believe in miracles? Yes I do. Christianity is a religion of miracles. If you take miracles out of our faith, we have nothing left. You might have a set of ethical instructions, but there would be no power to change the heart. I’m asking God to revive our belief in the miraculous…I understand the...

Over and over in the NT, Jesus told those He met to “follow me.” And this is what he commands us today, as well. This is a vital part of what it means to be a Christian. In New Testament times, When a rabbi asked someone to follow him, it was an incredible honor. This invitation was an offer of unlimited access to the rabbi—a chance to become a perpetual student. It not only gave them complete acc...

How many thoughts do you think each day? Have you ever counted them. Well, that would be impossible, wouldn’t it. Experts say that on average, you and I think somewhere between 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts a day. That’s a lot of thoughts. In Matthew 22:37 Jesus gives us what we call the “greatest commandment.” He said we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. Did you catch that? He sa...

For most of us, we have enough life experience to know that suffering is a part of life. This is true for the follower of Jesus and for the unbeliever. It’s in these times of difficulty that our spiritual roots can go deep. We learn more. We experience God’s presence and power in ways we never have before. Author John Piper - “No one has ever said that they learned their deepest lessons of life, o...

Do you have family members and friends who are lost in their sins? Are you praying for their salvation? Do you ever feel as if it’s impossible? Remember this truth: Nothing is impossible with God. He knows where your loved ones are. He knows how to reach their heart. I believe they are closer to God than you think they are. If you have been praying, his Spirit has been working. I love 2 Peter 3:9...

God has given us his Holy Spirit to guide us. If we are listening, he will alert us when we get out of our lane. When our lives move outside the boundaries of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit is faithful to let us know. I’ve heard people say, “I have Jesus.  Why do I need the Holy Spirit?  What does the Holy Spirit do in a believer’s life anyway?”  The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin He guid...

We’ve all known Christians who are no longer walking with the Lord.  They have fallen away.  At one point their hearts were warm and on fire for God, but today they are no were to be found.  We all know the struggles of our own hearts.   We face temptations.  We live with ups and downs. The good news is that God offers to us Restoring Grace.  When we have blown it, when we walk away, when we stumb...

Faith is absolutely necessary to be a Christian.  Without faith it is impossible to be a follower of Jesus.  Without faith there is no salvation and no forgiveness of sins.  Without faith you cannot receive God’s gift of eternal life.  It all begins with faith. Hebrews 11 – Hall of fame of faith.  OT heros.  By faith…over and over….by faith.  These men and women stayed faithful and endured to the...

You and I have been held captive to sin, but Christ has purchased our pardon and set us free. We call this redemption. Redemption is a theological term I don’t hear to much anymore, but it’s a truth we need to know and a gift we must receive.  There are a lot of names that we give to Jesus.  We use words to describe his character, his power, and his importance in our lives, but none is more valuab...

Perhaps the real test of our commitment is not so much whether we are willing to make sacrifices for our Lord, but whether we are able to make those sacrifices with joy. It reminds me of a story in Luke 12:41-44 - Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor...

We live in a culture that is desperate for approval. It’s a longing to be accepted, to please other people, to be included.  We are hungry for that type of community.  But it can take over your life.  It’s a life of fear.  What if they reject me?  What if they don’t like me?  What if I disappoint them?  What will they think of me?  People will compromise their beliefs and convictions just to be fi...

What is a divine appointment? A divine appointment is a meeting with another person that has been specifically and unmistakably ordered by God. It’s not an accident. It’s not a coincidence. It is a meeting between you and another person planned by the Holy Spirit. Proverbs 20:24 says, “A person’s steps are directed by the Lord.” If this is true, and we believe that it is, it makes perfect sense th...

The decisions on how we use our time is a matter of what we value. Time is an amazing resource. We should wake up every day and recognize what a gift God has given to us. Time is the one resource we can spend but can never get more of. We can make more money, but we cannot make more time. Time is interesting. The Average American will live 28,000 days (75 years).  23 years sleeping.  17 years work...

Today, you and I need a renewed awareness that God is with us.  It’s in the closeness of His presence that we find the power and strength necessary for spiritual living. I believe there is a manifest presence of God.  Yes, he is always with us.  But when we seek him, when we draw closer to him, when we pursue him, when we desire him above all things, he rewards that seeking with himself.  He revea...

Over and over again in the Scripture, we read, “In the name,” “In Jesus’ name,” or “In His name.”  The devil was powerless because of His name. Demons were cast out in His name. Hearings occurred in His name. Salvation comes in His name. We are instructed to baptize in His name. We are justified in His name. Everything we do and say is done in His name. But today I want to talk about praying in th...

How often we say we love God, yet deny it by our actions. It’s possible to do good things for God, to be busy for God, and lose our love for him. This is what happened to the Ephesian church. In Revelation 2, Jesus spoke to the Ephesian church and said… “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot  tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to...

While our patience tends to run low in everyday situations, waiting on God is one of the hardest things we will do. I want you to know that God’s delay, doesn’t necessarily mean God’s denial. If God is making you wait, there is a reason. God doesn’t play games with us. There is a reason and a purpose behind everything he does. Our job is to learn to trust Him during the waiting. You see…waiting on...