Day Eight - Lordship

Welcome to day eight! I am going to ask you to watch the video of Robert Morris on Lordship. If you didn't see his message on Discipleship that was posted yesterday, please watch it first.

In this video, Pastor Robert Morris addresses the parable of the Sower and Soils in a series he entitled You are Here, meaning, as I have said many times, you are in one of those four groups. Everyone is.

Interestingly, our goal is to stay where we begin. Listen and watch as he explains. The Scripture in included below if you wish to follow along.

Read Matthew 13

Did you catch the line in the introduction: "This centered-in-Christ final stage is where we all begin"?  Jesus is Lord at salvation, or there is no salvation. We begin with a right heart, but life, our old nature, and the evil one wants to pull us away from Him and make us unfruitful. This is the challenge! This is the purpose of the Twenty-One Day challenge, but this truly is the challenge of the Christian's spiritual pilgrimage with our God. Keeping our soil fertile, keeping our minds pure, keeping our heart open, or whatever metaphor suits you best, is the challenge of the Christian life.

The focus of my ministry has always been on Discipleship and Lordship. For some pastors, nearly every sermon comes back to the cross and man's need for salvation. I can see how I could do more of that, but I have just always felt that my call was to shepherd the flock of God, meaning I trust that, as I speak weekly, the vast majority of the congregation have been saved, thus, I need to help them (you) in the "Walk of Faith."

God is the Judge of how effective I have been in that ministry of preacher/teacher. But, allow me to ask this: if I was being evaluated on a case-by-case basis, member-by-member, if you would, how would I be doing? So, the evaluator comes to examine you in order to evaluate me, what do they determine? Are the sermons relative and do they resonate? What is the results of your involvement in our fellowship? Is there spiritual evidence of a Spiritual growth? Are you progressing in your devotion?

Daily Devotions, fasting, and praying are not about the activity. "Okay, got that of the way" is not to be our attitude. No, we attend worship, Bible studies, concerts, retreats, camps, revivals, and have our quiet time with God for life devotion and for personal identity, because we love Him and need Him and want to point others to Him.

I am enjoying writing these, and I sense the majority of our church is reading them. It must lead to knowing who we are in Christ, individually and collectively. Would you be willing to develop and write your own vision and purpose statement for your life, a vision of Lordship devotion?

Tomorrow, we will dig into what a Christ-centered worldview and identity looks like. Truly, the best days of our spiritual journey of life might very well lie ahead.


In Christ,
Pastor Todd