The Basis of Discipleship: God’s Word is Relevant Now

My desire is to work discipleship so that they are effective believers and disciples of Christ whenever they leave from here.

I try to teach Bible class from a complete standpoint of, “This is what the Bible says—this is what we ought to do.”

Without having this understanding of who we are and these basic facts, we don’t know who we are, okay? It’s not possible for us. This is what makes all the difference in the world between us as Christians at a Christian school versus what happened in… north of North Miami, Florida in that public school yesterday with a mass school shooting.

Number one, okay, that we have been created by God in His likeness. In His image.

I think the old cliché, you know, WWJD, what would Jesus do? I think that is long gone, you know, out the door. I guess it’s a worthwhile question to ask. But I think it goes beyond that and, “What would you do with what Jesus said?” That is a relevant question to ask regardless of what era of time that you are in.

This is so important. If we don’t understand we’re made in the image of God and everyone else out there is made in the image of God also, what is that going to soon drive us to think? It’s going to soon drive us to think, “I’m better than you.” Okay? “And because I am better than you I can say what I want to about you. I can do to you what I feel like doing as long as it pleases me.”

And so now our world today—we talk about current events in this class, you know, quite a bit, okay. In this whole “Me Too” movement that has been going around of the sexual harassment that has been so rampant coming out of Hollywood and in big corporate entities, places of power, all of that comes down is because somehow I am worth more than you. Well, if God has created me, and He has created you, our worth is equal. I don’t have a right to abuse a woman because I feel like it. And I don’t have a right to talk down, and negatively, about a woman or another man because I feel like it. Okay? That is a slant against God and their very personhood.

So the teachings of Jesus Christ are still relevant for us today. The Holy Spirit is working in us and through us to remind us not only of what He said but what we are to do. And I think that sometimes schools and perhaps even churches—I think they’re well intentioned to try to teach them, you know this is all the stuff, other things that are out there. But they miss a point of teaching them what is the truth. I’m not opposed to a world religions class. I think it’s okay for us to understand what other world religions are out there so we can understand why they react the way they do. But I think that it is most important and that it is going to be most helpful and beneficial in their life for them to know, “This is what the Bible says, and this is the God that we serve and how He wants me to respond.”

So in science I want them to see the majesty, the fullness of this great God and how big of a God that He is. God will—in all of this magnitude to be able to create this much, but yet His desire is to also do that kind of work within your heart within yourself as an individual.

And so I always try to bring that down to an individual perspective: God’s a pretty awesome God. And I want you to see the magnitude of who God is, and who you can become, and who He wants you to be whenever you leave here.