Revolutionary Discipleship

By Michael Hodge

As Dave prayed for God to do a work in Catherine’s life, he knew that God had been doing a work in his own life for some time. In fact, as he looked back, he could see how God had saved him through a radical call to salvation. He could see how God had led him to a personal commitment. He could even see some of the things that God was intentionally leading him through to prepare him and teach him. And now, he was sensing God’s movement in his life and the life of his wife. Everything about this new faith was revolutionary. Follow the story of Dave and Catherine as you discover the Revolutionary Discipleship Process. The focus of this material is the 7 keywords of the Revolutionary Discipleship Process. Each keyword represents a step in the journey of Christian discipleship. Pulling from the most common words found in various discipleship resources, this material combines those into a discernible process. Aiding the journey is a fictional story as well as brief Bible studies at the end of each chapter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781312983090

Book preview

Revolutionary Discipleship

REVOLUTIONARY DISCIPLESHIP

Michael R. Hodge

Revolutionary Discipleship

Copyright © 2015 by Michael R. Hodge

ISBN: 978-1-312-98309-0

Accompanying Sermon Series written by Dr. Chad Rickenbaker

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Some references are drawn from the New International Version.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Printed in the United States of America

Lulu Press

Raleigh, NC

CONTENTS

Table of Contents

REVOLUTIONARY DISCIPLESHIP

CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

Chapter One

5-Minute Bible Study

Chapter Two

5-Minute Bible Study

Chapter Three

5-Minute Bible Study

Chapter Four

5-Minute Bible Study

Chapter Five

5-Minute Bible Study

Chapter Six

5-Minute Bible Study

Chapter Seven

5-Minute Bible Study

PREFACE

Revolutionary Discipleship was originally developed as an emphasis for Berea First Baptist Church, Greenville, SC in early 2015 as a challenge for our congregation. Dr. Chad Rickenbaker is the pastor of Berea First and has been in that position since July 2013. Before being on staff at BFBC, he and I had ministered together at First Baptist Church of Gowensville. Over the years of ministry, we have collaborated on several projects just like this one. The very first book was a study of the Sermon on the Mount entitled Revealing the Mysteries of the Kingdom. The second book was a devotional study of the Ten Commandments called The Measure of Love and then a Gospel of John study called LifeLight. In each case, I wrote the accompanying materials as Chad wrote and shared the sermon series.

The overall idea for Revolutionary Discipleship came from reviewing the many resources that Pastor Chad studied in his doctoral work on discipleship. As he first shared and developed the idea for the series, the importance of conveying this material beyond the Sunday messages was abundantly clear to me. I challenged him to allow me the time to research, organize, and write the material you are holding. My kitchen table at home was soon covered with every resource from my library of books that related to these topics.

For several weeks we met and dialogued back and forth about how our ideas were either lining up or going in opposite directions. In the process, we culled certain keywords and inserted others in order to construct the Revolutionary Discipleship Process. It was an exciting process with a few white flag moments. Still, our commitment to get this material out to our congregation and beyond kept us pressing forward with the material. I am certainly glad that we did because the end result is a process that has challenged my own daily growth and desire to keep moving to the next level in my commitment to God.

As you read Revolutionary Discipleship, the title itself might suggest that these are brand new ideas, revolutionary in the fact that they have never been heard before. That certainly is not the case as these are ideas and teachings that have been shared by innumerable writers and leaders for centuries. Instead of being innovative or new ideas, these keywords are revolutionary because biblically faithful leaders have taught them for centuries. You will be pointed to the Word of God as we study and you will also be pointed to resources that are both contemporary and others that have stood the test of time. I recognize the wealth of resources available on these subjects and I encourage you to keep right on studying beyond the scope of this material. I have provided a bibliography at the end of the material to help you in that deeper walk with Christ.

I encourage you to study this material in the context of small group. Even if you were not a part of this series at our church, you are welcome to use these chapters in your own study of God's Word. We will attempt to provide the video messages that coincide with each keyword as the series progresses. God bless you as you study God's Word and discover Revolutionary Discipleship.

__________

I want to thank Martha Hodge for her willingness to work through the early draft of this material. There are some who have a way with words. Others allow words to get in the way. I am grateful that she was willing to help polish my words so that they would not stand in the way of the message. Given the fact that this book did not go through the arduous process of a publisher, there may still be an occasional error. Hopefully those will be few and will not distract from the material.

I also want to thank Kathie Burgess for reviewing an early copy of this material as well.

INTRODUCTION

Dave and Catherine are a couple you would likely meet while out walking on any street of your neighborhood. Dave is a hardworking heating and air technician. Catherine has worked outside the home for a number of years but has been enjoying life at home for some time. For the most part life is predictable and patterned. But then something radical happened in Dave’s life that changed everything.

In the pages of this book, you will trace the short story of Dave and Catherine as their lives frame the process of Revolutionary Discipleship. Their story will carry you through the seven keywords of Revolutionary Discipleship. It is my hope that this short story woven into the truths of this material will help it to come alive as you read and to help you to see the impact of these truths on your own life. It’s my hope that Dave and Catherine’s story will be the story of many who walk through this journey.

Maybe your journey of faith in Christ has been an amazing adventure filled with God radically changing you day by day. Maybe you arrive frustrated and desperately seeking something very different from your faith walk thus far. If you have read the first few chapters in countless Bible studies; if you have attempted and fallen short of more New Year’s Resolutions of faith than you’d care to admit; if you have sat through enough sermons to have a pretty good idea of God’s great plan and yet your faith in Christ still seems to be greatly lacking, then it is time for a revolution. Let's discover together what it means to live the abundant life of Christ!

In this journey, you are going to discover that Revolutionary Discipleship is more than just a catchy phrase. More than that, Revolutionary Discipleship describes an intentional walk of faith focused on Christian disciplines and the impact of an encounter with God. You are going to be invited to a faith U-turn (maybe you noticed that in the logo for this material). As you turn away from certain things in your life you will be invited to turn toward Christ – the REVOLUTION!

At the heart of this journey is a powerful and meaningful word - revolutionary. That word can be defined as constituting or bringing about a major or fundamental change. When that word is connected to discipleship, it conveys the image of a drastic shift in focus. That radical shift is the U-turn of our daily lives as we turn away from those things that interrupt our fellowship with God as we move toward a Christ-centered life. Far more than simply religious activity or worship attendance, Revolutionary Discipleship is the story of God altering our world! Still we must be careful to not categorize this idea of faith as something reserved for a select few in our Christian community. It is not a description reserved for pastors, Bible teachers, or deacons. Instead, this is truly the norm of the New Testament call to become a disciple of Christ. This is an invitation to discover the new normal of what it means to walk with Christ.

Throughout history there have been stories of revolutionary movements among political parties or revolutionary movements to attain freedom. In our own country, we associate the word with the beginning of our nation – the Revolutionary War. A nation was born as a people rejected the dictates of another – and freedom was discovered. As this relates to our spiritual lives, a revolution occurs when we reject the direction of our lives and choose instead to pursue with intentionality God's revolutionary plan. May God guide us toward Revolutionary Discipleship.

Structure of Revolutionary Discipleship

This material is intended to continually direct you to take that next step toward Revolutionary Discipleship. All of us are at an identifiable place in our relationship with God. Some of you are just beginning the amazing discovery of God's plan of redemption through Christ. Some of you are beginning to walk with Christ daily and you are like a toddler bobbling through those first steps. Still others of you have walked this journey for years and yet there is still something amazing that God has in store for you in the days ahead. We are all on a journey of faith and it is my prayer that this material will lead you to the Word of God as you identify your next step.

With that next step in mind, the chapters have been arranged in a progressive fashion with the early chapters addressing the first commitments of faith and the later chapters speaking to the commitments of a maturing believer. That helps you to understand why personal is at the beginning of the journey and missional is at the end. So while missional living is the command and expectation of every believer, it certainly should describe the maturing believer. It is as we mature in faith that we better understand the commission to go out with the message that has impacted us so deeply. This step upon step method will be the structure of the material.

Before we can dive into those individual sections, we will begin with the overarching truth of a radical faith. Since Dr. David Platt coined the term Radical in 2010 as a call to abandon casual Christianity, millions have recognized the high calling of Christ. His book by the same name has now sold over 1 million copies. In the book, readers discover a call to take back their faith from the American dream through examples of believers boldly living out their faith in difficult circumstances. A number of insights shared in this first section will be drawn from the teachings of Platt in that material. You are encouraged to seek out that resource for a more in-depth treatment of the subject.

The prayer that is voiced as we begin this journey is that our lives would match and our hearts would be drawn to the Word of God and its Author. John Calvin echoed the words of Augustine in saying, I count myself one of the number of those who write as they learn and learn as they write.¹ I can relate to those words as a writer - it's my own journey of learning. May God equip all of us to be students of the Word through this journey together.

Interactive Features in Revolutionary Discipleship

You will find two key interactive features in this material. These are opportunities for you to pause and reflect on the material.

The interactive material within this book is signified by the wrench sign. This symbol lets you know that this is place for the practical application of the material. You are encouraged to get a notebook and spend a few moments with each of these sections.

5-Minute Bible Study

The second interactive portion of the material is the 5-Minute Bible Study. This is a brief devotional Bible study related to the chapter’s material. For those short on time, this offers you a brief Bible study related to the chapter’s theme. This is a great introduction to the keywords for those who are short on time but want to be introduced to the material.

Bible Texts in Parentheses

You will also notice lots of Bible