I've been ranting on abit on PDA lifestyle alot lately...but also feel that it doesn't end there.
P= Personal Revival
D= Divine Appointments
A = Active Obedience
Walking in PDA has taught my DCG group and a couple of my peers in CCiL who went to IDMF alot!! We will be the first to admit to you that growing in personal evangelism as a culture has connected most of us to our world in a real sense. Most of us have learnt that it is good to be challenged, and we want to be challenged yet we also recognise we have a long way to go.
Evangelism is no longer just confined to whether we have time to do it, or confined to just certain people doing it. It is now a mark of our spiritual life.
But where does it start, it starts from that deep desire inside us to catch the heart and call of God - personal revival which leads to us being sensitive to the divine appointments that God drops on us.
The goal of PDA lifestyle or evangelism is not merely to see people come or won for Christ. It is FAR greater. I've learnt in the last few weeks not to live in the vibes of "wow" someone came to Christ but to look at evangelism as part of the process of disciplemaking. PDA lifestyle is the first step of disciplemaking, just a process to the overall bigger call to the great commission. It starts with PDA, but it goes far beyond just that. It includes the spiritual growth and journey of the person towards maturity in Christ.
Maturity..I have been toying with this word in my head quite abit. Since being challenged personally to do word studies as another way of growing deep in Scriptures, I find my greek and hebrew vocab increasing BUT it makes a world of difference in understanding Scripture and the context. Often we assume we know what the word means yet when we dig deeper, we find treasures that blows our mind away.
Finally today, I sat down and focused to look it up as I was preparing for my time to meet JL this afternoon. Also did some cross referencing on how many times and where this word is used in Scripture. I don't like going online to search for stuff cos its a distraction for me, so it took me longer as I had to use the paper dictionary and concordance and my greek bible that I got free from my tutor last year!!
Teleio, being its origin means "full grown" in the context of spiritual maturity for us christians. And when referencing full grown in the context of us as christians, it is not surprising to discover that almost all passages and verses are in the context of some form of discipleship and being more like Christ at ALL levels! The apostle Paul uses "teleio" in his letters to challenged us to think about our lives, and the journey of discipleship whether in the pursuit of our dreams, ministry or trials. Yes, this word is used 100% in NT christian living!!
Linking this back to PDA, I believe it is just as much a responsibility of true disciplemakers to ourselves work toward being "full grown" and then also to help others who come to Christ in their journey to being "full grown". Just like kids, who then reach adulthood, a marker of maturity when they are fully grown. But at every step, it is important to have a parent or an older person there to guide them along who nurtures them as much as it is important for us to us to grow up ourselves. Also, kids develop their mind and grow intellectually through reading, and grow socially through friendships. When they grow to be teenagers,they learn what difficulties and problems are on a more personal scale and how they face them as they grow up. Making mistakes and failing is also part of that growth/maturity as kids move to adulthood.It is a process, and it takes time. And time is a POSITIVE thing - as we live life daily we grow in knowledge, understanding and experience of God through the development work of the Holy Spirit in us.
Hmm..why am I on about evangelism and maturity...think its cos of the fruits I see around me, and how its time for us also to invest in spiritual development hand in hand with spiritual multiplication in God's kingdom.
Impacting is two-fold - evangelism and maturity(development/growth) BUT the result and end point is the SAME. Only one thing - Life transformation.
The most obvious indicator of growth and maturity is lives that are transformed. We know we are growing or a person is growing when God is REAL in our lives.
Charles Colson was spot on. The process begins when the believers band together. Then they evangelise (PDA). They take the great commission to heart and boldly live it out. Others begin to follow their example including those who are won to Christ through evangelism.And soon they reach a critical mass.
I was talking to M excitedly about how I felt very encouraged to see how JL has made a decision to get baptised over Easter. I remember the day she came to Christ, and only just last week I spoke to her about the realness of God in her life. She made me wanna cry so much as she shared, and then I asked her what sums up how things have been for her thus far. She took out her ipod, and clicked on a song for me. It is called "Emmanuel" by Hillsong. That's when I started crying. It is the only Christian song she has memorised, and for a reason cos its how she is reminded of who God is to her daily despite how life is. JL is one of the fruits of PDA evangelism in my church, and seeing her come - there is this burning desire for me to go back to basics with her, so I too can grow as I meet up with her more these next few weeks in preparation for Baptism. She has since joined us in praying for the lost and for the prayerwalk around the neighbourhood cos she wants to share God too. This to me is a great example of evangelism and maturity being integral in a Christian.
I believe Evangelism and Maturity are important marks of the spiritual life. The impact is the same i.e. life transformation.
As we seek to be that "certain kind" of authentic, effective and rooted disciples and disciplemakers, may we continue to embrace evangelism and spiritual maturity in our daily lives.
P= Personal Revival
D= Divine Appointments
A = Active Obedience
Walking in PDA has taught my DCG group and a couple of my peers in CCiL who went to IDMF alot!! We will be the first to admit to you that growing in personal evangelism as a culture has connected most of us to our world in a real sense. Most of us have learnt that it is good to be challenged, and we want to be challenged yet we also recognise we have a long way to go.
Evangelism is no longer just confined to whether we have time to do it, or confined to just certain people doing it. It is now a mark of our spiritual life.
But where does it start, it starts from that deep desire inside us to catch the heart and call of God - personal revival which leads to us being sensitive to the divine appointments that God drops on us.
The goal of PDA lifestyle or evangelism is not merely to see people come or won for Christ. It is FAR greater. I've learnt in the last few weeks not to live in the vibes of "wow" someone came to Christ but to look at evangelism as part of the process of disciplemaking. PDA lifestyle is the first step of disciplemaking, just a process to the overall bigger call to the great commission. It starts with PDA, but it goes far beyond just that. It includes the spiritual growth and journey of the person towards maturity in Christ.
Maturity..I have been toying with this word in my head quite abit. Since being challenged personally to do word studies as another way of growing deep in Scriptures, I find my greek and hebrew vocab increasing BUT it makes a world of difference in understanding Scripture and the context. Often we assume we know what the word means yet when we dig deeper, we find treasures that blows our mind away.
Finally today, I sat down and focused to look it up as I was preparing for my time to meet JL this afternoon. Also did some cross referencing on how many times and where this word is used in Scripture. I don't like going online to search for stuff cos its a distraction for me, so it took me longer as I had to use the paper dictionary and concordance and my greek bible that I got free from my tutor last year!!
Teleio, being its origin means "full grown" in the context of spiritual maturity for us christians. And when referencing full grown in the context of us as christians, it is not surprising to discover that almost all passages and verses are in the context of some form of discipleship and being more like Christ at ALL levels! The apostle Paul uses "teleio" in his letters to challenged us to think about our lives, and the journey of discipleship whether in the pursuit of our dreams, ministry or trials. Yes, this word is used 100% in NT christian living!!
Linking this back to PDA, I believe it is just as much a responsibility of true disciplemakers to ourselves work toward being "full grown" and then also to help others who come to Christ in their journey to being "full grown". Just like kids, who then reach adulthood, a marker of maturity when they are fully grown. But at every step, it is important to have a parent or an older person there to guide them along who nurtures them as much as it is important for us to us to grow up ourselves. Also, kids develop their mind and grow intellectually through reading, and grow socially through friendships. When they grow to be teenagers,they learn what difficulties and problems are on a more personal scale and how they face them as they grow up. Making mistakes and failing is also part of that growth/maturity as kids move to adulthood.It is a process, and it takes time. And time is a POSITIVE thing - as we live life daily we grow in knowledge, understanding and experience of God through the development work of the Holy Spirit in us.
Hmm..why am I on about evangelism and maturity...think its cos of the fruits I see around me, and how its time for us also to invest in spiritual development hand in hand with spiritual multiplication in God's kingdom.
Impacting is two-fold - evangelism and maturity(development/growth) BUT the result and end point is the SAME. Only one thing - Life transformation.
The most obvious indicator of growth and maturity is lives that are transformed. We know we are growing or a person is growing when God is REAL in our lives.
Charles Colson was spot on. The process begins when the believers band together. Then they evangelise (PDA). They take the great commission to heart and boldly live it out. Others begin to follow their example including those who are won to Christ through evangelism.And soon they reach a critical mass.
I was talking to M excitedly about how I felt very encouraged to see how JL has made a decision to get baptised over Easter. I remember the day she came to Christ, and only just last week I spoke to her about the realness of God in her life. She made me wanna cry so much as she shared, and then I asked her what sums up how things have been for her thus far. She took out her ipod, and clicked on a song for me. It is called "Emmanuel" by Hillsong. That's when I started crying. It is the only Christian song she has memorised, and for a reason cos its how she is reminded of who God is to her daily despite how life is. JL is one of the fruits of PDA evangelism in my church, and seeing her come - there is this burning desire for me to go back to basics with her, so I too can grow as I meet up with her more these next few weeks in preparation for Baptism. She has since joined us in praying for the lost and for the prayerwalk around the neighbourhood cos she wants to share God too. This to me is a great example of evangelism and maturity being integral in a Christian.
I believe Evangelism and Maturity are important marks of the spiritual life. The impact is the same i.e. life transformation.
As we seek to be that "certain kind" of authentic, effective and rooted disciples and disciplemakers, may we continue to embrace evangelism and spiritual maturity in our daily lives.
Holy, Holy, I will bow before, my Lord and King,
Hallelujah,You have come to us, you make all things new.
Emmanuel, Jesus Christ, You'll never let me go,
My shepherd king, your'e watching over me,
Emmanuel.
So amazing, You have named the stars, of the deepest night.
Still you love me, you have called me name and I will follow you.
Holy, Holy, God almighty, here is none like you.
©2005 Reuben Morgan/Hillsong Publishing
Hallelujah,You have come to us, you make all things new.
Emmanuel, Jesus Christ, You'll never let me go,
My shepherd king, your'e watching over me,
Emmanuel.
So amazing, You have named the stars, of the deepest night.
Still you love me, you have called me name and I will follow you.
Holy, Holy, God almighty, here is none like you.
©2005 Reuben Morgan/Hillsong Publishing
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