Discipleship is a lifestyle. Whether you're at work, school, or driving, every moment is an opportunity to grow.
Episodes
Monday Aug 26, 2019
Monday Aug 26, 2019
Life can be chaotic. Sometimes it feels as if there are constant demands on our time that pull in multiple directions at once. We can get overwhelmed just by the simple, everyday activities that need our attention day in and day out. We struggle to keep pace and fulfill all of our obligations. The constant barrage of expectations and the onslaught of major and minor catastrophes leaves us feeling like failures. Rather than retreating into God to find peace, we find the chaos pushing us out of God’s center. We begin to feel guilt and shame because we haven’t set aside time just to be with God. We feel like we are failing at being a Christian on top of failing at being a parent or our job, or fill in the blank. But Tricia Rhodes offers us a way forward in the midst of this chaos. Instead of allowing the chaos to overwhelm us, we should embrace it as God’s plan and purpose for our lives. For God is with us in the midst of the chaos and wants to use it to work in us.
Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.
Friday Aug 23, 2019
Friday Aug 23, 2019
We each have a vision for how we think our lives should play out. We have ideas about how quickly we should progress in our careers, when we should get married, and what size house we should own. So when those visions don’t come to fruition, we feel dissatisfied or unsuccessful in life. But following Jesus flips this dissatisfaction. As we grow in him, we slowly learn to be content with what we have and where God has us serving. But at the same time, as Dr. Snavely elaborates in this chapter, a new dissatisfaction takes its place. We begin to yearn for more of God’s presence in our lives. And the more of him we find, the deeper we want to go.
Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.
Thursday Aug 22, 2019
Thursday Aug 22, 2019
Do you really understand what it means to say, “I want to be more like Jesus?” When you look at Jesus’ life, it involved a lot of difficult things that made even Jesus plead with God not to let it happen. If you want to be more like Jesus, it might mean following the Spirit’s leading into places you would rather avoid. In this chapter, Andréa unpacks what it really means to pray, “Jesus, make me more like you,” as well as the things God’s done in his own life as a result of praying that prayer.
Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.
Wednesday Aug 21, 2019
Wednesday Aug 21, 2019
Have you ever thought about why God gave us marriage? In Scripture, it’s one of the most used analogies for his love and relationship with the Church. But perhaps it’s more than an analogy? Maybe our marriages should actually be a reflection of God’s own trinitarian nature. So we wanted to ask Dr. Snavely how a Spirit-Christology affects our marriages. And although there is still a lot of work to do on how we flesh this out in our lives, Spirit-Christology becomes very practical as it gives us a clear demonstration of what submission and love for one another looks like.
Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.
Tuesday Aug 20, 2019
Tuesday Aug 20, 2019
If you read the title of this chapter, you should be asking, “Why Shouldn’t I follow Jesus’ example?” Jesus lived a perfect life without sin, and the Bible is full of statements calling us to be like Jesus. But there’s a valuable distinction between trying to be like Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to make us like Jesus. And in this chapter, Andréa explains the value of looking at the Spirit’s work in bringing daily growth to our lives as something that can only be done by him. In the end, your daily growth as you become more like Jesus isn’t your responsibility. it’s something only God can do, and he invites you to join him in the process.
Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.
Monday Aug 19, 2019
Monday Aug 19, 2019
In this episode of the podcast, we are going to be talking about some fairly deep theological issues. But don’t let that turn you off, because this conversation is worth it! While the topic of Spirit-Christology may sound intimidating, it has proven to be one of the most practical disciplines for exploring for how to become more like Christ. And it starts by understanding who Christ was and how he was able to live the sort of life he lived.
Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.
Friday Aug 16, 2019
Friday Aug 16, 2019
Every good parent wants to protect their kids from harm, whether it’s physical, mental, or emotional harm. And our lives are so complex, it’s often hard to fully understand why kids respond in certain ways to certain events. So when we consider what our kids can watch or should watch, it’s tough to work through all the variables and decide should I let my kids watch this or not? In this chapter, Josh unpacks his approach to helping parents make this decision. It’s not always straightforward, but there are a few guidelines we can use to help us keep our kids safe.
Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.
Thursday Aug 15, 2019
Thursday Aug 15, 2019
Movies and TV shows play a central role in our culture today. Where this sort of entertainment was once demonized for being a waste of time, we now celebrate the time we spend “bingeing” Netflix. How many of us successfully watched all of Season 3 of Stranger Things in one day? Our lives and culture are consumed with media. So we wanted to talk with Josh Larsen about how movies fit into our spiritual lives. Are there limits to how we should use media, and should pastors use movies in their Sunday sermons?
Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.
Wednesday Aug 14, 2019
Wednesday Aug 14, 2019
If you’ve read the Psalms, you’ve probably noticed the wide range of topics and emotions that spill out from these Hebrew poems and verses. David writes Psalm 51 and pours out his confession of sin to God. He writes Psalm 8 and describes God’s glory and majesty. And he also writes Psalm 35, where he calls on God to destroy his enemies. These Psalms are really prayers that give voice to what the writer was experiencing at the time. In the same way, movies give voice to what the screenwriters and directors are experiencing, what they find to be true in life. When they paint a grim picture of the future of humanity, they give voice to a feeling of hopelessness about the human condition. When they tell stories of humanity rising out of the ashes to enter a better future, they give voice to the desire we have as human beings to make a better world in which we can conquer evil and live in peace. In this chapter, Josh talks with us about a few of the categories he’s found in the prayers, the longings and desires, we see in front of us on the screen. And interestingly enough, these prayers are often quite similar to the prayers prayed by David and the other psalmists.
Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.
Tuesday Aug 13, 2019
Tuesday Aug 13, 2019
If movies are prayers, as the title of Josh Larsen’s book suggests, then it’s important for us to understand the role movies play in our lives and in the larger culture. If you think about what makes your favorite movie resonate with you so much, it’s probably because the prayer of that movie resonates with you. Your soul has identified with it and you've now latched on to it as an expression of the unspoken desire of your heart. And if this is true, then movies have the potential to affect our lives in some profound ways. And that’s why we wanted to go a little deeper with Josh in this chapter, and discover just how movies become prayers.
Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.