by Dries Cronje on December 27, 2008
John the Baptist, Baptizer or Immerser (whatever you prefer to call him) once explained what bearing fruit looks like.
He told religious folks coming to be baptized that “trees” that don’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
After being asked what is it then they should be doing, John told these people to share their extra clothes and food with those who have none.
And here we were… thinking that following Jesus and bearing fruit for God’s kingdom is difficult and complex.
by Dries Cronje on December 5, 2008
I have long been a firm believer that God leads us through our desires and passions. See, when I gave Jesus the commitment that He can ask me anything, and I’ll oblige, my desires started changing. No longer was drunken parties, late nights on town… wasting money, satisfying earthly lusts, materialism, etc. high on my agenda. My desires started changing.
And… I concluded that since I now want to do what the Bible teaches, these new passions must be a way that God leads me… through his Holy Spirit.
After meeting Mark Batterson at the r(e)formation event of echurch.co.za in Germany during October, I decided to pick up his latest book, entitled Wild Goose Chase. Mark says that the Holy Spirit is like a wild goose, but chasing him is not at all fruitless or pointless — the type of pursuit we have been using the term ‘wild goose chase’ for. Actually, quite the contrary. In the book he shares something that is very helpful in our quest of following Jesus and God through the Holy Spirit.
“In the words of one psalmist, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4, NIV). When we delight ourselves in the Lord, new desires are conceived within us. God literally downloads new desires. And those divine desires becomes an internal compass that guides us as we embark on a Wild Goose chase.” – Mark Batterson, Wild Goose Chase, p. 25.
So… delight yourself in the Lord, love Him, and be guided by your desires. Simple right?
by Dries Cronje on December 2, 2008
As followers of Christ, we want to enter the kingdom of God, right? This is similar to saying, we want to obtain eternal life, or “be saved”…
In his teaching DVD Everything is Spiritual, Rob Bell talks at length about the existence of this further dimension, this invisible spiritual world, which some people admit to experiencing, and others, well, don’t.
When talking to Nicodemus about entering the kingdom of God, Jesus refers to this spiritual side of life. He warns that unless we submit to this, we cannot enter God’s kingdom… [click to continue…]
