Practice Makes Faithful is back for a third season! As we kick off this new season, and a new year, we are asking the question: What is shaping you? Many of us take time, as a new year begins, to reflect upon the past and look toward the future as well.

As we begin this new series, we do so by acknowledging that we are all being shaped by something. In reality, the truth is even deeper that we are all being shaped by many things. Our experiences, the relationships we have with others, the media and content we consume, our political affiliations...all of these things are shaping us. But as followers of Jesus, nothing should shape us more than He does.

As Isaiah says (Isaiah 64:8, NIV):

Yet you, Lord, are our Father.

We are the clay, you are the potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

Additional Resources:

Get the 21-day Prayer and Fasting Guide @ gracechapelchurch.com

This month we are working through our Christmas series that we have called Christory. As we do, we will be walking through the story of Jesus' birth, told in the words of the gospel author Luke. Luke begins his gospel by making the case for the truth of his witness and testimony. He wants all who read his words, beginning with the most excellent Theophilus, to know for certain that while what he shares is most definitely a great story, it is also history.

In this final episode of the series, Paul and Ben talk about the importance of times of celebration in the lives of God's people, as well as reasons why the birth of Christ - and Christmastime - move us toward celebration. For many reasons, God has called us to be a people who celebrate what He has done in the past, and what we believe he will do in the future as well. Join us for the last podcast conversation of 2022.

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments, and Merry Christmas!

This month we are working through our Christmas series, we are calling Christory. As we do, we will be walking through the story as told in the words of the gospel author Luke. Luke begins his gospel by making the case for the truth of his witness and testimony. He wants all who read his words, beginning with the most excellent Theophilus, to know for certain that while what he shares is most definitely a great story, it is also history.

In this episode, Paul and Ben focus on the declaration surrounding the birth of Christ found in Luke 1:26-38, and call listeners to be people of declaration as well--especially during the Christmas season. As Paul shares in this episode, because of who He is and all of what He represents, the birth of Jesus is incredibly good news!

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments, and Merry Christmas!

Additional Resources:

Alistair Begg: Pray Big: Learn to Pray like an Apostle

https://www.amazon.com/Pray-Big-Learn-like-Apostle/dp/B08HS7D57D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=QNNVJ9GSUMYH&keywords=pray+big+alistair+begg&qid=1670975621&sprefix=pray+big%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-1

N.T. Wright: Simply Good News: Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good

https://www.amazon.com/Simply-Good-News-Gospel-Makes/dp/0062334352/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=simply+good+news&qid=1670975684&s=audible&sprefix=simply+good+%2Caudible%2C110&sr=1-1-catcorr

This week we begin a new series for the Christmas season. As we do, we will be walking through the story as told in the words of the gospel author Luke. Luke begins his gospel by making the case for the truth of his witness and testimony. He wants all who read his words, beginning with the most excellent Theophilus, to know for certain that while what he shares is most definitely a great story, it is also history.

In this episode, Paul and Ben encourage listeners to take the time to prepare themselves for the significance of what we celebrate during this season--the moment God took on flesh and became one of us, to show that He truly is for and with us.

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments, and Merry Christmas!

In this, the last of three special episodes, Paul and Ben work through one more article that Paul has written for Renew.org. This article, Bridge the Gap, discusses Jesus' relational approach to disciple-making. It also discusses the move many churches have made in the last decade to abandon some of the long held tenets of historical theological orthodoxy, because of the fear that these positions are just a "bridge too far" for most in today's culture.

Paul presents the better way, Jesus' way, to reach and engage people with a message of hope, love, and transformation into the image and likeness of Jesus. This is at the heart of what it means to follow him as we become his disciples.

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

This Week's Resources:

https://renew.org/bridge-the-gap/

David Young, A Grand Illusion: https://www.amazon.com/Grand-Illusion-Progressive-Christianity-Undermines/dp/1949921018/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LID6U4YH3T5Q&keywords=a+grand+illusion+by+david+young&qid=1669772862&sprefix=a+grand+ill%2Caps%2C82&sr=8-1

Roger Olson, Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity: https://www.amazon.com/Against-Liberal-Theology-Progressive-Christianity/dp/0310139430/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1GH2A8NTD7ZR2&keywords=against+liberal+theology+roger+olson&qid=1669772889&sprefix=against+li%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-1

In this week's episode, we discuss an article Paul wrote, originally for Wineskins.org, which was republished later in the year by discipleship.org. This article has been one of the most popular on the discipleship.org website since March of 2022. The idea of disciple-making continues to be discussed within churches and it is important to keep the "why's" of disciple-making, especially within the North American Church context, front and center. Here are the 5 reasons Paul and Ben discuss in the podcast:

1. Attractional churches are full of church members who need Disciple Making Movement principles to become true disciples of Jesus.

2. Attractional churches are full of persons of peace – they can help us reach lots of lost people.

3. Attractional churches have abundant resources for good works in the world that micro or house churches are often lacking.

4. Attractional churches are full of people God wants us to love, not abandon.

5. God calls many of us to lead attractional churches as faithful leaders seeking revival.

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

This Week's Resources:

Paul Huyghebaert, https://discipleship.org/blog/5-reasons-to-begin-a-disciple-making-movement-in-the-attractional-church/

Discipleship.org disciple-making definitions: https://discipleship.org/about-discipleship-org/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-attractional-tipping-point-part-one-the-coming-collapse/

https://addingtonconsulting.org/blogs/news/predicting-the-decline-of-the-attractional-church

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/march/return-to-church-plateau-in-person-virtual-pew-research.html

In this special episode Ben and Paul discuss an article that Paul wrote which is published on Renew.org, called "Christians and Politics: 5 Principles for Christian Interaction with the Political World." As the title of the article suggests, Paul shares 5 practical principles that will act as guidepost as we are faced with an ever-more complex political landscape - one in which many Christ-followers feel they have no home.

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

This Week's Resources:

Paul Huyghebaert, https://renew.org/christians-and-politics/

Paul Huyghebaert, https://renew.org/politics-is-the-new-religion/

Mark Sayers, A Non-Anxious Presence:

https://www.amazon.com/Non-Anxious-Presence-Changing-Complex-Christian-ebook/dp/B09N39SR91/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1U9D9SDO6XKK6&keywords=a+non-anxious+presence+mark+sayers&qid=1667940861&sprefix=a+non%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-1

In this last installment of the Witness series, Ben and Paul talk through some of what might lie ahead for Christians in the Western world as the attitude that many have toward the Church continues to take a negative turn. It is important that we understand the times in which we are living (1 Chronicles 12:32, Romans 13:11). It is, as the Australian pastor, Mark Sayers says: If we don't understand the way things have changed, we run the risk of discipling people for a world that once existed, but not the world in which we currently live, or the one that lies ahead (paraphrased).

We hope this conversation blesses and challenges you as you seek to continue to live a life faithful to Jesus, no matter what lies ahead. Take a look at this week's resources as the writings of these authors have helped greatly to shape the content of this conversation.

Additional Reading:

Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Triumph-Modern-Self-Individualism-ebook/dp/B089DNYCDY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=VC6FZ7T16HIT&keywords=carl+trueman+rise+of+the+modern+self&qid=1667344399&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIyLjAzIiwicXNhIjoiMS44NSIsInFzcCI6IjIuMDcifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=carl+tr%2Caps%2C106&sr=8-1

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age

https://www.amazon.com/Secular-Age-Charles-Taylor/dp/0674986911/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1667345177&sr=8-1

Roger Olson, Against Liberal Theology

https://www.amazon.com/Against-Liberal-Theology-Progressive-Christianity-ebook/dp/B09N8Y5GPB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=36KQH7SJF4BX7&keywords=against+liberal+theology+roger+olson&qid=1667345300&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjg2IiwicXNhIjoiMS4zMCIsInFzcCI6IjEuNDYifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=against+li%2Caps%2C120&sr=8-1

Mark Sayers, A Non-Anxious Presence: How a Changing and Complex World will Create a Remnant of Renewed Christian Leaders

https://www.amazon.com/Non-Anxious-Presence-Changing-Complex-Christian-ebook/dp/B09N39SR91/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3DVRHDPU2TAK9&keywords=mark+sayers+a+non+anxious+presence&qid=1667345347&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjIwIiwicXNhIjoiMS4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjEuMTcifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=mark+sayers%2Caps%2C92&sr=8-1

This week, Jim Beasley once again joins Ben and Paul as they talk through the witness of love. Jesus told His disciples that the world (all people) would know that they belonged to Him by the love they had for each other. There are lots of confusing messages in the world about what love looks like, but Jesus calls His disciples to model and share the kind of love that characterized His words and actions.

As we are surrounded by a culture that often thinks negatively about the Church, Jesus words to His first disciples about their love for each other, are words we need to hear today!

This week we move into part three of the Witness series. Jesus has called us to be his witnesses in the world (Acts 1:8), or as the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:20, "We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us." As we have been saying this month, followers of Jesus are intended to be His representatives in everyday life...everywhere they go.

For this episode, Paul and Ben explore the call to be salt and light, and make the case that this is the way, possibly the only way, for the Church to reach an increasingly skeptical...sometimes even hostile world. Join us as we explore some ways to live out Jesus' words from Matthew 5:13-16.

We enjoy your questions and comments! Email us @ [email protected]

Resources:

Recreated to be Like God, Curtis Erskine -

https://www.amazon.com/Recreated-Be-like-God-Disciples/dp/B0B92H92YD/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=recreated+to+be+like+god&qid=1666115576&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjkyIiwicXNhIjoiMC45NCIsInFzcCI6IjAuNzkifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=recreated+to+be+%2Caps%2C108&sr=8-1

Live No Lies, John Mark Comer -

https://www.amazon.com/Live-No-Lies-Recognize-Sabotage/dp/B08TRR5RZS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=J92T976PDZ1B&keywords=john+mark+comer+book+live+not+lies&qid=1666115642&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIyLjA1IiwicXNhIjoiMS43MyIsInFzcCI6IjEuNzcifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=John+mark+comer%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-1

IVP, Five Thresholds Info -

https://evangelism.intervarsity.org/five-thresholds