Gospel.com Blog

The December episode of the Youth Specialties podcast is online—this month features an interview with Mark Matlock about the importance of teaching wisdom to students and young people. What is Biblical wisdom, and how can you teach teenagers to practice it? It’s a good discussion about an area of youth ministry that is often overlooked.

If you haven’t listened to the YS podcast before, be sure to also check out the podcast archives—past issues have touched on subjects ranging from evangelism to running successful youth group events to gender issues in youth ministry.

Have you ever felt like a slave to sin? Do you know someone who might be? Setting Captives Free is a ministry that strives to bring people into a right relationship with God. They don’t claim to make you impervious to sin, but they can effectively help you break free from addiction.

The goal of Setting Captives Free is surprisingly simple, they want “to reach as many people as possible with the liberating message of Jesus Christ.” Practically, this works out into a series of free online courses. Courses range from achieving sexual purity, food issues, gambling, and substance abuse. All courses are free and will walk you through a daily process of recovery. They have translations of their courses in six languages with more translations on the way.

If you’re interested in hearing about how other people have been blessed by their ministry, you can read testimonies of those that have found freedom. They also have other resources, like recommended reading, audio files, links, and accountability software to help you or someone you know break free from sin. In all things they strive to meet their purpose of honoring and glorifying God.

Uplook Ministries is “devoted to to bring helpful information, varied ministry, and encouragement to God’s people, it continues to grow in its readership, many of these readers in Developing World countries.”

The main outlet of their ministry is publishing their magazine, Uplook, which has been regularly published since 1927! If you’re interested in more history on the magazine, read about it here. If you’d rather read the magazine, they have it available online with issues back to 1998.

Have questions about Christianity? You can find thorough answers to some difficult topics on their questions and answers page. Uplook also keeps a list of poetry and hymns as well as helpful charts and Bible study guides. I found the minor prophets chart particularly helpful at breaking down who was sent where. Uplook Ministries is committed to their online presence. So, “what you see on our Uplook site so far is just a taste of what we hope to accomplish.”

Please pray with us as we seek to stir up greater evangelistic interest, especially in North America. We are seeking also to equip young evangelists and provide helpful gospel materials for believers to use in witnessing.

We’ve been talking about discipleship all week here on the Gospel.com blog. Discipleship encompasses a lot of different things, and is something that all Christians should be practicing in their lives. But what about those for whom discipleship is not just a good spiritual idea, but part of their actual job description?

I’m referring to church leaders—pastors, small group leaders, youth ministers, worship directors, volunteer coordinators, and everybody else who has a leadership role in their church or community. How does one be an effective leader of others? Here’s a sampling of articles that address different aspects of leadership in the church today.

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Are you in a mentoring relationship that needs some direction? New Christian Life Ministries “passion is to see believers live Spirit-empowered lives.” Their web site is run by the author Rev. James Hall, who has this to say about his ministry:

After years of careful study of the Scriptures, much thought, and countless personal witnessing and discipling exchanges, God has birthed these guidelines and lessons in Jim’s spirit and made them available to others under the title “The Harvester’s Handbook.”

His eWorkbook and curriculum is designed as a program for young believers to walk through the basics of the faith with an older believer. Advice and support are provided for the more mature believer in this process as well.

If you’re interested in trying out the discipleship eWorkbook, you can find the first two units for free online here (free sign-up required). Each additional lesson costs $1. The eWorkbook allows you to keep a daily journal and guides you through some of the basics of Christianity with plenty of biblical backing.

Their prayer “is that through this ministry, many will come to know Christ, and many will truly learn what it is to follow our Lord and Savior.”

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” It’s one of the more famous proverbs in the Bible, and it points to a basic truth: one of our most important jobs as Christians and as human beings is to help each other grow in the faith.

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We’ve all had times where we’ve neglected reading the bible. Frankly, sometimes it’s just hard to make time. This week we’ve been focusing on discipleship, so if you’d like to revitalize your bible study, we’ve compiled some helpful resources for you.

Personally, bible reading has been a foundational aspect of my faith; one that continues and will continue to transform me. Still, on occasion the bible leaves me scratching my head. Without honest study and good teaching, passages like, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you,” can be very confusing.
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Our last post looked at some prayer resources at Delve Into Jesus to help you understand the basics of prayer. But if you’ve gotten through the basics and are ready to lead others in building up their prayer lives, here’s another ministry that can help: Bible Prayer Fellowship. Bible Prayer Fellowship helps pastors and church leaders cultivate healthy prayer practices in their churches, small groups, and Bible studies.

First and foremost, BPF has the full text of their Forgotten Secrets to a Live Prayer Meeting. It’s a full-blown leader’s manual for running a successful prayer meeting, including 12 lesson and student workbook exercises to accompany them. If you’re studying the topic of prayer in your small group Bible study, this would be a great resource. Also of interest to small group leaders is the full text of Andrew Murray’s classic textbook on prayer With Christ in the School of Prayer. BPF has added discussion questions to each chapter to help you get a group dialogue started.

One final set of resources worth checking out at BPF is their set of email newsletters about prayer—one meant for pastors, another for prayer group leaders, and the third for anyone interested in prayer as a means of spiritual revival.

I think we’ve all had questions about prayer: when should I do it, what’s appropriate, what should I say? For the disciple of Christ, prayer is a necessity that shouldn’t be taken for granted; yet, on a personal note, I know I so often do. There’s plenty of information out there to help guide you in your prayer life, from the Prayer of Jabez to the Book of Common Prayer.

Today, we’d like to highlight Delve Into Jesus, a site that is devoted to providing accurate information about Jesus on the internet.
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In our last post, we pointed out some classic sermons about discipleship. Soulation is another ministry with some excellent sermons and essays about drawing closer to Christ in your everyday life. Their sermon library has a large number of sermons in audio and PDF format on a variety of topics. Keeping with this week’s theme on discipleship, be sure to check out Loving God With All of You (PDF; part 1 of a seven-part series), which talks about the process of deepening your relationship with God. Loving God With Your Soul (MP3) is a good companion to that series.

Strangling Your Soul is a short, insightful look at the everyday care and feeding of your mind and spirit. There are many more good resources in their library—take a look around and spend some time reading and listening to their sermons!