Gospel.com Blog

“Jesus said, Follow Me (Matt. 4:19; 9:9).” He called us to be, “set apart, challenged, and taught so we see and adhere to the call and mission Christ gives us. The word “disciple” literally means someone who pledges to be a ‘learner.’ Moreover, it is someone who follows another’s teaching, and adheres to it. It is a commitment and a process to undertake the learning, and, as a Christian, a yearning to imitate Jesus!” —from Call to Discipleship at Into Thy Word Ministries

Discipleship is answering the call of Christ in your life. This week, the Gospel.com blog is focusing on providing links to community resources that can help you deepen your walk with Christ. We’d like to start by pointing you towards some sermons from Sermonindex.net, which has over 14,000 sermons available online!

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Everybody gets angry sometimes–whether we lash out at those around us or keep it locked away inside our heart, we’ve all been angry. Is there a place for anger in the life of a Christian? Is anger always a bad thing? How would “good” anger differ from “bad” anger?

In an essay at ACTS International, Richard Innes explores a topic we’ve all dealt with: anger. If you struggle to control your temper, or if you are angry about something and not sure how to reconcile your anger with your faith, take a look at Innes’ balanced approach… and learn how to keep the “tiger within” on an emotionally (and spiritually) healthy leash.

How should we cope with loss, tragedy or difficult circumstances? Why does life have to be so hard, anyway? In Dealing with Difficult Circumstances, a series of articles at Delve Into Jesus, Steve Miller searches God’s word for comfort, understanding and answers to these difficult questions.

What do you do when stress hits home? Perhaps unexpected bills are piling up this month and you’re stretched well beyond your budget. Or maybe a difficult family member is making life miserable for you.

Whatever the reason, we’ve all experienced stress and the sense of helpless panic it creates. Fortunately, here’s something that might help you put that stress into the proper spiritual perspective: a three-part reflection on stress, written by Dick Innes of Acts International. Don’t let stress wreck your life and relationships–take a few minutes to read Innes’ advice and see if it can help you put stress in its place.

Faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem in your life or relationships? In the latest Nehemiah Notes column, author Blaine Smith talks about “impossible” problems… and suggests that they often do have solutions. But finding those solutions may require looking outside of ourselves to other people that God has placed in our lives:

…we desperately need the influence of optimistic people, and those with strong, contagious faith, in our lives. In my own life there have been so many instances… where a single individual inspired me to think hopefully about a situation which I thought was at a dead end. While that person may not have given me a solution to my problem, he or she inspired enough optimism that I was able to open my eyes and see a solution that in some cases was only too obvious.

Using several events from the Bible as examples, he argues that our friends and acquaintances can help us see our problems from new angles–and sometimes that’s how God helps us through impossible challenges.

Ever had a day where absolutely nothing seemed to go right? Of course you have–we’ve all had times when it felt that everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong. In a new article at Winning at Home, Dan Seaborn talks about strategies to use to turn a bad day into, well, if not a great day, then at least a not-so-bad day. Might be worth printing out some of his suggestions and pinning them to your fridge/workdesk/dashboard, so they’ll be there next time Murphy’s Law strikes your life!

Almost anyone who’s ever checked their mailbox or email inbox has seen them: extravagant promises of wealth through dubious and vague-sounding get-rich-quick schemes. You’d think that people would have learned by now not to put their faith (or investments) in such schemes — but they’re still alive and well, even in the Christian community, where they’re often peppered with Christian-sounding talk about “seed money.”

Why do we continue to fall for these schemes? An article at Back to the Bible takes a look at get-rich schemes and promises of quick-and-easy money — and what the Bible says about money, riches, and how to attain them.

It’s normal to wonder what others think of you–that’s just part of living in society. But have you ever found yourself so obsessed and worried with what other people think or say about you that you can hardly muster the willpower to act? In an article at Nehemiah Ministries, Blaine Smith explains how we can overcome paralyzing social fears and even turn those worries into something more positive. Don’t go through life crippled by social paranoia–take a look at Blaine’s practical suggestions for overcoming it!

Are Christians (in particular, Christian men) too “wimpy”? Have men in the church been softened by culture? Do they need to get back in touch with their gruffer, tougher side?

Recent movements in American Christianity have preached the need for men to rediscover a tougher, more “manly” faith. In the most recent Online Pulpit column, Lee Cook looks at the theology behind those words–and finds that while this desire to integrate faith with everyday life has its good points, it’s not a very Biblical picture of Christian masculinity. Read the full column, where Banks discusses Jesus’ life as a powerful example of service and submission, not rough-n-tough masculinity.

Has life ever hit you with an unwanted interruption–or disruption–that messed up your plans and sent you back to Square One?

For author Blaine Smith, that disruption came in the form of a computer crash that wiped out much of the book he was writing, forcing him to start over from scratch. But once he’d gotten over his initial frustration, Blaine made a surprising realization: what he considered a terrible setback turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

How so? Read Blaine’s latest Nehemiah Notes column, in which he talks about the ways that God sometimes uses unwanted “interruptions” to benefit our lives, and how to distinguish these blessings in disguise from genuine disruptions.