YOUR GRACE STILL AMAZES ME... AS YOU DISCIPLE ME...

MEDITATION MONDAY

"I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW!"

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At some point, Steve's sermon from yesterday will be posted and you can click over on the right sidebar and listen. It will be worth it! The video clips he showed will probably not be available though. There is no way that I can even touch on the enormity of the topic. Steve spoke from the book of Mark, specifically chapters 8-10 which he referred to as - "strong teaching on discipleshp."

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On the way out of the auditorium yesterday, I had more people than usual say to me how "challenged" or "impacted" they were by his words. Others called or texted during the day. Then, there were Facebook comments like this one:

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Thank you Steve for a wonderful lesson on discipling! Thank you for challenging us and reminding me again how my pride gets in the way! Please Lord keep breaking me down! GIGATT...

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You know, the word GRACE is not found in the book of Mark, but the teaching hit me smack dab in the heart! Who are you allowing to help disciple you? Who is it in your life who can work like an S.O.S. pad to help scrub down the rough places? Who is it in your life who you will listen to when they say:

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Steve took us from Mark 8:22 to Mark 10:52. He called these the INCLUSIO passages between the two stories of the blind men. Jesus was with His disciples:

1. HE SPENT TIME WITH THEM.
2. HE ASKED THEM QUESTIONS.
3. HE WARNED!
4. HE TAUGHT THEM... STATING THINGS PLAINLY...
5. HE REBUKED!

One of the disciples:

1. PULLED JESUS ASIDE!
2. REBUKED JESUS!

Wow! All that and we weren't even out of Mark 8. What I noticed the most, as Jesus discipled, was that He spoke of spiritual things and His disciples got stuck on the physical. He would say something profound and eventually it would get back to the physical and the disciples' pride. They could not see clearly that Jesus was talking about a spiritual Kingdom. They had trouble seeing JESUS clearly for who He was!

Steve reminded us that JESUS was calling all disciples to be SUFFERING, SERVANT SLAVES. Now that is a deeply spiritual concept that I refer to as the:

I thought, "Yep! Patti, Jesus is calling you to be a JOYFUL suffering, servant slave!

As I sat and pondered Jesus' patient love for His disciples, I was convicted that that is how He wants us to disciple each other - with GRACE and TRUTH. I also thought of what we had read in our Bible class, just an hour earlier with elementary kids, from the book of Genesis. God was patiently working with Cain. He extended Him GRACE:
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Genesis 4:6-8
"Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry?

Why is your face downcast?

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?

But if you do not do what is right,

sin is crouching at your door;

it desires to have you, but you must master it."
Now Cain said to his brother Abel,

"Let's go out to the field."

And while they were in the field,

Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."
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Cain wouldn't allow himself to be discipled by God. Judas wouldn't allow himself to be discipled by Jesus. GOD STILL EXTENDED HIS GRACE!!! AMAZING!

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