DownLine Men's Conference Recap #1

INCREDIBLE!

This weekend we made a lengthy trip from Columbia to Memphis, TN with some of our HS guys for the DownLine Men's Summit. It was incredible. I was overwhelmed with the incredible wealth of knowledge that was poured into me, and our guys. We had such a great time- over the next few blog posts, I want to just share with you some of what I learned. These are literally my notes that I typed out- Hopefully they will be of some value to you! By the way, if you do not know what DownLine Ministries is...please check it out- it's an incredible ministry: www.downlineministries.com

The first night we were there, Matt Chandler, pastor at The Village Church, spoke on making disciples not converts! Here is what stuck out to me:


Disciples Not Converts
Matt Chandler
Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Discipleship is not a NT idea- it traces all the way back to creation- Adam was not to be alone- Eve is made a help mate-

Discipleship takes place best in community and at its best in the family (home) community!

Three Components of discipleship in OT:
1. Communal Piece 2. Proclamation Piece 3. Study Piece (scribes)

We water down the word, and the sharpness of the Word out of fear that we might not get conversions.

No one is worried about the seeker sensitive message in the BIble- "Peter's first message...Jesus, who YOU killed."

Refuse to give time to a brother who is not ready to work at discipleship

Jesus is a loving rebuker

The tool that must be used to create mature disciples is the Gospel

1. Teach people to use the weapons of grace against sin
- The Blood of Jesus- Eph 2:13
- The Word of God - 2 Tim 3:16
- Promise of the New Covenant- Hebrews 9:14

2. Teach people to attack the roots, not just the branches
- Get into the hearts of each other- communal aspect

3. Teach people when they sin, they sin against God.
- Difference between worldly sorrow and Godly repentance
- Worldly sorrow is "i did that and my wife is angry"
- Godly repentance is "I did that and God is angry...i sinned against God."
- Have a healthy fear of God and a healthy respect for His presence

4. Teach people not to forsake sin, but understand they're dead to sin.
- Colossians 3: press into the Lord, know the Lord, walk with the Lord, serve the Lord, and then put to death sin...
- Nothing makes you seriously look at your heart like understanding your mortality. You're gonna die.
- What stirs your affection for Jesus Christ?

5. Teach men to be violent about sin
- God has made man aggressive- use that violence and aggression towards your SIN!
- There is a cost to a man's rebellion against God
- Christianity is the weak version it is in the west because men are not violent enough! (against sin)