Samuel Deuth's Blog, page 3

Learning To Hear The Voice Of God | Following Jesus Blog Series

One of the most important questions—and often the most common—is, “How do I hear God when He talks?” One of my favorite scriptures that give us a clue how to do this is found in 1 Samuel:

1 Samuel 3:1-4

The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

You see in these few verses that Samuel positioned himself in a place where God could speak to him. Often we find ourselves like Eli in this story—distracted, busy, and away from God’s presence. Can God shout over the noise of our lives? Yes, but he usually asks us to quiet our lives and lean in to hear his voice.

I’ve found that the more time I spend talking and listening to God, the more I am able to discern if God is speaking to me or not. It’s similar to how we have the ability to pick out the voice of our parent or child from a distance. Because we’ve spent enough time with them, we recognize their voice over the other voices. Take time to listen and write down what’s stirring in your heart when you pray, read the Bible or worship—the more you do this you’ll know what His voice sounds like and you’ll be able to hear it more often.

John 10:27

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Question: What are some ways you’ve learned to know and hear God speaking to you? Comment below.

To learn more about Hearing God’s voice, grab a copy of my book, Following Jesus. You’ll be able to read the full chapter on Prayer & Worship, and the other essentials to knowing and following Jesus.

 

Are you sick of failure? Here’s 2 Quick things that will set you up to win in life!

Isn’t it frustrating when you feel like things just aren’t going your way? Or have you ever thought, what do I need to do to begin to turn things around from failure to success. And for those who are followers of Jesus, we can often wonder why we’re hitting roadblocks and failure if we love and believe in God.

Well, first off, you’re not alone, feeling stuck and frustrated is pretty common, but the good news is, you don’t have to stay stuck, you can begin to see growth and increase! So, with that in mind,  here’s Two Quick ways to get out of failure and begin seeing forward progress:

1. Read and follow the wisdom and instruction in God’s word.

All of the principles, promises and commands in the Bible are specifically designed for your good. The devil has tried to sell us a lie that God is trying to hold us back or withhold good from us, but it’s actually quite the opposite. If you’re needing to see some breakthrough and growth in your life, I highly encourage committing to reading a chapter from the book Proverbs every day. There’s 31, so just keep repeating that. That book is packed full of godly wisdom for all areas of life. Each day when you read it, ask God to give you revelation on how to apply it to your life. Also, If you’re looking for some fundamental input on “What does it mean to follow Jesus”… check out my book: FOLLOWING JESUS)

2. Surround yourself with Godly men and women

Are the people in your world achieving actual results in their lives like you want to see? While we all have people in our worlds that may not be thriving, that doesn’t mean that we have to take their advice. Stop listing to the input of the person who talks big but their life is going no where. When I was a kid, I remember one time a friend of mine said, “I know all about relationships, because I’ve had so many girlfriends.” While there can be some things he’s learned from each relationship, if someone is always failing at whatever area of life whether in business or relationships, don’t take their advice. You only grow from failure if you have outside input helping you grow from it. So, be intentional about creating your world to include the people who want to be like. And when you find the kind of people you want input from, remember they might be busy, so don’t ask for 2 hour counseling sessions, just ask for 5-15 minutes of their time and ask them for input on the next life decision you’re needing to make.

Hope that encourages you all, love to hear your comments on key things that have helped you get unstuck in life!

3 Essentials to creating a discipleship Culture in Your Church

I’ve given my life to building and strengthening the church locally in my zip code and globally—and one of the key things all churches are focused on doing is strengthening their process of making disciples. And I’m glad that this is at the forefront of the conversation since it’s the primary emphasis of the great commission that Jesus gave us.

In this article, I’m going to speak to 3 key essentials that our churches need to create a discipleship culture. This isn’t just a few notes on an exact conversation on what key things a new disciple needs to know—I have that in my new believer’s book called, “Following Jesus”.

This is speaking the broader issue of creating a culture, climate and atmosphere where discipleship and naturally happen and occur in our churches. Yes, there are classes and programs and processes that we and should implement to support that, but if we intentionally create the culture where discipleship naturally happens, then we set ourselves up to more effective.

Have a Vision to Reach Your City!

This might seem obvious, but the first step to creating a church culture where discipleship happens naturally is to have a deep seeded vision in your heart to reach the city that God has put you in. If your vision is just to create programs for the people in your church but not to stir your people up to reach and impact their city then you won’t inspire a culture of discipleship. Jesus’ call to us to make disciples was on the heels of calling us to GO! So, we go into all the world and then as a byproduct we “make disciples.” The passion and vision to reach a city will also force us as the pastors and leaders of the church and the people of the church to step up and truly live out this passionate relationship with Jesus.

Develop a Discipleship Culture

When I say that we need to create a discipleship culture, I don’t mean we need to create a discipleship class, I mean that we need to create an environment within our church community that naturally fosters discipleship.

There are many things I can write, which I’ll cover at length in my “Make Disciples” book coming out soon. But, let me note a few things here.

Create space for people to encounter the presence of God within your church. If people don’t have a passionate and personal relationship with Jesus, than they most likely won’t be stirred to be someone who makes disciples.
Develop a highly relational culture. Discipleship always happens best within relationships. Most of the context of Christianity is around a dinner table and community. If you fight for true and authentic friendships, then you’ll see discipleship happen more naturally. What I mean is that the Apostle Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. And that is how it’s designed to be. Discipleship Programs cannot replace the power or need for community. If as a church, you foster more connections and people spending time together, then you’ll see spiritual maturity increase. Things you can do to make that happen… small groups, discipleship groups, essentials classes….
Another key to creating a culture of discipleship is that we foster a culture of empowerment. This means that if we’re going to develop and draw out the spiritual maturity of people than we need to put a demand on that part of them to rise. So, when we call people up out of comfort zones and into their calling, you’ll find people step up and mature.

Have a Clear Next Step

This is such a huge part of creating a strong discipleship culture in your church. This is key both the person wanting or needing to be discipled and for the church family to more effectively be able to help move people along the path of discipleship.

One of the big keys within a church that wants to make disciples is that we first have to call people to that point of decision to Follow Jesus. If we don’t know that or we haven’t given them that clear call, they could be going through the spiritual motions but not actually having a relationship with God through what Jesus did on the cross! So, in your altar call or however you do it, make sure there’s a clear next step for a new believer to follow. After they say yes to Jesus, “What’s Next?”. The new believer needs to know and you want to train your whole church to know what’s next so that you can direct them to that small group or at to the course on Sundays. In my latest e-course on Discipleship & Assimilation Essentials, I walk through in detail our pathway and step by step of discipleship and assimilation.

We’re praying for you and want to continue to partner up with you as you make disciples. We have the Following Jesus books as a gift, and if you haven’t yet, take the short 2hr Discipleship and Assimilation Essentials E-course.

6 Steps To Writing a Sermon and Preaching a message

This article is for new or developing preachers and teachers of God’s word. Whether this is the first sermon you’re writing or you’ve been doing this for a while and want to fine tune your process, I want to share with you a simple checklist for sermon development that I’ve put together from my 20+ years of preaching and teaching.

Let me note a couple quick things that speak to the heart and mindset of those who have the privilege of preaching the gospel and then we’ll get into a quick 6-point check list of how to develop your message.

Develop the heart of a shepherd:

For those who have the honor of communicating the truths within God’s word should do so with a full awareness of the importance of this role. The Bible says that God has called some to specifically focus on equipping the saints for the work of service. So, we’re not just out here preaching our own deal, we’re on a mission from Jesus to care for and prepare His people. Jesus said to Peter, “if you love me, feed my sheep”. Jesus intentionally brought us to point of focus that we as preachers are shepherds that see our messages as feeding, caring for and preparing those we’ve been entrusted with. You’re aren’t preaching to an audience, you’re feeding the Church, the sheep.

A few Preaching Mindsets

One of the main things I was taught as a young preacher that I’d encourage you to consider as you are preparing your message and as you take the stage to preach.

Focus on Helping People not impressing people.
Focus on bringing people the full truth of God’s word and not your opinion.
Focus on how much God loves those people your preaching to and ask Him to give you the same heart.
Focus on imparting faith into them to follow and fulfill the word.
Always make sure you preach with action in mind. What I mean is, don’t just preach/teach for information, preach and call them to a point of action and decision. The transformation happens when they take action on God’s Word.

 

The Message development check-list that provides a general roadmap as you put your message together.

1. CHOOSE SCRIPTURE OR TOPIC

Find topics through:

Daily Bible reading and study
Asking the Holy spirit to speak to you
Identify an important topic to your audience


Observing/Capturing from everyday life

Often, God will speak to you as you go through life. Whether as a student, parent, friend, employee, etc.

2. UNLOAD YOUR SPIRIT AND MIND

Before any other research, begin by putting everything you know and all the Holy Spirit brings to mind on that specific topic.

3. RESEARCH TOPIC (LOOK FOR CONTENT IN THESE AREAS)

Scripture references
How is current culture handling this topic
Illustrations or stories
Statistics
Personal life example
Quotes
Is there a physical prop that will really clarify this message
Humor: find a funny story or write your own
Lyrics to a song
Excerpt from a book
Imagine if…

Draw on the power of their imagination
Modern day parables


Movie reference/clip

4. SHAPE THE MESSAGE

Like clay. You start with the clump and then slowly chip away until you have your masterpiece.
This process helps you to reveal and clarify the one goal and action step you are leading them to.
Maintain a logical progression of thought. Which means that each point or thought is clearly leading you to the end goal of your message
Consider how this message will come across from the seat of the listener.

5. FINE TUNE

Don’t settle for the first draft. Print it off, tweak, update, print off again
(Repeat until done)

6. PRAY IT HOT!

Preparation is important, but, then we step back and pray it though until the Holy Spirit has fully moved it from head-knowledge to spirit revelation.
Our goal isn’t to just relay information, but to leave a spiritual deposit into the lives of those we are preaching to.
People encountering Jesus is what transforms them, not our “creative” message; prayer helps us keep Jesus as the focus of our preaching.

Praying this helps and serves you as you prepare for the next time you communicate and minister the good news of God’s word. For additional preaching resources and material like this and other books and e-courses, check out preachingforward.com.

To get an emailed copy of the the message prep check-list email us requesting it at: info@samueldeuth.com

The Second Guesser (Video)

 

God can use

anyone

from anywhere

at anytime to do

anything

 

The above phrase I believe with all my heart — but the enemy of our lives constantly attempts to get us to second guess God’s goodness and God’s ability to work through our lives. We have to learn how to second guess the second guesser!  I’ve embed the full message on this topic that I recently preached at my home church, C3 San Diego.

Watch, share, and repeat the above phrase daily until you believe it!

Creating a Discipleship Culture In Your Church

As pastors and ministry leaders we’ve been given the mandate from Jesus to go reach and make disciples! In this last era of the church God has stirred up fresh strategy and wisdom to excel in evangelism! The church had been deemed by culture as out of touch and “old school” but we’ve seen such a shift in the church returning to relevance and engaging culture in a way that they can receive the gospel and the response is obvious, as altars are full and many churches are consistently seeing their visitor and salvation responses increase!

And along with that salvation increase is the equal need to see the church respond with an effective discipleship strategy, which I believe is what God is really building throughout the church right now. Some of what we need is better strategy and some of what we need is a shift in church culture. In this post I’m going to talk about creating a culture for discipleship more than specific strategies. But I will mention quickly about my new believers discipleship resource called, Following Jesus, that my church in San Diego, and many other churches are finding helpful in their discipleship approach. Churches are using it as the gift when people come to Christ, within small groups, and some in discipleship course settings. To review go to: followingjesusbook.com

CREATING A DISCIPLESHIP CULTURE

Now, let’s talk about creating a culture and atmosphere where discipleship grows. When you’re working to become more effective at discipleship begin with what kind of atmosphere is required for discipleship to happen naturally.

When my family and I first moved to San Diego, CA to serve and base ministry with Ps Jurgen & Leanne Matthesius and the C3 Church family, there was something we noticed about the Spiritual maturity of the church. As we got to connect with each of our locations it became obvious that the average level of the spiritual maturity of the church was higher than you typically see in a larger church like this. The key to this discipleship culture was born in relationships.

A theme emerged in weekly staff meetings and various settings , “discipleship happens best in relationships.” While classes, groups or other settings can be helpful to facilitate discipleship, nothing can replace the power and impact of a church that is spending more time together. I know that may initially seem too simple, but when the culture of the church is to spend more together, then you’ll see discipleship happening more organically. You want your discipleship structures and strategies to help support what’s happening naturally within the relationships of your church family.

A few thoughts on creating this type of relational environment. First off, if you’re not naturally a “relational” person, don’t let yourself off the hook assuming that your personality type is an excuse for not building a relationship. Second, building relationally must begin from the top down. If you’re the lead pastor, don’t attempt to delegate relationships, this is one of those things that must be modeled. A practical way that this looks like is you cultivating friendships with your staff and key team. Follow this mantra:

Less meetings, more meals.

Yes, we need planning meetings and creative and strategic meetings, but your greatest leaders and creative ideas will flow more effortlessly out of a team that is enjoying the journey together. As a team, there are your weekly meetings to get into the details and just get stuff done. But then we have monthly gatherings with our core and lead teams that as much a party as they are a meeting. So, when we get the schedule for upcoming meetings, I’m stoked because there’s going to be great food, lawn games and hang time with our friends. As well as wrapping up with a time of vision and prayer. If you and your leaders are dreading meetings, it’s time to take a step back and focus more on house parties than office meetings. For the lead pastors or campus pastors, how often are your meetings at your home versus the church meeting room? And if the meeting has to be at the church, be sure there’s a lot of great food! Sharing a meal together is a powerful way to build relationships and community so that authentic discipleship can happen.

From there, the culture of relationships will flow more naturally if you and the lead teams are modeling genuine friendship. Then you can implement broader church relationships opportunities like a small group structure and other social settings. And not to sound to infatuated with food, haha! But, try not to gather without a meal in the mix! We also end our services by encouraging people to take someone out to lunch eat week to be sure we keep it a priority in our church as it continues to expand.

Click here: For more help with strengthening your churches discipleship culture and strategy.

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” —Matthew 28:18-20  (NIV)

When broken down

The Includers

“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. —Luke 14:23

As we’re heading into Easter weekend, I’m reminded of the greatest reality that you and I have been included on the invite list into God’s family! I love the heart you can feel from God in the verse above, He wants his house FULL!! No one is off the list, no one is excluded. I’m so thankful that God included me!

 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” —Romans 8:15 (NIV)

Now, the real question I have to wrestle with here is, “Jesus included me, but am I including others?”

The invitation was never meant to end with us—it’s meant to get through us!

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. —2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV)

God wants to reach your city through you! We have been included and now it’s our turn include others. Isn’t it the worst to be looking at your social media only to find some of your friends hanging out and you weren’t include?! I know I’ve had that, but then the reverse is powerful as well, isn’t it incredible to feel “included” on the invite list? It’s amazing! There’s something powerful about being included! It has a profound impact on our lives. This is what God did for us… He included us. We were separate, we were outsiders and he invited us to the table, gave us a spot to sit. Called us into the family. When we bring people to church and introduce other people to Jesus and they respond to the invite and join the family of God it impacts them in a few key ways:

Inclusion Provides:

Identity

 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will  — Ephesians 1:5 (NIV)

Much of the struggle and dysfunction in the world today is due to people not knowing their identity. Not knowing that they have a loving father who created them and wants to know them. When I’m included into the family, God now calls us a son or daughter and we call him father! We’re not a step child or just a neighbor kid that’s allowed to stay the night, we’re fully adopted into the family and now get full access to the father and all He has!

Stability

There’s something stabilizing about a healthy family. When we include others into the family of God, not only is their identity restored but now they have a family to walk with them and encourage them along the way. Our world is full of people who are falling and being tripped up in life with no one to help them.

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. —Ecclesiastes 4:10 (NIV)

Purpose

The Bible refers to all those who follow Jesus as a family, the Church and in 1 Corinthians 12, The bible calls us a body. Because each following Jesus has a unique part to play as the body of Christ! Too many people attempt to find their value in themselves alone, but we wont fully see our purpose fulfilled until its linked into the full purpose of the body!

 

So, who are we including? No one deserves to be off the guest list of heaven! All are invited and all are welcome! This Easter and every weekend, “Who are you including?” As the Church, let’s be the most inclusive group of people on Earth!

 

MEN, want to find that perfect Godly woman and get married?

First off, marriage is one of the most incredible gifts God has given to us. My amazing wife Katie and I have been married 14 years. Like all great and lasting marriages, we’ve had our share of great seasons and seasons of going through the motions. But when you find the right woman, and commit to each other and commit to working on the strength of your marriage, it will bring an unreal amount of joy and fulfillment to your life! I’m going to get into some advice for how to get that Godly woman, but first I have to share this verse from the Bible! It perfectly echos my heart about marriage as the day my heart rejoiced!

“Look on King Solomon wearing a crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced.” —Song of Solomon 3:11

Here’s a little advice to get the woman of your dreams:

Make God your primary pursuit. (A woman of God is attracted to a strong man of God)
Identify the vision God has given you and go after that. (High quality women are attracted to men with drive… they want to know where this train will take them if they jump on)
Honor and respect all women. If you’re going to cherish one woman someday we have to start today by giving all women the respect and value they deserve. So, no “whistling/hollerin’ at women” and say no to the quick fix of pornography and one night stands.
Now that you’ve done the above—GO AFTER THE WOMAN YOU WANT!!!! Stop waiting around for a girl to drop in your lap (actually don’t let any girl drop in your lap until you’re married to her

How To Pray With Authority!

Are you praying with authority or with fear? Are you praying “from” strength or “from” a position of weakness? Most tend to pray passive and ineffective prayers, but we don’t need to stay that way. The story of Moses showcases how God wants us to pray. When God is sending Moses to Pharaoh to help with freeing the Jewish people, you see the way that God tells Moses to speak to Pharaoh.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.”” —‭‭Exodus‬ ‭9:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This is incredible! And shocking if you’re Moses. God tells Moses to “command” Pharaoh to let his people go, but Pharaoh is the supreme leader and Moses is nothing, humanly speaking. What you see is that God didn’t have Moses “ask” the enemy to let the people go, rather he tells him to command the enemy to give up what he’d taken.

Stop being polite with your enemy.

Stop speaking to the enemy like he’s more powerful than you. Because you’re a child of God, you carry the authority of God with you. This means that you have the authority to speak boldly with the enemies that come against you. When you’re lesser in authority then you ask, but when you’re greater in authority then you make a demand.

Pray from your authority not your insecurity. Pray from your position in your heavenly family not your earthy position.

When the enemy tries to mess with you, your family or your city, then step up and speak direct and with authority and COMMAND the devil to leave! When you’re in Christ, the enemy will have to leave! Recently at church we were praying for people to be delivered from any demonic oppression of any kind. A young woman came for prayer that had been involved in the satanic church and ever since that time she’s been sick and in and out of the hospital. So, I had her reaffirm her allegiance to Jesus as Lord and renounce any ties and declarations to satan. Then I didn’t ask the devil to leave her and I didn’t ask God to please kick the devil off her life… no, I stepped into my God-given authority and commanded satan to leave her life in Jesus name! The demon shook her, threw her down and then left her, then great peace came over her life!

Do not fear the enemy!

Pray from your authority!

 

Are you playing the Victim in life? {Most Are}

If we’re not intentional we can end up playing the role of a victim of our circumstances. Most of us don’t want to play the victim, but the truth is that we often settle for it.

Playing the victim = Deciding that you’re powerless to change your situation.

When we’re younger we tend to assume that we can do anything! But then as life goes on and we experience difficulties and delays, we stop believing as big and begin shrinking our dreams down to fit our circumstances.

The victim mentality begins by making some type of subconscious statement that the lack of progress in our lives is because of some external circumstance beyond my control, then we shift all the responsibility over to God. We decide that if God’s wants it to be different than he’ll have to step in and change it.

I’ve done this before in my marriage and in my finances. In both, I was deceived into thinking that breaking through to the next level in my finances or in the health of my marriage was out of my hands and that I was just kinda “waiting on God” to do something. It wasn’t a faith thing, it was an issuing of settling for the victim route.

We slip into the victim role every time that we settle for a reality that is less than the full life that God has for us.

But God didn’t create the world to rule over us but he create us to rule over the earth. Notice what Genesis 1:28 says:

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” —Genesis 1:2 (NIV)

Let the magnitude of that verse sink in! We’re called to rule over not to be ruled. So am I saying it’s all up to us in life? No, absolutely not. But we also can’t decide that everything is up to God when God clearly delegated his authority to us to rule in life. Our efforts are in tandem and in partnership with Him. Notice the apostle Paul’s approach:

To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. —Colossians 1:29 (NIV)

Paul is engaging all he has in partnership with all the power of God to fulfill his mission in life. It’s time for us to stop playing the victim in our lives and in our circumstances and start standing up and declaring that “with God all things are possible” and refuse to quit short of God’s purpose for your life!

So, the real question I want us to ask ourselves is:

“What area of my life have I been settling?”

Choose today, that with God’s help, you’ll begin to take ownership of your life and with God’s help you’ll begin to take the dominion that you were intended to take!