December Newsletter

I hope that this Discipleship Inc newsletter finds you well. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. There are many reasons for this, most importantly it is the birth of our Savior. The whole gospel hangs on this reality, the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.

I remember my pastor once saying, ‘The virgin birth is the gatekeeper for the Christian faith.’ Larry King was once asked, ‘If you could ask any person in history one question, what would it be?’ The talk show host quickly responded, ‘I would ask Jesus Christ if He was virgin born?’ He too realized the importance of this doctrine. 

Over the past couple years, as I proclaim “the gospel of God” to lost souls, there is one word I use to start all conversations. That is the word truth. This word is central to all we do in life; most certainly it is essential in declaring the gospel to young adults. 

If Jesus Christ is not virgin born we might just as well be celebrating reindeer and snowmen. If it is true, and it is, salvation has come to mankind. This reality caused the angel of the Lord to tell Joseph, “Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21)

The Word of God gives overwhelming evidence to support this fact. To believe this is not doing a ‘brain-check at the door.’ NO! A thousand times no! Rather we are using evidence, reasoning, and critical thinking as the gospel writers’ call us to. When we do, there is only one conclusion we will come to, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 

We will declare with the apostles, when Jesus calmed the storm, “Truly You are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:33) We will fall down at His feet in fear as demons did declaring, “You are the Son of God.” (Mark 3:11) Finally, we will marvel at Him with Nathanael declaring, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel.” (John 1:49)

May you and your family take time this Christmas to ponder, ‘WHO is this virgin born Baby?’ When you do may the majesty and wonder of His birth stir your heart to sing with the hymnist, ‘Joy to the world; the Lord is come; let earth receive her King; let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing.’

I hope that you and your family have a ‘Christ filled’ Christmas. 

Steve

PS There is a new post on our website www.discipleshipinc.org. It is on the tab ‘A dying man to dying men’. Here I reproduced the last words of many dying saints. What an encouragement their words have been—they died well.       

I hope this November Discipleship Inc newsletter finds you well. Last month we had a board meeting where I discussed what Christ has been doing in our ministry. Here are a few highlights that I reported.

· Our website has over 140 blog posts and receives roughly 200 ‘hits’ each month.  

· We have over 300 people that receive this monthly newsletter.

· We have given out 15 ESV study Bibles in the past year.

· There are 60 young adults that I pray for daily by name. In this total there are roughly 14 I have met with one on one and 6 I am currently mentoring. 

· There are over 95 college students that receive the Friday update each week. 

· There are 5 adults that I am currently discipling. 

Two weeks ago I had lunch with a Concordia tennis player that was mentioned in last month’s newsletter. What a blessing our time together was as we reflected on his successful high school tennis career. 

I told him of my myocarditis and how Christ has used this in my life. He then opened up and shared about his diabetes as well as how hard his parent’s divorce has been on him. This led me to discuss how often the Word of God talks of suffering and God’s purposes in it. We are planning to get together again in December.

I got an encouraging text from one of the Concordia apologetics students last week. He is a former boys tennis player and has one of our ESV study Bibles. We have met for lunch numerous times in the past 18 months. 

He said, ‘Hey Coach Steve, I hope you are doing well. I just wanted to reach out to update you and emphasize how much I’ve appreciated your mentorship over the years—it has meant a lot.’ What an encouragement his text was to my soul. 

Finally, as the holidays approach, I would like to ask if you would consider giving a financial gift to Discipleship Inc. Our ministry is fully funded by the monetary gifts from our supporters. Without the gifts from those of you getting this newsletter, this ministry would not be possible. 

You can make a one-time gift, or be a monthly supporter, by using PayPal on our website. Our address is www.discipleshipinc.org You can also write a check to Discipleship Inc and mail it to the following address.

Discipleship Inc

P.O. Box 68

Roanoke, IN 46783

Thank you for considering making a donation to our ministry. 

May God bless you and your family this Thanksgiving Holiday.

Steve

PS I added another post to the tab, ‘A dying man to dying men.’ It was the 5-minute memorial address that I gave at my friend’s memorial service last month.