Apr 8 2024
Making it About Jesus
Do you want to be inspired to live out your faith to the fullest? If so, you will need to go to the right source. Not surprisingly, Jesus is the greatest motivational leader in human history, and we would do well to learn from his example. In this three-part series, Learning the Art of Motivation From Jesus, Reese Neyland will help us to find inspiration from the example of Jesus through his initial call of the first disciples as recorded in Mark 1:16-20.Click here to donate to the programClick here for more Deeper Dive EpisodesOC Church of ChristBelow are the handouts referenced by Reese in this episode.Suggestions for Knowing Jesus BetterReese Neyland Your foundation should be reading, studying, and meditating on the Jesus of the Bible:Read the gospels and imagine what you would do if you were Jesus and compareRead the gospels and ask yourself a question to narrow your focus and learn… ”What do I learn about how Jesus loved?” “What do I learn about the character of Jesus?” “What do I learn about the relationships of Jesus?”Take notes and save them so you will not forget what you have learnedFavorite authors and preachers:Philip YanceyAndy StanleyTimothy KellerDallas WillardMax LucadoScot McKnightFavorite book about Jesus:“The Jesus I Never Knew” by Philip YanceyBook about Jesus I am reading now: “The Emotional Intelligence of Jesus” by Roy M. Oswald and Arland JacobsonFavorite television show about Jesus: “The Chosen” – three seasons to date with more to comeI would love to hear suggestions you might have as well: r.neyland@live.comWhy I Am Still Following Jesus(a personal letter to Jesus)April 12, 2015I was barely 23 years old when I decided to follow you, Jesus. It was just the right time for me. I felt the emptiness of my life so deeply and I found a large group of people who loved you and were serious about following you. Their lives inspired me and gave me hope for my own life. I had never seen that before. I think you had something to do with that – no, I think you had everything to do with that. It seemed almost too good to be true and I wondered if it was. I am sure you remember the hours and hours I spent looking at the evidence to see if I could have a real faith in you. Thank you for providing all the reasons I needed to believe. (Thank you for providing all the reasons anyone needs to believe!) You lived and you died on a cross for me. You were raised from the dead so I could also live a new life. That’s why I am still following you. Of course, many years have passed now. More than anything else, it has been a life of joy and blessing. But it has also been just as challenging as you warned me it would be. Perhaps I should say, even harder than I ever thought it might be. If I am honest, most of the time the difficulty is within me…my own struggle with sin, insecurity, and selfishness. Even so, you keep loving me even when I have fallen and disappointed you. Instead of condemnation and retribution, you offer me fatherly discipline, repentance, and forgiveness.
