: Stuart Robinson
: Daring to Disciple Making Jesus' Last Command Our First Priority
: CHI-Books
: 9780648510840
: 1
: CHF 10.50
:
: Christentum
: English
: 144
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
DARING TO DISCIPLE by Dr Stuart Robinson. We are sleep walking into oblivion unless there is a dramatic change. DARING TO DISCIPLE reminds us of the biblical imperative of not merely calling for conversions, but more importantly to make disciples. The principles within the pages of this book have been demonstrated to be effective in all religio-cultural contexts. Their simplicity, adaptability and flexibility is their strength. This insightful and convicting book is a clarion call to make disciples. If you want to change the world then read this book.


CHAPTER 1
A Shakey Start

In 1958 I was invited by a Christian friend to go to the cinema on a Sunday night. At that time where I lived nothing operated on a Sunday night, including many of the streetlights that local youth had smashed. The possibility of seeing a movie on a Sunday night wasn’t a temptation. It was a miracle. Upon entering the cinema I was surprised and disappointed to learn that there was no movie. Instead the main attraction was a man with an American accent on an elevated platform preaching about Jesus.

Many years later when I was researching for my own doctoral dissertation, I learned that the preacher, Dr J. Edwin Orr, was world-famous for his prolific writings on the history of Christian revivals. And he had five PhDs. Genuinely awesome!

He talked about the problem of sin, breaking God’s laws and how this left us with a dilemma. We could repent, ask God to forgive us, believe in what Jesus had done and proceed to heaven. Or we could remain in our unredeemed state and go to hell.

The solution to our problem was dependent on a person called Jesus, who had lived a couple of millennia ago. He was said to be a sinless person who had come into the world, lived, died and rose again. His death on a cross somehow could relieve me from the penalty of sin. All I had to do was to confess I was a sinner, ask God to forgive me, believe in Jesus, invite him into my life and all would be well.

Not only did I not understand any of this Christian jargon, what the speaker was suggesting was physically impossible. Dr Orr said this Jesus was, at my invitation, to come and live within me. South African cardiac surgeon, Christian Barnard, didn’t attempt the first heart transplant until 3 December 1967. Even then his patient, Louis Washkanski, lived only 18 days.

So nine years before a heart transplant was attempted, how was a complete person going to be able to cohabit within my skin? But help was at hand.

The speaker assured us that free literature was available to help all those who accepted the invitation to invite Jesus into their lives. That word “free” focused my attention. Our family was relatively poor and so we were always on the lookout for any free handouts. Besides if I could just get the literature maybe I could work out his gobbledygook for myself. However to qualify for the freebie there was another hoop through which to jump.

“Just raise your hand wherever you are seated. We will pray for you,” the preacher suggested.

To do that among all those Christians could expose me to be one of those unrepentant sinners bound for hell. Anyway how was I t