Phil's Blog

My Blog was moved to my website

Phillip Pretorius — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Sorry I realised that my previous post had the web address wrong.

Due to the vision and the passion God gave me to serve disciple makers and encourage disciple making churches I felt it best to start a website: www.disciplemakingchurches.com. This website gives me the ability to do more than blogs posts, it will enable me to serve all of you in a greater capacity. This blog will no longer be my primary sources. If you have subscribed to this blog and wish to continue please go to my website: www.disciplemakingchurches.com and subscribe again. Please take in account that this is a new website and we are trying our best to get it all up and running, the blogs are all available but the rest is a work in progress.

Sorry for any inconvenience

Phillip

Back to Basics

Make disciple – Raise Leaders – Planting Church Planting Churches

Following Jesus, The Price?

Phillip Pretorius — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:43:24 +0000

In my last blog we spoke about what it means to follow Jesus. In this blog I want to focus on the cost of following Jesus.

Christianity in today’s culture runs the danger of sharing a gospel at half price or even at a discounted price “if you respond now“. A gospel at a discounted price has nothing to do with the expense of serving Jesus but rather an exposure of not understanding the gospel at all. Serving Jesus in fact does not cost us anything, but saves us from everything that would have cost us everything for eternity.

Mark 8:34

³⁴Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

I would like to explain this in the following way:

The gospel will only cost us what the gospel has come to destroy. Three things that the gospel has no half price or cheaper package on:

No Self-Love
No Self-Purpose
No Self-Worship

This passage and no other passage in the bible market any other price but “If anyone would come after Me, he must“

1. No Self-Love – “must deny himself” self deny

Love expresses our highest form of passion and commitment, following Jesus requires all of our love and deserves nothing less. When we don’t give up the love of self, then even when we say we are following Jesus we will use who Jesus is and what He has to offer to benefit self.

Jesus has been self-sacrificial at all times, thinking about us.

Following Jesus means to take on the attitude and mind of Christ (Phil 2) and rather self-sacrifice for the benefit of others than to self love only seeking to benefit self. Self love centers the world around one self which will be the worst place we can find ourselves in; Me, myself and I a very small package. In “SIN” you will find “I” in the center of all sin. When I live then sin will live, when I die, then sin dies with I. Anything or anyone who encourages the “I” to be glorified and to live is loveless and destructive. One of the greatest loving acts we can do for someone is to encourage and help them to die to self, that would be the best for self.

We continually need to remind ourselves that “I am not the center of the world, God is”.

The Price: Give up I for we, myself for Him.

2. No Self-Purpose – “take up his cross” be redefined

Self purpose has more to do with the will of God than the sufferings we need to endure without purpose. I by no means want to minimize the sufferings involved in serving Jesus, but the purpose that justifies the price.

Taking up one’s cross has to do with taking up God’s will and purpose for our lives as He has created us. Our purpose was designed by God, for God to fulfill the will of God. No creature defines its own purpose; that would be arrogant. To self design our purpose and creation plan could be seen as an act of direct rebellion against our Creator and His plans. Understanding that we were created by a loving Creator who purposefully created us to bring Him glory. Man’s highest call is man fully satisfied in pleasing and glorifying God. God’s will and purpose directs and defines all that we are and do. From being a house keeper or a company owner if not to please God, then what are we doing and for whom are we doing it? If our business is not God’s business then whose business is it?

Like a good friend of mine always says, find out God’s purpose for your life as early as possible and then live in it al long as possible.

We were created to love pleasing our Creator in all we are and do.

The Price: My will for His will

3. No Self-Worship – “follow Me” to glorify
Our habitual love and obedience is our ultimate expression of worship. Worship has to do with subscribing “Worthiness” to someone or something. Giving someone our full attention and devotion. Following them in action and in lifestyle. When self is loved then inevitably all of purpose will be defined and aligned to help love self more because of the worthiness that self has subscribed to itself.

There is definitely no half price on this one, not even a 5% discount. You cannot have two masters! Christ was not trying to fill up His offerings baskets and build His “how many followers” reputation. He made it crystal clear, no discount and no bargaining. “You shall serve no other gods, but Me” You shall love and obey no other but Me, that is if you want to follow Me. The Glory of God is the ultimate calling of man. We were created by God, for God to glorify God alone! God being totally God centered is completely loving, drawing us into Himself which is our very best, being created to become like Him in character and nature.

The Price: My name and story for His fame and glory.

Conclusion:

Any discounted gospel is no gospel at all, but a deception drawing man into a false sense of security that offers nothing but some earthly satisfaction and a temporary ease of conscience. Any discount actually offers you a major hidden price to be paid, the failure of knowing and enjoying God forever, being fully and completely satisfaction in Him.

In following Christ we need to be willing to deny self-love and self-centeredness and allow God to redefine our purpose so we can wholeheartedly live to glorify Him in all we are and do.

Following Jesus means?

Phillip Pretorius — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:31:06 +0000

It has been a while since my last blog, well here we go again.

The past few months I have been wrestling and meditating on how we can disciple people better so to encourage a greater movement of disciples who will take the will and way of God where ever they go. in the next few blogs I will be sharing my thoughts with you while I am on this journey.

Mark 1:17 (NIV)

¹⁷“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

Some quetions that come to mind:

Who is Calling me to follow Him?
What does it mean “to follow Him”?
What is His promise if I follow Him?

Who is calling me to follow Him?

This is a important question, because our reaction reflects our respect and honour for the one who is calling us. I remember so clearly when I was young my brother will run up to me and say dad is calling you or sometimes one of my many brothers are calling me. Well its clear when dad calls, its immediate response and when brothers call me its measured by priority response.

In this case, it is JESUS CALLING YOU AND I, what is your response?

What does it mean “to Follow Jesus”

To Believe Him

Rom 10-9-10 says if we confess with our mouths and believe with our hearts we will be saved.

Mouths – what we speak must line up with Hearts what we value and do. We cannot say we believe with our confession but our actions does not confirm it, we also cannot say believe with our hearts but our mouths fears to confess it.

“Believe in” means to trust Him wholeheartedly without reserve above my feelings, opinions and experiences.

Believe means to believe His Word as the final authority in my life and for all of life. Align my “confession” speaking and my actions “heart” with His Word confirms that I believe in Him.

To Obey Him

1 John 2:5-6

⁵But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Obedience is a fruit of love, whatever we love will have our spontaneous priority and participation.

God loved us first and proved it by the price He paid to reconcile us to Him. Our only response can be to love Him back seen by our absolute obedience to Him. This is an ongoing maturing process. As we embraces His love for us and respond by obeying Him, we get to know Him through our obedience. As we get to know Him more we will love Him more, as we love Him more we will obey Him more, the more we obey Him the more we will know him the more we will love him.

Love Him-Obey Him -Know Him-Love Him- Obey Him- Know Him…….

This process will increase and grow as long as we respond to His love with obedience motivated by our love for Him. Obedience without love is dead, and love without obedience is deception, but love proven by obedience is addictive, attractive and life giving. This is the only way to maturity.

To Imitate Him

Ephesian 5:1-2

¹Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

2 Corinthians 3:18

We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him.

We are created to bring God all glory by allowing Him to change us into His likeness, meaning His character become ours. The highest call we can ever desire and respond to is not what we do for God but to become like God in character and love.

What is His promise if we follow Him?

His promise is clear that if we follow Him, He is going to instill His heart in us. A heart that loves and prioritize those who does not follow (Believe, Obey and Imitate) Him. He will make us to become fishers of men. We will become lifestyle fishers of those who are not follows to become followers. Well if that is His promise then way are so many “followers” not fishing for men?

Well if they are not fishing for men then I have only two conclusions:

Either Jesus is not able to make us fishers of men
or we are not following Jesus

This brings me to my conclusion:

I truly believe that Jesus is able to make any follower an effective and lifestyle fisher of men. The real problem is that we are not following Jesus! The christian rat-race, un-dealt insecurities to please man looking for acceptance to become somebody and bad theology has derailed many new born believers from their true devotion and first love to the one who called them to follow and fish.

If we follow Christ our Believe in Him marked by our Obedience to Him will result in our Becoming like Him, the overwhelming joy and fulfillment of becoming what I am created to be, will inevitable overflow in us inviting others to come and follow Him too.

How do we know someone is following Jesus, his becoming is addictive and attractive overflows into his fishing for people to come and follow Jesus too.

THE END – GONE FISHING!!!

Getting Started Again

Phillip Pretorius — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:17:44 +0000

I am sorry that I have been so quiet the past few months, things have been pretty busy and I needed to get a few things in place first. Well the good news is I will soon start blocking again.

Watch this space!!!

Phillip

God’s power for God’s purposes

Phillip Pretorius — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:04:21 +0000

God’s power always calls us back to His purpose

Luke 5:1-11

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee), with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, ²he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down (plural) the nets for a catch.” ⁵Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. ⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” ¹¹So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Three things happened here:

Vs 5 “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.

But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

1. Never give up on what Jesus asked you to do, you will catch fish.

Vs 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said,

“Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”

2. Peter fell to his knees and repented, convicted of his lack of faith

Our lack of faith will keep us fruitless
Repentance opens up our hearts so that God can redefine our lives and change the purpose we were living for.

Vs 10 “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.”

3. When God’s power touches our lives His purposes becomes our mission

Jesus said don’t be afraid, don’t be faithless about what I am about to say to you.
From now on you will be catching men – you will now prioritise the lives of men above your daily business, in fact you will do business in such a way that men will come to know Christ.

Conclusion:

When God demonstrates His power in a way like this He always redirect us back to His purpose. God has always been about the business of saving people. Many have stumbled at this point when it comes to the power of God’s; His passion is and will always be the lives of men and women who do not know Him. He does not demonstrate His power so we can continue doing the things that kept us fruitless. He firstly demonstrated His LOVE through the cross so that lost people can be reconciled to Him, and secondly he keeps on demonstrating His POWER so that we will repent and come back to the original purpose of the cross, the salvation of lost people.

His power was demonstrated to open up unfruitful Simon’s life and redirect Him to what is of most importance, the lives of people who do not know Jesus. What about you, are you fruitful in praying and reaching out to people who do not know Jesus?

How?

Pray and Ask
Go and Look
Show and Tell
Invite and Connect

Enjoy this journey will change your life

Discipleship: Critical Success Factor No. 3: GRACE

Phillip Pretorius — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:29:37 +0000

“11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” Titus 2:11-12

When our love for God is expressed in our complete obedience to His Word, then GRACE is at work.

We have minimized spiritual maturity to head knowledge and attendance. This error has left many “believers” in deep deception living with pride and an unteachable attitude. The more we know the stronger we are, well it is exactly the opposite that is true. When we know so much but fail to live up to what we know the assumption can be made that we don’t have the inner grace and strength be true that what we know.

Spiritual Maturity equals complete surrender and obedience. This leaves all of us in debt, when we realize that not by human ability and knowledge but rather in compete surrender and trust will we find true maturity. Obedience is a natural outflow of love, and love will always lead back to obedience. Our understanding of our human frailty and complete dependency on God alone for salvation is the foundations for total surrender and deep founded humility, the only place where grace is activated to produce in us what is humanly impossible. The honour of God is found in the greatest expression and outwork of His grace at work in and through our lives. Religion teaches that we can do it without God, rebellion says I want to do it without God, true Christianity is convinced that I cannot do it without God and and want to do it for and with God.

Grace is God’s ability at work in and through us to accomplish what He will’s to do in us and through us. The vessel he uses must be utterly shattered to self, completely surrender to His will and passionately in love with Him as a person.

Mercy is God willingly and lovingly forgiving us for all our past sin and spiritual debt. The requirement is to acknowledge the truth about ourselves and our sin and putting our faith in Christ alone for forgiveness and redemption. Mercy is God dealing with our past not us. the result is a humble dependent and thankful servant of the the One who saved us. No more price in serving God, it is an honour because of His mercy.

Grace is God empowering the humble James 4:6 “God gives grace to the humble, but he resists the proud”, giving a hope and a future. Grace is God at work in us after He has freed us from our past He now enables us to not continue in our past ways but live in a newness of life. Grace is living our God’s will; that is my future, and He gives me the power to do all He asks and expects of me.

Practical Steps:

Love all truth, even painful truth that confronts our way of living that contradict His Word.
Immediate repentance is he key to find Grace
When Grace God’s power is at work producing in as the will then work with that Grace to get more grace
Love God -Love People the measure of all actions.

Discipleship: Critical Success Factor No. 2 – LOVE

Phillip Pretorius — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:28:25 +0000

Jesus said “If you LOVE me, you will OBEY me.” (Jn 14:23)

The Second Critical Success Factor for Discipleship is LOVE

The discipleship of Jesus flowed out of healthy, loving relationships with his disciples. If we try to disciple people without love, it will soon become a chore and we will struggle to keep motivated. The essence and foundation of all lasting relationships (discipleship) is love:
1. Love for God from a pure heart
2. Love for people with a sincere heart
Discipleship is a relationship build on the foundations of Love and Obedience to GOD. For a healthy relationship with God, both must be present. God loved us first and the immediate way for us to respond to His love is to obey Him. Love and obedience is integrally connected. We cannot first teach on Love and then explain Lordship, we need to explain that a loving Lord is leading, disciplining, correcting, encouraging and growing us. His love and Lordship demands obedience.
We should not give up if we feel that we don’t have enough love. Matt 13:11-23 states that those who ‘have’ will get more until they have in abundance. This passage indicates that one of the secrets of the Kingdom is that when we are faithful with the little that we have, it will increase into abundance. If we are faithful with the small amount of love that we have, by being obedient, then we will grow in love until we have a lot of love. It is a simple, but powerful cycle. Obeying God leads to knowing God; knowing God leads to loving God; loving God leads to more obedience; more obedience leads into a still deeper love for God; a deeper love for God leads to a deeper knowing and so you will continue to know God better until you have an abundance of… GOD. He is the secret of the kingdom of heaven; seek Him alone.
When we walk in LOVE we must keep truth and grace very close to allow love to have it fullest expression. Jesus is Love, Truth and Grace. These character attributes cannot be separated. We cannot emphasize any of God’s character attributes in isolation from the rest of his attributes. It will lead us into all kinds of deception, for instance: Grace without Truth and Love leads to sin, because we are not held accountable or challenged to repent. Truth without Grace and Love is harsh and leads to religion and works. Love without Truth and Grace is soppy and will not be able to effect change in our lives. Thus, when we disciple people, Love, Grace and Truth must be present in everything we do or say.

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matt 22:37-40

Ministry has little to do with our gifts, talents and knowledge and everything to do with our LOVE for God and for God’s people. We simply use our gifts, talents and knowledge to express His love for us and our love for him.

How to Love practically

Pray and Ask: for God’s guidance.
Go and Look: Seek opportunities where you can love people.
Show and Tell: Seek opportunities to show people care, grace and mercy, so that they will receive the Gospel when you share it.
Invite and Connect: Invite them into a deeper discipleship relationship and connect them with other like-minded disciples like yourself.

GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES!

Discipleship: Critical Success Factor No. 1 – OBEDIENCE

Phillip Pretorius — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 20:18:50 +0000

Jesus said “If you LOVE me, you will OBEY me.” (Jn 14:23)

Critical success factor no 1: OBEDIENCE

How to obey:

Pray and ask God to give you names of lost people.
Pray for the names God gave you.
Go to them and build your relations with them – care, listen and serve them.
Preach the gospel boldly and in faith.
When they respond, pray with them to receive Christ as Lord and Savior.
Meet with them as often as possible to lay strong foundations. A good tool to use is the biblical foundations book known as the “Purple Book”. You can order it from info@enpta.co.za.
Let them do the same as you just did by praying for their lost friends and family.

No more waiting!

GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES!

7 Success Factors for Healthy Leadership

Phillip Pretorius — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:46:36 +0000

Learning from the life and leadership of David and his mighty men will help us to understand why they were successful:

1 Chronicles 11-12

Tells the story of how David lead these mighty men to accomplish great victories.

1. Humility – Their humility united them

They willing submitted to David’s leadership, even his own family.

1 Samuel 22:1-2

David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. ²All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

1 Chronicles 12:38

All these were fighting men who volunteered to serve in the ranks.

2. Unity – Their unity strengthened them

1 Chronicles 12:1

They were among the warriors who fought beside David in battle.

1 Chronicles 12:17-18 (NIV)

David went out to meet them and said to them, “If you have come to me in peace, to help me, I am ready to have you unite with me. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies when my hands are free from violence, may the God of our fathers see it and judge you.” Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the Thirty, and he said: “We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse! Success, success to you, and success to those who help you, for your God will help you.”

God must be the Center of everything
Respect and honour for everyone is critical, “success to you and the same success to everyone who helps you”
Godly order is essential to be able to work effectively together
Loyalty is the result when God is at the center

3. Obedience – Their Obedience empowered them.

1 Chronicles 11:10

These were the chiefs of David’s mighty men—they, together with all Israel, gave his kingship strong support to extend it over the whole land, as the Lord had promised.

4. Equipping – Their experiences equipped them

1 Chronicles 12:2a

“they were armed with bows and were able to shoot arrows or to sling stones right-handed or left-handed;”

1 Chronicles 12:8b

They were brave warriors, ready for battle and able to handle the shield and spear. Their faces were the faces of lions, and they were as swift as gazelles in the mountains

5. Empowering – David’s team leadership raised them

1 Chronicles 12:18b

So David received them and made them leaders of his raiding bands.

6. Boldness – God’s presence and favor secured them

1 Chronicles 12:8b

And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord Almighty was with him.

1 Chronicles 11:9

They were brave warriors, ready for battle and able to handle the shield and spear. Their faces were the faces of lions, and they were as swift as gazelles in the mountains.

Proverbs 28:1

The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

7. Wisdom – Their wisdom blessed, guided and protected the nation

1 Chronicles 12:32

“men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command;”

The result when we have Godly leadership

1 Chronicles 12:40

There were plentiful supplies of flour, fig cakes, raisin cakes, wine, oil, cattle and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.

Abundance and Joy

Church Leadership School

Phillip Pretorius — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:25:04 +0000

What a moment in history as we experience the spirit of Ayoba in our nation! I believe a new season for God’s Church has arrived; a new way of understanding and ‘doing’ church. In fact I don’t believe that it is new, but when we have moved so far from the original intent, the old is in fact foreign and new. I believe God is calling His Church back to basics, back to the original purpose and plan that He has intended from the beginning. All the challenges, problems and confusion that we find in the Church today is a sign that we have moved away from His original intent. The unchanged societies and growing statistics of crime, fraud and lack of leadership we see are evidence of the lack of a active and biblical Church.

Challenges which the Church is facing today:

The purpose of the Church
The power of the Church
The leadership in Church
The believer’s role as the Church
Honouring God and making him famous

And so the list goes on and on. By God’s grace we will endeavor to tackle some of these issues, trusting God to move us in the right direction. The aim of this Impact Week is not to supply all the answers. Firstly we don’t have it and secondly it is not about the answers we get but about what questions we asked. When we ask the wrong questions we will also get to wrong answers. For too long have we asked the wrong questions about how do we grow our church, how do we pay the bills, who is the boss, what kind of buildings will we build and so on.

Instead of asking: “How do we grow our church?” rather ask “How do we grow individuals so that they are the Church?” Instead of asking: “How do we pay the bills?” rather ask “What kind of bills must be paid and what not”. If we have a correct theology and philosophy, it will help us to have the correct methodology (knowing what we need to do and how we need to do it). The way we see God will determine the way we serve God. A God centered theology is critical be able to build a God centered church. This Impact Week will help to shape your theology and philosophies and will help you to follow a methodology that is biblical and suited to your context.

Some scriptures to ponder on:

Matthew 16:18-19

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will bee bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

1 Corinthians 3:10-11

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Ps. Christo Walters requested us to present this school at Africa School of Missions in Witrivier. The course is aimed at senior church leaders, their elders and leaders and whoever experiences the need for ‘doing’ church differently.

Join us for a fun-filled, super challenging and authentic relationship-building week from 5-9 July 2010 at ASM in Witrivier. The cost is R1000 per person for the week and includes the accommodation, 3 meals a day and all of the lecture notes.

If you are interested please feel free to phone Danja Kuhn on 012 993 4476 or e-mail her at danja.kuhn@enpta.co.za

God bless! His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven!