Join me, Tosha Williams, as we unearth an epiphany from my personal devotion in the letters to the Thessalonians—words that resonate deeply with the core mission of Family Disciple Me. The Scripture from 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 that captivated me speaks volumes about discipleship and our role as Christ followers. This episode is an invitation for every believer to embrace the Great Commission as their own, echoing Jesus' call to His early followers.
In this episode, I highlight the power of encouraging, empowering and equipping are pivotal in guiding others towards a life worthy of God's calling.
As someone who's walked with Christ and served alongside my husband in ministry for three decades, I have seen firsthand the hesitancy many believers have in sharing their faith. However, this episode seeks to break down these barriers. I share insights into my approach to Scripture reading that keeps revealing new truths, and discuss how the Family Disciple Me ministry aims to instill confidence and capability in Christians to carry forth the Gospel.
Prepare to be encouraged and equipped to step into your divine mandate, realizing that discipleship is not reserved for the few but is a personal, empowering mission for every person who claims the Name of Christ.
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The Family Disciple Me Podcast is a ministry of Family Disciple Me, which exists to catalyze Devotion Driven Discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way.
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Family Disciple Me is an all volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. The Family Disciple Me ministry remains dedicated to encouraging and equipping Christ followers to "meet with God and make Him known." More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org
Speaker 1:
Encourage, equip and empower. That is the mission of the Family Disciple Me ministry as we catalyze Devotion Driven Discipleship. This morning, as I was in my devotions in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, I noticed a particular scripture that hadn't jumped off the page at me before, but, as I consider the mission of Family Disciple Me well, these words were so encouraging. Really, we're just living out the encouragement and the equipping and the empowering that began at the very beginning with Jesus' followers. So let's just take a few moments to see what God has to say to us through His word in 1st Thessalonians, chapter 2. Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast. Our goal is to catalyze in our own lives and relationships and then around the world. We do this through easily accessible biblical resources that help us meet with God and make Him known. We call this Seek Him, speak Him. You can find out more about this, our ministry and our resources at FamilyDiscipleMeorg.
Speaker 1:
Hi, my name is Tosha Williams. I'm delighted to be on this journey with you, so let's spend this moment together, seeking God in His word about what he first has to say to us For me and my devotions. I always start at the beginning of God's word and I read straight through to the end and then I circle back and start all over again. That doesn't mean I don't take a thousand rabbit trails along the way, but in general I go beginning to end and then back to the beginning and back to the end, over and over and over again. And what I love about this is that there is never a time that I'm in God's word, that I don't see something new. I challenge you and encourage you to be in God's word on a regular basis, whether it's a chapter, a verse, a book. Some of these books of the Bible are smaller so you can take them in chunks. However, it is that God is leading you to have your personal devotion time with Him.
Speaker 1:
Well, this morning I got up and I was in the books of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, so I sat down to read them and I noticed this scripture that just stood out to me so strongly, that completely overlaps with the family disciple me mission, and that scripture in 1 Thessalonians 2 says this: "For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. You know, as I looked at this scripture, the Apostle Paul's mission was to exhort, encourage and encourage the believers that were entrusted to him. And really I took a moment and I wrote in the margin of my Bible where, as Paul wrote, like a father with his children, I wrote down like a mother with her children. And whereas Paul's mission, as translated in the ESV version of the Bible, was to exhort, encourage and charge his followers in Jesus, the family disciple me mission is to encourage, equip and empower. You know, the goal of this ministry is to do that for every single person that we overlap in life with, whether that's in person and certainly we all have our range of influence or whether that's here through podcasts, through audio, or whether it's through the app or the website. Our goal, our mission, is to encourage, equip and encourage and empower you to live out the mission that God has given you.
Speaker 1:
You know, I've been a Christ follower for a long, long time. I've been in basically full-time ministry alongside my husband for 30 years now, and here's what I know: there are a lot of Christians who know what it means to have real relationship with Jesus and yet they do not feel empowered to go out and share that or teach that or inspire that in someone else, and certainly there's so many levels of training and teaching and discipleship and so much that can happen. But I believe with all my heart that this world will be shaken when every single Christ follower understands that the mission to go share the gospel and go make disciples isn't just for some spiritual elite but is personal to them. That challenge, that commission, that command by Jesus to go share the gospel Mark 16: 15, to go make disciples 19- Matthew 28: 19 20, that is something that is not just for the pastors or the elders or the seminarians or those that have been believers a certain amount of time or any other qualification, that is, for every single one of us who claims the name of Jesus. My goal as well a pastor's wife, as a woman in ministry, but also as the leader within Family Disciple Me, my goal is to speak into you these three things. First of all, to encourage you. Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever your age, whatever your stage in life, whatever your personal world looks like, if you have a relationship with Jesus, God has a calling on your life, yes, on your life.
Speaker 1:
I know that there are some kids that listen to this podcast and, wow, I am so honored and it brings me so much joy. You have a calling. I know that there's grandparents that listen to this podcast. You have a calling. I know that there's young adults and there's young moms and there's dads. I know there's all kinds of people that listen to this podcast and I want to encourage you and say that you have a calling and a purpose within the body of Christ. You can go live this in your world, in your realm, today with that.
Speaker 1:
The reason that I do these podcasts, the reason that we're building this Family Disciple Me ministry, is to equip you to be able to live out that calling in a more easy and a more doable way. Yes, we're developing the app and I'm in meetings about that and constantly working on it, and I can't wait until we get to deliver that to you. But in the meantime, our goal is to equip you through well, podcasts like this, to encourage you, to equip you through the website, through the blog post, to equip you by saying that you have the ability to go to God's word and seek Him and then turn around and speak them In the days and the months and this coming year. I am so excited to give you the equipping of the app. We're almost there, we're working on it and there's so many details there, but you don't have to wait for that, any more than you have to wait for a certain season or stage of your life to live out this calling. God is alive, He is real, He's on the move, He speaks His Word, speaks into our hearts and guides us. And I want to say to you you are equipped, go live it. And I guess that leads into my third goal of what I want to speak into you, and that is to empower you.
Speaker 1:
This calling to go tell, to go share the gospel of Jesus, this calling to go make disciples, well, it's the most amazing privilege, opportunity and responsibility that we have as Christ followers. You know, I've been pondering the fact that Jesus well, He could have done all of this Himself, He would have always had the right answers, He would have never made a mistake, He would always have said the perfect thing with the perfect timing. There's not a single question but that He would have been best at this, and yet He gave this opportunity, this responsibility, this privilege to us. I don't know about you, but I'm a broken person. I don't know all the answers, I haven't connected all the dots. I don't live a sinless life. There's not a day goes by that I don't stumble over myself or my selfishness in some way. And yet, and yet, in spite of that, God wants to use me, and the same is true in your life.
Speaker 1:
So the empowering is speaking into each other's lives as believers, that we can do this, we can lead this, we can step into this calling for the simple, profound, basic, foundational reason that Jesus gave us the job. And He didn't give us the job knowing that we couldn't do it. He gave us the job knowing that if we would walk into it with Him, we would absolutely accomplish his will and purpose through our lives. That's my goal, that's my challenge for my own personal life, that's my challenge for my children and those that are entrusted to them. That's my challenge to those who are entrusted to me one-on-one or in group discipleship. That's my challenge to the church where my husband and I lead. That's my challenge to the Family Disciple Me ministry.
Speaker 1:
This world will be changed when each of us takes seriously this amazing calling that God has on our lives. So, friend, be encouraged, go live this epic invitation that God has given you. I say to you, along with the apostle Paul, "we exhort each one of you and encourage you and charge you to walk in a manner worthy of God. So with that, I want to pray a closing prayer for you from the end of First Thessalonians. It's First Thessalonians 5, 23, and 24. And it says now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and he will surely do it. Now, friend, go live. That calling God is faithful. He is with you, and so live out this amazing commission that he's given you. Be encouraged Until next time, god bless.