Introduction
Before you go on this journey . . .
Imagine standing in a backyard pool with several friends and family surrounding you. You have the privilege of baptizing someone that you led into a relationship with Jesus and have been discipling. As you pull them back up from the water to an eruption of cheers, your heart pounds out of your chest with joy. You look at your newly baptized friend who is smiling from ear to ear and reach out for a celebration hug. How could it get any better than this?
But then, your friend’s family joins you in the pool and you step to the side so that your friend can baptize each of them in turn. Your friend has been passing on the discipling learned from you, and now the whole family has all pursued a committed relationship with Jesus! And Jesus is transforming them. Addictions are being broken. Broken relationships are being restored. Bad habits are being replaced by holy living. And their friends and co-workers are starting to notice and desire these changes in their own lives. Several of these family members have started Bible study discipleship groups with their friends. The ripples from this one person you discipled are spreading and it is obvious God is moving.
What emotions would you be feeling watching this scene play out? Where would that scene fit in your list of highlights as a Jesus follower?
Do you realize that this scene is not just possible for you, but it is actually Jesus’ plan for you many times over throughout your lifetime?
Unfortunately, there are very few Christians who have ever experienced a scene like this. Which is why I wrote this short book: for those who want to bring that scene to reality in their lives.
Who should read this?
A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
Matthew 13:3–9
I’ve sat one-on-one with hundreds of Christians over the past few decades and studied Jesus’ parable of the four soils with them. On a napkin, I often write out these simple definitions of each soil:
Path = Not interested
Rocky soil = Too Shallow
Thorny soil = Too Busy
Good soil = Fruitful
Then I ask two really simple questions:
Which of these four soils do you want to live your life on?
You already know what everybody answers because it’s your answer, too. Of course, you want to be on the good soil. Who wouldn’t?
In all honesty, which of these four soils does your life most closely resemble?
More than 90 percent of those I ask give the same (slightly ashamed) answer: Honestly, the words “too busy” are a much more accurate description of my life than the word “fruitful.” And honestly, this would have been my answer for much of my life.
If it’s yours, too, then great news! These next twenty-one days are about empowering you to yank the thorny excuses out of your life so that you can thrive as fruitful good soil. While not everyone is called to be an apostle Paul, God has called every Jesus follower to make disciples out of the lost people He’s placed in our life. This book will practically take you on a journey to being that person.
Who can you read this book with?
Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:13–17
Satan doesn’t want you reading this book or putting the scriptures we study into practice. Expect there to be spiritual warfare. So don’t read it alone. Look at the context of the whole book of Ephesians, where the image of “the body” is a running theme:
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Ephesians 1:22, 23
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 3:6
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Ephesians 4:15
Unity of God’s people is imperative, perhaps even more so in our fight against spiritual warfare. The armor we know so well wasn’t designed merely for a single physical body. It’s designed for God’s people together. The central way you’ll endure Satan’s attacks of discouragement, distractions, and doubts is by being deeply united with other believers. If getting a copy of this book for a friend or family member slows you down a day or two, it will be well worth it. We need others for accountability and celebration.
So, before you start this journey, I strongly encourage you to find two groups of people: those who will pray for you daily and those who will join you on the journey.
Take a minute and write down some names of people who you could ask to join you in either of these ways.
People who could pray for me:
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People who could read the book with me:
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How should you read this?
Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
Matthew 7:24–27
Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount with these well-known words. You’ve sung the song; you’ve heard the sermons. Tell me, how do we build our house on the rock instead of the sand?
For most of my Christian life, I would have answered that we need to build our lives on Jesus, the rock. If we put our faith in Him, then we are wise. If we don’t, then we’re on the sand and our house will come tumbling down. Isn’t that how all good little Sunday school boys and girls would answer?
But wait. Read that first verse again. That’s not what Jesus is saying here. “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” The difference between your house being on the rock and sand is not merely intellectual belief but rather whether I take what I learn from God’s Word and put it into practice. Most of us are educated far beyond our levels of obedience. It’s time to change that.
On this journey, you are going to practice obedience. Every day, you will read Scripture and then have a simple daily challenge to put that Scripture into practice. While this book is possible to read in twenty-one days, don’t automatically go to the next day until you’ve obeyed the previous day. Each new day will start with a simple question: How did yesterday’s challenge go? If it was a no-go, then don’t move forward. If one day is a struggle, read it again—and again—until you master it. This might feel uncomfortable and annoying, but we want to build our house on rock, not sand.
Finally, a word about the author: Excited.
Dear Jesus, transform us into the disciple makers that you have made each of us to be. Change us from the inside out and blow us away with all You have in store. In Jesus Name, Amen.