The State of Your Bible Talk

What is the current “state” of your Bible Talk (BT in future notations)? How are you and the others in your BT really doing? What needs to change and what is going great? How do you even know? Well, I believe there are clues in the Scripture which will help you identify how your BT is doing and where you can be going! Geographers call the word that describes where somebody comes from a DEMONYM (pronounced demo – nim) and we tend to use them quite a lot. We will use one of them in this article. In addition, every State in the U.S. has a motto displayed on license plates…we will also use two of them to describe “The State of Your Bible Talk”.

Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Mark 1:14-20

In this passage we see the first of the “states” possible for your BT. This group can be named after Missouri- known as the “Show Me State”. Quite possibly you are in a “Missouri” BT and need lots of help to know what to do and where to go. When Jesus called his first disciples they did not really know where he was going and had only a basic idea of what he would be doing. So, when he called them he simply said, “Come, follow me…” This was enough! All a person needs to do to know Jesus and understand his plan was and is to follow him.

In the early days of being discipled by the McKean’s in 2004, after we arrived in Portland, Kip would often simply ask me, “What did you learn from that?” Whether it was a meeting with a disciple, a staff meeting, Bible study, Sunday service or even a d-time with me, he asked me this all the time. At first I was a bit confused and tried to give him the “right” answer. In time, I eventually learned that Kip was asking me to “follow him”…watching him in every situation so I could learn what to do, why to do it and how. It was truly fascinating! I was in the “Missouri state” of learning and needed to be shown.

Take a look at what your BT has been producing in the past 3-6 months and honestly ask yourself what state you guys are in. If not much is happening- as in few visitors, discouragement, lacking motivation, missing direction and generally not filled with faith or not unified…you are in the “show me state” and simply need more direction and IMITATION. Who are you following? Are you imitating another BT that is doing a great job or are you stubbornly “trying to figure it out on your own”? Get humble and really start following. I believe God will radically bless your humility when you are like the first disciples!

He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. These were his instructions: Take nothing for the journey except a staff — no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. They went out and preached that people should repent… King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Mark 6:5-14

The second type of BT is the one we find here- the group from Maine. If you are from Maine, as I am, you are called a Maineiac (prounounced: maine-iac, or maniac)…as in crazy! Jesus saw that there were very few miracles (see v. 5) going on in his ministry, so he turned it around! He went out and radically shared his faith and got about the business of proclamation of the gospel. He turned up the heat on Satan’s attack against his ministry and went on the offense! Then he sent his guys out and they were like maniacs, sharing wherever they went.

They preached one thing- to repent (v. 12)! Seems like a strange way to share yet look at the results! King Herod hears about this maniac ministry and then by the end of Mark 6 they have 5,000 visitors! They were not totally sure what to do with all of them so Jesus teaches them to “feed them” by reliance on God. Quite possibly your BT always brings visitors and seems to “stir things up” yet once the people arrive you need some help to know what to do. Perfect! You have a Maineiac BT and just need some help and a little direction to “feed all those people”. Feed them spiritually by having tons of Bible studies and getting more mature disciples in there to help…help you be an effective maniac!

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20

Finally, we have the mature BT that has followed and imitated faithfully, they have been maniacs by radically preaching the word thus bringing crowds and have even started producing fruit. This group is very close to being a multiplying ministry! This is the Louisiana BT, otherwise known as “Sportsman’s Paradise”! In Louisiana, there is so much wildlife that hunting, fishing and being outdoors is like a paradise. To go fishing there you simply throw out a line and you are going to catch something. Once while fishing in Louisiana we put cheese and moldy bread on the hook and caught fish! It is literally a sportsman’s paradise! This BT is like that, there is so much fruit and so much love and Bible knowledge flowing from this group that they can simply be sent out to make disciples. This BT is very close to doubling and then producing another BT. We all need to strive to be like the Louisiana BT!

So, what “state” is your BT in? Where will you go in the next six months? No matter where you group is today, it can become a great BT in a short time! Follow, be a maniac and look for sportsman’s paradise in the near future!

He stoops down to make us great,

Matt Sullivan