Quick Quotes (1)

Eugene Peterson

Here are some highlights from books I’ve recently read or am currently reading…
(And if you want some additional quotes, click here.)

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reading highlightsPeterson, Eugene H. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society. Commemorative Edition. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2019. (First edition 1980)

As a society, we are still obsessed with the immediate; new technologies have only intensified our quest for the quick fix. But Peterson’s time-tested prescription for discipleship remains the same—a long obedience in the same direction.

Who is God?
He is not a police officer on patrol, watching over the universe, ready to club us if we get out of hand or put us in jail if we get obstreperous. He is a potter working with the clay of our lives, forming and reforming until, finally, he has shaped a redeemed life, a vessel fit for the kingdom.

What is prosperity?
It has nothing to do with insurance policies or large bank accounts or stockpiles of weapons. The root meaning is leisure—the relaxed stance of one who knows that everything is all right because God is over us, with us and for us in Jesus Christ

Why do we serve?
God did not become a servant so that we could order him around but so that we could join him in a redemptive life.

 

Reading highlightsSpader, Dann. 4 Chair Discipling: What Jesus Calls Us to Do. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2019. (First edition 2014)

Dann Spader explains disciple-making as a process of moving people through four chairs, from someone seeking to know more about Christ to someone who makes disciples themselves.

Jesus’ disciple-making strategy
Jesus posed four challenges to His followers:
1) “come and see” (John 1:39),
2) “follow me” (John 1:43),
3) “follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19), and
4) “go and bear fruit” (John 15:16).
With this simple pattern, Jesus led His disciples through the natural growth process from children, to young men, and to spiritual fathers

Prayer
More than forty-five times in the Gospels, Jesus escaped the crowds to pray.

Recommended reading
I can only identify *four major books that look deeply at Christ’s life as the pattern for disciple-making.

*The four books Dann identifies are (1) A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve; (2) Carl Wilson, With Christ in the School of Disciple Building: The Ministry Methods of Jesus; (3) Bill Hull, Jesus Christ, Disciple Maker; (4) and then possibly Robert Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism Second Edition, even though this is more of an identification of some principles from Jesus’ life instead of a study of His process of disciple-making.

If you’d like an extensive list of recommended disciple-making resources, see my list here.
And if you’d like to see more quotes, click here.

 

QUESTION (leave a comment below)

Any quotes or highlights from what you’ve been reading or listening to?

I want to help you say "No" to a boring life and "Yes" to a faith that matters. Let's make a plan for your life, for your church, or both! Contact me at hello@letsmakedisciples.org.

4 thoughts on “Quick Quotes (1)

  1. Hi Gregg,
    Thank you for those quotes. Here is one from what I was reading:

    “» Il savait que la croyance est saine. Il cherchait à conseiller et à calmer l’homme désespéré en lui indiquant du doigt l’homme résigné, et à transformer la douleur qui regarde une fosse en lui montrant la douleur qui regarde une étoile.” (from “Les Misérables (French Edition)” by Victor Hugo)

    It is talking about the Bishop in Les Mis and it means: “He knew that belief is healthy. He was looking to counsel and calm the desperate man (who had been sentenced to death and was going to die the next day, leaving a wife and child) in transforming the pain which looks down into a pit, into the pain which looks up to the stars.

  2. a disciple is a follower of Jesus, spreading God’s Gospel. then a christian is a believer,
    having faith to serve God.
    these are the books I like to read
    4 chair discipling
    the purpose-driven life
    52 reasons to believe
    dirty glory
    if you want to walk on water
    soul keeping
    i am a follower

    1. Yes, a disciple not only follows Jesus but equips others to do the same. And those are terrific books that will encourage and challenge you and help you know how to disciple others. I love it!

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