Do what is difficult to do so that what is impossible to do becomes easy to do.

Imagine you can’t play the piano and I asked you to play Amazing Grace. Would it be easy or hard? Would it help if you tried really, really hard to play Amazing Grace? This is how many people try to live the Christian life. They hear a sermon on gratefulness. They try...

You can memorize scripture–even if you think you can’t

There is an app for that. There are some good apps for Scripture Memory. I want to recommend Bible Memory. There is a free version that will allow you to experiment with how the app works. There is a small fee for the full version. Bible Memory has many wonderful...

Transformed by scripture memory

We are transformed by hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating on God’s Word. The greatest of these is Scripture Memory. Nothing will transform your mind like the power of lodging God’s word in your heart. I wrote a book years ago called The Habit of...

It is always in our best interest to live the Christian life

The promise that God is good is repeated many times in Scripture. It is a repeated theme throughout the whole Bible. Here are a few examples: • “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go...

What is belief?

You might think that you believe exercise is good, but you don’t exercise, and you should have a Quiet Time, but you didn’t this morning. Let’s look at two ways we use this word belief. I had a long layover in Auckland, New Zealand once. Someone had told me about the...

We must come to love the Christian life, or we will never come to live the Christian life

There is a common misperception—inside and outside the church—that Christian living is fundamentally about trying really hard to be good. It is not. It is about being transformed. This has a lot to do with changing the way we think: Do not conform to the pattern of...

Why you can’t learn discipleship alone

One of the principles we will look at is the idea that we are transformed by speaking the truth. We are changed more by what we say than by what we hear. When we hear a sermon on gratitude, we resolve to try really hard to be more grateful. This never works. When we...

Discipleship is complicated

In many areas of life, you have to do multiple things right to have success. For example, if you want to hit a tennis ball correctly, you have to understand… • The proper court positioning. • The proper stance. • The proper grip. • The proper backswing. • The proper...

Training: the key to discipleship

Imagine a Canadian caterpillar chomping away on a plant in September. You whisper to this caterpillar, “You better get started. Winter is coming.” “Where do I need to go?” responds the caterpillar. Mexico. How far is it? 3000 miles. He doesn’t understand how far...

Why do so many Christians fail to be disciples?

I would suggest that Christian living is hard because we have never been taught to live the Christian life. We have been taught a lot about the Bible. We know a lot of Bible stories from the Bible. We could give you a lot of Bible facts. We could even throw in a few...

Is Christian living easy or hard?

Is Christian living easy or hard? Is it easy or hard for you to live the Christian life? I have asked this question to thousands of Christians and consistently they will answer with resolve, “Hard!” Then, I show them this familiar verse: For my yoke is easy and my...

Just Released — 21 Laws of Discipleship

I am excited to announce the release of my newest book, The 21 Laws of Discipleship. It is currently available on Amazon. The genesis of this book was an observation from Romans 12.2: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of...

The Good and Beautiful God — How this book came to be

This book is the culmination of twenty-five years of learning from these great men. In particular, the idea for this book started soon after I began working with Dallas. He kept talking about the need to create “a curriculum for Christlikeness” for individuals and churches. His blueprint for such...

Would you like to experience abiding peace?

Would you like to have abiding peace? Would you like to have a heart that is filled with love? Would you like to have the kind of faith that sees everything—even your failures and losses—in light of God’s governance for good? Would you like to have the kind of hope that endures even in...

How can I change?

Craig is one of the people who took part in the experiment in developing a curriculum for Christlikeness. After being involved in an apprentice group, Craig began to notice some real changes in his life in the way he behaved toward his family, friends and coworkers. He is a zoo architect, which...

How Jesus changed people

Jesus understood how people change. That is why he taught in stories. He used narrative to explain his understanding of God and the world: “The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.” “A man had two sons . . .” If we adopt Jesus’ narratives about God, we will know God properly and right actions...

Hope when life seems hopeless

A few years after Madeline died I was in the middle of a day of solitude. My mind went over the last few years, thinking about the pain of hearing the news from the doctors, the countless sleepless nights on hospital floors, and the dark and rainy day we placed her body in the earth. I turned to...

For the first time in the Gallup poll’s eight-decade history

For the first time in the Gallup poll’s eight-decade history, in 2020 church membership in the United States fell below 50 percent in America. From World War II all the way to the mid-1990s, church membership among adults was nearly always above 70 percent. The precipitous decline occurred across...

The death of denominations in America

One of the primary lenses through which demographers can track religious decline is through denominational records. Almost every large religious tradition has been tracking their total membership for decades as a means of understanding where churches are growing and where they are declining....

Dechurching: who is leaving?

No group of people is immune from the Great Dechurching. The dechurched are almost evenly split between men and women (52 percent and 48 percent respectively). According to our study, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and those who identify as “other Christian” have all dechurched equally at 32...

Are educated or uneducated dechurching?

In every tradition, the more education people have, the more likely they are to stay in church. This offers a surprising challenge to the common belief that higher education is facilitating departures from the church. Many Christian colleges were founded based on the belief that secular liberal...

Mental health and the dechurched

In phase 3 of our study, we looked at the mental health of dechurched evangelicals, and it became clear that anxiety, depression, loneliness, and suicidal thoughts were major factors in their lives. When asked to rate themselves on a scale of 0–100 in these areas, with 0 being very negative and...

Dechurching: what a difference 50 years makes

It’s hard to fully grasp just how much different American’s behavior is around church attendance today versus fifty years ago. The General Social Survey (GSS) is the gold standard for measuring religious changes in the United States. It has been asking the same questions with the same response...

The Great Dechurching & reasons for hope

As our data poured in on the Great Dechurching, one truth became increasingly clear: what looks like defeat to many could really be the beginning of something special. Tens of millions of people may be leaving the church, and more than eighty-six churches may be closing every week, but if we have...

The Dechurched are not atheists

When social scientists think about religion, they typically categorize religiosity in three ways: behavior, belief, and belonging. Behavior is measured through things like church attendance or amount of offering donated to a religious organization. Belief is assessed through asking questions about...

The surprising orthodoxy of the dechurched

Early in our research, it was disorienting to realize how orthodox the dechurched still are in their beliefs. This brought equal parts hope and confusion. Sixty-eight percent of dechurched evangelicals (DE), 69 percent of dechurched mainliners (DM), and 63 percent of dechurched Roman Catholics...

The Dechurched: What THEY said would bring the back

Belonging (or lack thereof) is the primary pain point many dechurched feel. Of all the things people said would make them likely to return, this is the greatest felt need. We asked two vital questions to understand the animating concerns of the dechurched: What made you leave? And what would...

The Good and Beautiful Life

The great preacher and founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley (1703–1791), was once approached by a man who came to him in the grip of unbelief. “All is dark; my thoughts are lost,” the man said to Wesley, “but I hear that you preach to a great number of people every night and morning....

A bad and ugly life

One summer I worked as an intern chaplain at a retirement center. It was a pretty easy job. The residents were all in good enough health not to need constant care. They seemed to enjoy living together, kind of like a college dorm experience for people with gray hair, wrinkles and a lot of wisdom....

What we think determines how we live

We live at the mercy of our ideas and our narratives. What we think determines how we live. If we think God is an angry accountant frowning on us and would love us if only we are good enough, that narrative will be seen in how we live. Or if we think that being an angry person or hating our...

How to get the most out of a book study

This book is intended to be used in the context of a community—a small group, a Sunday school class or a few friends gathered in a home or coffee shop. Working through this book with others greatly magnifies the impact. If you go through this on your own, only the first four suggestions below will...

You cannot be happy and not be holy

Some of us are introverts, some are extroverts. Some of us like cats, others like dogs. Some of us like to take risks, others play it safe. Each of us is unique. But there is one thing that every one of us has in common: everyone wants to be happy. No one seeks a dull, lifeless, boring,...

HOW TO RUIN YOUR LIFE (WITHOUT EVEN TRYING)

In Romans 1:18–32, Paul describes how a human life spirals into ruin. Written nineteen centuries before the advent of modern psychology, Paul’s assessment of the human person remains the most brilliant depiction of soul destruction I have ever read. Perhaps you will want to read Romans 1:18–32 in...

John Wooden: A well-live life

In the summer of 2006 I had the privilege of meeting one of my heroes: legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. Coach Wooden still holds many records that may never be broken. He won ten NCAA basketball championships, the last one in 1975. No other coach has had more than four. During one...

It is not about rule keeping

John Wooden became a Christian at a young age and built his life around Jesus’ teachings. Jesus’ narrative goes like this: “The good and beautiful life is created by doing the things I commanded, not as laws or rules, but as a new way of life.” Jesus states this narrative at the end of his Sermon...

How to read the Sermon on the Mount (Hint: it is not a new set of rules.)

One dark and stormy evening a ship with a proud captain was heading directly into an oncoming ship. The other ship signaled, “Turn around,” but the proud captain refused. He signaled the other ship to get out of his way; after all, he was a famous captain piloting an important ship. The other ship...

The cost of non-discipleship

Spiritual formation and discipleship cause many people to think about the high cost involved in developing a deeper life with God. Gone will be a life of pleasure, a life filled with laughter and fun. Entertainment, watching movies, eating delicious food, surfing the Net and playing games with...

Find out more

All these Bible Studies and More

Welcome to subscription-based lessons—like Netflix for Bible Study Lessons. One low monthly fee gives you unlimited access to all these lessons and more. For a medium-sized church, cost is about $10 per teacher per YEAR.

Click Here

20 Questions

If you can read 20 Questions, you can lead a Bible Study.

Not sure you know the answer to the questions? No worries.

We provide answers in the form of quotes from people like Charles Swindoll, David Jeremiah, and John Ortberg that will make you sound brilliant.

Click Here

Why we must discuss

We are changed more by what we say than what we hear. Paul said, “SPEAKING the truth… we grow.” Jesus said it is what comes out of a man that changes him. James said your words are the rudder of your life. Effective teachers lead people to speak the truth, not just hear the truth.

Click Here

Weary of Struggling to Recruit Teachers?

A common problem in all churches–big churches and little churches–is the need for more workers. Jesus said it would be true. He said, “the harvest is plentiful is but the workers are few.” Question-based Bible Study Lessons makes recruiting teachers a whole lot easier.

Click Here

Knowing God

“A hundred years from now only a handful of books written today will still be widely read and accepted as Christian classics. Dr. James I. Packer’s Knowing God may well prove to be one of them. A gifted theologian and writer, Dr. Packer has the rare ability to deal with profound and basic spiritual truths in a practical and highly readable way. This book will help every reader grasp in a fuller way one of the Bible’s greatest truths: that we can know God personally, because God wants us to know him.” Billy Graham

Find out more

The Pursuit of Holiness

“Be holy, for I am holy,” commands God. But holiness is something that is often missed in the Christian’s daily life. According to Navigator author Jerry Bridges, that’s because we’re not exactly sure what our part in holiness is. In The Pursuit of Holiness, he helps us see clearly just what we should rely on God to do—and what we should take responsibility for ourselves. As you deepen your relationship with God, learn more about His character, and understand the Holy Spirit’s role in holiness, your spiritual growth will mature.

Find out more

Knowing God

The Pursuit of Holiness

Free E-book: Teach Like Jesus

You have Successfully Subscribed!