Brian Sussman

The Another Chance Podcast Series illustrates the fact that The Everlasting Father is not just a God of a second chance, He’s the God of Another Chance.

This podcast series is dedicated to encourage your faith in Messiah Jesus, and equip you to be the follower He would have you to be.

In the current episode I team up with my buddy Jeff “The Swimming Monk” Langskov.  Jeff received another chance after his last cancer surgery. Ever since then he’s put aside every hindrance to tell people about the saving grace of Jesus the Messiah.

Jeff’s a Bible scholar and he’s going to be a regular feature on Another Chance. He and I lead a Bible Study each Saturday attended by men from around the world on Zoom. We love equipping these guys with God’s Word, just as we will love doing the same for you.

Below you will find the notes I presented to our men, as well as Jeff’s extensive notes on the subject as well.

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                                                             Men’s Bible Study – February 13, 2021

                                                             Training to Triumph! Pt. 3

Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise (Proverbs 19:20)

As we venture into another week of unpacking the important concept of becoming disciplined disciples,
remember this: God’s discipline is not punishment, it’s training.
Opening Question: Over the past 2-weeks was there anything in your “chat room”
that has really stuck with you?

                                                                                    —————–

Discipline Through the Hard Times
– Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?(Hebrews 12:7).

– Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3).

Question: How has the Lord used various forms of personal hardship to build your character?

Testing our Faith, Building Perseverance

– Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4).

– …we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance (Romans 5:3).

– Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring (2 Thessalonians 1:4).

Questions: Describe some of the “trials of many kinds” you have experienced–how did they test your faith?
How has personal perseverance matured your walk with God?

 

Discipline through Temptation

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be temptedbeyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Question: Temptation is unavoidable, but how can Jesus-based discipline help you evade certain tempting situations?

Discipline: The Follow Through

Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:22-24).
Question: How do we become men who apply the Word of God into all aspects of our lives?

Discipline: Training to Slay Giants
David had undergone years of hard discipline and training prior to facing off and slaying Goliath. This account from 2^ndSamuel is meant to encourage and equip us for all of the battles we may face:
King Saul says to young David: “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (2 Samuel 17:33-37).
Questions: What positive disciplinary traits were instilled into your life even prior to coming to know Jesus as Savior?  What discipline/s do you possess that can help your brothers?
What Goliaths are attempting to stand in the way of the plan God has for your life?

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Jeff’s Extensive Notes:

Intro: The definition of ‘discipline’…All boiled down, at least in my mind, is this “As necessary, in accordance with God’s sovereign good will, discipline is the willingness to embrace pain and defer pleasure until the appropriate time of reward and celebration”.  I primarily get this from a couple sources in Scripture:

 

First, Heb.12:1-2…which basically says “Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him.” 12 Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God…V11 For the moment, ALL discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

 

“Discipline” is a critical phase or step within the whole realm of Christian ‘spiritual formation” …which is the purpose of “being conformed to the likeness of Christ” with the goal being to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever”.

 

There is a divine “rhythm” in Scripture that includes the following Three truths …all of which begin with the letter “D”…each of these 3 truths perpetually and synergistically and kinetically  feed off each other in a very creative and dynamic manner.

 

(I came up with this slogan when my boys were young and involved in sports…the coaches knew I was a pastor and they would ask me to give “pep” talks or “motivational “ speeches to the baseball, football or basketball teams.)

 

3-D Discipleship

• DESIRE…Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire realized is a tree of life. Which “tree” do we desire to eat from? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil or the tree of eternal life in Christ Jesus.  We must understand we have two campfires in us….we have the campfire of fellowship with Jesus on the road to His home and we have the campfire of Peter in the court of this world where we curse and  “deny the Lordship of Jesus” by yielding to our ungodly desires.
• DISCIPLINE…requires a structure or an arena of verbal instruction, tools or equipment for training and opportunities or labs for testing.
• DELIGHT…is both the motive and the reward of godly desires.

 

Ps.40:8

I delight to do Your will, my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

Heb.1: 9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;

Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You

With the oil of joy above Your companions.”

Scientifically, All Three of these words have Kinetic Energy relative to the principle of “motion” or “momentum”…an object in motion tends to stay in motion, an object at rest tends to stay at rest.  The amount of Kinetic energy released in proportional to the MASS of the object in motion. More Mass more Energy.

Desire: is the inner stirring of human spirit to do or achieve something.  This is why Jesus put such a premium focus on “hunger and thirst” for having a right relationship with God and people…His promise…”they will be satisfied” (or delighted, blessed).

Phil 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.

Discipline: THE Engagement phase…it  is the volitional, mental and physical or corporeal response of the body to direct that desire towards its intended goal.  These “spiritual “ disciplines….Jesus taught “obedience” was only complete with ‘action’.  He taught “when” you pray….”when” you fast…”when you give”…when you forgive, forgive from the heart etc.

Richard Foster, a theologian from the Quaker tradition. “The Celebration of Discipline” top 10 most influential books of the 20th century.

Inner disciplines: praying, fasting, watching, meditation, study,

Outward: solitude/silence, simplicity, and submission

corporates disciplines : of confession and worship

Delight: is the resulting character forged in the process of combining Desire plus Discipline….this delight can be sustained joy, love, righteousness, perseverance, gentleness…the character of Jesus manifest in the specific fruit of the Spirit.

 Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord, the one you teach from your law; you grant them relief from days of trouble (Psalm 94:12-13 NIV).

• Context: God will avenge His enemies on behalf of His people. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. The wicked will not go unpunished. We must embrace the truth that the Sword of the Lord will accomplish His justice not our political or military sword.  “some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of our LORD”.

Lord, God of vengeance,

God of vengeance, shine forth!

2 Rise up, Judge of the earth,

Pay back retribution to the proud.

3 How long, Lord, shall the wicked—

How long shall the wicked triumph?

4 They pour out words, they speak arrogantly;

All who do injustice boast.

5 They crush Your people, Lord,

And afflict Your inheritance.

• The issue is “a blessed man” in the midst of great adversity around him, turns to the Lord in repentance and receives His correction from the word of God. Like a a “lone mourning dove” sitting on the peak of rooftop or the branch of tree,
• The High Ground is humility marked by a teachable spirit in our current state of affairs in both the USA, worldwide and with in the Church itself.
• Judgement begins in the household of God…God’s people’s best bet is ‘repentance’ to find grace, mercy and peace from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• A Disciplined man turns to the Lord when all hell is breaking loose and embraces chaos as a season by which God trains his character to TRUST in the Lord’s righteousness and faithfulness.

As disciples of The Messiah, God appoints discipline upon us in order to build character into our lives.
This study is designed to enlighten, encourage, and equip us to be the mighty men our Father desires us to become.

—————-
God’s Discipline: Proof of our Salvation.
My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline (MUSAR)and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. (Proverbs 3:11-12; Heb.12:5).

 GK: PAIDEIA

HELPS Word-studies

3811 paideúō (from 3816 /país, “a child under development with strict training”) – properly, to train up a child (3816 /país), so they mature and realize their full potential (development). This requires necessary discipline (training), which includes administering chastisement (punishment).

 3811 /paideúō (“to instruct by training”) is the root of the English terms, “pedagogue, pedagogy.”

[Our English word “chasten” comes from “Latin castus, pure, chaste, and means to purify, cf. Heb 12:6f” (WP, 2, 282). See the root 3816 (pais, “a child under strict instruction”).]

 Divine Biblical Pedagogy:

New Testament Use of the Paideia Principle or Effect:

 

• How or by whom is “discipline” administered:

1. By the Father’s Love (Heb.12)
2. By the Friendship of Jesus (Rev.3:19)
3. By Parents (Eph.6:4)
4. By All Scripture (2 Tim.3:16)
5. By 5-fold Ministries of Jesus (Eph.4:11-12).  As we submit to the authority and grace of God given to gifted brothers and sisters we are equipped and matured to fulfill our ministries.
6. By Schools/Sports/Arts/Employment (Moses in Egypt; Paul by Gamaliel; ). This is the whole arena of education outside the main sphere’s listed above. This could be coaches, teachers, bosses etc.

• What is the climate of “discipline”?

1. In Love…”we love because He first loved us”!  The Father arranges many arena’s (Paideia) for our journey of transformation from “glory to glory” (2 Cor.3:16-17).
2. In Grace (Titus 2:12)
3. In Gentleness (2 Tim.2:20)
4. In Season/Temporal (Heb.12:11)
5. In Severity (Rom.11:22; 2 Cor.13:10).

• What is the “purpose” of Discipline?

1. For Growth in Holiness of Character/Maturation (Heb.12:10-11; Rom.5:1-5)…to Sin Less (Heb.12:4)
2. For the fulfillment of ministry/ Good Works/His calling (Col.4:17; 2 Tim.3:17; Eph.4:
3. To Glorify God and Enjoy HIm forever!

• 12:5: “Despise “or treat lightly or habitually neglect…HELPS Word-studies
• 3643 oligōréō (from 3641 /olígos, “little in number” and ōra, “concern, care”) – properly, caring too little (“in too few places”); to esteem lightly, neglect (LS).3643 /oligōréō (“neglect as a habit”) is used only in Heb 12:5 (an OT quote, cf. Job 5:17; Prov 3:11): “My son (i.e. true followers of the Lord), do not keep on neglecting (3643 /oligōréō, negated present imperative) the training (Paideia) of the Lord, nor go on becoming undone when you are internally convicted by Him.”

 

Old Testament Use of Discipline/chastisement:

• HEB: MUSAR: The progression of Severity and Discipline:

First, the gentle voice of reason; the whisper ; the still small voice

Isa. 50:4 The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples,

So that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.

He awakens Me morning by morning,

He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

5 The Lord God has opened My ear,

And I was not disobedient,

Nor did I turn back.

6 I gave My back to those who strike Me,

And My cheeks to those who pull out My beard;

I did not hide My face from insults and spitting.

• Second, the Shout; the loud warning; “the open rebuke of a friend, a spouse, a brother etc. with love”; the bellowing Fog Horn or the Lighthouse that pierces the darkness and warns of potential shipwreck;
• Third, the Rod; Thy Rod and Thy staff they comfort me; corporeal intervention of the Shepherd; (Psalm 23; Hosea 6:1-4)

The Cross of Jesus: Is.53:5

4 However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,

And our pains that He carried;

Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,

Struck down by God, and humiliated.

5 But He was pierced for our offenses,

He was crushed for our wrongdoings;

The punishment (MUSAR) for our well-being was laid upon Him,

And by His wounds we are healed.

6 All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all

To fall on Him.

These verses above reference the Messiah, Our Lord Jesus, the Suffering Servant.  In an ultimate manifestation of DISCIPLINE He did what we could NEVER discipline ourselves to do. He became our substitute, our sacrifice,…He became sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  All our sin, sins, guilt and punishment fell undeservedly upon Him that we might by Grace be saved through faith!

Reuven Ross:  3 Questions to gain wisdom and discernment when undergoing discipline:

Often, it’s hard to sometimes discern between 3 things in a difficult season: (1) am I reaping what I have sowed, (2) is this an attack from the enemy or (3) is this a disciplinary action from God?  Part of our life-journey in discerning the difference.

 Discipline is a choice: It’s something we embrace or something God brings upon us!

Every difficulty that does not literally kill me, is meant to make me stronger.

 Clink Link below to discover more Discipleship resources by Reuven Ross.

www.making-disciples.net

Question: Have you ever despised or resented God’s discipline?  How did that work out for you?

 

Discipline Through the Hard Times
– Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?(Hebrews 12:7).

– Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3).

Question: How has God used various forms of personal hardship to build your character?

 

Testing our Faith, Building Perseverance

– Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,  whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4).

– …we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance (Romans 5:3).

– Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring (2 Thessalonians 1:4).

Questions: How have “trials of many kinds” tested your faith?  How were you able to endure those trials?
Why is perseverance an important element to our faith?

 

Discipline through Temptation

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,  he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it
(1 Corinthians 10:13). 

Discipline: The Follow Through

– Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:22-24).
Question: How do we become men who apply the Word of God into all aspects of our lives?

Discipline: Training to Slay Giants
David had undergone years of hard discipline and training prior to facing off and slaying Goliath. This account from 2^nd Samuel is meant to encourage and equip us for all of the battles we may face:
King Saul says to young David: “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (2 Samuel 17:33-37).
Questions: What positive discipline was instilled into your life even prior to coming to know Jesus as Savior?
Were there poor disciplinary traits that God had to remove once you yielded your heart to Him?
What Goliaths are attempting to stand in the way of the plan God has for your life?