Welcome to disciple making:
This series on disciple making is Booklet 1 – Essentials, which is part of the program
Transferable Cross Training (TCT) developed by Dr. Karl Payne. The purpose of TCT is to help equip men and
women to be effective disciple makers. The materials are field tested with various proof verses that can be
memorized, and each lesson is focused on transferability. It is our desire is for those who accept the challenge
of discipleship that, with or without a Bible and notes in hand, each individual who has taken the time to master
the concepts and principles in this series will have confidence to comfortably and biblically respond to common
questions and comments from friends or enemies of Christ. By God’s grace we can make a difference in eternity
by being actively involved in the most important job assignment entrusted to mankind. For more information
about TCT or obtaining the booklet series, see
www.KarlPayne.org
Please remember that the uniqueness of this discipleship series is its simple transferability.
It is the expressed desire of the author that students actually use these materials after completing each
booklet, by sharing them with others in a manner consistent with
2 Timothy 2:2.
How many times have you found yourself ruining the present because of something you did in the past? This
struggle is with "vain regrets."
Why are they vain regrets? Because it is vain to think you can change the past. It can't be
done. The past is history. Common sense should tell us that to destroy a second day because of yesterday's
mistakes is shortsighted. It's bad enough we allowed yesterday to be lost.
The Apostle Paul referred to this problem:
"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it [perfection in this
life] yet. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on
towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 3:13-14)
What did Paul have to forget? Plenty! Remember, he was the religious zealot who had taken
it upon himself to imprison or destroy every Christian and Christian Church with whom he came in contact. After
scattering the Christians is Jerusalem he had even been given permission to hunt them down in other cities.
After becoming a Christian, how do you think he felt about his past actions? Guilt ridden, I'm sure. But Paul
realized his past was just that - past (no matter how often he may have wished it was not true). If you cannot
undo, redo or change the past, even if you wish you could, then why allow something you cannot change to control
the present and future? Common sense says let it go.
The Apostle Peter, for all his early success preaching, had some days I'm sure he wished he could do over.
I wonder how he felt the night he denied Christ three times. Think about it - the leader of the twelve, a man
who lived with Jesus for three and one half years, a leader of leaders. But what happened that night when a
teenage slave girl asked him if he was a follower of Christ? He denied he knew Christ with cursing. I am sure
he wished he could relive that night. But he could not. Did Jesus forgive him? Did He still allow Peter to be
involved in significant ministry? Yes He did!
Speaking of the guilt incurred from sin, have you thought how King David (a man after God's own heart) must
have felt before, during and after his escalating failures of adultery, cover-up and murder? I wonder if David
ever wished he could turn back the clock, or at the very least have willingly confessed his sins rather than have
God send a prophet to expose his hypocrisy? Psalm 51 is a
beautiful, but painful, testimony of David finally turning his heart back to God.
Remember that God will always forgive and cleanse us when we confess our sin. He has promised to do so in
1 John 1:9. Take a minute and read
Psalm 32:5-6. God's willingness to forgive our sin when we
confess it is not just a New Testament revelation. David clearly understood this concept and promise. If God is
willing to forgive and move on, we are foolish if we don't.
To continue to relive the forgiven past is not only a waste of time, it is insulting to God. He has promised
to forgive and cleanse us when we confess our sin. To live in the past may be human, but it also denies, doubts,
or forgets that God always keeps His promises.
Do you have anything that would be harder for you to put behind and forget than Paul did after he participated
in killing Christians, than Peter did after denying Christ in His hour of greatest need or King David did after
committing adultery with a trusted friend's wife and then ordering a murder in a bungled attempt to cover-up his
sin? If Paul, Peter and David could accept God's forgiveness and forget, so can you. If God was still willing to
use them in active ministry, there is still hope for you too.
Forgetting what lies behind, I press forward...
REMEMBER
- The previous lesson on "Forgiveness" is designed to answer the "how" question. It deals with the basic
mechanics of how a Believer should respond to sin.
- This lesson on "Vain Regrets" is designed to answer the "why" question. It deals with the loss of hope.
"How could God possibly forgive me, much less still love me, after what I have done?"
- People struggling with vain regrets have lost hope. They need to change the tape of failure that plays
non-stop in their mind. Use God's recorded dealings with Paul, Peter and King David to illustrate His
willingness to cleanse, forgive and sustain sinners in divine service.
- If God can forgive Paul, Peter and King David, He can forgive me and you. If He is willing to put them
into His service after their failures, there is still hope for us.
- It is foolish to allow yesterday's failure to ruin another day. God has cleansed you - let it go!
Karl Payne's personal note: I grew up in a home
that would have been considered moral and ethical, but not religious. Both of my parents were teachers.
Dad was a Mathematics / Science specialist for the Sacramento City School District and my mom taught
grade school. My Dad would occasionally pray for our food, but we did not read the Bible or discuss
religious topics. I decided my first Sunday of seventh grade that I had no real interest in church or
Sunday school and informed my parents that I would no longer attend either. I assumed I was a Christian
because I had been baptized as a child at my mom's request, but my primary interests were baseball,
football and music.
On June 17th, 1970 I became a Christian while attending a youth retreat sponsored by Young Life,
a Christian ministry focused upon reaching high school students. The two biggest hurdles I faced
in that decision both related to honest assumptions. My first assumption related to what I had
understood it meant to be a Christian. I assumed that I was a Christian because I had been baptized.
Christians get baptized, I had been baptized, therefore, I was a Christian. I also thought that
heaven, if it was real, was attained by being a nice person. I reasoned that since on a moral and
ethical scale which had the Pope on one end and Hitler on the other, that my live style was closer
to the Pope's than Hitler's, thus making me a shoe in for heaven if God was fair.
The second assumption I had made related to education. In eighth grade my science teacher told our
class that "religious people were mental cripples who needed a crutch to get through life." I was
very impressed by this teacher and took to heart what he said. In the eleventh grade, my physiology
teacher told our class that "educated people believed in evolution." As I grew older my education
had become more important to me. As a result of several teacher's comments I assumed that it was
not possible to think deeply and still be a Christian. Religion in my mind was therefore something
for nice people who were not too concerned about an academic education. My first assumption was
to confuse churchianity with Christianity. Churchianity represents men and women making their best
efforts to reach up to God and receive His approval, based upon their individual efforts to be found
worthy in His eyes. Biblical Christianity is a message explaining how God has chosen to reach down
to mankind through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, providing salvation by His
grace as a free gift to all who believe, in spite of our unworthiness. Religion is essentially a
message of man reaching up to God. Christianity is a message detailing how God has reached down to
man. Religion exalts man. Christianity exalts God. I had received just enough religious training
to confuse religion with Christianity and had rejected an honest consideration of Christianity in
the process. My second assumption was to confuse naturalism, dialectical materialism and the
suppositional baggage assumed to be true by both philosophical world views, with actual empirical
data and good science, which provides conclusions based upon testing, observation and repetition
rather than wishful thinking and naturalist / atheistic suppositional indoctrination.
On the 17th of June, 1970 at 8:00 P.M., I listened to a gentleman clearly explain that God's plan
is that I have eternal life (John 3:16, John 10:10, Romans 5:1), but that my problem with sin (to miss
the mark in word, thought or deed) had separated me from Him (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23). This sounded
more like bad news to me than good news. He went on to say that God had provided a remedy for my sin
by sending His only son Jesus Christ to die on a cross as a payment for my penalty (2 Corinthians 5:21,
Philippians 2:4-10, 1 Timothy 2:5, Romans 5:8, John 14:6, Ephesians 2:8-9), but that it was absolutely
necessary for me to respond to His remedy for the remedy to be effective (John 1:12, Romans 10:9-10,
Revelation 3:20). I bowed my head in that room and quietly asked Jesus Christ to become my Savior
and Lord. Jesus came into my life and has made me a new person, from the inside out (2 Corinthians
5:17). That was nearly thirty-one years ago. Knowing Jesus is more than religious activism or academic
curiosity. It is a real relationship. Spiritual maturity is a process (1 John 2:12-14) that should
continue to develop and grow as long as we are alive.
God used a Campus Crusade for Christ high school ministry to teach me that aggressive, reproductive
Christianity (2 Timothy 2:2) should be considered normal Christianity. Sincerity is necessary for
Christian living, but it is not sufficient for impacting our world for Christ (Matthew 28:18-20,
2 Corinthians 5:17-21, 2 Timothy 2:15, 1 Peter 3:15). He has used several godly men, seminary and
nearly twenty-five years of serving in church ministry to teach me that making disciples means far
more than leading people to Christ and asking them to pray and read their Bibles. It is impossible
to give what you do not have or share what you do not know. When people tell me that their Christian
faith is boring, what they are really telling me is that they do not pray, they do not study and they
do not give away what they have been given. The Christian life is an adventure that is exciting to
live and share. To judge Christianity by people who sit on their hands, criticize others and turn a
living faith into dead religion is to misrepresent Biblical Christianity. Christianity was never meant
to be lived as a passive spectator sport.
Dr. Karl Payne, at heart, is an apologist who loves to train and
equip Christians for spiritual service and warfare (Eph.4:11-16). He enjoys preaching, writing and
retreat / conference / seminar speaking. He derives his greatest pleasure tackling the challenge of teaching
Christian workers, interns and budding preachers / teachers at both the Bible College and Seminary levels.
In addition, he has co-authored two books: A just Defense and Cross Training through
Multnomah Press.