R. Kent Hughes - Disciplines of a Godly Young Man

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Discipline is not a popular word these days. But disciplined Christians are growing Christians. So if you know a young man who wants to grow up in the faith, do him a big favor and buy him this book.

Collin Hansen, Editorial Director, The Gospel Coalition; author, Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalists Journey with the New Calvinists

For a book to keep your interest, its most important that it captures your hearts yearning from the beginning. This book is relevant, theological, culturally astute, and challenging for the serious student. It is a resource for pastors and a tool for discipleship for lay leaders. It is a MUST READ.

Steve Keels, Executive Pastor of Discipleship, Good Shepherd Community Church, Boring, Oregon

In a male culture marked by spiritual apathy and passivity, this book serves as a clarion call to single-minded discipline, radical purity, and kingdom purpose. Weaving together biblical wisdom and memorable illustrations from history and popular culture, Disciplines of a Godly Young Man provides clear and compelling guidance on every page. I can scarcely think of a book more necessary for the emerging men of the next generation.

David Setran, Price-LeBar Chair of Christian Formation and

Ministry, Wheaton College

This is a really uncomfortable book. I can honestly say that I read something troubling on every page. I am therefore so grateful to God for this great aid to the overriding aim of all of our lives: Christlikenessread it and repent.

Rico Tice, Senior Minister, All Souls Church, London, United Kingdom

Be warned. You may struggle with this book at firstnot because it is hard to read, but because Kent Hughes and his son Carey Hughes show from the Bible the high benchmark that God demands of your young life. They lay it out on the table, simply and clearly, chapter by chapter, discipline by discipline, and then they invite you to live the life God requires. Of course, young Australian men will need to read their own heroes into the first chapter; but they will recognize the biblical heroes in chapter 11; and hopefully, they will recognize the love and power of the one HeroJesus Christwhen they read the final chapter about grace. Make sure you read this book to the end.

Justin Moffatt, Senior Minister, Church Hill Anglican, Sydney, Australia

This book is a serious wake-up call for young men who seek to follow Christ. With its straightforward tone and gospel-grounded challenges, this is a perfect introduction to the spiritual disciplines for young men who love Jesus. I look forward to reading and studying this book with our high school guys.

Jon Nielson, Senior Pastor, Spring Valley Presbyterian Church (PCA), Roselle, Illinois

RELATED CROSSWAY TITLES:

Disciplines of a Godly Man by R. Kent Hughes

Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes

Disciplines of a Godly Family by R. Kent and Barbara Hughes

Disciplines of a Godly Young Man

Copyright 2012 by R. Kent Hughes and W. Carey Hughes

Published by Crossway
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical,photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher,except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

First printing 2012

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible ( The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked MESSAGE are from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from The New American Standard Bible.Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972,1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973,1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reservedworldwide.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the authors.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-2602-2
PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-2603-9
Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-2604-6
EPub ISBN: 978-1-4335-2605-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hughes, R. Kent.
Disciplines of a godly young man / R. Kent Hughes and W. Carey Hughes.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4335-2602-2 (hc)
1. Young menReligious life. 2. Christian youthReligious life. 3. DisciplineReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Hughes, W. Carey, 1968 . II. Title.
BV4541.3.H84 2012
248.8'42dc23 2011029226

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

To the third generation:

Brian Emory, Graham Thomas,

Elijah Hughes, Jonathan Bennet, Zachary Michael,

Micah Kent, Josiah Timothy

Special thanks to Jonathan Carswell who read the manuscript in its entirety, made substantial contributions to most of the chapters, and helped adapt the book for an international readership. Also, we are grateful to Brian E. Hoch for the assembly of the online resources along with James Kinnard, director of marketing with Crossway.

Those who watched Mike Singletary (perennial All-Pro, two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, member of the Super Bowl XX Dream Team, and former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers) playand observed his wide-eyed intensity and his churning, crunching samurai hitsare usually surprised when they meet him. He is not an imposing hulk. He is 6 feet tall and weighs maybe 220 pounds. Why the greatness? The answer is: intense, purposeful discipline! Mike Singletary is as disciplined a student of the game as any who have ever played it.

In his autobiography, Calling the Shots , Coach Singletary says that in watching game films he would often run a single play fifty to sixty times, and that it took him three hours to watch half a football game, which is only twenty to thirty plays! Because he watched every player, because he mentally knew the oppositions tendencygiven the down, distance, hash mark, and time remaining, because he read the oppositions mind through their stances, he was often moving toward the balls preplanned destination before the play developed. Mike Singletarys legendary success is testimony to his remarkably disciplined life.

Discipline is the difference in the sports world. Tiger Woods (prior to his moral failure) was, by all estimates, the greatest golfer of the last decadeand those who have watched clips of him juggling a golf ball on the head of a driver and then driving the ball from midair straight down the fairway for 200 yards are in awed agreement. But this playful stunt was only the tip of a massive iceberg of lifelong discipline which began at the age of threethe discipline of a man so focused that he once refused to leave a practice hole until a dozen of his drives rested on a white towel on the distant green. The legendary Jack Nicklaus, the most successful golfer of all time, once quipped, The more I practice, the luckier I get. Michael Phelpss eight (yes, you read it correctlyeight!) gold medals at the 2009 Olympics in Beijing were the result of thousands of hours and miles in the pool of disciplinedboredom. The glory of a Kobe Bryant three-point shot that wins a basketball game at the buzzer is the apex of a life of inglorious discipline!