Embracing A Life Of Discipleship

By David J. Stewart | March 2014

2nd Timothy 2:1-4, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

THE PREREQUISITE OF DISCIPLESHIP

Be strong that is in the grace of Jesus Christ (and this includes saving grace). We are saved by God's grace. This refutes completely the false teaching of Lordship Salvation, that is the additional requirement (besides admitting one's guilty of sin and believing the gospel) of “MAKING JESUS LORD OF ONE'S LIFE” to be saved. My friend, you don't make Jesus Lord, He is the Lord! Christ is the Savior of ALL MEN. 1st Timothy 4:10, “For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.”

Please don't spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, paying for your own sins. Jesus has already paid for your sins, but you must claim the gift by placing your faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ from the dead (that is, THE GOSPEL, 1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Anyone who receives the gospel as full-payment for their sins has eternal life (John 20:31; Acts 10:43; Ephesians 2:8-9). The Word of God says to BE STRONG IN THE GRACE THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS (2nd Timothy 2:1) . . .

Everything involved in a Christian's life is by God's grace. Hebrews 4:15-16 teaches that God gives us grace to help in time of need (and that includes receiving grace from God to help OTHERS). God gave us two hands so we could RECEIVE with one hand and GIVE with the other hand. Amen! We need God's grace to help others, which is obtained only by PRAYER.

There is plenty of things that we can all do to serve God. We can all PRAY. The Bible teaches that prayer is a form of labour. Colossians 4:12 “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” Notice that labouring in prayer is necessary to pleasing God completely. We don't hear much about prayer from the horde of greedy internet, radio and television preachers who are sadly setting our country's spiritual barometer. It is tragic that most churches are patterning their doctrines, music and vision by following the apostate Bozo ministers on radio and TV these days. It's really sad!

THE PROCESS OF DISCIPLESHIP

  1. The Process Is Personal. Discipleship is the rubbing off of one life to another through personal and intense contact. We're talking about how a missionary or Christian trains new converts. The purpose of the New Testament Church is NOT to EDUCATE; but rather, to DISCIPLE people.
  2. The Process Is Intentional.
    1. There are TWO types of disciple training:
      1. Congregational Training (I teach you... you listen, obey and understand)
      2. Leadership Training (I lead you... you observe, help, then you lead and I observe. Finally you lead and I leave. This is exactly what Jesus did, that is, He trained His apostles and then departed). The Biblical time-proven and field-tested discipleship process that works is as follows:

      I LEAD — YOU OBSERVE
      I LEAD — YOU HELP
      YOU LEAD — YOU HELP
      YOU LEAD — I LEAVE

      *This is how churches are started in the mission field. This is how we obey The Great Commission.

  3. What Type Of Person Should We Pour Our Life Into (that is, commit the truth to, train, disciple)
    1. FOUR CHARACTERISTICS:
      1. An Unquenchable Desire To Know God And His Word (John 8:31)
      2. Someone Willing To Make Jesus The Supreme Love Of Their Life . . .

        Luke 14:25, “And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.         And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”

        The question in the text of Luke 14:25 is not whether you love Jesus; but rather, DO YOU LOVE JESUS MORE THAN EVERYTHING ELSE IN YOUR LIFE?
         
      3. Willing To Trust God In Life's Toughest (Luke 14:27-32).

        *A CROSS = Problems that come because you've identified with Christ. Across means standing up for Jesus.
         

      4. Willing To Trust God To Be Your Provider (Luke 14:33).
  4. The Process Is Commanding.

    Many believers are like the DEAD SEA (i.e., a Dead Sea Christian), because they take in, and take in, and take in, but they never give out! They never sow the seed of the gospel. Are you a recipient of grace and a disciple of Christ?

    1. Are You A Disciple?
    2. Are You Making Disciples?
    3. Or Are You A Dead Sea Christian?

    MAKING DISCIPLES IS A ROYAL COMMAND FROM OUR LORD!!!

“The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.”
―Henry Martyn

“The Great Commission” is More Than Soulwinning

By David J. Stewart

Matthew 28:19-20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”

       The Great Commission is more than just preaching the message of Christ's death, burial and resurrection (i.e., the gospel) to the lost. The Great Commission includes four parts:

  1. GO YE into all the world and preach the gospel. Many churches are lazy and don't GO YE.
  2. MAKE DISCIPLES of every tribe (nation) the world by preaching the gospel. The world is our mission field.
  3. BAPTIZE converts as a public profession of their faith by total immersion in water.

  4. TEACH converts to observe (guard against loss) Christ's example through a life of obedience and faith. We ought to indoctrinate our converts with the Word of God, mentoring them in the Lord.

We need to teach every convert to obey The Great Commission. God intended for The Great Commission to perpetrate the gospel from one person to the next, and from one generation to the next . . .

2nd Timothy 2:2, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus commissioned His disciples to “GO YE” and preach the gospel. The hardest part about The Great Commission is the “GO YE” part. Most churches simply don't have a concern for lost souls, plain and simple...

God calls the feet of the soul-winner “beautiful.” Romans 10:15, “And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” Why didn't God call the mouth or lips beautiful? Why the feet? It's because the most eloquent words from the most skilled orator are completely useless if the feet don't “GO YE” to preach the glorious gospel (glad tidings, or good news) to every creature.

Thankfully, a remaining few faithful churches today still “GO YE,” preaching the gospel and making disciples of all men as the Bible commands. They have beautiful feet in God's eyes. Let me ask you my friend, does your church have spiritual gout in your feet?

Religion wants to fit us with glasses, but the Lord wants to open our eyes. We DRAW people into the CHURCH with Christ's LOVE, and then we ATTACH them to the TRUTH. If people only come to church because they've become attached to people, then they'll quit coming once they become offended toward that person or group. This is why it is important for a New Testament Church to have both, a community outreach ministry expressing genuine concern, love and care for people to DRAW them into the Church; and then also a doctrinally-sound pulpiteer, where a man of God preaches the WORD OF GOD without apology.

“The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.” ―Hudson Taylor

I believe it is abundantly clear that we are now living in the end-times. The homosexualization of the world is strong evidence of the end-times. Shameful Lesbian And Sodomite Same-Sex Marriages Now Legal In New Zealand. The widespread perverting of the Bible with umpteen new versions is evidence of the end-times. The saber-rattling of the nations, and the Middle-East build-up is evidence of the end-times. The Lord foretold that sexual immorality would once again become epidemic in the end times, as it was in the days of Noah. Luke 17:27, “...They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day...”

Luke 17:26-27, “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”

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