A Call for Discipleship

Discipleship

• What is discipleship?
  -> Discipleship, is the lifelong process of surrending to our LORD, and being progressively transformed into his Image, and participating in His mission in the world.
• Luke 9:23 “The He said to them all: ‘‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me’“
  • Reflection: I like how it says “daily”. This call is not only when we feel like, or when we need something, but a constant commitment.

• Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore, go and make desciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
  • A lot of the times we come to church and receive only and never share the gospel to others, out there in the world - Says the Pastor. He continued by saying that, The verse literally tells us teach and make disciples but not to just fill the churches with attendance.
  • The pastor also mentioned that, the problem we keep making is that, we make immature christians. We allow them to only receive blessings, and never build them to become disciples.
  • He also made the following example: ‘If i am invited to a party, and when i come to your party, you welcome me in and you go to other people (your other friends). I am never gonna come back to your party.’ - if we are not walking with the souls that just got saved, we will loose them, because they are still babies in God’s kingdom, so hence we need to equip them, feed them, and give them the right tools, so they may grow, and be mature to know that they can walk in no fear, for they know God, and so they may fulfill their purpose.

• Matthew 4:19 “Jesus called out to them, ‘Come follow me, and i will show you how to fish for people!”
  • Reflection: This is a divine calling to all of us.

• John 12:26 “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where i am, my servants also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

• Ephesians 2:3-5 “All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature, we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much!, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that we have been saved!).”
  • Reflection: Sin (or failure to adhere to God’s commands) must be seen as an opportunity to run back to him and to the cross, but not a reason to be chased out from his kingdom. Grace is not just the door we walk through to begin our christians life, but it is a path we walk on every single day.

Spiritual Transformation

• Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, and how it is good, pleasing and perfect.”
  • Reflection: From this verse we see that, discipleship, therefore, must involve studying and applying God’s Word to renew how we think.

• Galatians 4:19 “Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.”
  • Reflection: This speaks to the essence of spiritual transformation, it is the gradual replication of the character, heart, and mind of Jesus within us. It’s not about becoming a better version of ourselves, but about our very selves decreasing so that Christ’s life can be increasingly manifested in us (John 3:30). Again, this outlines to us that, discipleship is often a costly, prayerful, and passionate endeavor, a spiritual labor of love aimed at nothing less than seeing the image of Jesus mature in another person.

• 2 Timothy 2:2 “You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.”

• 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”
  • Reflection: This is the breathtaking promise of discipleship, we become what we behold.

In conclusion

• 2 Corinthians 5:15 “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 _ “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”_
• 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 “And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’“