The Church of Pentecost, Maryland District

WHO IS A DISCIPLE?

Written by amadi

CENTRAL TRUTH:

As Christians, we are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not an option; it is a fundamental requirement. TEXT: Phil 3: 7-14; Acts 20: 20-24; MEMORY VERSE: Jesus said to them, "You are truly my disciples if you live as I tell you to, John 8:31 TLB TOPIC: WHO IS A DISCIPLE?

INTRODUCTION:
Christian discipleship began, according to John's Gospel, the day after Jesus was baptized (John 1:35-39). According to this passage, the first two men to follow Him heard John the Baptist declare that Jesus was the Lamb of God. Andrew and his friend (most likely John) believed what they heard and followed Jesus. Before long, they were telling others about this amazing Man of God!
Andrew recruited his brother Simon (whom Jesus called Peter); the next day Jesus found Philip in Galilee; Philip found Nathaniel and soon a movement wasborn. Christian discipleship is more than being a believer - it's about being a follower! Once we make a decision for Christ, then just like Andrew, John and Peter, we must become His disciples and follow Him.

THE DEFINITION OF A DISCIPLE The word "disciple" literally means A LEARNER (student or pupil). According to Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament, it denotes "one who follows another's teaching". A disciple is a convinced adherent of a school or individual. or a follower, one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another.

Part of the disciple’s learning is to "learn not to go beyond what is written" (1Cor 4:6). The disciple should "learn Christ... hear him... be taught in him" (Eph 4:17, 20-24) A disciple is to "continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel" (Col 1:23).

A disciple is A FOLLOWER, who LEARNS from his teacher in order to IMITATE his teacher in word, thought and deed. So, a disciple is a: Follower, Learner and an Imitator He follows in order to learn, he learns in order to imitate.FOLLOWERS (LK 5: 1- 11; 19: 1-10; MK 2: 14; MTT 9: 9):Jesus plan was to make them fishers of men. He called them to leave their family business and abandon their dreams, aspirations and personal ambitions.

ADJUSTING PRIORITIES: Being a disciple today is nearly the same as being a disciple in the time of Jesus. As a disciple today you still have to have a true belief in God and to follow the word of Jesus. This is also true for disciples 2000 years ago. The first twelve disciples weren^t just Christians straight away, they dropped all of their things to follow Jesus and spent years learning about God. Nowadays, many people wouldn’t want to drop nothing.

Will you have to become a minister or missionary? No. but we have to be obedient to what God is asking us to do and be faithful in our place of work, school, college, university or at home. God may want you to remain in the job where He found you but want to use you as a fisher of men. Hence you have to make adjustments in your priorities, attitudes and actions. LEARNERS (ISAIAH 55: 1-9): As we listen to His Words and observes His life, we learn the mind, heart and ways of God (Rm 10:17; 12: 1,2; Jn 14: 26; 10: 13-15).

IMITATORS ( 1 Corinth 11: 1; 4: 16; Phil 3: 17; Eph 5: 1; ):

We follow Jesus in order to learn from Him and we learn in order to imitate Him-that is to act like Him in Word, thought and deed. Jesus life should be reproduced in us. The world can only see Jesus as He lives out His life through the Church. They will see Jesus’ holiness as they see you. They will know God is love because His love is flowing out of you.

THE GOAL IN BEING A DISCIPLE...

1. Stated by Jesus himself:  to be like the teacher - Lk 6:40

2. To be Christ's disciple, then, is to strive to be like Him!

3. According to the apostle Paul, this coincides with God's goal

in the redemption of mankind, that they be conformed to the image of His Son - Ro 8:29

Disciples are people who believe the gospel, people who have turned from their sin to embrace the forgiveness of God, people who have had a transformed life so that they are motivated to obey what the Lord has commanded them.

Question: What are the three aspect of discipleship?

Comments (4) >>

What are the three aspect of dicipleship
written by Jacqueline Bertinus, May 19, 2009

1. Calling
2. Equipping
3. Sending

CHARISMATICISM
written by Jonathan CHM, July 27, 2009

1) The following are the proves that angels could perform miracles healing and there are falling angels in the Scripture to be against God too:

John 5:3-4, “In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.”

2) The following are the proves that Angels could perform marvellous wonders:

Luke 1:7, “And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren and they both were now well stricken in years.” Luke 1:13, “but the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for their prayer is heard; and they wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John”. Luke 1:18, “And Zacharias said unto the angel, ‘Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my life well stricken in years.” Luke 1:19, “And THE ANGEL ANSWERING UNTO HIM, I AM GRABRIEL…” Luke 1:20, “AND BEHOLD, THOU SHALL BE DUMB, AND NOT ABLE TO SPEAK, UNTIL THE DAY THAT THESE THINGS SHALL BE PERFORMED, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.” Luke 1:22, “And when he came out, HE COULD NOT SPEAK UNTO THEM”.

Matthews 28:1-2, “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Many Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And, behold, THERE WAS A GREAT EARTHQUAKE, FOR AN ANGEL OF THE LORD DESCENDED FROM HEAVEN, AND ROLLED BACK THE STONE OF THE DOOR, and sat it.”

Acts 12:23, “Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.”

3) Angels could appear in somebody’s dream:

Matthews 2:19, “…an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph…”; Matthew 1:20, “…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream…”

As angels could perform wonders, are there any strongest proves to show that those wonders in contemporary Charismatic Churches are from God? If someone in contemporary Charismatic Church could prove it, we have to accept it. However, if nobody could prove whether the existence of wonder in contemporary Charismatic Churches is from God or the Holy Spirit or Angels, there is a danger that one would comment that certain wonders are from God or from the Holy Spirit or from Jesus Christ and, in case if they are not and it would turn up that we have forced God or Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit to bear the name of doer and indirectly we have abused the name of Jesus Christ or God or the Holy Spirit and this causes us to speak against Jesus Christ or God or the Holy Spirit indirectly.

nice post
written by Jewel, December 13, 2009

If you want to find some PDF material in the internet you should visit the pdf serch engine. This one http://www.pdfqueen.com or some other.

...
written by Sidharth, January 26, 2010

Check out the Jewish understanding of discipleship of the different levels in being a Talmudim. I have no covered the details in this article: http://www.imrah.org/2009/12/the-original-mandate/

But I would suggest that you look into what Bet Sefer, Bet Talmud and Bet Midrash are. It would make clear why Jesus did what He did, and why the disciples followed Him immediately.

Blessings

Sidharth

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