Sunday, July 19, 2015

Discipleship TODAY Ep 1



Modern day preaching is all about
salvation but salvation is Jesus Christ. It is not just a matter of
believing in Him but FOLLOWING Him and OBEYING Him and the only way
that we can follow Him is through discipleship, becoming a disciple
of Jesus Christ. Merely believing in Jesus Christ cannot save us.
And that is what people believe nowadays, that if you believe in
Jesus you can have salvation and you will have eternal life. That is
not true.
We have to become disciples of Jesus
Christ and FOLLOW Him and OBEY Him. Jesus commanded His disciples to
MAKE DISCIPLES like they themselves were disciples. Jesus Christ did
not change and discipleship did not change. The only way that we can
follow Jesus Christ is by being a DISCIPLE. The only way that we can
teach other people to be disciples is to be disciples ourselves. It
is not a matter of Bible study, it is a matter of knowing Jesus
Christ for REAL and FOLLOWING Him and that is what we are talking
about here. I want to teach you to be disciples of Jesus Christ like
He has taught me to be a disciple.
After Jesus Christ suffered and was
crucified and resurrected, before He ascended to heaven, He gave His
disciples command to go into all the world and make disciples. That
is recorded in Matthew 28:18. “And Jesus came up and spoke to them
saying: All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefor and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I commanded you and lo I am with you always even to
the end of the age.”
How do we know what Jesus taught His
disciples? The commands of Jesus, that which He taught His disciples,
were recorded in the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Those are
the words of eternal life, the words of Jesus Christ. That which He
commanded. Jesus commanded His disciples to go into all the world and
MAKE DISCIPLES and to teach them to OBEY His COMMANDS.
But now, how would they be able to
FOLLOW Jesus? They have His commands as they are handed over by the
disciples themselves, they are also recorded in the gospels for us,
so we know what Jesus Christ commanded, but how can we FOLLOW Him?
Jesus promised the Holy Spirit that will guide every believer who
obeys His commands, into all truth. Jesus Christ will give HIS
Spirit, the Holy Spirit to guide each and every disciple. He did not
command His disciples to go and build churches and to guide the
people themselves, HE HIMSELF will guide teach and every one who
obeys His commands. He will reveal Himself to that person. Jesus
Christ did not promise us a book, a Bible, He promised us His Holy
Spirit that will guide each and every one who believes in Him.
We read in John 14:16 “I will ask the
Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you
forever; 17that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you
know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
18“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19“After
a little while the world will behold Me no longer, but you will
behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. 20“In that day
you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
21“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves
Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love
him and I WILL DISCLOSE MYSELF TO HIM.”

Jesus promised the Holy Spirit that will come and be IN His
disciples so that they can be ONE with Him and thus also ONE with the
Father. He didn't promise them another teacher or a book. He promised
them this Helper, the Holy Spirit that would come and would TEACH
them and GUIDE them into all TRUTH. Jesus further said. I read from
John 16:7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I
go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you;
but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8“And He, when He comes,
will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and
judgment; 9concerning sin, because they do not believe in
Me;10and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you
no longer behold Me; 11and concerning judgment, because the
ruler of this world has been judged.

      12“I have many more things
to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13“But
when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the
truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He
hears, He will speak; and He WILL DISCLOSE TO YOU WHAT IS TO
COME. 14“He shall glorify Me, for He shall take of Mine and
shall disclose it to you.”


Now this Holy Spirit, the very presence of Jesus Christ was given
on the day of Pentecost. Before Jesus ascended He commanded His
disciples to go to Jerusalem and to WAIT for the Holy Spirit to be
given to them. We read in Acts 1:4 “Gathering them together, He
commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to WAIT for what the
Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of
from Me; 5for John baptized with water, but you shall be
baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”


We read in Acts 2:1 “When the day of Pentecost had come, they
were all together in one place. 2And suddenly there came from
heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole
house where they were sitting. 3And there appeared to them
tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each
one of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance.” That was when the Holy spirit was poured out, was
given, on the disciples of Jesus Christ. They were praying in the
upper room and waiting for the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised them.
This Holy Spirit was promised to all those who believe in Jesus after
hearing the gospel as preached by the disciples. The disciples would
go out in the POWER of the Holy Spirit and they would be LED by the
Spirit, they would FOLLOW Jesus Christ. He did not leave them as
orphans, He did not leave them on their own. Jesus did not give His
disciples a set of instructions, a handbook and told them to go and
apply those principles, He gave them the Holy Spirit that would guide
them and we read in the book of Acts the ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, those
things that the apostles did under guidance of the Holy Spirit. They
did not go out on their own accord. They went out under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit because Jesus told them to WAIT until they had
received the Holy Spirit and the very same we cannot do the work of
God and be disciples if we are not led by the Holy Spirit, if we have
not received the Holy Spirit.


We need to RECEIVE the Holy Spirit and be LED by the Holy Spirit
or else we do not have INSTRUCTION from Jesus Christ, neither do we
have the POWER of the Holy Spirit GUIDING us, LEADING us, TEACHING us
and CONFIRMING us as being from God. We need to be LED by the Holy
Spirit but FIRST we need to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit to
be disciples of Jesus Christ, to SERVE His kingdom.


When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost and
these people started speaking in other tongues that they had never
learned before but the Holy Spirit gave them utterance, the people
were amazed. They were pierced in their hearts because they could see
that this was a miracle, this was from God. And the apostle Peter
stood up and He spoke to them. They wanted to know what they had to
do to also become part of the kingdom of God. We read in Acts 2:38
“Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your
sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39“For
THE PROMISE IS FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN AND FOR ALL WHO ARE FAR OFF,
AS MANY AS THE LORD OUR GOD SHALL CALL TO HIMSELF.” The Holy
Spirit, the PRESENCE of Christ in each and every true follower, every
disciple, is promised to all those who BELIEVE, who REPENT, who are
BAPTIZED IN WATER and who OBEY the commands of Jesus Christ.

If we do not have the Holy Spirit then we are not of Christ, we
are not CONNECTED to Him, we cannot be His disciples, we cannot
follow Him, we cannot do His will. And that is what Paul wrote in
Romans 8:14 “For all who ARE BEING LED by the Spirit of God, these
are the sons of God.” We need to be led by the Spirit of God to be
sons of God, children of God, to be DISCIPLES of Jesus Christ. If we
do not have the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, then we do not
belong to Him. That is what Paul wrote in Romans 8:9. “But if
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he DOES NOT BELONG TO HIM.”

Discipleship is about BEING LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, the Spirit of
Christ. If we are not led by the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit,
then we cannot be disciples of Jesus Christ and we cannot be part of
His kingdom but it all starts with firstly BELIEVING in Jesus and
then because we believe in Him, to OBEY His commands; to REPENT and
be BAPTIZED and to live according to His words, that which He
commanded and then He will REVEAL Himself to us and He will give the
Holy Spirit, He will fill us with the Holy Spirit and we will be
GUIDED by the Holy Spirit.

Many believers do not have the Holy Spirit. Some HAVE received the
Holy Spirit also with evidence of speaking in tongues but after that
they never followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit because people
have not been taught to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the
have been taught to be religious, to go to church, to read the Bible
but they have no relationship with Jesus Christ and they are not led
by the Holy Spirit. They are thus NOT children of God because THOSE
WHO ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THEY are the sons of God. If we are
not led by the Spirit of God then we are led by our own spirit or by
other influences, our own mind; we do not submit ourselves to Jesus
Christ we do as we like and as we please and therefor we cannot serve
Jesus, we are not part of His kingdom.

Salvation is about the kingdom of God, being led by the Spirit of
Christ, the Holy Spirit, and living in utter obedience to Jesus
Christ. It is about DISCIPLESHIP and that is why Jesus said to His
disciples:”Go into all the world and MAKE DISCIPLES.” We need to
be DISCIPLES of Jesus Christ who are LED by His Holy Spirit. If we do
not have that CONNECTION and we are not LED by the Holy Spirit then
we do not belong to Christ.

Have you received the Holy Spirit? Do you follow the guidance of
the Holy Spirit? We need to be LED by the Holy Spirit in order to be
pleasing to Jesus, to be part of His kingdom.






















May Jesus bless you.

No comments:

Post a Comment