Discipleship

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.

There is only one way to have salvation and that is the way of DISCIPLESHIP, following Jesus Christ. There is only one way that we can follow Jesus Christ and that is to be LED by the Holy Spirit. Most believers do not have the Holy Spirit, they do not know what discipleship is all about. it will COST you to follow Jesus Christ. The COST is very high and Jesus said that if we WISH to follow Him we must DENY OURSELVES, PICK UP OUR cross and FOLLOW Him. Most believers do not know what that means and I want to explain that today.

We read in Luke chapter 9 "23And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25“For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? 26“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels."

We have to DENY OURSELVES. What does it mean to DENY YOURSELF?

It means to REPENT, REPENT, TURN AWAY, DISREGARD and REFRAIN from satisfying our own DESIRES, NEEDS, PLEASURES, ASPIRATIONS and PLANS. You ABANDON your own desires, that which you LIKE. You give it up and then you have to go after Jesus Christ.

Jesus said that you have to PICK UP YOUR CROSS. what is that CROSS?

The cross is the COMMANDMENTS of Jesus Christ, His WORDS, that which He spoke. That was also recorded in the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Those are the words of eternal life and we have to OBEY them if we want to have eternal life. Before we can follow Jesus Christ we have to obey those words. That is the CROSS, because as soon as you start obeying the words of Jesus, if you REPENT, turn away from sin, turn away from the things of the world and live according to the words of Jesus then you will be REJECTED. You will be PERSECUTED, you will be SLANDERED, you will be EX-COMMUNICATED. The world will REJECT you, family will reject you, you might lose your job, you might lose your spouse. Your children might reject you, you will end up ALONE. And if you keep on obeying Jesus, doing as He commanded, you will end up alone, carrying your cross.

Obeying the words of Jesus Christ and doing as he commanded , that is the cross that we will bear. If we disregard His words and disobey Him then we are not suitable for His kingdom, we cannot follow Him.

Many refuse to be baptized in water because if they are baptized in water people will reject them. They rather treasure the acceptance of people than the acceptance of God and therefor they cannot follow Jesus. They are not willing to pick up their cross every day and follow Jesus Christ in spite of rejection, in spite of difficulty, in spite of persecution. They don't want the cross. They are not willing to give up the things of the world , they are not willing to bear the cross. If we make up our mind to follow Jesus Christ and we deny ourselves, we OBEY His words, REPENT and are baptized in water then only can we follow Him BUT we can only follow Jesus Christ if we are LED by the Holy Spirit. If we do not have the Holy Spirit we cannot follow Jesus Christ. You cannot follow Jesus from reading the Bible. You cannot follow Him form being religious, going to church, being in fellowship with other Christians. You have to be in fellowship with Jesus Christ. You need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and then follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit every day. You have to stay with Jesus , stay tuned in, listen to the Holy Spirit and He will teach and guide you. He will send you, He will use you. Jesus has called each and every one of us for a purpose in His kingdom and the only way that we can fulfill that purpose is if we are led by the Holy Spirit every day.

There is no TIME OUT. You cannot stop following Jesus Christ for a day or two and then go back. You have to follow Him every day until the very end. That is the road of discipleship.

The apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8:14 "Those who are being led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God," the children of God. If we are not led by the Spirit of God then we are not the children of God, we are not the sons of God.

We can only follow Jesus Christ if we have His Spirit and if we LISTEN, FOLLOW and OBEY Him. We have to make SPACE for His Spirit. That is why we have to DENY ourselves, we have to deny ourselves our own plans, deny ourselves watching TV, playing sports, doing the things that the world do and OPEN our hearts for Jesus, invite Him in, WAIT on Him, SEEK Him, PRAY and ask Him to FILL us with His Spirit so that we can be in FELLOWSHIP, in RELATIONSHIP with Him and that we can follow Him, and DO His will.

Many people say they have been asking for the baptism in the Holy Spirit and they are not receiving it. It is because they are not seeking. It is because they are not SERIOUS. We have to EARNESTLY SEEK the infilling with the Holy Spirit even if it means that you have got to FAST and PRAY and WAIT on the Lord to FILL you.

Many believers do not know what the purpose is of fasting.

After our Lord Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, He was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit, where He fasted for forty days, He was without food and after that the devil came and tempted Him but He overcame satan.

The purpose of FASTING, going without food for some time, to pray is do deprive yourself of sensual and physical pleasures and to focus on Jesus. As the physical is weakened the spiritual inner man that is normally suppressed and smothered is allowed to surface and you become spiritually awake, your spirit is released and becomes open to the Holy Spirit. While you are fasting you have to get your focus on Jesus Christ and PRAY because as your body is weakened and your spirit becomes awakened you will be attacked by evil spirits also, by demons, like Jesus was attacked by the devil. You have to keep your mind and your spirit focused on Jesus Christ and OPEN yourself to Him. You have to fight off the evil spirits.

The first three days you will become hungry and you will want to eat. After three days the hunger pains will leave you and you will be able to stay without food much easier, but keep on using water. It is possible to fast on water for forty days as Jesus Christ did. And after that the devil tempted Him but He overcame satan. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and then His ministry started.

If we follow Jesus Christ we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and the POWER of God. We need to to be RECEPTIVE to the Holy Spirit. We need to KNOW His VOICE and FOLLOW Him. If we have not received the Holy Spirit and we have not learned to HEAR His VOICE, to LISTEN, to OBEY, to FOLLOW then we cannot follow Jesus Christ.

We need to be FILLED with the HOLY SPIRIT. We have to overcome our own flesh, we have to overcome the attacks of the devil.

That is why most Christians cannot stop sinning. They have never FOUGHT the devil and overcome. They are still battling with sin and they are not led by the Holy Spirit because they do not have the Spirit of Christ IN them. We have to be FILLED with the Holy Spirit, we have to be taught by the Holy Spirit and led by the Holy Spirit to do the works of God, to fulfill the task for which Jesus Christ has called us and if we do not have the Holy Spirit and do not submit ourselves to Him daily, pick up our cross and follow Jesus Christ, PRAY, LISTEN, OBEY and DO what He commands us to do then we are NOT suitable for the kingdom of heaven, we are not useful, we cannot bear fruit for the kingdom of God if we are not LED by the Spirit of God. We cannot go out on our own and work for God. We can only work for the kingdom of God if we are led by the Spirit of God, if we FOLLOW and OBEY Jesus Christ every day.

Very few Christians follow Jesus Christ. Very few are disciples because most Christians have never received the Holy Spirit and even those who did receive the Holy Spirit do not follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

It is through our relationship with Jesus Christ, being LED by the Holy Spirit every day, that we gain WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING, that He TEACHES us and GUIDES us and we become part of His kingdom because we SERVE Him.

Jesus Christ requires DISCIPLESHIP. There is no other way to follow Him but to be a DISCIPLE who is LED by the Holy Spirit.

Have you become a DISCIPLE of Jesus Christ?

May Jesus bless you.

Christian believers have been taught to go to church. They have not been taught to follow Jesus Christ and that is why they feel guilty if they do not belong to a church or if they do not fellowship with other believers. But the fellowship that we truly need is not that with other believers but with Jesus Christ Himself. If we have fellowship with other people but not with Jesus, then we are lost. We have to be in fellowship with Jesus Christ Himself and then we can bring others into fellowship with Him, but if we are not in fellowship with Him we are in darkness and we will perish.

I read the testimony of the apostle John in 1 John 1:1. He talks about KNOWING and FOLLOWING Jesus Christ and then testifying to the world about Jesus. Verse 1:

“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— “ He is talking about him as disciple and the other disciples, walking with Jesus Christ, they touched Him, they SAW Him, they HEARD Him. Verse 2 ”and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and INDEED OUR FELLOWSHIP IS WITH THE FATHER, AND WITH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 4These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.”

He tells the world about Jesus Christ. He testifies because he KNOWS Jesus.

He goes on to say in verse 5: “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7BUT IF WE WALK IN THE LIGHT AS HE HIMSELF IS IN THE LIGHT, WE HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER, AND THE BLOOD OF JESUS HIS SON CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN.”

If we WALK WITH GOD, if we are in FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD then the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us of all unrighteousness.

Verse 8 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”

If we walk in the Light, If we walk with Jesus then the Light shines on us and He shows up the sin and impurities in our lives and the Holy Spirit convicts us, we IMMEDIATELY REPENT and walk in holiness and thus we are PURIFIED, we are CLEANSED and we have FELLOSHIP WITH HIM. If we are not WALKING IN THE LIGHT, if we are not walking in holiness and righteousness and obedience to Jesus Christ then we are in darkness. If we are still IN SIN then we are not walking in the Light, then we don't come to the Light, we run away form the Light. If we walk in the Light then we will be PURE as He is PURE and his blood cleanses us of all unrighteousness.

We read in John 15:1 Jesus says ”I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser 2“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3“YOU ARE ALREADY CLEAN BECAUSE OF THE WORD WHICH I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU.”

What is He saying? He is saying that because they WALK IN THE LIGHT AND THE LIGHT SHINES ON THEM and the Holy Spirit convicts them, they are CLEANSED because IMMEDIATELY AS THEY ARE CONVICTED they REPENT and thus they walk in holiness and in righteousness before Him; because they WALK IN THE LIGHT.

Verse 4“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”

We have to STAY IN FELLOWSHIP with Jesus Christ. We have to ABIDE IN HIM. We have to WALK IN THE LIGHT. Our fellowship is with HIM. If we are not in fellowship with Jesus Christ WALKING IN THE LIGHT then we are in darkness. The fellowship of the disciples is WITH Jesus Christ. It is only if we are in fellowship with Him, walking in the Light that we can bring others to the Light also and it will be OBVIOUS from our DEEDS, the fruit that we bear, that we ARE walking in the Light because our fruit will bring glory to God the Father.

Our fellowship is with God, that is the fellowship that we must be concerned about and then He will use us to bring others into fellowship with Him. We first need to WALK IN THE LIGHT and then the Light that is in us will SHINE and draw others unto Him.

We must not be concerned about our fellowship with other people, our acceptance by other believers. We must be concerned about WALKING WITH GOD, WALKING IN THE LIGHT, being LED by the Holy Spirit and being pleasing to Jesus. That is the only fellowship that we should be concerned about because if is only when He is shining through us that we can draw others unto Him.

Are we in fellowship with God, with Jesus Christ? Are we walking with God? Many people are just in fellowship with their “church family” but they are far away from God and they will perish. As disciples of Jesus Christ we must WALK WITH HIM, day by day, follow Him and be in fellowship with Him until the very end.

May Jesus bless you.

Those who are truly born again and who love Jesus Christ have two things in common. The one is that they love one another, because they first love Jesus Christ. If we love Jesus Christ. and we are born of His Spirit, then we love one another. We love the others that also follow and obey Jesus Christ, those who belong to Him because we have that in common, that we love Jesus and we seek to please Him.
Jesus Christ said: John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
People who belong to the same group love one another, they tolerate one another, they support one another because they are of the same group but they EXCLUDE others that are not of that "church" or of that group. If we have the love of Christ we do not exclude others, we love them with the love of Christ. But we do not go along with the things of the world. We do not participate in the pleasures  of the world because we love Jesus Christ, we do NOT love the things of the world, because if we love the things of the world then we do not love Jesus Christ. If we love the things that worldly people do then we are of the world and not of Christ. The apostle John wrote in 1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
18Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us."
If we follow Jesus Christ then the world will reject us, people will reject us. Jesus said that if we follow Him then we will be hated by all men, but His disciples will be known because they have love  for one another even though the world hates them and rejects them.
Many people join up with those who follow Jesus Christ but very soon they find that they cannot fit in, they don't want to follow Jesus and they leave, they GO OUT. If you follow Jesus Christ you will find yourself lonely and alone most of the time because people will not like your company. If you treasure the company and the approval of Jesus Christ then the antichrist will hate you, the antichrist Christians, the fake Christians. There are many who profess to be Christians but they don't follow Jesus Christ and they cannot  tolerate those who who do follow Him because they are not of His sheep. Many of them are very religious, they are church people, they are Bible students, they know their Bibles very well but they do not have the Spirit of Christ and they will reject you. They will "prove" from the scripture that you are not of Christ, exactly as the pharisees also "proved" from their scriptures that Jesus Christ was not the Christ, He was not Messiah. and they crucified Him. Exactly the same the false Christians are anti-Christ, they are pro-Bible and pro-church and pro-religion but they are anti-Christ . As long as you talk about your Bible and your church then they go along with you but as soon as you talk about Jesus Christ, following Him, hearing His voice, being led by the Holy Spirit, then they reject you, they persecute you, they avoid you and they go away from you and you find yourself ALONE again.
If you follow Jesus Christ and you love Him then you will find others who are true brothers and sisters, who have love for one another but you will be HATED and REJECTED by the worldly Christians who go along with the world, who love the world, who compete with the world  and who love the things of the world. Those who truly love Jesus Christ are a special people, a Royal Priesthood who WALK WITH GOD, who are pure and holy, who hate sin and the world and the things of the world . They belong to the kingdom of God and they seek the approval of God, not the approval of men. are you of the kingdom of God? Do you love the true followers of Jesus Christ? Are you persecuted and rejected by the false Christians and do you NOT fit into this world? Are you of the kingdom of God?
May Jesus bless you.

Salvation is not just believing in Jesus Christ, it is about discipleship , a new way of living, following and obeying Jesus Christ. It is about a constant awareness of Jesus Christ, being tuned in to His Holy Spirit who will guide and teach you every step of the way. It is about living in obedience to Jesus, firstly to REPENT and to turn away from sin and from the things of the world, even turning away from myself, my own plans, my own ambitions, and to go after Jesus Christ, to DIE to myself, to that which I want to do, that which is important for ME because Jesus Christ has become the center of my life. The old man of sin and selfishness is buried under water in baptism because he died, he is mortified, and therefor in obedience to Jesus Christ, after repentance, we are BAPTIZED IN WATER to bury the old man and from that water emerges a new man, born again in Christ to live as a disciple and as a member, a child of the kingdom of God, to be LED by the Spirit of God, to LIVE IN OBEDIENCE to the Holy Spirit.

Once we are baptized in water we seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit, we constantly make ourselves aware of Jesus Christ, we keep His words in our mind, we keep Him in our mind and we make sure that we do not sin against Him. We ask His guidance in everything. Our whole life belongs to Jesus Christ and we live our life to please Him.

Our life is about the Lord's prayer:”Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done...” We ask His guidance in everything, in our job, where to work, where to live, our relationships; how to handle our relationships with other people, with our spouse, with our children, with our family. In everything, Jesus Christ comes FIRST. We ask His wisdom in all decisions, we pray and we wait on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We seek to do the will of God, we seek to SERVE in the kingdom of God and we can only achieve that if we go after Jesus, if we constantly seek Him in prayer, keep our mind on Him wherever we are, whatever we do, during our day, while working, while going to school, while seeing to the normal things of life where God put us.

Our mind is on Christ. We submit every thought to Christ so that the words that the words that come from our mouth will be pleasing to Him and the things that we do will bring glory to Him because our mind is on Christ. It is the NEW WAY OF LIVING. It is not about ME any more and my selfish desires, about satisfying my WANTS and WISHES but it is about being pleasing to my Master.

That is the NEW WAY OF LIVING the way a disciple lives. His mind is on Jesus Christ all the time, even when he wakes up at night he prays and he says:”Lord please fill me with Your mind, please fill with Your wisdom, please fill me with Your guidance, please SHOW me the WAY because I want to walk in YOUR WAYS.” It is the WAY of following Jesus Christ, of seeking His approval, of seeking to do HIS WILL of being a disciple of the kingdom of God. We seek to please our Master. We become part of the kingdom of God. Why? Because our mind is on our Master, our mind is on Jesus Christ and He will fill our mind with his thoughts, with His wisdom, with His guidance because we seek HIM.

If we are not living that NEW WAY OF LIVING then we do not have salvation, we are not BEING SAVED, we are not FOLLOWING Jesus Christ. We have to follow Him HIS WAY and the only way that we can know His way is if our mind is on Him, if we direct our life towards Him to please Him. If we open our mind and our spirit to Jesus Christ, He FILLS us with His wisdom and His guidance. He teaches us and He guides us, He gives us UNDERSTANDING of all things because He makes us part of His kingdom, because we WANT to, because we are LIVING THE NEW WAY.

Have you made up your mind to follow Jesus Christ and live the NEW WAY? There is only ONE WAY to have eternal life and that is Jesus Christ, living the NEW WAY until the very end, to LOVE Him, to FOLLOW Him and to live our lives to please Him. We have to LIVE THE NEW WAY. Are you living the NEW WAY in Christ?

May Jesus bless you.

A born again child of God has a different mindset. His mind is on God, on Jesus Christ and on what is pleasing to Him. Those who are not born again, who do not know Jesus Christ, they cannot understand nor see the kingdom of God, it does not make sense to them. They are on a different course, they are going a different direction.

If we follow Jesus Christ we have to SEPARATE ourselves

from the world. We have to run that race, following Jesus every day, we have to run that race with endurance and stay focused on Jesus or else we will be distracted and we will not make it into the kingdom of heaven.

The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:14 "Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

16Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,

 “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM;

  AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

17“Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord.

 “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN;

  And I will welcome you.

 18“And I will be a father to you,

   And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”

  Says the Lord Almighty."

If we follow Jesus Christ we have no business with the things of the world. We do not watch TV with the rest of the world. We do not play video games. We are not competing in the same race. We are not interested in the same things. those things will distract us, they will take our minds off Jesus Christ and we will become like the rest of of the world.

The apostle John wrote in 1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

We have to SEPARATE ourselves unto God and not go along with the rest of the world. If we go along with the rest of the world then we expose ourselves to those influences and we lose the reality of Jesus Christ. We become like them who are perishing.

We read in 1 Peter 4:1 "Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,"

Believers do not stop sinning because they go along with the world, they are not willing to stop sinning. They are not willing to SUFFER rejection. They are not willing to suffer for following Jesus Christ. they rather go along in the same lasciviousness, unbridled lust, going after the things of the world and they are carried away by their desires. They go along with the world and they sin and they will perish.

Peter writes in verse 2 "so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 4In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; 5but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead."

If we follow Jesus Christ we have Christ on out mind. We have the kingdom of God on our mind and we are seeking the will of God.We seek to be pleasing to Jesus Christ. Our treasure, that which we accumulate in our mind, in our heart, is to do the will of God, to hear the voice of our Master, to LISTEN to Him, to OBEY Him and to FOLLOW Him. We have no conversation with the world. We are not interested in the same things because that which they talk about will perish. Our interest is in the kingdom of God and therefor we do not keep company with those who do not follow Jesus Christ.

I read the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:35 "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.  36"But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37"For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

We have no conversation with the world, our treasure, that which is in our heart, that must be Jesus Christ. People talk about many things, they talk about themselves, they talk about their church, about their religion, they talk about their ambitions, the things that they occupy themselves with. They talk about TV programs, about video games, about their sports, that is their TREASURE. That is what is in their heart. If we follow Jesus Christ then we talk about Jesus Christ, that is our conversation and those who are not interested in Jesus will avoid us. They will stay away from us because we have to be careful what we talk about. We will be judged for every idle word. we have to speak the words of God. We have to be LIGHT in this world. If we are not LIGHT then we are darkness, then we are like the rest of the world and we will perish.

We have to be SEPARATE unto God. Our mind must be on Jesus Christ. He must fill us and from our mouth must flow the words of Christ, or else we are not of the kingdom of God. We have to be SEPARATE, we have to be LIKE Jesus.

May Jesus bless you.

Jesus Christ calls us to discipleship, to FOLLOW Him. He said:"My sheep LISTEN to My VOICE and they follow Me." Many believers have come to know the voice of the Lord. He has warned them, He has spoken to them in dreams and they recognized His voice and they obeyed Him, but not all the time. At times they understood when the Lord spoke to them, when He gave them a message, a prompt, when He turned them form their wicked ways or when He gave them direction and then at other times they decided to follow their common sense or some other people's advice or maybe applied some Bible verse. At other times they decided to rather go with the wife or with the children when they KNEW that is was against the will of God.

Jesus requires of us to go with Him all the way. Believers often say:"I will die for Jesus, I will give up my life for Jesus" but when the spouse or the girlfriend or a friend invites them or takes them along to some place where they know they shouldn't go then they deny Jesus.

The disciple's dilemma is that we must follow Jesus Christ ALL THE WAY every day and not turn away from Him. We must STAY WITH HIM. It is easy to say:"Lord Jesus I will die for You," like so many do but when it comes to the smallest things then they compromise, then they go with the world for the acceptance of people, they deny Christ.

The disciple Peter did the same thing. In the night that the Lord Jesus was betrayed He spoke to His disciples, I read from John 13:33 “Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

36Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.” 37Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.”38Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times."

We know what happened then. Jesus was betrayed and His disciples were scattered, they ran away and in that night Peter denied Jesus Christ three times. Then the cock crowed, the rooster crowed and Peter cried bitterly because he knew that he had betrayed his Lord.

So many believers betray Jesus every day. They compromise for things that are worth nothing but that will cost them eternity and those same people often say:"I will die for Jesus, I will be a martyr" but they cannot even go with Him in the smallest of things.

The disciple's dilemma is that we have to choose every day. Are we doing with Jesus or are we going with friends? Do I go with my boss, my wife, my friends, my children or do I stay with Jesus? Many people compromise about the truth. many refuse to be baptized in water. Many accept immorality, they live like the rest of the world. we have to draw a line, we have to choose and obey Jesus Christ every time. We have to STAY WITH HIM or else we cannot follow Him. Jesus said that those who overcome will sit with Him on His throne, those who endure with Him until the end will be saved. It is required of us to choose Jesus EVERY TIME, many times a day. Jesus must be FIRST in everything.

May Jesus bless you.

Discipleship requires FAITH. Without faith it is impossible to please God, without faith it is impossible to follow Jesus Christ. If you do not really believe in Him you will not OBEY Him and you will not get to know Him.

Many people say that they believe in Jesus Christ for their salvation but they do not know Him because they do not OBEY Him and you will not get to know Jesus Christ if you do not OBEY Him. You have to ACT on your faith. You have to OBEY Him because you BELIEVE in Him. If you believe and obey Him, if you REPENT, turn from your wicked ways and from serving yourself, turn away from sin and accept Jesus as your Lord and Master and you are BAPTIZED IN WATER then He REWARDS you with the baptism in the Holy Spirit, His very own presence IN you, WITH you, you will get to KNOW Him for REAL. But if you do not ACT on your faith, if you do not OBEY Him, if you do not REPENT and STOP SINNING He will not come into your life, you will not get to know Him. Your FAITH has to be PROVEN by your ACTIONS, your DEEDS. Faith without works is DEAD. If you do not follow and obey Jesus Christ, you DO NOT BELIEVE in Him, you do not know Him, you do not belong to Him and you do not have salvation.

If you do not FOLLOW Jesus then you prove that you do not believe in Him because Jesus said:”Whoever wishes to come after Me must DENY himself, pick up his cross every day and come here follow Me. You can only follow Jesus Christ if you have obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you have REPENTED, been BAPTIZED IN WATER, been filled with the Holy Spirit because then only can you HEAR HIS VOICE and then only can you follow Him.

Many people accept Jesus, they are baptize in water, some of them receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit but they never start following Jesus Christ because they did not really BELIEVE. If you BELIEVE you will GO AFTER Him, you will OBEY Him, you will LISTEN to Him, you will HEAR Him. He will SEND you, you will GO where He sends you, you will leave everything behind on HIS WORD, on what He has SPOKEN to you – faith comes by the HEARING of the WORD OF GOD, it is when Jesus SPEAKS to you, when He CALLS you, when He SENDS you that you BELIEVE and you ACT and you DO and you GO where He sends you and you are REWARDED by His INTERVENTION. You SEE the hand of God moving miraculously, you see lives being changed, you see people get to know Jesus Christ for REAL, you see how God provides when He sends you, because He is God ALMIGHTY. He does not work by human methods, He is GOD! When He sends you He goes with you but you have to OBEY Him, you have to FOLLOW Him and if you are not willing to go by His WORD, that which He TELLS you, which He COMMANDS you to do then you did not BELIEVE or you were UNWILLING but you PROVE that you do not really BELIEVE Jesus Christ .

The world will know that we are His disciples because we BEAR THE FRUIT, we are LIKE Jesus, we do HIS WORKS, we GO where He sends us and Jesus Christ reveals Himself TO us, IN us THROUGH us and to those who truly BELIEVE!

Do you truly BELIEVE? Are you bearing fruit? Without Jesus we can do nothing. We can only do the works of God if we BELIEVE, LISTEN, HEAR, FOLLOW and OBEY Jesus Christ because then we do HIS WORKS, not natural works, not that which the "church" does. We are not building churches, we are building the kingdom of God because we truly bring people to the knowledge of Jesus Christ! They KNOW Him for REAL, they FOLLOW Him and they OBEY Him and thereby they PROVE that they BELIEVE, they PROVE that they are disciples of Jesus Christ.

Is your faith proven? Can the world SEE that you are a FOLLOWER an OBEDIENT disciple of Jesus Christ? Or are you a FAKE? Are you just a church goer and a person who confesses Jesus but does not really know Him? Do you KNOW and follow Jesus? Do you truly BELIEVE?

May Jesus bless you.