Here is a series I did on training normal people who have never discipled anyone, how to start. Praying that you will GET STARTED TODAY!
Have you ever been discipled?
By that, I mean, have you ever sat and learned about the basics of following Christ from someone, one-on-one, where you could pause them and ask questions?
HAVE YOU BEEN PERSONALLY DISCIPLED?
That personal, face-to-face discipleship model: is what Jesus Christ did in the Four Gospels when He called and trained His 12 disciples.
That personal, face-to-face discipleship model: is what we being done in the Book of Acts.
That personal, face-to-face discipleship model is: what prompts the letters to individuals and churches that are called the Epistles of the New Testament.
That personal, face-to-face discipleship model is: often rare in our fast-paced, overwhelmed lives; but it is priceless when given and received.
I have to admit that no one ever came up to me and asked me if they could teach me the basics of the life of a believer. I went to Sunday School, Youth Group, and countless church services. All were good, all were filled with so much truth, but I never had that model of a Q&A, sit-down, face-to-face discipleship. I had only read about discipleship in books and read about discipleship in missionary biographies.
So when I started college, I decided to stop waiting and get discipled. I made a list of men who impressed me with their study skills, teaching manner, preaching style, public prayers, Scripture memory, and soul-winning or evangelism skills. Then, systematically, over eight years, I followed, wrote, called, and persisted with that list until I had sat with each one and asked them how to learn to do what they did. It was a fantastic time.
Concurrently with all that personal training, I began to practice what I was being taught, which was the:
JOY OF POURING OUR LIVES INTO OTHERS
I began to ask a stream of young men if I could mentor, disciple, or train them in prayer, Scripture memory, evangelism, Bible Study, and how to walk in the Spirit with growing obedience in their lives. That was almost 40 years ago, and the process goes on.
There is nothing more rewarding than to obey Christ’s command and seeking to teach others what we have been taught. Once a person is saved, discipleship is Matthew 28:20 “teaching them” how to “observe all things” that Jesus left for them to be and to do as His followers. We are all left with a great commission, the one Jesus Christ left for all of His disciples.
I have been discipling individuals for the past 40 years and learning all I can from everyone I meet who has ever discipled another believer. This is a life-long process. We can learn so much if we love doing something so much, that we want to learn it better and better. Today is either a call to get started or a reminder of why we do what we are all called to do.
How do we start? After establishing that the person is saved, the very next truth for them to learn is the:
1. VITAL CONNECTION BETWEEN SALVATION & THE REST OF LIFE
This connection was taught by Paul in Colossians 2:6.
The same way God saved us is how we follow Christ through life. We hear the Gospel from God’s Word, we believe the truth and respond in faith, and God transforms us. That is the pathway of salvation and each day of our life as believers. Taking God at His Word and seeing Him at work in us. That is simple, clear, and easily explained in Scripture.
Paul went on to teach the saints at Colosse that there was even correspondence to God’s Word and the fullness of the Spirit. In fact, Paul uses the exact same language to Ephesus for being Spirit-filled (Ephesians 5:18), as he does for being Word-filled (Colossians 3:16-17). Salvation and all the work of God within us by His Spirit are founded upon God’s Word. Those are the foundational truths that the Apostle Paul taught as he planted churches across the Roman World.
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