DISCIPLESHIP
Evang. Nimota Kelani
SONG:
I have decided to follow Jesus; I
have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus no
turning back, no turning back
That is a decision backed up by the
power of the Holy Spirit and I know God will help you after this teaching and
prayer.
WHO IS A DISCIPLE?
The
word disciple is derived from the Greek word “Mathetes” meaning “learner” or
“apprentice.” It describes a person
whose mind is set on a purpose.
Throughout the New Testament it is what is used mostly of Jesus
disciples. A disciple is:
1.
One who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another.
2.
An active adherent, as of a movement or philosophy
3.
A disciple is a pupil or learner who is apprenticed to a master or teacher for
the
purpose of receiving instruction.
There can be no disciple without a teacher.
Discipleship
involves willingness to follow commands and to make commitments. It involves Willingness to follow the
direction of whoever the leader is or the movement; regardless of whether they
are older than us or we are older than them.
It should not matter whether we are more educated, eloquent, or gifted
than them. Turn with me to Luke
14:26-27 “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own
life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear
his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”
Jesus has to teach
the audience of what it means to carry one’s own cross. When the Romans led a criminal to his
execution site. What they do was let the
criminal carry the cross on which he would die, they are doing this to the
criminal to show his submission to
HOW DOES ONE BECOME
A DISCIPLE?
Mark 1:19-20: And when he had gone a little
farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also
were in the ship mending their nets. And straightway he called them: and they
left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after
him.”
This scripture
shows that they were ordinary people like you and I who made a commitment to
follow Jesus. The disciples were
chosen; that is the Lord called them, and they responded to the call by
faith. Some of the chosen disciples were
older than Jesus himself. They had to follow him in faith and submit to his
authority.
WHAT ARE THE
REQUIREMENT FOR DISCIPLESHIP
1. Willingness
to follow: We can see in the scriptures that Jesus’ call to people to
follow him. The response to those calls
was the willingness to follow.
Willingness to respond to the call in faith is the first requirement for
discipleship.
2. Faith in
the one calling: There willingness to respond to the call must be based
on something tangible. They must have
seen something substantial in the one calling.
They have discerned something difference in the one calling and if this
is true they based their decision on faith in Him to follow willingly.
3. Positive
response: The last requirement of discipleship is a natural outgrowth
of the first two. Their willingness to
follow and faith to believe will lead to positive response to the call of discipleship. Without a positive response there could be no
discipleship.
Brethren, their
positive response and willingness to follow would have been ineffective if they
would not be obedient to him. Jesus
invited each person initially called to follow Him, and they did so
immediately. This means that they were
obedient and that obedience was a requirement for discipleship. No willfully disobedient person can be a
successful follower of the master.
The disciple of
Jesus in response to the call implied a total break with the past. They left their jobs, their families, and
their possessions to follow Jesus. They
heeded to the call to love these things than they loved the master. For us in this church it doesn’t necessarily
mean that we have to do all those things our breaking up with the past may be
with breaking off of bad habit, our ego that is the ability to be willing to
take corrections without us being over sensitive or feeling that we are being
insulted. It may mean breaking things
that does not glorify God in our life, e.g. lust, lying, jealousy etc.
The essence of
discipleship in the reality is to follow the master. It is a call to a life of community and
fellowship. Jesus and the disciples must
have had a close companionship, yet he did not hesitate to rebuke or correct
them when there is need to. That such a
relationship is at the core of discipleship can be seen in John 15:5 when Jesus said “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth
in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can
do nothing.” The intimate attachment
between a vine, and a branch that inspired Jesus’ is what we will have in this
church in the name of Jesus.
God calls us to
discipleship to do many things; to spread the gospel, to minister to the
outcasts and the needy, make disciple and many other things. This is what is supposed to be happening in
every church and around the world. The
big question is how are we to go about it in this church? Are we ready to go out there and minister to
the lost ones and bring them to the kingdom?
Jesus was indeed a
disciple-gathering teacher. He used
every opportunity to call, educate, train, correct, rebuke, and nurture
disciples. He was never too busy to help
a needy soul. Disciple training was at
the center of His ministry, and that is what God has called us to do in this
church. We are to teach, train, correct,
rebuke and nurture in this church. This is our calling and we must do that
which we are called to do. Before deliverance can take place there must be
brokenness and how do we learn to be broken through discipleship. Bro. Peter had not choice but to learn. We are teaching this because we are going to
grow and more people will be added to us.
We must be ready for them when they come.
No one can do the
work of the kingdom alone. That is why
there is a church. The tack is not
limited to Pastors, Search the scriptures teacher, Elders, Deacons, Choir
master or other church officers. Any
pastor or minister of God that think they can do it alone will just find
themselves wearied out prematurely. It
is the task of every member; Jesus’ commission excluded no disciple. Jesus’ words were “Go ye” Matthew 28:19, it means
you, you, you and I.
It is true that
some members of a church may not feel comfortable with this idea because they
lack training. Yet when Jesus called
fishermen for discipleship they were untrained but they were willing to submit
to his teaching, training, correction, rebuke and his nurturing.
To be a disciple
means total submission. Jesus was making
sure that they understand He was not calling them to put down, to belittle them
but to lift up by training them. However, were there is need for correction He
corrected the individuals involve.
Through out Jesus ministries he dealt with issues as they arrive; He
corrected apostle Peter more than any of the apostle. Peter was a good example of a disciple whom
Jesus rebuke a lot; brother Peter learned a lot at Jesus’ feet. He made many mistakes; Jesus confronted him
on many of the issues openly not to put him down but to make him become what he
became after His death. Luke 22:33-34; Matt 26:69-75; John
18:1-11; John 21:15-19: At
one point Paul had an open confrontation with this same Peter in the book of
Acts and the matter was settled. The
life of these apostles was a typical example of discipleship.
1. Lust: Your imagination indulges uncleanness.
2. Idolatry: If you permit anything to come between you and
your God, it becomes an
idol. For example, your
job, money, etc.
3. Laziness: Life of ease at home and lack of zeal for the
things of God and hatred for
long prayer sessions. These are fire
extinguishers.
4. Over-sensitivity: Bitterness rises quickly in the hearts
of some people immediately
somebody disagrees with
them. They cannot take corrections.
5. Judgmental spirit: when we start judging others on how
an issue should go.
6. Gossip: All gossips are devil’s advertisers.
7. Worry: This is when you are anxious about the future.
8. Selfishness: This is when you ignore the interest of
others and you are only
interested in
yourself. You are always the one being
insulted and you never thought
about your own response
to the issue at hand.
9. Distraction: This is when you are unable to focus on
Christ and you find it difficult to
read the Bible and gain
something from it.
10. Lying.
11. Discouragement: Some people are easily discouraged. At
the first sign of failure,
they run away. They
quit when things are hard.
12. Abusive tongue: Some people cannot control their
temper.
13. Depression: This is when you allow despair to overtake
you. You think of your
problems always and
withdraw from everybody when the Bible says, “I will not
despair for I have believed to see the
goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
14. Fear: All kinds of fear are in the lives of people.
15. Procrastination: This is when you are always planning
to go higher and dig deeper
but always postponing
the day you will start.
16. Lack of sexual control: People in this category should
forget about spiritual
growth.
17. Pride: is
beginning to set in and we would not be successful in our ministry as a
disciple.
The Lord will lead
us right on this journey. We will not be
a cast away in his vineyard.
Let us rise up for
prayer:
Sing this song with
your spirit open for correction and repair tonight.
All to Jesus I
surrender; All to Him I freely give,
I will ever love
and trust Him; In His presence daily live.
I surrender all, I
surrender all
All to Him Thee my
blessed savior
I surrender all.
PRAYER POINTS
1. O Lord, I want
you to break me; I want the self in me to die in the name of Jesus.
2. O Lord,
whatever, would make you to replace me, remove it from my life.
3. O Lord, give me
the power to walk in the spirit.
4. O Lord, divorce
me from every sin of self.
5. O Lord, break me
and mould me according to you will.
6. O Lord, reveal
to me anything that is hindering my spiritual growth.
7. O Lord, destroy
every critical mind in my life.
8. O Lord, help me
crucify my flesh.
9. O Lord, help me
hate sin with perfect hatred.
10. O Lord, let me
be lost in you.
11. O Lord, save me
from myself.
12. Holy Spirit,
possess me completely in the name of Jesus.
13. My flesh I
command you to die to sin in Jesus’ name.
14. Father Lord,
let me experience your kingdom in every department of my life.
Wonderful father we
thank you for tonight. We thank you for
wonders you have done in our lives today.
We thank you for the deliverance you given us. We appreciate you O Lord
for the testimony that is coming in Jesus name.