Discipleship is a very important topic. You will be discipled by someone – good or bad. God places people in our lives who can have a good influence over us. You need someone to help you along, and aldo to help someone else along. You only need be just a little ahead of someone else to disciple them.

“You’re gonna have to serve somebody. It may be the Devil or it may be The Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody” – Paul Simon

You cannot mass produce disciples. Though meetings are great it is one on one where the most important work is done.

“You can care about the crowds but you can only love one person at a time.” – Mother Teresa

“It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the salvation of the masses.” – Dag Hammerskjold

“Poverty cannot be overcome until we stop thinking of it as an issue and start seeing it as a person.” – Richard Stearns

Jesus’ plan is multiplication not addition.

Without discipleship people will never be able to overcome the obstacles that keep them from their spiritual potential. Christianity is complicated when you’re told how to do it; it is simple when you are shown how to do it.

Through discipleship a church moves from being an audience to an army.

The key to a church’s impact is not in the gifts of the few but in releasing the contribution and potential of everyone. A world-changing church is a church of ordinary people equipped and released to do extraordinary things for the glory of God.

Acts 8:4

We are a generation over-taught and under-discipled and under-equipped.

How we become spiritual fathers who change the world: VCF Temple will reach its redemptive potential in discipleship when everyone learns to continuously be one, reach one, and train one.

But, before we can make a disciple we must be a disciple.

All disciples are Christians but not all Christians are disciples. A true disciple is someone who has totally committed his life to forsake all, to obey all, and to share all that God has given them, so that there life in Christ is passed on to others.

Luke 14:33

Matthew 10:8

“It’s not what you believe that matters; it’s what you believe enough to do.” – Gulbranson

Everyone is called to reach someone. All true discipleship is focused on the harvest.

Everyone is called to help train and develop someone.

Qualities of effective spiritual disciple makers:

1. They are encouragers. They are devoted to seeing God’s best and bringing out the best in the other. It is their dream to help make their friend’s (children’s) dream come true. Jim tells about how he has the privilege to talk to his son’s football team before games on Friday evenings. He gets to encourage them right before they hit the field. It makes the boys feel good and it makes Jim feel good. There’s something great about getting close to someone and encouraging them.

2. They share the experiences of life together. Everyone has a story (or lots of stories) to tell. Teaching about your experience and how it can be applied to their lives is far better than just “teaching” a lesson. Discipleship is more about a life than a lesson. Disciples do what disciples see. Passion for God is more caught than taught. We’ve all succeeded and failed and learned from those experiences. We need to be willing to share those things to help others.

3. They help set a level of expectation to help one another  become their best. People grow when a high bar is set and there is mutual accountability for holding ourselves to God’s best. Accountability is good. It’s not just an “under my thumb” thing. It’s a way to help us stay on track with lots of grace and forgiveness. It helps us be honest with ourselves because we’re having to be honest with someone else. Accountability to someone else is an excellent tool for our personal growth.

4. They explain and exchange their journey in the Word. Teachers focus on teaching, disciple-makers focus on listening and helping each other apply God’s Word to their lives. Again, it’s more than just teaching and “lessons.” It’s showing by practical example to help others be more wise. If you pour out your best to others, both you and they will grow.

John 8:31-32

Titus 2:4

5. They equip them to reach, train, and develop someone else so that they continue to double the difference their life makes. Encourage those you disciple to, in turn, disciple others. Make this a part of their DNA so they will pass it on to others – this is where the multiplication comes into play.

Think about those who invest time and energy into your life and what a difference they made to you. You can invest in others in the same way, and make the same difference to them. In turn, they will learn to deposit part of that investment into others.

2 Timothy 2:2

photo credit: davedehetre

Someone is always watching us. I don’t mean that in the paranoid, “cameras are everywhere” way. What I mean is that people are always watching you to see what kind of example you are setting. If you have kids, you know exactly what this mean because you know your kids see everything.

Matthew 4:18

There’s something about Jesus – Jesus makes desire for Himself in our lives. He is always calling and beckoning us to follow.

1 Corinthians 4:14-15

Jesus sets a desire in us to follow His example. As Jesus raises us up to follow His example, He wants us to have others follow us to Him.

Matthew 28:18-20

There’s something about having a mentor and being a mentor. Jesus wants us to follow him, but we also need earthly mentors as well as to be mentors to others.

Spiritual disciples are not born that way they are made that way. Great men and women are great because there were people willing to be “spiritual mothers and fathers” who saw in them what others didn’t see and stepped into their lives to “mine for the gold” that was in them. They made a conscious decision to be disciples and to learn from people who could teach them. God leads us to those who can point out the good in all of us and to help us change the things which are not so good.

Jesus did what He is calling all of us to do and that is to “double the difference our lives” make by making disciples. This is do-able. You can be a disciple and disciple others. You don’t need a seminary degree or special training. Most of what you need is just to be willing.

“A disciple is our enduring testimony to a world and a time we will never see.” – Unknown

Discipleship is important

It is not only God’s plan for helping people it is Jesus’ strategy for winning the world. Jesus’ plan for reaching the world isn’t centered in trying to meet the needs of the masses but in developing the potential of a few who will develop others who will touch the masses.

There are kids who live in our neighborhood who come to hang out with our youth group on Wednesday evenings. Many of them don’t go to church because their parents don’t attend a church and so don’t make time to take them. They come and hang out and we have become like family for many of them. This didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t happen without time and effort – but it did happen. Those kids will go on to make a positive impact on others. That’s where the multiplication comes in.

Mark 3:14-15

You never know who you will make a positive impact on. That’s why you always need to be prepared. As a pastor, Jim gets looked to for spiritual guidance all the time. But, you don’t need to be a “professional” in order to provide that guidance to others. You have something to offer to someone – again, most of the need is for you to be willing.

Matthew 9:36-37

You are His workers. You are all of what God wants to use where you are.

“Discipleship is the wineskin that Jesus is preparing to bring revival to the world.” – Unknown

Where you are is where God wants to use you.

We’ll continue this topic next week …

Many of you have been treated unjustly. We have sometimes been treated disrespectfully and with disdain because of our race, gender, faith, etc. Most of us have treated others unjustly. Since you know what that is like, then you should be all the more motivated to show and bring justice to others. Remember: God hates injustice.

Micah 6:8

Isaiah 58:6-9

God has called us to be instruments to bring Biblical justice to people far and near.

Simply put, doing justice means being a person committed to making wrongs right in our personal life and the world through the power of the Holy Spirit.

When we go out and distribute food to folks, pray and minister, we will run into people who are treated unjustly. We’re doing a small thing to correct that for those we meet.

Reasons why the ministry of bringing justice is so exciting and such a privilege:

1. When we do justice we are putting ourselves at the very center of God’s activity in the world. We are doing what Jesus came to do and what He is doing in the world by His Spirit. We need to ask the Lord what we need to do in our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods and other places where we find ourselves.

Freely we have received, so freely we need to give.

Jim tells the story of when he was a pastor in Michigan and was out with a team passing out groceries in an apartment community where there was great need. As they were going about meeting people, they led one man to faith in Christ. That man passed away a few days later. It was fortunate that they were able to bring healing and justice to him right before it was too late.

Isaiah 42:3-4

2. We can fully expect to experience God’s power and provision as we step out in the Spirit towards justice and compassion. Justice is claiming God’s power for the powerless. We ask for God’s power to come in where it’s needed. The ministry of justice is ministering to people’s needs with God’s resources not ours. We ask for things on Earth to align with what’s happening in Heaven. (“… Your Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven.”)

Luke 18:7-8

3. As we minister God’s justice we not only help people, we empower people.

Why justice matters

1. It is rooted in the very nature of God and how He sees people.

He takes all forms of injustice personally.

Matthew 25:35

He demonstrated His commitment to justice at the cross.

“Jesus is the righteous judge, judged in our place for our acts of injustice.” Karl Barth

By being condemned for us He not only brought just forgiveness but He condemned our condemner and broke Satan’s grip.

2. Having received justification He now has made us agents of His justice. We are freed to set free, things have been made right with God so that they can be made right for others.

To understand the significance of justice in the life of a Christian it is helpful to understand that in the New Testament it is synonymous with righteousness. (dikaiosune)

• Matthew 5:3
• Matthew 5:10
• Matthew 6:33
• Romans 14:17
• Romans 6:13
• 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Ephesians 4:24
• John 16:8
• Hebrews 1:9

3. The ultimate form of justice comes when people receive Christ and have the hope of eternal life.

1 Peter 3:9

Ways to begin to do justly

1. Bring justice to your own heart and relationships first.

Luke 3:11

2. Refuse to ignore injustice. Rise up and make a difference.

1 John 3:17-18

3. Put a name and a face on injustice. Justice is our response to “The One”.

4. Do a justice fast. Do a fast to help make yourself more sensitive to the injustice around us.

Isaiah 58:6-7

5. Change the darkness with confidence in the power of God’s light. We have the Spirit of God within us. That Spirit will bring His light no matter where He leads up. In fact, God will often move us to places so He can use us in those places. Get involved – outside your family. Allow God to inconvenience you so He can use you. God is not on your schedule!

Please share with us if you get inconvenienced this week in order to minister to others.

We Cry Out

God Of This City

Fall On Me

Dwell

Healer

Jim says that after 15 years or so of being a pastor, he finally learned that he can start a sermon one week and finish the next. It’s OK to take some time to talk about things thoroughly instead of rushing through them.

Have you ever been bored with God? You may not want to admit it, and that’s OK. Sometimes, if we get more “religious,” we get less into our relationship with God. When that happens, we get burnt out and bored.

Worship helps keep us “young” in our relationship with The Lord. Experiencing the presence of God is delightful and helps keep our faith childlike. Receiving the Love of God during worship helps keep our faith strong.

When Jim returned from the “Signs and Wonders” Conference he talked about last week, he was filled with God’s Spirit. As he took the red eye back to Michigan from California, he prayed and cried as God ministered to him. He prayed about what he should preach about the next morning. God told him, “Give them My Heart.” As Jim stood in front of his congregation, God’s love was poured out upon the people in his church. They were blessed in a way they had never been blessed before. God’s Spirit fell on the people and they were touched in a way they had never been touched before.

Definitions of worship:

• Passion for God that leads to compassion for people. It helps us to love the unlovable – to touch them with God’s love.
• Giving God the supreme place in our hearts and making Him the supreme delight of our life.

“When God is most glorified man is most satisfied.” “When man is most satisfied God is most glorified.” –John Piper

“Thou art my loveliness, my life, my light, You are Beauty alone to me.” –George Herbert

The connection between worship and compassion

Worship is the starting point of a life of compassion because it provides the highest and best motive, anointing, and outcome for any act of compassion or kindness.

The most powerful and sustaining motivation for loving people is a personal love and passion for Jesus Christ.

• If we give to get our giving will lack transforming power and we will end up discouraged and disillusioned.
• Worship without compassion leads to empty ritualism, compassion without worship leads to burnout. But, worship (especially corporate worship) with compassion leads to maximum impact.

“Worship is the fuel for our mission’s flame.” –Matt Redmond

A heart of worship makes the ordinary into the extraordinary; it brings God’s anointing and the greatest possible eternal outcome to any opportunity of service. It is when compassion is given as an act of worship that it is most likely to produce a response of worship in those who are given to.

Psalm 22:3

Matthew 5:16

Steps to receiving a worship breakthrough in our lives:

• Remember and return to Jesus to give a radical response of gratitude for His salvation and forgiveness in your life. Worship isn’t about showing our devotion to God; it is about rediscovering and being amazed by His devotion to us. He who is forgiven much loves much.
• Come, open and unashamed to disclose the contents of your heart honestly to God in worship. Intimacy with God comes when we reveal the deepest parts of our hearts to God. Why do we raise our hands in worship? It’s so we can show with our body language we are open – our hearts are open – to God’s Healing Spirit.intimacy = in-to-me He sees!Psalm 62:6
• Worship breakthroughs come as we make a fresh surrender of ourselves and break free from the grip of the idols in our lives. Before every breakthrough is a fresh surrender. Why do we raise our hands in worship? To show utter surrender to The Lord. Give your whole heart to God every day in a fresh surrender.1 John 2:15Genesis 22:5John 12:27
• Worship breakthroughs come as we take worship outside of the box and see every person and circumstance as a worship opportunity. There’s a very successful basketball coach at a Christian school nearby who tells his players that playing basketball is a time of worship unto The Lord. Sound funny? Maybe it’s a little unorthodox, but his teams are very successful – and made up of kids who are passionate for The Lord.

“The depth of our worship cannot be measured by how well we speak, sing, or play an instrument, but can only be measured by the degree in which we in our weakness have yielded ourselves in brokenness to God.” –Scott Brener

Matthew 25:40

Worship Assignment: Intentionally seek to turn up the worship temperature of your heart. Open up your heart, look for opportunities every day to reach up to God and out to others. Look for God’s presence each day.

Worship Plan: List at least 3 things you will do this week to accomplish this assignment. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.