I. The Lesson #4 – Discipleship Video

_______________

II. The Lesson #4 – Discipleship Transcript

At the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, the last thing we see Jesus Christ saying is that they were to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” This quote from Jesus that became known as the Great Commission is found in Matthew chapter 28 verses 19 and 20. As a conclusion to the Message of Christianity I want to talk about the importance of first century discipleship in our twenty first century world.

Concerning Discipleship

In Romans chapter 1 verse 5 (ESV) the Apostle Paul wrote that the main goal of discipleship is “to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations.” The obedience of faith mentioned here involves character transformation in our lives.

The kind of character transformation referred to here will help us learn to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves while we live and work in the ordinary moments of life among the wolves that Jesus Christ said were outside of the Church in the world.

The end result of discipleship is having FREEDOM FROM OUR SINS to go along with the FORGIVENESS OF OUR SINS. These two things require different strategies. Receiving FROM OUR SINS may not come in a person’s life at the same time they receive FORGIVENESS OF THEIR SINS.

Discipleship is God’s plan to make sure someone who has received FORGIVENESS OF SIN is able to have guidance on how to obtain FREEDOM FROM THEIR SINS. How can we participate in God’s plan to provide this kind of guidance in the lives of new believers in Christ?

God’s plan for discipleship involves younger believers living in close contact with older, more experienced believers who are available to be with them the way Mark 3:14 (ESV) says that Jesus was with his group of twelve disciples.

Jesus shared life with the twelve to help them learn how to add FREEDOM FROM THEIR SINS to the FORGIVENESS OF SIN that God wants to offer people.

Gaining Freedom From Our Sins

How exactly can we help people gain FREEDOM FROM THEIR SINS? Well, everything I am sharing online will provide more and more insight into how we can help people with the kind of character development described in Galatians 5:19-23 (ESV):

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control: against such things there is no law.”

The local Church exists to help people who have received FORGIVENESS FOR THEIR SINS to have an emotional support system to guide them through the character development process of getting FREEDOM FROM THEIR SINS.

No one ever came to help me with any of this. The Church failed to do this for me when I was younger, but by the grace of God I am not going to fail you. All you have to do is come, follow me…

But where exactly are we going?

As a conclusion to the Message of Christianity series we are going to have a Discipleship Orientation to explain what happens next in response to one of the very last things Jesus said to his disciples.

In Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV) Jesus Christ gave a command to “go therefore 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 have commanded you.”

We want the Message of Christianity to end with a Discipleship Orientation because the concept of discipleship is more than just attending Church services once a week. It also involves more than joining a small group for Bible study and fellowship on a regular basis.

The real goal of being a disciple is character transformation that can help each one of us gain freedom from our sins that hurt our relationships. Our first priority is to replace the works of the flesh with the Fruit of the Spirit that was described in Galatians 5:19-23 (ESV):

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control: against such things there is no law.”

So this kind of transformation is a healthy, well balanced local Church’s first priority for anyone who wants to be a disciple. This kind of transformation in the contents of someone’s character requires a lot of supervision under the guidance of someone who has more experience in resisting the temptations that can entice us back into the works of the flesh.

In the next few minutes, I am going to offer a Discipleship Orientation to explain how this type of supervised guidance can be offered in a local Church setting.

Discipleship Orientation

The basic goal in a local church is to help new believers become specialists in different aspects of ministry work. I want to briefly outline the basic types of ministry work that are needed for building healthy, well balanced local churches.

The first kind of ministry work is the character transformation from the work of the flesh into the Fruit of the Spirit. This task is the work of the Pastor. We have Pastors in the local church to oversee the character transformation process that will allow people to build and maintain healthy, well balanced relationships in your area.

We have talked about this earlier, so let’s move on to the next thing.

Ministry Task #1 – Evangelism Outreach and Apologetics

Aside from character transformation work under a Pastor’s supervision, we also have to provide guidance on working in the area of Evangelism and Apologetics. Working in this area is not a Pastor’s responsibility. We need Evangelists to be in charge of supervising the work done in Evangelism Outreach and Apologetics work in your area.

We need Evangelists in your are to organize prayer meetings on how to reach the followers of other world religions living in your area. We also need the Evangelists to provide practical guidelines on culturally sensitive ways to approach non Christians living in your area.

In Matthew 10:16 (ESV) Jesus said “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocents as doves.” The Evangelists in your area were put there by God to provide practical advice on how to avoid being eaten alive while we share the Message of Christianity “in the midst of wolves.”

There needs to be prayer and strategy meetings where Evangelists can encourage and support the Christians living in your area as we strive to learn from them how to help the followers of other world religions outside the Church take their first step in God’s direction.

Ministry Task #2 – Teaching Basic Christian Beliefs and Books of the Bible

Let’s move on to the work of the Teacher. The best case scenario here is that a new believer will have a chance to learn Basic Christian Beliefs, followed by the contents of every book of the Bible along with a chance to become familiar with all of the debates and discussions that occurred in the last 2000 years of Church History.

I understand that is a lot for older adults, but this is what we should be offering to young people. In Ecclesiastes 12:1 (ESV) the Bible says “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say “I have no pleasure in them.”

It may be too late for you to learn a lot about Basic Christian Beliefs, each book of the Bible and 2,000 years of Church History, but you can help new believers of the next generation learn all of this and I want to explain how.

I would recommend working to become a specialist in a certain one of these areas. In Basic Christian Beliefs you have seven different topics: 1) How to Read the Bible, 2) The Knowledge of God, 3) Creation, 4) the Identity of Jesus Christ, 5) Redemption, 6) the Church, and 7) the End of Time.

Would you be able to become an expert in one of these areas that new believers in the next generation can come to for help becoming familiar with one of these seven topics?

Here’s another thought for you. There are sixty six books of the Bible. While you may not have time to learn all of them in great detail, maybe you could become an expert on one of them and join a group of sixty five others that are available in your area to help new believers in the next generation become experts on all of them?

This could also be done with Church History. There are several different time periods defined by discussions and debates in the past. Maybe you could become an expert on one of them and have a team work approach to make every century of Church History available to the next generation?

To state it simply, you could help organize a lay leadership team of older, more mature believers who specialize in a single topic, a single book of the Bible or a single century or portion of Church History as a group.

The contents of my website will provide all of the information you need to get started working as an expert in each one of these areas who can work with “experts” to cover the other areas you do not have time to learn in great detail.

Conclusion

On this website, I am going to begin sharing general guidelines as a starting point for organizing a lay leadership ministry project that can nurture faith in the lives of Christians living in your area. These videos and this website are going to become an online resource center that can help anyone who want to participate in this kind of ministry project get started.

I hope that older Christians will volunteer to become experts on one aspect of the Christian faith and use teamwork to help younger Christians become well informed on how to carry the different aspects of the Christians faith into the ordinary moments of life we experience at home with our families or at work with our bosses and co workers.