Knowing the walks of Discipleship

Praise God Church!!

Today many people say I am a Christian, and when you check they never act as Christians. I therefore asked, What could be the problem? The problem is not with the So called, Christians, the problem is that Churches of today are not putting emphasis on Discipleship. Church Leaders are not teaching followers of Christ Jesus the process of discipleship and as a result there is no catch and release effect as intended of the Church. This has caused stagnation in the Church. By not making disciples, the Church is not being built - the Church is you and me. Start making disciples today, find the unbeliever - Share with them the word of life to be born again - Guide them to be transformed from spiritual death to the eternal life of Christ Jesus - Walk with them as you allow them to explore and get closer to God - Get them started of having a personal relationship with God - Grow them up to stand firm with faith in the Lord - Guide them to maturity and release them as you welcome new Christians to follow and accept Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

Discipleship is doing what God created you to be and not otherwise - to grow and be like Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

In today's church for as long as one has given their life to Christ, we think that is all! We are now born again, thank you very much. I tell you church, THAT IS NOT ENOUGH! You are meant to move the next step, that step is walk like Christ Jesus did - That is you have to walk the Discipleship way - that is the Christ Jesus way. Encourage fellow Christians to not just speak as Christians but to also do deeds that people need not ask whether they are Christians but rather see it in the deeds that this and the other one are really Christians.  

                The Life-cycle of Discipleship:

Discipleship is the fourth stage in the life cycle of a Christian after stage one of sharing, stage two of connecting or strengthening relationships, and stage three of ministering of the Word of God. 


The Sharing Stage -You are spiritually an Infant (Death or spiritual Infancy split by a thin divide of you accepting to be born again in Christ Jesus):
The journey of discipleship in Christianity starts with sharing the Gospel to a person who is spiritually dead or one who is in need of being born again in Christ Jesus as they are lost, they have no spiritual sight and need the healing of Christ Jesus in their life to be able to see. In other words this is a person who even with eyes, you can not see and with ears you can not hear until you accept Christ Jesus in your life and be converted. At the first time you are shared to the Gospel is the time you do not believe in God - that time is the stage of Christianity where you are still spiritually dead to God.

The time you transfer from being a spiritually dead unbeliever to a spiritually living born again (John 3:3 NKJV) believer is when you accept Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Without converting to accept Christ Jesus in your life, you can not see the Kingdom of God (Acts 28:27 NKJV). Accepting Christ Jesus is crossing from the point of being spiritually dead and lost to the dark - lost to all evil and wickedness, to being a spiritually born again human being who has chosen eternal life in Christ Jesus (1 John 5:11 KJV) - chosen to step in the light - chosen to be controlled by Christ Jesus to becoming spiritually alive to God (Luke 15:24 NKJV). As such submitting to our Lord Christ Jesus means rejecting the devil and all its ways, getting closer to God and as such allowing God to get closer to you  and work within you. Therefore when you allow Christ Jesus in your life, you will have allowed God to be with you in your struggles and by the control of the Holy Spirit upon your life, Christ Jesus will be working inside you, helping you want to obey God by giving you the strength and power to do what is right. 
  

Being an infant Christian is that transition after you have given your life to Christ Jesus. Accepting to be a born again Christian is being sanctified by the faith in Christ Jesus, which is an eye opener for you to turn away from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God that you may be forgiven of your sins and be able to inherit what is inherited by the children of God (Acts 26:18 NKJV). At spiritual infancy you are a Christian who has just become Spiritually born again and possibly someone has just shared to you the new way of life which a Christian should walk  and lead (Proverbs 12:28 KJV). At infancy, as you share with another Christian the Gospel of Christ Jesus, you are allowed to reflect on your old way of unbelieving. Because Christ Jesus is welcomed to work in you, your eyes are opened and you start to realize that your old life were full of wickedness and death attached to it. By accepting to forget the evil life you lived and detach from it, to live the righteous new shared life, the Christ Jesus way, you are lead by the Spirit of the Lord and as such you are encouraged by the Spirit of the Lord to share: Your life transformation (John 12:25 KJV, Matthew 10:39 KJV), new truths (1 Samuel 12:24 KJV, Psalms 33:4 KJV, Zechariah 8:16-19 KJV, Mark 5:33 KJV, Matthew 22:16 KJV, John 1:14-17 KJV, John 3:21 KJV, John 4:23-24 KJV, ), and new habits (1 Corinthians 4:17 KJV). The sharing or infant stage of Christianity is the stage where all your language and behaviors are characterized by ignorance and confusion. You are in Christ yet you lack insight and understanding of what it means to be spiritually born again, in other words you are spiritually dragging or crawling. You are not sure where you are going yet all the same you accept to believe in Christ Jesus and allow yourself to be controlled by the Holy Spirit who allows you to grow in the knowledge of and understanding of Christianity step by step. You have to endure and want to shift from the infant stage of Christianity so as to move to the child growth stage of Christianity which is also the connection stage of Christianity. This is the stage where as a Christian you don't go to church every worship day, you pray sometimes and miss on other times, church is not really a priority but your praying has improved anyway from a non praying person to a praying person and improving gradually. This is not enough, move to the connection stage.


The connection stage or relation building stage - You are spiritually a Child (A child of God growing in Christ and gradually attaining understanding with the ability to discern some things independently by the help of the Holy Spirit)

The child stage of Christianity is that stage where you the Christian starts to build relationships with God and fellow Christians. In the relationship of discipleship you are intended to think of others like Christ Jesus did (Romans 15:2 NKJV): doing others good, trying to help others and being encouraged to do whatever pleases others, other than yourself. As you build relationships you are not meant to be selfish in anyway (Philippians 2:3-4 NLT). This is the stage where you are built with the good news in the gospel of Christ Jesus and fed with essential ingredients and deeds that make you to be firm in the Christian faith. It is that stage where you the Christian choose on your own to endure and devote your life to following Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior. It is at this stage that you as a Christian are encouraged to connect to God (Genesis 5:22-24 NLT, James 4:1-8 NLT, 2 Corinthians 13:10-14 NLT, Matthew 8:20-21 NLT, 1 John 1:3-6 NLT, 1 John 5:20 NLT, 1 John 2:22-24, 27-28 NLT, 1 John 3:23-24 NLT), connect to others (church and group) (Acts 2:42-47 NKJV, 1 Corinthians 1:19 NKJV, 1 John 1:7 NLT, Phillipians 2:1 NLT), connect to purpose (Proverbs 19:20-21 NLT, Exodus 9:15-16 NLT, Psalms 57:2 NLT, Ezra 3:1 NLT, Jeremiah 32:38-39 NLT, John 10:9-10 NLT, Romans 14:8-9 NLT, Romans 10:13-14 NLT, Romans 8:27-28 NLT, 1 Corinthians 9:25-26 NLT, Ephesians 1:11-12, Philippians 2:2 NLT, 1 Timothy 1:4-5 NLT, Ecclesiastes 3:13-14 NLT, Ephesians 3:9-10 NLT). "Work your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his purpose (Philippians 2:12 NIV)." When building a strong relationship with God, the church and God's purpose, you as a Christian has to keep in the guide of the Holy Spirit as by yourself there are many temptations to overcome and endure before you may think of attaining the third stage of Ministry. This is the stage where as a Christian you do not miss church, you always give your tithe, you give your thanksgiving and other general gifts of offertory, and that is where you end. Move to the Minister stage, do not stop there. 

The Minister Stage - You are spiritually a Young adult (You are a young adult: You are equipped for ministry, equipped with ministry opportunities and released to do ministry):

At this stage as a christian you no longer look at self. You are more Christ centered: You worship and believe in only God and not pastors or gatherings. You are others Focused: You focus on other people's interests, you are compassionate. You are committed to all church programs and focused on the purpose of the church as opposed to your interests. You participate in all church programs including funding whenever and wherever you are able. You make independent worship decisions by the guide of the Holy Spirit. You are active in faith, enduring and are ready to serve the Lord by being commissioned so that you act the faith in real deeds (2 Timothy 4:5 NKJV). As a Minister you are a core member of the church and must be trusted to be commissioned to represent the church and the body of Christ wherever you are assigned to go and serve. Here you are equipped for ministry (Ephesians 4:12 KJV, 1 Timothy 1:12 KJV, Romans 12:6-8 NKJV, Numbers 16:9-11 NLT, Colossians 4:16-18 NLT, 2 Corinthians 8:6, 5:12 NLT, Hebrews 8:6 NLT), you provide ministry opportunities (Acts 21:19 NLT, Acts 6:3-5 NKJV, 2 Corinthians 9:12-13 NLT), and you go for missions (Mark 6:30 NLT, Acts 13:25-26 NLT). Minister is therefore not enough, go to the other stage, move to the discipleship stage and walk the talk in the pathways of Christ Jesus. Move to the discipleship stage. 

The Discipleship Stage - You are a spiritual Parent (You explain the discipleship process to those you mentor, You engage Christians and model them into disciplining, You release those who have matured in Christianity by commissioning them to go out and disciple others): At this stage of Christianity you are Christ like in all your talk and behavior, In all you do your intentions are to bring as many people as possible to follow Christ Jesus as well as mentoring and building the church or fellow others to serve Christ the way he intends for the Christians to serve Him - Just like Christ Jesus (Matthew 4:18-19 NLT, Mark 1:16-17 NLT), you are a Parent figure to those that you introduce to Christianity. Discipleship, since it involves becoming like Christ Jesus, it involves one taking a personal decision made by only the undertaking person. This decision is independent of knowing the implications as this privilege is left to the faith of the believer to be gradually filled by Christ Jesus once you accept to follow Him. It is this commitment that shapes your life to be filled with the mercy and favor of God through Christ Jesus. A great commandment and great commission makes you a great Christian. So act the new life, drop the old life and intentionally allow the Holy Spirit to allow a change on the way you think.

In the Church today, less discipleship seems to be going on. How can you make disciples in this era of today? Ask yourself through the principles of a disciple: Are you a mature Christian? Are you walking with your church towards spiritual growth? Are you involved in your growth as well as in your church's growth? or you are involved with your church in wrong spiritual disciple leadership.

Discipleship involves calling on unbelievers and through Christ Jesus getting them to be converted to being believers the way Christ Jesus (John 1:43 NLT, Luke 9:59 NLT, John 21:21-22 NLT). A disciple of Christ Jesus is one who faithfully follows Him (2 Chronicles 7:17 NLT), takes it upon themselves to always be where He is, surrenders their love for family and self to follow Him no matter what (Luke 9:59-62 NLT, John 12:26 NLT). Discipleship involves more than just following Christ Jesus, it is self sacrifice to worship God wherever He is at all times, for as a disciple the Lord wants you wherever He is at all times.  Lets see the different levels of discipleship. 


Knowledge is Discipleship:
When you walk in human wisdom then you will never understand the salvation of God. Human wisdom is lack of the character of discipleship in Christ Jesus. This is reflected in the Bible (Colossians 1:9-12 NKJV) where Paul says that, "We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light." Therefore mind how you think as what you think could easily shape your Christian ways. So allow God to transform you (Romans 12:2 NLT, Ephesians 4:23 NLT). The reason you are living a life not worthy of God is because you rely of the wisdom you acquire from your teachers or schools or universities. Understanding God's ways is wisdom that comes as a gift from the Holy Spirit. Short of the wisdom from the Holy Spirit, you can never please God no matter your deeds: Nothing will come out of the works of your hands and last, you won't grow in the knowledge of God, you won't endure anything even deliverance as you will lack patience, and you will never thank God as you will always self praise with the false thought that you did succeed entirely by your own efforts and as such you can not be qualified to be a disciple of Christ Jesus. The character of a true disciple of Christ involves you preparing yourself and wanting to be full of knowledge from and inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is essential therefore for a Christian to read the Bible, be taught the word of God and be mentored on the word of God and the ways of a Christian. What you need to be careful about is that learning the truth found in the Bible will not make you a Christian but  going beyond learning by giving your life to Christ and doing what you learn in the Bible makes you a Christian. 


Acting and Doing as Christ Jesus wills is Discipleship:  Just as a child is born a blank slate before being trained and adopted to the activities of this world, as disciples of Christ Jesus, our ability to accept and follow Christ Jesus and be wherever He wants us to be and in the behavior He wants us to behave is discipleship or makes you His disciple (Luke 14:27-33 NLT, John 12:26 NLT, Matthew 9:9 NLT). Discipleship is selflessly giving yourself up to moving in the direction Christ Jesus expects you to move. Being a follower of Christ Jesus with no hesitation is an act of humility that allows you submit to Christ Jesus to use you as a disciple doing good works (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV) that glorify God in you and as such allowing you bare fruit.  


Being Accepted as a Child of God is Discipleship: 
Being a Christian involves accepting, learning and walking in the pathways of Christ Jesus. The more time you spend following how Christ Jesus ministered and in so being mentored to be a Christian, the more you will be that disciple he has called to follow him so that at your maturity He commissions you to mentor other fellow Christians (Matthew 8:22, 10:38 NLT). Discipleship is doing what you would not have done in the first place as a sign of humbleness that you have submitted yourself to God to be accepted as a disciple of Christ (Luke 14:27 NLT). Discipleship is the process of being made worthy a child of God, it is being transformed for Christ Jesus (Romans 12:2 NKJV). If you are to be accepted by God, then you have to please God. To please God you have to want to walk the pathway of Christ Jesus as opposed to your pathway just as Adam, Enoch, Noah and Abraham (Genesis 3:7-10, 6:8-10, 17:1-10, 23:24, 24:40 NLT, Hebrews 11:8-12 NLT). Discipleship is  being allowed to walking with God to be made blameless and able to work in the purpose of God for you.  



Growth is Discipleship:

As a Christian you must want to start from the basics of Christianity. What you believe determines whether you are a Christian or not! Accepting Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior is the starting point of the growth. This growth is by the glory and excellence of Christ Jesus who allows you share in his divine nature as  by his mercy, with Him in you, He enables you escape this world's corruption caused by human desires (2 Peter 1:4-8 NLT). Therefore growth means that besides accepting Christ Jesus, be faithful with generosity, be generous with Christian morals, be morally excellent with a yearning to always want to learn about the ways of Christ Jesus and His word of life, be full of the knowledge of Christ Jesus with self control, exercise self control with patient endurance, exercise patient endurance with godliness, show fruits of godliness with brotherly and sisterly affection, and exercise brotherly and sisterly affection with love for everyone, this growth is the one that allows you as a Christian to be productive and useful in the knowledge of our Lord Christ Jesus. Like Christ Jesus in all our ways, in truth, in love, in faithfulness, in unity, this is how God wants us to grow up (Ephesians 4:15 NKJV). In other words, we are designed to outgrow ourselves (Ephesians 4:14 NKJV) through  the infant stage, child stage, young adult stage, to the parent stage. Most Christians are growing only old with no fruit of Christ Jesus to show on them, yet they are meant to grow up with fruits of Christ Jesus to show on them. This shows that growth is not automatic, growth is not about the number of years one has been a born again Christian, growth is not about how close you are to the Pastor, growth is not about how large you serve gatherings, rather growth is how close you serve and follow Christ Jesus as possessed to human desires of Pastors and gatherings. "So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding (Hebrew 6:1 NLT)."
   

Maturity is discipleship:

As a Christian encourage yourself to meet the goal of being a Mature Christian. God's goal for you is to mature and develop the behaviors of Christ Jesus. A mature Christian is the one who has discovered God and his word, Accepted Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and as such made your journey to salvation, learned to live by faith, allowed yourself to be awakened by the Holy Spirit, always prayed unceasingly that even when you get what you need you keep praying as such maturing in Christ Jesus and continuing to represent Christ Jesus as His Ambassadors. A Christian who is mature keeps walking, keeps searching and drawing closer to God no matter how much you know. The Bible (James 4:8 NKJV) tells you, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded." To draw closer to God is to want to stop sinning and hate being double minded - that makes you a Christian walking in discipleship. Stop thinking like a child (1 Corinthians 14:20 NKJV). Whenever you are dealing with evil behave like an infant, but maintain to think like an adult.

You can not be a disciple of Christ if you fail to carry your cross. Refuse to be that Christian who only sets to be prayed for without being involved in the prayers yourself. The Bible (Luke 14:26-27 NKJV) tells you that, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." Being a disciple of Christ comes with a cost of maturity. For you to be a true disciple of Jesus, for the sake of Jesus and the grace he holds for you, you MUST NOT love your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters and yourself more than you love Christ Jesus. Surrendering all those people you say you love, and replacing the love you have for them to loving Christ Jesus no matter what is the type of cross you must carry as a ticket for you to be accepted as a true disciple of Christ Jesus. Child of God following Jesus is large crowds is not enough, for you to be recognized as a true Christian you must have discipleship characters desired of Christ Jesus. Be encouraged to develop this character of Maturity in you child of God.  In other words  

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SCRIPTURES: 

1 Corinthians 1:19  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

1 Corinthians 4:17  Holy Bible, King James Version

1 Corinthians 9:25-26  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

1 Corinthians 14:20  Holy Bible, New King James Version

1 John 1:3-6  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

1 John 2:22-24, 27-28  Holy Bible, New Living Translation 

1 John 3:23-24  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

1 John 5:11, 20  Holy Bible, King James Version

1 Samuel 1:7  Holy Bible, King James Version

1 Samuel 12:24  Holy Bible, King James Version

1 Timothy 1:4-5  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

1 Timothy 1:12  Holy Bible, King James Version 

2 Chronicles 7:17  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

2 Corinthians 5:12  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

2 Corinthians 8:6  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

2 Corinthians 9:12-13  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

2 Peter 1:4-8  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Acts 2:42-47  Holy Bible, New King James Version

Acts 6:3-5  Holy Bible, New King James Version

Acts 13:25-26  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Acts 21:19  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Acts 26:18  Holy Bible, New King James Version

Acts 28:27  Holy Bible, New King James Version 

Colossians 1:9-12  Holy Bible, New King James Version

Colossians 4:16-18  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Ecclesiastes 3:13-14  Holy Bible, New Living Translation
Ephesians 1:11-12  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Ephesians 2:10  Holy Bible, New King James Version 

Ephesians 3:9-14  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Ephesians 4:12  Holy Bible, King James Version

Ephesians 4:23  Holy Bible, New Living Translation Ephesians 14-15  Holy Bible, New King James Version

Exodus 9:15-16  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Ezra 3:1  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Genesis 3:7-10, 22-24  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Genesis 6:8-10  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Genesis 17:1-10  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Genesis 23:24  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Genesis 24:40  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Hebrews 6:1  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Hebrews 8:6  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Hebrew 11:8-12  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

James 4:1-8  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

James 4:8  Holy Bible, New King James Version 

Jeremiah 32:38-39  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

John 1:43  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

John 3:3  Holy Bible, New King James Version

John 3:21  Holy Bible, King James Version

John 4:23-24  Holy Bible, King James Version

John 10:9-10  Holy Bible, New King James Version

John 12:25  Holy Bible, King James Version

John 21:21-22  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Luke 9:59-62  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Luke 14:27-33  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Luke 14:26-27  Holy Bible, New King James Version

Luke 15:24  Holy Bible, New King James Version 

Mark 1:16-17  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Mark 5:33  Holy Bible, King James Version

Mark 6:30  Holy Bible, New Living Translation 

Matthew 4:18-19  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Matthew 8:20-22  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Matthew 9:9  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Matthew 10:38  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Matthew 22:16  Holy Bible, King James Version

Numbers 16:9-11  Holy Bible, New Living Translation 

Philippians 2:1-4  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Proverbs 12:28  Holy Bible, King James Version

Proverbs 19:20-21  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Psalms 33:4  Holy Bible, King James Version

Psalms 57:2  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Romans 8:27-28  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Romans 10:13-14  Holy Bible, New Living Translation 
Romans 12:2  Holy Bible, New King James Version

Romans 14:8-9  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Romans 14:13-14  Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Romans 15:2  Holy Bible, New King James Version  

Zechariah  8:16-19  Holy Bible, King James Version

 

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