Discipleship in the last days

Lets build our foundational understanding

Main Characteristics of Discipleship. One becomes a disciple when called by Jesus himself. The initiative lay with Jesus alone; apart from his call, there is no recognizable motive for one to become a disciple and follow Jesus.

The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary

Matthew 22:14 (NKJV)

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

What then is different about Jesus’ disciples? Jesus’ disciples were those who heard his invitation to begin a new kind of life, accepted his call to the new life, and became obedient to it. The center of this new life was Jesus himself, because his disciples gained new life through him, they followed him, they were to hear and obey his teachings, and they were to share in Jesus’ mission by going into all of the world, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and calling all people to become Jesus’ disciples.

What does true discipleship look like

A disciples life is one of self denial & service

Matthew 20:28 (NKJV)

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:26 (NKJV)

Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

Mark 8:34 (NKJV)

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

A life built on following Jesus

Matthew 4:19–20 (NKJV)

Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

Disciples begin to live disciplined lives

2 Timothy 1:7 (LEB)

For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and love and self-discipline.

Disciples have a teachable spirit.

Proverbs 9:9 (NKJV)

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

Disciples love & delight in Gods Word

Psalm 1:2 (NKJV)

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

A disciple is one who eventually starts to live as Jesus walked

1 John 2:6 (NKJV)

He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Acts 4:13 (NKJV)

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

John 14:12 (NKJV)

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

Disciples look to consecrate themselves & live Holy

1 Peter 1:16 (NKJV)

because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

Joshua 3:5 (ESV)

Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

Note: No holiness or consecration leads to a powerless dry Christian life

Psalm 74:9 (NKJV)

We do not see our signs; There is no longer any prophet; Nor is there any among us who knows how long.

Disciples start to build an understanding that holiness and consecration is the way of Christ

Hebrews 12:14 (NKJV)

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:

1 Peter 2:11 (NKJV)

Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,

Psalm 4:3 (NKJV)

But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The Lord will hear when I call to Him.

Deuteronomy 14:2 (NKJV)

For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

2 Corinthians 6:17 (NKJV)

Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.”

Disciples renew their minds

Colossians 3:2 (NKJV)

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

A Christian mind is a mind which thinks Christianly about everything.

John Stott

1 Peter 1:13 (NKJV)

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

To “have the mind of Christ” means to look at life from the Saviour’s point of view, having His values and desires in mind. It means to think God’s thoughts and not think as the world thinks.

Warren W. Wiersbe

If the human mind is compared to a palace, the proper place for Christ’s Word is on the throne!

Charles Spurgeon

The single-minded Christian does not allow circumstances to overcome him; he or she turns those circumstances into opportunities to magnify Christ and win souls.

Warren W. Wiersbe

The “mind” of Christ means the “attitude” Christ exhibited. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” After all, outlook determines outcome. If the outlook is selfish, the actions will be divisive and destructive.

Warren W. Wiersbe

Romans 8:6 (NKJV)

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

1 Corinthians 2:16 (NKJV)

For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Philippians 2:5 (NKJV)

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

Disciples have a desire to learn how to pray.

Luke 11:1 (NKJV)

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

Matthew 26:41 (NKJV)

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Disciples are commanded to fast

Matthew 6:16 (NKJV)

“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

Matthew 6:18 (NKJV)

so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Matthew 9:14–15 (NKJV)

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Acts 14:23 (NKJV)

So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

There is another fast that God has chosen for disciples in the Old Testament

Isaiah 58:6 (NKJV)

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?

And lastly Disciples will begin to operate & be filled with The Spirit

Mark 16:17 (NKJV)

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;

Luke 24:49 (NKJV)

“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Ephesians 5:18 (NKJV)

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

Discipleship insights in the last days

Intercessory prayer (groups & individuals with this grace)

Understanding spiritual warfare

Prioritizing Prayer as a man of God

Preaching & Teaching Christ

John 12:32 (NKJV)

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

Acts 5:42 (NKJV)

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

As disciple makers you must cultivate the gift of discernment of spirits

1 Corinthians 12:10 (NKJV)

to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

1 John 4:1 (NKJV)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

The Holy Spirit will show you the problems and difficulties some of the disciples are having

The Lord will reveal to you how to minister to different individuals you are discipling

The Spirit of God will tell you what needs to be taught more often for the understanding of others

Teaching disciples how to defend the faith

Defending the deity of Christ

Jesus’s sinlessness

The Trinity (God head)

Jesus and His incarnation

The Resurrection

Understanding why and how sin and death entered the world

Romans 5:12 (NKJV)

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Romans 5:17 (NKJV)

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

Genesis 3:19 (NKJV)

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”

Romans 8:20 (NKJV)

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

Why is Jesus Christ the only way to heaven?

Acts 4:12 (NKJV)

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

John 14:6 (NKJV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Teach your disciples how to discern christian cults

Jehovah Witnesses

Christian science

Seven day adventist

Hebrew Roots (going back to the law of moses)

Explain and show how the Bible is the Word of God

How did we get the bible?

Who wrote it?

Its accuracy and preservation

Staying on Fire for The Lord

How too stay encouraged

Praise and worship

Praying in tongues (One who prays in tongues builds himself up)

Fasting (exchanging the natural for the spiritual)

Prophetic words and words of encouragement by others

Reading and studying Scripture more deeply

Reading books from other men and women of God.

In conclusion a word for leaders

I have noticed, in traveling up and down the country, and after mingling with a great many ministers, that it is not the man that can preach the best that is the most successful, but the man who knows how to get his people together to pray

D.L Moody

If a man is filled with the Holy Spirit . . . then there is no room for the world, then there is no room for self, then there is no room for unholy ambitions and unholy desires, then there is no room for self-seeking and lauding self; but a man will have the mind that Christ had, when he is filled with that Spirit D.L Moody

Can we ever get to the point in our spiritual growth where sin and temptation become less and less of a problem to us? At first, Moody thought the answer was yes, but then discovered he was wrong—for the more God uses us, the more Satan becomes anxious to defeat us. D.L Moody