Run your race
Disciple is used 215 times in the new testement, Teacher is used 45 times .
1/ Disciple are those who listen to the teachings of the master.
2/ The disciples are those who are obedient to what Jesus tells them what to do even when in the natural it does not make sense.
3/ Disciples are those who rely not on their own power but on the power of God. In the face of an impossible situation ,in the face of a big problem they are not afraid because they remember their God and for him nothing is impossble. No matter how big the problem they remember that their God is bigger. 4/ Disciples are those who like Peter fall on their knees before Jesus. Disciples are people who bow down before God and pray. Jesus said I am the tree you are the branches without me you can do nothing.
5/ To be a disciple is the bring others to the father. Jesus said follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
6/ To be a disciple is to live a life of adventure a life of challenge
Run your race. Full time occupation. Do you pay a price for following Jesus. Go against the flow of the crowd. Some of you have stopped running your course, you have stopped running the race.Once you stop running your race no matter how far ahead you are ahead if you stop running your race you are going to lose the prize .
What Jesus needs is ordinary men and women who through his power do extra ordinary things for God. To be fishers of men and women we must have some of the skills of the fishermen
(i) We must have patience. We must learn to wait patiently until the fish will take the bait. If we are restless and quick to move we will never make a fisherman. The good fisher of men will have need of patience. It is but rarely in preaching or in teaching that we will see quick results. We must learn to wait.
(ii) He must have perseverance. He must learn never to be discouraged, but always to try again. The good preacher and teacher must not be discouraged when nothing seems to happen. He must always be ready to try again.
(iii) He must have courage. As the old Greek said when he prayed for the protection of the gods: “My boat is so small and the sea is so large.” He must be ready to risk and to face the fury of the sea and of the gale. The good preacher and teacher must be well aware that there is always a danger in telling men the truth. The man who tells the truth, more often than not takes his reputation and his life in his hands.
(iv) he must have an eye for the right moment. The wise fisherman knows well that there are times when it is hopeless to fish. He knows when to cast and when not to cast. The good preacher and teacher chooses his moment. There are times when men will welcome the truth, and times when they will resent the truth. There are times when the truth will move them, and times when the truth will harden them in their opposition to the truth. The wise preacher and teacher knows that there is a time to speak and a time to be silent.
(v) He must fit the bait to the fish. One fish will rise to one bait and another to another. Paul said that he became all things to all men if by any chance he might win some. The wise preacher and teacher knows that the same approach will not win all men. He may even have to know and recognize his own limitations. He may have to discover that there are certain spheres in which he himself can work, and others in which he cannot.
(v) The wise fisherman must keep himself out of sight. If he obtrudes his own presence, even his own shadow, the fish will certainly not bite. The wise preacher and teacher will always seek to present men, not with himself, but with Jesus Christ. his aim is to fix men’s eyes, not on himself, but on that figure beyond.