Spriti Empowered Disciple

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

A Spirit-empowered disciple

++Is a lifelong follower of Jesus.

++Recognizes the power of the Holy Spirit in its spiritual formation

The Holy Spirit is the One who disciples us. He forms the character of Christ in believers and helps disciples reproduce them- selves by leading others in that same character formation process.

A Spirit-empowered disciple is

++A lifelong follower of Jesus.

++Recognizes the power of the Holy Spirit in its spiritual formation

A Spirit-empowered disciple is called

++to dimensions that identify us as disciples

++to dimensions deepen our relationship with Jesus

++To dimensions that strengthen our effectiveness in making disciples.

What does disciple mean?

In the Old Testament the word Disciples is only mention one time.

Isa 8:16 “16 Bind up the testimony, Seal the law among my disciples.”

Isaiah 8:16 NKJV

16 Bind up the testimony, Seal the law among my disciples.

The terms meant

++Pupil

++Learner

The base Hebrew word is Limud

++To learn

++To teach (to cause learning to take place)

In the New Testament for disciple means

++learner

++follower

The greek word is Mathetes

++Pupil

++Apprentice

++Adherent

Jesus’ method of making disciples differed radically from the culture of His time: Greek culture deposited information and expected people to change.

The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Disciple, Discipleship

In Greek culture, the phenomenon of discipleship appears in a number of forms (philosophy students, religious scholarship, and mystery cults). The teacher-student relationship is predominantly characterized by the concept of mimēsis. Teachers and students are bound together by a certain teaching and practice of life, and the student is recognizable in his imitation of the teachings and life of the teacher

But Jesus, true to the Hebrew method of the rabbis, lived life with His disciples, teaching them by example. This is our model: living like Christ in community as He forms us into Spirit-led, life- long learners and followers.

The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Disciple, Discipleship

While the rabbinic scholar is bound beyond the teachings of his teacher to the Law, discipleship means an unmediated connection to the person of Jesus (that is, with that which is embodied by this person). While the student is concerned with becoming a teacher himself, discipleship is characterized by an insuperable qualitative difference from Jesus.

Discipleship is a call to be and a call to do.

In the Gospels, when people asked Jesus what God expected of them, He answered several times with words from Deuteronomy and Leviticus: “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27, NLT; cf. Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:38–39; Mark 12:29–31).

A disciple is a call to be

++Lovers of God.

When disciples are in right relationship with God, they are able to do—

A disciple is a call to be

Lovers of God

++to act in love toward their neighbors

The greatest act of love is to reproduce followers of Jesus through fulfilling the Great Commission. Jesus’ final command was, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (Matthew 28:19–20, NLT).

The study shows that the requirement to be a Disciple of Jesus is to be

Called by Jesus.

The exclusivity of Jesus’ initiative in the call to discipleship accords with the great variety of people among the disciples. Because this circle was founded exclusively through Jesus’ call, no other social factors needed to surface: Indeed, antisocial factors in this circle could be overcome.

Hans Weder, “Disciple, Discipleship,” ed. David Noel Freedman, trans. Dennis Martin, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 208.

How do we make disciples with this requirement?

1 Tim 4:1-3 “1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”

1 Timothy 4:1–3 NKJV

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

We will not reach everyone

To make disciples

++Recognize the time

++Shift our focus

Matthew 10:34 NKJV

34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

2 Timothy 3:13 NKJV

13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

God never promised

++That the world would get better

++That our efforts would fix it

It would get worse and worse

1 Peter 4:12 NKJV

12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;

Luke 21:28 NKJV

28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

We will never have a perfect opportunity

2 Tim 4:1-3 “1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;”

2 Timothy 4:1–3 NKJV

1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;

Preach the Word

1 Cor 1:21 “21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”

1 Corinthians 1:21 NKJV

21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

God gets his greatest glory in human weakness

1 Corinthians 1:21 NKJV

21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

Mark 16:20 NKJV

20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

The Preaching of the Gospel

++Is necessary

++Is the command for spiritual transformation

Hebrews 1:1–3 NKJV

1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

The Preaching of the Gospel

Is necessary

Is the command for spiritual transformation

++Allows the son to speak loudly and clearly

++Compels people to answer the call initiated by Jesus

It is not the disciple (pupil) that selects the teacher.

Gal 4:1-3 “1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.”

Galatians 4:1–3 NKJV

1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

The Father chooses

++The teacher

++The guides

++The time of instruction

John 6:44 NKJV

44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

The call to Spirit-empowered discipleship Dimensions of living include particular practices that

++identify us as disci- ples,

++deepen our relationship with Jesus,

++strengthen our effectiveness in making more disciples.

These dimensions remind us of

++the Holy Spirit’s work in our life

++that His work produce lifelong habits

++ways of living that connect us with our God-given com- mission

These biblical dimensions of discipleship include

++Engaging with God’s Word

++Hearing and following the promptings of the Spirit

++Praying

++Worshipping

++Being on mission

++Being generous

++Serving.

Disciples don’t progress by leaving one dimen- sion behind to embrace another, but rather they engage with all dimensions, outcomes, and prac- tices at every stage of life on a holistic journey of discipleship. These outcomes apply to all disciples, from new believers to those who have walked with Jesus for a lifetime. The goal is

++Continually becoming more like Jesus

++To live out God’s purposes for humanity

The Assemblies of God

++to seek and save the lost (evangelism)

++To worship God in spirit and in truth (worship)

++To build a body of believers in the image of His Son (discipleship)

++To demonstrate His love and compassion for all the world (compassion).

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