Discipleship - Fully Devoted Followers Of Jesus Christ

DISCIPLESHIP

Fully Devoted Followers of Jesus Christ

Pastor Jonathan Vorce | 7-6-2017

ACTS 2:41-47

Matthew 28:19-20 states: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

¥ We are commanded to “make” disciples. This is a two part process.

1. Introduce then to Christ and baptize them.

2. Teach them to observe all that Jesus commanded.

I. DISCIPLESHIP DEFINED.

A. A fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

1. The word disciple is used over 250 times in the New Testament and is only found in the Gospels and Acts.

B. In Acts 11:26 the Disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

1. The name “Christian” was given to the disciples through Paul and Barnabus and I believe it was inspired by Holy Spirit.

2. Discipleship is the teaching, training, developing and releasing of Christians.

C. Things that mark Discipleship.

1. Love the brethren. JOHN 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

2. Love Jesus. LUKE 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

3. Be like Jesus. MAT 10:25 "It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!”

4. Commitment. LUKE 14:27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

5. Care. LUKE 6:38 "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."

6. Stay Connected. JOHN 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”

II. THE PURPOSE OF DISCIPLESHIP

A. The purpose of discipleship is to help Believers become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

B. Jesus Christ “re-forms” our lives. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

C. Jesus Christ “transforms” our lives. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

III. THE BENEFITS OF DISCIPLESHIP

A. Discipleship causes us to grow into the image of Christ.

B. Discipleship makes us “Rock Solid” in God.

1. Makes us Stable.

2. Makes us Strong

3. Teaches us that our help and hope is in the Lord.

CLOSING

Let’s recommit to a lifestyle of learning and becoming more and more like Jesus.