Discipline

After DISCIPLINE

Luke 9:14,15” Jesus said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down.”

Children in Abide School were getting very unruly, undisciplined, and naughty, I was just wondering what to speak in the assembly on that particular day and God brought to my attention the portion in the Bible where Jesus tells His disciples to make the people sit in groups of 50 before He could feed the great mass of people with just 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread. What I want to emphasize today is not the food but the DISCIPLINE OF SITTING IN ORDER!

It’s not about eating fish fry today, I would like to show something more in this miracle today, Jesus said to His disciples, ‘have them sit down in groups of 50’. Now let us look deeply into this so that you can carry home more than 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread from this awesome miracle.

The Bible says that it was quite late when the disciples told Jesus “send the crowd away so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get something to eat; for here we are in a desolate place." The disciples panicked when they saw the sea of people and wondered ‘how in the world are we going to manage!’ Sometimes we like to dance and sing about His glory but when the real need arises, we fail to COMPREHEND His glory! Are you there? Now let’s get back to the people, they were:

• Tired

• Hungry

• Big crowd

• Men, women and children

Now, imagine trying to get a group of hungry people in order: stand in the line, don’t loiter, get into groups, don’t scream, don’t grumble, don’t run, this is very tough because we are running a school and we serve free food for lunch. Lunch time is tough, there is always anxiety to get first so that you don’t miss food. But Jesus was specific and firm, ‘put them in order of 50 per group’, boy, that was something; however, Jesus was not going to do anything without ORDER in our life. Did you hear that? Order….order….discipline……..rule…regulation…..control is what God looking for in our life. But the lives of many so called Bible-reading, tongue-speaking, born-again, real believers are haphazard and disorderly and that’s exactly why God is unable to do great things in their lives. They are saved, water-baptized; yet sick, broke, empty and unhappy, com’on people pull up your socks to get your lives in order and grab what God has in store for you today. Wake up early, read your Bible, separate time for God, get holy and grow in the Lord.

A.DISCIPLINE TAKES YOU TO YOUR DESTINY:

Proverbs 12:1” Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.”

People without knowledge or senses would not appreciate discipline , knowledge and discipline are juxtaposed! The above phrase ‘loves discipline is awesome!” Don’t you think?

• Only a person who loves discipline would keep his license papers, and all other essential documents in order if he is driving a car or two wheeler. A reckless person would be lackadaisical in his attitude and thereby gets into trouble, discipline is a vast subject and does not restrict only in certain areas.

• A person who loves discipline would marry the girl and not loiter around and sleep with anyone and everyone as and when he likes. Oh, did you get this?

• A disciplined person would buy the software essential for his computer and not download free pirated software and then say ‘praise the Lord.’ That’s hypocrisy at its height.

There are 1000 soft pedaling sermons that minimize and underplay the importance of DISCIPLINE and lure the crowd with quotes like: ‘ all you need is grace, you got to do nothing, come to the altar for a miracle; however, people run to the front of the church every Sunday and return back empty because they have not disciplined themselves to learn, read, study the Word and grow in the Lord. THE GLOW COMES WITH GROWTH! Christianity is no MIDAS TOUCH, it is JESUS TOUCH, you got to reach out and touch Jesus to get the blessings, anybody there? People say, ‘attend this prayer seminar and your life would be glorious, read this book for heavenly experience…..all this is great; however, you got to practice and do wha

t they tell you otherwise the sheen would peel off after a week of attending such seminars. Such tall claims are nothing but a chimera! Discipline is key to success!

B, DISCIPLINE IN PRAYER LIFE:

Jesus is our example: How does one discipline their life? Look at Jesus!