Mission Minded Series

c. Stepping out is Jesus authority takes faith! To step out of our comfort zone and into the authority of Jesus by doing something mission minded usually brings us to a crisis of belief.

i. Quote Blackaby: When God invites you to join Him in His work, He has a God-sized assignment for you. You will quickly realize you cannot do what He is asking on your own. If God doesn’t help you, you will fail. This is the crisis of belief when you must decide whether to believe God for what He wants to do through you. At this point many people decide not to follow what they sense God is leading them to do. Then they wonder why they do not experience God’s presence and activity the way other Christians do.

ii. Quote Blackaby: The word crisis comes from a Greek word that means decision or judgment. A crisis of belief is not a calamity in your life but a turning point where you must make a decision. You must decide what you truly believe about God. The way you respond at this turning point will determine whether you become involved with God in something God-sized that only He can do or whether you will continue to go your own way and miss what He has purposed for your life. This is not a one-time experience. It is a regular occurrence. The way you live your life is a testimony to what you believe about God. (Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby)

T.S. – To be mission minded means I understand who has given me the permission and the authority to go share the Good News to those around me. It also realizes that once a person accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior then I should be willing to disciple them as well.

II. It means mentoring disciples for Jesus

a. Making disciples is part of being mission minded.

i. We are told and instructed to make disciples for Jesus.

1. This mean here and over there.

2. It means mentoring – training, teaching and yes even correcting those whom we mentor.

b. Definition of a Disciple - from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciple_(Christianity): A disciple is a pupil of a teacher or an apprentice to a master craftsman. A disciple is one who learns from a teacher or for another and they are students.

i. The church - we – the Church are called by God to mentor and disciple others in the faith.

1. It means you care enough to invest your life into another life for the Kingdom of Heaven.

ii. But we must realize discipleship is more than just a teacher student relationship it is a mentoring relationship for the purpose of helping another person grow and mature in the faith of Jesus.

iii. Discipleship is about a relationship with another where you speak into their lives and God uses you to be there as a spiritual guide for this other person.

c. Listen to these following thoughts on discipleship:

i. Quote: Discipleship is the process of learning about the teachings of another, internalizing them and then acting upon them... (So) What Makes Christian Discipleship Different?...

ii. Since you want to be a Christian disciple you are a student of the teachings of Jesus. But in Christianity a lot of the focus is also on following Christ's teachings, not just learning them. This is a very important distinction... a student is someone who just learns theories while a follower is someone who learns and then does. To be a disciple of Jesus you have to learn what Jesus taught. But more importantly you have to do what He taught. That is how you can determine if you have really committed your life to Christ, you start taking seriously His commands and actually doing them. And once you have learned Christ's teachings, you have to pass them on to others. You have to become a discipler. From Read more: http://www.christian-discipleship.com/christian-discipleship/chrisitan-discipleship-definition.html#ixzz1sOwLACdi