A Closer Walk with God - Are You a Disciple of Jesus?

[FONT=&quot]A Closer Walk with Jesus[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Are You a Disciple of Jesus?[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]I. Introduction[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Before I can walk with Jesus I must first be a disciple of Him. So what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The American Heritage Dictionary defines a disciple as “[/FONT][FONT=&quot]One who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Matt 2818:20 (NASB)*[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]18[/FONT][FONT=&quot]And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] 19Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] 20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]*For this study all scripture will be quoted from the NASB. This is simply my choice of version and in no way should reflect negatively on any other version. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] This scripture commonly known as the GREAT COMMISSION is one of the most widely know passages in the Bible. It can be thought of as Jesus’ last instruction to us before He ascended into heaven. As you look at this scripture you see in v. 19 Jesus tells us to “make disciples of all nations”. The rest of the passage tells us the specifics of what Jesus wants us to do when we make a disciple. If we do what this scripture tells us to do then we become one who embraces and assists in the spreading of Jesus’ teachings. We are truly a disciple of Jesus if we do this.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] Many people will tell you that they believe in Jesus, but they are not really His disciple. For many years I would have said I was a Christian, because I believed Jesus was real. However I did not truly believe he paid a price for my sins, or that He was the Son of God. Some of the people who believe the same way I used to will be sitting next to you in church. They may even be very active in the ministries of the church. However they are not truly a disciple of Jesus because you cannot embrace His teachings if you don’t believe He is your savior. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] Once we have embraced Jesus teachings we must then begin to assist in the spreading of them. We can do this by striving to be like Jesus. Jesus tells that that once we have learned from Him we will become like Him.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Luke 6:40 [/FONT][FONT=&quot]A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] We learn believe in Jesus, we learn his teachings, and then we tell others about Him. That is the simple definition of a disciple. In reality it is that simple, but as we go forward we will discuss in detail how to achieve true discipleship.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] The main points we will look at in this study are:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I. The definition of a disciple. – we have completed that here.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]II. The marks of a disciple[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]III. The cost of being a disciple.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]IV. The rewards of being a disciple.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]V. The beginning of a disciple.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] I look forward the hearing all of your thoughts on this subject as we move through this study.[/FONT]

 

Anyone have any thoughts on this subject?

 

[FONT=&quot]First of all thanks for your responses. I also see a lot of people viewing on the message boards. Because of the holiday weekend I will not post the next part until Tuesday, but please feel free to send comments on these postings. I am including here the first message again as well as responses from email, the baptistboard and a walk in faith. Any email recipients who want to be removed from the list just respond to this message.

[/FONT]Responses from A Walk in Faith

Pastor Gary wrote:
I think the greatest mark or characteristic of a Disciple is obedience. Are we good disciples? Well, how obedient are we to Christ and His Word?

Jamie wrote:
I have always felt that the Great Commission is over looked or not fully followed through with in churches and my Christian friends.

I mean, if someone in the church needs help, some one is there to help them, but these same people will turn a blank stare of the ones living on the streets.. I have seen some church ministries that reach out to the community but over all I think most churches and Christians just skip by on this.

Another view I have about it is the way we treat people we are not aligned with.. The Muslims for an example.. On different forums you see Christians talking about killing this person, or making this group pay... when as Christians I believe we're suppose to be peaceful and out reaching even if we know we will get our hand slapped.. For me it goes the to kill them with kindness... we can, as Christians reach so many more people through a kind act than a 'war' like one.

Our tone and attitude needs to be addressed I would think before we can fully carry out the Great Commission and in turn become better disciples. Love one another... that is what Jesus told us... he didn't say Love one another unless that other person is trying to kill you.. or Love one another unless that President is spending more than we can ever pay back...

In my opinion, we must be more opened minded and rest assured that God is in Control and that in turn will allow us to love people more and that will lead to us becoming better disciples.

Jamie