Discipleship

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Permalink Reply by The pilgrim on October 31, 2010 at 4:18pm

I will try to answer your question one by one.......
Are all believers disciples?
Yes they are, they should be.
What does it take to be a disciple?
It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. (Mat. 10:25)
The disciple must be like his teacher. Every believer must be like Jesus, it is known we are not perfect, we all have short coming, and God knows that, but we are called to be like Jesus, and we strife to be like Him.
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:26).
Here Lord Jesus is not saying that we should hate our family, or our-self, but He is saying the disciple must have a great love for His Lord more than his family, and himself, ..... the disciple should love His Lord more than any one.
He should have a greatest love for his Lord, as if he hate his family even himself.
And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:27)
When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. (Mark 8:34)
The disciple must follow his Lord in whole heart, he must deny himself, his life must be centered on his Lord.
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. (John 8:31)
The disciple must abide in Him, in His word always, continually, must follow his Lord for life, he must obey his Lord always.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13: 34 & 35)
The disciple must be known by his love for another disciple.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. (John 15: 7 & 8)
The disciple must bear much fruit, he is fruitful, which comes out of him and benefit others.
your last question ... Is there difference being a believer and a disciple?
As we see it above, there is no difference being a believer and a disciple.
My Bev I hope this will help to see the answer, ...... I really love to hear what others and you say in this subject, thank you for bringing this subject i look forward to learn from it.
May the Lord bless all who read this.

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Permalink Reply by Charles Burwell on November 1, 2010 at 9:00am

Dear Bev

This is an excellent question ( or should I say questions ). In what many call the ' great commission' Jesus tells us to go and make disciples . He , of course , doesn't mean we can make people follow Him , rather He ( in my opinion) was telling us to 'mentor ' ( for lack of a better word ) new converts. I strongly believe that one of the reasons that there are many ' weak ' Christians is that no one has really taken the time to help them as they are ' growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord'.

I don't believe that a new christian can ' grow' properly in their relationship with the Lord without other christians taking a direct ' hands on ' approach to helping them. I don't mean that anyone should hover over anyone with a critical or judgemental attitude towards them but , but I believe that the Lord would have the more ' mature' christians to help guide and direct them in the ways of the Lord. To ,IN LOVE, correct , encourage and support them in their walk.

I know as a young christian I could surely have used a strong brother to help guide me through the trying times after my ' new birth'. It is so easy to get mislead or discouraged as a young christian without this support. I have spoken to my pastor about this on several occassions as I was concern about how a couple of new converts in our assembly were doing in their new walk with the Lord. I was a little ( or maybe more than a little ) concerned that he 'wasn't sure' how they were doing.

Both of these were young ladies so , in my opinion anyhow ,I don't 'qualify ' to really mentor them because the scriptures tells the older women to teach and support the younger women. If these young ladies do not get support and encouragement from the older women I'm just a little concerned that they just lose heart. I expressed my concern to my pastor and he said that most of the older women have not been christians very long themselves or if they have been they are really simply ' nominal ' and not deeply committed themselves. He also told me that most of the men are pretty much the same. Many have been attending the church many years more than I have but they are not ( in the pastor's opinion) committed enough themselves to be able to disciple others. I must say that this is incredibly discouraging to me

I believe that ' discipling ' new christians is equally important as growing in the Lord ourselves .

There is a young man (I say young but he's about 30 , but compared to me that is young ) who accepted the Lord a couple of months ago and was attending our church for a little while. He had come to know the Lord shortly after being involed in a boating accident that caused the death of a friend of his. Just last Sunday he was officially arrested and charged with invoulentary manslaughter and faces time in prison. He fully accepts responsibility for his part in the accident and isn't tryig to blame anyone else , although there were others involed in the accident. My heart just goes out to him because he is trying to live with the guilt of the consequences of his actions while trying to figure out his new found faith'

I pray for him , but I really feeel the Lord leading me to domore to help him as I know there are some people with really bad feelings towards him. I guess I don't blame the people for feeling the way they do ; it's just that I have a much greater concern for him.

Anyhow , I'm sorry I rambled on so much . In response to your actual question I strongly believe that being a believer and a disciple can be , unfortunately , very distinct things. Of course we can't be a disciple without being a believer , but we most certainly can be a believer without being a disciple. But that is a potentially disasterous state to find oneself in.

Anyhow , that's just my opinion . God bless you , my sister.

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Permalink Reply by sojourner on November 1, 2010 at 12:08pm

Amen Charles.Many teachers and few fathers.

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on December 13, 2011 at 5:50pm

Does a person becomes a disciple the moment they believe and are born again, or does the Great Commission happen in chronological order? If so, how important is the order?

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Permalink Reply by Ella on December 13, 2011 at 8:52pm

Hi Bev, I agree with The Pilgrim and Charles. I think they answered all your questions by the verses they quoted. In addition, you are so right also when you say that we can learn all day without actually applying what we have learned. It's also like we must walk the talk, right? And as CHRISTIANS and what has Jesus commanded us to do is to WIN SOULS AND MAKE DISCIPLES. We are saved by Christ and by that I believe we are called and chosen to share the Word, disciple other new believers..Just like Barnabas, he consolidated Paul, and Paul to Timothy. As part of the Body of Christ, each of us need each other as you know in our physical boy parts, if one is lacking we cannot completely function. And we do it together for the Glory and Kingdom of God. God bless us all, we may have our function in Christ!

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Permalink Reply by Rita Cullimore on December 14, 2011 at 2:46am

Amanda,

You are a disciple as you ask question that only the Master, or another disciple more learned, can answer.

You are following the Great Commission as you write and Blog explaining your knowledge of certain issues and how you are overcoming them. You are doing a great job too.

Blessings...

Love ya',

Rita

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on December 14, 2011 at 1:13pm

Ahhh, Rita, but you are too kind to me. Thank you. You ask the hard questions, too. I sometimes am afraid to ask the hard questions...it's easier not to ask them, but we've got to keep our eyes wide open, don't we?

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