A DISCIPLE IS...

Saturday

Good morning on this rainy day!

Lord, please bless this day in the name of Jesus. Please let the rain move out before our home church's fall festival late this afternoon. In Jesus Name, Amen!

It is pouring and we have a big community to-do today. 150 lb. hog was smoked for 24 hours or so. Outdoor stage for music. Fun jumpy-bouncy thing for the kids. Hay ride and more. Oh my! Lord, help us. Only you can bring us the rain we need and then dry everything out before we start. But praise God, I know that only You can do it!

Tomorrow is the first day of fall. I love the fall weather. It is so pretty and back here in the east the trees are amazing. The sky is so blue and the air is so clear. Humidity makes it hazy and the sky isn't so blue. But the fall moves out the humidity and the sky is very blue and clear. The mornings are cooler and the days are also. It is so pretty. And with all the rain we have had this year, the fall colors should be amazing.

What is a disciple? In the true sense. We think of a disciple as a follower of someone. Well, I am talking about a follower of Jesus Christ.

Dictionary.com says:

noun-

1. Religion.

a. one of the 12 personal followers of Christ.

b. one of the 70 followers sent forth by Christ. Luke 10:1.

c. any other professed follower of Christ in His lifetime.

2. any follower of Christ.

3. ( initial capital letter ) a member of the Disciples of Christ.

4. a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; follower: a disciple of Freud.

 

verb (used with object)-

5. Archaic. to convert into a disciple.  

6. Obsolete. to teach; train.

Eastons Bible Dictionary says:

a scholar, sometimes applied to the followers of John the Baptist (Matt. 9:14), and of the Pharisees (22:16), but principally to the followers of Christ. A disciple of Christ is one who (1) believes his doctrine, (2) rests on his sacrifice, (3) imbibes his spirit, and (4) imitates his example (Matt. 10:24; Luke 14:26, 27, 33; John 6:69). 

That is what I want to be. I want to believe the doctrine of Christ, rest on His sacrifice, imbibe (to take in or assimilate) His spirit, and imitate His example, and live to do His work. Think how the world would be if every Christian on the planet would do these things with all their hearts. It would be heaven, wouldn't it?

Another thing a disciple of Jesus does is follow the great commission. Make disciples it says. We are to also go and make disciples teaching them to obey and make more disciples. I guess that falls in the definition of imitate Jesus's example. That is what He did and that is what we are to do. 

We can pray to bring someone into the kingdom but then when they do, do we disciple them? Or do we leave them on their own to struggle and find their own way eventually to fall away because they don't know what to do and aren't taught how to live. That is what seems to happen a lot. 

So, as we follow Jesus lets make disciples. "A part of spiritual maturity is the desire to pass on the faith to others. Let God take hold of you so that you are equipped to invest in others and to make it a commitment for life." That is what God calls us to do. 

Quoted passage from Discipleship Essentials: A Guide to Building your Life in Christ by Greg Ogden. This is the study we are doing on Wed. mornings. It is awesome.

 “A disciple is not above his teacher, 

nor a servant above his master."

Matthew 10:24  

"If anyone comes to me, and doesn't

 hate his own father, mother, wife, 

 children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his 

own life also, he can't be my disciple."

Luke 14:26

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest 

is plentiful but the workers are few. 

Matthew 9:37

Have an amazing day!

Les (lesbear)