Disciples And Rituals: Wk5 Devotional

This passage shows how Christ set the example for all to follow by giving his life for us and that if these people coming to the world would follow Christ’s pattern, they in turn could be an example to others one day.

Discipleship is about engaging in the Word, following and obeying Jesus and going out to make disciples. An essential element in being a disciple is to be open to learning, to be teachable. It is a mindset to be continuously adopted and cultivated. For us to disciple others, we must be a better disciple ourselves. When making disciples, we are instructing others to be willing to be a discoverer. It applies to both spiritual growth as well as personal development, openness to new techniques, ideas and methods in all aspects of life. Our spiritual learning comes from delving into His

The book also focuses on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus discusses those that are blessed and why they are blessed and also the kingdom of heaven. Jesus discusses faith-community and what is required of disciples including reconciliation with others. The book discusses Jesus and his righteousness. Jesus gives instructions in dealing with those who cause harm to is folowers and believers. The book addresses the question as to whether to literally or figuratively take the commands of Jesus.

Discipleship students, or those who already have a faith commitment, tend to immediately join one of two categories. The first, or Stagnant, students are those who “made a decision to follow Christ at some time in life but never really grew in faith.” These students, from the outside, look very similar to the world as “the distinction between churched and unchurched students is rapidly shrinking.” These students require time to draw them into a

According to Early & Dempsey, “a disciple is a person, while discipleship is a process. A disciple is a passionate follower of Jesus Christ who is intimately involved in the mission of Christ. On the other hand, discipleship is the process of moving the disciple towards spiritual maturity and the mission of Christ. Being a disciple is God’s perfect will for every individual life; however, discipleship is God’s will for every individual church” [1]

The principle of consecration could be considered weak by spiritually superficial people because it excludes people from following who are not quite ready for full commitment. They may be ready tomorrow, but not today, not at the time of the call. Spiritually superficial people would complain that the requirement of an immediate decision and follow through is “unfair”. Jesus’ response to such was not to beg them to follow Him. He was interested in those who had leadership potential, those who were willing to count the cost and pay the price, today. Jesus clearly spoke to the multitude to let them know that the cost of being His disciple was high. He said, “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. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”10

requires self-denial. The cross was the most painful and humiliating form of execution of the Roman era. Thus, to take up one?s cross daily is to expect painful situations every day because of allegiance to Christ? (1?Luke? 1755). We are to understand that being a disciple of Christ we will have our character tested. We must be willing to give up everything to follow, and love Him above all others. Even our own lives are to be a sacrifice for His service. We are to not be ?ostriches? with our heads in the sand but with open eyes, minds and hearts weigh the cost, and decide if we are able to follow. Are we able to stand against our enemies, (His enemies)? Are we strong enough, brave enough, and faithful enough to be counted worthy? If we are not, are we willing to sacrifice it all to become what He requires?

So discipleship can be summed up; to follow, to learn, to preach, to believe, to serve. All factors are

The church is in need of major renovation when it comes to making disciples. The concept of making disciples to follow the Lord Jesus Christ seems completely foreign to the church today. In order to achieve the desired goal of making disciples for Christ, training others to go out and proclaim gospel, and helping others to train people to disciple one another, one needs to go back to foundation of the Word of God. It is in God’s Word where multiple examples are found of how to make disciples to follow Jesus Christ. It is my desire to see more people in the church have a passion for discipleship. Therefore, this paper will examine in detail how to make disciples in a ministry context. This will be accomplished by examining the 5 V’s of discipleship—vision, values, views, vehicles, and verifiers. It is my purpose to examine each area in order to have a detailed plan of discipleship that will be used in my own ministry context to make disciples for Christ. I hope that this plan can and will be used to train others in the church to make disciples, and disciple one another, for the glory of God.

Christ’s crucifixions for us was based on the love that he has for us. Jesus

The direct teachings of Jesus give instructions of how to live as Christians and the Parables were used in the Gospel to immediately confront us with a truth and evoke a change. (Fee & Stuart,2003, p. 152). The five major discourses of Matthew’s Gospel are centred around five lengthy Sermons using parables to make a point and call the people to make a change.

The inspiration for discipleship cannot stem from human morals and ideals. Instead, true discipleship is a way of life based upon God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. A way of life in which we willingly and wholeheartedly choose to enter into the suffering of our neighbors, not out of selfish ambition for a positive public perception, but instead as an act of genuine and costly love for our neighbors inspired by God’s genuine costly love for us. In justification of his interpretation, Bonhoeffer points to and spends a large portion of this book discussing Jesus’ message of the Sermon on the Mount. For Bonhoeffer, it is in this message that Jesus outlines the exemplary life of a Christian based on the “law of love” which governs how we should interact with those around us. Although Bonhoeffer believes that this exemplary life may be an impossible task for us as humans to do on our own, he strongly believes that we have been given the perfect representation of what such a life of love should look like and have been enable to live such a life through God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. By striving to follow in the footsteps of Jesus’ actions, we too may be able to live and lead a life grounded by love and inspired by God’s

The Gospels of the New Testament contain 39 different parables told by Jesus (Phillips 2004, 18-19) and no doubt he spoke many more during his ministry. Jesus’ choice to use parables to teach his people is one that has intrigued many people throughout history. The aim of this essay is to get to discover why he chose to use those parables, and also what we can learn from this teaching method when evangelising today.

As believers, we are constantly reminded that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. His death and his resurrection are fundamental to our Christian faith. Without his death, the relationship between God and His creation would have remained broken. Unfortunately, many believers do not take the time to consider the complex and deep meaning of Jesus’ death. If I have learned one concept throughout this class is that if I do not have a personal comprehension of Jesus’ death, I will never be saved. His death signifies salvation. It motivates us to imitate Jesus’ life as he was completely human and never sinned, yet he died on the cross in the cruelest way. Personally, Jesus’ death means love, reconciliation, redemption, and victory.

This is a summary of a No Travel Seminar on a Study of the Gospel of Matthew. The seminar was lead by Dr. John Dunaway who is a professor at NTS and has served as a pastor for over 50 years. After his brief self-introduction, he began his presentation with an overview of the Gospel of Matthew, followed by a more elaborated narrative summarizing the gospel, and he finished with brief closing remarks. Throughout this enthusiastic presentation, Dr. Dunaway made reference to remarks by multiple prominent commentators, which added substance to his narrative, even though none were explicitly stated upfront.