The Following Of Jesus Christ

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

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Small group environments help every part grow into their right place in the body. “Discipleship is about providing a means by which we begin to shepherd people in the direction of maturity.” It requires effort and intentionality to help people grow, discover their gifts and use them for the health of the body.

In Romans 1-8 Paul is writing to teach the doctrine of Christ. Although Paul goes into much more depth in these eight chapters, his message ultimately boils down to the following sentence. We have all sinned and deserve death, however, through the redemption and sanctification of Christ we have been saved and should now lead, Christ centered lives of faith.

Like children struggling to overcome the powerful tug of the ocean’s current, so humans were imprisoned by the unyielding tug of sin. The Son of Man’s cause was to save man from this paralyzing current. Jesus was even nailed to a rough tree and died on our behalf. The Bible states this, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He valued our freedom with Him so much He was willing to die to secure it.

Whilst the bible does not specifically mention euthanasia, it does address closely related topics. Euthanasia is essentially killing out of mercy, hence the name ‘mercy killing’. The bible tells us that we are not to murder (Exodus 20:13) and any form of taking a life is seen as killing. It says that we die when God chooses us to, and to murder is an attempt to deny God his right of appointing death. Therefore, ‘mercy killing’ is going against God’s will and is a sin. The sixth commandment is “You shall not murder”, and that justifies what is previously said. However, in the beatitudes, it says “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy”. If we show mercy by killing,

Living in Christian community is a necessity for the everyday life of a Christian. Without community, the Christian has no one else to “sharpen” them, no one else to understand the everyday struggle of living in the world, sharing the Gospel, but not partaking in the sinful ways of the world. In “Life Together”, Dietrich Bonhoeffer explores Christian community, and presents not only the benefits of Christian community, but also the toxins that can destroy the community. Living in Christian community brings incomparable joy and community in and through Jesus Christ, but can be easily lost due to humanistic ideals, or “dreams”.

From this passage, Bonhoeffer states that our brothers and sisters in Christ reflect the voice of God. He explains that if people do not know listen to their brother and sister in Christ then it means you are not listening to God. God works and reflects on his children-That means all his children. Overall, in what I learned from Bonhoeffer based on this passage is to listen to our brothers and sister in Christ. As Christians, we believe that is to our self and do not listen to the people around us. Personally, I believe as a leader of an important area in my church is very important for me to listen to my fellow brothers and sister in Christ. I also believe that my team (who are children of Christ) should listen to me because if they do not listen to me then that means they are not listening to God.

In Bonhoeffer’s “Guilt, Justification and Renewal,” he shares that our concern is the form of Christ and Christ Himself that was real, sentenced and made new (pg.110). He goes on to share to readers that when man’s apostasy is from Christ, he also has apostasy from his own essential nature at the same time (pg.110). Bonhoeffer believes that acknowledgement of guilt is true when someone sees the form of Christ and only from that form (pg.111). He goes on to share his view that one can recognize guilt because of the grace of Jesus and because Christ reaches out to save the person who is falling away and the place where this recognizing of guilt becomes real is the church (pg.111). Also, Bonhoeffer thinks that men take all of the guilt upon

The Christian classic, Life Together, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is a book where he outlines his experiences as a Christian pastor and theologian training young pastors in Finkenwalde Seminary and of the Brothers House. Bonhoeffer also details the essential principles needed for Christian fellowship, gleaned in the backdrop of the pre-war German underground. Dietrich treatise helps answer questions about community in Christian life; he believed that God bestows brotherhood upon us for a reason especially under illegality. His Christian message is clear: “Without Christ there is discord between God and man and between man and man…. Christ opened up the way to God and to our brother.”

Over the years, many models have been developed and implemented to endeavor to make disciples. Some of the models have been effective and others have not. Among some of the most biblical and efficient models are the ones that involve small groups. Within the small groups models, they can be broken down into further detail, such as pastoral involvement, the church’s goal, missions mindedness, etc. In this paper, I will explain my philosophy of small groups in a church and the importance of the relational group in authentic disciple making. I will also explain how missional groups can help the body of Christ move out into the community. Finally, I will summarize my status in regards to living in community with other believers and being missional with that community.

Suffering and rejection sum up the whole cross of Jesus. To die on the cross means to die despised and

This situation is similar to a person’s sibling take the blame so they will not get in trouble with their parents. Jesus dies for the salvation, so the world can be a better place. The text Communicates about

Jesus had to carry his own cross, that probably weighed two times his size, all the way up to wear the crucifixion was going to take place. Already beaten and bloody, they lay him down onto the cross shaped piece of wood and begin by nailing his hands and feet into it and standing the cross up into the air. What a brutal sight it must have been for God to see his only son tortured like this, but the good news is that he knew what his plan was for Jesus and for his people and he knew what was going to happen after all this was over. Jesus died hanging from that cross, washing all of our sin away and paying the ultimate sacrifice. After he died he was wrapped in a white cloth and placed into a tomb with a boulder sealing the door to the outside world. Three days after being placed in there, the people went to check up on the tomb to find that the boulder was pushed aside and the white cloth was folded neatly where Jesus was laying. The son of God, the Messiah, rose again from the dead to fulfill his mission so that we may have everlasting life in God’s kingdom. God’s plan for our life and through Jesus he teaches us that if we follow in God’s word and make him our most prized possession and ask for him to be in our hearts that we may to “escape the penalty that God will execute upon all who have broken His

Another powerful scene that leads up to the cross is when Jesus carried the heavy wooden pole to a hilltop. In this scene, I was angry and shocked that the Roman soldiers made Jesus carry the heavy cross after his flogging. Jesus had no physical strength after his whipping. But this scene allowed us to see he was willing to take the cross and carry it up to the hill for our sake. We are constantly bombarded with this sacrificial and scandalous love where Jesus knows he is taking in the suffering for our sake. Many of the audience in the movie theatre are Christians, but can also be someone who wants to know Jesus more. When non-Christians see this scene, they may start questioning why is Jesus carrying the heavy cross up to the hill. The movie is portraying extremely why Jesus had to take the cross because he wanted to reveal his love for us. This is not the universal love that we relate to but is a sacrificial and scandalous love which Jesus wants to pour out to the audience. And the visualization of Jesus who is physically incapable of carrying the cross doing the impossible. This visualization allows me and others to sympathize with Jesus, but to understand why Jesus is taking the cross. Jesus is doing to show his love for us and humbling himself before the final act.

Discipleship: The belief that all have sinned and fall short and everyone needs redemption from sin. Therefore the discipleship call to conversion is central as