3 paradigms of truth, Worldly, Religious, Divine

Discipleship 1 Spiritual Growth

Disciple's Handbook 2, Growing With the Body

Jesus' Cycle: Growth, Trials, and Triumph

Learning Christ, Partaking In His Ministry

 Growing Up In Christ

Scripturally, every believer becomes a disciple!

Scripturally, it is God's plan that every disciple partakes in Jesus' ministry! Jesus is the living "head of the church" for all believers. As our heavenly high priest He has provided a way for us to follow him, even as the original twelve disciples followed him. During the Messiah's earthly ministry, his disciples walked at his side, spoke with him, and were eyewitnesses and partakers of his ministry. They knew his voice; saw his amazing miraculous acts, and marveled at his wisdom. In a practical sense they knew him! Yet following the Lord's resurrection, there was a new and deeper level of experience that was later to be born in the upper room.

Perhaps among the amazing things to be revealed in the "gospel" in the present 'church age' is that we not only may know him as Savior, but partake in his nature, his mission and calling. The believer is given divine authority to act using this authority over principalities and powers in the heavenly realms. Lucifer is called the prince of the power of the air and this is also the domain of activities of his angels. Throughout ages past a heavenly drama has been playing out upon the earth. It has been the cosmic war of good against evil. "For this reason the Son of God was manifested, that he should destroy the works of the Devil." (John 3:8) Christ Jesus has called us to have intimate fellowship with Him and to represent him in this world.

Fellowship in Christ Jesus, Whose Ministry Edifies, and Blesses

It would be good for someone who has never experienced true fellowship (koinonia) to see the things can and do happen in a Spirit led gathering. For in such times of fellowship God can make his glorious presence known; lift people out of their fears and oppression; bring joy and healing; restore broken hearts and broken relationships and save peoples souls. Church liturgy, put together in a time far past, perhaps following shortly after the kind of glorious kind of fellowship described above may have had good intentions. Liturgical forms no doubt hoped to preserve some of the truth or glory of those earlier days. Maybe they wished to insure the manifestation of God's presence and to provide a platform to disciple those who needed to under stand the truth of Christ's eternal ministry. But God can not be bottled and preserved! For He is alive and powerful, acting always in the NOW, never in the THEN. The Bible shows that God's presence can not be captured and preserved. The Israelites of Old tried to do so, but when God's Glory departed it was gone they were left with a lifeless idol. The temple remained the glory was gone. The brazen serpent remained but the manifestation of its power was gone. God's continued glory and fellowship with us is determined by the hearts of those who gather to worship him. With passing years catechism remained but the glory had been lost. The ritual remained and the liturgical trappings remained but the presence of God vanished. Ritual happens, I believe, when men try to duplicate a behavior which once brought forth the glory of God through faith. Elements that remained were vainly held and became a substitution for God's presence. "Ministry" became the focus of a very small body of liturgical experts, called the priesthood or the clergy, when it was always to be the domain of every believer. Just as God wishes each believer to be a ministering priest, he wishes us to become a true worshipper. What is this true worshipper and what is worshipping the Father in Spirit and in Truth? (John 4:23) God is always looking for True Worshippers. He looks at the hearts he does not regard the man with the religious uniform over a common person whose heart is open. He does not favor a cathedral over a location which has been made ready on the inside of us. As Jesus told the woman at the well of Samaria, it is not where you worship, not this mountain or another mountain, but what and how we worship. He said to her that some do not know what they are even worshipping but the truth is that salvation is connected to worship, it is through the foundation of the Jews. The time was coming, Jesus explained, when men and women women would worship the Most High God in Spirit. Those who do not have this Spirit can not have the revelation of God of which Jesus spoke.

Discipled in "The Way"

Disciples, Learning the "Way" To begin your walk of discipleship in Christ one must be born of the Spirit. John 3:3 states it simply, " ..you must be born again." Those who believe in the finished work of Christ know and believe that Jesus died for the sins of all sinners who ever lived. Those who ask for this experience must believe that the power of God to completely transform a life will come to pass. One first believes and then confesses as stated in Romans 10;9-10. This is a transaction that must be done with faith that believes that what you have petitioned shall be manifested. Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) chose disciples in the time of his earthly ministry so he continues today. It is the Spirit of Christ" that initiates the transformative power which brings that "New Heart" and transformed spirit within each believer. The Holy Spirit convicts us that we are sinners and that we can not live a godly life without God's personal power and intervention. (John 8:21 ; 17:20)

Old time saints and disciples

The Christian world through centuries of religion has given us the idea that the life of Bible times was remote and impersonal. It has made Peter, James and John or John the Baptist into icons or legendary folk heroes. The sense of their being our brothers, who shared the same life of trials and faith has been all but lost. In our minds Bible days were another time, more fable than fact. This is not the case. Religion places men on pedestals. This should not be the case as it is contrary to every apostolic and teaching of the Lord. God does not show favoritism nor does he show respect of persons from times past to the present.

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