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Key verse: Mark 3:14 "And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,"
Biblical truth: Discipleship is about spending time with someone in the Word and as an example of a faithful Christian life. It involves praying, observing and acting when the opportunity to disciple someone arises. The object of the time with you is that they would learn to observe all the things that Jesus commanded us that they would go out and do the same thing.
One of the best ways to describe discipleship is the term "withness." That is the state or quality of being with someone. Specifically, we are with them to study the Bible and to grow spiritually. This is a lifelong process that involves learning, doing and teaching. We learn by being taught. We then learn to apply these things by doing them. Finally, we can teach them to others as one experienced in doing.
Following the methods below will only work if you stay aware of what God is doing around you and act upon the opportunities He presents.
Pray that God will provide you with a person that you can train and disciple for the kingdom of Christ
a. Jesus prayed all night --God to God---before choosing His disciples (Luke 6:12-13)
b. Begin praying now and pray and watch at all times until God gives you a person to train
Watch for the person God wants you to train
a. Your first disciples will come from your family
b. Be actively trying to lead people to Christ and then you can take them on to maturity (Matthew 28:19-20)
c. Find people who are struggling in their personal lives to know what God would have them to do.
d. Watch for people in our church with whom you have a common interest, age, etc. that you can share your life with and disciple
e. You can be sure that God will lead you to the right person to disciple if you are seeking to put His plan into action
Remember that true discipleship is more than a lesson from a book
a. It is life on life. That means that you teach the Bible and live the Bible with them regularly and consistently.
b. It means loving them as your family
c. It means investing or pouring yourself into another person
d. It is with-ness (Mark 3:14)
Have you sufficiently died to yourself so that you can disciple another person? Seeing others requires seeing yourself and your own situation less.
There is a definite cost to discipleship so having a discipleship attitude is a must. If an attitude of resentment or avoidance develops, it is indicative of a lack of spiritual maturity. Wrong attitudes will be detectable by the person being discipled and the relationship is headed for trouble.
Develop the right attitude towards your disciple
a. It is more caught than taught. They learn from watching us (1 Corinthians 16:10-11, 4:17)
b. You can't tell them to do what you are not already doing
c. Take them forward at the speed that they are able to go. Not too fast, and not expecting them to do things they are not able to do yet (Genesis 33:13-14)
d. Have double vision. See them as they are and then see them where God wants them to be. (Judges 6:13-18). - God saw Gideon as he was but also and God knew he could be
e. You cannot lead people where you have not already been nor to do what you have not already done or are doing
f. Have compassion (Hebrews 5:1-4)
Use the right method
a. Allow your disciple to think for himself and to make mistakes
b. Consider what Jesus did with his disciples
i. Luke 10:1, 17-20 He trained them then sent them out to practice what they had learned. Afterwards, he talked to them about how it went and where they succeeded or failed
ii. Luke 8:22-25 He trained them in how to deal with difficulties and disappointments
iii. John 6:2-6 He let them demonstrate their faith with different situations
What to do when you are teaching or spending time with your disciple
a. Start with prayer
b. Teach him to read his Bible each day
i. Don't forget that you can't ask him to do anything that you are not doing ii. You will be accountable to him as he is to you iii. He is to read a passage that is the same one that you are reading iv. He is to keep a written record
Date and passage
What the passage says
How he can apply it to his life
a. Discuss what he has read each day the past week and motivate him to read to get something from the Word each day
b. Have him take notes on all the Pastor's messages and Sunday School so that you can discuss what he doesn't understand (Matthew 13:10-17, 36)
c. Go over the Bible verse for the week
d. Each week have him memorize 5 books of the Bible until he has memorized all the books of the Bible and can successfully find Bible passages
e. Ask him what he is dealing with or might have a question about so that you can help him from the Scriptures
f. Take the lesson of the week and go over it for the remainder of your time
g. Do not progress until he understands and accepts the Bible lesson
h. You are not in a hurry to cover a certain amount of the lesson. Your goal is to love him and help him in his personal and family life
i. Give him some homework for next week and then have prayer
j. Be sure to work at developing your friendship
k. It is your responsibility to spend time with him at church, before and after so that he can be assimilated into the church
What are your past experiences with trying to disciple someone and what went right or wrong?
Nothing spells success in the process of discipleship like the disciple going out and getting his own disciple. The goal is not only to disciple a person but to make them a disciple maker.
After about 8 lessons have him seek out his own disciple and begin teaching him
a. You will coach him each week as you help him disciple others
b. Help him be a success and he will love you for the thrill he gets from helping others
Get him involved in the ministry of the church
a. Sit with him and his family
b. Get him to Sunday School and all the activities of the church
c. Teach him to tithe, get to church on time, listen etc., by your example
d. Ephesians 4:11-12 Help perfect him for the work of the ministry
Remember that the goal is not to teach a series of lessons but to develop a man who can train others also
a. Our Goal is to develop leaders of leaders and not just leaders
b. To truly develop a man you must take him from the very basic level to the priority God wants him to have of being reproductive
c. Prepare all to serve God full time and be shocked if they do not
d. Take them as far as they are willing to go
Discipleship starts at or before salvation and continues through the four stages below.
a. His base level or his "be" level will only be right when he has accepted Christ and is "in Christ." On top of that, will be his "do" level which will be his personal ministry
b. What he is, will define what he does and that will form the basis for his public ministry or his "serve" level
c. Finally, at maturity, he will find that his priority ministry is to disciple others and train men to train others. This is typified in the following graphic example
Reading: As you look at the "be, do, serve and train" levels on the previous page, you can see that each successive layer sits on the layer beneath it. Problems in the private level or the "Be" level will show up in the personal ministry level or the "do" level. Because a person will not do those things for very long that they really don't possess in their "be" level. The same goes for each successive level. Problems in the foundation will show up in the level above.
Discipleship involves dying to self and serving others (John 12:24-25) What does it mean that a man that loves his life shall lose it?
What does the Bible mean when it says that if the corn of wheat first dies, then it brings forth much fruit?
What makes this type of dying so difficult?