They recognized John the Baptist was a prophet sent from God and that prophets spoke the Word of God. They had followed John for some time and they listened intently to what John had to say. When they heard John speak they knew his words were of God. God's Word is exactly what Christians need for direction in their lives.
Church councils, committees and organizations and their decisions do not supersede the Word of God. God's Word is final. They Heed It It was not enough for the disciples to just hear what John said.
They took what they heard to heart. True disciples will not only hear the Word of God, it will move them to action. James states, "But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Reading, studying and applying God's Word in our lives is essential. Lee tells the story of an old man who lived in a boarding house who was converted after a life of much sinning and manifold transgressions. He would read the Bible and say loudly: "Praise the Lord! Praise God!
One day, they took his Bible while he was at work and hid it. In its place they put a scientific book full of dry facts and figures. After reading it awhile, the old man shouted, "AMEN! Glory to God! And what do you find in that book to make you shout?
And the Bible says God has cast all my sins into the depth of the sea. A true disciple who loves to hear and heed the Word of God in his life will be able to rejoice in all things.
A Lasting Commitment to Christ. When the disciples heard what John had said, they immediately followed Jesus. These men had heard John tell that One was coming after him who was mightier than he. He even identified Him as the Son of God. It was no surprise then that when the disciples saw Jesus walk by they left John and followed after Jesus. As Jesus called other disciples, they would leave everything and follow after Him completely. The story is told of a pig and a chicken talking about their importance on the farm.
The chicken commented how she was very active in providing breakfast every day by laying an egg. The pig replied that while the chicken gave her egg every day he had to give his life for breakfast. Instead, we live for a bigger purpose as Christians to help share the gospel by making disciples. God communicates to us through His Word. Without knowing God through His Word, we cannot effectively teach others about the truth of the scripture and the benefit in our lives.
God created us with a need for relationships. Fellowship with other believers can help us in our Christian walk and can help those we disciple grow in their faith. In the early church, we see an emphasis on fellowship. We see those in Acts regularly meet together break bread preach and fellowship, we do the same thing today in Church and are often involved in small groups. The relationship we make in small groups helps us grow in our faith and we can gain much wisdom from those around us.
Our goal as Christians is to be more Christ-like, in all that we do we want to look and act as Jesus did. When we look like Jesus we can help others to imitate Jesus as well. Paul encourages us to look at those of faith who imitate Christ and learn from them. We want to love the way Jesus loved, and to teach the way Jesus taught.
It is amazing what we can learn from simply living as Jesus did, for others and not ourselves. Reading through the Gospel we can see Jesus said some pretty hard things to his disciples. He let them know that he did not have a home-like other people and animals did, he told them that they needed to pick him over their family and that they would be persecuted because they followed Jesus. When following Jesus and discipling others we need to be dedicated to what we are doing, we cannot give half-hearted work when teaching others.
Jesus warned us what it would cost to follow him, and we need to keep this in mind when teaching others the importance of what it means to follow Christ. Now, many churches only offer one unique message each week; although some churches offer multiple services, they usually offer the same message in each service.
It seems as if the proclamation of Scripture is no longer the priority it once was. Christ emphasized teaching then — and He expects teaching to be a priority for His disciples today. These followers of Jesus were learners, pupils, or students. Christ-followers today must be all those things as well.
Learning from Christ today means hearing, listening to, studying, and applying the written Word of God. He expected His followers to put what He taught them into practice in their lives.
He wanted His disciples to apply the truth of what He instructed — and He wants His followers to continue that today. There are several other passages in the New Testament 2 Timothy ; James that underscore this same idea. It is obvious that Christ expects His disciples to put what He taught them into practice. His earthly disciples realized that He was about to leave them to return to His Heavenly Father; but in this last time together, He helped them to understand that because He was God, they could actually be with Him for the rest of their lives.
Being a disciple of Christ means spending time with Him. Even though Jesus is not physically present today, His followers can stay close to Him by spending time in His Word.
God Himself established prayer as a way for Christ-followers to communicate directly with All-mighty God Hebrews Prayer proves that His disciples are dependent upon Him — and true disciples of Christ will be characterized by a vibrant prayer life. Christ expects His disciples to follow Him — to learn from Him and to stay close to Him. Mel has been actively involved in various aspects of youth ministry for over 45 years. He is also an author, speaker, and consultant with churches.
Mel has written 13 books on various subjects relating to youth ministry.
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