Fully Trained Disciples
Christians are disciples of Jesus Christ. He is our Lord and our Teacher. There term disciple is well documented in the Bible. There are many references to the followers of Jesus as disciples in the Gospels and 27 references in the book of Acts. The mission of Jesus was to come and provide His sacrificial death to pay the price for our redemption and to start a movement of disciples who would spread the good news of salvation to the world. Jesus spent 3+ years training the original 12 disciples, preparing to send them out into the world, as He had been sent into the world. It was a thorough training, and He fully trained them, as we can see by the results around the world. However, today there is much less emphasis on being a fully trained disciple. That is why the church is failing to reach the world for Christ. Jesus told us what a fully trained disciple looks like. (Luke 6:40) We need to heed His words and apply ourselves to becoming fully trained disciples ourselves.
How long did it take you to become fully trained in your job? I know that I went to college for a 4 year degree and seminary for an additional 3 years as my training to be a pastor. I believe that training was reasonably complete, and it was done by humans. I do not believe any believer has a valid reason for not being a fully trained disciple of Jesus, since we have the Holy Spirit within us to develop us fully into the likeness of Jesus. (Romans 8:29) How long have you been a Christian? Are you a fully trained disciple yet? If your answer is no, and you have been saved for 5 to 10 years or more, you can't blame the Lord for your lack of training and your failure to be conformed to the image of Jesus. The only reason for us not to be like Jesus after that period of time, if we are truly a believer, is that we have put ourselves above our teacher, so that we did what we wanted to do, and not what the Holy Spirit was trying to do to train us fully. The solution is repentance and full submission to the Spirit of God, and a full devotion to fulfill God's will by being a fully trained disciple of Jesus. I pray that we will all make that commitment for our good, and for the good of a lost and dying world.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Luke 7-9.
How long did it take you to become fully trained in your job? I know that I went to college for a 4 year degree and seminary for an additional 3 years as my training to be a pastor. I believe that training was reasonably complete, and it was done by humans. I do not believe any believer has a valid reason for not being a fully trained disciple of Jesus, since we have the Holy Spirit within us to develop us fully into the likeness of Jesus. (Romans 8:29) How long have you been a Christian? Are you a fully trained disciple yet? If your answer is no, and you have been saved for 5 to 10 years or more, you can't blame the Lord for your lack of training and your failure to be conformed to the image of Jesus. The only reason for us not to be like Jesus after that period of time, if we are truly a believer, is that we have put ourselves above our teacher, so that we did what we wanted to do, and not what the Holy Spirit was trying to do to train us fully. The solution is repentance and full submission to the Spirit of God, and a full devotion to fulfill God's will by being a fully trained disciple of Jesus. I pray that we will all make that commitment for our good, and for the good of a lost and dying world.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Luke 7-9.