Are You A Disciple of Christ?

Are you a disciple of Christ? 

So many today will confess that they are Christians, but how many, after examining the requirements for being a disciple, can say with absolute assurance that they are a true disciple of Christ.

Consider the following: 

Jesus said in Luke 14, “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brot

hers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.”

He is saying that our love for Him should far outweigh our love for anyone else so that our love for others (father, mother, brother, sister, spouse, children) will seem like hate compared to our love for Jesus.

Is your love for Jesus that great?

Next He says, “And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.”

To us, carrying our cross doesn’t mean much, but to the disciples it invoked a picture of a shameful, brutal death to one’s self. Jesus is saying that we have to put away our own desires and follow God’s plan for our lives.

Do you live for you, or do you live for Jesus? Are you following your plans or the plans God has for you?

He continues on saying, “So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.”

Jesus teaches that when we make Him Lord over our lives, he becomes owner and we are just stewards. All of our money, all of our talent, all of our time, all of our resources, etc. belong to Him, and he entrusts us to use them they way He wants us to; according to His purpose.

Have you submitted everything to Jesus?

Jesus left us a command, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Jesus said we are to go, not sit back and wait for them to come to us. Our effectiveness to make disciples depends on our being a disciple. He illustrates this at the end of Luke 14, “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” In Matthew Jesus describes us as “salt and light”.

Disciples are good salt; they are good for seasoning (making disciples). Are you making disciples or have you lost your saltiness?

Are you a Disciple of Christ?

Rosh HaShanah

It's been some time since my last blog, but today I was considering the following:  Just hours ago Rosh HaShanah ended in Israel. Rosh HaShanah literally means, "head of the year" and is commonly known as the Jewish New Year. It is observed on the first day of Tishri, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. In ten days they will celebrate the Yom Kippur - the day of Atonement. Yom Kippur represents the conclusion of the very important and somber period called the Days of Awe (the 10 days between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur) because life and death hung in the balance, the Jews believing that the destiny of each person was decided by the heavenly court in this period. On the Day of Atonement the people prepared themselves, with fasting and prayer, to stand trial before the heavenly court that would review their life of the past year and render a verdict.

As Christians, we believe that Atonement has been made for man through the blood of Jesus. It is by grace through faith that we are saved. That faith is in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. It is when we make Jesus “Lord” of our lives that the atonement is applied to us. Make no mistake, the Greek word for Lord is kurios meaning, “he to whom a person or thing belongs, which he has power of deciding; master; lord”. Jesus becomes owner of our lives and we become his servant. That means we must follow the plan he has for us.

Over these next few days, take time to count the cost. Perhaps you believe in Jesus, but you have never made him owner over everything for your life, or perhaps you have never put your trust in Jesus. To you I say, today is the day of salvation, repent and ask Jesus to be your Lord.

Breaking the Paradigm of Church

Happy New Year Fountain Friends!  I just wanted to bring you a brief update from the Fountain.  Sunday we started breaking the paradigm of what we currently know as church.  Basically what we see in this age is a people that "go to church" rather than step up to "being the Church". 

Most people today expect the pastor of their church to study, pray, and hear from God, and then bring them His word on Sunday mornings.  They have the philosophy of, "He gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors and teachers for the Entertainment of the saints and the Work of the ministry".  2 Timothy 4:3 warns us of this, "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): People are the Church.  It is the individual's responsibility to enter into covenant relationship with Jesus through repentance and love (this is making Him Lord, not just calling Him Lord).  Then they are to enter into community with each other, to fellowship with each other, hanging out with one another.  Then they are to regularly come together as the Ekklesia - the Church gathered together for corporate worship and instruction from the Elders. 

If we will follow this example of the 1st Century church we will discover that individual worship of Jesus, throughout the week, makes the corporate worship a much richer experience.  If we follow this example we will find out that, by spending the individual time chasing after God throughout the week, having Christian Community won't need to be programmed but will become a natural desire.  If we will follow these examples we will find out that our relationship with Jesus will grow to the point that we no longer define freedom as time between sin cycles but that, out of love for Jesus, though we may be tempted by sin we will lose the desire to gratify the our flesh and gain the desire to please our Lord.

It's a New Year, I encourage, admonish (advise or urge earnestly), downright challenge you to ask the Holy Spirit to help you to desire to passionately run after God, to learn to love God with all of your heart this year, and watch your individual relationship with Christ, the relationship with your Christian brothers and sisters through community, and your corporate worship relationship (Ekklesia) grow exponentially in 2012.  Be blessed my friends!