Modeling Kingdom Discipleship
Today’s Focus: Obedience and Witnessing
Scripture: Acts 1:8; John 14:12; Romans 10:17; Exodus 19:5
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
In the last words of Jesus to the disciples before His ascension back to the Father, Jesus told them after the Holy Spirit has empowered them they will be witnesses unto Jesus. We said in a previous message that the works that we do will be a testimony and evidence that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.
John 14:12: Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
So Jesus came and laid the foundation for the sons of God and since that time and the time of His return, the sons will continue from age to age maturing in preparation for the return of the Lord. These disciples were witnesses of the fact that Jesus did only what they saw and heard the Father do. Now just as the Spirit of God led Jesus, the same Spirit will lead His brethern in the exact same manner, teaching and discipling us to do what we hear and see the Father do. What an amazing concept to discipleship. This means that there has to be some gifting to teach people that they can hear God and there is. This gifting is called the prophetic. Why is it important to be able to hear God and know it is God?
Romans 10:17: So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
So it is to build our faith. Jesus says that His sheep will hear His voice and hearken unto Him. All throughout the Old Testament, especially at Mt. Sinai when God was offering the children of Israel the first covenant, look what He says:
Exodus 19:5: Now therefore , IF YOU WILL OBEY MY VOICE, INDEED AND KEEP MY COVENANT, THEN YE SHALL BE A PECULIAR TREASURE UNTO ME ABOVE ALL PEOPLE: FOR ALL THE EARTH IS MINE:
Notice God makes an emphasis to obey His voice. See there was no Bible then so they had to learn the voice of God and hear Him through the messengers he ordained at that time. So when Jesus tells the disciples to go and teach others to observe all things he has commanded, just like Jesus gave the disciples verbal directions, the disciples will teach others in the same manner. So when we talk about the Great Commission we are putting an emphasis on the process of hearing the word of God and obeying His directions. If we do this, then we do not have to worry about sin because the Spirit knows no sin and if you are walking in the Spirit then you are walking in righteousness.
In understanding the Great Commission and our role in discipling the nations, we have concluded that to obey all that Jesus commanded was to do what we hear and see the Father doing. This means the mature sons of God are to walk among makind demonstrating that it is possible to walk like Jesus did, listening and obeying the Father moment by moment. As we demonstrate this, others are to learn and this is the process of discipleship. When we walk in this manner, the Spirit of God can draw men unto Himself and we, as the sons of God teach them by our life that we live and how we regularly obey the Father.
Why is this not the case today for the most part? The reason this is, because the leaders in the churches themselves are not followers of Jesus. Many are not concerned with making disciples as they are with getting members and converting them to their church doctrine and culture. So when we speak in this manner of "doing what we hear and see the Father doing" it is almost taboo and impossible in their mind to do this. Why? Because the culture does not permit this and the culture only permits the pastor to teach the flock to follow him or her. Hence we have people growing the church doctrine and ways and never really learning what it means to hear the Father and obey His voice. If the leaders do not know how to do this, how can we expect the flock to do it? There must be a change in culture and mindset in the church for this to be the reality.
At Our Father's Service,
Calvin Calhoun
