WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE JESUS’ DISCIPLE?

The short answer to the above question is, “It takes all of you!” This is probably the reason why our Lord Jesus often times cooled off the enthusiasm of potential candidates for discipleship by urging them to consider its costs (Matthew 19:16-22, Luke 9:57-62).”  If one truly desires to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, it is imperative that s/he first heeds the words of our Lord and counts the cost of discipleship. A church that does not teach the principles of discipleship is doomed to lose her spiritual influence in society and to become a spiritual nursery filled with immature Christians

            What is the meaning of  the word “disciple”? The Greek term  μαθητὰς (matheitas) refers generally to any “student,” “pupil,” “apprentice,” or “adherent,” as opposed to a “teacher” (Libronix Digital Library System). In the New Testament times it was most often associated with people who were devoted followers of a great religious leader or teacher of philosophy, such as Saul of Tarsus was an example of a Jewish boy who had left his home in Tarsus to study Torah under Gamaliel, a renowned Rabbi in Jerusalem (Act 5:34). 

            Jesus Christ took time and clearly explained to His disciples what it takes to become one of His disciples. To be a disciple of our Lord demands that Jesus becomes the most important thing in our life. From one perspective, discipleship centers upon the issue of dependence and submission. From a different vantage point discipleship entails a complete rearrangement of our priorities.

            After analyzing what the New Testament teaches about discipleship, we must conclude that the Lord Jesus clearly defined the following requirements of becoming His disciple:

1. The disciple of Jesus Christ must be a new spiritual creature and a citizen of God’s Kingdom.  The first condition of discipleship is that one has already become the recipient of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. There is no discipleship without salvation. Jesus metaphorically explained this: “No one sews a patch of un-shrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved” (Matthew 9:16-17). Without the miracle of the new birth, no one can completely devote him/herself to Christ.

2. The disciple of Jesus Christ must daily crucify his/her own self.  Informing His disciples about the events leading Him to the cross, Jesus emphatically told them that every true disciple must also bear a cross. “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Taking up our cross daily describes our willingness to lay aside all self-seeking and ego-centric ambitions: It means that our utmost desire and ambition is not to satisfy ourselves, but to please our Savior and Lord.  It means that Jesus, not ourselves or anyone else in this universe, is the object of our supreme worship and affection. Pleasing Him is the driving motivation of our lives, of our activities, and of our choices. Jesus didn’t mince words: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27).

3. The disciple of Jesus Christ must pursue the teachings of the Kingdom of God as taught by Christ.  By definition, a disciple is a student and a follower of his master. A disciple of Christ must strive to learn, understand, and apply the principles of the Kingdom. We can only live according to what we know: the more we know Christ’s teaching and character, the more we can emulate His lifestyle and character. Philippians 2:5 exhorts us to “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” A disciple is called to embrace the mind, the attitudes, the purposes, and the destiny of his/her Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.

4. The disciple of Jesus Christ must place Jesus above those dearest to him/her.  The fourth requirement Jesus underscored is that our love for Him must have priority over any other human being: “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, … he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). This verse doesn’t mean that we, as disciples of Christ, cannot love God and our family at the same time. The Bible clearly teaches our obligations to our husbands, wives and children (see Ephesians 5:22-25; 1 Timothy 4:8). What Jesus means is that our love for Him must have primacy over any other affection and our bond to Him more inseparable than to anything else.       

            Exegetically, these words don’t have the same punch in our American society as they delivered back then and still do in certain countries nowadays. For instance, in Muslim or Hindus communities the new converts are confronted with the ultimatum to choose between Jesus and family, and many Christians have been totally disowned and disinherited because of their faith in Christ, the Savior, and many have paid the ultimate price when they proclaimed their allegiance to the Lord Jesus (see Voice of the Martyrs, http://www.persecution.com/).

            Our relationship to Christ must have priority not only over family members; our union with Him must take priority over all forms of human relationship. Being a true disciple of Jesus Christ will often times lead to enmity with the surrounding world. Jesus did not hide this reality: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). 

            In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus clearly warned His followers of the dangerous outcomes of their decision: “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!” (Matthew 10:24-25). Against this background, Jesus warns of the possibility that some disciples would be asked to pay with their own lives: “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:38-39).

5. The disciple of Jesus Christ must place his/her devotion to Christ above material possessions.   After Jesus taught about the true riches, He declared, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Rich and affluent people of the world clearly have a problem with this condition of discipleship, but so do most of us that are the citizens of the most affluent nation in the world, The United States of America, especially when Jesus adds, “So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions”(Luke 14:33).  

            This simply means Christ’s disciples must love God more than they love money and what it can buy. However, this doesn’t mean that the Bible teaches that one can become a Christian only after disposing of all his or her material possessions; most likely it refers to the attitude towards material possessions: “Children, how hard it is for those who trust  in riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:24, NKJV, italics mine). Paul explains: “The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang” (1 Timothy 6:10). He continued to instruct those who were rich in material things to be rich in good works, and not to trust in the uncertainty of riches (1 Timothy 6:17-19). In the life of a disciple of Christ nothing must compete with his/her devotion to and dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

6. A disciple of Jesus Christ must be fruitful and multiply him/herself.  Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:24-25). Like our Master, who died and through His resurrection reproduced His life in us, we also must reproduce ourselves in others and produce disciples of Christ. This is the heart of the Great Commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Only a disciple who died to himself and to this world is capacitated to reproduce himself in others!

            What does it take to be a disciple of Lord Jesus Christ? A “disciple of Christ” is someone who has been called first to intimately know Christ and His salvation, then to daily pick up his cross and follow Him by placing his devotion to Christ above any other human, above any material possession, and any other philosophy. Following his Master, the disciple is becoming more and more like Him, emulating Christ’s thinking, feeling, and living. In obedience, Christ’s disciple embraces the goal to disciple others, from every nation, understanding that the Great Commission is Christ’s commandment, not suggestion!

the Quapaw Indians by other tribes.”      Originea Numelui Statului: Este o derivatie din

franceza a cuvantului Akansas sau Arkansas, un nume dat indienilor Quapaw de catre alte triburi.

Indian “arizonac” care inseamna “locul izvoarelor mici”. (city-data.com)

 - “Nickname : The Natural State ”.  (city-data.com)

Toate informatiile le gasiti accesand acest link:  http://www.scribd.com/full/26346876?access_key=key-shgbvxps3rqeectwbwx

Bible Study Methods

1. Devotional Bible Study

The ultimate purpose of any type of Bible Study is life application, not interpretation, as God wants to change our lives through His Word. The Devotional Bible Study is simply taking a passage of the Bible and prayerfully meditating on it until the Holy Spirit leads you to apply its truth to your own life in a way that is personal, practical, possible, and tangible. In other words, take heed of James’ call to “do what it says” (1:22). Without personal application, any Bible Study becomes an academic exercise without any spiritual value! Remember 2 Tim. 3:16. Head knowledge without heart knowledge creates Pharisees! Even though they knew their Scriptures, they “didn’t know the power of God!” (Matt.22:29) Worse yet, their knowledge gave them a dangerous sentiment of pride: “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor. 8:1).

Our Devotional Bible study must lead to application and spiritual growth in our lives and has several steps:

• Step 1: Pray for insight on how to apply the passage
• Step 2: Meditate on the passage you have chosen to study
• Step 3: Write down an application and ask, “Does this application help me become more like Jesus?”
• Step 4: Memorize a key verse from your study.

Application is difficult because:

• It requires hard work and serious thinking
• Satan fights it with all of his might
• We naturally resist change and love our comfort zone.

 2. Character Trait Method of Bible Study

One of the most important goals for Christians is to develop a Christlike character in their lives. We do this by cooperating with the Word of God and with the Spirit of God in the process of replacing bad character traits with good ones. This type of Bible study helps us identify both the good and the bad traits, and then, through prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit, work at minimizing the bad ones and maximizing the Christlike ones.

For instance, the Bible tells us that one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is “gentleness,” and calls us to become “gentle.” For this type of study we need some of the tools we mentioned last time:

• A Bible
• An exhaustive concordance
• A Bible dictionary or as word study book
• A topical Bible
• An English dictionary.

Important Tips:

1. Work on one quality at a time – this will help you stay focused on the weakest trait of your character.
2. Character formation takes time – sometimes months, or even years! Don’t despair; persevere!
3. Analyze whether a negative trait in your life is in fact a positive one, but misused. For instance, if you are legalistic and rigid, it could be that your positive trait of self-control is being misused and that self-discipline must be dipped in love, compassion, and concern for others.
4. You CANNOT do it on your own! It is God’s Spirit that reproduces Christ’s character in us (Phil.2:13).

Steps for a Character Trait Bible Study:

1. Name the trait. Look it up in an English Dictionary and write down the definition. List all the synonyms.
2. Name the opposite trait. Most Thesauruses also give the antonyms. Write down its definition.
3. Do a word study – look up the Bible definition of the quality you are studying. Use net.Bible.org
4. Find cross-references: The Bible is the best interpreter of Scripture. Use your concordance and topical bible to find all the verses you can related to this trait.
5. Ask:

• What are the benefits of this trait for ME?
• What are the bad consequences this trait can bring ME?
• What are the benefits / consequences this trait can bring to others?
• Is there any promise from God related to this quality?
• Is there any warning or judgment related to this trait?
• Is there a command related to this trait?
• What the Bible tells me what God thinks of this trait?
• Do I desire more or less of this trait in my life?

1. Write down a short summary of the Bible’s teaching on this quality.
2. Find a biblical person in that displayed this character trait in his or her life, and ask whether this trait helped or hindered his/her spiritual growth and what result it produced in his/her life.
3. Find a memory verse that best underlines the trait you just studied.
4. Think of a situation or relationship that you want to apply and work on this trait. If it is a situation, anticipate in advance how you are going to act when time comes. If it is a relationship, determine ahead how you are going to respond in your relationship with that person. Pray and ask God for His help.

During the Januray 2010 Bethesda Romanian Pentecostal church will be involved in  21 days of Prayer & Fasting from January 1-21, 2010.

All members and friends are welcome to join us in fasting and corporate prayer meetings. Please join us in prayer in our Church Fellowship Room at the following times:

Prayer Meeting Times

• Monday – Thursday: 7:00pm
• Friday: 8:30pm
• Sunday: Regular church service times.

Bethesda Romanian Christmas Carol Evening

Friday, December 18, 2009

You and your family and friends are invited to a special night of traditional and contemporary Romanian Christmas Carols and special message at Bethesda Romanian Pentecostal Church. We will have the following specials:

• Bethesda Worship Team
• Christmas Choir songs
• Christmas Brass Band songs
• Kid’s Choir Presentation
• …and more!

Christmas Schedule

• Friday Christmas Special – December 18, 2009 @ 6:00pm
• Thursday Christmas Eve – December 24, 2009 @ 6:00pm
• Friday Christmas Day – December 25, 2009 @ 6:00pm
• Thursday New Years EVE – December 31, 2009 @ 6:00pm
• Friday New Year’s DAY – January 1, 2010 @ 6:00pm

You, your family, and friends are invited to participated in this free conference during the weekend starting Thursday December 3 – Sunday December 6, 2009.

Pastor Petru Lascau from Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church (Phoenix, AZ) will be sharing valuable insights on family from a Biblical and practical standpoint.

Please join us during the following times:

• Thursday December 3, 2009 – 7:00pm
• Friday December 4, 2009 – 7:30pm
• Saturday December 5, 2009 – 9:00am (Start continental breakfast)
• Sunday December 6, 2009 AM service – 9:00am

Feel free to view some other Family Conferences that Pastor Petru Lascau has presented via video recording:

Family Conference Pastor Petru Lascau – Videos