Discipleship Lessons

aiki · Oct 1, 2019

I've created and taught a Discipleship Course for new believers which I've used for the last twenty years or so now as a discipler. I'm going to post the lessons here for any who might like to consider them. They are very basic lessons, intended for a spiritually immature and biblically ignorant believer.

Discipleship: Lesson 1 - What is Discipleship?

What is discipleship?

Matthew 10:24-25
24 A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master...

Luke 6:40
40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

Romans 8:29 (NKJV)
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

1 Peter 2:21 (NKJV)
21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

2 Timothy 2:2 (NKJV)
2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Emulation is a crucial aspect of discipleship, not of the one discipling, but of Christ. (Ro. 8:29)

Conditions of Discipleship.

Matthew 10:37-39
37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Matthew 16:24-25
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Luke 14:33 (NKJV)
33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

The basic idea here is that the disciple of Christ has an “all-in” attitude, a commitment to following Christ before and above all else, no matter the cost. This attitude to discipleship is vital; for, as Christ points out here, the cost is high. One must daily embrace the crucified life, denying one’s self for the sake of Christ.

John 8:31-32 (NKJV)
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

A growing knowledge of Scripture is essential to discipleship. It is not knowledge alone that is the goal of discipleship, however, but “abiding” in it. That is, immersing one’s self in God’s word through memorization, meditation, study and obedience to it. As Jesus explains here, doing so is key to being free – free of the power of the World, the Flesh, and the devil, and free to live in the holy, Christ-centered way God intends we all should live.

How is Discipleship accomplished?

Jesus discipled by:

Teaching.

Matthew 5:1-2 (NKJV)
1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.
2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them...

Demonstration.

1 Peter 2:21 (NKJV)
21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps...

Providing opportunity for emulation.

Luke 10:1-9

Discipleship is the necessary and natural next step after salvation.

Hebrews 5:12-14 (NKJV)
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV)
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Replication.

2 Timothy 2:2 (NKJV)
2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

Discipleship has not been truly accomplished if replication is not the result. At the end of a course of discipleship, the disciplee ought to be well-equipped to disciple another believer.

Dave-W · Oct 4, 2019

aiki said:
Discipleship is the necessary and natural next step after salvation.

That is a very important point; one that is lost in most evangelical traditions.

Have you ever read this?
https://heartofgodisrael.org/messianic-messages/discipleship-is-jewish/

aiki · Oct 7, 2019

Discipleship Lesson 2: Salvation

I. Salvation: Entering into relationship with God.

Why must one be saved?

1 John 1:5 (NKJV)
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

Psalms 5:4 (NKJV)
4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You.

Romans 3:23 (NKJV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Isaiah 59:2 (NKJV)
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.

John 3:19 (NKJV)
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Psalms 1:5-6 (NKJV)
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Ezekiel 18:4 (NKJV)
4 "Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.

Romans 6:23 (NKJV)
23 For the wages of sin is death...

How is one saved?

Repentance: Changing one’s mind.

Matthew 4:17 (NKJV)
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Mark 1:14-15 (NKJV)
14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."

Luke 5:31-32 (NKJV)
31 Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Acts 3:19 (NKJV)
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out...

Acts 3:26 (NKJV)
26 To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities."

Repentance is, at its heart, a change of mind, an alteration or amendment of one’s thinking. Is repentance always and only from sin in the Bible? No. In the Old Testament, God repents more than anyone else; but He does not, of course, repent from sin. Repentance, then, is not a turning away from sin. Repentance is the change in one’s thinking that gives rise to a turning away from sin. It is only as one hears the truths of the Gospel, recognizes one’s sinfulness, rebellion toward God, and need of a Saviour, and reorients one’s thinking in conformity to what one has heard – repents – that salvation is possible. This is why we see in the verses above that repentance is distinguished from and precedes believing the Gospel, conversion, and remission of sins.

Belief and Acceptance:

Romans 10:9-13 (NKJV)

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

John 3:3-7
3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

John 3:16-18
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:36
36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

Titus 3:5-6
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Is the belief spoken of in these verses merely intellectual assent? In order to be saved, is it enough simply to agree that the Gospel is true? Or is more required in exercising faith in Christ as Saviour and Lord? The apostle James wrote that demons believe that there is a God and tremble (Ja. 2:19), in doing so pointing out that not any old belief in God will do. No, James wrote, there is more to true, saving faith than mere acknowledgement of God’s existence. One must also anticipate, expect, desire a changed life, a life that is lived in conformity to the truth of God’s existence. One’s heart, the very core of one’s being, must be the place from which one engages with God and the Gospel. One’s mind, will, emotions and desires ought all to be aligned under, and united in faith in, God incarnate, the resurrected Saviour, Jesus Christ. There can be no salvation of a person who simply assents to God’s being but who has no desire to live in conformity to his will and truth as revealed in the Gospel.

Confession of sin: Agreeing with God that your sin is, in fact, sin.

1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 4:8-10 (NKJV)
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Proverbs 28:13 (NKJV)
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

Matthew 3:5-6 (NKJV)
5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him
6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

From what is one saved?

Romans 6:22-23 (NKJV)
22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8-9 (NKJV)
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

Colossians 1:13-14 (NKJV)
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Galatians 1:3-5 (NKJV)
3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Romans 8:2-4 (NKJV)

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 6:6-11 (NKJV)
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Galatians 3:13-14 (NKJV)
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

To what is one saved?

John 4:13-14 (NKJV)
13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

John 5:24 (NKJV)
24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Galatians 5:13 (NKJV)
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Romans 5:1-2 (NKJV)
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Colossians 1:21-22 (NKJV)
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight--

aiki · Oct 14, 2019

Discipleship Lesson 3: Marks of Genuine Salvation

I. Marks of Genuine Salvation.

2 Corinthians 13:5 (NKJV)
5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? -- unless indeed you are disqualified.

Matthew 7:21-23 (NKJV)
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

How can I tell if I'm truly saved or not?

Matthew 7:17-20 (NKJV)
17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Luke 6:43-45 (NKJV)
43 "For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.
45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

What is spiritual fruit?

John 4:34-38 (NKJV)
34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
35 Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37 For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.'
38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."

Romans 6:22 (NKJV)
22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Ephesians 5:8-10 (NKJV)
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

James 3:17-18 (KJV)
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Hebrews 12:11 (NKJV)
11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Specific marks of a genuine believer.

1. A love of the brethren.

1 John 3:14 (NKJV)
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.

2. A hunger for the Word of God.

1 Peter 2:1-3 (NKJV)
1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Jeremiah 15:16 (NKJV)
16 Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.

Psalms 119:174 (NKJV)
174 I long for Your salvation, O Lord, And Your law is my delight.

3. The inner witness of God's Spirit.

Romans 8:16 (NKJV)
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God...

1 John 5:10 (NKJV)
10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.

The “witness” is not merely a sensation, a feeling of being saved, but an unshakable confidence in one's membership in God's family which results from the knowledge and experience of God and His truth in one's life. (2 Tim. 1:12) And this knowledge and experience can only come by way of the Holy Spirit's illuminating and empowering work within the believer. (Jn. 14:26; 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:9-14) Thus, it is described by Paul as the witness of God's Spirit.

4. A love for God expressed in obedience to His commands.

1 John 2:3-6 (NKJV)
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

5. An increased sensitivity toward sin.

John 16:7-8 (NKJV)
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

6. The chastisement of God.

Hebrews 12:5-8

5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children, “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him.

6 For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.

7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not?

8 But if you are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons.

7. The development of the Fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Ephesians 5:8-10 (NKJV)
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

We all have aspects of our personality that are easy to build up. But when the Spirit manifests his fruit in our lives, there is no one part of that fruit that expands more fully than another. In developing his fruit in us, the Spirit works like the tide that raises all boats. The Spirit possesses all of the fruit in equal measure and so expresses them in the same measure in those he is transforming. His fruit, then, develops in a uniform manner in the believer which is how one may distinguish his work from one’s own efforts to compensate for one’s weaknesses by magnifying one’s natural strengths.

aiki · Oct 21, 2019

Discipleship Lesson 4: Faith

I. The Life of Faith.

1. Faith is an absolute necessity:

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 10:38-39 (NKJV)
38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him."
39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Galatians 5:4-6 (NKJV)
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.

1 John 5:4-5 (NKJV)
4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.
5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Ephesians 6:16 (NKJV)
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

2.) What is biblical faith?

- “Firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing...” (Vines Expository Dictionary)

Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

- Given by God.

Romans 12:3 (NKJV)
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Philippians 1:29 (NKJV)
29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

- Not “I hope so,” but “I know so.”

2 Timothy 1:12 (NKJV)
12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

- Inevitably manifests in corresponding action.

James 2:18-20 (NKJV)
18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe--and tremble!
20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

James 1:22 (NKJV)
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

3.) How does faith grow?

- Knowledge: (2Ti. 1:12; Jn. 20:31) We do not normally trust beyond the scope of our knowledge. Imagine if a stranger walked up to you and asked for the keys to your home, for your credit cards, your bank account information, and the names and locations of your children. Would you give the stranger what he requested? Of course not. He is unknown to you. Only a fool would trust a stranger with such personal and important things. This is true in our relationship with God, too. We will only trust Him as far as we know Him. God, however, is not asking just for our material goods, or for access to those who are important to us, but for our very life. How much more, then, is it vital that we know Him that we may be confident in yielding ourselves completely to Him?

- Exercise: (1 Pe. 1:6-9) Faith is like a muscle; it only grows stronger as it is exercised. For this reason God “tries our faith,” giving it opportunity to grow thereby. “The tree against which the wind blows most often is the tree that most firmly grips the ground.”

- Experience: Deep confidence and conviction - deep faith - is the natural consequence of the positive experience of that which we believe. In other words, the more I experience God and His truth in my life, the greater faith I will have in Him and His truth.

Psalms 34:8 (NKJV)
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

4.) Biblical faith is not blind.

God does not require that we have faith in Him in a vacuum of reason to do so.

Psalms 19:1 (NKJV)
1 ...The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Romans 1:18-20 (NKJV)
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse...

John 1:14 (NKJV)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

1 Peter 3:15 (NKJV)
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

5. Believing before seeing.

Read: Nu. 13:17-14:24; Matt. 8:5-10

John 20:29 (NKJV)
29 Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

In God's economy, faith must be exerted before it is rewarded. We must “reckon” or count on many things being true of us as believers even when we do not initially have corresponding evidence in our experience that bears out or proves that what we believe is true. It is only when we put our full weight upon God's truths and promises to us that we begin to experience them in our daily living.

“Faith is believing a thing is so,
When it appears it is not so,
In order for it to be so,
Because it is so.”

Here are some things God says are true of those who have been born again:

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Colossians 3:2-3 (NKJV)
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (see also Ro. 6)

Ephesians 2:4-6 (NKJV)
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Colossians 1:13 (NKJV)
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

Colossians 2:9-10 (NKJV)
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Discussion:

Why is faith integral to Christian living?

Using a spiritual truth from Scripture pertaining to the Christian life, explain how faith is integral to its application to the Christian's life.

Daniel Roth · Oct 26, 2019

aiki said:
I've created and taught a Discipleship Course for new believers which I've used for the last twenty years or so now as a discipler. I'm going to post the lessons here for any who might like to consider them. They are very basic lessons, intended for a spiritually immature and biblically ignorant believer.

Discipleship: Lesson 1 - What is Discipleship?

What is discipleship?

Matthew 10:24-25
24 A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master...

Luke 6:40
40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

Romans 8:29 (NKJV)
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

1 Peter 2:21 (NKJV)
21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

2 Timothy 2:2 (NKJV)
2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Emulation is a crucial aspect of discipleship, not of the one discipling, but of Christ. (Ro. 8:29)

Conditions of Discipleship.

Matthew 10:37-39
37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Matthew 16:24-25
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Luke 14:33 (NKJV)
33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

The basic idea here is that the disciple of Christ has an “all-in” attitude, a commitment to following Christ before and above all else, no matter the cost. This attitude to discipleship is vital; for, as Christ points out here, the cost is high. One must daily embrace the crucified life, denying one’s self for the sake of Christ.

John 8:31-32 (NKJV)
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

A growing knowledge of Scripture is essential to discipleship. It is not knowledge alone that is the goal of discipleship, however, but “abiding” in it. That is, immersing one’s self in God’s word through memorization, meditation, study and obedience to it. As Jesus explains here, doing so is key to being free – free of the power of the World, the Flesh, and the devil, and free to live in the holy, Christ-centered way God intends we all should live.

How is Discipleship accomplished?

Jesus discipled by:

Teaching.

Matthew 5:1-2 (NKJV)
1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.
2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them...

Demonstration.

1 Peter 2:21 (NKJV)
21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps...

Providing opportunity for emulation.

Luke 10:1-9

Discipleship is the necessary and natural next step after salvation.

Hebrews 5:12-14 (NKJV)
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV)
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Replication.

2 Timothy 2:2 (NKJV)
2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

Discipleship has not been truly accomplished if replication is not the result. At the end of a course of discipleship, the disciplee ought to be well-equipped to disciple another believer.

You are wise and a Godsend. Thank you very much for this course. I am so very grateful I stumbled across this at my time of need. I do not want to forsake the sacrifice the Lord made for my sins, and this is exactly what I was looking for. God bless you, Aiki.

aiki · Oct 27, 2019

Daniel Roth said:
You are wise and a Godsend. Thank you very much for this course. I am so very grateful I stumbled across this at my time of need. I do not want to forsake the sacrifice the Lord made for my sins, and this is exactly what I was looking for. God bless you, Aiki.

You are most welcome! I pray God will bless and deepen you in Himself as you study the lessons!

aiki · Oct 27, 2019

Discipleship Lesson 5: Justification
Sanctification and Identification

I. The New Believer's Birthright: Who am I in Christ?

1.) Justification.

- What does the term “justification” mean within a biblical context?

Greek: “Dikaiosis” - denotes the act of pronouncing righteous...the establishment of a person as just by acquittal from guilt...” - Vine's Expository Dictionary.

A forensic declaration by God that one is righteous and thus accepted by Him. One is not made actually righteous. At the moment of salvation, one is placed “in Christ,” clothed in his perfect righteousness, and thus made acceptable to God. But just as wearing a bear-skin coat does not make one a bear, being clothed in Christ's perfect righteousness does not make one actually perfectly righteous.

- How is one justified?

By faith:

Acts 13:38-39 (NKJV)
38 Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins;
39 and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Romans 3:28 (NKJV)
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

Romans 4:5 (NKJV)
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

- Why is it important to understand the doctrine of justification?

Understanding the doctrine of justification is crucial to walking confidently with God. The doctrine of justification teaches us that our good works do not save us and are not the basis upon which we gain acceptance with God. Our righteous standing before God is obtained from Christ who has, concerning our sin, perfectly satisfied the demands of God's justice. We are free, then, from the condemnation of God's law and from the eternal punishment contravening it incurs. This means, too, that our acceptance by God is not contingent upon our conduct. He does not accept us on the basis of our good works and He does not, therefore, reject us upon the basis of our evil works. This fact means we do not need to fear the loss of our relationship to God when we fall prey to temptation and sin. Our sin cannot dissolve our acceptance with God because that acceptance has nothing to do with our success in living rightly; our acceptance rests solely upon our justification by faith in Christ as our Saviour.

“The believer who is not aware of his position of acceptance in Christ is caught in the struggle to improve his condition in order to feel acceptable to God. But the believer who abides in the Lord Jesus as his righteousness and acceptance is freed from futile self-effort. Standing in his position, he trusts Christ to manifest Himself increasingly in his life.” (Miles J. Stanford – “The Complete Green Letters.”)

2.) Sanctification.

- What is sanctification?

Greek: “Hagiasmos” - separation unto God, the course of life befitting those so separated...the separation of the believer from evil things and ways...” - Vines Expository Dictionary.

1 Corinthians 1:2-3 (NKJV)
2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:30 (NKJV)
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption--

Ephesians 5:8-11 (NKJV)
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

How is one sanctified?

Acts 26:17-18 (NKJV)
17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,
18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.'

1 Corinthians 6:11 (NKJV)
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 (NKJV)
13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,

Hebrews 10:10 (NKJV)
10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 13:12 (NKJV)
12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

Sanctification is both a one-time event accomplished at the moment of a person’s salvation and an on-going process. God sanctifies us spiritually in Christ at the moment He saves us and then He works by His Spirit over time to bring us into a “set apart” and holy life in our daily experience.

2 Timothy 2:19-22 (NKJV)
19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.
21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (NKJV)
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
17 Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you."

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NKJV)
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

Jude 1:24-25 (NKJV)
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.

Galatians 6:14 (NKJV)
14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

1 John 2:15-17 (NKJV)
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Some thoughts on sanctification to consider:

“It is a great relief and joy for the struggling believer to realize that when he received Christ as his righteousness by faith, he also received Him as his sanctification. Many people struggle and work for a righteousness of their own, until they finally receive His righteousness by faith. Then, as believers, they set about to labor through the whole futile process again, struggling to produce a sanctification of their own instead of resting in his sanctification as a gift...As we abide in our position of sanctification, there is growth in our condition of sanctification...It is by means of the Spirit-ministered Word that we see and understand the facts concerning our position of sanctification in the Lord Jesus. Without the spiritual facts, there would be nothing on which we could base our faith. But as we see that the Holy Spirit has already sanctified us in Christ, we are able to trust Him to separate us to God in our condition. The Spirit carries out His subjective work in our lives from the basis, the source, the standing, the position, the objective truth, of our eternal completeness in our risen Lord Jesus Christ.” (Miles J. Stanford - “The Complete Green Letters.”)

3.) Identification.

- What is meant by “identification”?

The matter of identification revolves mainly around the truths of Romans 6.

Romans 6:3-4
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

“The trouble of the believer who knows Christ as his justification is not sin as to its guilt, but sin as to its ruling power. In other words, it is not from sin as a load, or an offense, that he seeks to be freed – for he sees that God has completely acquitted him from the charge and penalty of sin – but it is from sin as a master. To know God's way of deliverance from sin as a master he must apprehend the truth contained in the sixth chapter of Romans...The believer there sees not only that Christ died for him – substitution – but that he died with Christ – identification.” - Evan H. Hopkins.

Galatians 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

“Our sins were dealt with by the blood, we ourselves are dealt with by the cross. The blood procures our pardon, the cross procures deliverance from what we are in Adam. The blood can wash away my sins, but it cannot wash away my old man: I need the cross to crucify me – the sinner. - Watchman Nee.

Colossians 3:1-4 (NKJV)
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

“To those who refuse or neglect to reckon themselves dead to sin as God commands, we press the question: How are you able to believe that Christ really bare guilt of your sins and that you will not meet them at the judgment day? It is only God's Word that tells you that Christ bare your sin in His own body on the tree. And it is that same Word that tells you that you as connected with Adam, died with Christ, that your old man was crucified, that since you are in Christ you shared His death unto sin, and are thus to reckon your present relation to sin in Christ – as one who is dead to it, and alive unto God.” - William R. Newell.

Discussion:

What practical bearing does justification have on my walk with God?

What does it mean to how I live as a believer that I am fully sanctified in Christ Jesus?

What is the purpose and benefit of identifying with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection?

aiki · Nov 5, 2019

Discipleship Lesson 6: The Love Motive

I. The Love Motive.

1. The relational core of the believer's fellowship with God:

Deuteronomy 6:5
5 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

Deuteronomy 30:16
16 In that I command you this day to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that you may live and multiply: and the LORD your God shall bless you in the land that you go to possess.

Matthew 22:37
37 Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

Ephesians 3:17–19
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height,
19 and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

1 Corinthians 13:1–3
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have prophecies, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so as to move mountains, and do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And though I give out all my goods to feed the poor, and though I deliver my body to be burned, and have not love, I am profited nothing.

2. Corrupt motives for walking with God:

- Duty/Obligation.

Many believers relate with God from a sense of duty or obligation. They feel, since God has done so much for them in saving them from their sin, that they are obliged to do as He commands. The thinking goes: “Jesus gave his life for me so the least I can do is give my life in service to him.” But this dutiful, debt-oriented motive for walking with God eventually grows stale and empty, and when it does, walking with God becomes a burden rather than a blessing, a task to be done, rather than a relationship to enjoy.

- Guilt

There are those who, when they become aware of their sin-guilt before God, believe that they must live their lives in careful obedience to God in order to expunge it. A powerful sense of guilt compels them in their life as a follower of Christ. Not surprisingly, such people take no joy in walking with their Maker. Their inability to live perfectly before Him becomes a constant source of unhappiness, and frustration – and more guilt. In bringing a sinner to repentance, guilt has its place, but it can never serve as a proper basis from which to fellowship with God.

- Fear

Perhaps more than any other corrupt motive, it is the motive of fear that presses believers into a life of obedience to God. Many people come to faith in Christ as their Saviour out of a fear of going to hell. Unfortunately, while this motive has a role to play in provoking a person to consider salvation, it is often made to serve after salvation as a goad to good works. For the fear-motivated believer, God is the Great Punisher who will crush them at the first sign of disobedience. In the extreme versions of this sort of thinking, God may even withdraw His salvation from a believer who goes “too far” into sin. Of course, where the “too far” line is nobody knows, which serves to make the threat of stepping over it that much more acute. As one might imagine, such believer's don't take delight in walking with God. He is their divine Warden, not their Heavenly Father; they are unhappy inmates in the prison of His threatening power, rather than joyful children in the kingdom of His love. Such an experience is totally opposite to what God offers us in His Word.

1 John 4:15-19
15 Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
17 In this is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, that as He is, so also we are in this world.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has torment. He who fears has not been perfected in love.
19 We love Him because He first loved us.

3. Assessing one's love for God.

Matthew 6:21
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

What is your investment like in your relationship with God?

1 John 4:20, 21
20 If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. For if he does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
21 And we have this commandment from Him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.

1 John 4:7, 8
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God.
8 The one who does not love has not known God. For God is love.

Do you love others? Is your love for others growing?

1John 2:5
5 But whoever keeps His Word, truly in this one the love of God is perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.

John 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

How careful are you to obey God's commandments? Are you more obedient now than you were six months ago?

Philippians 1:21
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Is Christ your “divine obsession”?

4. How to deepen your love for God.

Human love is contingent, and selfish, fundamentally corrupted by the sin-nature. God is not wanting this sort of love from us. The only kind of love God desires is His own pure, perfect and sacrificial love. Consequently, in order that we may love Him properly, God has imparted His love to us through the Person of His Spirit.

Romans 5:5 And hope does not make us ashamed, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us.

The genuine follower of Christ who is struggling to love God does not have a problem with its supply. It isn't ever that God has been stingy in the measure of His love to us. The issue is always with the one who receives it.

There are a number of things that can cause the believer to struggle with loving God:

- Sin.

Sin is always fundamentally a love issue. When it occurs, it has a general stifling effect upon one's fellowship with God.

Psalms 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, Jehovah will not hear...

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have come between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, from hearing.

- Neglect of “holy habits.”

No relationship can thrive without communication. The spiritual practices of prayer, Bible study, and worship are the primary means through which communication between the believer and his/her Heavenly Father happens. When a child of God neglects these “holy habits,” and the vital communication they foster, his/her love for God will soon grow cold.

- Misconceptions about one's sinfulness.

Luke 7:36-47; Jeremiah 17:9

- The curse of affluence.

Revelation 3:14-17
14 And to the angel of the church of the Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Head of the creation of God, says these things:
15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot.
16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
17 Because you say, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked,

- The competition of other “gods.”

Exodus 20:3
3 You shall have no other gods before Me.

Anything that competes with God for the believer's love is a “god” in that believer's life. A sport, or hobby, child or spouse, fitness, food, entertainment, sex, work – any and all of these things can become a “god” in the Christian's life, competing against the One, True God for the Christian's time, attention and affection. Whenever God's Chosen People went after other gods, their love for Jehovah rapidly cooled and sin and death soon followed.

Jeremiah 16:10-13
10 And it shall come to pass, when you shall show this people all these words, and they shall say unto you, Wherefore has Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God?
11 Then shall you say unto them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, says Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
12 and you have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you hearken not unto me:
13 therefore will I cast you forth out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there shall you serve other gods day and night; for I will show you no favor.’

The result is essentially the same when a child of God allows anything to usurp the central place God ought to occupy in their heart and life. As God is “dethroned” in the life of the believer, love for Him necessarily diminishes. In such a condition, one cannot possibly live successfully as a disciple of Christ; for Christ demands that we love him more than our own life.

Matthew 10:37-39
37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
38 And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.
39 He who finds his life shall lose it. And he who loses his life for My sake shall find it.

Discussion: Does God accept obedience from me from any motive other than love? If so, why? If not, why not?

aiki · Nov 16, 2019

Discipleship Lesson 7 – Basic Spiritual Practices

In order for any relationship that one cherishes to continue in a healthy, vital way, one must invest time, and energy, and even money in the maintenance of that relationship. The lines of communication must be kept open and frequently nurtured as well. So, how does a follower of Christ invest in their relationship with their Heavenly Father? How are the lines of communication nurtured between the creature and the Creator? Following are three basic “holy habits” or spiritual practices vital to deep fellowship with God:

1. Feeding on God's Word.

The Bible is the primary means through which God communicates His will to us. It is the bedrock of a Christian's belief and practice. It must never be neglected. A believer who does not regularly feed upon God's Word will soon starve spiritually and grow weak in their faith and their capacity to resist temptation. It is for just such Christians that the “roaring lion,” the devil, “walks about seeking whom he may devour.” (1Pe. 5:8)

Jeremiah 15:16 (NKJV)
16 Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.

Psalms 119:105 (NKJV)
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Matthew 4:3-4 (NKJV)
3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "

1 Peter 2:2 (NKJV)
2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,

Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV)
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV)
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

There are three things every believer must do with God's Word:

Meditate, memorize, and harmonize.

Meditating on God's Word.

Meditating in the sense in which it is used in Scripture is not the meditation of eastern religions like Hinduism or Buddhism where the mind is emptied of all thought and made passive. Instead, meditation in the biblical sense is exactly the opposite. A believer fills his mind with the truth of God's Word and actively and carefully ponders it. A cow chews a mouthful of grass, swallows it, regurgitates it, chews it some more and repeats this process several times, obtaining as much nourishment from the grass as possible before it passes from the cow's digestive system. In the same way, a believer “chews” upon God's Word, thoughtfully considering it over and over, working to obtain every bit of spiritual nourishment that may be taken from it. This is biblical meditation.

Psalms 1:1-3 (NKJV)
1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Psalms 119:15-16 (NKJV)
15 I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.
16 I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.

Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.

2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV)
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Memorizing God's Word.

Deuteronomy 11:18 (NKJV)
18 "Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

Psalms 119:9-11 (NKJV)
9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!

Proverbs 3:3 (NKJV)
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart,

The Word of God is the Christian's “sword,” their sole offensive weapon against the assaults of their Enemy, the devil. God's Word pierces and destroys the lies Satan always uses to lure us into sin. Our “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,” (Eph. 6:17) must be ready at every moment for instant use. The best way to ensure that this is so is to hide away God's Word in one's heart, to memorize it, so that one always has the “sword of the Spirit” at hand.

Harmonizing with God's Word.

No amount of meditation or memorization will be of use if one does not live in harmony with God's Word. It is not enough to know God's Word; one must be actively living it out.

Psalms 119:8-9 (NKJV)
8 I will keep Your statutes; Oh, do not forsake me utterly!
9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

Psalms 119:101-102 (NKJV)
101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word.
102 I have not departed from Your judgments, For You Yourself have taught me.

James 1:21-25 (NKJV)
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Matthew 7:18-21 (NKJV)
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

James 2:17-20 (NKJV)
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe--and tremble!
20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

1 John 2:3-5 (NKJV)
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

Please begin to memorize Romans 6:1-18.

Discussion: If one neglects God’s word, what sort of experience spiritually should one expect to have?

aiki · Nov 25, 2019

Discipleship Lesson 8 – Basic Spiritual Practices: Prayer

2. Prayer – Talking with God.

What is prayer?

Prayer is simply talking to God, communing with Him, as one would with any person with whom one desires to foster a relationship.

Ephesians 6:18
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

1Thessalonians 5:17
17 Pray without ceasing.

Psalms 55:17
17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

How does one pray?

Matthew 6:5-13

- Pray without hypocrisy.

5 And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

- Pray in secret.

6 But you, when you pray, enter into your room. And shutting your door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.

- Pray succinctly.

7 But when you pray, do not babble vain words, as the nations. For they think that in their much speaking they shall be heard.
8 Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him. (see also Eccl. 5:2)

- Remember to whom you pray.

9 Therefore pray in this way: Our Father, who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

- Remember that God is the Source of all you need and possess.

11 Give us this day our daily bread;

- Remember that your relationship with God directly and fundamentally orders all your other relationships.

12 and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.

- Remember that the truth of God's supremacy over all things is the foundation of your victory over evil.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil. For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Why do we pray?

If God is omniscient, then He knows all that we will say to Him before we say it. In fact, God's omniscience means He has always known what we would pray – even before the universe existed. So, then, why pray? What's the point in telling God what He has always known?

Prayer is for our sake, not God's. As Christ's lesson in Matthew 6 reveals, one of the primary purposes of prayer is to remind us of the truths that frame our relationship with God. Communication is also a natural and necessary aspect of human relating. Prayer is the way we communicate with a Being who is incorporeal and transcendent.

Prayer Promises and Principles:

John 15:7
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.

Luke 11:5-10
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give you.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knock it shall be opened.

James 4:3
3 You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts.

James 1:6-7
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

1 John 5:14, 15
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

God always answers the prayers of His children. But His answer is one of three sorts: Yes, no, or wait.

God often provides for us only at the very moment we truly need His provision. The story of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son, Isaac, is a prominent biblical example of this, or God's parting of the Red Sea for the Israelites fleeing Egypt, or His parting of the Jordan as the Israelites passed over it to Canaan, and so on. God answers in this last-minute fashion in order to stretch and test our faith, crowd us close to Him and keep us dependent, and to foster greater thankfulness in us.

Discussion: Does God answer the prayers of those who aren't His children?

If one neglects prayer, what sort of experience spiritually should one expect to have?

jahel · Nov 25, 2019

"Discussion: Does God answer the prayers of those who aren't His children? “ Iirc the only place in the bible that says God will not answer prayer carte blanc is for husbands who do not loves their wives.

aiki · Nov 25, 2019

Isaiah 59:2

aiki · Dec 3, 2019

Discipleship Lesson 9 – Basic Spiritual Practices: Surrender

Surrender to God, full surrender, has been called the “key to everything” in the Christian life. Repeatedly in Scripture, we are urged to take the lower place before God and give up ourselves to Him.

John 3:30-31 (NKJV)
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
31 He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

John the Baptist explained the rationale behind “decreasing”: God is Superior to us; He is above all; He can have no other place in a relationship with us than that of Commander and Ruler. So, how should you live in the light of this fact? How should you “decrease”?

Matthew 16:24-26 (NKJV)
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Self-denial is an inevitable part of surrender to God. There is no true surrender when we continue to seek our own will and way, when we act unilaterally in the course of our daily living, rather than continually submitting to God's authority and direction. He has so ordained things such that it is only in the midst of dying to ourselves that we truly find the life we were meant to live.

Romans 6:13 (KJV)
13 Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Paul the apostle speaks in this verse of yielding (presenting) ourselves to God. There is in the term “yield” the sense of a conscious, willful act and of presenting oneself in service to a higher authority (ie. as a soldier to his general or servant to his master). Are you yielding to God in a conscious, willful manner, prepared in every moment to act in whatever way He directs?

Romans 12:1 (NKJV)
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Paul's words here are the rational consequence of what he says in the verses just prior to verse 1:

Romans 11:36 (NKJV)
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things...

In light of God's centrality to our existence, it stands to reason that we ought to present ourselves as living sacrifices to Him. God is at the heart of all things and so we ought to live in acknowledgement of this fact by presenting ourselves as “living sacrifices” to Him. What's more, we are, as Paul explained to the Corinthian church, “not our own, we have been bought with a price.” (1 Cor. 6:19, 20). As contingent creatures, our very existence depends entirely upon God which creates a fundamental obligation to Him; but beyond this the Christian believer has an additional weight of obligation arising from his divine redemption. How utterly contrary to biblical Christianity it is, then, when a disciple of Christ lives in a self-centered way, unilaterally deciding the course of his life! Are you a living sacrifice to God?

“A living sacrifice. - A sacrifice is an offering made to God as an atonement for sin; or any offering made to him and his service as an expression of thanksgiving or homage. It implies, that he who offers it presents it entirely, releases all claim or right to it, and leaves it to be disposed of for the honour of God. In the case of an animal, it was slain, and the blood offered; in the case of any other offering, as the firstfruits, etc., it was set apart to the service of God; and he who offered it released all claim on it, and submitted it to God, to be disposed of at his will. This is the offering which the apostle entreats the Romans to make; to devote themselves to God, as if they had no longer any claim on themselves; to be disposed of by him; to suffer and bear all that he might appoint; and to promote his honour in any way which he might command. This is the nature of true religion.” - Albert Barnes

1 Peter 5:5-6 (NKJV)
5 ...be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

The way up is down for the disciple of Christ. We only go higher with God first by going low before Him. Humbling ourselves under God's mighty hand – surrendering, submitting, yielding ourselves to Him – is the sole avenue through which God exalts us as “good and faithful servants.” When we do not go low before God, when we are lifted up in self-reliant, self-serving pride, we make God our antagonist.

It is evident from the foregoing verses and passages that surrender to God is essential to walking with Him. There is no true Christian living without surrender to God. However, no man can properly surrender himself by himself, no man can die to himself without God's aid. As in all things in the Christian life, God must be the One to bring us to a place of surrender. The answer to an unsurrendered life, then, isn't personal commitment, it isn't determining to be surrendered, but is in looking to God to manifest in our life by His Spirit an attitude of, and desire for, surrender. Faith, too, is vital in entering into a surrendered life; for it is only as we by faith reckon ourselves “dead to sin and alive unto God” (Romans 6:11) that the truth of our death to Self and new life in Christ will manifest in our life.

Discussion: How does one find life in the midst of death to oneself?

Why is surrender to God the “key to everything” in Christian living?

aiki · Dec 18, 2019

Discipleship Lesson 10: Basic Spiritual Practices – Service.

1 Corinthians 9:19 (NKJV)
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;

Matthew 20:25-28 (NKJV)
25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.
26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave--
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Galatians 5:13-14 (NKJV)
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Galatians 6:9-10 (NKJV)
9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

”Most of us have been warned at one time or another about the 'barrenness of a busy life.' Well-intentioned as the admonition may be, busyness does not necessarily produce a barren life. Rather, barrenness of life produces busyness!

The majority of active members in our sound churches today are primarily doers; their chief concern is to work for the Lord. But, service being the emphasis of their life, they are for the most part motivated by self. We must all learn, sooner or later, that the result of every form of self-effort is nothing but a barren waste, a spiritual Death Valley. Our growth is bound to falter and dry up when service is predominant in the life, especially in the spiritually-formative years. Conversely, when growth in Christ is given first place, service will never suffer. Furthermore, our life work will be accomplished in His time and way – and that without physical, mental, or spiritual breakdown.” – (Miles J. Stanford, “The Complete Green Letters.”)

Christ: The Power Source for Christian service.

John 15:5-8
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Colossians 3:4 (NKJV)
4 ...Christ who is our life...

Romans 8:8-11 (NKJV)
8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Ultimately, our service is unto Christ. When one loses sight of this, frustration, resentment and apathy quickly set in. It is joy in serving our Saviour that fuels our service when doing so is thankless, and costly, and seeming without end.

Colossians 3:23-24 (NKJV)
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

Discussion: Is one “saved to serve”? If yes, why? If not, why not?

aiki · Dec 27, 2019

Discipleship Lesson 11: The Nature of God.

“Where I found truth, there found I my God, who is the truth itself.” - Augustine

There is no greater study upon which one can embark than the study of the nature and character of God. The revelation of Scripture tells us that God is the Ground of All Reality. All that exists has emanated from Him. God's nature and character have shaped the stuff of the universe; He has stamped who He is upon what He has made. Therefore, in knowing and understanding God we come to a more profound and true knowledge of reality and ourselves.

God did not wind up the universe as one might a clock and then walk away to let the universe “wind down” as it will. No, God remains imminent in His creation and, more than that, wishes to fellowship with us His creatures. If we do not rightly comprehend God's nature and character, however, our attempts at interaction with Him will reflect our miscomprehension. As one might expect, getting it wrong when it comes to God, who is the very Core of Reality, has very serious consequences. Depending upon how distorted one's conception of God becomes, the effect of that distortion can lead to fear, and legalism, and doctrinal heresy, or it can lead to paganism, idolatry, human sacrifice and the slaughter of the infidel. No believer, therefore, can afford distortions in their view of God.

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” A.W. Tozer

John 17:3
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Please read Acts 17:22-31

If, as the Bible tells us, God is the Center of the Universe, the Hub around which all things ultimately revolve, the Ground of All Reality, then there is no greater thing we can pursue than God, no higher knowledge we can obtain than that of Him. What could be better, what could be more important, than the One who made and sustains all things? Who is more essential, more fundamental, more vital to our existence than our Creator in whom all truth and wisdom, love and grace, justice and righteousness resides?

Unity in Diversity: The Doctrine of the Trinity.

God is One:

Mark 12:29 (NKJV)
29 Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.”

Galatians 3:20 (NKJV)
20 ...God is One.

Ephesians 4:6 (NKJV)
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

But in Three Persons.

Matthew 28:19 (NKJV)
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

2 Corinthians 13:14 (NKJV)
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

1 John 5:7 (NKJV)
7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.

Jesus is God:

Matthew 1:23 (NKJV)
23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."

John 1:1-4 (NKJV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NKJV)
4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Colossians 1:15-17 (NKJV)
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

Colossians 2:9 (NKJV)
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

1 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV)
16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.

The Holy Spirit is God:

John 14:23 (NKJV)
23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

Romans 8:9 (NKJV)
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

1 Corinthians 2:11 (NKJV)
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV)
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

2 Corinthians 6:16 (NKJV)
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

1 John 4:12-13 (KJV)
12 No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

Mistakes about the doctrine of the Trinity:

1. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all the one and self-same Being. (Unitarianism aka – Monarchianism, Modalism, Sabellianism)

2. God the Father created Jesus and the Holy Spirit ex nihilo and endowed them with divine attributes. (Arianism)

3. There are three distinctly separate Gods that together constitute the Trinity.

The traditional creed of the Christian Church concerning the Trinity is that God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all in essence the same but differ in office or function. All three possess the same divine nature but are distinct from one another in form.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life; who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

aiki · Jan 6, 2020

Discipleship Lesson 11a: The Nature of God - The Trinity

What difference does the trinitarian nature of God make to how the believer lives every day? Is the Trinity just a quirky, mysterious – even paradoxical – fact about God? Or does God's trinitarian nature have some important bearing on how I live as a follower of Christ? Here are some things to consider in response to these questions:

SOVEREIGNTY.

Because the three persons have each other, we can be assured that God created us to share the love they have and not merely as a means to some obscure divine end:

John 17:21-26 (NKJV)
21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
24 Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.
26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

We aren't just tools, employed in the achievement of God's purposes, but “joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17), “partakers of the divine nature” (2Pe. 1:4), and are “seated in heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 2:6).

MYSTERY.

The triune God is totally unlike anything in our world, and therefore greater than anything we can comprehend:

Isaiah 40:18 (NKJV)
18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?

Romans 11:33-36 (NKJV)
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?"
35 "Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?"
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

The mystery of God reveals His transcendency, and supremacy, and greatness. He is not of the mundane stuff of the universe like the rest of us. He is above and beyond what He has made and this ought to prompt in us both awe-filled reverence for, and deep confidence in, Him.

UNITY.

The unity of the three persons is the basis and model for the unity of the church: John 17:21-23; Eph. 4:4-16

For "The relationship that exists within the Godhead is the basis for unity in every human relationship, be it marriage, family, or church."

“The Trinity infinitely expresses an ideal of personal being that we reflect in finite modes. Our existence as persons revolves around two poles: individuality and relationship. Each of us is an individual who as such is distinct from other persons. Yet each of us exists in relation to other persons. Our humanity depends upon our success in maintaining a balance between these poles… God is the perfect … prototype of that which all love between persons tends to achieve – absolute unity and yet distinction – to be one with the other, not by losing one's identity but by perfecting it, even at the very source of one’s being. That is why divine existence is the ideal of all personal existence – to be fully oneself, but only in dependence upon, and in adherence to, another in the communion of unity. The Trinity, then, is (to use Platonic terms) the archetype of personality that human persons ‘copy’ or ‘imitate’. This is an inevitable consequence of the fact that man is made in God’s image.” - H.P. Owen “Christian Theism.”

TRUTH.

All those who wish to worship and love God must seek to know Him as He is in truth, for God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is truth: Jn.14:6; 14:17; 15:26; 16:13.

John 4:24
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

C.S. Lewis held that the Trinity is something experienced in the life of the Christian:

An ordinary simple Christian kneels down to say his prayers. He is trying to get into touch with God. But if he is a Christian he knows that what is prompting him to pray is also God: God, so to speak, inside him. But he also knows that all his real knowledge of God comes through Christ, the Man who was God – that Christ is standing beside him, helping him to pray, praying for him. You see what is happening. God is the thing to which he is praying – the goal he is trying to reach. God is also the thing inside him which is pushing him on – the motive power. God is also the road or bridge along which he is being pushed to that goal. So that whole threefold life of the three-personal Being is actually going on in that ordinary little bedroom where an ordinary man is saying his prayers.

Avoiding heresy:

View attachment 269742

*According to the 5th Century Athanasian Creed:

The Father is from none, not made nor created nor begotten.
The Son is from the father alone, not made nor created but begotten.
The Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Son, not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding…

This creed: "asserts that all three Persons of the Trinity are unmade and uncreated [ie. not creatures], but differentiates them in that the Father is sourceless, the Son begotten by the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son."

“While each member of the Trinity is divine, each must differ in at least one essential respect from the others. If there were no essential difference between any given person of the Trinity and the others, then (by the law of the indiscernability of identicals) they would necessarily be one and the same person, and the heresy of modalism would be true. Hence each member of the Trinity must be divine in a slightly different manner. Hence William P. Alston affirms: "What makes the persons of the Trinity distinct is the causal relations in which they stand to each other."

The main point here is that different causal terms (eg. ‘begotten’, ‘proceed’) are used by the creeds to distinguish between the divine persons of the Trinity, who are related in terms of logical but not temporal causal priority:

ñ The Spirit ‘proceeds’ from the Father & Son

ñ The Son is ‘begotten’ by the Father alone

ñ The Father doesn’t ‘proceed’ from, and isn’t ‘begotten’ by, anyone”

(*Excerpted from “Understanding the Trinity” by Peter S. Williams.)

GodsGrace101 · Jan 7, 2020

jahel said:
"Discussion: Does God answer the prayers of those who aren't His children? “ Iirc the only place in the bible that says God will not answer prayer carte blanc is for husbands who do not loves their wives.

God answers the prayer of the unbeliever or none of us would be saved.
He hears all prayer....
Maybe, if the prayer is for healing and the person would come to believe, even that would be answered....
I don't believe we could really know beyond this.

Discipleship Lessons

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Welcoming grandchild #7, Arturus Waggoner!

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returned to old acct

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