THE ORIGINAL DISCIPLE MAKER

THE ORIGINAL DISCIPLE MAKER

 

Every thing has to have an original, from which copies can be made. The prime example of this might be an automobile manufacturer like Ford or GM when they decide to start making some new model. They will often spend several years and millions of dollars perfecting what they call a "prototype", before they start to produce them on the "assembly line". Jesus Christ would have to be referred to as the "Original Disciple Maker". He was the one and only "God Man", since He was both 100% God, yet at the same time was 100% man! While occupying His earthly body for 33+ years, he gathered around Him 12 ordinary men, and trained them to be the original "disciples", which took Him approximately 3 years. Next to His work of becoming our "Redeemer" by dying on the cross to pay the price of the sins of all mankind, this was possibly His second most important task His Father gave Him to do. God needed men to spread the good news of salvation through the blood of Christ, shed on the cross to provide this deliverance from our sinful nature passed down from the first Adam. He became the second or "Last Adam" as Paul referred to Him as in (1 Cor 15:45). The only One capable of "reversing the curse", so to speak, placed on creation by the first Adam because of not obeying the one restriction placed on him!

 

God's plan was to use ordinary men to start His "Church", which was to be His Body on earth to replace Jesus. This new earthly body is composed of  "born again" former sinners that the Holy Spirit, who replaced Jesus when He was called back to heaven to be with the Father, until it is time to send Him back to earth to receive this Body back, which is the Church. This plan is all part of the great "mystery" that was revealed to Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus, which he records in chapters 2 and 3. Next to Jesus, the apostle Paul was probably the most effective disciple maker who ever lived. Timothy was one of his key disciples that he wrote 2 letters to while he was in prison in Rome. In his second letter he was reminding Timothy of the gift of God he had received when the elders laid hands on him and commissioned him into ministry. In (2 Tim 2:2) we read how Timothy was to pass on this gift of making disciples to other men. I believe this same method should still be practiced today by this "True Church". Father God has never changed his original plan and replaced it with any other as near as I can see from my study of scripture. If anyone can find scripture to the contrary I would certainly appreciate having them pointed out to me.

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                   23/08/11

PROPER PERSPECTIVE

PROPER PERSPECTIVE
We see an "improper" perspective of a church when we read about the church in Laodicea (Rev 3:14-22). When Jesus told John what to write in his letter to them, He said to tell them in verse 17, "Because you say 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked". Talk about a wrong perspective, right? Because of this faulty understanding of what they were really like, Jesus said they were like "lukewarm" water and "I will vomit you out of My mouth"! I expect this would probably be His opinion of many whole denominations of churches in our 21st century culture! We have been so affected by the spread of the so-called "Prosperity Gospel", that some people are not aware of how much like the church in Laodicea we really are.

The common understanding of riches and wealth seems to be that the more "things" you can acquire in a lifetime, the more successful you are in the eyes of the world. And the happier and contented you should be living this sort of self centered life, but according to the testimonies of many people who reach this place of wealth and fame, they are most miserable! Why is this the case? I believe a careful look at the above mentioned scripture will supply the answer. This attitude that being rich and in need of nothing should be our goal, is certainly not the opinion of Jesus for His followers! True wealth is not measured by what you have, but by who you are in Christ! In a recent devotional thought from ODB, I read a little poem that said this very well. "In Christ we're rich beyond belief, with wealth the world cannot see; we have new strength and character, new righteousness and purity". The article that was written by Joe Stowell finished with the following one liner "The poorest person is he whose only wealth is money"! In (1 Peter 1:4) we read "And we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay". (NLT). It would seem to me that this "priceless inheritance" that Peter refers to here has to be our place in the Eternal Kingdom of God. We are "adopted" into God's family as a result of our "new birth", but we are "transferred" into the Kingdom, (Col 1:13). And according to (1 Cor 6:9-11) our behavior as a believer can prevent us from receiving this inheritance! Salvation is a gift, but not our place in the Kingdom of God, that depends on our obedience to His commandments!!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer

WE HARVEST WHAT WE SOW

WE HARVEST WHAT WE PLANT

The scripture has a lot to say about sowing and reaping a harvest. In his letter to the the churches in Galatia, Paul makes some powerful statements in (Gal 6:7-10). He starts off by declaring "you always harvest what you plant", in other words there is more than one kind of seed, but the harvest will always be of the same type as the seed sown. Remember there is always a time factor of several months in the natural, between sowing the seed and reaping the harvest. The same principle applies to the spiritual realm, which is what we want to consider.

Some folks seem to grow old gracefully, while others become grouchy and ill-tempered. This doesn't happen suddenly, but gradually over a period of time. If we were able to go back in time to see what sort of things these people sowed into their lives and relationships with others, we would probably see the reason for the difference!

C S Lewis is credited with saying "Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before". If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, then we need to be very careful what type of choices we make. We can choose to submit our wills to line up with God's, or we can choose to follow our own desires, or those of certain friends. The result will not always be seen immediately, but will show up in your life eventually.

So why not heed the advise of Paul "Don't be misled--you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." The question we have to ask ourselves then is, which way am I sowing? Am I sowing to the Spirit or to the flesh? It seems clear from this scripture passage, as well as others, that the seeds we sow today will determine the kind of fruit we'll reap tomorrow. Let it be the fruit of the Spirit listed by Paul in (Gal 5:22-23)!!!

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp

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PROPER PERSPECTIVE`

PROPER PERSPECTIVE
We see an "improper" perspective of a church when we read about the church in Laodicea (Rev 3:14-22). When Jesus told John what to write in his letter to them, He said to tell them in verse 17, "Because you say 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked". Talk about a wrong perspective, right? Because of this faulty understanding of what they were really like, Jesus said they were like "lukewarm" water and "I will vomit you out of My mouth"! I expect this would probably be His opinion of many whole denominations of churches in our 21st century culture! We have been so affected by the spread of the so-called "Prosperity Gospel", that some people are not aware of how much like the church in Laodicea we really are.

The common understanding of riches and wealth seems to be that the more "things" you can acquire in a lifetime, the more successful you are in the eyes of the world. And the happier and contented you should be living this sort of self centered life, but according to the testimonies of many people who reach this place of wealth and fame, they are most miserable! Why is this the case? I believe a careful look at the above mentioned scripture will supply the answer. This attitude that being rich and in need of nothing should be our goal, is certainly not the opinion of Jesus for His followers! True wealth is not measured by what you have, but by who you are in Christ! In a recent devotional thought from ODB, I read a little poem that said this very well. "In Christ we're rich beyond belief, with wealth the world cannot see; we have new strength and character, new righteousness and purity". The article that was written by Joe Stowell finished with the following one liner "The poorest person is he whose only wealth is money"! In (1 Peter 1:4) we read "And we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay". (NLT). It would seem to me that this "priceless inheritance" that Peter refers to here has to be our place in the Eternal Kingdom of God. We are "adopted" into God's family as a result of our "new birth", but we are "transferred" into the Kingdom, (Col 1:13). And according to (1 Cor 6:9-11) our behavior as a believer can prevent us from receiving this inheritance! Salvation is a gift, but not our place in the Kingdom of God, that depends on our obedience to His commandments!!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer