Discipleship

This morning the Lord has me thinking about discipleship.  

One of the ladies from the Power of Twelve group recently stood before her church congregation and shared her story of coming to the Lord and the discipleship group she is in, which helped her find the Lord.  Truly find Him! What an beautiful and humbling thought that our little group helped to disciple her into the kingdom of God.

Jesus once told the priest, Nicodemus, that a person needs to be born again to enter into the kingdom of God.  Nicodemus was unable to understand what Jesus was saying because his faith was only spoken words from the Torah and was not a personal, real, spiritual relationship and friendship with the Lord.

John 3:5-6 (NIV)

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

The Apostle Peter was out teaching the people;

1 Peter 1:23 (NIV)

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

The Apostle Paul teaches the people;

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

When we truly seek the Lord, we find Him, but in order to truly find Him we need to be taught how to find Him.  Rarely does someone just stumble upon that realization without learning why He came, what He does for us, and how we are after we find Him.  As in any solid relationship or friendship it takes time and effort.  Always!

Take a marriage for instance.  There is the initial meeting and courtship that takes place.  After a period of spending time together, the couple decides they want to be together for the rest of their lives.  They enter into a marriage contract.  Then begins the relationship where they each find out who the other person truly is in the good times and the bad times.  They each devote themselves to the other as they learn about each other.  Unless they are devoted to the relationship, to each other, it will hardly ever make it in this world.  

Finding Jesus is like this.  The parable about the seed and the sower is a wonderful example of each person's walk with the Lord.

Matthew 13:3-8 (NIV)

Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

Only the seed that falls on fertile ground will grow a crop!  This parable is about each of us.  The seed is the word of God and our relationship with God.  The young woman who gave her testimony was sharing her experience of how she found the Lord, how she has been born again, and her love for the Lord now that she knows and understands her relationship with Him.  She is now sharing her love for Jesus with others.  She was one of the disciples in our Power of Twelve group and now she is a teacher to others.

Seed has sprouted and grown and now the crop of the Power of Twelve group is producing! Praise the Lord!