Make Disciples :: By Nathele Graham

Published on: June 13, 2021 by RR7

Brothers and sisters, we’ve dropped the ball. It’s not too late to pick it up again, but we’ve let our Lord down. How? We don’t disciple new believers. That was actually a direct command from Jesus.

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:18-20).

We need to preach the Gospel, we need to live the Gospel, and we need to teach the Gospel. Godly men need to mentor younger men to observe all of the teachings of Christ, and Godly women need to mentor younger women to serve God wholeheartedly.

Today it seems that it’s important to get people into the pews, but it’s less important to teach the Christian way of life. It takes commitment to mentor someone in the ways of Christ, and there’s much that gets in the way of that, such as the latest baseball scores, an evening in your easy chair watching TV, or any number of other gods that are put ahead of God Almighty. When a person comes to the realization that they need to give their life to Jesus, they need to understand what that means.

“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34).

That means we set aside our selfish desires and do whatever it takes to serve Jesus. That includes mentoring new believers.

When you first came to Christ, did someone teach you how to live to please God? Maybe you’ve been a Christian for years but have never learned to deny your selfish desires in order to put Jesus first. The first step in being a mentor is to know what Jesus taught. That means you set aside time to study God’s word and then apply it to your own life. Remember, God’s word hasn’t changed over the years, so don’t twist Scripture to fit what you want to believe or how you want to live. Then, make disciples of others by teaching the pure word of God. You don’t need the approval of a denomination or a seminary education to study and understand Scripture. You only need the Holy Spirit to guide you and the commitment to live your faith.

Jesus gave Peter instructions to disciple people. “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these: he saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs” (John 21:15).

Lambs are the new believers who need nourishment to grow into strong members of the flock. Peter was to feed the lambs and also the sheep, new believers, as well as the ones who’ve believed for years. He was to teach them what he had learned as he followed Jesus. Don’t think that new believers can’t handle any deep truths. Paul was in Thessalonica for “3 sabbath days” (Acts 17:2), but in those 3 weeks he made converts, established a congregation, and taught them deep truths, such as the pre-tribulation Rapture. What if Paul had shared the Gospel then sat back and relaxed? He taught them and made sure they understood the teachings of Christ. Paul fed the lambs, who matured quickly because he taught them the word of God.

That was Paul’s normal way of missionary work. He would enter a city, and his first stop was at the synagogue where he preached the Gospel. This usually didn’t go over very well with the leaders, but some of the people were drawn to the truth. That’s when he began teaching. After a solid foundation of Christ was laid, the congregation was built upon that solid Rock. Men were taught to be leaders, and then Paul would move on to another city. Even though he went away from these congregations, he left trusted men in charge that he had thoroughly taught Christian truth. Paul never forgot them. He wrote letters encouraging them to stay faithful to the Gospel and maintain Christian standards.

Paul had men with him whom he could trust with God’s word. Barnabas was a wonderful man of God who first encouraged Paul to use his vast knowledge of God’s word and the deep conviction of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. Timothy was a young man who traveled with Paul and stayed in Ephesus to pastor the congregation there. He was first taught the Gospel by his mother and grandmother. These ladies were commended for their faith, but men need to be discipled by men in order for them to be strong men of faith…strong Christians. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, making sure he didn’t compromise in the leadership of his congregation. Titus traveled with Paul and was left in Crete to pastor the congregation there. Paul’s letter to him gives guidance to pastors in leading a congregation.

“But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience…Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded” (Titus 2: 1-2 & 6).

Men are to honor Christ in all things, not partying nor treating their faith as something you do on Sunday morning. They are to be serious about living a life that pleases Christ. Women are to behave themselves, too.

“The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed” (Titus 2:3-5).

Women aren’t to take the place of men in leadership. So often today, nobody wants to offend women, so they assume leadership of congregations. Men’s leadership was established in the Garden of Eden and confirmed by Christ that even though women were among His followers, He chose men as His disciples. This wasn’t a cultural thing but a truth that is seen throughout Scripture. Women have an important place within Christianity, but always under the authority of a strong, God-fearing man. Men and women are to be disciples and taught God’s truth. Then, they are to obey and teach others.

Too often, when a person has heard the Gospel and responded to it, they are left on their own to figure out what Christ wants from them. Then, it’s easy to slip back into old ways of life. Friends who once were a poor influence are back influencing that new believer. Rather than being a witness for Christ to secular family and friends, the lamb stumbles back into old ways. Foul language has crept back into everyday talk, and rather than honoring God with life and words, he or she slips down to the ways of the world.

Most people have heard of the Ten Commandments, and one of those is “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).

Mostly we think this means don’t swear. It does mean that as seen in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29).

It also means don’t have empty faith. Young men and women need to be taught (discipled) in the ways of Christ so that they don’t just pretend to take the name of Christ upon themselves. The place where I worship has a few minutes during Sunday service where a very strong man of God sits down with the children in the congregation and, with very few words, gives them a strong teaching of how they can serve Christ. Within the last year, two of those young people have given their lives to Christ, and now they are being taught to serve Him.

A big problem in any Christian’s life is that the ways of the world and the wiles of Satan are very tempting. Satan whispers, “You don’t need to go to church to be a Christian.” That’s right, but by separating from fellow believers, your thoughts easily turn to secular things. We’re told in Scripture to not forsake fellowshipping with fellow believers (Hebrews 10:25). That doesn’t necessarily mean attending Sunday services, but separating from secular friends and family and surrounding yourself with fellow believers who draw each other closer to God.

Satan whispers again, “That movie really isn’t so bad; the cussing and violence are part of the plot.” The saying, “Garbage in, garbage out,” applies to television, movies, and music (Colossians 3:1-2).

Satan says again, “You have to send your children to public school in order to properly educate them.” Really? If they were getting a sound education in reading, writing, and arithmetic, that would be good. Today they spend a lot of time studying how to have sexual intercourse, why it’s acceptable for Tommy to think he’s Theresa, and evolution has replaced God’s truth. These things and much more disciple children in the ways of Satan. Do you really think an hour in Sunday school will erase the lies they learn in public school? What about college students who are being brainwashed by liberal colleges to reject Christ? Tuition is very high to be taught that lie.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

Parents, you’d better disciple your child in the ways of the Lord before they enter school because they will be discipled in the ways of Satan once they enter kindergarten. Read Romans chapter 1 and take it to heart.

If you have just met Jesus, you need to be discipled by a strong Christian who doesn’t compromise God’s truth. Seek out a teacher of God’s truth. Learn the ways of the Lord and follow Him. Are you an older Christian? There’s a young man or woman who needs your wisdom and the teaching that comes from the Lord. Seek out that person and make disciples.

God bless you all,

Nathele Graham

twotug@embarqmail.com

ron@straitandnarrowministry.com

All original scripture is “theopneustos,” God-breathed.

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The Letter to the Hebrews Part 10 :: By Dr. Donald Whitchard

Published on: June 13, 2021 by RR7

An Exposition

Hebrews 6:1-8: “The Peril of Not Progressing”

“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away to renew them to repentance since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame.

^“For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessings from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to be cursed whose end is to be burned” (Hebrews 6:1-8, NKJV).

The normal Christian life does not start with a new believer suddenly transformed into a mature, serious, scholarly, and solid individual who is ready to go out and slay the forces of evil in the name of Jesus Christ. Just as a recruit into the armed forces must go through a period of “basic training” — where they learn to obey their commanders, undergo physical development, learn new skills and procedures, how to work as a team, and to support one another and be certain that no one is left behind on the fields of conflict — so does the true child of God. As serious and committed followers of Christ, they are not content with just being “saved” with a type of “fire insurance” and a dunk in the baptistry.

They take the command of Jesus to obey Him and share the Gospel to heart. There are times where it is more difficult to adhere to the standards of what it means to be an authentic child of God in Christ. The best of us will slip and fall on occasion, but that is no excuse to just sit in the dirt or on the sides and let others carry your load. We seek forgiveness, repent, get help where needed, put our uniform back on, prepare our weapons (Ephesians 6:10-18) and get back in the fight.

As the days draw nearer to Jesus’ return, the sad fact is that there will be those whom we thought were solid in their faith who will throw down their arms and walk away from everything, and the remnant number of true believers will be much lower than we expected. The world, flesh, and the devil pick off the half-hearted, the compromised, the ones who gave the LORD “lip service” to impress the pastor, youth group, or congregation in general, and the spiritually apathetic constantly, leaving the army of the LORD in a losing area of influence and strength.

The forces of the devil have done a decent job of letting the reprobate world think that Christianity is unnecessary as a part of a nation’s history or foundation, or that it lacks real influence in the affairs of a more “sophisticated” mindset that has thrown out all thoughts of the afterlife, accountability of life, the supernatural, and the need for a deity at all. The Lord Jesus has turned into a source of ridicule, scorn, rage, disbelief, and rank hatred more than ever as a result, but ironically it is what He said would happen in the final days of this present evil world system.

Verses 4-6 of Chapter 6 seem to imply that a Christian can decide one day that everything he or she has believed concerning the Lord Jesus and following Him is just so much nonsense and will walk away from the faith, never to return. Some brethren will say that we can “lose our salvation” because of it. I want to spend some time discussing this topic because we have seen such examples recently.

Many “Christian” notables have declared that they no longer believe in God or have openly rejected the concepts of the faith; they confess atheism or go to another religion altogether. People whom we once thought were solid and reliable turn out to demean and denounce before the world that the Jesus in whom they once believed in and served either does not exist or is irrelevant to their lives and careers. Events like this do seem to show that children of God can just as quickly turn to the devil and ask for him to sign their spiritual adoption papers. Scripture describes them as having never been truly saved in the first place, and it is the Lord Jesus Himself who says so.

The parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9; Mark 4:1-9, 13-20; Luke 8:4-8) lays the foundation for the case of false conversion rather than loss of salvation. Jesus told this story where a Sower distributes his seed upon the ground, and some seed does and does not yield the expected outcome. Mark 4:5-6 says, “Some fell on stony ground where it did not have much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched and because it had no root, it ended up withering away.”

Later when He and the disciples were alone, they asked Him to explain the parable to them. He said, “These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, receive it with gladness and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. So, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble” (4:16-17)

Jesus taught that there will be people who receive the message of the Gospel with joy and gladness, only to walk away when the first sign of trouble comes their way. You have seen it before. Someone comes to the altar after the pastor calls for another verse of a song and pleads with the congregation to “ask Jesus into your heart.” Or they will hear some slick Bible hustler on TV promise that if they “accept Jesus,” their lives will be filled with blessings, wealth, health, and freedom from the world’s troubles. Well, that sounds like a good deal to someone desperate or looking for an answer to their problems.

So, they embrace the “message of salvation,” sign a “decision” card, or whatever your church practices. They get baptized, and for a while, all is well; that is until their friends start giving them a hard time for being a “Christian.” Their co-workers ridicule them, or a tragedy hits, and no one told them that adversity is part of the Christian life (2 Timothy 3:12). Or worse, they go to a college where a professor tells them that everything about the Bible is incorrect or untrustworthy, or some such twisting of fact. And the next thing one knows is that this “new convert” walks away from the faith he confessed.

This person has tasted the heavenly gift and has rejected it, and the truth is that he was never saved in the first place but played a good role, just like Judas Iscariot, the disciple who sold out Jesus for a few coins. He and others like him are what are known as apostates (2 Tim. 4:9-10; 1 John 2:18-19).

Men who were at one time pastors, elders, deacons, Sunday school teachers who now blaspheme and deride God and His Word are not “former Christians” as they would like to tell all who seem to revel in this type of story. They were not Christians at all, no matter how well they played the game. Jesus told us that this type of wickedness would abound as the days draw nearer to His return (Matt. 7:21-23; Mark 7:6; Luke 6:46; Titus 1:16; James 3:14). Paul gave this warning to Timothy as well as he awaited his death in a Roman prison (2 Tim.3:1-8, 4:1-5).

There are a lot of fraudulent “men of God” in the media, in pulpits, and in seminary classrooms who are out to destroy the faith and minds of the next generation, and have done so in the past. Deceitful men and women have twisted Scripture to say what it does not, or they will add works or other schemes as well as tell their audience that they need Jesus, too (Galatians 1:8-9). This is how cults and other false religions take root in individuals and countries as well, a useful tool of the devil to draw people away from the true Gospel altogether.

When anyone truly repents and surrenders their life to Jesus Christ, remember that salvation is of the LORD, and we play no part except to ask and receive it by faith (Isaiah 45:22; John 3:16, 6:40, 44; 10:28-30, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 5:6-11, 6:23, 8:31-39, 10:9-10).

It is the power of God that keeps you saved and secure in His hands.

Remember that when we do sin, He is our advocate and will forgive us when we come to Him with a repentant heart (1 John 1:6-10, 2:1-2). If we believe that we could somehow lose our salvation, that is telling God that He cannot keep us redeemed and does not have the power or means to do so. Are our sins and failures more powerful to take away the gift of salvation in Christ and that God is somehow helpless to rescue us when we do sin? Do you honestly believe that? If you are truly in Christ, you are His, but that does not give you an excuse to walk on His grace either. We are to imitate Him and obey Him so that temptations and sin do not hinder us when they show up.

I pray that your confession of Jesus as Lord and Savior is solid and certain that we cannot lose what He has freely bestowed upon us. I pray that this has been a source of both comfort and insight.

Donaldwhitchard@gmail.com