Discipleship Network Forum

This is to whet your appetite.  The book is available now by request to my email, johnhoelzelsr@gmail.com  I accidentally deleted my post, so here it is again.

Here are two excerpts:

Additional Exercise and Application

For those willing to be challenged and inspired in increased opportunities to share the good news of Christ (gospel) and your personal testimony. I highly recommend reading Born to Reproduce (The Parallel between Physical and Spiritual Reproduction and Multiplication) by the founder of The Navigators, Dawson Trotman,  which you can find on the web at http://www.discipleshiplibrary.com/pdfs/aa094.pdf

When you take time to read this, you will likely find it to be the most compelling true account you have read to show the necessity and urgency of discipleship follow-up with new believers.  Billy Graham realized his need for help with follow-up of his new believers, so he called on  Dawson Trotman to help.  Paul’s prayers and letters are mostly his recorded testimony of how extremely important follow-up was to him, coming alongside long enough to develop spiritual maturity. 

Two final questions: 1- who is your current “Timothy?” (God will show you at least one, if you ask Him) and 2- how many of those you showed how to trust Christ as savior this past year are living a victorious spiritual life in His power today?  “Only one life, it will soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last!”

Two central examples of making disciples and follow-up, from the Scriptures

First and foremost, Jesus shows us how to pray, let the Father identify his disciples, and promptly call them to an open, learning, sharing relationship, with investments of lots of time, truth, love, patience, and prayer, so they would later mature and reproduce other disciples who would also make disciples. When you allow the Holy Spirit to guide you through these recorded scenes of Jesus interacting with his disciples, he will show you unique examples of how to plant the seeds for maturing disciples to grow in their unique way, and according to God’s unique timetable, not available anywhere else. Be sure and do some journaling when you submit to the Holy Spirit’s insights.

Paul recorded lots of his discipleship investments which included prayers of appreciation, expressions of thanks, requests for them, letters of encouragement, equipping, correction, and endearment, and Christ-like attitude of truly putting his disciples ahead of his own interests and needs as a real servant leader. You will find lots of patient, enduring investment and follow-up of Paul with his disciples, including a hungry heart attitude to go back and revisit them for more.

Transformation is about waking up. Jesus came to help people awaken, but awakening is not that easy, and even Jesus had mixed success. As the four Gospels all record, some people glimpsed what he was saying while others missed it altogether. Some people got it part of the time and missed it the rest. Some people woke up and others remained asleep. But nonetheless there is an awakening taking place outside the walls of the church house that is about to change the way we live life. 

We all believe in a foundational awakening which can move us from sin to salvation. But the initial awakening is also an indication of how God intends to work in our lives from now on. God intends that there will be many more “awakenings”—little Epiphanies (light-giving moments of insight), and that just as we responded in the confession of our sins, we will continue to respond in the consecration of our lives as we walk and work in confidence that what we do will make an eternal difference. That is what we need to awaken to.

It is our hope and prayer that you will realize that you are a discipler of nations, and a model for people. And that you are equipped by God with unique gifts and talents designed to shine light where there has been darkness. You are called to do things in a way that will bring the will of God in heaven to your earth every day as you seek to dislodge systems within your sphere of influence that keep you and others poor, spiritually, relationally, materially and motivationally.

In his book Nehemiah People, Paul Cuny shares how men and women are beginning to recognize their sacred responsibilities to serve God’s purposes without reservation, in business government, medicine or military, education or the media, and all the spheres of society. Paul, says, "This is a clarion call going out to those who desire a deeper life of relevance, greater effectiveness, and a more active engagement in our respective national cultures." And Paul is not alone in his thinking, Christian writers, thinkers, and practitioners are all weighing in on the false dichotomy between the “Sacred” and the “Secular.” We believe labor is the premier expression of worship on Earth, and every believer is a minister. Check out the below link and tell us what you think.

http://blog.tifwe.org/the-sacred-secular-distinction/