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July 21 - November 22, 2022
Follow-up, then, is spiritual pediatrics—the care and protection of the spiritual infant. It deals with the development of new babes in Christ from the time of their new birth until they grow and provide for themselves.
We are shocked to the point of unbelief when we hear of a baby being left alone without proper care, but for some reason, our consciences are dulled when we hear of new babes in Christ being neglected. Left alone, they slip into carnality.
situation. I have never met parents who, while raising their children, felt they had all the answers.
What are the responsibilities of parents toward their newborn children? Let us briefly analyze a few of the more obvious ones.
An illustration of a pencil inside a Bible can be used—the Bible representing Jesus Christ and the pencil eternal life. If the believer has the Bible (Jesus Christ), then he also has the pencil (eternal life), for eternal life is to be found in the Son.
Unfortunately, many Christians spend years of their lives living in a fog of uncertainty. Because they do not understand what the Scriptures teach on the subject, they lack assurance of salvation. Proper growth and development can only stem from the new Christian knowing that he is a child of God for all eternity.
In the first ten days of a child’s life, his mother must be with him almost constantly.
One of the most significant ministries you can have with your new Christian is that of encouragement.
One thing was certain: we did not ask her to manage for herself. It would have been cruel to say to her, “Sweetheart, if you want to eat, there is plenty of food in the refrigerator; help yourself.” The proper spiritual diet for a new Christian should include at least the following.
Help the young Christian to be consistent in having his quiet time by initially having it with him. For example, have a quiet time with him every morning during the first week of his new walk with the Lord. During the second week, meet with him every other morning, and then once a week for the next month or two.
You can do this via zooom!!!!!
Encourage him to begin with a short period of time with the Lord rather than with a protracted time. This is the beauty of the little plan mentioned in Seven Minutes with God. It is better to have seven minutes with the Lord consistently every day and stay with it than to begin by having one hour with the Lord every morning, and then quit in discouragement.
One method that has worked with a great deal of success is to read a paragraph or two and, as you meditate on it, circle or mark one verse that is particularly meaningful. This becomes the favorite verse for the morning. Do this for six mornings, each morning picking out a favorite verse. Then during the quiet time on the seventh morning, review the six favorite verses and pick out the one that is the favorite among the favorites. That verse can then be written on a small card and memorized.
The Navigators have a Bible study series, Design for Discipleship, the objective of which is to teach the young Christian what it means to become a disciple and to wean him from Bible-study aids in the process so that eventually, he can take the Bible and feed himself without any outside helps other than the Holy Spirit.
There is one thing it is impossible to give people too much of, and that is love.
“Know the household of Stephanas, that they were the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints.”
Travel together, take vacations together, play sports together, do things together. What will take place is described in Proverbs 27:17: “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
As the disciple of Jesus Christ begins his disciple making ministry, he finds before him a fivefold objective elaborated by the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 1:5–10. Let’s look at this passage to discover these key elements.
People learn how to follow the Lord by following the Lord’s people.
Paul was able to disciple the Thessalonians because they were willing to follow him.
Now, what is involved in bringing people from the initial stages of follow-up to discipleship? We can call this the training process.
The dictionary defines train as “to direct the growth of; to form by instruction; discipline and drill; to form by bending; pruning, such as directing the growth of a plant.”
In training, we want to help people maximize their potential for Jesus Christ.
All the trainer can do is help a disciple become what he wants to be.
If a person does not see things from God’s point of view, if he does not surrender his life to Jesus as Lord, if he is unwilling to pay the price of being Christ’s servant, there is very little that can be done to disciple him. This is why the major part of this book is devoted to bringing the basic issues of life into focus. If a person is committed to Jesus Christ and highly motivated to do His will, the training process becomes simple, even enjoyable.
the trainer can contribute to a person’s development in only two areas: (1) the giving of time and ...
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The trainer, therefore, must yield the total responsibility for change to the person he is training.
“If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine” (John 8:31).
methodology should never be the primary goal and objective in the disciple making process.
In working with a young Christian, you might want to begin by asking him, “What is a disciple?” After he comes up with various possible definitions, you might further suggest, “Why don’t we do a study in John’s gospel during this next week to see what it says?”
Later, you will suggest various ways in which a person can get into the Word of God, but at this point, don’t tell your disciple what they are—let him discover them for himself.
Whatever these objectives may be, they are his ideas, the product of his prayerfully determining God’s will for his life.
Help your disciple discover the principles of discipleship for himself through his study of the Word, and make sure that the applications he makes from these principles are his own.
Def need help in this!! but its so true... you keep what you discover...
We went back to work on the assignment once more and came up with the same basics that a little illustration used by the Navigators (called the “Wheel”) emphasizes.
Without Christ’s direction, we are constantly in trouble, bumping into people, getting ourselves into difficulties, and causing damage.
“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16).
There are five main ways: hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating.
All five must be functioning if one is to have a firm grasp on the Word.
Reading through the Bible once a year will give him a panoramic view of the Scriptures. It will acquaint him with how God has worked through the ages.
Remember your objective is to have a continuing ministry of disciple making “to the third and fourth generations.”
The Bible was not given primarily to increase our knowledge but to change our lives. As Dr. Howard Hendricks, a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, says, “Interpretation without application is abortion.”
What does it say?
What does it say that I do not understand?
What does it say in summary or outline?
What does it say to me?
Be careful to use only the personal pronouns: I, me, my, mine. Stay away from pronouns such as we and us.
Remember, it is not our problem; it is my problem.
Memorize—Probably no method of Scripture intake pays higher dividends for the time inves...
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Reviewing it a sufficient number of times so that you do not lose it constitutes most of the work.
The person who is strong in the Word but weak in prayer is like a skeleton; there is no flesh on it. The person who is strong in prayer but weak in the Word is like a fleshy person with no skeleton—just like a jellyfish. The Word and prayer together form the proper balance in the Christian’s life.
In college I realized my weakness in this area, and so I talked a buddy of mine into praying every week with me.
