PROOF OF DISCIPLESHIP

John 13:35 KJV

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

John 17:21 KJV

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

The proof of true discipleship is LOVE!

It is not in your eloquence.
It is not in your success.
It is not in the miraculous that is manifest in your life and ministry

It is LOVE for the brethren.

The world will only believe our message of a saviour if they see the saviour's love in us.

Eternal life is all about the LOVE of God.

You cannot separate the LIFE of God from His LOVE.

LOVE is the center of God's existence.

LOVE is his very nature.

He that abides in LOVE abides in God.

The whole creation is a product of God's LOVE.

Man is a product of God's LOVE.

Redemption was born out of God's LOVE for man; nothing else!

We LOVE Him because He first LOVED us.

Our LOVE for Him is evident in our LOVE for the brethren.

When we walk with God, we walk on LOVE.

Our life of LOVE only shows how much we KNOW Him.

The LOVE is a healing LOVE. It is an understanding LOVE. It is totally refreshing.

LOVE is the mark of true discipleship

DI

THE LITTLE PRINCIPLE

Luke 16:10-12 KJV

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

A lot of times, people are deceived into focusing on how much they have and ignore the one they lose.

I have observed that God has a principle which I call "the little principle".

Jesus tells us to focus on one. Look for the lost son, the lost sheep and the lost coin. Focus on the missing one. Let nothing be lost. If everyone counts, then everything counts. If every one counts, then all count.

Jesus Christ said give us this day our daily bread. Sufficient is today's evil. The idea is focus on today. Focus on one thing. We are told that the little foxes spoil the vine. Those little habits. Those things you normally overlook are the most vital habits.

Those issues you normally overlook are the most vital issues of your life. Not the major decisions, the minor ones. The omes that are insignificant to you are the ones that matter the most.

Jesus Christ told a parable of the lost sheep, where the shephered left the ninety nine in search of the lost one. If you address the issues of life with this mindset, you will observe that you will have recovered everything just by focusing on the llst one.

Be faithful in the little things and you will eventually find out that you have been faithful with much.

Small is Big and Little is Everything.

DI

"Cawi Me, Cawi Me"

Guess who ministered to me yesterday? It was my son. Not caring how tired I was and how not in the mood I seemed to be he just kept screaming "cawi me, cawi me". I was so tired and frustrated. I tried to get help from my wife or my ward but he wouldn't let anyone else "cawi him"

I had no choice but to "cawi" him. As. I did, it dawned on me, This should be my disposition to God. I must never let Him go until He "cawi's" me.

Mark 10:15 NIV

"Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

There is so much godly wisdom on how to walk with God just by observe your children.

1. Children are so forgiven.
2. Children believe everything you tell them
3. Children will never forget a promise
4. Children love being carried
5. Children will keep crying until they get want they want

One other thing that really got my attention yesterday, I was about entering my study and my son was in the ante room leading to the study but I did not want to be disturbed. So, I tried to shut the door but you can only imagine the scream that followed. I stopped, and he walked over, held the door and openned it wide. Then went back to the adjoining room and continued to play.

I got the message, he had to ensure that access was maintained.

I went back, thinking, "Lord, I must always maintain access to your presence this way" shalom

DI

THE EYE OF GRACE

Galatians 2:21 NIV

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

I have always wondered God's view of men....

Is it really that he sees us as being substantially different from who we apparently are? Or does He see us through the purified filter of His eternal legal frame of reference?

I have reasons to believe the later to be true. Indeed, all men mortal as they may be in the flesh are within immortal conciousnesses eternally sentenced to the light or as CS Lewis put it "to the nothingness".

God judges men only from His legal frame of refence but subject to their choices in life. Choices, either to serve self, which is the center of all treasonable acts deserving death or to serve God the eternal father.

Romans 5:19 NIV

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

The key choices of other men are patterned after the first or second man...this has to do with identification.

Identification, either to serve self, desiring like Adam to be independent of God or to serve the father's will.

After the fall, Adam and all mankind has continually attempted to serve God on their own terms and in their own strength.

God, through our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ has presented a new and living way to pleasing the father. For us to attempt to approach God on the basis of our strength and our terms is to disrespect and show contempt for the cross; God's provision for man.

We must continually hide behind Christ and identify with him to be found justified in the eyes of God andHis law of grace.

The life of the cross is not self serving and proud. It is sacrificial and othered centered.

SALVATION...Introduction

John 4:20-24 NIV

Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."    "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."

Worship isn't s matter of location and the Lord doesn't expect us to run about considering a particular place special for worship.

"The hour has come"... The time was now at hand in which the true spiritual worship of God was about to be established on the earth, and all Jewish rites and ceremonies entirely abolished....v21(Adam Clark)

"Ye worship ye know not what"... The Samaritans believed in the same God with "The Jews; but, as they rejected all the prophetic writings, they had but an imperfect knowledge of deity: Besides, as they incorporated the worship of idols with his worship, they might be justly said to worship him whom they did not know. V22(Adam Clark)

Jesus Christ mentioned that "Salvation is of the Jews" meaning that salvation will proceed from the Jewish nation. The Christ, the saviour will emerge from the nation of Israel as supported by the prophetic writings of the Jews.

Jesus Christ introduced at this point the worship of the father and the spiritual worship of the father.

No longer on the mountain or in Jerusalem but in a new and living way.

"God is Spirit"... There is a God, the cause of all things...the fountain of all perfection...without part or dimensions, for He is Eternal.....filling the heavens and the earth....pervading, governing and upholding all things: He is an infinite spirit! This God can be pleased with only that which resembles himself. Therefore must hate sin and sinfulness, and can delight in those only who are made partakers of his own divine nature... (Adam Clark)

BE SLOW TO SPEAK

James 1:19-20 NIV

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

This is one instruction I haven't seemed to master. Personally, I think that popular thinking in christian circles haven't made things any easier.

The early christians seemed to practice the art of silence. I think we live in a talkative generation. We simply talk too much!

Communication experts will tell you that "Listening is the most important part of communication"

Wisdom is doing things God's way. Godly men must learn the lost art of silence. Our words must become precious. When we give more thought to our words they become more valuable. When we listen we understand more and so can give the more appropriate response at all times.

There is an interesting relationship between our inability to listen, our readiness to speak and anger.

It appears to me that when we quick to listen, we are not eager to speak. And it is my view, again from my understanding of scriptures that this practice might very well be a fantastic anger management practice. Our anger will dissipate when we intentionally loose the right to respond or react but learn to listen and gain better insight and understanding.

GOD'S RIGTHEOUSNESS

When we are quick to speak we provide a predictable channel for our anger to come through. The point here is give no room for anger because human anger wouldn't work out the righteousness of God.

The instruction here is clear...."your anger does not produce God's righteousness (Gos's way of doing things)"

Human anger wouldn't produce God's righteousness. Human anger simply isn't God's way and it is usually expressed in our readiness to say something.

We must be eager to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. It is not possible to speak out of human anger and produce the righteousness of God. PERIOD!

YOU FEED THEM

Have been faced with a situation where you were tempted to send away people you knew you had been called to serve? Well, I have. Imagine for a moment an employer faced with the problem of recession and the dilema of laying off staff.

I suppose the disciples must have had conventional reasoning on their side as stated in the scripture below.

Matthew 14:15 NASB

When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves."

The fact must have been, as they might have thought it, that this "Jesus Company" couldn't shoulder the huge service burden before them.

They must have thought it best to embark on an organization-wide cost reduction strategy. "Send them away", they said but Jesus thought differently.

Matthew 14:16 NASB

But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!"

The solution always lies with us. The lord expects us "leaders" to always provide the answers. He says "you feed them"

But the question of how always comes to mind.

If we consider John's account of the event, we would learn a very important lesson.

"Never focus on the limit of your purse when faced with a legitimate task"

John 6:5 NASB

Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?"

John 6:6-7 NASB

This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little."

Another important lesson is:

"All you need is within your reach and never take your little for granted"

Do you remember the story of the widow in 2 Kings 4?

2 Kings 4:1-2 NASB

Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the L ord ; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves." Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil."

The question asked was "what do you have in the house ?" And her answer was "Nothing......"

She didn't think much of the little she thought she had just like Andrew in John 6

John 6:9 NASB

"There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?"

He didn't think the available loaves and fish could do much in solving the problem. Which brings us to another lesson.

"Always give thanks for the little you think you have and make use of it"

John 6:10-11 NASB

Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted.

2 Kings 4:2-5 NASB

Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil." Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your neighbors, even empty vessels; do not get a few. And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all these vessels, and you shall set aside what is full." So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured.

"He distributred and She began to pour"....this speaks of use.

There's another lesson here,

"there is limitless supply for legitimate demands if only you will make use of the little available to you"

John 6:11-14 NASB

Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. When they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost."  So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."

2 Kings 4:6-7 NASB

When the vessels were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not one vessel more." And the oil stopped. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest."

The truth is limitless resource is available to meet legitimate demands if only we are willing to make good use of the little we have.

There is a miracle in your hands. Stop complaining of your limitation to meet the legitimate demands around you.

YOU FEED THEM. Make it happen. God trusts you.

DI