"To get a man soundly saved it is not enough to put on him a pair of new breeches, to give him regular work, or even to give him a University education. These things are all outside a man, and if the inside remains unchanged you have wasted your labor. You must in some way or other graft upon the man's nature a new nature, which has in it the element of the Divine.”
William Booth
I am always challenged when I lead someone to Christ because although I praise God for their awessome decision I also know that it has to go deeper. Some will say that this happens by the process of discipleship, being lead by other men and women of God over a long period of time.
However we should never forget stories such as the Gadarene demoniac wjere the man just saved is told not to follow Jesus on His journey but to turn around and tell the town what God had done for Him. What about Paul being discipled by the Holy Spirit?
Holiness is the answer and is an awesome gift that God gives to us. And all it requires is for us to totally renounce all sin, totally consecrate our lives to God and totally believe He will sanctify us. In our evangelism lets not forget that God can change a heart in a beat! And that change can far out last any program we give them. The thing people need is a solid relationship with God.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Holiness and discipleship
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4 comments:
Because everyone is unique and people have different levels of understanding about being saved God provides different ways for us or anybody to become established in the faith. For some there does need to be a discipling process to help them in their journey of faith and growth in Christ. For others, they have an instanteous conversion, yes, like Saul, who became Paul and some whom Jesus felt needed to get right out there and witness to family and friends what He had done in their lives. It is never quite the same experience for each individual. But God surely guides us in these matters and shows us when people need to be discipled so that they can grow and witness or whether they are able to go straight out and witness. Even for those who need the discipling they can and often do still go out and witness to family and friends what great things the Lord has done and is doing in their lives. Our interest should be to get along side of them so that we at least know where they are at and if there is any way that they need some help and encouragement. We also need to pray for them and support them in that way.
It's no use leading someone to Christ if they have no way of sustaining that relationship. A 'save and dash' style evangelism often results in new believers returning to their old way of life.
Yes all people are different but i would argue that majority of those people would benefit immensley from a like-minded group of people who can help him/her to grow and learn more about God.
I could not agree more with what Anonymous 2 says about the save and dash style. Anyone who is converted to Christ needs nurturing if they are to grow and therefore discipleship is a very vital part of that process. How do they learn about the Scriptures and holy living without being discipled. I have no doubt that some have instant conversions but that is only the beginning - the follow on I believe is extremely important to their spiritual growth.
Thanks for the comments guys! I dont think the follow on is at question at all, rather I think the things we teach and the way we do it need looking at. Nothing short of a real experience of God resulting in holiness will do... We see in the book of Hebrews how holiness is there to help save us from backsliding...
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