Thursday, October 26, 2006

Making Disciples:The Forgotten Secret

Making Disciples:

The Forgotten Secret for accomplishing 'what Jesus began to do and teach.'
Ac 1:1-2: In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. NIV

What were those instructions that Jesus gave through the Holy Spirit?
Mt 28:18-2018: Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." NIV

The Apostle Paul expands on this command and the responsibility of leadership in Ephesians. Eph 4:10-13 11: And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. NASU

In these verses we see greater insight into 'the making Disciples and the teaching of all that Jesus commanded', and what it means to continue what Jesus began to do and teach. There are three leadership responsibilities spelled out in these verses that tell us what the church should be doing once people have believed in and recieved Jesus as the Messiah or Christ.

Equipping the saints (people who have believed in and received Jesus as savior);
1. To do the work of the ministry or work of service (serving God by doing what He commands in His Word).
2. To the building up (mending, encouraging, instructing and giving hope according to the Word of God) of the body of Christ(those who have received and believed in Jesus).
3. To help believers in Jesus the Christ to come into maturity as measured by Jesus Himself.

Where do we start?
We must be saints, people made clean or holy by the Messiah.
Many churches have stopped procaliming Jesus as the only way to God as we see in John 14:6, calling themselves Christians without believing in and receiving Jesus as the promised Messiah and only way to God the father.
Jn 14:6-7: 6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." NIV

Without believing in and receiving of Jesus as the Messiah there is no Christianity! Until this happens we can not continue to do all that Jesus began to do and teach, nor can we call ourselves Christians.

Where do we go from here? Check back soon or sign up to get automatic updates on the right above my profile.

Check @
http://equipperstoolbox.blogspot.com for a list of suggested reading.




Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The Blog Make Over is Complete

Over the last week and one half I have been adapting my Blogs to the New Blogger-beta Software. I thought it was also a great opportunity to remake several elements in my blog. So here is a list of what has been reworked. Please take some time and check out the new features.

1. New fonts available throughout the Blog.
2. Expanded hot-linked Table of Contents.
(Click any part of the Table of Contents and it will take you to that part of the Blog.)
TABLE OF CONTENTS The hot linking may not work from this article but will work on the site.
Equipper Links( Equippers Edge, Tool Box and Resume)
Favored Links (Sites to people who are doing inique things in the Kingdom.)
The Market Place (Christians in the Business world.)
Study Tools (Places where you can research the Bible to see if the things in my articles agree with scripture.)
Voices in the Public Square (Observations and commentary on the world today.)
Find Out For Yourself ( Look at what our government and political parties are saying.)
News and Analysis (Center Right News and Analysis.)
Previous Articles (Things I have posted previously.)
Language Translator ( Allows you to trand late the site into different languages.)
Equippers Network Store (A New way to buy books etc through Amazone .)
Focused reading (Books on a specific area of Christian study.) Click on a book to learn more.
Inspiring Music and Video ( New materials to Inspire and encourage.)
Donate to The Network ( An opportunity for you to help this ministry which is read an many countries continue.)
Art and Daily Devotional ( a changing photo from a Christian Artist and a daily devotional from faith writers.com.)
Christian Bloggers Blogroll ( A variety of other Christian Blogs.)
Google Adds & Search ( Google adds and search engine)
Blogosphere Connections ( Links and Buttons to various Blog Tool and Blog centers)
Christian Blog Connections ( Christian Blog connections)
3. Additional Subheadings and rearraged categories.
Equipper Links
Favored Links
The Market Place
Study Tools
Voices in The Public Square
Find Out for Yourself
News and Analysis
Previous Articles
Click on a Flag to Translate
Equippers Network Store
FOCUSED READING
Inspiring Music & Video
DONATE ONLINE TO SUPPORT THE EQUIPPERS NETWORK.
Art and Devotionals
Faith Writers Daily Devotional
Christian Bloggers Blogroll
GOOGLE Adds and search engine
BLOGOSPHERE
Christian Blog Connections
Only Christian Sites ( a Blog connection to Christian only sites.) In the footer

GOOD JOB BLOGGER! THE TOOLS AND FEATURES MAKE WORKING MY BLOG SIMPLER AND MAKE IT LOOK BETTER!