Being a Follower of Jesus

Growing is recognizing the importance of being a follower of Jesus. When we use the word discipleship, it has the root word disciple.

To be a disciple is to be a follower. To be a Christian disciple is to be more than the follower of a doctrine.

To be a Christian is to…

• Follow a Specific Person- Jesus

• Mature into a reflection of the one we follow

• To be a part of a community of believers

Other religions are based upon doctrines. You can take the founder out, as long as you believe the tenets of the doctrine, you can still be a religious follower.

Christianity doesn’t work that way. We build our faith around a person. A person who declared, not just that he taught the truth or knows the truth, or could generate a list of truths. We follow one who said,

“I am the truth”

That is why we distinguish between those who say they are Christians because they are born in America or because they had parents who believe in the Bible, and those who are truly followers of Christ, those who understand that Christianity is to follow Jesus.

We attach ourselves to a person- to Jesus Christ, and say… “He is the truth that guides my life”

Disciples sell out to the one they are following. And since we are not following a set of precepts we don’t try to become like the precept, we become like the teacher. It is a process of maturing, of growing up.

How do we do this? We feed on what Jesus has provided to us. Like all of life, we grow by eating, by what we take in.

How many disciples were there? Originally twelve. Day of Pentecost 120. And they hung together.

Now, remembering that this doesn’t mean making Christ followers your only friends (as we spoke about last week), we are part of a larger body of believers that we grow alongside.

Why is this crucial?

Because we don’t want to go it alone. We have strength in knowing we are not the only one out there in a world that often doesn’t honor God.

Also, we don’t develop and mature alone because there is wisdom and correction to keep us on a right discipleship path.

Growing

What causes growth in a Christian's life? Growing in our relationship with Jesus takes intentional effort, just as it takes effort to make any relationship grow and work. There are things that sabotage our life in Christ, things that we should avoid. Conversely, there are things that strengthen our relationship with Jesus. Since growing is the goal of every conscientious Christian, special attention needs to be given to what fosters that growth.

The Word

In order to grow in Christ, every Christian needs the Word of God. It is our spiritual food. Taking just thirty minutes a day to read Scripture will energize the life of a Christian. Here at Laurel Wesleyan Church, the Word of God is central. We provide numerous teaching ministries designed to enhance people's knowledge of the Bible. Of course, each of our worship services include a thoughtfully crafted sermon that will enlighten people on knowing Christ. Both our Sunday morning services at 9:00 and 11:00 and our Sunday evening service at 6:00 will feature quality preaching. For every age group, we offer excellent teaching in our Sunday School at 9:30, Little Disciples (Children's Church) on Sunday Mornings at 11:00, Lost and Found Ministries (Teen Ministry) on Wednesday evenings at 6:30, and various small groups. All of this is part of an attempt to provide every opportunity for Christians to have a daily intake of the powerful Word of God. We know that growth happens when people are in the Bible and the Bible is in people.

Prayer

"Prayer will make me grow in Christ?" Absolutely! It is half of our communication and communion with God. E.M. Bounds said, "To be little with God is to be little for God." Someone also said that we are never more like Christ than when we are praying. Rest assured that God loves it when we pray to him. He wants to hear our requests and we grow closer to him while we pray to him. Again, our church is working on providing more opportunities to be involved in prayer. We are putting together prayer teams and corporate prayer meetings. Concerning our corporate prayer meetings, we have enjoyed times of wonderful moving of the Spirit and rich times of fellowship. we periodically announce these meetings. One other prayer focus that our church shares in is an annual time of prayer and fasting. These are great days of special focus on prayer and growing closer to the Lord. Normally this occurs leading into Easter.