Modern day preaching is all about salvation but salvation is Jesus Christ. It is not just
a matter of believing in Him but FOLLOWING Him and OBEYING Him and the only way that
we can follow Him is through discipleship, becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. Merely
believing in Jesus Christ cannot save us. And that is what people believe nowadays,
that if you believe in Jesus you can have salvation and you will have eternal life.
That is not true. We have to become disciples of Jesus Christ
and FOLLOW Him and OBEY Him. Jesus commanded His disciples to MAKE DISCIPLES like they
themselves were disciples. Jesus Christ did not change and discipleship did not change.
The only way that we can follow Jesus Christ is by being a DISCIPLE. The only way that
we can teach other people to be disciples is to be disciples ourselves. It is not a
matter of Bible study, it is a matter of knowing Jesus Christ for REAL and FOLLOWING Him and
that is what we are talking about here. I want to teach you to be disciples of Jesus
Christ like He has taught me to be a disciple. After Jesus Christ suffered and was crucified
and resurrected, before He ascended to heaven, He gave His disciples command to go into all
the world and make disciples. That is recorded in Matthew 28:18. “And Jesus came up and
spoke to them saying: All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefor
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you and lo I am with
you always even to the end of the age.” How do we know what Jesus taught His disciples?
The commands of Jesus, that which He taught His disciples, were recorded in the gospels
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Those are the words of eternal life, the words of Jesus
Christ. That which He commanded. Jesus commanded His disciples to go into all the world and
MAKE DISCIPLES and to teach them to OBEY His COMMANDS.
But now, how would they be able to FOLLOW Jesus? They have His commands as they are
handed over by the disciples themselves, they are also recorded in the gospels for us, so
we know what Jesus Christ commanded, but how can we FOLLOW Him? Jesus promised the Holy
Spirit that will guide every believer who obeys His commands, into all truth. Jesus
Christ will give HIS Spirit, the Holy Spirit to guide each and every disciple. He did not
command His disciples to go and build churches and to guide the people themselves, HE HIMSELF
will guide teach and every one who obeys His commands. He will reveal Himself to that person.
Jesus Christ did not promise us a book, a Bible, He promised us His Holy Spirit that
will guide each and every one who believes in Him.
We read in John 14:16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that
He may be with you forever; 17that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will
be in you. 18“I will not leave you as orphans; I will
come to you. 19“After a little while the world will behold Me no longer, but you will
behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. 20“In that day you shall know that
I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21“He who has My commandments and keeps
them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will
love him and I WILL DISCLOSE MYSELF TO HIM.” Jesus promised the Holy Spirit that will come
and be IN His disciples so that they can be ONE with Him and thus also ONE with the Father.
He didn't promise them another teacher or a book. He promised them this Helper, the
Holy Spirit that would come and would TEACH them and GUIDE them into all TRUTH. Jesus
further said. I read from John 16:7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage
that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go,
I will send Him to you. 8“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning
sin and righteousness and judgment; 9concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;10and
concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer behold Me; 11and
concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13“But
when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will
not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He WILL DISCLOSE
TO YOU WHAT IS TO COME. 14“He shall glorify Me, for He shall take of Mine and shall disclose it to
you.” Now this Holy Spirit, the very presence of
Jesus Christ was given on the day of Pentecost. Before Jesus ascended He commanded His disciples
to go to Jerusalem and to WAIT for the Holy Spirit to be given to them. We read in Acts
1:4 “Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to WAIT for
what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5for John
baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
We read in Acts 2:1 “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And
suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the
whole house where they were sitting. 3And there appeared to them tongues as of fire
distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4And they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
That was when the Holy spirit was poured out, was given, on the disciples of Jesus Christ.
They were praying in the upper room and waiting for the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised them.
This Holy Spirit was promised to all those who believe in Jesus after hearing the gospel
as preached by the disciples. The disciples would go out in the POWER of the Holy Spirit
and they would be LED by the Spirit, they would FOLLOW Jesus Christ. He did not leave
them as orphans, He did not leave them on their own. Jesus did not give His disciples
a set of instructions, a handbook and told them to go and apply those principles, He
gave them the Holy Spirit that would guide them and we read in the book of Acts the ACTS
OF THE APOSTLES, those things that the apostles did under guidance of the Holy Spirit. They
did not go out on their own accord. They went out under the guidance of the Holy Spirit
because Jesus told them to WAIT until they had received the Holy Spirit and the very
same we cannot do the work of God and be disciples if we are not led by the Holy Spirit, if we
have not received the Holy Spirit. We need to RECEIVE the Holy Spirit and be
LED by the Holy Spirit or else we do not have INSTRUCTION from Jesus Christ, neither do
we have the POWER of the Holy Spirit GUIDING us, LEADING us, TEACHING us and CONFIRMING
us as being from God. We need to be LED by the Holy Spirit but FIRST we need to receive
the baptism in the Holy Spirit to be disciples of Jesus Christ, to SERVE His kingdom.
When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost and these people started
speaking in other tongues that they had never learned before but the Holy Spirit gave them
utterance, the people were amazed. They were pierced in their hearts because they could
see that this was a miracle, this was from God. And the apostle Peter stood up and He
spoke to them. They wanted to know what they had to do to also become part of the kingdom
of God. We read in Acts 2:38 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit. 39“For THE PROMISE IS FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN AND FOR ALL WHO
ARE FAR OFF, AS MANY AS THE LORD OUR GOD SHALL CALL TO HIMSELF.” The Holy Spirit, the PRESENCE
of Christ in each and every true follower, every disciple, is promised to all those who
BELIEVE, who REPENT, who are BAPTIZED IN WATER and who OBEY the commands of Jesus Christ.
If we do not have the Holy Spirit then we are not of Christ, we are not CONNECTED to
Him, we cannot be His disciples, we cannot follow Him, we cannot do His will. And that
is what Paul wrote in Romans 8:14 “For all who ARE BEING LED by the Spirit of God, these
are the sons of God.” We need to be led by the Spirit of God to be sons of God, children
of God, to be DISCIPLES of Jesus Christ. If we do not have the Spirit of Christ, the Holy
Spirit, then we do not belong to Him. That is what Paul wrote in Romans 8:9. “But if
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he DOES NOT BELONG TO HIM.”
Discipleship is about BEING LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, the Spirit of Christ. If we are not
led by the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, then we cannot be disciples of Jesus Christ
and we cannot be part of His kingdom but it all starts with firstly BELIEVING in Jesus
and then because we believe in Him, to OBEY His commands; to REPENT and be BAPTIZED and
to live according to His words, that which He commanded and then He will REVEAL Himself
to us and He will give the Holy Spirit, He will fill us with the Holy Spirit and we will
be GUIDED by the Holy Spirit. Many believers do not have the Holy Spirit.
Some HAVE received the Holy Spirit also with evidence of speaking in tongues but after
that they never followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit because people have not been taught
to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the have been taught to be religious, to go
to church, to read the Bible but they have no relationship with Jesus Christ and they
are not led by the Holy Spirit. They are thus NOT children of God because THOSE WHO ARE
LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THEY are the sons of God. If we are not led by the Spirit of
God then we are led by our own spirit or by other influences, our own mind; we do not
submit ourselves to Jesus Christ we do as we like and as we please and therefor we cannot
serve Jesus, we are not part of His kingdom. Salvation is about the kingdom of God, being
led by the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, and living in utter obedience to Jesus Christ.
It is about DISCIPLESHIP and that is why Jesus said to His disciples:”Go into all the world
and MAKE DISCIPLES.” We need to be DISCIPLES of Jesus Christ who are LED by His Holy Spirit.
If we do not have that CONNECTION and we are not LED by the Holy Spirit then we do not
belong to Christ. Have you received the Holy Spirit? Do you
follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit? We need to be LED by the Holy Spirit in order
to be pleasing to Jesus, to be part of His kingdom.
May Jesus bless you.