Getting Serious

In our last blog we talked about the importance of discipleship. In this blogs and many to follow we want to show and share how to disciple someone. We believe that anyone who calls themselves a Christ follower must be making disciples. If we are not making disciples we are not fulfilling the command that Christ gave to His disciples and to us.

As we said discipleship is lived out in our lives daily. If you are a follower of Christ answer this question. Do those around me see Christ in me? If you and I are honest we have to admit that the image that others see in us is not very Christ like.

We have fallen into the trap of the world and the image that people see the most in us is the image of the world. We want to have people like us, accept us and respect us. We value and cherish their opinion and will do almost anything to make sure we are liked, accepted and respected in their eyes.

Christ did not care about people liking, accepting or respecting Him. He cared only about what His Father thought of Him and everything Jesus did was for His Father. We have the Bible as our example of how He was treated. He was crucified because He would not conform to the world.

We heard a story today about a man who would tightrope across the Niagara Falls. People cheered him on and loved watching him. One time he asked the crowds if they believed he could push a wheel barrel across the Falls. They shouted out that they believed he could. He then asked for someone to volunteer to ride in the wheel barrel but no one would volunteer. No one truly believed because no one got into the wheel barrel.

We who call ourselves followers of Christ say with our mouths that we believe in Jesus Christ and that we would die for Him but when He asks us to get into the wheel barrel we do not because we do not fully believe.

What Catherine and I are doing is getting in the wheel barrel and we are trusting in Him. We are going to challenge others to not only say they believe but show that they believe. It is not hard and we are honored that He is using us to help make disciples.

The first thing we need to do is make sure we are in a position where God can use us. Start with praying Psalm 139:23,24 "23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Second stop and listen to what the Holy Spirit says to you. If there is anything at all, big or small, He points out to you, that must be dealt with first. None of us are perfect and never will be but we must be continually working on drawing closer to Him and living for Him. We can only begin making disciples of Christ once we are living a life that makes our Father proud.

Third pray that God will show you who He wants you to disciple. Once He shows you who that person is do not wait, go to that person

What is Discipleship?

How important is discipleship to you? Do you know what discipleship is? Have you wanted to be discipled?

For me I never knew what it meant to be discipled. It was not something I remember ever being talked about with any importance or significance at home, at school, with family and friends or in any of the churches I have attended. I thought it had something to do with helping me be a better Christian and I remember praying to God for Him to bring someone into my life who would disciple me. I prayed that prayer for years without knowing what discipleship really was. 

I started getting connected in the churches I attended hoping to meet someone who could disciple me. I met many Godly men and asked a couple of them if they would disciple me. None of them knew how to disciple someone and they commented that they too had never been discipled. To this day no one has ever discipled me. 

When we went to Africa we found some good material to use to teach about God and thought that in using it we were discipling youth. We know now that material was okay but it was not discipleship. We did what we thought was right and we saw incredible results. The results were from the true discipleship that was taking place.

In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus taught what true discipleship is. 18) 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 the 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."

Jesus said to go and teach the nations. What were the disciples to teach? They were to teach what Jesus taught them. Jesus was modeling discipleship to them everyday through the daily teachings and fellowship. Jesus spent quality time with them and modeled everything to His disciples. The disciples then did what they were taught.

The amazing thing is that Jesus did not use seminars, training programs or curriculum. There were no large church buildings or fancy sound systems. There was nothing flashy about what or how Jesus taught. Jesus lived a life of discipleship.

So when we were in Namibia, living and working with the youth, everyday was the discipleship. It was taking time to walk with them, teach them, talk to them, listen to them and model for them how to live as a Christian. The successes we saw were because we were doing what Jesus did.

Even in what we did we were still not doing exactly what Jesus says we are supposed to do. We are to teach our disciples how to make disciples and help them in making disciples. When we have disciples who are making disciples then we are fulfilling the Great Commission.

We are learning at Keystone Project how to disciple others through life on life and then teaching them how to disciple someone else. The training is not spectacular but it is eye opening. Christian leaders, pastors and teachers have come from all over the world to attend this training on discipleship and are leaving with renewed vision and hearts on fire for carrying out and fulfilling the Great Commission.

With an even great passion we are focusing on working with those we have already discipled in Namibia. We will continue to mentor and teach them and help them make disciples. We will also work with those who have gone through the Keystone Project training all around the world. We will not stop until every person on earth has had the opportunity to hear the gospel and accept Christ.

We invite you and challenge you to begin to make disciples who will go make disciples. If you do not know how to make a disciple we would love to share with you and show you how.

Always on mission,

Anthony and Catherine Duran