City Life Starter

The Word: 

Matthew 4:18-20“Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting their net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.”

Matthew 28-18-20 – “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been give to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the 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.” 

Reflection Question 

The rest of Jesus’ life and teachings are sandwiched between these 2 scriptures, one uttered at the beginning of His ministry and the other at the end. Based on these scriptures, what is God’s will for your life?

The central call to discipleship is learning to follow Jesus ourselves, as well as helping others in this process. I was very blessed just a few years after I started following Jesus to have an older woman in the faith take an interest in helping me learn what it means to really follow Jesus. I started coming to her with questions about my own life. You know, the really important issues like boyfriends, marriage, do I join a sorority, etc. To her credit, she didn’t answer those questions. Instead, she gave me a bible study booklet (much like the purple book), showed me how to use a concordance and told me that Jesus would take care of those things as I obeyed his Word. And that has been true: He has taken care of me every step of the way with more than I could have planned on my own.

The Word: Mark 8:34-38

And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” 

Reflection Questions:

1. What would be difficult to give up?
2. Has Jesus already been speaking to you? (That still small voice)

Some of us never really heard the gospel when we decided to become a Christian. We think we’re joining a club where you try to do better. We know with our minds that Christianity is true, so we assent to it but lack any power that displays a changed life (like being on the outside and looking in). Or, if you were like me, I thought Jesus needed friends because the pastor was always begging us to come to Him. If that is you, you can repent and take up that cross now and follow Jesus. It’s really a trust issue: do you trust that if you lose you’re life He will come in and give you life (“living water” so you’ll never thirst again? John 4:10)? This is where discipleship begins. We need to be disciples of Jesus first. (Have you ever tried to disciple someone who wasn’t really a discipleship of Jesus? I have; Yikes, it makes you feel like a failure.)

Discipleship is helping others to follow Jesus and challenging each other to trust Him more. I lived with some girls in college who constantly challenged me in my relationship with the Lord. We had a joke that if someone complained about persecution or a difficult time that someone else would quote Paul “I don’t believe you have persevered to the point of shedding blood”. We had a good laugh over this, but we all had a heart to be a disciple so anyone could speak into our lives. Being teachable is where discipleship starts.

Prayer:
Lord, help me to be a good disciple of You and show me who needs my help in finding You. I want to fish for men (women). Show me just 2 people where I work or go to school who need You and with whom I can build a relationship. Show me how to fish, Lord. I am willing.