The Benefits of Discipleship 2

The Benefits of Discipleship 2

By Apostle Felix

10  But you, Timothy, have closely followed my example and the truth that I’ve imparted to you. You have modeled your life after the love and endurance I’ve demonstrated in my ministry by not giving up. The faith I have, you now have. What I have hungered for in life has now become your longing as well. The patience I have with others, you now demonstrate.
11  And the same persecutions and difficulties I have endured, you have also endured. Yes, you know all about what I had to suffer while in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. You’re aware of all the persecution I endured there; yet the Lord delivered me from every single one of them!

2 Timothy 3: 10, 11

Discipleship produces results that have eternal consequences and benefits. Discipleship can either be for good or evil. The Pharisees too, had their own disciples whom they were tutoring in their doctrine of the law. Their disciples were just like their masters. They became just like their masters, the Pharisees.

15  “Great sorrow awaits you religious scholars and you Pharisees—such frauds and pretenders! For you will travel over lake and land to find one disciple, only to make him twice the child of hell as yourselves. 

Matthew 23: 15

The essence of discipleship is making. Wrong doctrine will produce bad disciples. The doctrine of Christ will produce Christ like disciples. The discipleship curriculum should be well examined before it is permitted to be used for discipleship. The material used has a great impact to determine the outcome of one’s life. Jesus left the curriculum that should be used for feeding His church on. It is Himself. He responded to Peter’s response in Matthew 16: 18, that upon what Peter said, ‘He was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, He shall build His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail.’ The curriculum for discipleship is Christ.

20  You are rising like the perfectly fitted stones of the temple; and your lives are being built up together upon the ideal foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, and best of all, you are connected to the Head Cornerstone of the building, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ himself!

Ephesians 2: 20

The church has been founded on the foundation laid by the prophets and the apostles. The prophets Paul referred to are the Old Testament prophets, who prophesied the coming of Jesus Christ. The prophets of old were not there to prophecy people’s house numbers and the like. No, they had a clear mandate, prophesying the birth, death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The apostles mentioned by Paul are the canonical apostles. These are the apostles the Lord used to receive the revelation of Christ on which the doctrine of the church has been founded. Both the prophets and the apostles have one message, the Christ. The prophets foretold Christ’s birth, death and resurrection, while the apostles witnessed Christ.

The benefits of discipleship is that a believer is made to resist every wind of doctrine.

14  And then our immaturity will end! And we will not be easily shaken by trouble, nor led astray by novel teachings or by the false doctrines of deceivers who teach clever lies.

Ephesians 4: 14

Believers that have their lives established in the doctrine of Christ are mature to discern and recognize false doctrine from afar. For example, those that have been taught and rooted in the doctrine of Christ will easily identify a false prophet from a genuine one. How? They do understand that the main purpose of the prophetic ministry is to reveal Christ to the people, and not just revealing pet things to man. A rooted believer in Christ will understand that Christ is the substance, who came to fulfill all the types and shadows of the Old Testament. A disciple of Christ knows that I do not need natural water because I have the rivers of the living water flowing from my inner being. A disciple knows that I do not need olive oil because I have the anointing from above. A disciple knows that I do not need to queue for deliverance because I have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into His marvelous light. A disciple knows that he is blessed, and not cursed. A disciple of Christ knows that he no longer have a generational curse because he has switched lineages from Adam’s to Christ’s.