31/03/2021
Extraction from TED
Teaching: Dr. Abel Damina
Topic: Foundation and Culture Of Discipleship
Date: 28th February 2021
The salvation of men is in the hands of men; it is determined by Men...Men can not hear the Gospel if men do not preach the Gospel and Men can not preach the Gospel if they are not taught...
Every local church has a direction of the Spirit of God for it...and every Pastor of any local assembly must ensure that that direction of the Spirit of God for his assembly is followed to the letter...
Acts 20:28
You have that responsibility as a pastor to feed the flock. As a pastor you must feed God's people with the word...
There is always a specific instruction to every local assembly...so there would be what is emphasised per time per local church.
So if every local church has its own message per time it means no one from an external assembly has the right to criticize the message of another assembly...
1 Tim 1:18
"According to the prophecies which were gone before on thee"...so the prophecy was specific to him as a person...Paul was saying to Timothy, use those prophecies and war a good warfare...
1 Tim 4:14
This was also specific to an individual….
2 Tim 1:6
This was also specific as well...
There are prophecies for the general Church and some specific to a local assembly...
In this local assembly the emphasis is on training Evangelism and Discipleship...
Matt 28:19,20, Luke 24:25-27,44, 46-49
We see a corroboration here...he opened their understanding...Jesus was teaching from the Old Testament, and he said these are the words which I taught, from Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms(the Old Testaments)...
So a student must teach using his teacher's textbook...Jesus taught them to observe whatsoever he told them, "Lo I am with you always"...so he taught from the Old Testament(Genesis to Malachi)
Jesus was teaching on making disciples from the Old Testament...
The word making disciples is the greek word "mathteuo", it is a continuous term…
Matt 13:52
"Instructed into" the word "mathteuo"...
So the first thing is we are born into the kingdom of faith by Jesus Christ...
John 3:4,5
Except a man be born again...that is born of water which is the spirit, how?
John 3:16
"that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life"...Born into a kingdom of God…
The kingdom of God is no longer referring to a place or a location but an activity...which include instruction, culture, dealings etc.
Matt 27:57
Who also himself was Jesus' disciple...the word "he was being trained" is the word "mathteuo"…
A scribe is an authority when it comes to teaching the scriptures and a "rich" man is an authority when it comes to money but both submitted themselves to the teaching of Jesus to learn, unlearn and relearn...
They were being reschooled all over again…
Remember Disciples refer to young people who are untrained…
Acts 14:21,22
"They had taught many" is the word mathteuo...
Where do we have Discipleship in the Old Testament?
The word "Disciple" does not occur at all in the Old Testament or the Epistles…
So why is this word then of relevance?
Matt 28:19,20
Go ye therefore and teach all nations…teaching them to observe all things I have commended you; and Lo I am with you always...
Psalm 22:27,28
"All the ends of the world shall remember and turn into the Lord"..."And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee…
One of the things that happened here is that the disciples went up to the mountain to see Jesus…."they worshipped him"
Isaiah 42:1-6, Isaiah 52:7-10
There is a promise of salvation and worship here...so the reason for salvation is worship...
We are saved so we can worship him…
Psalm 2:8, Acts 1:8, Gen 1:26,27,28
"And the uttermost parts of the earth"…"have dominion"...that was the Genesis command...
Why then did Jesus use the word "disciple"?
Neh 8:1,7,8
"They read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense, they caused them to understand the reading...
"They read" means to proclaim...same word in Gen 1:5: "the evening and the morning"...so it means to call or proclaim...
So Ezra was proclaiming or preaching the book of the law of God distinctly…
Lev 24:12, Nub 15:34, Ezek 34:12, Luke 24:27...The word "distinctly" as used in all these scriptures is the word to distinguish, scatter something or to interpret...it means he made it clear to them in a distinct way.
The word "sense" there is the word to judge things properly, it means Prudent, Insight or skill…
The word "reading" there means a corporate study...
So he was teaching them to understand, he caused them to understand the reading…
So we have seen the background and characteristics of discipleship:
There is teaching
There is interpretation
There is skill acquired
There is a corporate worship to it
So where did the word "disciple" come from?
Disciple is the greek word "matetis" meaning an apprentice or intern…
So in discipleship you learn, unlearn so you can relearn…
To learn you must have the attitude of an apprentice...a disciple must have a strong learners attitude…
Luke 2:46
Jesus left his parents to go into the temple for 3 days...he was hungry for spiritual growth...
The word "Sitting down" there is the greek word "kathezomai"...which means to sit for long...it's a continuous and consistent action…
Matt 56:55, John 11:20, Acts 6:15, john 20:12: observing the word "sitting down"…
So a 12 year old child had the discipline of sitting down to learn...Luke was saying that at the age of 12 Jesus was already a disciple and a student…
Jesus was interacting with great teachers of the law...so who you relate with determines who you are or where you are heading…
1 Samuel 2:26
Same thing that happened to Samuel happened to Jesus…
1 Samuel 1:11,15,16
Her own pastor accused her of being drunk...though it was wrong of the Pastor but it was a test of her character…so your pastor may not always be right when it comes to your actions...but She corrected the impression without being rude...
Jesus called a woman a dog, but she saw it as a test of her character, she submitted and was not angry…and went ahead to display her faith...
There is therefore no excuse for bad behaviour or attitude!
So eventually because of the way she responded in faith she took in and gave birth to a son…she took him unto the house of the Lord that he may abide there forever...
1 Samuel 1:27,28
And He worshipped the Lord there...
This week is teaching on training, evangelism and discipleship and these teachings will form vital foundational blocks, determinant factors that will determine how far you go in this journey.
Glory!!!
