“Men are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.”[i]
Have you considered that God has a plan to get things done on this planet and YOU are it? It’s been said that Jesus’ “concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow.” [ii]
What do you think are the characteristics of people like that? Last night we discussed many different traits: authenticity, humility, integrity, anointing, a servant’s heart, and a passion for God, to name a few.
Do you know any men or women like that? They are hard to find but they do exist. We know Jesus is like that. We’ve also seen many pastors and ministry leaders with these characteristics as well.
We like people like this. We will follow people like this. We want to become people like this.
So how do we obtain these characteristics? Part of the answer can be found in Jesus’ command to “make disciples of all nations.”[iii]
What is a disciple? According to one leading Christian dictionary, the word “disciple” means “a learner,” or “one who follows one’s teachings.” The dictionary goes on to state that disciples are “not just pupils but adherents”; “imitators.”[iv]
So we can become “better” people, leaders who others will be eager to follow, if we become disciples of Jesus Christ by imitating him and those who act like him.
Jesus made disciples in this way. In his three years of ministry, Jesus poured Himself into just 12 men. He not only taught them with words, he taught by what he did, and his disciples imitated him. He spent all of his time with them, and they saw how he lived, ministered and dealt with difficult situations.
Last night we heard a wonderful testimony of an adult daughter commenting how she learned so many things from her mother as a child by cleaning with her, cooking with her, reading the Word with her, watching how her mother treated her father… And now as a married woman she is imitating her mother in these things in her own life and in her own family.
To be made into a disciple we must follow people, even less than perfect people. Paul repeatedly urged his followers to imitate godly leaders and even himself.[v] Yet Paul referred to himself as the “worst of sinners” and had been a persecutor and murderer of Christians.[vi] Yes, Jesus commanded us, sinful people, to make disciples. There are no perfect people to follow.
At Freedom Fellowship our elders have placed spiritually mature people in leadership in our home Connection Groups. We have inter-mixed the generations so that those who are younger and hungry to learn more can find believers more mature in Christ and imitate them.
These leaders are not perfect but they have put themselves out there so that you can see their lives, learn from their way of life, and become better people. We believe these groups are the incubators of tomorrow’s great men and women of the faith. Come and join us as we all follow Jesus and change the world together!
[i] From Dr. Howard Taylor in Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secrets
[ii] From Robert Coleman in The Master Plan of Evangelism.
[iii] Matthew 28:19
[iv] Vine’s Expository Dictionary, definition of “disciple.”
[v] 1 Cor. 4:16, 1 Thess.1:6, Heb.6:12, Heb.13:7
[vi] 1 Tim.1:16; Acts 8:1
