Being a Disciple: What the Scriptures teach us
This four week series is intended to help see more clearly what the Scriptures teach us about how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Every Christian should realize that we are called to be disciples. Therefore it is important that we recognize what it means to be a follower of Christ. If we have been baptized we are part of the Body of Christ, and this means we should be striving to be disciples in order to grow in our relationship with the Lord, but also to help bring others to Him as well. Each session is 1 and 1/2 hours in length.
Week 1: Old Testament Teachers: We will begin by looking to our roots in the Old Testament. First we will look at the nature of discipleship, what it is and what it means for us as part of our call to holiness, as well as our responsibility as members of the Body of Christ. We will then explore the call and mission of Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and some of the other major Prophets, touching briefly on each. We will focus on how they followed the call given by God and how they tried to teach discipleship to the people to whom they were sent.
Week 2: Discipleship according to the Gospel of Mark: One of the three major themes of the Gospel of Mark is discipleship. It defines much of how he perceived Jesus and His message. For Mark, being a disciple is of the utmost importance if we are to know how Jesus intended us to share His message of love through word and deed. We will explore what Mark records as the conditions for being a disciple and how we are to help build the Kingdom of God. Week 3:
Week 3: Discipleship according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke: Matthew and Luke both recorded the birth and genealogy of Jesus to show His mission to the world. Each of them highlighted the teachings of Jesus to continue to reveal not only the message, but also what it means for us to follow the call given by Jesus. We will look to some of the parables as we explore their message of what the Kingdom is about and what Jesus expects of us as we both follow and serve Him.
Week 4: Discipleship according to the Gospel of John: This week we will focus on love as the guiding principal in all that Jesus did and in what He asks of us as disciples. John’s Gospel has stories that do not appear in the other three gospels, so we will see how John expressed Jesus’ mission to offer salvation to us, and how He taught the disciples to model their ministries on His.