 Okay, okay, so we've been looking at the life of Jesus and also his methods or the Lord as a kind of example that that That he was in raising up disciples and in making disciples, right? So we saw that so I just wanted to hear from you personally, you know in your life What was your experience of being? Discipled by someone, you know was there someone in your life who actually? You know not just led you to the Lord but but taught you you know some of those things some of the early doctrines or You know how to follow the Lord Jesus and Not just told you from a distance, but also followed with you made the journey with you so if I just wanted to hear what was it like and Was it the group of people or was it maybe? Individuals maybe somebody in the family just to for us to you know here and Also learn So, yeah, just want to open this time up anyone anyone can go ahead and share Thomas Dave Kiran said anyone Aaron Conan like Prince Neelam from the time you you know came to the Lord and Till now right or maybe it was only during the early days and then you know you Was there anyone who a journey to you? Yeah, thank you Now after the salvation My tender church called this chapels pastor Michael work is he's in coconut now He used to take a discipleship class every Thursday witness There's a usual Bible study for everyone, but those are disciples classes for me. Maybe we can probably find them to Sitting and listening faster. So this kind of teachings will come as you explained in the morning Jesus said make disciples This is based on the T to teach the foundational doctrines and things and all especially from Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1 and 2 is to extra share More than everything he explained about the righteousness of God especially I came from the throne and I never heard the word righteousness. I after the classes every class has used to go once Bible and see the dictionary see the kind of Bible Language, what is what is mean by righteousness and all one who said you are a saint and all all those days I used to you are a sinner to repent But he is the first person said you are a saint when you're a spirit Christ You're sincere taken like those teachings and all he gave the foundational doctrines So God blessed with almost one and off in there with him. So after that I step into the ministry I got a wonderful mentor. So through their life Every time used to teach about the ministry it takes how to deal with the people how to speak with the people how to maintain the good relationships and how to bear in some crisis when you get scolding went to Kind of top situations how to handle things in the ministry Disciples personally one side. I got the teachings Disacus teachings that helped me and building very strong and I'm a saint and mentors Journey with them for the mission journeys of things and all personally they guide so many things in the ministry So I'm blessed with a such a one once in my life Thank you. Thank you Thomas. Yeah, it's wonderful to see that At the early stage, you know people who are there to speak in so it was not just one person Maybe for one season, you know initially there's one person who taught And then, you know, there were others who came into Further build on that. No, just like we see in the Corinthians. I build on further build on another man's labor But that's that's perfectly Scriptural as well. So we see that Excellent wonderful Anyone else Actually for me when I first came to know the Lord It was in a youth group in the church where I was in the CSI church where I was worshiping in the stone Coimbatore so in the youth group there were many You know like Same age, you know people who are of the same age students. We are all students People who are of the same age, but who are you know, who had become Believers earlier, so they were a lot more mature Christians believers who love the Lord. So One of the things was that Just by observing their life how they prayed They would share about especially one person, you know, he would I'm sorry share about how How what he would do, you know, like how he would Live the live his life and how he would what he would do his prayer time His Ministering is testifying. I remember every time he spoke to me that so there would be some stirring within, you know There'd be like a fire that is lit up and we would typically As a youth group, we would meet every Saturday for prayer worship prayer And Excuse me, and I was a young believer, you know still dabbling in sin struggling with sin and all that and Having my ups and downs, but every Saturday We would meet in the you know outside the church in the church compound. We would meet and pray but this this friend would actually come home and He would spend some time and we would go to the church together, but he would come home He would spend time talking to me just You know narrating his life story and how what he did how he followed the Lord how he prayed and Also, you know, he would say about you know, some new things, you know, this is what is happening in You know, this is what is happening to Christians. This is what you know This person is ministering this way and these are some testimonies. This is what so they would be, you know whatever fire had gone out would be against stirred up again and I would sense that happens to the Lord, you know, really Placed me among these people or place these people in my life. They were so they were You know two three others as well who would who would encourage who would You know, the ones there was someone some people who were slightly older than me who would you know Who would kind of push me who would also? You know correct me and so on So so it was good to see that so that was the early life of you know learning to follow the Lord, right? So not so much in terms of In terms of teaching right Teaching was of course of just loving the Lord of Reading his word and those kind of things, you know disciplines of prayer and so on So that that came much later and the Lord would You know send Again a person to ground us, you know in scripture and we it was much later in life we had started working and You know, we were I think considering marriage and you know that kind of a stage when this person You know the tortoise grounded us in the word grounded us in scriptures in the deeper spiritual truth. So yeah, this happens. So again, it was a mix of teaching and Spending time with that person and also seeing this teaching being Lived out in that person's life, right? So it was a regular thing again every week. We used to meet and So they so something that I also took back is that you know when it comes to Following the Lord when it comes to Making this journey as a disciple. It's so important to have other others who are making a similar journey Around us who can speak into our lives and you know, we can we can observe we can see and We can be encouraged as well, you know by this company of believers. So That is something that happened for me. Yeah anyone else Anyone else who wants to share Dave Conan your experience Prince I Think we'll have time for just one more person and then we'll continue with the class. Maybe you want to share Sid anyone Yeah, yeah Yeah, I have a mentor too. So his name is George work is Okay, I know working at the campus cross-eyed And I mean he's even I mean he's even mentoring me now like weekly ones will have I will study and all that stuff I mean when I was going through this struggle with my thought life That's when you know, he came into my life and he's been helping me out personally He'll be playing with me and you know talking and teaching me about God and We'll always ask about my personal life how I'm going through present and Yeah He's a good mentor It's always there for me Right Thank you, thanks for that, thanks Okay so It's it's it's good to hear that, you know, I don't think any one of us I grew up in isolation, right? Maybe there are but but we grow faster and And and things are a lot more Become a lot more fruitful and you know, we mature When we do this together because that is what we see in scripture as well, right? Okay. Let me just Share the screen and then okay, so we looked at the first three That the Lord sent them out to do what he taught them Okay, so they they learned from him and they went and did that I'm did the same thing like they went preach the gospel taught people about the kingdom of God Then also went about ministering to them in healing and so on deliverance and so on, okay But they of course we see that they learn through their mistakes and a classic example is You know they learn through their experience, you know, whatever the limit is limitations where the shortfall was like they Especially they could not cast out a demon and the and the and the father of that of that person of that son who had The demon came and asked them and said, you know your disciples could not and the Lord again went ahead Ministered and they asked him in a private moment. They asked him questions. You know, why could we not? Cast the demon out and the Lord also answered. It was because of your unbelief and then went on to explain, right? So So they learned together From their experience from the mistakes Whatever and all that that happened, right? But we also see that Just a minute. Sorry Yeah, but we also See that the Lord um See the dead as disciples Who are learning to follow him who are following him now they had many limitations they they had No, they they did mistakes, right? See we read about Peter Peter denied him Even after the Lord saying, okay, you know, you will deny me He actually he actually said that this is what will happen. So even after that when that moment came Peter denied not just once but thrice and A couple of night, I think they are three times So So we see that yes, they made the mistake But the Lord Would his heart was for restoration Right his heart was for restoration. We see that the Lord Jesus restores Peter strengthens him and And Peter's the one who actually takes the lead in After they are filled with the you know, the Holy Spirit and he takes that lead in in addressing that gathering and Talking to them about this new experience and talking to them about Christ and what they should do in order to be saved And you know, he gives that message Right immediately right after immediately after they are filled with the Holy Spirit. So we see that the Lord never gave up on On his disciples His heart was for restoration. Of course, it involves the choice of the disciples as well Like Peter had to come back. We had to repent And in order to be restored, but the Lord's heart was that He would repent that he would be restored. Okay. Okay. Now, let's look at so that is about The Lord Jesus and what we can learn about how he raised up Disciples like the process of disciple making Now, let's look at what are some of the disciplines of a disciple Okay, what are some spiritual disciplines, right? I call myself disciple I call myself a fall of the Lord or if there is someone who's saying okay He he or she wants to be a disciple. What should be some of the disciplines of a disciple? Okay You know when we we read Right now just a little while ago in Luke chapter Sorry, not in Luke chapter 9 when we looked at Okay, just going back up Mark chapter 3 Mark chapter 3 You see that one of the things that the Lord said, you know, right after he appointed the 12 The purpose the Lord mentions there is that they so that they might be with him and that he might set them out Okay, so very clear This is why I'm appointing you so that you can be my disciples and So that you can be with me and I can send you out Okay, so the Lord is very clear. So so the one of the We right at the top You would if you want to say that okay, what are some? disciplines or You know some good life patterns that I need to have as a disciple The first thing I'll write at the top is time with God because that is why we were chosen as disciples That is why, you know, even before we get sent out to do the job To do the work to do the ministry Right before that is to be with him So that he might commission us out. So So that is very very important very crucial. So time with God and How do we do that? No, it's of course just being in his presence and specifically in the word reading the word meditating the word Confessing the word and in prayer Okay, so Today if we are called, you know, if we are calling ourselves as disciples of the Lord Jesus, of course We don't have the physical You know the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus is not there. So so we The Lord has sent his Holy Spirit to be with us and we know when he when he said the Holy Spirit You know, I will not leave your office. He said but I will send you another Comforter Who will be with you forever? so in his place The ministry of the Lord Jesus continues with the ministry of the Holy Spirit right So he is with us. He is doing the work that Like the Lord Jesus, he's another I lost our clay toss another is like is a comforter Who'll be with you. He'll be with us forever Okay So the thing is that it's it's very very important that we take time to be with him and Then he will send us out that sending us out the ministry will be an overflow, right? overflow of our time with him so if you look at You know accept it 20 and Verse 32 Okay Paul prays his prayer for the efficient believers. He says so now brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace Which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified I commend you to God and To the word of his grace. So he's saying you know, this is what I'm doing This is the last time, you know, he would meet these efficient These believers these elders actually of their efficient church So he's you know, he's just commending them to God and to the word office Grace to the to his word Which is able to build up the believer. So So as disciples We need to be in the word because the word of God is able to build us up Okay, and I'm sure you know, we know many things about the word of God what the word of God is can do The word of God gives us faith the word of God produces faith in us The word of God is living and alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword The word of God is is like is nourishment because the Lord Jesus said man should not live by bread alone But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God the Rema You know that the word of God is also the sword of the spirit. It's a weapon. So so all this right You know, we know so we need to be in the world or have let the word be in us It's very very important. So it's it is a discipline even you know, sometimes we So sometimes you might have this You know reasoning saying, okay, I wanted to be When I feel like it if I feel like it Because it's it's a relationship with the Lord. Okay now Now this when I feel like it and if I feel like it will You know, we'll we'll just leave the disciple to be a very shaky disciple and Disciple who has a lot of ups and downs if there is no commitment if there is no discipline on the part of the disciple to to read the word of God to You know to do To to spend time in the word whether he or she feels like it or not, you know, that's why we're calling it discipline So whether we feel like it or not whether we Want to or not we just still go and and sit with the word of God and then things change as we begin to read As we begin to meditate So it so that is why you know, it becomes a it is necessary for this to be a discipline, okay, so let's you get a couple of other verses one John chapter 2 and Verse 2 and verse 7, okay, let's One John chapter 2 verse 2 and he himself I'm sorry chapter 2 and verse September 1 and verse 2. I'm sorry The life was manifested as we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the father and was manifested to us that eternal life which was manifested Which was with the father and was manifested to us talking about the the person of the Lord and and Us being in the presence of Of God this eternal life that was manifested was seven But if we walk in the light as he is in the light We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin, okay now So this is This is something that You know as we walk in the light as disciples we have fellowship Now we're going to talk about that fellowship with other believers but also that The fellowship with the Lord to be in his presence right and and that is what will Will really build us up refresh us strengthen us and Jude verse 20 also talks about that Building yourself up, you know, it's talking about praying in the Holy Spirit Jude verse 20 Jude chapter 1 I mean only one chapter, but you beloved Building yourselves up on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Spirit Keep yourselves in the love of God. Okay, so building ourselves up So when we pray when we pray in the Holy Ghost when we pray in tongues, we are building ourselves up. So this If you ask the question, okay, do I you know, do we will be always feel like praying every day? The answer is no. Sometimes we don't feel like praying. Sometimes we are emotionally down Maybe there are some challenges. We don't feel like doing things, right? But if we would discipline ourselves to and commit ourselves to do it Whether we feel like or not then we would reap the benefit of it, right? And we are built up in faith we are in the presence of Of the one who is life and whose life is manifested to us and We have fellowship with him and we see that you know The word of God is able to build us up the word of his grace is able to build us up and give us an inheritance among all the saints right so Time in his word and prayer it's again It's a commitment. It's a discipline like for a disciple of the Lord So as disciples ourselves, you know, if we are going to teach others This would be something that we teach and this would be foundational This would be something very important that we would teach others as well. Okay Secondly, we see fellowship with the other believers. Okay Hebrews 10 talks about not giving up This fellowship not forsaking this assembling together this fellowship and you know, just like how We see in the life of Jesus we see in the life of the disciples who followed the Lord Despite all those difficulties despite all those relational tensions and so on They journey together and they learn together and they function effectively Right as teams and we see in the book of Acts the outflow of that, right? They were filled with the Son of God and they went about and they continue to do that, you know, Peter John continue to fellowship continue to minister together and As the Lord had taught them So it's very interesting to see how how they would minister like the way Peter raised up The person who died when Peter raised up it is It is similar to how the Lord did it You know, if you when you have time you can just go and start, you know see that It is very very similar to how the Lord would do it He went and he would he would send out all the others and he would pray and raise up the person so so what he learned right very very Thing by joining together with the Lord, okay, then the second thing is fellow shipping with the other believer So he will say talks but don't give up this thing don't give up this Don't forsake this assembling together. We see that at verse 25 and also in 26, right? so that is a Something for us an instruction for us That as believers as disciples that we will continue to meet Continue to fellowship so that we can See one of the things that we see is that we are the body of Christ Right spiritually, we are the body of Christ as believers No, it could be a local church. It could be a small group that is meeting together It could be the church in the city, whatever, you know, we are the body of Christ So in one Corinthians 12 we read about All stating, you know, how every member functions and how we give strength and receive strength Right being the spiritual body of Christ. So so as believers, you know, when we fellowship, this is what happens the third thing is as believers to have as a discipline is Is what we see in Romans 12 that we share our faith and we serve the kingdom of God with With the gifts that he's given us with the grace that he's bestowed on us So Romans 12 verse 4 For as we have many members in one body and all members do not have the same function So we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. Let us use them if prophecy Let us prophesy in proportion to our faith and so on, right? So So the thing is this that we are members, but we are one body individually members of one another We have gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us and these gifts are given so that we might use them so you know as members we we share we help one another and as People who have been raised with these gifts. We use them Okay, we use them within the body of Christ. We use them as As a means for people to come to know the love of God So these gifts are used within the body outside of the body of Christ These gifts are used. So we see that so that also becomes Discipline of the disciple Okay If I if we would discipline ourselves and say, okay, this is what you know, what is expected of me This is something that the Lord wants or Lord desires of me whether I feel like it or not And then we would step in and carry it out do it out Then Then one of the things is that when we as we share as we serve we also learn through What lives experiences like Romans 5 verses 3 and 4, okay Romans 5 3 and 4 Not only that but we also glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation Produces perseverance and perseverance character and character. Hope now hope does not Disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit to us given to us Okay, so it says we also glory in tribulations and and all these things Tribulations It what does it do it produces perseverance perseverance character and character hope so So when when when in lives journey when there are difficulties in life Now when there are challenges in life then when I persevere When I persevere as a disciple then it produces it develops my character. So there is a path There are tribulations then if I persevere through that then it builds my character and character produces hope and so on so What is happening is that despite these difficulties despite these challenges as a disciple? One is learning even through those difficulties even through the experiences of life Then we look at James chapter 1 there's 2 and 4 2 to 4 My brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials Knowing that the testing of your faith Produces patience But let patience have its perfect work That you may be perfect and complete Lacking nothing if any of you lacks wisdom. Let him ask of God who gives to all Liberally and without the approach and it will be given to him. Okay, so we see Here again something similar to what we saw in Romans chapter 5 that You know you count it all joy when there are troubles when there are when there are difficult times This is how you face it You count it all joy As a disciple, you know, this is for a child of God a disciple of God disciple of the Lord and So there are these testing times. There are these trouble times So James is writing and he's saying, okay, know that this is what will happen the testing of your faith produces patience And let patience have its perfect work You know go through it that there is something that is happening in you when you When you are patient in tribulation That you know, there is something that is happening There is some strength that is coming in and there are some changes that are happening in you Which would not happen otherwise But let it have it perfect. Let it have its perfect work that you may be you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing and of course to remember that the Lord Jesus never gives up on us it again gives us strength and and and motivates us to to keep going and to be disciplined enough to keep going, okay okay now Now this is for us Right because the Lord never gives up on us And we have we understand understand that that this is how he We as disciples are built up. So so when we disciple others, you know, if we are developing others Maybe new believers, maybe young believers as disciples Well, these are some things that we would same things these disciplines that we would develop in them right So which means that We teach them to spend time with the Lord with this word in prayer We teach them, you know, if we notice that okay, we so how do we do that? We ask, okay observe See, you know, is this part of your life or does it happen? First of all, you know, it should be part of our life, right? As ones who are discipling others as ones who are developing others to be disciples now this needs to be ingrained in us part of our life Maybe it's not as consistent as as it should be we make it consistent Right, we make a choice we make a decision and we make it part of our life then Secondly, when we teach others when we develop others We make sure that these things are developed in them as well So we you know as pastors as spiritual leaders, maybe as you know, Bible study group leaders, whatever If we would do that for others, okay, we are actually Fulfilling the Great Commission Like we are obeying That instruction that command which the Lord Jesus gave his disciples teaching them To observe all things that I taught you Right, so these are these all things some of the all things Some of the important all things that the Lord Jesus taught Right when we observe his life, we see that yeah, he spent time In prayer all night in prayer extended times in the presence of the father Right, he heard he made sure that he heard his Word or his voice his instruction and then he carried it out. So So yeah, the first thing is to teach others to spend time. How do we do it? Etc teach them to develop a daily devotional personal devotional life and We would connect them to church or a group or you know group of believers And And make sure that they continue with the fellowship They continue the fellowship. So in the time of fellowship with other believers They learn they are corrected. They correct others. They They learn to relate to people a lot of things happen out of that fellowship Right, they begin to extend, you know use their gifts And they begin to discover the gifts and it's a blessing for others. So all these things happen. So fellowship thirdly Teaching them to share their faith to witness and test and testify to others about what God has done maybe with their own family members, maybe with others and and And then to serve God's kingdom To serve God's kingdom to use whatever Gifts of grace gifts that God has put in us to to be able to use that for his glory right Fourthly to also help them to learn from life experiences, you know difficult times Testing times very trying times challenging times now What do I do with them? Do I Give up And go back to my own ways Do I get discouraged and completely stop whatever I was doing? right so so as As disciples we we teach them that okay these can be used for You know so that the the perfect work of patience can be So we will have the you know the the fruit Of the perfect was work of patience in us right there be patient in tribulation and persevere in tribulation so that There is strength in us there is strength build up right so so these experiences these challenges can actually help the disciple So we need to be able to teach and say okay. This is actually doing something In you in your spirit. You are being built up You're becoming stronger. So don't give up right Keep your heart fresh keep your spirit, you know Keep your spirit free of all offenses don't become bitter so we teach the others as they Follow the Lord. This is part of being a disciple that the other thing that we see is That we don't give up on them We don't give up on them. It's a choice that they need to make But we don't necessarily give up on them now as You know if you look at our own lives, we know that we We've made many Some of us have made some bad choices, you know as Disciples of the Lord as followers of the Lord Jesus made some bad choices made some mistakes So the thing is when we are Discipling others We tend to not tolerate those things in others lives, right? So we tend to be very very intolerant Despite the fact that we ourselves committed those mistakes right We tend to be very intolerant and sometimes just Just give up Give up on people you're making the same mistake over and over and over again, you know 10 times 20 times, you know How many times and I'm sure you know if you're a pastor if you're a you know Maybe you're leading a small group of people you would have experienced that because you're meeting them regularly You know their life, you know some of the things that they are going through challenges, etc and You see, you know, you've told maybe many times, you know, this is something that you need to deal with This is something to be dealt with. This is something to be changed and yet Maybe after months or maybe even after years You see them go back and do the same thing Right So the thing is as the lord was patient with us as the lord continues to work with us. So also we We continue to be patient. We hope the best for them, right and And yes, it depends on their choice. They might not want to journey. They might not, you know It depends on the other person's choice, but from our side We can always keep the door open Okay, meaning if you want to come back You're welcome If you want to come back if you want to You know, this is this is what it is. This is what it takes If you want to rebuild The lord's heart is for restoration. Yes, there will be consequences That you might have to experience in the natural because of disobedience because of, you know, um, maybe Time is lost So much of time so much of opportunity has gone by all that is there, but the lord's heart is to Rebuild your life restore your life despite all these setbacks right, so We don't have to give up on people the same way the lord has not given up on us Okay, so these are some some things to think about some things to put in practice in our own lives when we um when we consider The life of the lord jesus How he raised up the disciples and how we can go about making um disciples, right? So we'll stop here. So the next class What we will do is we will look at one more aspect of discipleship that is um this thing of Be from a that the path the growth path from a believer to To a minister From believe when being a believer to be a leader to become a minister So we will we will look at that so that we can understand. Okay now as I You know teach and build others now. This is what I can Uh, I can do right. I can from okay. They are new believers We can develop them and bring them to a place of being leaders ministers and then you know, we can bring them to the place of Being leaders so that they can they can lead others as well. So believers ministers leaders and so on. So um So we will look at it the next class and then we'll continue, right? Okay, so we'll stop here Thank you God bless Thank you, sir. Thank you