Identifiable Progression

If we are to obey the message of Jesus, complete discipleship of the whole person...
July 4, 2022

If we are to obey the message of Jesus, complete discipleship of the whole person is our mandate. By identifying any needed areas and establishing a specific plan, you can make continual and substantial progress in the things that matter most.

Accepting the Task

  • Your spiritual health at the end of your life will be determined by how diligent you are right now.
  • If you want to grow, you can grow.
  • The state of a person’s physical or spiritual condition is dependent upon how focused an individual applies effort.
  • The grace of Jesus puts all believers on a level playing field.

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence (2 Peter 1:1-3).

Compiling the Plan

  • 2 Peter 1:5-7
    • Virtue – cultivating development
    • Knowledge – clarifying doctrine
    • Self-Control – confronting disobedience
    • Steadfastness – engaging discipline
    • Godliness – establishing dependence
    • Love – securing delight
  • Our discipleship crisis is not due to a lack of sincerity but due to an oversight in intentionality.
  • Most of our growth has been based upon another’s generic emphasis rather than our specific design.
  • Distinctive Discipleship Process
    • Delight – finding your necessary motive
    • Disobedience – confronting your sinful leanings
    • Doctrine – strengthening your uncertain beliefs
    • Development – cultivating your needed maturity
    • Discipline – training your soul’s habits
    • Dependence – acknowledging your desperate need

Starting the Task

  • Personal Discipleship (for Yourself)
    • In solitude, possessing a specific guide for growth is superior to hopeful happenstance.
    • Yet if you have someone walking beside you or in front of you, I am confident that your journey will experience greater long-term success.
    • Your discipleship habits are exactly what they should be considering the current results you are experiencing.
  • Intentional Discipleship (of Another)
    • Find someone who is eager and teach him or her everything you know about following Jesus.
    • God uses willing intentionality far more than seasoned capability.
    • “You show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor. 3:3).
    • Centuries after Jesus gave the Great Commission, on the other side of the world, the goal to make disciples is still going strong, and we get to be a part.