Who is a disciple?
Someone who is disciplined. A discipled follower of Jesus. You can't be a disciple until you have a revelation of who God is 'personally'.
When you choose to go God's direction, you discover that God planned that path a long time ago. In the kingdom of God, every single person has a unique calling from God, specific to your design. In your calling its not about result, its about obedience. For some of us, its more than one gift but the holy spirit gives and God does not take back, even if you don't use it. Sometimes the gift is a big surprise. When you start using your gift, then there's a supernatural empowerment that comes upon you. That is why gifts are different from talents.
There's a difference between people who follow Jesus and disciples of Jesus.
Matthew 13
His disciples was the focus of his entire ministry. Because his disciples will make other disciples and that is how the kingdom of God grows. Trees don't struggle to bear fruit in their season, they just do when they reach maturity. They just bear fruit.
John 17
Two types of 'word' in the bible; Logos, Rhema.
Logos.
God's idea, God's thought, God's purpose. John 1:1, Revelations 19:11
Rhema.
"The voice of God", When the holy spirit speaks to you. Romans 10:17. The holy spirit brings rhema.
How do I get guidance from the Lord?
(At this point he went to talk about light houses and bouys and how ships use to to get their orientation at night when figuring out where the harbour is way before gps was a thing. The main idea is that there are three lights they look out for and when they are aligned the captain of the ship knows he's heading the right way)
You need to get points of guidance that line up so you know what God is saying.
- Logos - God's word, the bible. You're got to know what the bible says.
- Rhema - The voice of God speaking to you by the Holy spirit (in prayer)
- Your circumstances - The council of trusted servants of God; Pastors, mentors, spouse...
Prayers
Developing a prayer life involves seeking God, waiting to heat his voice and learning to recognise his voice. There are three kinds of prayers:
- Petitions - Asking for things.
- Intercessions - Praying for people.
- Meditation - Listening to God's voice.
This is you: "Father here I am, listening, speak to me". Shut out everything else, go into your closet. (Not necessarily where you keep your clothes but some where private where you won't be disturbed), go on a walk. God can speak through dreams, visions...
When all these lights line up, you're in good shape. If one is not in line, wait. You can't force it.
How to understand the bible
Read it word by word, line by line, book by book. Do I understand what it says? No? Go back and read it again. If it makes sense don't look for other sense (his opinion).
- As you are reading the bible, context is king. Don't pull out verses and use it ignoring the surrounding context.
- Not all translations are created equal. NASB, NKJV are word for word translations (he prefers these), NIV is a thought for thought translation (there was a joke that NIV stands for Nearly Inspired Version. Clearly not a favourite. Personally I don't have a problem with NIV, though I mostly use NLT. Just got an ESV bible recently, still not used to it, though it comes highly recommended from people I respect.)
- Israel and the Jewish people makes the bible come alive. (He advocates visiting the holy land, I mean Israel)
God's morality will tell you about what he will do and it should guide your prayers. But it will not tell you when or how. To know that you need to know God's purposefulness. God is immensely purposeful about everything he does.
The bible reveals by faith, the identity of God and Your identity in God.
Clearly not a coherent piece but those where the points that I managed to scribble down. Hope it blesses you somehow.
-ONWARD!