A topic for discussion, prayer and study. Andrew Wommack of www.awmi.net and on the TV is teaching that a person can be Born Again and not be a disciple of Jesus. I wish for discussion so no article to read here. Please take time to respond.
Convert vs. Disciple
- Thread starter th1b.taylor
- Start date
-
Welcome to Christian Forums, a Christian Forum that recognizes that all Christians are a work in progress.
You will need to register to be able to join in fellowship with Christians all over the world.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!
I agree! Disciples are as rare as hen's teeth. One usually needs to do a worldwide search to find any. Converts are plentiful. Many are called but few are chosen.
Disciple: One who has left everything to follow Christ into becoming fit to attain the full stature of Christ here on earth.
Convert: One who believes he is saved based on adhering to a belief that he is trusting in Jesus for services to be rendered.
If someone is saved, then I'd argue there is no dead faith. Faith without works is dead, meaning not alive.
Hebrews 9:14
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
We serve a living God. Either you do, or you don't.
Hebrews 9:14
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
We serve a living God. Either you do, or you don't.
So if I wanted to be a disciple , do I abandon my home , family , job , money , and then do what .... follow Jesus ... ?
I have yet to find Jesus anywhere here on earth. How can I follow Him ?
Disciple: One who is "disciplined" and serious about there walk with Christ. They understand that it is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ that they are saved. They also understand that there lives must be lived as to bring people to the gospel. They must bear the fruit of their salvation. They are Holy Spirit filled and thus are led and guided by the Spirit of Jesus! They study, search, apply, hear, listen, and live out the word of God. They obey godly leadership over them. They are humble and truthful and full of all the fruit of the spirit. They are able to teach, witness, and preach effectively for Christ. They are mature Christians. They are sanctified and live holy and consecrated lives. They are Christ like in simplicity!
Convert: One who professes a religion with no zeal or love for the message of the religion. Converts are ceremonial and religious church goers. Not growing or coming into the fullness of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. They are immature Christians not desiring to grow and understand the ways of God. They are wordly and carnal in simplicity! Mere religious puppets. Unrepentative and unregenerate condemning themselves by hearing the word and not adhereing to it!
Convert: One who professes a religion with no zeal or love for the message of the religion. Converts are ceremonial and religious church goers. Not growing or coming into the fullness of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. They are immature Christians not desiring to grow and understand the ways of God. They are wordly and carnal in simplicity! Mere religious puppets. Unrepentative and unregenerate condemning themselves by hearing the word and not adhereing to it!
By first offering all those things to God...no longer holding them as your own...even your own life. Seek to be connected to the brethren who have done likewise. Walk in the Spirit...in His power through a surrender of your life. Being connected with the brethren (laying down your life for them for a daily accountability) is how WE together are connected to the Head, Jesus. Submit yourself to the Body as well as to God in the Spirit. Look for spiritual authority that can help unlock the life that is within you. Then you can begin to grow to the place where you can disciple others by your teaching and example. :)
It is my opinion that the message of the bible is that we should be converts to Christ. That is the whole purpose is it not ?
Yes , scattered among the converts are a few great teachers and great leaders to guide us when we need it.
But the majority are sheep who have Jesus indwelling as shepherd .
Yes , scattered among the converts are a few great teachers and great leaders to guide us when we need it.
But the majority are sheep who have Jesus indwelling as shepherd .
Modern Christianity teaches that all of us are Martin Luthers or Billy Grahm's just waiting to get out and that God has some big glamourous plan for our lives as if being transformed and saved from our sins and being filled with the holy spirit to live a rightous life with heaven as an inheritence is quite an ordinary and mundane thing...we go to conferences to hear christian celebrities tell us how to be in a sense more like them because many of them tell more about their "success' than they do about Jesus,they tell us how to live the "purpose driven" day planner,appointment book christian life where we are movers and shakers making connections and networking on the way to the top in christian circles of power and influence.
I know what i used to be,what i used to say and think...to me success is having one less evil thought today than i did yesterday,saying one less evil word today than i did yesterday,having one less bad attitude and feeling the grip and influence of the world be less today than it was yesterday...works ? not at all...just a transformation,a conversion....a discipleship.
Isn't that kinda the whole story of the original 12 disciples, though? All of them were ordinary men, they were not notable for any reason. At least one of them would have even been a rascal/scoundrel (Matthew the tax collector) for his profession. Enter Jesus, and suddenly they're going out in the world performing miracles, building churches, and teaching people based on their experiences. Paul, another infamous rascal who would later become an apostle, assumes the role of writing most of the New Testament books/letters. He makes the comment "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." (I Corinthians 11:1).
Christianity Celebritism is certainly a danger, but there is a pure form of following a follower to a small degree that is kinda what being a disciple involves. We are first and foremost disciples of Christ, but God designed Christianity such that it is a social religion. The ideal is that families, friends, and others are used by God to bring one along in his or her faith.
He did say, go and wait on me to make disciples - he said go and make disciples! The implication is that we have to do something ourselves to work within His will. To tie this back to the OP, I don't think you can have a dead faith, you are a disciple from the moment of the second birth, otherwise it's not a real faith.
Depends on what the follower you are following is following...everything family,friends and others have to say is to be compared to scripture...and if it is found to be lacking then it is to be ignored,as far as a social religion is concerned we now have a hypersocial religion where human relationships,loyalties,groups and organizations trump all where most forms of solitude or anything that suggest someone having a relationship with God apart from the scrutiny of the group or organization is frowned upon.
John 8:31 (NIV)
[sup]31 [/sup]To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
To believers Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciple."
[sup]31 [/sup]To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
To believers Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciple."
Similar threads
- Locked
