Branded : #1 Believer vs. Disciple

Notes : https://drive.google.com/open?id=14jLuC6WAh1nlYvKFMd6qtrJpv3sYYkJ5

BRANDED: The Mark of a Disciple – 1

(Matthew 28:18-20 NKJ) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. GO THEREFORE AND MAKE DISCIPLES of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Believer vs. Disciple:

 

BELIEVER: Believes in Jesus as Savior but lives to please themselves
DISCIPLE: Believes in Jesus as Lord and lives to please God

 

BELIEVER: Exalts their opinions, feelings and thoughts above the Word of God
DISCIPLE: Exalts the Word of God above their opinions, feelings and thoughts

 

BELIEVER: Thinks of church as a place they go to hear what God’s Word says
DISCIPLE: Thinks of church as a place they learn to do what God’s Word says

 

BELIEVER: Are accountable only to themselves

DISCIPLE: Are accountable to everyone

 

BELIEVER: Serves God based on convenience

DISCIPLE: Serves God based on conviction

 

BELIEVER: Seeks to know God through religion

DISCIPLE: Seeks to know God through relationship

 

BELIEVER: Follows God as long as everything is going well

DISCIPLE: Follows God regardless of the circumstances

 

BELIEVER: Chooses their own path and asks God to bless it

DISCIPLE: Asks God to choose the path and follows His direction

 

BELIEVER: Are full of pride if they’re doing well and self-pity if they’re not
DISCIPLE: Are full of gratitude because God’s love never fails

 

BELIEVER: Follows the example of the world that seeks to go higher

DISCIPLE: Follows the example of Jesus that seeks to go lower

(Luke 14:25-33 NKJ) Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, HE CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE. And whoever does not BEAR HIS CROSS AND COME AFTER ME cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. SO LIKEWISE, WHOEVER OF YOU DOES NOT FORSAKE ALL THAT HE HAS CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE.”

#1 Mark of a Disciple: Passionately Committed to Jesus

PASSION: a strong or extravagant feeling toward something, an emotion that motivates you beyond average living

Passionately Committed to Jesus:

1. PLEASING GOD takes precedence over pleasing PEOPLE.

(Luke 14:26 NKJ) “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”

2. FOLLOW HIM regardless of the COST.

(Luke 14:27 NKJ) “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

(Luke 14:33 NKJ) “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

(Matthew 19:29 NKJ) “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.”

3. Everything you do in life becomes EXTRAORDINARY.

(Romans 12:1-2 MSG) So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

(1 Peter 2:9-10 NKJ) But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.