The disciple of Jesus

The disciple of Jesus is a man who belongs to Him, follows Him, he is learning and serving Him. Usually he is called a Christian which means follower of Christ. He knows who his master is, he listens to His voice.

There are many people who claim that are Christians now-days.

Just because they show up at the church and know some facts about Jesus,

it doesn't mean they are necessary the followers of Christ.

Many times we describe some nation as a Christian nation. We say; 'this is a Christian church', but how many real disciples of Christ are there in these Christian churches? How can we recognize them, how can we be sure we are one of them?

Jesus said that our life will be a testimony of whether we really belong to Him or just 'think so' we do.

Whether we abide in Him or not will be shown by our fruit;

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15;4 

 

He also said “ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me “ John 10;27 

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13;34-35

These verses show that ' bearing no fruit' or ' not responding to Jesus' voice''  or 

' no love toward other people maight be  a clear evidence a person  has very little to do with being the Christian - Jesus wants him/her to be. Without a fellowship with the Lord, without learning from Him and serving Him – how can somebody be called His follower?

Of course we shouldn't compare each other's abilities and talents we are given or expect we all will be doing things the same way and that our ministry will be as 'huge' as somebody's else.

We are given different gifts and talents. Lots of our work for the Lord depends on the spiritual gifts we received. The more you are given, the greater is your responsibility, the more you are expected to do. The Bible is encouraging us to be faithful in using of what God has given us. You might be suprised but even the 'little' talent has a great meaning. If you were entrusted with that minimum to multiply- with only that one little gift you are given- it is what your Lord will be happy with. But if in somebody's life even that 'little fruit' to bring is missing, the person is called 'a worthless servant' and is not allowed in his master's everlasting presence.

Matthew 25;14-30
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

We should carefully note the outcome of faithful service, and of unfaithful service, in this parable. Faithful service led to increased responsibilities in the kingdom of heaven, and eternal joy in the presence of the Master, Jesus Christ. Unfaithful service led to condemnation, the removal of one’s stewardship, and an eternity of weeping and gnashing of teeth in outer darkness, away from the presence of our Lord.

One must surely admitt that this parable is a message of eternal significance.

Mike Evans in Lebanon ministering to soldiers

  I read this testimony and I thought I would share this since it is so great!!
                             Mike Evans in Lebanon ministering to soldiers ,
  Jerusalem Prayer Team
"On October 23, 1983, twenty-nine years ago today, I was sleeping on the beach a stone’s throw away from the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. That morning the building was blown up, killing 221 Marines, 18 sailors, and thee soldiers. It was the deadliest single-day death toll for the US Marine Corps since the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.
In 1983, United States citizens were taken hostage in Lebanon and terrorists were crossing the Lebanese border and killing Jews. The Lord spoke to me to go there and preach the Gospel to them, delivering them from the spirit of murder—knowing that their only hope was Jesus. When I arrived in Jerusalem, my traveling companion received a call from Israeli intelligence telling him that Sidon, the town that we had planned to visit first as we made our way to Beirut, was targeted for an attack at the time we would be there. He was told that we could not go.

When I got back to the hotel that evening, he was asleep. I woke him and said, “Get packed. We have to leave early in the morning.” He said, “No, I’m not going. Israeli intelligence called and said if we do, we’ll be killed. I can’t take the risk because my insurance would be cancelled. I’m not covered for a war zone.”

I smiled at him and asked, “Insurance or assurance? You need some blessed assurance.” I took a trash can, emptied it on the floor, and filled it with water. I then told him to get out of bed and place his feet in the can. He thought I had lost my mind as I washed his feet as Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. I believed that the spirit of fear would be broken. He wept and rejoiced as he said, “I’ll go with you. I’m not afraid.”


The attack happened minutes before we arrived in Sidon. We were there to minister life and grace to suffering souls, and God protected us. I went into Beirut with a team of three. I was determined not only to preach to the terrorists, but also to the Marines who were stationed there. I filled the trunk of the car with Bibles, passed those out, and shared the Gospel. I will never forget one young Marine who I led to Christ. I had a television camera with me, and we decided to let the Marines record Christmas messages to their families since they would not be home for the holidays.

The eighteen-year-old Hispanic man was from Wooster, Massachusetts. He said, “Mom, I’ve got great news for you. I know you’ve been praying I would find the Lord. Today I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior!” That was on October 22nd.

Early the next morning, I was jolted awake by one of the loudest sounds I’ve ever heard. A suicide bomber drove a truck onto the airport where the Marines were headquartered. He had hijacked the truck for the water delivery the Marines were expecting. He drove into the building and detonated the equivalent of 12,000 pounds of TNT. I experienced the shock wave and saw the fireball of the explosion.

Every terrorist in the city opened up with gunfire targeting anything that moved. I had rented an Avis vehicle in Jerusalem and had to get back to Nahariyya on the Israel border. It was inconceivable that anyone could get down that road. That night as I drove and prayed with the team, I took a wrong turn into the middle of a Hezbollah funeral. I could see the body being carried over their heads of the crowd and guns waving. Had they looked at our car and realized it had Jerusalem license plates, we all would have died on the spot.

As I sped away, I had no idea where we were going. I had followed the sea to Beirut, and now it was too dark to see. After taking another wrong turn, we began to pass UN checkpoints on the road to Damascus. We were being targeted by 135 mm shells being fired at us as spotlights swept over the car. We felt like the balloon targets in a dart-throwing contest at a carnival. Then—horror of horrors—we ran out of fuel. Charlie Weston and L.W. Dollar (one of my board members) looked at me and said, “We’re dead!” They knew there was no hope of survival.

I stepped outside with a screwdriver and removed the light from the license plate so no one would be able to see the distinctive Jerusalem plate. As we sat in the vehicle and prayed, suddenly an Arab came to the window. In the natural, it seemed he was about to blow our heads off. He lifted his hand which I thought held a gun but instead held a can fuel. He walked back to the gas tank and poured the gasoline into the vehicle. He came back and pointed to the button that would unlock the car door.

For some reason, I felt this was God and opened the door. He climbed into the passenger seat, and without saying a word, pointed in the direction we were to go. For thirty-two kilometers, our guide rode with us. When he saw the lights of Nahariyya in the distance, our guide held up his hand and indicated that I was to stop. He opened the door and stepped out, never uttering a word. We drove a few yards, where a lieutenant colonel stopped our car and looked at me with complete shock. He said, “I thought you were dead. I notified the prime minister’s office that you had been killed. There is no possibility that you could have gotten down this road alive, especially in an Israeli vehicle.”

I pointed behind us and said, “That man saved our lives.” There was no one standing there. There is no doubt in my mind that twenty-nine years ago today, an angel of the Lord divinely intervened and saved my life. Let me encourage you today to keep your eyes on Jesus and keep doing what God has put on your heart to do. God will protect you, no matter what you see or what the circumstances!"

" I was found by those who did not seek Me"

 "I was found by those who did not seek Me"
This time I thought it would be good to write down my testimony. How did I came to know the Lord?
It all started about 18 years ago. All my high school I was mainly interested in sport and science that was my favorite thing to do, jogging, javelin throwing and all that fun that had to do with light athletics.  At that time no interest for God, besides knowing that some God exists but I wasn't really thinking about Him. So I did athletics in my free time and I decided I will be PE teacher. Physics seemed to hard to study but doing sport all your life seemed fun. But when it came to applying to the college in that specific area of sport- I wasn't accepted because I did not do  to well  in swimming and gymnastics. I  remember I got C  in that while there were people who got A in all the parts of the exam.  I had to find somebody to blame for that...I wondered why God wouldn't let me do something I really liked. I wasn't happy at all at that time I thought I would  have to wait one more year to apply again to that school, but meanwhile a friend told me about a new German college to which exams were  in September.Then a thought came to me; let's study German for a year - to 'kill' the waiting time-and then I will go back to my sport!
And my journey started. On the first day at the new college  we were  all waiting  to take the German exam.
You would see the nervous students  reading their notes  and a girl  next to me  reading the Bible...! Well, I was reading my notes all stressed up, while that girl completely relaxed reading her book...I asked her
 'Does it help?' Then I heard all the lecture about Jesus. I  though I had never met in my life a person that religious!   All her story didn't seem to be interesting to me- I even thought she was really weird- crazy religious!  Then she shared with me two Bible verses, I have never heard before.
 They completely disturbed my peace!
 "Not everyone who says  to Me;Lord Lord shall  enter the Kingdom of Heaven but he who does the will of my Father in heaven." Matthew 7;21
First of all I realized I might be one of those people since  I had  no clue whether I  was doing the will of the Father in heaven or not.
I  heard the right words  to notice that  a Christian is not about only attending a church once a while.
It is about doing God's will which is believing in the One He sent ( Jesus) and trusting His words. But because  God  seemed  so unknown  to me  at  that time  I thought  that living for Him was good  when  you are old  but not as a student who has completely different things on mind ..'How do you know when you will die?'  I heard the question. Then it will be too late. I  imagined myself  when  God is recalling  that day when I could   hear His words from the Bible  and I was rejecting them, I was rejecting Him and the life!
Then we read the following  verse;"He who rejects Me, and does not receive my words, has that which judges him,the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." John 12;48
 I realized the words were telling the truth and if God says something it must be true.
How shocking it was for me to hear all these words, that I had to change my life, that Christian is a follower of Christ. It didn't seem  easy  'jumping' into ' following Christ' right away.
 I didn't want to. I had some other dreams  and thinking too much about God didn't seem too comfortable. I thought  God was too distant like  in church, with lots of pictures, statues, you pray but they never speak to you. Because I imagined God like that, I didn't have interest in thinking about Him
What was left it was  struggling with the thoughts 'I have to do God's will  to be saved'
 'Is reading the Bible for 15 minutes a day quite enough"?  I wandered. I was struggling like that  for half of the year, those 2 Bible verses  were following me everywhere.... my mind couldn't get rid of them. The only 'relief ' was giving lessons to the kids when I had to focus on teaching the language, but as soon as the lesson was over, the words from the Bible  came back and  the question' Have you made up your mind?"

This became  a really heavy burden on my heart; how much is it enough to be a Christian? What is His will every day? How can I be sure I am saved? How much of reading  the Bible is enough to be called a Christian? Then I spontaneously prayed to God simply saying that I was tired of that burden that  I didn't know what His will was  but I wanted to do it and that  and that I wanted Him to be my Lord!
That was very unusual because after that simple prayer at home I started to have peace in my heart that I haven't had for a long time. Such a relief as if somebody took of a big load of something from my heart. It seemed to me like Somebody there above heard me!
I started testing myself, even saying that I was not interested in reading ' boring Bible' didn't take away my peace. Then I realized I actually have an interest to read it. As I read that day I came across these words; John 14;27 " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."  Wow, that's exactly as if I was reading about myself; I just experienced  that peace! I  knew  the Bible is true, the words are telling the truth! God is real!
I felt like being born again, seeing everything in a new light, God didn't seem distant and unknown any more. My heart wasn't accusing me .Each time I read the Bible  it was confirming everything what I experienced. Jesus said;" You search the scriptures, for in them you think  you have eternal life; and these are they that testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me  that you may have life." John 5;39-40
So it was the same with me, reading  the Bible without coming to God didn't mean anything, I thought that  just by reading I would be a real believer  but  that wasn't giving me any peace until I prayed.  I decided to come to God like the above verse says. That is when God responded and I knew  I was saved. My favorite verse became John 5;24 " Most assuredly I say to you , he who hears my word and  and believes in Him who sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement, but has passed from death into life."  We have forgiveness of sin in Jesus, that's why by trusting Him we can have peace in our heart.
Now it is hard to imagine living without God.  "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10;10 That is what it means to live with God and have Him as your Lord. Second you have promise that you have eternal life. " I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." John 11;25
The Bible is full of so many great promises but if we don't have any access to them  or we decide to ignore them,we  choose to live a hopeless life. As it is said;" Man shall not live  by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
I finished my German college, I didn't care too much about coming back to sport, my interests changed and I went to the Bible school in Hungary  for 2 years. I remember my friends saying' I would find no job if I didn't finish my German degree( because I went to the Bible school) and then after I finished my Bible school - the job 'called me' offering the  job  as a teacher in one of the private language schools. So  meanwhile I  also finished my last 2 years of German to get my final degree. My worries weren't needed, God was in control;
 " Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all the things shall be added unto you." I 'experience' it all the time.