In this third post in the discipleship series, we will talk about hearing from God and obeying what we hear.
Breathing is life. We breathe in. We breathe out. Life.
Breathing is just as important in God’s Kingdom.
In fact, God calls His Spirit - “breath”.

In the Kingdom, we breathe IN when we HEAR from God.

• We breathe in when we HEAR from God through HIS WORD - the Bible.
• We breathe in when we HEAR from God through PRAYER - our conversations with Him.
• We breathe in when we HEAR from God through HIS BODY - the church, other followers of Jesus.
• We breathe in when we HEAR from God through HIS WORKS - the events, experiences and sometimes even the persecutions and sufferings He allows His children to go through.

In the Kingdom, we breathe OUT when we ACT on what we hear from God. We breathe OUT when we OBEY.

Sometimes breathing out to OBEY means changing our thoughts, our words or our actions to align them with Jesus and His will.

Sometimes breathing out to OBEY means sharing what Jesus has shared with us - giving away what He gave us - so that others can be blessed just as God is blessing us.

For a follower of Jesus - this breathing IN and breathing OUT is critical. It’s our very life. And it is the way to move from being hearers of the Word only to being doers of the Word (Matthew 7:24-27).

Jesus said - the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does (John 5:19).

Jesus said - I don't speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it.

Jesus said that every word He spoke and every work He accomplished was based on HEARING from God and OBEYING what He heard.

Breathe IN - Hear from God.

Breathe OUT - Obey what you hear and share it with others.

Jesus said that His followers would also hear from God because of His Holy Spirit - His Breath - that would be breathed into every one of us who follows Him.

Jesus said - the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything that I have told you.

Breathe IN - Hear from God.

Breathe OUT - Obey what you hear and share it with others.

Jesus was showing us how to live.

So how do we hear God’s voice? How do we know what to obey?
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Jesus called Himself “The Good Shepherd”. Jesus called His followers His “sheep”.

Jesus said - My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Jesus said - Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.

As followers of Jesus, we have to be committed to hearing His voice.

• We HEAR His voice by being still.
• We HEAR His voice by focusing on Jesus.
• We HEAR His voice in our thoughts, our visions, our feelings and impressions.
• We HEAR His voice when we write down and test what we hear.

Not every voice, not every thought, not every vision, feeling or impression is God’s voice. Sometimes it is the voice of the enemy. Jesus said our enemy is a liar and the father of lies. Jesus said our enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy.

But God says that we WILL hear from Him and we will know it is Him when He speaks.
With practice and prayer, we can know God’s voice better. We can learn to know whether what we hear is from God or another voice.

Here are some ways to test what we hear:

• When Jesus speaks - His voice will always be consistent with what His Written Word – The Bible - has already told us. His spoken voice will never contradict His written voice.
• When Jesus speaks - His voice will give our hearts a sense of hope and peace. His voice will not leave us condemned or discouraged. Jesus does not condemn. Jesus corrects in love.
• Jesus’s voice will not express the works of the flesh - sexual immorality and impurity, debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred and discord, jealousy and fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness and orgies. These things are not from God’s voice.
• When Jesus speaks - His voice will express the fruit of God’s Spirit - love and joy, peace and patience, kindness and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
• When Jesus speaks - His voice gives us a sense of confidence instead of doubt. We experience inside ourselves a knowledge and peace that what we’re hearing is from God. We may not hear everything at once. We may hear only part of what we eventually will need to know. But what we hear will be solid - not shifting or changing.

​The good news for every follower of Jesus is that when we breathe IN and HEAR from God and when we breathe OUT and OBEY what we hear and SHARE with others what we’ve heard – God will speak even more clearly.

His breath will breathe through us even more.
We will HEAR His voice more clearly.
We will KNOW His voice and not another’s.
We will SEE His work in the world and be able to join in and work with Him.
We breathe in. We breathe out. Life.

Consider these questions…

1. Why is it essential to learn to hear and recognize God's voice?
2. Is hearing and responding to the Lord really like breathing? Why or why not?

​Drop your answers and thoughts into the comments below. We would love to hear your thoughts on spiritual breathing.

​What is a disciple? And how do you make one?
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How do you take someone who has lived their life as a captive of the world and equip them to become a citizen of God’s kingdom?

​How do you teach a follower of Jesus to obey all of His commands?

The meaning of the word disciple is a follower. So a disciple is a follower of God.
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Jesus said - All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me.

So in God’s kingdom, Jesus is our King. We are His citizens, subjects of His will. His desires, purposes, intentions, priorities and values are the highest and best.

His Word is the law. So what is the law of the kingdom? What does Jesus tell His citizens to do?

Jesus said -- Love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. Jesus said -- Love your neighbour as yourself.

Jesus said that God’s commands from the Old Testament -- all the law and the prophets – can be summarized in these two things -- Love God and Love People.

Jesus said -- Make disciples.

Jesus said -- Teach them to obey all that I’ve commanded.

Since making disciples includes teaching them all that Jesus commanded -- the New Testament can be summarized in this one thing -- Make Disciples who Multiply.

A disciple is a follower of Jesus who Loves God, Loves People and Makes Disciples who Multiply.

So what is a church?

You may be used to thinking of the church as a building - a place where you go. But God’s Word talks about the church as a gathering - a people you belong to.
The word “church” is used in the Bible in three different ways:

• the universal church -- all the people who were, are and will ever be followers of Jesus.
• the city or regional church -- all the people who follow Jesus and live in or around a certain area of the world.
• the church at home -- all the people who follow Jesus and meet where one or more of them live.

A spiritual family - followers of Jesus who Love God, Love People and Make Disciples and who meet together locally make up this last kind of church - the church at home or the simple church.
When groups of these simple churches connect to do something bigger, together, they can form a city or regional church.
All of those simple churches networked into regions and stretched across history make up the universal church.

THAT’S CHURCH WITH A CAPITAL “C”
Simple churches are spiritual families with Jesus as their centre and their King.

Simple churches are spiritual families who Love God, Love Others and Make Disciples who Multiply.

Some churches have Buildings and Programs and Budgets and Staff…

But simple churches don’t need any of these things to Love God, Love Others and Make Disciples who Multiply.
And since anything extra makes a church more complicated and harder to multiply, discipleship training leaves things like Buildings and Programs and Budgets and Staff to the city or regional church built from multiplying simple churches.

In Matthew 13 and Luke 13 Jesus describes the kingdom of God as leaven or yeast -- a simple, single-cell organism that reproduces quickly.

With discipleship training – we aim to be like that yeast - simple and multiplying.
How would you answer these questions?

• When you think of a church, what comes to mind?
  
  
• What's the difference between that picture and what's described in this post as a "Simple Church"?
  
  
• Which one do you think would be easier to multiply and why?

Leave your answers in the comments below.

​If you are interested in discipleship training, give the office a call or send an email and we will get back to you with details. Contact information

Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God is like a woman who took a small amount of yeast and put into a great amount of dough.

As she worked the yeast into the mix, it spread until all of the dough was leavened.
Jesus was showing us that an ordinary person can take something very small and use it to make an impact that’s very big!

Our dream is to do what Jesus said -- to help ordinary people around the world use small tools to make a big impact in God’s kingdom!

Have you ever wondered how the church got started? In the beginning, nobody was a professional. Are you surprised? It’s a good thing God had a plan that didn't require professionals. God uses ordinary people. He did it to start the first movement of the church. And He does it today.

The first church sent ordinary people around the world to tell others about Jesus. It sent ordinary people to stand before governors and generals and rulers and kings. It sent ordinary people to heal the sick, feed the hungry, raise the dead, and teach all of God’s commands to everyone in the world.
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The first church sent ordinary people to change the world. And they did.

Our dream is to do what Jesus said -- to help ordinary people around the world use small tools to make a big impact in God’s kingdom!

Jesus’ final instructions to His followers were simple. He said — All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all I have commanded, And I will be with you always - even to the end of the age.

Jesus’ command was simple - make disciples.

His instructions on how to do that were simple:

• Make disciples wherever you’re going
• Make disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
• Make disciples by teaching them to obey all He commanded.

So what are the steps to make a disciple?

1. We make disciples all the time - wherever we’re going and as we go
2. When someone decides to follow Jesus - they should be baptized
3. As they grow - we should teach every disciple how to obey everything that Jesus commanded. Since one of the things He commanded is to make disciples, that means that every disciple who follows Jesus needs to learn how to make disciples too.

Every follower of Jesus should count on the promise that Jesus is always with us. Because He is!
But that also means every follower of Jesus should commit to the fact that Jesus wants each of us to make disciples. Because He does.

Jesus said - All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples.
The authority that Jesus relies on when He sends us -- is His authority.
Jesus says there is no authority higher than that. No tradition has more authority.
No culture has more authority. No law on earth has more authority.

​Jesus said - Go and make disciples.
 
Ask yourself this…
If Jesus intended every one of His followers to obey His Great Commission, why do so few actually make disciples?
Is the idea that God uses ordinary people different from what you had learned or assumed was the plan?
Do you wonder what simple tools are available to help you make a big impact for the Kingdom of God? Let us know in the comments and we will get in touch.