Excerpt from Following Jesus: Sharing Your Faith and Discipleship

Sharing Your Faith 

“When it comes to sharing your faith as a Jesus follower, it’s more about transformation than transferring information. Clearly, it is an essential practice to share the faith we have. God has entrusted humanity on His behalf to bring people back to Him through sharing our faith…

Jesus never meant for our faith to be reduced to a religious tract or a 4-step prayer to salvation. We are supposed to share something so deeply profound that it transcends simple anecdotes. Sharing your faith needs to be an authentic part of who you are. We can only truly share what we really have. If we don’t have an authentic relationship with Jesus, we cannot share one. Sharing your faith centers on building consistent and long-term relationships…The way we repair and restore connections will say a lot about the Jesus we serve… [W]e have to take time for people, get to know them, and invest in them over time. That being said, we may be presented with spontaneous opportunities for conversations about Jesus. When we pray to God for these opportunities, and feel the Holy Spirit confirming the moment, we should share about our faith in a loving and genuine way.”

Discipleship

“Following Jesus revolves around the greatest commandment. When Jesus was on earth, He was asked by a religious leader: “Which command is the most important of all?” Jesus replied:

“The most important is Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these” (Mark 12:28–31).

Everything we do to follow Jesus proceeds from these two commands…Our love for God is expressed in our love for people. Our love for people is what should compel them back to God…

When Jesus left His disciples physically for the last time, He [also] gave them this commission:

“All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20)…

Discipleship does not happen overnight. Once we are baptized, we begin a journey where we must learn and grow over time to be more like Jesus. However, we grow the most when someone takes the time to help us grow… Jesus himself modeled discipleship by spending time and pouring into 12 people, who in turn poured into and mentored others (who also poured into others). Eventually, every follower of Jesus must take time to mentor and guide another person in their faith. We are not a Jesus follower if we don’t make disciples….”

These are excerpts from weeks 6 and 7 of our course called Following Jesus. If you haven’t gone through the whole course yet, you can sign up for it here.