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The Foundations of Discipleship

If you want to grow in your relationship with God it is good to have a mentor.  But I don’t think that a personal mentor is absolutely necessary.  Why?  Jesus promised that we would be mentored by the Holy Ghost.

Earthly mentors do the fine tuning.  If you do not have a submissive spirit and an ear to hear what the mentor is teaching you are wasting both of you time.

On that note, I regularly tell people that as Christians, we have a 4-point foundation we need to maintain to enable the Holy Ghost to mentor us.  If we do not have these things working in our lives we are delaying the process.

1. Go to church every week.  Yeah, I know, we are the church.  Thats a really cute way to say that you are above being taught by any preacher.  But the fact remains, if you are not going to church every week the chances are you are living a compromised life.  Those who commit to fellowship and sitting under the preaching of the Word grow in Christ. (period)
2. Read your Bible.  Wash your mind in the water of the Word.
3. Pay your tithes.  This breaks so many strongholds in a person’s life I am amazed that I ever questioned it.  Though  I never stopped paying my tithe while I was deciding if I needed to pay my tithe.  The clincher?  One day God told me to.  btw, the tithe is the first 10%.  Its not some of what’s left.  Put God first.
4. Pray in the Holy Ghost.  If you are saved and not filled with the Holy Ghost put that at the beginning of you prayer list from now till you get filled.  If you have received the baptism pray in tongues all the time.  Like right now.  Do it.

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Tags: bible, Discipleship, tithe, tongues

The Full Gospel

No matter your theological bent it is hard to biblically separate the Great Commission and healing ministry.

Sending of the 12

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.  Luke 9:1

Sending of the 72

Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ Luke 10:8-9

The Great Commission

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:15-18

The Disciples Ask for Help to Preach

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.  Acts 4:29-31

Paul Proclaiming Christ

And I, when I came to you, brothers,did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,  and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 1 Cor 2:1-4

Now, based on gifting, I can see a varying degree of importance placed on the healing of the sick. But it is really bad hermeneutics to say that half of the Great Commission is still valid. Or that we no longer need the things that the Apostles cried out to God for. It seems somewhat prideful to say that it is now God’s will that 1 Cor 2:1-4 would be so invalidated that the exact opposite of the Scripture is now true. I thought the canon was closed.

Regardless your stand on televangelists, I have an increasingly difficult time seeing people not healed when the Scriptures clearly state that we are to pray for the sick.

At The Mission, we are going after healing.  We are not ashamed about it.  WE are not going to hide it in a back room.  We don’t have it figured out, but we are getting closer than when we selectively ignored the Bible.

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Tags: bible, healing