The Disciplines of a Disciple: Studying God’s Word to Teach Others

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. God's Word into our lives and then export it to others. Everything I need to know about God and life itself is found in the Bible. And as disciples, we are to learn it first and then we are to share it with others. Christian disciples are in the import-export business.

No, it's not Persian rugs or spices from India. It's truth from heaven. God's Word gives us everything we need to know to grow as committed followers of the Lord. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out that it's up to us to import those truths into our lives and then look for opportunities to export those principles into the lives of those in our circle of influence.

These are disciplines of discipleship. Quick question. How many of you want to hear God speak to you today from His Word? Raise up your hand. Okay, good.

That's most of you. Well, it really comes down to how you listen. How you listen. You know, there's different ways to listen. You can listen passively. You can really not listen at all. Or you can listen intently. You need to listen as though your life depends upon it because it does.

Because what we're looking at is from God Himself. Let's say you were going to be a skydiver. How many of you have ever gone skydiving? Raise your hand up.

Well, I'm impressed by that actually. I've never gone skydiving. I don't plan on going. Now, if my plane was on fire and there was a chute, I would go skydiving, okay?

But apart from that, I don't envision that happening. But I think if I was going to go skydiving, I would listen very carefully to my instructor, right? Like how to use the chute. Where is the ripcord? When do I pull the ripcord? Why would I listen to him carefully?

Because my life depends on it. In fact, I did hear a story of a guy who went skydiving. For the first time, he jumped out of the plane. Five seconds later, he pulls the ripcord. Nothing happens. He starts to panic. He pulls it harder.

Still nothing happens. Then he remembers that he has another chute, a backup chute. He pulls that ripcord and still nothing happens. Suddenly, he looks down and much to his shock, he sees another guy in the air. Except this guy is going up as the skydiver is going down. So the skydiver yells to the guy, hey, do you know anything about skydiving? And the guy yells back, no, do you know anything about lighting gas stoves? You listen.

Listen to your instructor because your life depends on it. Here is what the Bible tells us now about discipleship. That is our series. Discipleship. The road less taken. Let's review what we have already learned. If you are writing notes, you may have missed one of these points.

You might want to jot them down. Five things we have already learned about what it means to be a disciple. Number one. The disciple of Jesus Christ loves God more than anyone or anything else. That is based on Luke 14. Where Jesus said, if you want to be my disciple you must hate your father, mother, wife, brother, sister, and your own life. And we pointed out to you that the Lord is not telling us to literally hate someone but to love Him more.

Where our love for God would be so strong our love for someone else would be like hatred in comparison. So point number one. Love God more than anyone or anything else.

Number two. The disciple of Jesus Christ takes up their cross daily. Emphasis on that word daily and follows Christ. And we learned that what that means is you die to yourself. You put God first.

And number three. The disciple of Jesus has turned the title deed of their life over to Christ. The title deed or the pink slip if you will. Jesus said there in Luke 14, if you want to be my disciple you must forsake all that you have. It does not mean we have to take a vow of poverty to be a believer or a disciple. But that phrase forsake all that you have means surrender your claim to. Or simply acknowledge everything you have comes to you from God. Hence the point turn the pink slip or the title deed of your life over to God.

Number four. A disciple impacts our culture. Jesus pointed out that we are the salt of the earth. And in the first century salt was used to stop the spread of corruption of the rotting process. You would rub it into the meat to preserve it.

And salt stimulates thirst. In the same way as a follower of Christ we speak out against evil and we speak up for Christ. Hopefully living a life that is so godly it causes others to have a thirst to know Him. And fifth and lastly a disciple brings forth spiritual fruit. Because Scripture tells us here in Will They Know You're My Disciples that you bring forth much fruit.

Alright with that in mind. Let's talk now about the things that a disciple does to stay strong spiritually. That is why I have called this message The Disciplines of a Disciple. In fact the word disciple comes from the root word discipline.

They are rooted together. But we don't like discipline. Right.

That is hard. You know we want it fast. We want it now.

We don't like to wait for anything anymore. You want to get a book or some item of clothing or whatever it is you want. Why go down to the mall. Just order it on Amazon.com.

And if you are a prime member you might even get same day delivery. You want to watch a movie. Why go to a theater now.

Download it on iTunes or maybe watch it on Netflix. Or you know you want to find the news out. You don't have to wait for the news to come on at six o'clock in the evening like the old days. Just go to Twitter. Find out right now what is going on. Get the news feed from that.

Or if you want to find some information out. Gone are the days of the Encyclopedia Britannica. How many of you remember those? Some of them you used to be able to buy them. They would come to your house sometimes. A very impressive set of books.

I got a set years ago. Even the title. The Encyclopedia Britannica.

You just sounded intelligent telling people about it. Here is my set of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Have you read them? No. I have never read them.

But they look nice don't they? And the problem was when you did get around to reading them they were already dated. Right.

Hard backed books already dated. Now we just Google information. Not that it is always accurate. Because anyone can pretty much say anything and it is not vetted in many cases.

But we like to get things quickly. So when we hear of following Christ and taking up crosses and disciplining ourselves and slowing down and meditating on God's Word. That is like alien information. But yet God says be still and know that I am God. So what I am going to share with you now is an absolute essential for being a disciple. If you are going to be a real disciple of Jesus you need to slow down and learn to listen.

This is bringing me to my sixth point. A disciple will carefully read, study, and live according to God's Word. A disciple will carefully read, study, and live according to God's Word.

What is that based on? Jesus said in John 8 31. He said these things to those who believed in Him. If you continue in My Word you are My disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

You know sometimes that verse is taken out of context. You know man the truth will set you free and here is the truth. And we will use it to describe all kinds of truths and quotes that we might pass on.

But this is very specific here. This is not just any truth. This is specific absolute truth found exclusively in Scripture.

The context is reading, studying, knowing, and living Scripture. That truth will set you free. This is the only absolute truth. The truth we find in the Bible. Because God says Thy Word is truth. Jesus says I am the way.

What? The truth and the life. This is the only absolute truth we can be certain of in life. And when I understand what God says about life it sets me free. For instance you might think oh God doesn't love me and He would never forgive me of my sin. Okay check out the truth in the Bible which says if you will confess your sin He is faithful and just to forgive you your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Oh no I have messed up. I am condemned. God won't hear my prayers. Hey open up the Bible and read the truth man. Romans 8.1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. I continue in the truth. In a moment Pastor Greg points out we should either be being discipled by someone or we should be discipling someone else. It's an important part of God's plan.

More on that in a moment. We send these daily studies out via radio satellite and over the internet and we don't always know how these messages are touching lives. Hey Pastor Greg I stumbled onto your daily Bible studies one morning while listening to the radio. I became so interested in the way you explained the Bible but then the station went off the air. I searched and was able to find your Google podcast and now listen to you every day. The way you explain the Bible stories has finally let me connect with the Lord in a way I've never been able to before.

I grew up attending Christian school and church and I've always believed in God. But I'm thankful to your ministry because it was like someone finally turned the lights on and connected the dots. After all these years it took someone across the country from me to finally explain things in a way I can understand.

I appreciate you and thank you for turning on the lights. We're so grateful to hear of the changed lives through Harvest Ministries. And if you'd like to download Pastor Greg's podcasts you can do that through Google, Apple or Spotify. Or go to harvest.org.

That's harvest.org. Well today Pastor Greg is sharing those things genuine disciples do by way of a message called The Disciplines of a Disciple. Everything I need to know about God and life itself is found in the Bible. How many of you believe that? It's true. Everything you need to know. You don't need extra biblical books or special revelations from people.

No. Everything you need to know about God is found right here in this book that you hold in your hands. And as disciples we are to learn it first and then we are to share it with others. Let's again review the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Jesus says, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Listen. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo I am with you even to the end of the age. So I am learning and I am teaching. As I have said as a follower of Jesus I should either be being discipled by someone or I should be discipling someone else passing this truth on. Paul writes about that in Colossians 1.28. He says, So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us.

We want to present them to God spiritually mature in their relationship with Christ. Listen to this. You cannot take people any further than you yourself have come. You can't take people any further than you yourself have come. And here is a problem.

We are aware of that. And you know maybe we are not as far down the road as we ought to be as followers of Jesus. In my first message I pointed out that some who have known the Lord for 10 years, 20 years are still kind of like big spiritual babies. They haven't learned to feed themselves spiritually.

They haven't become mature as they ought to. But listen. You ought to be so mature in your faith that you could say to someone, follow my example.

You say, no Greg you are wrong. We should never ask people to follow our example. We should just tell them to follow Jesus.

That is a cop out. You should be living a godly life in such a way where you could say as the apostle Paul said, Imitate me as I imitate Christ. 1 Corinthians 11 one. Be imitators of me. Follow my example.

And listen. If you like it or not people are looking at you as a visible representative of Jesus Christ. And they are making evaluations about God according to the way that you live. That is a lot of pressure. I don't like that. Well they are doing it so deal with it. That is what being a disciple is.

Accept that. I mean what if the church is filled with people just like you? What if everybody else in the church was just like you are? What if everyone in the church read the Bible as faithfully as you read the Bible? Would we be a Bible studying church? What if everybody in the church worshipped God just like you do? Would we be a worshipping church? What if everybody in the church gave of their finances as faithfully as you do? Would we have a church that supported? Would everybody in the church share the gospel as often as you do? What would it be like? What if others were just like you?

What if they walk like you and talk like you and dress like you? I heard about a guy that wanted to get married in the worst way. So he found a girl he was in love with. He took her home to meet his parents and his mother didn't like her. So he went out and found another girl.

Brought her home. Still the mother didn't like her. So then he went out and found a girl that looked like his mother. Talked like his mother. Dressed like his mother. In every way this girl was like his mother. But his father didn't like her.

So being a disciple is walking with Jesus in such a way that you can just say to someone else, Follow my example. Well Greg we mess up. I know we mess up. We all do. I do. You do.

That doesn't excuse us from being an example. Now listen. He says, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples. This is translated elsewhere. If you abide in my word. You are saying, Well what does this mean? Well Jesus says in John 15, If you abide in me and my words abide in you, it will ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.

What does that mean? The word abide means think of a tree. Think of a tree planting your roots deeply into Christ. Soaking up the nutrients.

Growing each and every day. Staying in a given place. Staying in fellowship with Him. If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples. If you abide in my word, another word for it. Or Jesus says, If you abide in me and my word abides in you, then you will ask for whatever you want and it will be done.

And I will tell you why. Because you will start praying for what God wants you to pray for. And that is the objective of prayer. Not getting God to do what I want Him to do. It is getting me to do what God wants to do.

If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples. That means you study it. That means you memorize it. And ultimately it means it affects your thinking and ultimately your living. And everything that you do. I love how someone describes that man that walks with him and it says, His delight is in the word of God and in it does He meditate day and night.

The word meditate means to ponder. Actually in the root it means to chew. Chew your food. Chew. Think it over. See I think sometimes we read the Bible with no comprehension. We see it as a religious duty.

We do it mechanically. You read three chapters. Read three chapters. What were they about?

I have no idea. But I read three chapters. And I can prove it. Yeah but if it doesn't affect your life, if you don't even understand what you read, you would be better off reading three verses. I mean I would rather you read one chapter of the Bible slowly, carefully, with contemplation asking the Lord how it applies to your life than read ten chapters so you have bragging rights. It is possible to read the Bible out of pure duty and not remember anything. Sort of like Dorian finding Nemo.

Remember she was always forgetting. Or maybe you might read the Bible like some self-help book. Positive principles.

What is much more than that? I need to understand that this is the very word of God. And I read it that way. I am now reading the words of God. I am reading the autobiography of God. And I believe that this book will speak to me.

I love what Martin Luther said in his paraphrase. He says, The Bible is alive. It has hands. It takes hold of me. It has feet.

It chases after me. It is alive and it is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. So we must approach it like that. Pastor Greg Laurie with great insights today on A New Beginning about the importance of the word of God in discipleship. And he'll have an additional thought from today's study before we go. If you weren't able to take notes during today's message, you can get an instant replay by going to harvest.org.

Just look for the study called The Disciplines of a Disciple. And then it's a privilege to have Pastor Greg's wife Kathy with us today. She's joined by Shannon Bream, anchor of Fox News at Night on the Fox News Channel. And Shannon has just authored a wonderful new book called The Women of the Bible Speak. The subtitle is The Wisdom of Sixteen Women and Their Lessons for Today.

Kathy? I found the one chapter that you wrote about Esther and Rahab, and you talked about being prepared for the Esther or Rahab moments that will come into our lives. And I was wondering if you could give an example maybe from your own experience of what a moment like an Esther Rahab moment would look like. Yeah, I think about there's so much that God is preparing and planting along the way in all of our stories. And when we are making every effort to be in His will and walk with Him, I think about even things like scripture memory. I think about verses I learned as a kid that come back to me now, just so when those moments come, you don't even think about it. It becomes natural that something pops up in your mind. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my Lord, my strength and my Redeemer, or about putting on the full armor of God.

So I feel like having those things tucked away, committing them to memory, can be encouraging, can be helpful. We know that Christ Himself used scripture when He was confronted by the enemy to shoot down every lie of His. And He's coming at us with lies every day about who we are, what we're worth. And I think for women especially, they need to know we are created in God's image. We are precious in His sight.

We are daughters of the King as believers. And so I think being able to call on that truth when the lies come that tell you, you aren't worthwhile, you are not chosen, you don't get this job or this relationship falls apart, or you don't know how you're going to pay the rent. I mean, there are struggles in every single day. I mean, for me, it really was the years of living in chronic pain that were sort of Esther and Rahab moments for me. How will I rise to this occasion?

Can I get through this? And scripture was a huge comfort to me in those times when I thought I can't make it through one more day, I can't. And I think we will all face challenges, whether they're sudden losses, illnesses, rejection or betrayal, whatever it is, we're all going to get there. So I think having the roots, having the scripture buried in our hearts so that we can call out lies from the enemy based on that scripture, I mean, to me, those are all things we can do to prepare for our Esther and Rahab moments. We hear so often that phrase for such a time as this, which is from Esther's story. And it's important to remember that when Mordecai, her uncle, came to her to explain or sent a message to her that the entire Jewish people were under attack and would be annihilated without some kind of intervention for her. He asked her to go to the king, but she knew if she went to the king unbidden, he could have her put to death. And we have to remember in her story, she didn't immediately say, okay, I'll go. She said, have all the Jewish people fast for three days at the end of that, I will go and if it costs me my life, I will go. Because Mordecai had said to her, don't think if you don't rise to this occasion that somebody else won't and that you won't be protected as well. So it's good, I think, to remember in her story, there was some hesitation and fear in there, but she asked for the help of fasting and for the Jewish people and she then committed she would go despite what fear she may have had and to be brave in the moment.

So there is preparation in rising to those moments. That's Shannon Breen speaking with Kathy Laurie about her new book, The Women of the Bible Speak. There's such deep inspiration in these stories, not only for women, but for men as well. And Shannon does a great job of helping us connect with that timeless encouragement. We'll be glad to send you this new book to thank you for your investment so we can keep Pastor Greg's studies coming your way. Your donation not only helps you benefit from them, but so many others as well. One listener expressed gratitude for them this way. Thank you so much for your passion toward lost souls. There isn't a moment in any of your sermons where you don't offer an opportunity for people to come to know Jesus.

I admire and respect you so much. So we hope you'll send your investment today and then be sure to ask for this new book, The Women of the Bible Speak by Shannon Breen. You can write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. Call any time, 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to Harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, give us the news about your new TV program called Harvest with Greg Laurie. So we've really expanded on television, I would say quite dramatically, wanting to reach new people, wanting to reach unexpected people in unexpected places like the Lifetime channel. It has a huge viewership. This is not what you would call a Christian channel. It's more of a secular channel. A mainstream TV outlet will be on the Lifetime network. Also will be on the Fox Business Network. Also on Newsmax. In addition to that, we'll be on great Christian networks like Daystar and TBN.

If you want to find out more about air times, go to Harvest.org. Well, next time, more insight on the important role of God's Word in the discipleship process. Today Pastor Greg has been talking about how disciples need to be alert and ready to receive God's Word. And he closes with this thought. You know, I think the best way to illustrate it, it's sort of like the role of a pitcher and a catcher in a baseball game. Like this. This is a baseball. And if I'm the pitcher and I'm going to throw this, the catcher has to pay attention. Right?

Because if I throw this hard, if I'm a really good pitcher, this could get up to a speed of 100 miles per hour. Right? So you have to be paying attention.

Because if you aren't paying attention, you're going to miss it. So I'm going to say, here it comes. You know? And if you're not looking, see, you weren't looking. That was a wiffle ball.

No one will be harmed in that. This one is a little harder. This one is harder. And it's coming. So you better be paying attention. Oh.

Oh now we're injuring people. Ok. One more time. Here it comes. Catch it. It's coming.

Very good. Ok. Don't throw it back. I want you to keep it.

You keep it. I think that little boy back there wants it. Do you want that? Do you want the ball? Give it to the little boy behind you.

He wants it. Look at him. There you go. Ok. Listen. You just woke up. Why? Because I was throwing things at you. And you didn't want to be injured.

But no. The role of a pitcher and a catcher, they work together. And so when the Word of God comes your way, how do you listen? See it makes all the difference. If you're distracted, you're looking around, your head might come off. But if you're paying attention, you've got that big old padded glove and you've got that cage in front of your face, poof, you catch it. That's how you have to come ready to hear the Word of God. That's how you have to come ready to hear the Word of God.