3 VITAL KEYS. to Life Transforming Discipleship

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1 3 VITAL KEYS to Life Transforming Discipleship VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN LIVING INTERNATIONAL W. Van Buren Street Building G Goodyear, AZ www. VCLi.org 1

2 Vital Key #1 Help Disciples Produce Good Fruit My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much [good] fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. John 15:8 (NASB) Many disciple makers focus on behavior when it comes to discipleship. They attempt to change a person s bad behavior into good behavior. Christians are often frustrated by their bad behavior (bad fruit) and either try to hide it or remove it just to see it grow back again. The Answer: Deal With The Root Cause. Behavior (or the fruit) is the visible expression of someone s belief or root system. The fruit represents good or bad actions, emotions, attitudes and relationships. The roots represent what a person believes about God, self and others. We either believe truth or lies. A Note to Disciple Makers: Understanding where someone s fruit comes from can help reduce the bad fruit and increase the good fruit in his/her life. When we believe lies, we produce bad fruit. When we believe truth, we produce good fruit. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught... Colossians 2:7 (NLT) But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Galatians 5:22 23 (NLT) Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made [bad fruit] but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen. Romans 1:25 (NLT) your lives will produce these evil results [bad fruit]: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition and other kinds of sin Galatians 5:19 21 (NLT) 2

3 To help a person produce more good fruit and less bad fruit, walk him/her through the 4 R s! 1. Reveal: Ask God to reveal (or bring to mind) the lies he/she has believed about God, self and others. 2. Remove: Pray about the things God reveals. (There may be a need to repent of sin, forgive others or renounce the lies.) 3. Replace: Ask God to replace the lies with His truth. (Take time to listen. God may bring to mind a Bible verse, statement, picture or song.) 4. Renew: Encourage and continue to remind this person to think about the specific truth God showed him/her. Vital Key #2 Teach Truth for Every Area of Life Many times Christians have a compartmentalized view of life. They put their relationship with God in one box, their relationships with others in another box, their finances in another box and the care of their body in yet another box. This wrong view of life tends to limit God s activity to only one or two areas of life. The result is making decisions without considering what God has to say which leads to failure. People with a compartmentalized view of life don t realize that problems in one area of life can affect other areas. For example: A man who doesn t recognize and/or follow God s plan in the financial area of life might get his family deep in debt. The debt puts a strain on his marriage (the marital area of life). He experiences stress and worry (the psychological area of life) and headaches (the physical area of life.) Spiritual Physical Psychological Financial Parental Social Marital The Answer: Teach How God s Truth Applies to Every Area of Life God wants to be Lord over every area of life as well as help us grow in each one. Consider Jesus: 3

4 "And Jesus grew in wisdom [psychological area] and stature [physical area], and in favor with God [spiritual area] and men [social area]. Luke 2:52 Testimony: "I can truly say I would not have fallen so deeply in love with God's Word if I had not been shown how it applied to every area of my life." People often seek help when they are struggling in one area like their marriage. BUT they don t always see the point in addressing their relationship with God or their thinking at the same time. They say, I m already a Christian! I just need help with my marriage. A Note to Disciple Makers: Teach men and women that God has a plan for every area of their lives. Ephesians 5:17 (NLT) says, Don't act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do. You could use a hand to illustrate this point. Teach and help people apply what God says about every area of life. Wrist Spiritual Area The wrist represents the spiritual area of life, a person s relationship with God. This demonstrates that the spiritual area is most important. Just like the hand must be connected to the body for survival, people must be connected to God to experience life. If the spiritual area of your life is suffering or separated from God, every other area of your life will suffer as well. Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from Me. John 15:4 (NLT) Palm Psychological Area The palm represents the psychological area of life a person s mind, will and emotions. This demonstrates that your thoughts, decisions and emotions are directly affected by the condition of your spiritual area of life. Thumb Social Area The thumb represents the social area of life a person s relationships with others. The illustration shows how the spiritual area of life influences the psychological area and the psychological area influences how we think, feel and decide in regards to our relationships. 4

5 Pointer Finger Physical Area The pointer finger represents the physical area of life. The way you care for your body will be based on the condition of your spiritual and psychological areas of life. This is true of all the remaining areas as well. Middle Finger Financial Area The middle finger represents the financial area of life. Ring Finger Marital Area The ring finger represents the marital area of life, a person s relationship with his/her spouse. Pinky Finger Parental Area The pinky finger represents the parental area of life, people s relationship with their children. What happens if you hurt just one part of your hand? Let s say you slam one of your fingers in a door. How does that injury affect the rest of your hand? Your entire hand and even the rest of your body hurts! The same thing is true in your life. When one area of life is out of sync, the rest of your life is miserable. This is because all of the areas of life are connected not compartmentalized. Vital Key #3 Teach People to Hear, Apply and Share God s Truth It s been said we receive between 8,000 12,000 messages each day (audio and visual). Information overload! The messages that stick with us are those we apply to our lives or repeat to others. The Answer: Follow the Cycle of Discipleship 1. THE HEARING PHASE People experience the hearing phase when they read the Bible, listen to a sermon or read through one of the Seven Areas of Life Training workbooks on their own. But how can people call for help if they don t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? Romans 10:14 (MSG) However if they stop there, not much change is bound to take place. Studies show we only remember about 10% of the things we hear. 5

6 2. THE APPLYING PHASE People apply biblical truths to their everyday lives by obeying what God shows them to do when they pray, read the Bible or answer the questions in the SALT workbooks. Don t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on [apply] what you hear! James 1:22 (MSG) 3. THE SHARING PHASE People experience the sharing phase when they talk about and share what they are learning with a friend or in a SALT group. Encourage those you disciple to share what they have learned with a friend. When people hear, apply and share with someone else what they have learned, they retain 90% of the information plus someone else has just entered the Hearing Phase of the Cycle of Discipleship! And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust [share] to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach [share] others. 2 Timothy 2:2 (NIV) IN SUMMARY: The 3 Vital Keys to Life-Changing Discipleship Are - 1. Help Disciples Produce Good Fruit use the illustration of the tree. 2. Teach Truth for Every Area of Life use the illustration of the hand. 3. Teach People to Hear, Apply and Share God s Truth use the illustration of the Cycle of Discipleship Click Here to Read a SALT Lesson A Note to Disciple Makers: When participants hear, apply, and share the truth, they grow! Seven Areas of Life Training (SALT) series fulfills the 3 Vital Keys to Effective Discipleship. SALT deals with root issues. SALT is comprehensive and not compartmentalized. SALT was developed around the Cycle of Discipleship hearing, applying and sharing God s truth. SALT is a portable tool for helping others. It has been called Discipleship on a Napkin because people can easily share it with a friend perhaps over a cup of coffee. SALT is a discipleship plan which addresses all 49 Commands of Christ. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. Matthew 28:20 (NLT) The SALT lessons are PERFECT for small groups, Sunday School classes, weekend seminars and retreats. 6