Discipleship Training Class 1

Transcription

1 Taking the True Gospel of the Kingdom to the Whole World Discipleship Training Class 1 Introduction to Discipleship Training Objectives: As a Discipleship student, at the end of this class you will be able to: - Teach others what is meant by these terms: denomination, doctrine, traditions, leaven, and disciple - Explain to others Yeshua s cautions concerning religious leadership and traditions - Model Yeshua s pattern of discipleship and understand how it differs from what is widely experienced by believers today H ere is what we are going to be looking at in our training. We are going to cover discipleship models you probably did not know that there are different discipleship models. Maybe you do, but we are going to look at them. We have a lot of material to cover initially before we move on to what I believe every Messianic should know. What you will need to start with is a King James Bible. If you have a King James Bible, that is all you will need. I do not know about all of you, but I grew up with one of these big old bibles on the living room table; except that the one we had, had a picture of Jesus kneeling on the rock with a beam of light shining down. How many of you have seen that Bible? You will also need something to write with and to write on. I encourage people that if you do not have some kind of notebook system, that you get one. You will find that this will be very valuable for you down the road, because I know how people take notes. I know what you do with those notes. You need to have an organized system. The best and simplest system that I have found is to use lined paper with three holes, and a 3-ring binder. If you are anything like me, you probably have pads like this laying all over the place. I have used pads for days, and set them down. If you go into my office at home, you will find many of these. When I cannot find the one that I was using, I will get another one. Pretty soon I have four or five of them lying around. So I encourage you to get away from this kind of system and get yourself a binder. It is the same system they use in elementary school. It is a simple system to have a 3-ring binder. That way you take your paper and you put it in the binder, and it is always there. You can go back and refer to it at any time. You can buy tabs for the different subjects that we are going to be discussing. I would also recommend that you use a highlighter. I do not encourage people to highlight everything, although some people like doing that. But for me, highlighting brings my attention to a specific phrase or statement. And let me say this: the most important thing that you might get from this teaching is not going to be what I say. It is going to be what the Holy Spirit speaks to you through something that I have said. As you listen you will get a revelation or an insight. You will get a word of knowledge or a word of understanding. And you will need to write that down because if you do not, you will be searching for it later, and it will be gone.

2 For those of you who have not yet done this, please write to me at and let me know why you want to participate in this training. Also tell me which study materials, books, or software you currently own or use; and what type of training you have received to date. I would also appreciate knowing whether you have gone to Bible College, seminary, etc. and which topics you would like to cover. I would like to know what you would like to learn or to accomplish by undertaking this training. I would encourage you that if you are a husband and wife team, to do your own study. If you are anything like me and my wife, we are like night and day. She is hot and I am cold. That s the way it is. Where I am at and where she is at, are two different places. Fortunately we are on the same page even in those two different places; so the questions she has are not the same questions that I have. Why I Am Providing This Training I will tell you right now that there are plenty of things that I can be doing. I hope that does not sound arrogant, but the bottom line is that I have set aside this time especially for you, and not for me. I feel the need to do these teachings because you may need them. However if you feel coming into these teachings that they will not be valuable to you in any way, then there is no point in either of us spending the time; isn t that right? Can we be honest with one another? I do not need another opportunity to teach. My wife tells me that I am always teaching. I first started pitching this idea in the Messianic community back in Oregon at Sukkot, not the 2011 Sukkot, but the Sukkot before that. And what I found is that there are many people who want to be discipled. There is no real discipleship process or plan within the Hebrew Roots/Messianic community. People are in their own fellowships, and they are learning from the different teachings or teachers. But when it comes down to equipping the saints, the role of the apostle/prophet/ evangelist/pastor/teacher is to actively equip. That is the role the Father has given to those He has chosen so His people would be equipped to do the work they are supposed to be doing; not so they can sit listening at us, oohing and aahing about how great of a revelation we came up with from the Torah. This is not a one-man or a one-woman show. This is not a let s see what he s got to say today; what new revelation the Father has given him. This class is about you. That is what this class is about; because if you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing, then you are doing something you have no business doing. And if you are about His business, you are going to be on His plan. If you are on His plan, then guess what. What I have found is that the provisions that the Father has ordained for His people are found upon the path He has chosen for them. It is important for us to be on the right path. If we are not on the right path, then we will not come into contact with the connections we are supposed to make. We are not going to see the resources that He has ordained for us on the path He has chosen. As a result we will get frustrated trying to figure out, What is God s will for my life? What am I supposed to be doing? And the answer will be I don t know why I am here. If you get into that place, then guess what. You will start making other stuff happen. You will start being with people you have 2

3 no business being with, and doing things you have no business doing. And that will only make your path more difficult. Why am I providing this training? Well, I will tell you that the words of Yeshua are my motivation. I wish somebody would have provided this training for me. I have had to learn the difficult way; and we should have to learn from the School of Hard Knocks. That s why the Father gave us people who are gifts to the body; who understand that their life and time are not their own. They know that have a role to play in the body of Messiah, which requires a lying down of one s life. So I m willing to lay my life down for people who will be willing to appreciate it. Whether you appreciate it or not, I am obligated to do it. It feels a lot better if folks appreciate it. Do you understand what I am saying? I am going to give you a few scripture verses. Beware, beware of the leaven. These are the Messiah s words. He says: (Mt 16:5-6) And when His disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Yeshua said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Now many of you know that in Yeshua s day, the Sadducees and Pharisees were the religious leaders. They were the ones responsible for teaching the Israelites. The Sadducees ran the Temple and the Pharisees ran the synagogue. There were two separate systems. The Sadducees were the ones who were controlling the high holy days since they ran the Temple services. The Pharisees set up a system of synagogues throughout the area and region. They set up yeshivas (formal schools), and shuls (places of study), as well as community centers and training centers where people went on Shabbat. You will see that it Yeshua s custom to go into the synagogue on the Sabbath. Yeshua warns His disciples (and we are His disciples). Let me tell you something. The spirit of the Pharisees and the Sadducees is very prevalent today, and we are going to see this. (Mt 16:6) Then Yeshua said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And what did they do? (Mt 16:7) They reasoned among themselves... Who did? The disciples....saying, It is because we ve taken no bread. (Mt 16:8-9) Which when Yeshua perceived, He said unto them, Oh ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourself, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 3

4 Now, let s think about this. Who brought bread? His disciples did not. They took a little boy s lunch and Yeshua multiplied it. Then all of the sudden, even after seeing this kind of miracle, the disciples are reasoning among themselves. They were probably thinking you know, in case He s going to do another miracle, we should have some bread for Him to use. There might not be another little boy with loaves and fish. And He says: (Mt 16:10) Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand So Yeshua is referring to the fact that there were two different but similar situations. In one situation they fed 5,000 people, even without the disciples bringing bread. Then they fed 4,000 people without them bringing bread. So the question Yeshua asks is Why are you reasoning among yourselves? And He tells them I am not dependent on you having bread. There is an important message here. (Mt 16:11) How is it that you do not understand that I spoke not concerning bread that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? What was He warning them about? He was warning them about the teachings and traditions of men. This is what He says: (Mt 16:12) Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teachings or the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Why would Yeshua warn them of such a thing? He was saying to them: Beware of the teaching. Beware of the doctrine. Let s look around for just a moment. Today we have the doctrines of the Baptists. We have the doctrines of the Pentecostals. We have the doctrines of the Messianic Jews. We have the doctrines of the Hebrew Roots Messianics. We have the doctrine of the Hebrew Israelites. We have the doctrine of the Karaites. We have the doctrine of the traditional and the orthodox and the ultra-orthodox. We have all of these doctrines; all of these teachings, and all of these systems. These systems are designed for a specific purpose. What we are going to be looking at are the different discipleship models used, since every denomination has a model in which they disciple their membership. This is why you will find that the arguments you encounter with many people are not biblical arguments. They are doctrinal arguments. People argue doctrine. They argue denominationalism. They argue whatever they have been taught. (Mk 8:15) And He charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Yeshua warns his disciples to take heed, and to beware of the Pharisees. Then He adds the leaven of Herod to the warning. We can see the religious doctrine and we can see the patriotic doctrine. We can see there is also the gospel of the government. 4

5 Herod represented the government. He was the king. He had a system and a belief. And Herod had gotten into bed with the Romans. Herod was not concerned about the Torah. The Pharisees were not concerned about the Torah. And the Sadducees were not concerned about the Torah. How many of you know that the Baptists are not concerned about the Bible? Did you know that neither are the Pentecostals concerned? They are concerned only about their interpretation of the Bible. Understand this means they are concerned not about the Bible, but only in how we interpret it. The interpretations draw the denominational lines. It is not about the Bible, so you don t argue the book, only the doctrine; which is the teaching of a particular group. When you learn how to move and to sidestep those doctrinal arguments, then you can begin to build a foundation of communication on the Bible. The most important phrase you will learn to say is: Show me where that s at. I do not mean Show me where that s at in the Bible. That is a different spirit. What I mean to say is: Show me where that s at. What you are asking is show me where that part of your doctrine actually appears as a philosophy anywhere in scriptures. Some of the most common replies you will hear are, Well, I know it s in there, or I know it s in the Bible somewhere. Understand that when you begin to challenge people to show you, that they will also challenge you to show them. You are going to have to have, and to use the right tools. It does no good to have all the right tools if you do not know how to use them. Through proper teaching you can have the right tools. Yeshua tells us to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Right now we are living in a political season. Today there is the Republican doctrine; the Democratic doctrine, the Libertarian doctrine, and the Independent doctrine. There are all kinds of doctrines floating around, and people will tell you only what they think you want to hear. Luke 12:1 says: In the meantime when they were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, He began to say unto His disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Now Yeshua takes this to a whole different level. He says first of all, beware of the doctrines. He says that under that doctrine, what they are teaching is hypocritical. It is hypocrisy because the bottom line is that any doctrine that does not line up with, nor stand up to the scrutiny of the book is another false teaching. The word doctrine here actually means instruction. The Greek word for this is (G1322) didache (did-ahk-ay), meaning something that has been taught. (Mt 28:18) And Yeshua came and spake unto them, saying, All power in heaven and in earth. Now let me ask you a question. How much power was left in heaven? If Yeshua had it all, how much was left? This is one of the most difficult things in all of my years of ministry that I ve had to communicate to people and for them to receive. It is difficult for people to understand 5

6 this because religion has taught us that Satan has some power. Let me remind you that Yeshua said that Satan has been put where under your feet. That is where he has been put. He was defeated at Calvary. He has absolutely no power other than what you give him, because Yeshua has all the power. So then if Yeshua has all the power, then how much power is left none. This is why we don t have to fear Satan. We don t have to fear demons. We don t have to fear anything because the Father has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind. That is not arrogance, that s the Bible. Yeshua says, All power is given unto me. I am not concerned about life on Mars. I m really not, so the devil can wield all the power he wants to on Mars or Jupiter or Saturn. He has free rein. There are only two places that I am concerned about: heaven and earth. My Bible teaches me that in heaven and in earth Yeshua has all power, so I don t have to concern myself with Satan. Neither should you be concerned unless you are giving place to him, and that is where you have to close the door if there are doors open. Somewhere into these teachings we are going to look into spiritual warfare. Yeshua says: (Mt 28:19) Go ye therefore and teach all nations Basically what He is saying is to go and make disciples. Go and make disciples of all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Go and teach them. He says not only are you to go, but you are to make sure that you have the right message. You are not to go forth trying to establish a denomination. You are not to go forth to take the doctrine of your church. You are to go forth and teach the people to observe the things that Yeshua has commanded you to observe. You are not to teach what the church tells you to do, unless what the church tells you that what you need to do lines up with His Word. I have been in many churches; and as a matter of fact I was not going to say this, but let me give you just a little history of where I come from. Some of you know that I have been the lead pastor in a charismatic, a Pentecostal, a Christian Reformed, a Missouri Synod Lutheran and an independent church. I was the one who was doing the teaching, the preaching, and the discipleship. I understand how denominational ministry works. Not only have I been the lead pastor in these places, but I have also taught. Some would call me a professor in a now defunct Bible college. I have taught students in Bible colleges. I have lectured in permanent seminaries. I have lead conferences. I was on an assessment team of seven people who were responsible for planting denominational churches around the world. I have extensively traveled. I have been in some of the companies where I could drop some names, but none of that is important. What is important, and the reason why I am sharing this with you, is that I have seen how things operate. I know the things that go on in these places, and how they are designed to tie you into an allegiance to a denomination. It is not about following Messiah. It is about How do I climb the corporate ladder in this structure, and everybody wants to get next to the pastor. They want to go into the room where the guard is keeping the regular folks out of when the guests come. Do you know that room? Many of you have gone to these conferences. All of the people 6

7 who are on the platform go into the room that you can t go into. They have the back-stage pass. Man, I ve done the back-stage thing. So it s really not about that. The fact is that many of these individuals are building their ministry, and not building or making disciples after Messiah. As a result, we have a weak, anemic church structure. You find people who are dependent upon folks to feed them when they ought to be teaching themselves, feeding themselves and feeding other people. It is a shame that many people today do not feel that they can minister without the sanction of some church body. So here I am teaching. And some of my peers would say, What are you doing? Man, you really shouldn t be doing that because you re undermining the whole system and how we ve been built. Well, I did undermine things when I walked away from it. But what we re supposed to teach is how people are to become followers of Messiah. We are not teaching people to be the model adherent to a denominational structure. Yeshua says: (Matt 28:20b) Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the world. Now when I saw this little phrase a few years ago, it really jumped out at me. And, lo, I am with you always. What this said to me was okay, He is with me always if I m going therefore. But what if I m not? What if I am not going and teaching others to observe the things that He commanded? Is He still with me at that point? Do you think that He is with me as I am trying to build a kingdom for myself? If I am doing this, then it is no different than the Tower of Babel. There are many out there who are building the Tower of Babel. These are known as denominations. They ve got their hierarchy. They ve got their person on the top of the food chain that everyone bows down to; and who cannot wait until you die so they can have their turn. Folks, this is the way a lot of the denominations are currently set up. Folks, this is the way a lot of this is set up. I was reading just the other day. I don t know if any of you are familiar with this, but there was a prominent church pastor who died in a hotel in New York. His was a mysterious death, and they won t release the autopsy. There has been a massive fight over his congregation down in Florida. Some of the well-known, prominent bishops are on the board. Somehow a person by the name of Paula White (a single female), has maneuvered her way into the pastorship of this particular denomination. The pastor s wife; who was also a pastor, has been ousted. Not to mention, there is so much mess and then you have all of these well-meaning Christians who are saying, Well listen, we shouldn t judge. We should be praying. But what does this mean? It means Folks, wake up! We must beware any time we find a pastor who is settling out of court, or who is accused of molesting boys for example, so that the trial does not go public. Listen well, because you should want that story to be made public. If you have a pedophile in the pulpit, then guess what you may also find in some of the pews? When we understand spiritual warfare, we know that everything is spirit. When you come into contact with people, you are either transferring spirits onto them, 7

8 or they are transferring spirits onto you. If you are weak and passive, you will become the receiver and that is another message. The Great Commission as it was termed, became a tool for evangelism. Then it changed from making disciples, to getting people saved. This is what the mission of the church is today. We are going to have crusades and we are going to give people an opportunity to give their life to Jesus. But where did this come from since it is not discipleship; it is evangelism. It is not even biblical evangelism. Read the book of Acts. When Phillip went down to Samaria, what did he do? He went along casting out devils, healing the sick, raising the dead; and there was great joy. What did the apostles do when they heard? They went down so that they might bring order and structure to the peoples lives. This was needed because when you come out of a disorderly environment and there is no structure or order in your life; how many of you know that you will operate based upon the disorder and the dysfunction in which you have lived. You become self-destructive in your freedom. This is one of the reasons why the Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt because they did not know how to handle freedom. When you have people telling you what to do and ruling over you; and now all of a sudden you have to think for yourself, then that s scary folks. And some of the scariest people I ve met are church people. I m telling you they scare me. I came out of the world and into the church and then all of a sudden it is like, Wow. I thought I came out of the world. I just came into the world. I left the world to come into the world. Seriously! You have people who want others to tell them what to do, but they rebel against being told what to do. What a paradox! Who died and made you chief? Do you have a word for me? What is God saying to you? Will you pray for me? Pray for yourself! Now, hold it. I know that didn t sound right. But I ll tell you this: If you are not praying for yourself, you can get everyone in the world to pray for you, and there are those who live on the prayers of others. But the bottom line is that I have not found such a people like I have found in the church where people want other people to tell them what to do. What happens if you try to give people freedom and to let them think for themselves and to make their own decisions? They often make a mess of their lives. Pastors then feel, I have to bring some discipline, structure, control; and now you guys can no longer move without my okay. I ve seen you. You move and you mess things up. This is why a lot of churches are so controlling; because the people force the congregation leaders to control them. They are messy, and then you can add the little antics to it and what have you got? So the Great Commission went from making disciples to getting people saved. Notice what the focus is in the churches salvation. The messages are salvation messages. (Mt 23:15) Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one convert (to get one person saved or to make a proselyte), and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. 8

9 What have they done? They have conformed the people to their denomination. You see, the Pharisees were a denomination. The Sadducees were a denomination. A (G4339) proselutos (pros-ay-loo-tos) is one who is basically a convert to Judaism. The Pharisees were making converts just like the Baptists are making converts today. How do the Baptists make converts? Listen. What you need to do is to shake the preacher s hand and then we re going to pray a prayer of salvation. Now repeat this prayer after me. And then after they have prayed the prayer of salvation, what are they going to do next? They have to baptize them. After baptism, then what is next? They enter a new member s class. Why they must go to the new member s class is to get indoctrinated. I thought that when I gave my heart to Jesus, I was a new member in the body of Christ. Well yeah, that is the Catholic and the universal body. But you also need to be part of a local body. According to the denominations, you need to have someone who has jurisdiction, someone who can pray for your family and marry your sons and daughters and bury you. They don t want you to die when your name is not on the church roll. But come on, folks. Oh my god that means I have to have a funeral at the funeral home. I can t have my funeral in the church. Today religion is making proselytes. It is making converts and members of denominations; NOT DISCIPLES. And discipleship is the commission. But what is a disciple? A disciple, according to the Greek, is mathetes meaning a learner, a pupil of a teacher like the disciples of John the Baptist (Mt 9:14), like the Pharisees had disciples (Mt 22:16), Moses had disciples (John 9:28). And usually it refers to the followers of Yeshua, specifically the twelve (e.g. Mt 10:1; 11:1), who became apostles. The term disciple comes to us in English from a Latin root word. Its basic meaning is to be a learner; a pupil. Some think that the term is actually absent from the Old Testament, but it is there. There are two related references found in the Hebrew Scriptures. If you don t search for these, you won t find them (1 Chronicles 25:8; Isa 8:16). And this is what they say: (1 Ch 25:8) And they cast lots ward against ward, as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar. Now, when you hear the term scholar, what do you think? You think of a person who is learned. But here the scholar is a disciple. It is a talmiyd. That is where we get the word (H8527) talmiyd, which is in the plural is talmiydim, from the word scholar; a pupil. In Isaiah 8:16 the actual word in the King James is, Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. There you have the word (H3928) limmuwd, which means the instructed, accustomed, disciple, learned and taught. This is the person who is being instructed; the person that you are teaching your customs. This is the person who is learning from you. 9

10 Discipleship Models In essence, we are all disciples. The Greek discipleship model (and here is where it gets a little interesting), was chosen by the disciples to become a student; just as we have school systems today where our parents sent us to school, or homeschooled us. There was an era a few years ago where neighborhoods commonly attracted certain families based upon the school system. People moved into certain neighborhoods so their children could go to a specific school. I am amazed sometimes. Because I am so involved in the community, I understand how there were parents who live in other communities and who are willing to drive their children to a different community; and use an address in that community (a cousin or friend), so their children can go to the school in that community. I would sometimes sit back and watch the school buses. Children would get off the school bus; walk down the street, and into a car which would then drive off. I was involved in the school systems. We brought children from the schools into our center. We created programs for afterschool children. So I would hear of, and watch these things. The parent would choose the school so that the child could choose the college they want. They would work at getting a certain scholarship to a certain college. Typically it is the student who chooses the school they want to go to for their higher learning. That is a Greek education model. In the church you have people who choose the church they want to attend. Very few people are led by the Spirit. They make a mental, and not a spiritual decision. They sometimes make a decision about what church they will attend based upon the building, the programs, or what is available for the children or the teens. I know people who take their children to churches that have a children s ministry, although they themselves won t go to the same church. You may know people like that, and I won t go there. But since there is a great children s ministry, they just take their children over there and then go wherever they want to go. Then they pick up their children later and they don t realize that this causes confusion. In the Greek model, the student chooses the teacher. In the Greek world, the word for disciple normally referred to an adherent of a particular teacher or religious/philosophical school. It was the task of the disciple to learn, to study, and to pass along the sayings and teachings of the master. The Rabbinic/Pharisee model was the same; where the disciple chose the teacher. The student decided who they wanted as their teacher. In Rabbinic Judaism, the term disciple referred to one who was committed to the interpretation of Scripture and religious traditions. When you begin to deal with the issue of traditions, there is a Messianic siddur or prayer book. Some of you have probably seen one. It has Hebrew and English text. A Messianic Shabbat siddur has its particular prayers. A Messianic High Holy Day holiday siddur also has specific prayers for specific holy days. All of these are books that Messianic Judaism follows. I have my haftorahs (readings) and chumash (printed Torah) and all of that other stuff, but I do not put them on display because I know people. They may see this stuff and say, Well, how can I get one of those? The truth is that you don t really need it. Remember what Yeshua says Beware. Most people are not even listening. You have too many Messianics in Messianic Judaism who are davening (sway or rock lightly in prayer). 10

11 Okay everybody, let s turn east. It is amazing to go to some of these places where people are praying to the east and they don t have a clue as to where it comes from. Do you know that after awhile, the Christian church developed traditions surrounding Christmas; began to pull scripture into the Christmas holiday, and ultimately pulled Christmas into the scriptures! How did they do this? Every Christmas morning the family gathers around and reads about the birth of Jesus. They created these traditions around paganism. Somehow they think that by attributing particular scriptures to a particular pagan ritual, that it makes the ritual suddenly holy. So now a pagan Christmas becomes holy. Christmas now becomes the birthday of Jesus. The next thing you know, the manger is on the church lawn. The wreath is on the church door. The lights are all around the church building. The Christmas tree is in the pulpit; and Santa Claus is reading to the children in the church basement! Just as traditions can be associated with pagan rituals, the Messianics also associate scripture or philosophy to pagan rituals; such as praying to the east. They do not even understand where this began. Folks, there is so much to know, and I am not here to pick on anyone. But what I am trying to help you understand is that you are going to find out that there are Rabbinic models. One of the Rabbinic models I encountered as I began to deal with this, was Hillel. How many of you have ever heard of this? If you have been in the Messianic movement, you have probably heard of Hillel. Have you heard of Shammai? Okay, which one of these were associated with Yeshua s teachings? You see, now the Messianics want to attribute the teachings of Yeshua to a school of Hillel or a school of Shammai. He must have been from one of these schools, right? But wait a minute. Didn t He say beware of hallel? Well, He did not say beware of hallel. He said beware of the Pharisees. But what do you think hallel was? And so I have Messianic friends out there who want to push Messianic Judaism upon you. And they ll get you too, because people want to be told what to do. You know that the Bible says that ten Gentiles are going to grab the tzitzit (tassels) of one Jew. Well, it seems like the Jew you are following doesn t even wear tzitzits! Now they want to get philosophical. People, when Yeshua says beware, then you had better beware; because if you are not careful you will find yourself in a system that is worse than the system you came out of. In Rabbinic Judaism, the term disciple referred to one who was committed to the interpretation of scripture and religious traditions given to him by the master or rabbi. Through a process of learning which included a set meeting time, and such methods as question-andanswer, instruction, repetition, and memorization; the disciple would become increasingly devoted to the master and the master s teachings. Over time the disciple would likewise pass on the traditions to others. The Church model, which is a combination of the Greek and Rabbinic models (and this is where the disciple chooses), the student chooses who he wants to disciple him. The Church model on the other hand, makes converts. The Church model teaches salvation versus discipleship, so its mission is to add people to the roll, and to get people saved. They keep track of, and ask how many people came to the Lord this year. How many people did you baptize this year? How many did you add? What s your numbers? What are you running? 11

12 And so this model is now a prescribed denominational formula. They ask, How do you guys baptize? Do you baptize in the name of Jesus? Do you baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Ghost? Do you baptize in the name of Yeshua? Do you dunk? Do you sprinkle? So you spit? They believe you have to have the right formula. As far as catechism goes, how many of you have ever been in catechism? Catechism is a method of discipleship from youth. You go through catechism if you are part of certain denominations including Catholics, Reformed, Protestant Reformed, Lutheran, Episcopalian, or Anglican. How many of you have ever been to new members class? I bet most all of you. They will tell you, Here is what we teach at this church. One you go through new members class, they will have you get into some kind of Bible class so they can teach you how to go out there and win souls for Jesus. They make it really interesting because right above the door there is a sign saying, Now You Are Entering the Mission Field. And of course if you want to be ordained and licensed, you are told you must go to Bible College or seminary. Then there is Yeshua s model. Yeshua s model is that His disciples were chosen by Him. You could not just come and follow Him. He chose you. But did you get this? He chose His disciples among those who chose to follow Him. There was a weeding-out process. (Lk 6:12-13) One of those days Yeshua went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to Elohim. When morning came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them. How many do you think there were? There were hundreds of them. Remember that after he sent out the twelve, he sent out seventy-two. When he resurrected, he showed himself to over 500. There were multitudes of disciples. He went up, He prayed, and the Father said, I want you to choose these. Many of you know that one of them was a devil. (Lk 6:13-16) When morning came He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated apostles. Simon (who He named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot (or Canaanite), Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. Yeshua taught by example, and by modeling. He taught by demonstration, and He taught daily and nightly because His disciples were with Him day and night. Many of you know that He is with His disciples now day and night, among those who are aware of His presence. How did He test His disciples? He tested them by sending them out. When He sent them to the towns and villages that He was going to go to, He gave them specific instructions. He told them what to do; what to take, and where to go. (John 13:15) I ve set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 12

13 After He washed the disciple s feet, He said, Listen, what I am doing here is that I am demonstrating by example how I want you to live. Yeshua taught by example, and He taught us to also teach by example. This is what He said in the Great Commission: The things that I have taught you, you go out and teach others. He did not say for you to go out and teach something else; you are to go out and teach what He taught. Most people did not learn from Him. Instead they learned from the church. When they go out, what are they taking? They are taking what they learned from the church. They are taking the denomination. They are trying to get people back into the church; and every church is doing this. (John 13:16-17) I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (1 Pe 2:21) To this you were called, because Messiah suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. So what did he do? He left us an example. He was an example, and He taught by example. (Acts 1:1) The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. What did Yeshua do? He taught, but he also did things. He put His doing before His teaching. He went out and He healed the sick, and He raised the dead. He cast out devils and gave the blind sight. He did a lot of miracles before He taught a single sermon. Then He said, Now disciples, this is what I want you to do. I want you to go forth. You know, I m discipling some brothers in Pakistan, and do you know the main thing that they want? First they want teaching, but most of all, do you know how churches are growing in Pakistan? They are growing through prayers. When a person gets healed, people flock to the church. The Father had me specifically ask the name of a boy that I was praying for, and his name was Alpha. I prayed for Alpha, and Alpha was healed. The pastor said that that week his church started growing because someone got healed in his ministry by a preacher in America. When Yeshua sent out his disciples, He said, I want you to go forth. Before he gave them the instructions to preach the acceptable year, he said, Heal the sick, raise the dead. He wanted them to demonstrate the power of the Almighty. That is also your testimony. If you demonstrate the power of the Almighty, then the people will recognize your ministry as authentic. Those who are willing to do this may hear some people claim the healing is the devil, in the same way people said Yeshua cast out demons by the power of the devil. When we were in Oregon and people were getting healed and delivered in this Messianic environment, folks were looking for fault. Instead of rejoicing with the people who got healed, they were looking for fault in order to discredit the ministry. They would say things such as, How dare you bring that Pentecostal ministry up here. We re Messianics; we don t do that. 13

14 That is probably why they have all those sick people there. That s why you have all these demonic forces in here. That s why you have all these mean people in here...these radical people, these rebellious people. The Messianic community is full of rebels who do not want anyone to tell them what to do. Many of them might be looking for a jungle where they can raise their vegetables and hide from the government. But this is not what Yeshua called you for. He did not say, Go hide. He said to go out and teach. Maybe you are thinking, I m just looking for my 40 acres and a mule. If so, then that is sad folks. Some people are trying to get as far away from civilization as they possibly can with their underground jars and water systems. When the conspiracy theories unfold, they will be proven right because they and their family will be in a bunker somewhere where the nuclear waste can t get them. Folks, come on. You re all going to die; all of us. We ve got a role and we ve got a job. We are the entity in the earth. If YeHoVaH s people check out, the world becomes the devil s playground. The only thing that is stopping the devil from taking complete control is because of the authority that we have. But if we are not walking in our authority and our power and going forth as the Messiah said, then guess what? He is not with you. And so we see: (Acts 1:2) Until the day which He was taken up Now notice that Yeshua taught, taught, taught, and taught. He died, resurrected, came back, and taught some more. He wanted to make sure they got His message. I can just see Him saying, Now you all got it now, right?...as He s going up... All right you got it? You got it? Don t make me have to come back! I m coming baaaack! Up until that very day He left, He taught. From the time that Yeshua chose His disciples until He departed from them, He was constantly teaching, constantly training, constantly demonstrating. He knew His time was short. He did it day and night for (by some standards) 70 weeks. By other standards there is a greater majority who teach three and a half years to Yeshua s ministry, and there are a small handful of people who are teaching it was only 70 weeks. No matter how much time He was here; whether it was 70 weeks or three and a half years, every day and every night He was teaching His disciples every day and every night. (Mt 4:18) And Yeshua walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren. And so we see here in the above verse that He begins to call them... 14

15 Review Exercise 1. The Sadducees ran the ; the Pharisees ran the. 2. The Great Commission went from making to getting people. 3. Yeshua taught by. He taught by. He taught by. 15

16 Answers 1. The Sadducees ran the Temple; the Pharisees ran the synagogue. 2. The Great Commission went from making disciples to getting people saved. 3. Yeshua taught by example. He taught by modeling. He taught by demonstrating. 16

17 Rate the following statements by filling in the most appropriate number. Objectives: (1 = I do not agree 10 = I agree completely) 1. I will be able to teach others what is meant by these terms; denomination, doctrine, traditions, leaven, and disciple I can explain to others Yeshua s cautions concerning religious leadership and traditions I will be able to model Yeshua s pattern of discipleship and how it differs from what is widely experienced by believers today

18 My Journal What I learned from this class: 18