Discipleship Essentials*
Sunday, October 10, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, As we embark on our Discipleship Essentials “journey,” I pray that You will pour out Your Holy Spirit among us, that we may come to know You in a deeper, fuller way, and be emboldened to share the Good News of Jesus with our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates and all with whom we come into contact each day. I pray that You will truly make us into a church where people become disciples and then make disciples who make disciples who make disciples! Glorify Yourself in this whole process that Your Kingdom may advance and people all over western Pennsylvania acknowledge You as Lord. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God’s Word Today
Ephesians 4:11-16
11He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, 13until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.
14Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. 15Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Background on the Text – Who Wrote It? Why Was It Written? Who Was the Audience?
Most biblical scholars agree that the letter to the Ephesian church was written by the Apostle Paul. Some doubt this since it doesn’t contain the usual personal greetings, and because it has a great deal of verbal similarity to the parts of the letter to the Colossians. This can be easily explained though, by virtue of the reality that the letter was probably written about the same time as the letter to the Colossians, around A.D. 60, when Paul was imprisoned in Rome; and by recognizing that every church in that day in ours has similar challenges to face in seeking to be faithful to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It is quite possible that the letter to the Ephesians may have been intended as a circular to be read in other churches in surrounding cities, which would explain the somewhat more generic nature of the letter when compared to Philippians or the Thessalonian letters, for example.
Observation – What Does the Text Say?
Interpretation – What Does the Text Mean?
Application – How Can I Respond to the Text’s Insights and Teachings?
Each Week’s Check List.
After reading and studying this text, reflect on the following discipleship growth points:
Growth Point |
How |
Encouraged and strengthened me by |
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Fallen short areas |
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What will I do with these insights? |
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What did God say to me today? |
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Share insights and growth points |
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Changed/transformed how? |
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Thoughts...An Inductive Approach!
As we launch our seven week Discipleship Essentials emphasis, we are going to go about the daily reading time in a little different way—a way more in keeping with the whole Discipleship Essentials process—and that is through a more inductive approach. Rather than having me ask questions about the text or asking how you interpret a certain aspect of the text or what can be gleaned about the God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit from the reading, as I have often done in the past, we are going to give you the opportunity to read the text and then let the text “speak for itself,” obviously with the aid of the Holy Spirit in you life. I’ll be giving you some background about who wrote the passages we will be studying, why they were written, to whom, and so on. Then you will have the opportunity to consider what the text says, what it means and how it applies in your life right now. In addition to that you will have a daily check list where you will be able to consider growth points and how you are hitting or missing the mark in each one.
I will still be offering my thoughts on the texts at various points, but you will have a much greater opportunity each day to let God use the text to speak to you and move you to action. May God richly bless you as you dig deeper into His word and seek not only to know about Him, but to know Him more fully!