Discipleship Essentials*
Saturday, November 27, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for using Jesus to ransom me to Yourself! Thank You for providing salvation, when there was no way I could provide it for myself. I pray that You will live in me with all Your fullness. This I ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God’s Word Today
Revelation 5
(Due to the extensive length of this week’s Scripture, we will focus on chapter 4 on Sunday-Tuesday; and Chapter 5 on Wednesday-Saturday! Thanks.)
1And I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals. 2And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice: “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and unroll it?” 3But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it.
4Then I wept because no one could be found who was worthy to open the scroll and read it. 5But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has conquered. He is worthy to open the scroll and break its seven seals.”
6I looked and I saw a Lamb that had been killed but was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God that are sent out into every part of the earth. 7He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. 8And as he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense—the prayers of God’s people!
9And they sang a new song with these words:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and break its seals and open it.
For you were killed, and your blood has ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10And you have caused them to become God’s kingdom and his priests.
And they will reign on the earth.”
11Then I looked again, and I heard the singing of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and the living beings and the elders. 12And they sang in a mighty chorus:
“The Lamb is worthy—the Lamb who was killed.
He is worthy to receive power and riches
and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessing.”
13And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They also sang:
“Blessing and honor and glory and power
belong to the one sitting on the throne
and to the Lamb forever and ever.”
14And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped God and the Lamb.
Background on the Text – Who Wrote It? Why Was It Written? Who Was the Audience?
The audience was the persecuted church in John’s day, and the message still holds greater relevance to persecuted Christians than to those living in ease. That’s because the message we find from start to finish in the Book of Revelation is that God IS in charge, and that faithfulness to the END, brings great reward!
Observation – What Does the Text Say?
(Specifically look at the bold verses, if any, to answer these questions.)
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...Discipleship Essentials Emphasis Comes to a Close Today!
It’s hard to believe, but we’ve come to the conclusion of our Discipleship Essentials Daily Readings. Forty-nine readings on seven topics conclude today as we wrap up our week of study on worship. I hope you’ll remember that after our one week introduction to Discipleship Essentials, we moved on to six weeks of focus on the first six sessions in Greg Ogden’s Discipleship Essentials. Those six sessions included the following topics: making disciples, being a disciple, quiet time, bible study, prayer and worship. Now many of you will continue on with your study of the other 18 Discipleship Essential lessons, which will provide you with plenty of daily study time and questions to answer! In addition, the daily readings will move to our focus for December – Preparing the Way for the Lord! Pastor Tim and I have been prayerfully considering the future of daily readings at New Life come the New Year. We have been providing them daily for more than three years now, and with Discipleship Essentials now solidly in place, and only a handful of folks using the daily readings, we’re considering several options: Discontinue offering the daily readings at the close of 2004, in which case we encourage you to continue on with Discipleship Essentials, or if you’re not involved with DE right now, get involved OR pick up a copy of My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers or Mornings and Evenings, by Charles Spurgeon, both outstanding daily devotional reading guides. The other option is to continue writing Daily Readings into 2005. We definitely want to do that if the readings, which would continue to focus on the Scripture and message for the week. We’d love to have your input into this, so if you have an opinion, please jot it down on a piece of paper and give it to us, send us an e-mail! Thanks, and God bless. Pastor Chris