How To Spot A Real Christian

Disciple Versus Christian Label

0:00 SPEAKER_00: How to spot a true disciple or claiming Christian of Jesus True Christianity, according to the New Testament, is not claiming a label, attending services, or holding cultural identity.

0:13 SPEAKER_00: It is about becoming a disciple.

0:16 SPEAKER_00: One who is actively following Jesus under his discipline.

0:20 SPEAKER_00: The term Christian was originally given by outsiders to the early disciples, not something they claimed for themselves.

0:29 SPEAKER_00: Disciples do not claim to be a Christian.

0:32 SPEAKER_00: That is they are disciples.

0:35 SPEAKER_00: The early followers were known as disciples.

0:37 SPEAKER_00: It was unbelievers in Antioch who first called them Christians.

0:42 SPEAKER_00: Christian was a derogatory label, but cultural Christianity of today uses it to market a watered down gospel call.

0:50 SPEAKER_00: Acts eleven twenty six.

0:53 SPEAKER_00: The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

0:57 SPEAKER_00: Note now how Jesus, just before going back to heaven, commands that the apostles make disciples Matthew chapter twenty eight nineteen Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.

Christians Named By Outsiders

1:12 SPEAKER_00: two disciples live under the discipline of Jesus.

1:16 SPEAKER_00: Disciples submit to Jesus' training, inspiration and correction, even when it is painful.

1:26 SPEAKER_00: No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.

1:30 SPEAKER_00: Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

1:38 SPEAKER_00: three.

1:39 SPEAKER_00: Disciples hear and follow the voice of God.

1:42 SPEAKER_00: Everything centers on an intimate relationship with Jesus, hearing his voice and obeying it.

1:48 SPEAKER_00: Disciples hate their own lives and seek only to obey God's will at all times.

1:55 SPEAKER_00: twenty seven My Sheep listen to my voice, I know them, and they follow me.

2:02 SPEAKER_00: four.

2:03 SPEAKER_00: Disciples are led toward the cross, suffering and self denial.

Discipline, God’s Voice, And The Cross

2:09 SPEAKER_00: Jesus' path consistently leads toward a suffering cross full of dying to self and not comfort or worldly success.

2:16 SPEAKER_00: Disciples know and understand that the only way sin is put to death in a person's life is by suffering in their body against sin.

2:28 SPEAKER_00: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

2:34 SPEAKER_00: Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.

2:46 SPEAKER_00: five.

2:47 SPEAKER_00: Disciples are not motivated by politics or nationalism.

2:51 SPEAKER_00: Disciples see themselves as citizens only of heaven and as aliens and strangers on earth.

2:58 SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter eleven verses thirteen through sixteen.

3:01 SPEAKER_00: They admitted they were aliens and strangers on earth, longing for a better country, a heavenly one.

3:09 SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter eleven verse sixteen instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one.

3:16 SPEAKER_00: Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

3:23 SPEAKER_00: They do not seek to make any earthly nation Christian, for they understand the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

3:32 SPEAKER_00: six.

3:33 SPEAKER_00: Disciples despise the dollar and all wealth.

3:37 SPEAKER_00: Disciples do not serve both God and wealth.

3:46 SPEAKER_00: seven.

3:48 SPEAKER_00: A disciple's only family is God's family.

3:52 SPEAKER_00: While disciples love all of mankind by the power of God's selfless love, there is no earthly love for family.

3:59 SPEAKER_00: A disciple has no idols, for they love God with all.

4:03 SPEAKER_00: See the greatest command located at Matthew chapter twenty two thirty seven.

4:09 SPEAKER_00: A life filled with loving God with all has no room for any other likes or loves.

4:14 SPEAKER_00: It is out of this all that allows one the freedom to properly love those they call family.

4:20 SPEAKER_00: Luke fourteen verses twenty five twenty seven.

4:24 SPEAKER_00: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, he cannot be my disciple.

4:30 SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter twelve verses forty eight through fifty.

4:33 SPEAKER_00: Who is my mother?

4:35 SPEAKER_00: And who are my brothers?

4:36 SPEAKER_00: Whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

4:41 SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter nine sixty one through sixty two.

4:45 SPEAKER_00: Jesus warns against looking back even to say goodbye to family when called to follow.

4:51 SPEAKER_00: In fact, disciples are fully aware that Jesus left heaven to bring division, to divide powerfully those who love God from those who reject him, while the disciple is never to blame for the division, he or she who, as a disciple, cannot stop the presence of God from causing divisions.

No Nationalism, No Love Of Money

5:09 SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter ten verses thirty four thirty six Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

5:16 SPEAKER_00: I do not come to bring peace but a sword, for I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter in law against her mother in law.

5:26 SPEAKER_00: A man's enemies will be the members of his own household.

5:31 SPEAKER_00: eight.

5:32 SPEAKER_00: Disciples work out their salvation with fear and trembling.

5:36 SPEAKER_00: Disciples take their faith seriously and actively pursue holiness.

5:40 SPEAKER_00: Determining God's will requires serious effort, purity and working it out to understand what God desires.

5:48 SPEAKER_00: Philippians chapter two verse twelve.

5:50 SPEAKER_00: Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

5:54 SPEAKER_00: Second Peter chapter one Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.

6:01 SPEAKER_00: nine.

6:02 SPEAKER_00: They have counted the cost.

6:04 SPEAKER_00: True discipleship requires total surrender all the time.

6:08 SPEAKER_00: Jesus urges people to calculate the one hundred percent price before even considering becoming a disciple.

6:15 SPEAKER_00: Luke fourteen verses twenty seven through thirty three.

6:18 SPEAKER_00: Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

6:24 SPEAKER_00: Jesus compares following him to those who are seeking to build the tower without total commitment.

6:30 SPEAKER_00: A lack of commitment and surrendering of all will only lead to failure and ridicule.

6:36 SPEAKER_00: Word all includes all of one's personal goals, careers, pleasures, and so on.

6:43 SPEAKER_00: This is one reason Jesus demands that to become a disciple a person has to hate their own life.

6:50 SPEAKER_00: ten.

6:51 SPEAKER_00: Disciples were saved through repentance and water baptism.

Family Loyalty Put To The Test

6:55 SPEAKER_00: Disciples know baptism is the moment of conversion and cleansing.

7:00 SPEAKER_00: It is at that water baptism point that one is born again.

7:04 SPEAKER_00: Disciples understand the foolishness of mocking a believer's prayer or just asking Jesus into one's heart.

7:11 SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter two thirty eight.

7:13 SPEAKER_00: Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

7:23 SPEAKER_00: This water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also, the pledge of a good conscience toward God.

7:30 SPEAKER_00: Disciples have surrendered to the full message of the new life and experience of the blood, spirit, and water of Jesus at the moment of baptism.

7:39 SPEAKER_00: This is why the apostle John declares that accepting God's testimony of water, blood, and spirit is believing according to the truth of Jesus.

7:48 SPEAKER_00: One reason there is so much failure among Christians is their foundation is faulty and not solid.

7:54 SPEAKER_00: According to John chapter five.

8:00 SPEAKER_00: Who is it that overcomes the world?

8:02 SPEAKER_00: Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

8:06 SPEAKER_00: This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ.

8:10 SPEAKER_00: He did not come by water only, but by water and blood.

8:14 SPEAKER_00: And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth, for there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement.

8:26 SPEAKER_00: eleven.

8:27 SPEAKER_00: They are filled with God's love, thus a servant to others.

8:31 SPEAKER_00: The greatest in the kingdom are those who serve the most.

8:34 SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter twenty three eleven.

8:37 SPEAKER_00: The greatest among you will be your servant.

8:40 SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter twelve verse nine.

8:42 SPEAKER_00: Love must be sincere, hate what is evil, cling to what is good.

Count The Cost With Total Surrender

8:48 SPEAKER_00: twelve.

8:49 SPEAKER_00: They begin each day in full surrender.

8:52 SPEAKER_00: They offer themselves daily as living sacrifices to determine God's will and to accept his cleansing power to deal with sin.

8:59 SPEAKER_00: Disciples understand this as practical, real, and seen as they are offering their bodies for God to work and will as He did through Jesus.

9:08 SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter twelve one.

9:11 SPEAKER_00: Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

9:15 SPEAKER_00: This is your spiritual act of worship.

9:19 SPEAKER_00: thirteen.

9:20 SPEAKER_00: They hate their own life in this world.

9:22 SPEAKER_00: Disciples seek eternal life rather than earthly comforts and ambitions.

9:29 SPEAKER_00: The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

9:36 SPEAKER_00: fourteen.

9:37 SPEAKER_00: Disciples are persecuted.

9:39 SPEAKER_00: Following Jesus leads to opposition from the world.

9:43 SPEAKER_00: Luke six twenty two twenty three.

9:46 SPEAKER_00: Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

9:54 SPEAKER_00: Second Timothy chapter three verse twelve, in fact.

9:57 SPEAKER_00: Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

10:02 SPEAKER_00: fifteen.

10:03 SPEAKER_00: Disciples love fellow disciples so deeply that it looks like a cult to Naysayers.

10:09 SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter twenty eight twenty two.

10:12 SPEAKER_00: But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.

10:18 SPEAKER_00: sixteen.

10:19 SPEAKER_00: Disciples of Jesus will be betrayed, taken advantage of and called to love the false.

10:33 SPEAKER_00: Yet one of you is a devil.

10:35 SPEAKER_00: He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the twelve, was later to betray him.

10:42 SPEAKER_00: Summary The Great Commission Jesus did not command us to make converts or cultural Christians, he commanded us to make disciples.

Repentance, Baptism, And A Solid Foundation

10:51 SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter twenty eight verses nineteen through twenty.

10:54 SPEAKER_00: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

11:01 SPEAKER_00: This is a high standard, one that demands radical obedience, self denial, and separation from the values of the world, especially the religious world.

11:11 SPEAKER_00: Many who call themselves Christians today do not meet these biblical marks.

11:16 SPEAKER_00: According to Jesus and the apostles, genuine faith produces a transformed life that looks like the one described above.

11:24 SPEAKER_00: These are the basics.

11:25 SPEAKER_00: True discipleship is a lifelong journey of surrender, suffering, and joy in following Jesus.

11:32 SPEAKER_00: Discipleship is an ever increasing obedience to the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, as one suffers in their bodies against sin while picking up a cross to follow the guidance of God.

11:43 SPEAKER_00: The book Even the Demons Believe.

11:47 SPEAKER_00: For more information, look for the free book entitled Even the Demons Believe by Timothy Williams, located at www.consider.info.

11:58 SPEAKER_00: A review of the book Even the Demons Believe.

12:01 SPEAKER_00: Quote JF, who lived in Brazil, said of the book, Even the Demons Believe.

12:07 SPEAKER_00: I would like to tell you that I'm doing chapter seven right now.

12:10 SPEAKER_00: It's the second time I've read the book.

12:13 SPEAKER_00: Even the Demons Believe, and I think it's an impacting book, literally impacting.

12:18 SPEAKER_00: Let us say, the first time you read it, you get shocked, outraged, and maybe sort of mad at the author.

12:24 SPEAKER_00: However, a second reading makes you go deep into your own spiritual life and church experiences.

12:30 SPEAKER_00: I presume it's gotten people exactly where Pastor Williams wanted them to be, cornered and faced off by their own attitude toward the Almighty.

12:39 SPEAKER_00: If you're interested in the full and complete gospel message before becoming a disciple of Jesus, then the book, even the demons believe, might prove helpful.

The Full Message And A Self-Test

12:50 SPEAKER_00: The Full Message Sad to say, most have been taught a partial message, whereas God commands that the full message, the full, complete, and total offensive message of the cross be preached.

13:02 SPEAKER_00: Anything less than the full message is not the gospel call to a new life.

13:07 SPEAKER_00: Acts five verses eighteen through twenty.

13:10 SPEAKER_00: They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail, but during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.

13:17 SPEAKER_00: Go, stand in the temple courts, he said, and tell the people the full message of this new life.

13:24 SPEAKER_00: As the angel told the apostle Peter in Acts five, verse twenty, go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of this new life.

13:33 SPEAKER_00: The book, even the demons believe, will also guide those claiming the name Christian to test themselves.

13:39 SPEAKER_00: As the apostle Paul wrote in Second Corinthians thirteen, verse five, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.

13:46 SPEAKER_00: Test yourselves.

13:48 SPEAKER_00: Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you?

13:51 SPEAKER_00: Unless, of course, you fail the test.

13:54 SPEAKER_00: The Consider Podcast.