48008.1 Why It Is Important to Help Others Grow Spiritually

God wants you to grow so that you can realize the full potential of your new life in Christ and fulfill God’s purposes for your life.

One aspect of your relationship with God is to help others grow spiritually. God wants you to be His junior partner in helping others realize their full potential as new creations in Christ and fulfill His purposes for their life!

In fact, others will be helping you grow in your relationship with God as well.

God directs us to encourage, instruct, and spur one another toward spiritual maturity. The New Testament is full of “one another” commandments.

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Colossians 3:16)

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Encourage, Instruct, and Spur One Another

The Church does not thrive on a few spiritual superstars. The Scriptural passages above call everyone into the foundational work of building each other up. It is not solely the church leaders’ work to help Christians grow spiritually. In the Church, everyone encourages, teaches, and motivates one another, and should do so with the warmth and equality of teammates. No one in a congregation is more important than another, but everyone shares the important responsibility of encouraging.

It is important to help others grow spiritually because Christian discipleship requires teamwork among Christians with the Holy Spirit as the Master Teacher.

As the Holy Spirit impresses upon you the importance of helping others grow, we encourage you to become actively involved in a local fellowship of believers and to obey the “one another” commandments of the Lord.

Select the title below to start your discipleship journey.

48009.1 Why We Introduce Others to Jesus

You have the amazing privilege and responsibility of telling others about who Jesus is and what He has done for all of us!

What is the most important thing that has ever happened to you? If you are a Christian, it was when you decided to receive Christ into your life as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life!

Your sins are forgiven. You are born again as a new creation. God is now your heavenly Father. Jesus is the Lord of your life. The Holy Spirit empowers you to live fully an abundant new life Jesus promised. Your life has a direction. You are here for God’s purposes.

This is good news to share with others!

In Acts 1:8 Jesus said: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere — in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (NLT). These verses are for all believers!

A witness is someone who tells what he or she has personally experienced. To be a witness of Jesus is to tell others about your own experience of who Jesus is and what He has done for you.

You are a unique person with a sphere of influence no one else has. As you ask the Holy Spirit to direct you, you will find opportunities to witness everywhere!

Peter wrote these words in the New Testament: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15, NIV).

People are searching for answers to their problems in life. Whenever they tell you about their problems, they are looking for solutions. We have found the answer in Jesus Christ!

Jesus sent out His disciples with the message of the Gospel, saying “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near!’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give” (Mark 10:7-8).

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2)

God is sending us to go into His harvest field. We don’t have to wait for people to come to us.

When you are led by the Holy Spirit, you can expect to share with the right persons and see His power work in their lives.

The great evangelist Bill Bright once said: “Successful witnessing is simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.”

You needed Jesus. So do your friends and loved ones. The world needs Jesus.

Continue your spiritual journey by selecting the title below.

48010.1 Why Making Disciples

Disciples are students who closely follow and learn from their master to become like him.

Every Christian is a disciple of Jesus. We devotedly love and closely follow Jesus our Lord and Savior, learning from our Master to become more like Him (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2).

Jesus’ final words to his followers were: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

We make disciples because God commands us to do so.

Making disciples involves helping others on their spiritual journey. It begins with those who don’t know Jesus and His love for them. So, loving them well and sharing your faith is an integral part of disciple-making. The process continues when they become Christian. Helping them grow in their relationships with God is also an important aspect of disciple-making.

By making disciples, we are helping others become who they are designed to be and fulfill God’s unique purposes for their life.

God’s Call to Good Works

Ephesians 2:10 states: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” These good works flow out of his love poured out into us. Jesus-followers scattered across the globe (the Church) are meant to embody the love for God and love for others not only individually but also as a community. In fact, to do good works means to love God and love others (Matthew 22:37-40; John 13:34-35).

Before we can do these good works, we first have to embrace that the Church is God’s handiwork. It’s His. He made it. It is good. It was made for a purpose. The corruption of sin can certainly distort or even obscure how the Church reflects who God is, but even the worst soiling of sin can itself become an opportunity for the transforming power of the Gospel to shine forth. We the Church are God’s handiwork and we’re created to do good works!

We as the Church do the good work of loving God when we worship Him, obey Him, depend on Him, and testify to His greatness through our collective words and actions. Something amazing happens when the Church is united in love for God. As is explained in Ephesians, “And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22). We become a place where we and others can experience God’s presence!

From Generation to Generation

Two thousand years ago, Jesus rose from the dead, conquering sin and death. There was forgiveness, healing, and restoration. There was new life and new creation in Christ. God’s grace and truth turned the world upside down.

This good news fully revived and overflowed from those who first heard it. So much so, that disciples who had been paralyzed with grief and crumbled expectations suddenly didn’t care if the political powers that be killed them! They were preaching in the streets, healing the sick, selling their possessions, and giving away money—advancing this good news simply mattered more than anything else in life (Acts 2) because the risen Lord was with them through the Holy Spirit. The scared-then-unreasonably-bold followers of Jesus together—as a group—answered God’s call to love God and love their neighbors as themselves.

Because of their good works, the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread throughout the world over the years. Today, if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, that is because believers who came before you were faithfully obedient to their call to good works (of loving God and loving others).

When you make disciples, you are continuing the work the Lord Jesus began with His twelve disciples and making it possible for the next generation to experience the amazing love of God and peace and freedom in Christ.

The next phase of your spiritual journey begins by asking the Lord to lead you to a few individuals whom you can disciple. Then lead them through “The Adventure of Living with Jesus” study.

This foundational study will help lay a solid foundation for their relationships with Jesus.

Contact Us

We can also help you! Our JO App ministry team is available to train and coach you as you disciple others. Contact us via the “Community” message system in this app. You can access “Community” from the main menu.

31053 The Good News

For four hundred years, the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt.

Can you remember your family history over four hundred years?

Their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents—as long as they could remember, they were slaves. The people of Israel knew no other life than the life of slavery.

But the truth is that they were God’s chosen people. At first, they came to Egypt as honored guests. They were a family of Joseph who had become the second most powerful man in the Egyptian Empire.

The history of the people of Israel tells us the story of humanity, our story.

We don’t remember our true heritage and true identity as members of the family that was designed to live in the two realms and manage this world with God. We don’t remember the glory of the original creation because it was so long ago. Humanity has been slaves to sin and death for most of its recorded history.

The consequences of our sins are all around us. We suffer and cry out for help and temporary relief in life.

At the root of all of our problems in life is our sin, that is, our rebellious nature against God. For our crime against the Supreme Authority, we have been sentenced to death—permanent separation from God.

God Answers Our Cries

Just as God heard the cries of the people of Israel under bondage in Egypt, God hears our cries under the bondage of sin and death.

His answer is…Jesus.

Just as God through Moses led the people of Israel out from Egypt to the Promised Land, Jesus leads us from slavery under sin to freedom in life.

God does not require us to become good enough. It is impossible.

God asks us to trust Him and His solution, Jesus Christ.

Instead of trying to figure out yourself, to work your way out from under the power of sin and death, God wants you to turn your life completely over to Him. He wants you to trust Jesus as your Lord (King and Master) and believe in Him to be the Savior of your life from sin and death.

It’s like the people of Israel trusting Moses and following him into the wilderness under his leadership. God wants you to trust Jesus as the leader of your life and bring yourself fully under His rule and authority.

Through this act of faith, God will consider you righteous (right with God), forgiving all of your sins. Not only that but because of the resurrection of Jesus, you will also be spiritually born again to a new life in Christ!

God’s solution to our sinful nature is death through Christ and rebirth through Christ. If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, you are no longer your old self. You are a new creation in Christ. You are not a better version of your old self. You are recreated as new!

The most notable difference is that the Holy Spirit dwells in you when you trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. In the deepest part of you, you are united with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit now can guide and empower you to live the abundant life Jesus promises.

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 2:5 even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved! — 2:6 and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 2:7 to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 2:8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 2:9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 2:10 For we are his creative work, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we can do them. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

This is good news!

71006 The Satan and Demons

The storyline of the Bible presents a populated spiritual world, full of creatures who are in rebellion against their Creator, just like humans. For lots of fascinating reasons, our modern conceptions of the Satan and demons are based on serious misunderstandings of the Bible. So let’s go back to the book of Genesis and start over as we learn about the powers of spiritual evil in the story of the Bible.

Spiritual Being Study Notes

The Satan and Demons Study Notes