DISCIPLE’S DEVOTION TO THE LORD

CALVARY IS REAL BIBLE CHURCH

#13 UKWANSI STREET, ABAKALIKI

BIBLE SHARING (28/01/2018)

TOPIC: DISCIPLE’S DEVOTION TO THE LORD (PART 1)

INTRODUCTION

This is the first primary devotion a disciple must cultivate. It is a devotion to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the utmost importance for anyone to become like Jesus. Jesus’ call unto discipleship is  “Follow me…” and not follow my programs or my works or anything of mine. It is of necessity to note this at the onset of the discipleship process: “Come unto Me,… and I will give you rest; take My yoke upon you and learn of Me…” is the way He called us to become His disciples. Since discipleship involves life transfer from the master to the follower, it does not take place in a loose relationship. Discipleship does not only focus on learning Christ’s acts or skills; primarily it involves learning His life, cultivating His mind and learning His character. It involves being with Him’ in order to learn of Him (Mark 3:13-14). In fact, Eph. 4:20 makes is so clear: But you have not so learned Christ, (Eph. 4:20). That means that it is Christ we learn as a person so that we may grow up to Him in everything.

And this kind of learning cannot be done afar off the first instance. It demands total devotion to the Lord and unto being with Him in order for the purpose of discipleship to be accomplished.

Jesus said:

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (Matt. 6:24).

We shall therefore examine the necessary devotion to the Lord which every disciple needs to have in order to learn of the Lord, experience Him and become like Him. Our prayer is that the Lord will grant you the understanding and grace to become really devoted to the Lord as you walk with Him.

QUESTION

1.     What does disciple’s devotion to the Lord means from our teaching?

2.     In what areas are we suppose to be devoted to God?

3.     How can anyone be following the works or acts/skills of Gods and not really following His lifestyle?

4.     What can we say of discipleship, Do we like it or not?

CALVARY IS REAL BIBLE CHURCH

#13 UKWANSI STREET, ABAKALIKI

BIBLE SHARING (04/02/2018)

TOPIC: DISCIPLE’S DEVOTION TO THE LORD (PART 2)

We shall therefore examine the necessary devotion to the Lord which every disciple needs to have in order to learn of the Lord, experience Him and become like Him.

1.      Discuss briefly what discipleship means and discover that it involves devotion. Discuss this from the following scriptures.

Matt. 4:18-22; Mark 3:13-15; Matt. 11:28-30; 10:37-38; Mrk. 10:28; Jn. 6:66-69; 12:26; 8:31; Acts 4:13; 19-20; 5:17-21; 28-29

Discipleship means followership. Discipleship in our context means following Jesus and learning of Him in order to be like Him. A disciple is a follower of Christ who follows Him very intimately in order to learn of Him and become like Him. It means yoking yourself to Jesus Christ to learn of Him. It involves personal commitment in every way. A yoke is not a loose relationship. Looking at how the disciples of old were made, life transfer takes time. It takes a consistently close relationship for life transfer to take place.

Jesus called those disciples so that they should be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, heal and cast out devils. Being with Him is the priority. It is as they are with Him that they can be sent from Him and by Him to do any assignment for Him. So discipleship involves leaving all others in order to be devoted to the Lord and do whatever He tells you to do even when it is not convenient, being persuaded that God never fails.

1.      What does the word “devotion” means? Acts 2:42-43; 6:3-4; Ruth 1:16-18; Lk. 10:27-28

From the dictionary, the word, devotion means constant strong love for something or somebody; or loyalty and commitment to somebody or something. This leads to the action of spending a lot of time or energy on that thing or with that person.

Webster Dictionary also renders devotion among several other consideration to mean;

·         The state of being dedicated, consecrated or solemnly set apart for a particular purpose

·         A solemn attention to the Supreme Being in worship; a yielding of the heart and affections to God, with reverence, faith and piety in religious duties, particularly in prayer and meditation; devoutness.

·         Ardent love or affection; attachment manifested by constant attention given to the Lord and His interests

·         Earnestness; ardour; eagerness.

Each of these considerations holds a definite application for the devotion in the Lord that a disciple requires in order to make progress and be fruitful in his or her knowledge of the Lord and in becoming deeply acquainted with Him and accurately conformed to His image.

The Scriptures above show us the devotion of the disciples of old and what they devoted themselves to, which made God to walk with them and work in their lives. Ruth was so devoted, committed and loyal to Naomi and her God that she left all to follow her. The early disciples were also devoted to the Lord so much that they left all and devoted themselves to the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and to prayers. Their devotion to the Lord and therefore to these acts made them to spend most of their time with the Lord and whatever He told them to do. And God used the devotions of the early church to achieve much in their lives and in their communities. What you spend your time, money, and indeed your life upon, is a very crucial indication of what and who you are devoted to. Examine yourself on this. What and who are you devoted to?

We shall now examine what these disciples devoted themselves to, which so pleased the Lord as to show Himself mighty amidst them.

CALVARY IS REAL BIBLE CHURCH

#13 UKWANSI STREET, ABAKALIKI

BIBLE SHARING (11/02/2018)

TOPIC: DISCIPLE’S DEVOTION TO THE LORD (PART 3)

The Disciples Devoted Themselves unto the Lord

Mk.10:28-31; Acts 4:19-20; 20:19-25, 21:13; Phil. 3:7-8[Amp]; Dan. 3:14-18

a).  Discuss what it means to devote one’s life to the Lord from the above scriptures.   

b). Analyze the implication of their devotion to the Lord on their lives from the scriptures above. What does it mean for us today if we also will be said to be devoted to the Lord?

From the above noted scriptures, their first devotion was unto the Lord. It was the Lord they responded to; it was the Lord they followed and with Him they spent their lives and time. It was as a result of their devotion or loyalty to the Lord that they went ahead to leave all in order to follow Him; Nothing was too dear to them to forgo in order to follow Him; even their lives were not too dear to them to lay down for the name of the Lord. As a result of their devotion to the Lord, they were willing to do whatever He told them to do even if it would cost them their very lives. That was devotion indeed.

To devote oneself to the Lord therefore is not an ordinary mouth talk. It starts from the heart; it involves personal valuation of the Lord as the treasure above all others as we see it demonstrated in these disciples of old. Whenever this kind of valuation happens to anyone, it will not be difficult to leave all and follow the Lord.

In the light of their devotion, can you truly say therefore that you are devoted to the Lord?

QUESTIONS

1.     What does it mean for one to devote his/her lives to the Lord

2.     What are the evidences that shows that one has devoted his/life to Christ

3.     How can we devote our lives to the Lord?

CALVARY IS REAL BIBLE CHURCH

#13 UKWANSI STREET, ABAKALIKI

BIBLE SHARING (18/02/2018)

TOPIC: DISCIPLE’S DEVOTION TO THE LORD (PART 4)

4. THEY DEVOTED THEMSELVES TO PRAYERS.

a). Discuss the devotion of the disciples  to prayers in the scriptures below

Acts 1:12-14; 2:1-4; Acts 2:41-43; 4:23-24, 29-31; 6:1-4; Dan.6:10; Ex. 33:11; Num. 27:16-19.

You will notice that for these disciples, their devotion to the Lord was what made them to be devoted to prayer. For them, prayer was a means of walking closely with the Lord; it was not for material gain or for the miracles they needed. To you, what is prayer all about?  Are you devoted to prayer?

i). Note that no special prayer committee or prayer contractors were employed. Instead, each of these, and indeed, all these continued in prayers with one accord. What were the results of this devotion as they walked closely with the Lord in prayers?

The Holy Ghost came down mightily upon the disciples of old as a result of their selfless commitment to prayer. Disciples multiplied and God wrought great wonders among them. Even in the Old Testament, disciples like Moses and Daniel devoted themselves to prayer and God manifested Himself to each of them and through them. The truth is that if you desire to experience God as they did, your devotion to prayers cannot be less than theirs. You must also be selfless in your commitment to prayer.

ii). Discuss what our prayer lives must be like, if we must get the kind of results that the disciples of old got.

QUESTIONS

1.     How does prayer affect your devotions to the Lord?

2.     Explain the results that will be manifested in a life that is devoted to prayers from our teaching?

3.     Are there misconceptions about prayers in the Christendom? Yes/No. Explain?

CALVARY IS REAL BIBLE CHURCH

#13 UKWANSI STREET, ABAKALIKI

BIBLE SHARING (25/02/2018)

TOPIC: DISCIPLE’S DEVOTION TO THE LORD (PART 5)

4. THEY DEVOTED THEMSELVES TO PRAYERS.

b). Fasting (along with praying) was a regular practice among them as well.

Acts 13:1-3, 14:23. Note Matt. 9:14-15.

They were willing to forego food in order to concentrate in the place of prayer. It was a further sign of their commitment to prayer in their walk with the Lord.

Looking at above scriptures as well as Isa.58:6-7; Lk. 4:1-2, what are we to use prayer and fasting to achieve?

It is clear that fasting has its place in the life of a disciple of Christ especially now that the Bridegroom (the Lord JESUS Christ) has been taken away from us. Fasting is a means to an end; it is not an end in itself. Even though we now have access to the Father by the blood of Jesus, fasting is meant to help us downplay our appetite and put our body under. It helps us to connect more easily with God so as to let the power of God flow through us to lose the bonds of wickedness, undo heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, provide bread for the hungry and do other great works in the name of the lord and to the glory of God.

In order to achieve result, note what the heathen also do in the area of fasting; Acts. 23:12, 1 Kings 21:9-13.

It is clear that part of the devotions of the disciples of old was prayer and fasting and God moved with them. Even evil men know the value of fasting to achieve their purpose.  Are you so devoted to the Lord?

QUESTIONS

1.     What is fasting from our teaching?

2.     Is there any different between prayers alone and praying with fasting?

3.     What is the importance of Praying with fasting to the devotion life of a disciple?

CALVARY IS REAL BIBLE CHURCH

#13 UKWANSI STREET, ABAKALIKI

BIBLE SHARING (04/03/2018)

TOPIC: DISCIPLE’S DEVOTION TO THE LORD (PART 6)

4. THEY DEVOTED THEMSELVES TO PRAYERS.

c) How did our Lord Jesus Christ handle this aspect of devotion in his life?

Matt. 4:1-2; Matt.14:21-23, Mk. 1:32-36, Lk. 11:1-2, 22:39-40 (NIV), Matt. 17:18-21.

What lessons can we learn from His devotion to prayer and fasting?

It is important to note that even our Lord Jesus Christ devoted Himself to prayer and sometimes with fasting. Even though He is God in every sense and does not need to fast, yet because He took upon Himself the human form, He subjected Himself to the discipline of fasting. He subjected Himself to fasting and prayers to show us how to live and walk with God as human beings. If The Lord Jesus Christ devotes Himself to these, we must do so much more. We should follow in His steps.

CONCLUSION

Devotion is not a lazy or thoughtless man’s attitude. To be devoted to somebody or something will take the whole of your heart, your soul, your strength and your mind.

Jesus said:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”(Matt. 22:37-38 NKJV)

It however depends on your valuation. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Is the Lord a treasure to you above all others? Or is He just one of the treasures of your heart? This is what will determine your devotion to the Lord.

Paul counted all things, including those that were gain to him as rubbish, compared with the priceless privilege, the overwhelming preciousness and the supreme advantage of gaining Christ. No wonder he was so devoted to the Lord that he did not count even his life dear to him as far as obeying God is concerned. Examine your heart. Are you really devoted to the Lord?

Serving God only at our convenience and in the way we like is an indication of lack of devotion to Him. Laziness in praying and fasting is also a strong indication of lack of devotion to the Lord. Could that not be the reason why you are not getting the kind of results that the disciples of old got in their walk with the Lord? These are devotions that bring revival which make one to experience God. Examine your heart again. Are you really devoted to the Lord?

QUESTIONS

1.      Explain the devotion of our Lord Jesus Christ?

2.      How did Jesus Christ our Lord show us how to devote ourselves to the Lord?

3.      Is devotion a lazy or thoughtless man’s attitude? Explain