The True Vine Discipleship Program

Discipleship II Week 12

Our Daily Walk With Jesus

Our daily walk with our Lord and savior can be described in many different ways. There are many different ways that people walk with the Lord. He has made us all different and only He can guide as to how we should walk with Him, the things that we should do on a daily basis, and the ways in which we should show our worship and gratitude. There are however some things that are for certain. One of those are the idea of "what seems right". Often it can be heard said:  "I did what seemed right to me or I followed my heart and I knew this is what I should do!" This is not the way that Jesus teaches us to live our daily lives, in fact He has left us with instructions on how it should be done. Those instruction tell us over and over again to walk in love and to keep His commandments. These loving instructions have been given to us that there be no doubt as to whose directions we should follow, what seems right or what God said is right. There are five points of focus that we are going to concentrate on in this last week. We will find them in the book of Jude. Turn with me to Jude verses 17-25

1.    Build up your faith

2.    Pray without ceasing

3.    Keep yourselves in the love of God

4.    Have compassion on others

5.    Save others with fear

These five focal points are some of what we have been left with concerning our daily walk. We will now take a look into each one of them.

1. Build up our faith;

Read Romans 10:8-17 What questions do you have after reading this?

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"FAITH COMETH BY HEARING THE WORD OF GOD" ROMANS

10:17 Since faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God we can conclude that building our faith can be done by following the instruction to hear the word of God. This doesn't mean that if you can't hear you can't build your faith, many people hear by seeing, in other words we can increase our faith by watching others act in faith! Yes, Thomas increased in faith when he saw Jesus' nail peirced hands and when he placed his hand into his peirced side. So there are many ways to listen and not just through our ears, but mostly we learn by reading and listening to the audio voice of our Pastors, Evangelists, Teachers, and Preachers. That is the reason that Romans 10 tells us "how beautiful is the feet of those that preach the Gospel." Those that preach God's truth bring seeds of faith into the world and thereby assist in building our faith.

2. Pray without ceasing;

Read Luke 18:1-8 What questions do you have after reading this?

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"That men ought always to pray, and not to faint."

It is important that we should continue in reaching out to God keeping the communication lines open. I once heard a Preacher tell someone that they will not pray again to God for something that they had already prayed for, I understand why he said this and how his faith believed that if he should pray more than once he would be weak in believing that God is working, but I don't agree with this. I believe that keeping communication with God even if we repeat our request keeps us close to him. To stay close to Jesus is the purpose of praying without ceasing. God doesn't get offended by your continual coming to him, in fact this is what he teaches us to do. Go to him always, continually, constantly, and do not cease lest you faint. He is our strength, our source of power, and our supply line. When we stay attached to Him we shall not fail, "if ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you!" John 15:7

3.  Keep yourselves in the love of God;

Read Psalm 91:1-16 What questions do you have after reading this?

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"Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him; and show him my salvation."  Psalm 91:14-16

Obviously there are many benefits to keeping ourselves in the love of God. We see here that God will be on our side when we do so, but can we ever get out of the love of God? If not then why would we have to keep ourselves in his love? The answer is clear, God will always love us, but we can harden our heart to his love. In other words it is not God that leaves this love relationship and consequently does not have to be told to keep himself in this love, it is us that sometimes leaves this love relationship and must be reminded to keep ourselves in it. Daily we are to worship, pray, seek, and love our God and by doing this we will abide in him, keeping ourselves in the love of God.

4. Have compassion on others;

Read Luke 15:11-32 What questions do you have after reading this?

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"And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his Father saw him, and had compassion and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." Luke 15:20

When we read this passage of scripture we can see many likenesses in Christians today. We have the younger brother who is in sin, we have the older brother who has little or no compassion, and we have the Father, who is the one we should all strive to be more like. The older brother would not accept his younger brother because he thought his older brother had associated himself with other sinners, even after his younger brother had repented. Christians today often act like this, they believe that they have exclusive rights to the church and to God that others who have not been so faithful and perfect should not have. In other words the same compassion that Jesus had on them, they are reluctant to give to others. The Father, despite being wrongfully treated showed a great deal of compassion, even running towards his son and taking him into his arms. This is what Jesus has done for us. He ran towards us and took us into his arms not looking at what we have done, but rather rejoicing that we have returned! This is compassion! Have this type of compassion on others.

5. Save others with fear;

Read Romans 11:13-36 What questions do you have after reading this?

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"And if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For is the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" Romans 11:14,15

By any means? That is what we are to consider, it is easier to consider any means when we look at the desparation of the situation. People are dying! Family members are dying! So now does this "by any means" change us? Absolutely, it motivates us when we care for others and hear the truth that others are dying eternally because they have not yet been saved. Many have not heard the message and many have yet to receive Jesus as their Lord and savior. The book of Proverbs tells us "He who wins souls is wise" Can we save someone, No, only Jesus has the power to save, but can we win them to the Lord? Yes, God has given all power unto us, to go forth and preach his truth. It is his truth and what that truth puts in our heart that will compel others to believe. Too often we have heard that we can't say this or do that in the name of tolerance, but the truth is while we are steadily waiting for the right politically correct way to say or do something, souls are dying. "By any means" means just that! Do all to seek and save the lost by bringing them to Christ. Save others by fear, tell them the truth. Share with them the wisdom of God, "the beginning of all wisdom is the fear of the Lord." The Day of The Lord is coming! and we must tell them!