Disciples

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." John 15:1-2

Our home group met last night for the first time this month. I was very excited to lead and had over prepared the lesson, as usual. I get the chance to lead home group once a month and I wanted to use this time to refocus our group and unify our vision to be in line with our leadership and what God has planned for us.

Now, I don't claim to know what God has planned, but I do know this is a season of dying out to our own cause and surrendering our agendas. Just like the seaon of Fall, we are in a place of dying out so that new can come in and regenerate and rejuvenate us. At this time most plants go to seed so that through the winter the seeds are planted and new growth will happen in the Spring. The same is going for our group.

We had been lacking structure in our group because we wanted to build relationships more than have a set plan for every group. This was good for Summer, but in the Fall more people come to groups and things get more settled. So, I structured our time around the model I had heard our Home Group Advisor talk about.

Worship wwent very well and we moved straight into ministry from that point. We went where the Spirit led. It's not about keeping a tight structure. It's about having structure and then deviating to fit the current needs of the group. We have been lacking in this area where we really press in and pray for those in our group. To immediately address a need and let nothing stand in the way of bringing it to the Lord.

The lesson went very well as we discussed being disciples of Christ. What that means and how we do it. Our church has been talking a lot about Servant Evangelism and how each home group should have a monthly project to reach out to the community. The thing is, if you are following Jesus, evangelism becomes a natural part of your existence. You become naturally supernatural and as an extension of that aware of opportunities to reach out to the lost. We don't have to have the gimmick of the month on whatever street corner to reach the lost.

How many new people are coming to our church that we fail to see the opportunity to invite them to our home groups and get them connected. The point is not to get them to the church or building, but to get them to the body. They will go to the building after they have reached the body because they will want to join in our celebration. The focus has to be on Christ and not on our facility.

We have a backwards view of what the Church body looks like. We think we are centralized in the facility and we only meet at homes to have a Bible study. &%^#No! We go to the homes to build the body and go to the facility to celebrate what we have experienced in Christ.

Regeneration of the body will happen when we focus on doing what Jesus did and realigning our daily lives with his model of life. You don't have to know everything, understand everything or be something your not. You do need to put Jesus' ways into practice. We will bear fruit as we are pruned by Him.

Prune: to cleanse

He will cleanse us and make us able to produce.

The 1897 Bible Dictionary defines a disciple as the following:
A scholar, sometimes applied to the followers of John the Baptist (Matt. 9:14), and of the Pharisees (22:16), but principally to the followers of Christ. A disciple of Christ is one who (1) believes his doctrine, (2) rests on his sacrifice, (3) imbibes his spirit, and (4) imitates his example (Matt. 10:24; Luke 14:26, 27, 33; John 6:69).

Imbibes: to take in as if by drinking; saturation