The Call of Jesus
Welcome to lesson 23: We All Need Family.
We have been looking at many things, when it comes to finding the person of peace,
and going out, and preaching the gospel, and healing the sick,
and casting out demons, and all of this is so, so important.
But there is more, because what do we do when we have done that?
What do we do when we have found that person of peace
and led them to God?
In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus says this:
"All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
So, what we do regarding our mission call, all of us,
is to go out and make disciples, baptizing them.
So, baptizing them in water and baptizing with the Holy Spirit,
and helping them to receive a new life is the beginning.
But then, after we have done this, Jesus said: And teach them...
to obey everything He has commanded.
So, when a person comes to Christ, first they are, as the Bible says,
like a newborn baby. They are now new in Christ.
But then we have been given a command to teach them,
or to feed them, to help them, to disciple them
to obey everything Jesus has commanded.
We are here to help people to grow up and become strong in Christ.
And what you'll see when you start to live this life,
lead people to Christ, and do what we have look at here in "The Call of Jesus",
you'll see that those people you meet and lead to Christ are very, very different.
Some people are already in church, already somehow love Jesus, in many ways,
have grown up with the Bible, but they need the baptism or the Holy Spirit,
freedom, and when you give them that, they are already very, very strong,
because they have grown up with the Word of God.
They already know Christ.
They just needed help to move on.
Other people are very religious, like, very, very religious.
You need to pull down that religious mindset and teach them something completely new -
who Christ really is and what the gospel is.
They've heard of Jesus, they know the Bible,
but they have got it wrong.
Other people are very, very new, like me.
When I gave my life to Christ I've never opened the Bible before.
I knew nothing.
I didn't need to pull down a lot of ideas and strongholds, or religion
in the beginning. I just needed milk.
I needed a foundation.
We are all different.
But one thing is certain for all of us. That is - we need people around us.
We all need family.
Not just to come in a church.
There is a difference between coming in a church and having family.
You can be in a church, you can be a member in a church, you can sit in a church,
and there can be a pastor who's your pastor, or your leader,
but it's not parents, it's not family.
It's not people who really lay down their lives to help you to grow up.
The sad thing is, I have been in church for years, without really having parents.
And there is a big difference between being a leader, having leaders,
and then having parents and family who really cares.
Let me read something from my book "The Call of Jesus".
"Every person we meet is different.
Every person is in a different place in their life and has different needs,
but everyone needs fellowship.
None of us are called to walk this life alone.
We often say that we are the body of Christ here on earth, and that is correct.
But 'we' is not me alone or you alone.
'We' are all of us together.
'We' alone is not the body of Christ.
'We' alone is only a member of the body.
So 'we' are one of many stones in the church that Jesus is building together.
You cannot live as a disciple alone, without like-minded people around you."
I want to say this again. It is so important.
We are the body of Christ, but we, or I, it's not me alone.
I'm the body of Christ, yes, but not alone.
I'm the body of Christ together with other members.
We together become the body of Christ and we need each other.
We are never called to live this alone.
Especially when a person is born again.
The Bible says that those persons who are born again are babies in Christ.
They are babies.
And they need help. They need help as babies:
milk, other things, people around them to nurse them, to take care of them,
to help them, so they can grow up and become stronger.
And Bible talks about young ones in faith.
And then they will grow up and now they become adults, mature,
and become parents in faith.
Spiritual parents. And then they get their own spiritual kids.
Exactly as we see in the natural.
If we look at the natural world today,
we have babies, we have young ones, teenagers, and we have parents.
We don't put the same burden on everyone.
We expect more from teenagers then we do from babies.
And we expect more from adults.
And we don't want people to be 45 years old and still live home with mom and dad.
No. We want them to grow up and be independent from us, mature,
leave mom and dad and get their own children.
Like it is in the natural,
it should be in the spiritual.
You don't serve a big, big, juicy steak to a baby.
That baby would die if you just leave that baby with a steak.
In the same way, if you give milk to a teenager,
they would survive on that milk a little,
but they would not really grow up on that milk and become strong.
Why? Because a teenager needs more than milk.
And it's so important that we know those different levels,
not only in the natural, but in the spiritual.
Let me read something from 1 John, where he talks about the different levels.
In 1 John 2:12-14 he's saying this:
"I am writing to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name.
I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I'm writing to you, dear children, because you know the Father.
I'm writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning.
I'm writing to you, young men, because you are strong,
and the Word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one."
Here John writes to three different groups of people.
He writes to the children, in another words - babies;
he writes to the young ones, and he writes to the parents, to the fathers.
He says different things to the different people.
Why? Because people are in different places in their life.
When people come to faith, they are like babies.
They need milk.
To those people who need milk he said:
I'm writing to you that your sins have been forgiven. Why?
Because when people are new in their faith,
there are attacks, there are doubts.
Oh... Is this right? What about this? And they hear something and...
Oh no... Somebody says something. Oh, maybe it's a call.
God doesn't says this. Maybe God doesn't says this.
And then they fall in sin. Oh, Satan comes and condemns them:
"You are not saved anymore." Oh no, I'm not saved anymore.
And there is just a lot of, lot of attacks when you are new in faith.
And I remember, I experienced all of those attacks.
I experienced the doubt, I fell and Satan came and condemned me.
I was fighting a lot in the beginning.
But I needed somebody, like John here said,
Come on! You are forgiven because of His name.
Rise up again! Be strong!
So, I needed somebody...
and you need somebody...
or you need to be there for somebody.
Those who are new they often need to learn to walk.
They fall, make mistakes, need to rise up again.
They need milk. They need help.
They need other people to teach them the truth.
Not just give them the Bible and say: Goodbye, read it. No.
They need somebody to eat the Word and help them explain them the Word for them.
That is what babies - new believers need.
But then, there are young ones.
John says: You are strong, you have overcome the evil one.
When you come to faith in the beginning, there's a period where there is a lot of attacks.
Satan really wants to get you down.
And many fall away in that period, because there is no one to help them.
But then there is a time where you have overcome that first beginning period.
You have overcome the evil one, as John says.
You are strong. And the Word of God abides in you.
So now you don't need milk anymore, or only milk.
You don't need people to teach you, and teach you, and teach you.
You can teach yourself. You can eat by yourself.
You can get the Bible and start to read it.
You got the Bible in the beginning, but now you start to eat by yourself even more.
And those who are young ones, they don't need milk like that.
They need to be challenged. They need to take steps.
They need to go on mission trips. They need to be out there...
and try. Try more and more by themselves
to obey Christ and live this life.
Exactly as it is in the natural.
When you grow up and become teenager, there is a time where you need
to break up a little and try to get your own experience in life.
Then we have the fathers, the parents.
John is saying: You know Him who is from the beginning.
That means: You have been with God for many years now.
You see the big picture.
You don't get distracted so easy.
You know God. You have experience with God.
You can be there and help other people.
Like it is in the natural, it is in the spirit.
It's the same, somehow.
And we all need it. We all need family.
Sadly, there are also people who have been Christians for many, many years,
but are still very, very immature.
We read that many places in the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 we read this:
"Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit
but as people who are still worldly - mere infants in Christ.
I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.
Indeed, you are still not ready.
You are still worldly.
But since there is jealousies and quarrels amongst you, are you not worldly?
Are you not acting like mere humans?"
So, Paul here wrote to Corinthians and rebuked them.
Come on! You are like infants! You are like babies in Christ.
You should have grown up by now.
And there is still that in churches today,
that people should be more mature.
You can be in church for 30 years without being born again,
but you can also be in church long time and still be spiritual infant.
And we don't want that.
We want people to grow up.
But for us to help people to grow up, we need to understand
where they are in their life and help them from there.
We need to understand it.
And we read that clearly in Hebrews 5, because in Hebrews 5:11-14 we read this:
"We have so much more to say about this,
but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.
In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers,
you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again.
You need milk, not solid food!
Everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant,
is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
But solid food is for the mature,
who by constant use have trained themselves to discerning good and evil."
Here we read that the author of Hebrews wanted to teach people something,
but they were not there in their life yet.
They were not ready to receive it.
So they needed to go back and one more time give them the elementary teaching of Christ.
And this is what it is today. We need family. We need people around us.
We need people who are babies, you are young ones, who are parents.
We need to see them grow up and be there for each other.
And again, remember, you are not alone in this.
You are not supposed to be the whole family alone.
But God will put people in your life,
and together, you can help people to grow up.
And that is some of the main focus also, when we read about the five-fold ministry,
we have looked at before in this book, before in this video series.
In Ephesians 4:11-16 we read this:
"So Christ Himself gave apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
to equip His people for the works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God
to become mature, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we are no longer infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,
and blown here and there by every wind of teaching
and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful schemes.
Instead, preaching the truth in love, we will grow up to become in every respect
the mature body in Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
And from Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
I know this was a long text, but what we see here is that God has given people
in the church to grow up people, so we are no longer infants,
but we grow up to maturity.
But God has not given that to one person alone.
God has given different gifts and different people.
Here we read about the five-fold ministry something we have talked about before.
We need that.
Are you strong, for example, in finding the person of peace?
Are you more evangelistic and it comes very natural to you?
Then go out, find that person of peace.
Do what you are strong in and help to make other people strong.
But you also need other people beside you, who are maybe stronger to nurse them
and take care of those new believers, you have now reached.
And if we come together like this and help each other,
we will see not only people born again, but we will see people grow up to maturity
in very, very short time.
And it will also set you free, because you who are very strong evangelistic,
you don't need to go the long way and give milk and nurse those people.
You can be free to move on and find other people out there.
So, try to imagine, if we, as the body of Christ,
since we took the Jesus' call and we started to live it out, together,
came together and found other strong gifts in it,
and together we went out to find a person of peace.
But let somebody be there and lay a foundation and be there for each other.
I still remember so much in the beginning, I was fighting a lot.
But then I had my father-in-law, he became my father-in-law,
an old, mature man, father in the faith, he took me in and most of the milk I got
was on his couch, sitting there with the Bible and asking a lot of questions.
He helped me to grow up.
He also let me make mistakes. I made many, many mistakes.
But I learned by them.
And now I'm not a baby anymore.
I still have things to learn, but I have grown up.
But I have also decided never to forget how it was in the beginning.
And I would say the same to you.
Never forget how it was in the beginning, when you came to faith.
Why? Because in that moment when you forget how it was in the beginning,
you start to lose your patience with people.
You start to get frustrated.
Oh, why is he struggling? Why is he falling?
Why does it smell like diaper inhere?
Why do I need to help them every time?
Hey, you needed help in the beginning.
Don't forget that.
Now you can walk, now you a mature, but in the beginning you needed help.
As you needed people around you in the beginning,
be there for other people.
Don't forget where you came from, because then you will lose your patience.
You will give up too easy.
No, remember how it was in the beginning.
And then you will have more patience and you will be better to help people,
to challenge them, to see them grow up, to be mature.
I want to talk more about this in the next lesson,
where I will talk more about how to grow people up.
But remember this. Remember that we are the body.
We need each other.
And people are on different levels in their life.
And we need to be better to recognize where people are,
and then from there help them to grow up.
I have much more about that in my book "The Call of Jesus".
I also have some videos where I already talk more about this spiritual levels.
In the description of this video I will put some links
where you can go in and see those videos.
The next time I will tell more personal, from my life
and give you more tools how you can help people,
when you are out there, in their homes, to lay a foundation,
how you can help those people you've found,
who are persons of peace, to grow up.
God bless you! See you next time! Bye-bye!
The Call of Jesus