shawnethomas

(Preached at First Baptist, Pauls Valley, OK 10-05-14)

This week our daughter Libby took a picture of our grand daughter Corley, walking in her daddy’s shoes for the first time. It made a cute picture, of course, but is also a good reminder that we want to leave our kids a good example, as they follow in our steps.

The Bible tells us that we are to do the same thing with the Lord. I Peter 2:21 says that we are to “follow in His steps”. Indeed, this is an integral part of discipleship. Jesus commanded us in Luke 9:23, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Being a disciple of Jesus means more than just “getting baptized” or “filling out a card.” It includes “following” Him; doing what He did.

Over the last weeks we have been looking at the theme, “The Disciplines of Disciples”, and examining a number of the disciplines we are to practice as we follow Jesus as His disciples. Last week we saw that following Christ is not merely about practicing the “vertical” disciplines of our relationship with God, like morning prayers, and spontaneous prayers, Bible reading and memorization, but that there is a “horizontal” aspect to our disciplines as well. We saw from Hebrews 10:25 that we are to practice “The Discipline of Fellowship” with other Christians at church, so that we might be an encouragement to them. But there are other elements to the “horizontal” disciplines as well. Matthew 4:23 characterizes Jesus as going about serving God by reaching, teaching, and caring for people. If we are really His disciples, then we will follow Him by exercising “The Discipline of Service” in the same kinds of ways that Jesus did, according to the way He has gifted and directed us. His word speaks to this in I Peter 4:10, Continue reading →