THE BIBLE AND DISCIPLESHIP
Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday evening, May 2, 1999, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia:
THE BIBLE AND DISCIPLESHIP
By Michael D. O’Neal…… Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church…… Albany, Georgia
Scripture Reading: John 8:28-32
Text: John 8:31
John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Introduction: In our Sunday School assembly this morning, I pointed out that stability is the key to excellence in the word of God.
Similarly, our text indicates that a believer is not a disciple indeed, unless he continues in the word of the Lord. I wonder how many believers are actually DISCIPLES … ?
I. CONTINUOUS READING OF THE WORD OF GOD PRODUCES DISCIPLESHIP
1 Timothy 4:13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
A. We need daily cleansing 1. John 15:3; Eph. 5:25-26
B. We need daily counsel – Ps. 119:24
C. We need daily companionship – Prov. 13:20
II. CONTINUOUS REPENTANCE TOWARD THE WORD OF GOD PRODUCES DISCIPLESHIP
Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Mark 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
A. About our beliefs
B. About our behavior
III. CONTINUOUS REVERANCE TOWARD THE WORD OF GOD PRODUCES DISCIPLESHIP
2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
A. We should magnify it over “scholarship”
B. We should magnify it over “science”
C. We should magnify it over “success”
IV. CONTINUOUS RISING WITH THE WORD OF GOD PRODUCES DISCIPLESHIP
1 Peter 3:20-21 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
A. The Bible will carry us above the world’s delights
B. The Bible will carry us above the world’s deeds
C. The Bible will carry us above the world’s designs
D. The Bible will carry us above the world’s destruction
V. CONTINUOUS RELEASING BY THE WORD OF GOD IS PRODUCED BY DISCIPLESHIP
John 8:31-32 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
1 Corinthians 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
A. Free from sin’s power
B. Free from Satan’s persuasions
C. Free from society’s pressures – Rom. 12:1-2