Read Luke 9:1-6 & Luke 10:1-3
1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal those who were ill. 3 He told them: ‘Take nothing for the journey – no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. 5 If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.’ 6 So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them,‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
Jesus made disciples. Disciples are really apprentices. learning from the Master how to do what they do and become like what they are.
Check out the following from Dallas Willard, “Being a disciple or apprentice of Jesus is a definite and obvious kind of thing. To make a mystery of it is to misunderstand it. There is no good reason why people should ever be in doubt as to whether they themselves are his students or not… to be a disciple in any area or relationship is not to be perfect. One can be a very raw and incompetent beginner and still be a disciple.”
“A disciple or apprentice, then, is simply someone who has decided to be with another person, under appropriate conditions, in order to become capable of doing what that person does or to become what that person is.” -Dallas Willard
“How does this apply to discipleship to Jesus? What is it, exactly, that he, the incarnate Lord, does? What, if you wish, is he “good at”? The answer is found in the Gospels: he lives in the kingdom of God, and he applies that kingdom for the good of others and even makes it possible for them to enter it themselves. The deeper theological truths about his person and his work do not detract from this simple point. It is what he calls us to by saying, “Follow me.””
For more on this visit here. Or to hear a previous talk on “Being Equipped for Life” from our VALUES series visit here.
Have you heard the call to follow?
The call to follow is a call to go. to be sent out into the world as an Apprentice of Jesus to do what he does to become more like him. To “learn from Jesus to live my life as he would live life if he were I.” To do things as he would do them. Today where have you been sent? How will you proclaim the Kingdom of God?
After Easter, at Coventry Vineyard we are looking at what it means to live life like Jesus in our new series: FOLLOW. Be sure to check back here or visit us at our Sunday Morning Gathering.
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