AFTERWORD

Discipleship is the key to living a successful Christian life and to having a successful church. Every Christian should be discipled and in turn make disciples. All Christian parents need to be discipled so they can disciple their children who can then disciple their children. No pastor or layman has a legitimate excuse to neglect discipleship.

Christian, go through the first ten steps at your own pace. When you get to Step 10 thank the Lord and share your knowledge, understanding and wisdom with at least one other person. Try to disciple as many Christians as the Lord gives you. Volunteer to take others in your church through those steps. Try to complete steps 11 through 20. If you complete Step 20 seek to help others go through Steps 11 to 20.

Parents, go through this discipleship course so you will be able to disciple your children.

Grandparents, take this course so you will be able to help your children disciple your grandchildren.

Pastors, train faithful men to help you teach this discipleship course to the members of your church and then begin to disciple your flock as Jesus wants you to.

Not every Christian will teach a Bible class, but all Christians feed others the Truth by their words (Proverbs 10.21) and their actions (1 Peter 1.14-16). Remember the two commandments:

“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down , and when thou risest up.” (Deuteronomy 6.5-7)

“But thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19.18b)

Jesus repeated the two great commandments and (Mark 12.29-31), and said there is no other commandment greater than these.

Christians love God daily is by obeying Him. One of His primary commands is to seek after knowledge, understanding and wisdom:

Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. (Proverbs 4.5-7)

Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. (Proverbs 23.23)

All Christians should seek after knowledge, understanding and wisdom as though they are more valuable than gold, silver and precious jewels because they are:

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gets understanding, because its gain is better than the gain of silver and its produce more than gold. She is more precious than jewels and everything you can desire is not comparable to her. (Proverbs 3.13-15)

For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. (Proverbs 8.11)

How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! (Proverbs 16.16)

You have to love yourself before you can love God and your neighbor. A proof that you truly love Him and yourself is if you daily seek after wisdom. “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul, and he who keeps understanding finds good” (Proverbs 19.8).

Where is wisdom found? It is found in the Bible. Read, study, memorize and meditate on Scripture every day. Devote your life to the Word of God and to prayer. When He gives you knowledge, understanding and wisdom share it with others. Disciple as many people as you can, and never stop making disciples.

Make copies of Appendixes A through C for your personal use and give them to others.

Pastors, make copies of Appendixes E and F, and give them to your assistant pastors, Bible teachers and deacons.

Every Christian should consider what God said to His people during the days of Isaiah:

 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58.13-14)

Brothers and sisters, consider giving one day to the Lord. It does not matter which day you choose. Sunday is best for most people because a few hours are devoted to the worship of the Lord and fellowship with the brethren. To spend the rest of the day and evening in prayer, the study of Scripture, memorizing, reviewing and meditation makes sense.

Why should the children of God devote one day each week delighting themselves in the Lord? Everyone who comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ has just one purpose in living – bringing glory to God in everything they do (1 Corinthians 10.31). The two most important ways believers bring glory to God is by leading people to the Lord and then discipling them. Remember these two important truths:

Everything we do for ourselves and not for God will be forgotten forever and we will have no reward.

Everything we do for God will be remembered through all eternity and we will have eternal rewards.

Do you want to spend your life doing things that will be forgotten forever and bring you no eternal rewards? Or do you want to spend your life doing things that will bring glory and honor to God that will be remembered forever and bring you eternal rewards? The choice is yours. Choose wisely every day.