The Pattern
In Matthew 10 Jesus calls His disciples to them. The Bible says that He then gave them authority to drive out demons and to heal the sick. This authority was not just supernatural – but also practical. The Bible does not tell us what the process was, but what we do know is that the disciples had spent much time learning from their master. The authority Jesus gave them, no doubt, was imparted through teaching just as much as it was through any other means the Lord might’ve seen fit (eg. demonstration, laying on of hands, prayer, etc.) He then commissioned them to go out and proclaim the Gospel of His Kingdom and to demonstrate the power thereof.
We see in this passage, as well as in the letters to Timothy, Jeremiah 1 and Isaiah 6 (to name but a few more examples), a pattern emerging: The Ministers of Reconciliation are called, equipped and then commissioned.
This is the pattern found throughout Scripture – and that is what this blog is about: going from disciples to disciple-makers.
On this blog we will be exploring the different facets and aspects of calling, preparation and the work of ministry. We are all called to serve the Lord in one way or another, and it is our aim to equip you for this purpose – whether your calling is as a lay-person or a vocational minister, it is our hope that you will find something here that will encourage, edify and equip you to fulfill the Great Commission.
Here I Am, Send Me Part 3: Pushing Through (Faith)
In the previous reading we examined Abraham and the concepts of Faith and Action briefly. Now, let us consider Moses. Both of these examples – Moses and Abraham - were men called at different times in the history of Israel for different reasons – called for a specific...
Here I Am, Send Me Part 2: Faith and Action
In the eleventh chapter of Genesis we meet a man named Abram – whose name would later be Abraham – the son of a man named Terah. Terah raised his family in the cosmopolitan (that is to say, without national prejudices or peculiarities) city of Ur. This city was built...
Gratitude: A Call to Worship
The American essayist and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, once gave the following advice: “Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should...
Hands and Feet
I remember years ago, as a volunteer in Hillbrow doing urban missions, I sat at a soup kitchen listening to testimonies from the local homeless population. An older man got up and went to the front. The room fell silent as he started sharing. “I have never seen God...
Giving as Worship
In Matthew 25:35-40: Jesus describes, in parable, the corporal works of mercy. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick...
Giving and the Harvest
Jesus said the following in Matthew 9:Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38, NIV) Reinhardt Bonke said the following -...
Here I Am, Send Me Part 1: God has a plan!
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In Paul’s letters to the Colossians, quite a few hundred pages later, we read the following: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be...