God’s
BluePrint Diagram
A diagram that I drew up to highlight some key points in how a young believer begins to move forward toward maturity. Just to head off any confusion.....
THIS IS NOT A SALVATION DIAGRAM/ ILLUSTRATION-
Once we've shared the Gospel or hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we have taken the steps to now walk with Jesus Christ- this outlines some key points in how a believer can move toward maturity and Engage in the Mission of Christ.
First we have to accept and submit to the Lordship of Christ. What hamstrings many believers from even moving forward toward maturity in Christ is that we talk about following God- but yet we keep the control of our lives and do not submit to God's authority to direct our lives. Which means we continue living how we WANT to live rather than finding out about what God is after and submitting ourselves to Him so that we can begin moving toward accomplishing those things.
Next... a person must realize that we are sent by God to accomplish a Misison. If we dodge this issue- there is NO reason to grow and invest in the Basics of the Christian life. The Basics of the Christian life will simply be things that I check on the block on sundays and maybe every so often on wednesday evenings or when a friend drags me off to biblestudy during the week. Just an aside..... I met a Vietnam veteran in the mid 90s when I was on active duty and there were no current conflicts we were engaged in at the time.... One of the things he said to me was "It was pretty hard getting (GI) joes to clean their M-16s... but as soon as the war (Vietnam) hit- it wasn't a problem convincing guys to clean their weapons or go to the range to practice."
We are in similar situations spiritually- if the believer doesn't see a mission that they are called to be part of- they will not see the need to invest in biblestudy, prayer, fellowship, evangelism training or any of those things that will help us move toward maturity.
The Basics of the Christian life- Time in the Word, Prayer, Fellowship, Witnessing, Obeying Christ, M2M discipleship... these things are going to form the backbone of what helps us move forward toward maturing in our Walk with God.
Maturity- Becoming the Warrior Leader on the battlefield that God has called us to be...
I love the story of Gideon where the Angel comes to him and calls him a "Valiant Warrior"- but Gideon has NO IDEA of what that means... particularly as he is hiding out in a cave. But God sees us that way and wants us all to ENGAGE IN REACHING OUT TO EVERYONE around us for His Name.
Reproduce...
The test of Discipleship
The Test of who we TRULY are as Believers
This is what Christ has called us to.... so.... are there disciples in our wake?
Matt 4:19 "Follow Me", Jesus said , "And I will make you Fishers of Men." Can I truly call myself a follower of Christ if I'm not involved with Fishing for people the way Jesus did?
God's Desire- that all men come to Know Him....
Even in the OT we see that this was on God's heart.
His people knew that too.
1 Sam 17:45-47 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands." NIV
Young David knew this...
The story of David and Goliath was NOT a neat, little, fun story for us to talk about overcoming giants and bullies... it is about God doing something BIG to bring glory to Himself- to create VISIBILITY to His name.
SO...
throughout the WHOLE world people would know and realize that there was A REAL GOD in Israel that moves and interacts and fights and is involved with people.
That is what God wants.
He wants to be involved with us and have us KNOW Him.
So....
Lets find someone who doesn't know Christ and bring the Message to them... Lets find a believer that needs direction and lets get them trained... Lets go hunting for some giants.....
