Colossians 1:27-29 (ESV) 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
In order to grow into the fullness of Christ's outward expression, a decision of the mind, followed by corresponding action, is required.
The right decision is to take action. But where are we acting? We are acting against the enemy, working to set the captive free and bring them into the knowledge of God.
This decision creates a mindset with these qualities:
I will overcome the enemy and his works.
I will not remain silent, but will speak the truth in love.
I will not be idle, but will order my life to take consistent action that leads to others' freedom and the knowledge of God.
You cannot wait for the Holy Spirit to initiate action. He is waiting on you to act. He is in you, ready to help you when you take the first step.
This mindset is what you must instill in your children, raising them in the way that leads to life.
Recognize that any thought or attitude contrary to this must be cast down.
Jesus didn’t send us into the world to merely teach or learn the Bible.
He sent us to make disciples.
Modern Christianity tends to focus too much on learning, but disciple-making is about becoming skilled in winning at warfare and emerging victorious.
Military boot camp is designed to produce soldiers who are equipped for warfare, trained to win in warfare. Similarly, disciple-making produces warriors skilled in making other disciples who heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons. Does this involve learning? Yes. But the warrior that emerges through discipleship is not the same as the one who enters. Through intense training, this disciple becomes a crucified person, with Christ living and working in them instead.
This Christ is the Spirit whose influence dominates the mind, soul, and body, performing the same works—and even greater works—through us.
Learning this truth is simple and easy. Living it, however, requires the death of the soldier.
Training is about learning to die, allowing the Spirit of Christ to dominate, first within you, then around you.
This is the nature of discipleship—the work we are to carry out in every nation. We are to suffocate sin, death, and every form of evil by destroying their environment.
Evil dies when its environment—sin—is destroyed. When sin is eradicated in the nations, evil and its works will die out. When righteousness replaces sin-grace, power, and freedom will reign.
The church has not gone to these lengths.
But we can reach this goal—one disciple at a time.
One by one in each family.
One by one in each church that gathers in every place.
One by one in each captive that is set free, until the planet is consumed by disciples of the way.
This is how the entire world will be transformed by the power of discipleship.
The reason we haven't seen these results yet is simple: We have not had a man—since the book of Acts—who walks as Jesus walked.
You must resolve, above all else, to become this kind of disciple, or everything else is in vain.
Luke 6:40 (KJV):
“The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.”