To be grace-filled is to be free from shame, free from judgement, free from guilt. When one is filled with the grace of Jesus Christ, the past ceases to condemn and the future offers nothing but hope. When one is grace-filled, he is no longer competing with others to obtain standing because his standing has been won for him by another. When one is grace-filled, he no longer judges others for their failures. Rather, he sees what they could be, were made to be, and should be. When one is grace-filled, he is free from the judgements of parents, and peers, free from the judgement of the Enemy, free from the things that consume this broken world, free from having to build his own record of righteousness and free from the rule and reign of sin. Not only that, a grace-filled disciple is free to pursue righteousness, holiness and godliness, and free to live in surrender, obedience, and under the lordship of Jesus Christ.  Grace-filled is the first “mark” because it is central to the life of a health and growing disciple.

The essence of surrender is trusting God completely. To have no goals, ambitions or desires other than to love, serve and obey our Lord. God demands this surrender because it is our only path to freedom, to true joy, to lasting peace, and to abundant life. I know this seems counterintuitive.  It would make sense to our minds that the path to these things should be the fulfillment of all of your personal dreams. But it is not. This is the impact of sin, of our long-ago rebellion. Sin distorts everything, even our sense of what we want and what is good for us. Even our own ideas of goodness, holiness and service are utterly tainted and distorted. This is why the most important thing that God can do in our lives is to teach us to trust Him, because this highway to freedom and joy is going to APPEAR perilous and broken and painful and dangerous. But it is not! It is an illusion caused by sin’s distortion and the great deceiver behind it. In fact, the path God asks us to follow is a simple, clear, and direct path to true freedom. So our Lord asks us to surrender our goals and ambitions distorted by sin and embrace His path instead, not for His sake but for our own. Surrender, let it all go, and trust God. He promises we will not regret it. Freedom and abundant life await. Trust Him. Follow Him. Amen.

Surrendering taught us the importance of trusting God completely. To have no goals, ambitions or desires other than to LOVE, SERVE and OBEY our Heavenly Father. “…’You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’… equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matt 22: 37-39. Being a servant means humbly and obediently serving God and others which can only be done through genuine love. Our goal as apprentices is to emulate Christ, our Master and Teacher.

To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to recognize that we are merely stewards of all that we have and all that we are. We have been crucified with Christ, and as such our lives are no longer our own and all we possess belongs to God. We are stewards in the sense that time, money, talents, skills, education and relationships have been entrusted to us for the short period of time we are here on this earth. But they are not given to us to use as we please.  Rather we hold them “in trust” on God’s behalf until we are told how, where and when to deploy them. For a disciple of Jesus that is Grace-Filled, is fully Surrendered, has submitted to being a Servant, and is Filled with the Holy Spirit, it soon becomes intuitive to treat all we are and have as belonging to our Lord.  Our part is to simply listen and wait for guidance as to how He desires that we use them. We cease viewing our time, money and talent as our own and freely surrender them in service to God and neighbor. Does this seem scary to you?  Or can you sense the freedom that results in living this type of life? May our Lord guide us, strengthen us and give us courage as we pursue discipleship marked by Holy stewardship. Amen.

Living the life Christ desires for each of us is impossible if we attempt to do so through our own strength and willpower. Impossible! Christ taught by words and actions that reliance upon God’s desire for our lives – NOT our own – leads to the greatest of eternal rewards. The Holy Spirit is with us, not to help us, but to literally do the required supernatural work in our body, mind and spirit. The key to unlocking this transformative power is very clear and uncomplicated… We must be obedient to the Lord. Obedience is born of, and is evidence of, faith. Our heavenly Father knows that we live in a fallen world. He knows we are actively being fought for. He knows the cunning lies we are told by Satan. He is patient and kind. When we are obedient, he encourages us to go further. He does not wait for our complete obedience to begin the work. Faith leads to transformative sanctification by the Holy Spirit. Thus, continued obedience by and through the help of the Holy Spirit leads to sanctification.  It doesn’t happen all at once. It takes time, but as John wrote in Revelation 2:7, those who overcome and persevere in faith will inherit eternal life!

To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be a soldier in the ongoing war for the souls of men and women as we build the family of God on this earth. This is not a war fought with guns or swords, or with physical size or strength. It is a spiritual war fought with spiritual weapons. But what are these weapons we wield? And how do we go about the work of engaging in invisible battles against unseen forces? Scripture has much to say on this matter, and the Holy Spirit offers daily guidance. But we must seek them, embrace them, and utilize them. As soldiers, we learn how to run toward the battle rather than cower away from it. And we learn not to do so under our own strength but empowered by the Spirit of God and by our brothers and sisters that fight alongside us. Let us embark with full hearts and an open mind as we learn to be good and faithful soldiers in the war against the dark forces seeking to disrupt our lives, our families, and our service to God and others. Amen.

The final mark of a disciple that we will study is that of being Eternally Minded.  But what does that mean? It means a disciple of Jesus whose mind and heart are primarily fixed on eternity. Such a disciple recognizes that this life is short, and that Jesus has implored his followers to eschew building up treasure here on earth for the joy of building up treasure in Heaven. The result is that we give little concern to the circumstances of this life and put no effort toward building our own mini kingdoms here, “where moth and rust destroy”. Rather, we are focused on putting our time, talent, money and energy toward things that are eternal, that last forever, that will never die. The eternally minded disciple is freed from the worries and concerns of the world and builds his life around true eternal purpose.  That is, to play our part in building God’s eternal family, in whatever form or fashion our Lord asks us to do so, and to make every decision through the prism of eternal significance.

A life lived by an eternally minded disciple is a life marked by the fear and awe of God rather than the fear of man. And it is a life lived in peace because there is awareness that no matter what happens here with respect to our comfort, circumstances or loved ones, we will soon live in a world free from the pain, scarcity, sorrow and troubles that are our constant companion during our few years on this earth. In short, it is a life of peace, a life of power, and a life of freedom.  Have mercy, Lord, to guide us into this kind of life. Amen.