Today’s teaching on the comparison between Christian vs Disciple is broken into 2 sections – the more prophetic aspect, and then the practical teaching down below. The video link can be found here – https://www.facebook.com/stephenjulia.kelly/videos/2488943747783309/
The LORD led me through this comparison about 3-4 years ago as He was dismantling a religious stronghold that had developed due to being raised in a religious family of preachers going back 7 generations on one side and 5 on the other. The devil’s strategy is to poison the wellheads so that the children that drink from their wellhead will be poisoned with death, much like Jericho’s waters in 2 Kings 2. As these notes were originally created for personal study, I wasn’t as thorough on recording the specific verses. However, as you study out the topic and read through the scriptures for yourself, you will easily be able to spot them. As time allows, I will eventually go back and insert all those references, but I do not want to delay this word from being released.
This download hits close to home because I knew that the next time I went to visit a certain location, my mandate would be to conquer 2 specific high places the LORD highlighted over a year ago. Honestly, I have no desire to tangle with those giants. Ever find yourself desperately wishing that what you heard was a vain imagination and that you made it all up, yet deep down inside you knew it was truly God speaking? Kind of like Jonah must have felt before he actively bolted in the wrong direction except that I know one way or another I must land on Ninevah’s shores. I know it’s in my best interest to obey willingly instead of arriving with the aroma of whale vomit. God confirmed His mandate, His timing and His presence earlier this week as the door opened for lodging and transportation to that place. Everything lined up detail by detail as God showed me in a dream last year without any direct involvement on my end. Today, the what, why, and how was doubly confirmed by my own download below as well as a video that popped up after I finished my live teaching, spoken by Dutch Sheets who just released a commissioning for those to take the high places with a different spirit like that of Caleb, the spirit of excellence.. (you can watch it here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4K3rtBh6Wc)
The observant ones would have noticed that I was in a different room today for the video portion. Just as I was about to hit the live button, our neighbour’s roofers started working to not only remove their shingles but also rip out the exposed rotten plywood damaged by a storm earlier this spring. The racket audible through our upstairs bedroom wall would have made it impossible to hear my voice so I retreated into the basement guestroom. One of our guests’ names is Joyce and the room is sunshine yellow. She and her family travelled to the region and are staying in our hospitality suite while they go through a deep clean by a local Restoring the Foundations ministry team. As I’m writing up the notes, I’m realizing this was a prophetic act. When the rotten coverings are exposed, it will attract a lot of attention and cause a lot of racket that will set people’s teeth on edge but those who retreat to the foundation of God’s word will abide in joy and peace.
As for the part about the 2 stumps being removed by my Father-in-Law, I didn’t realize the significance of that until after the video ended. My Heavenly Father in and by the standard of His Law will be the one uprooting the dead stumps single-handedly without more than spoken word on my part. He will be using His prophetic voices like Jeremiah to uproot those that have been pruned back to nothing left but a dead stump.
– Jeremiah 1:7-10 – 7 The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8 And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” 9 Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth! 10 Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant.”
– Jeremiah 12:14 – 17 – 14 Now this is what the Lord says: “I will uproot from their land all the evil nations reaching out for the possession I gave my people Israel. And I will uproot Judah from among them. 15 But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own possession. 16 And if these nations truly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’ (just as they taught my people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among my people. 17 But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Disciples were recognized because they had BEEN with Jesus
– Acts 4:13 – 13 The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.
When Jesus gave the “Great Commission” as we call it from Matthew 28:18 – 20, he was actually quoting Moses who was quoting the LORD Jehovah’s instruction to obey His Commandments listed in the Law of Moses but from a place of relationship and freedom instead of fear.
– Matt 28:19-20 – 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,[b] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
How many missionary groups and church denominations who declare that they are making disciples actually DO what Matthew 28 commands? Or have we been operating in masked anti-Semitism? Jesus was a Jew. The Bible was written to, by, and for God’s chosen people, which today we call Jews. Gentiles are grafted into the pure olive tree, not the Jews grafted into the wild olive branch. Failure to teach God’s commandments results in blind Pharisees teaching the traditions of men in their religious institutions and making their converts twice the sons of the devil that they are. In deliverance circles, we call this occult witchcraft…occult in that its rebellion hidden in plain sight and deceived into being not only acceptable but disguised as God’s truth. The thing about deception is that they BELIEVE they have the truth when they don’t. We don’t condemn them; we are restoring them from their pits of blindness and lead them in a way they have not been before as per Isaiah 42
– Matt 23:15 – Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
– Romans 2:29 NLT – 29 No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise[a] from God, not from people.
– Matthew 15:13-14 – 13But Jesus replied, “Every plant that My Heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots. 14Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
– 1 Samuel 15:23 – For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
– 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 – And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
– Isaiah 30:1-3,9-11 – Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: 2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion….9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: 10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
When Caleb finally entered the Promised Land, he asked for his promised inheritance of Hebron – the City on a Hill that was a stronghold occupied by giants. By God’s commandments, only the land outside of a city wall would revert back to its original owner on the Jubilee year, the 50th year. This is why Joshua had to march around Jericho’s wall until it crumbled before they could possess the city of Jericho and why Caleb had to breach the stronghold walls of Hebron before he could possess his inheritance.
– Joshua 14:13-15 – 13 So Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave Hebron to him as his portion of land. 14 Hebron still belongs to the descendants of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 (Previously Hebron had been called Kiriath-arba. It had been named after Arba, a great hero of the descendants of Anak.) And the land had rest from war.
Hebron means “seat of association.” Is your seat of association a city on a hill filled with unholy – giants?
– Matthew 5:14 – 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
– Luke 11:21-22 – 21When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are secure. 22But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor on which the man relied, and then he divides up his plunder.
Are you associated with Jesus or with an organization? Are you preaching THE Jesus and THE gospel of the kingdom, or are you preaching another Jesus, another gospel, another spirit?
– 2 Cor 11:4-6 – 4 You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed. 5 But I don’t consider myself inferior in any way to these “super apostles” who teach such things. 6 I may be unskilled as a speaker, but I’m not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every possible way.
We are commanded to inspect their fruit. So what is the fruit of a Christian, a follower of Christ, and a disciple? We are to MAKE disciples, which indicates one doesn’t automatically become one. A new creation is made in an instant but a disciple takes time. There is a process, much like there is a process of a flower being pollinated and developing into a hard green raspberry then into a juicy sweet tender red raspberry. Fruit may be immature but it will be visible. So let’s identify some fruit, shall we? If we know what a mature fruit looks like, it is much easier to identify immature fruit from fruitlessness.
CHRISTIAN
– Originally a derogatory slur given to disciples by gentiles of Antioch
– Found only 3 times in KJV – Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, 1 Pe 4:16, never in a positive light.
– Denoted a Religion
– Christian: G5546 – Christianos; Christian, a follower of Christ; from root Christos = The anointed one. So they’re followers of the anointing and NOT Jesus, the person (otherwise they would have been called Jesus-ites)!
– Merriam-Webster: a : one who PROFESSES belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ
What do Christians do:
– “Profess” belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ, verbally but may not be in their hearts
– Follow the anointed one/ the anointing.
– Suffer “as a Christian”
– Followers are:
– taught in parables (Matt 13:13)
– do not have eyes to see, nor ears to hear
– Seasonal, leave when the going gets tough
– Did not receive the power & authority like the 12 and then the 70 but did receive the benefits of healing/deliverance (Matt 9:35) & miracles
– Regular attenders of the synagogue (church building) and heard teaching.
– Complacent with what they were given, their actions showed they were not hungry/thirsty for more.
– Jesus called them the multitude, the Pharisees, the Publicans, the people
– They were not commanded to fast, but rather Jesus multiplied the food for them.
DISCIPLE:
– Name Jesus gave to his students, his close followers
– Found 256 times from Isaiah (1), Matt – Acts (255) as per Biblegateway.com for KJV
– Denoted a close Relationship with Jesus Christ, a person, God come in the flesh.
– Definition of the Greek – G3101 – mathetes; a learner, pupil, disciple
– Definition by Merriam-Webster: one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another, a : one of the twelve in the inner circle of Christ’s followers according to the Gospel accounts b : a convinced adherent of a school or individual
What do Disciples do:
– Accept & assist in spreading the doctrines of Jesus Christ
– Convinced adherent of Jesus Christ (denotes faith & resolve)
– Assembled together & taught people
– Their testimony shall be bound, the law sealed among them
– They pursue Jesus Christ (requires action on our part to respond & accept that relationship), denotes personal relationship & fellowship, intimacy, face-to-face encounters
– Look up to Jesus Christ as their master, their authority, their Saviour in times of trouble, source of power
– Hungering to learn, in a receiving posture & question his teachings to further understand them fully.
– Given power to DO the healing and authority to cast out devils.
– Stay in his presence, constantly following after Jesus’ leading.
– Pecking order – Disciple is not above his Master. Jesus is always the boss,
– be careful whose disciple you are – not a pastor, a church board, the Pope, denomination, Pharisees, or even John the Baptist.
– They get to know the intimate details of the mysteries of the Kingdom (Matt 13:10-11) & the intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ, and have eyes to see, ears to hear.( Matt 13:16)
– Requires sacrifice, putting Jesus above all else (Matt 8:21-22) even to our own hurt
– Can turn away from Jesus (John 6:66) when the going gets hard. Must resolve daily to stay in his presence.
– Requires that he be as his master, taking on His mannerisms & character qualities, representing His affairs and not our own.
– Rewards that come in the name of a disciple (Matt 10:42)
– Must submit to the master’s commandments, obeying immediately
– Jesus will come to their cities (matt 11:1) after they prepare the hearts of the people by signs & wonders
– Expect accusations from “Pharisees” (legalists) when traditional customs are not followed
– Jesus considers them family (mother/brethren)
– Take responsibility for the needs of their brethren & master
– Honoring them even through the details of their funerals.
– Commanded to fast. Informed the reason they could not remove the deaf & dumb spirt was because of their lack of faith & this kind comes out only by prayer & fasting. (Mk 9:19,29)
– Disciples will rise to servant leadership positions over the multitudes. Jesus gives to the disciples, then they give to others.
– Fleeting doubts, fears, & innocent screw-ups & full out failures due to lack of faith, & reading the motivations wrong, falling asleep for a short period do not remove one’s station as a disciple because a disciple will humbly keep pursuing & keep growing, desiring not to make the same mistake twice.
– Will be faced with the unknown as Jesus begins to move in His power through them. Hang on for the ride!
– Their behavior & words will offend the “elders”, must guard their own hearts not to become offended by the offended which would allow a root of bitterness to grow (Heb 12:15)
– The 3 most intimate disciples got to see the glory cloud descend upon Jesus/Moses/Elijah, so there are various levels of disciples.
– There will be face-to-face 2 way conversation where our questions are answered clearly.
– Were usually sent 2 by 2. Unity & fellowship is critical. Judas, the son of perdition was the primary exception, being sent alone.
– Will have the privilege of seeing miracles that the multitude will not see, and receive intimate instruction on how to do those same miracles themselves.
– We are to fear God, not man, with such purposefulness that others will recognize it.
– Kept the feasts. (Apostle Paul did also, decades later)
– They had the privilege of physical communion (bread & wine)
– allowed to be rich (cf: Prov 22;4)
– They were the first to know about Jesus’ resurrection.
– Got to see & hear angels.
– They worshipped him prostrate at his feet.
– Fellowshipped with publicans & sinners without becoming one of them (they influence others instead of sinners influencing them)
– Going to attract multitudes
– Expect people to find fault with the disciples words and deeds as they shine light into the darkness and people react.
– Will hearken to the voice of the Lord.
– The Lord has a right to rebuke them
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