Yes, I Am Talking to You: Answering the Call of Christian Discipleship

By Marisa J. Johnson

If you ask someone to do a job, you must first tell them what the job is and give a job description. Otherwise they might get partway into the job and decide this wasnt what they had in mind and quit. The last thing Jesus did before going back to heaven was to give every believer a job to do: make disciples. This book details what it means to be a disciple and gives a thorough job description so that we will know what to expect in fulfilling our duties. Matthew 5:12 says, And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them. The kingdom of God operates in a specific way and cannot be altered to fit our way of doing things. Jesus wanted anyone who accepted His call to know how to do it right. So He had to teach them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781449752132

Marisa J. Johnson

Marisa Johnson is the pastor of Changing Directions Ministries and a nephrologist (kidney doctor) at Genesis Nephrology in Shreveport, LA. She lives her life according to God’s Word and wants to share Him with those she encounters. Marisa’s professional life as a physician is an extension of her ministry which is letting others know about God and how He has made all things available to us so that we may be successful. She feels we have a duty as believers to comport ourselves in such a manner that God is glorified through our actions.

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Copyright © 2012 Marisa T. Johnson, MD

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-5214-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-5213-2 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-5215-6 (hc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012916892

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/06/2012

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Bible, Public Domain

Other Scripture quotations are taken from: Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT) copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. The Amplified Bible, New Testament. Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1987, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permsision. New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. What Is a Disciple?

Chapter 2. Humility

Chapter 3. Godly Sorrow

Chapter 4. Meekness

Chapter 5. What Are You Craving?

Chapter 6. Merciful

Chapter 7. Purity

Chapter 8. Peacemakers

Chapter 9. Persecution

Chapter 10. The Big Picture

Introduction

God is love, and he desires relationship and fellowship with us. He created a perfect world for us and placed us in it. We rebelled against his sovereignty and rejected him. He then removed us from this perfect setting, but he did not remove us from him.

Throughout human history, God has been with us. He desires the pure relationship and fellowship with us that he originally established. He has gone to extreme lengths to make sure we have the opportunity to be with him for eternity.

When Man sinned in the Garden of Eden a debt was created that had to be paid. Scripture tells us that the wages of sin is death. Death is separation and loss of fellowship with God. So Man’s actions caused us to be separated from God. God created Man to have relationship with Him and a relationship outside of God leads to death. Scripture also tells us that it is not God’s desire that any man should die but that he should have everlasting life in order to spend eternity with Him. Therefore God had to have a way for man to be reconciled back to Him so that he could have the eternal life God wanted him to have. The sin-debt still had to be paid because without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin; but God orchestrated it so that it wasn’t ultimately paid by Man.

Initially God directed the people in Leviticus to bring a sacrifice to the tabernacle as the way to atone for their sins. The priest would then take the sacrifice and sprinkle the blood on the altar and burn certain organs and the fat on the altar as a peace offering to God. The rest of the sacrifice would then be taken whole outside the camp and burned and the ashes poured out. This was done at any time for any sin and was dependent upon the person or persons who committed the sin to bring the sacrifice to the priest and ask for forgiveness.

But once a year the high priest would make a sacrifice to God on behalf of the entire congregation of the people. The daily sacrifices for sin were made upon the altar that was in the common part of the tabernacle; but the yearly sacrifice for the people had to be done within the holy place which was behind the veil. When God directed the construction of the tabernacle He gave them specific instructions on what materials to use and where to put everything. The holy place was the area where the Ark of the Covenant was located and it was to be separated from the rest of the tabernacle by a veil. The Ark of the Covenant was where the mercy seat was located and where the presence of God would meet with them and give them direction. Only the high priest was allowed to go into this place and then only once a year.

This ritual had to be repeated every year because it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. This was done to keep Man in check and clean enough to be in relationship with God until the ultimate sacrifice could be made that would cleanse us from sin once and for all. Jesus Christ is our ultimate sacrifice and his blood is the only blood that is sufficient to pay the price needed to cleanse us from sin and make us righteous in God’s sight. Instead of Christ offering himself every year, he only had to pay the price one time. That one payment was enough to cover everyone who came before him and who will come after him for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

God sent Jesus to pay the price for our sins so that we could get back to the original design that God made us. God’s original design for Man was that he live in perfect fellowship with God forever. God created the Garden of Eden and put everything Man would need in the garden before He put Man there. What God did is similar to what we do as parents expecting a baby. Before the baby is born we obtain all the necessary things to have a fully furnished nursery prior to the baby’s arrival. Once the baby gets here we just bring him or her home and we have everything we need.

God gave Man the same consideration but God took it a step further. Not only did He provide for Man’s every need, but He also provided a way for Man to be in this perfect environment forever. In addition to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God placed another tree in the Garden: the Tree of Life. At anytime Man could have eaten from this tree and lived forever. But once Man sinned, God restricted his access to the Tree of Life but did not take away the promise of eternal life. God’s plan for Man has not changed; what has changed is the process we have to go through to get to the expected end God has for us all.

God did not have to do this. He could have destroyed us all and just started over with a new people who would be as faithful to him as he was faithful to them. But God is love, and love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and endureth all things (1 Corinthians 13:7).

John 3:17 says, For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. God sent Jesus to dwell among us with a specific task: to save us. It would have been so easy for Jesus to come to us in his supernatural state, show us some signs and wonders, and then go back to heaven. But this wasn’t how it was done. God sent Jesus to be the example to us of how we could have eternal life and be saved. God used Jesus to show us how to behave in order to receive the gift God wanted to give us. We had to be able to see Jesus as like us so that we could then see ourselves as like him.

Scripture explains this reasoning in Hebrews 2:17. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

To accomplish this, God gave Jesus a physical body, just like the one we have, subject to the same frailties and infirmities that we have to endure. It needed food, water, and rest just as our bodies do. It could be hurt, broken, and destroyed just as our bodies can. God wanted us to see that even with our human frailties we can be the people he always intended for us to be.

But Jesus couldn’t escape his divinity. He was the Word of God in the flesh, and there was no getting around that. He was dual in nature, just as we are dual in nature. Jesus started out as spirit and took on an earthly form. We start out as earthly and take on a spiritual form. Jesus is the Word, and we have the Word within us.

Jesus was born as we are born, by coming out of the womb. He then had a period of growth and maturation. We do not know anything about Jesus from when he was eight days old to when he was twelve years old. Then we only get a brief glimpse of the promise that he had come to fulfill. We know nothing further about him until he reached the age of thirty. Jesus began his public ministry—as so many of us should—by being baptized. Baptism represents an outward expression of what you have already accepted in your heart. Baptism is your declaration that you are with God. Jesus, God in the flesh, didn’t have any sin to repent, and it was obvious that he was with God. But even he was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus did it to show us what we are to do in order to be in right relationship with God.

Jesus came to earth with a job to do: to preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. In its simplest form, the kingdom of heaven is God’s system of doing things. The world has a system, and it is diametrically opposed to God’s system. For example, the world says, get all you can get. God says, give and then you shall receive. As believers, we are to operate according to God’s system of doing things. God sent Jesus to teach us how