OUR DIRECTION

The essence of being a disciple of the Lord Messiah, John tells us in John 3:5, is to be born from above by God’s–Yehovah’s– Spirit that comes into your life and transforms you fundamentally. That is to become a disciple of the lord Messiah Jesus. God changes you from being carnal to becoming spiritual. How does one become spiritually minded? Paul says in Romans 8:9 that if the Spirit of God- Yehovah dwells in you, you can become spiritually minded, because your thinking has been changed.

The lord Messiah Jesus is saying, “My direction is your direction. Follow me.”

The lord Messiah Jesus’ direction in life, from the beginning to the end, was to lay down his life for the redemption, the salvation of mankind!

My goal in life is to do as the lord Messiah Jesus did: live and be willing to die for the redemption of mankind. 

The lord Messiah Jesus says: “If you don’t have that goal in your life, you cannot be my disciple.”

The lord Messiah Jesus says: “Whoever does not bear his own cross and follow after me cannot be my disciple.”

The lord Messiah Jesus says: “Whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” You do this when you submit to the lordship of the lord Messiah Jesus and the Kingship of his God and Father Yehovah. Totally committed to both!

Since we are bought and paid for by the blood of the lord Messiah Jesus, when he gave himself up to his God and Father Yehovah as a sin-offering sacrifice, we are his slaves. Slaves own nothing. Their duty is to exercise stewardship over all their Master gives them, both physically and spiritually.

A disciple of the lord Messiah Jesus is a person transformed by the Spirit of the only true God – Yehovah.

You and I are called not only to be saved for ourselves, but to this task: that we henceforth live for the salvation of others. That has to be our goal. That is not optional.

You are not a Christian in the lord Messiah Jesus’ definition until the direction of your life is that you live for the salvation of mankind.

From now on, you don’t live for yourself anymore. You live for the salvation of your brother or your sister, or this or that person. Your whole life is living for others, in a foot-washing attitude of mind.

The lord Messiah Jesus says: “Unless you take up your cross and renounce all that you have for the sake of others, you cannot be my disciple.”

“Christian” is just another name for a disciple. We are the disciples of the lord Messiah Jesus.

The confidence I have as a disciple is not in myself; it is in God- Yehovah because, by His grace, I share the same direction as the lord Messiah Jesus.

The apostle Paul said, “It’s not that I am already perfect, but I press towards the mark,” and that mark is to lay down one’s life for the others.

Note: The Christian life begins with the laying down of your life. The old “you” died at baptism. At your baptism, you died because you renounced your old way of life. You renounced your sins, your selfish ambitions, your love for materialism, and the world.

You become a Christian only when your life is changed from being carnal-minded to becoming spiritually minded. Paul emphasizes this in Romans 12:2, where he says we must keep on being transformed in our minds, because only by being spiritually minded do we know the fullness of spiritual life, eternal life, and peace.

The Lord God Yehovah says to every disciple of the lord Messiah Jesus: “Do you see people perishing out there? Do you see the condition of the called-out Assembly? Get out there and do something! Preach the salvation message that God- Yehovah gave to His Son Jesus to give to the world. The message of salvation contained in the gospel - good news about the coming Kingdom of God!