2 Timothy 2:2 KJV And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
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I think one thing that IFB churches across the United States are lacking is a discipleship program. Don’t get me wrong: I love Bible preaching! But we also need to go back to teaching doctrine as well, and it should be every week. The reason why so many Christians do not know how to defend their beliefs is because they are ignorant of the scriptures. I blame this on the pastors! Yes, Christians need to read the Bible and search the scriptures for themselves, but even pastors are commanded to feed the flock of God!
1 Peter 5:1 KJV The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
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1 Peter 5:2 KJV Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
1 Peter 5:3 KJV Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
1 Peter 5:4 KJV And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
1 Peter 5:5 KJV Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Notice, the Bible says that pastors are commanded to feed the flock of God. The church is made up one fold that consists of saved, born-again believers in Christ. The pastor is an undershepherd whose sole purpose is to feed God’s people with the word of God. What is the Bible likened to in the scriptures? Bread! It is the bread of God that we must feast upon if we want to grow in our faith!
Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
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Many pastors will preach a sermon that is only based on one verse in the Bible, and they’ll just talk about it throughout the entire message, relating it to our society and issues of the day. He won’t explain the verse or dissect the chapter where the scripture is found, leaving the church clueless about what God has for us in His word. Let me make this clear: I have heard sermons by many topical preachers in the past and they were powerful. However, this should not be the standard style of preaching for men of God in 2024. The Bible says to preach the whole counsel of God, not bits and pieces of it.
Acts 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
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I attend a local Independent Baptist church where the man of God preaches and teaches the Bible verse-by-verse. Thank God! I have always wanted to join a ministry where the leadership uses expository preaching every Sunday. I found it, finally! This kind of preaching is essential! I am not saying that topical preaching doesn’t work, but how much better is expository preaching?! You learn more about God through Bible teaching than you would with a topical sermon. Those kinds of sermons are for exhortation, but expository preaching is for learning. Praise the Lord!
What is discipleship?
You may have heard the term discipleship before in church, or on the internet, and still don’t understand what it means. You may have even heard of what’s called a “discipleship program” in Sunday school. Friend, let me help you understand what it means to disciple the believers in God’s house.
Matthew 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
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Matthew 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Matthew 4:20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
Notice, when Jesus first appeared to Peter and Andrew, He told them to follow Him. He said that if they would follow Him, he would make them into fishers of men. Christ was referring to soul-winning and leading others to Christ. The Lord wanted to teach these men to be gospel preachers and to prepare them for the ministry. That is what a teacher does: he instructs others to do what he does so that his students would go and do likewise. Christ went out preaching the kingdom of God, and His disciples emulated His compassion for the lost and preached as well.
A disciple is a learner, follower, or student of another. When we look at the ministry of Jesus Christ, we see that all throughout The Four Gospels He taught his disciples sound doctrines from the word of God. He taught them how to pray, to live righteously, to fast often, etc. What did the disciples do later on after Christ ascended to the Father? They began to preach the gospel to the whole world, baptized new converts, and taught them the scriptures. Based on the example of the Apostles and their missionary journeys, we should do the same and spread the word!
Act 11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
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I think of myself back in the day when I used to preach on the church bus to both children and their parents: occasionally, I gave other brethren the chance to preach, and to share a few words from the Bible with the kids. I taught them how to preach, not only by telling them how to do it, but also with my example as a bus preacher. I taught them how to prepare a sermon, how to teach an expository message, and how to create a simple outline when prepping a sermon. These weren’t things that I came up with right off the bat. They were things that I had already learned by myself through my experience as a preacher. What was I doing? I was discipling them and preparing them for the bus ministry. They were the next generation of preachers and it was the Lord who entrusted me to show them the ropes. Brethren, that is called discipleship.
The Bible demands discipleship
2 Timothy 2:2 tells us to commit those things that we have heard Paul say, and then share it with others. The word commit means “to put into the hands or power of another“. God commands us to take what we have learned from the word of God and teach it to others. Whether it is baptism, the resurrection, the rapture, soul-winning; these are the things that God has entrusted us to instruct others in the faith. This is not just an exhortation, this is a COMMAND OF GOD. Churches that choose not to commit these fundamental doctrines of the faith to all the saints in church are in direct disobedience to God!
It is part of the Great Commission
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
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Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Many churches understand the importance of soul-winning, but neglect the next two points of the Great Commission. Baptism and discipleship are next on the list, and they are just as important as witnessing to the lost. If they weren’t as vital, then Christ would have never mentioned them as part of the main functions of the church. He would’ve commanded us to go and win souls and forget the rest of what we’re expected to do. That’s not what Jesus intended when He established His church. He wanted us to preach AND TEACH the Holy Books. You can’t have one without the other.
Most people who know me know that I am not a fan of following up with new believers. Some even think I’m crazy for not doing it. That is expected because most IFB churches in the USA are accustomed to visiting their new converts the week after going out soul-winning. I don’t have time to explain it, but if you read each of the Gospels, you will find that Jesus Christ never followed up. That is the truth, friend. People voluntarily got up and followed Him after they got saved.
Matthew 20:34 So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.
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We never see Christ going back to the same village the week after checking up on His new converts. He simply told them, “Follow me”, and they did.
Matthew 9:9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
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But if there is one thing I do, I always leave my converts with my mobile phone number and I take down there’s as well. I text them every week with a Bible verse for the day, and sometimes have Bible studies with them over a zoom meeting. This eventually leads them to want to come to church and go out soul-winning with me. That is how I disciple new believers.
Why is it so important to teach new believers? Because without it, they CANNOT grow in the faith. How are they supposed to become gospel preachers and teachers someday? How are they going to learn to debate atheists, Jehovah False Witnesses, Mormons, and all these other cults? They won’t be able to do so unless they grow in knowledge and in their faith. Discipleship unlocks the key to all these things.
1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
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2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
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Discipleship builds the church
John 4:1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
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John 4:2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)
John 4:3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.
John 4:4 And he must needs go through Samaria.
Jesus built a big church! He made more disciples than John the Baptist, and it was evident according to the Bible. Jesus was always focused on discipleship; He never left it out. We know that based on the ministry of Christ that the church is built on soul-winning and discipleship. Why is it that so many churches in the USA are stagnant, not growing, or increasing daily? Why do they lack young kids, teenagers, and young adults in their services? It is because they are ignoring the Great Commission, the main objective of the church. If churches don’t want to go soul-winning, then they might as well quit! They are refusing to do the work that Christ established the church for in the first place.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
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I think about Solid Rock Baptist Church (Baptist church in Atco, NJ) and the many souls they have won to Christ since the time they first opened in South Jersey. About 1,500 or more people go to their church services every week, and they’re committed. They are the largest IFB church in the State of New Jersey! I have visited the church on several occasions to see what their services are like and have asked myself, “How did they do it?” It seemed like a mystery at first, but later on it wasn’t. All it took was prayer, fasting, and evangelism. It was the power of discipleship that made them who they are today. If we want to build a big ministry with saved, baptized believers, then that’s what it’s going to take!
Churches need a vision for discipleship!
Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
The Bible tells us to have a vision! Without a vision, we perish, and that is the case for most KJV-only Baptist churches in America. We should have a vision for soul-winning, for the youth in church, in our walk with God, but we should also have a vision for making disciples! Why do you think the average Christian doesn’t know how to witness to people? Why do you think Christians struggle to defend the Bible? Because pastors in the USA don’t have a vision for their church! They may have a vision for preaching the Bible, but what about their vision for teaching the Bible? This is lacking in the world of Fundamentalism, and shame on the preachers who don’t have a vision for equipping the saints! This is why so many churches are closing down, and people are starting to believe in evolution rather than creation.
It’s time for churches to build apologists, and not spectators. I think too many churches are more concerned about entertaining Christians, rather than showing them how to debate evolutionists. Church is not a place where you come to hear motivational preaching and get a fuzzy feeling from it. That’s not Bible preaching. That’s sensationalism. You come to church to learn and to understand what thus saith the Lord is. To all my pastor friends across the US: have a vision for your congregation. Don’t just preach the Bible; teach the Bible and explain it verse-by-verse!
If you are not 100% sure that you are going to heaven when you die, I encourage you to read my first-ever blog post about the coming judgment and how to be saved from it. God bless you all.
Walking in the light 
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