Making Disciples Series

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FELLOWSHIP - II

 But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall  be my people, and your God, my God._  (Ruth 1:16 NKJV)

 Followership

Decades ago, I attended the convention of a church with my wife. During his ministration, the  Man of God preaching spoke to no one in particular saying, "God is telling someone, 'Go and find your Elijah and I will make an Elisha out of you'. I told my wife I was sure the statement was for me and that I must heed the directive from God. Not long after that a close friend invited us to a service where their General Overseer was preaching. Right from the moment the man of God started speaking, a voice in me said, "That's him". We began attending more of their services and soon became members. Not long after, I began following closely one of the senior pastors and ultimately became a disciple of his. Now, after several years as his disciple, I have a good number of men following me as my own disciples. 

In the bible Old testament, followership is illustrated by an instruction that God gave Moses to the Israelites saying, “You must follow the LORD your God and revere only him; obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him” (Deut. 13:4 NET). The instruction forbade listening to false prophets and worshiping false gods. However, in the new testament, followership is illustrated by the words of Jesus to the disciples, “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19). The new testament also says, 'Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him' (Mark 3:14a)

In the above opening scripture, we have the story of Ruth as the example of true followership. Ruth chose to follow Naomi, come rain or sunshine, go wherever she led, worship whoever she worshiped, suffer whatever she would suffer. Consequently she experienced a transformation - from a Moab pagan to a worshiper of Jehovah God of Israel. She became blessed to become the line that birthed Jesus Christ on earth.

Followership can be a painful process. It involves carrying our cross. Jesus spoke to a crowd saying, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26).The bible tells us concerning Elisha, 'And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” ' Ruth left her kit and kin, and found salvation; Elisha left all and received a double portion of Elijah's anointing. Followership is not a fruitless venture!

Jesus selected twelve of those He called to learn from Him and become His ambassadors, those who would preach and carry on the kingdom work after Him. Being with the Lord continually enables us to know Him well and learn His ways. "Follow Me, and I'll make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). Following Jesus means to align our lives with His teachings and exemplary life on earth, embrace His values as our own and teach others to become like Him. 

©OO-I.



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