INTRO
Twelve Weeks of Discipleship
Get together once a week with one or more people for an intentional, immersive and devoted season to share your lives with each other, to learn the commands of Christ, and to put into practice what you learn–by obeying his commands.
What is a disciple?
“Disciple” in the Greek, the major language of the New Testament, is “mathlete,” and means “learner.” You are a student of Jesus.
What is discipleship?
Discipleship is learning to love Jesus and his ways by obeying his commands.
What is NOT discipleship?
Mentorship, Bible studies, book studies, and topical studies are not discipleship. Those help us grow in our faith, but discipleship is focused on the commands of Christ. Jesus’ last command was for his followers to make disciples by teaching people to obey his commands. (Matthew 28:19-20)
Who disciples who?
Everyone is discipled by Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who reminds us of what Jesus taught. We learn from them and from each other as we see God bear fruit in each other’s lives. By example we teach each other to obey.
Who can be a disciple?
Anyone who surrenders their life to Jesus and trusts him for their salvation can be a disciple.
How to practice being a disciple:
-Keep the focus on Jesus and his commands.
-Keep love as your motive and gently encourage each other to live out each week’s command.
-Show patience by letting the Holy Spirit convict and change people.
-Be honest about obeying and whether you see the fruit of obedience in others’ lives, but don’t judge them.
-Be humble to receive honest feedback when someone tries to hold you accountable for obeying Jesus.
In this Guidebook each section will help you learn what Jesus commanded:
Prep work involves reading and scribing (copying) scripture.
Command is the focus for the week.
Challenge is meant to provoke discussion about the command.
Discussion questions prompt sharing (Read 1 Thessalonians 2:8).
Reward/ Warning emphasizes what is at stake if we do or don’t obey.
Obey Action is how you will put into practice what you learned.
Prayer is time to memorize the Lord’s prayer and pray for one another.
OVERVIEW
The Lord’s Prayer
Jesus commanded his disciples to pray this prayer. Matthew 6:9-13
Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
12 COMMANDS OF CHRIST
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength. Mark 12:30
Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39
Love your enemies. Matthew 5:44
Go and sin no more. John 8:11
Forgive others. Matthew 6:14-15
Beware of false prophets. Matthew 7:15
Abide in me. John 15:4
Seek first the Kingdom of God. Matthew 6:33
Ask, Seek, Knock. Matthew 7:7
Sell all you have. Give to the poor. Follow me. Matthew 19:21
Take. Eat. Drink. (Remember me.) Luke 22:18-20
Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22
Then- Go. Make disciples. Matt. 28:19
(Repeat weeks 1-12 with someone who wants to be a disciple).
WEEK 1
Command: Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Challenge:
Are you a 10% Christian? Or are you “all” in? The disciple Peter told Jesus, “We have left all we had to follow you.” Luke 18:28. In fact, all the disciples, except the one who betrayed Jesus, were either tortured or killed because they loved Jesus. They gave their lives for his Kingdom cause. Does Jesus expect less of his modern day disciples? Read Mark 12:28-34 & 41-44
Discussion:
Take turns and share your definition of “love.”
Share what has distracted you from loving God with your “all.”
Reward/ Warning: Luke 16:13
You cannot serve both God and money. If you love money, you will end up hating God.
Obey: Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” John 14:15
Action: Sign this covenant:
“I will love God by investing these 12 weeks to learn the commands of Christ, to go through discipleship. I will take Jesus seriously and try to obey him. I will stay committed to the person going through discipleship with me by being honest with them and by encouraging them each week. I’m all in.”
____________________________________
name
____________________________
date
Pray: the Lord’s prayer
Prep for week 2: Learn Jesus loves you.
Read John 17-20 & 1 John 1-5
Scribe 1 John 4:7-12
WEEK 2
Command: Matthew 22:39
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Challenge:
Read and reflect on the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Samaritans were despised by the Jews and yet Jesus chose to highlight the Samaritan as the one who teaches us how to love our neighbor. Based on this story, what is love? Who do you know that loves like this?
Discussion:
Read Luke 10:36 again- Why does Jesus ask the question this way?
Remember: When was someone a good neighbor to you? How did they help you when you were helpless or hopeless?
Reward/ Warning: Read 1 John 4:20
We can’t fulfill the greatest command if we don’t obey this second command.
Obey: Be a good neighbor by loving someone near you.
Action: Break free from being a 10% Christian by being as extravagant as the Good Samaritan in loving someone this week.
Example: mow a foster family’s lawn, do their laundry, and buy them dinner.
Pray: the Lord’s prayer
Prep for week 3: Learn Jesus loved you when you were an enemy of God.
Read Luke 15:11-32 (Prodigal Son)
Scribe Romans 5:6-11
WEEK 3
Command: Matthew 5:43-48
Love your enemies.
Challenge:
There are no good people. Everyone is evil; everyone is or was an enemey of God. The Old and New Testaments speak to this: Psalm 14:1-3. Mark 10:18. Romans 3:10-12. When we look in the Bible to define the word “good,” we see in the Creation story of Genesis that “good” is what is pleasing to God. Since the “fall of man” sacrifices have been required to please God. Jesus is the only one who was perfect and could please the Father. When Jesus was baptized the crowd heard a voice from heaven, “This is my son in whom I am well pleased.” If we are to please God and feel his pleasure, we need Jesus to befriend us, to befriend his enemy. Through discipleship we become friends of God. John 15.
Discussion:
What is an enemy?
How have you been an enemy of God?
Reward/ Warning: Read Matthew 5:48 & 1 John 4:18
Love is its own reward. Loving an enemy so that they become a friend, and then laying down your life for that friend, is love to the extreme. That kind of perfect love casts out fear from our lives.
Obey: Love someone you don’t want to love.
Action: How will you love? Sometimes words are not extravagant enough to convey love.
Example: go to a Planned Parenthood facility and bring the staff flowers and/ or donuts.
Pray: the Lord’s prayer
Prep for week 4: Learn about sin and forgiveness.
Scribe John 8:1-11. Then go outside and scratch in the dirt- “Jesus forgives me.”
WEEK 4
Command: John 8:11
Go and sin no more.
Challenge: Drop your stone.
Jesus proclaims “Neither do I condemn you.”
Sometimes we judge people and think “my sin doesn’t stink” as bad as theirs. We label people in our minds with that “scarlet letter” A (for adulterer). But Jesus shows up in this story and takes away the condemnation. It’s almost as if he wrote down her sin in the dirt the first time and then wrote “forgiven” the second time. Is there any sin Jesus cannot forgive? Do you still condemn yourself or others? Drop your stone. Write “forgiven” in the dirt.
Discussion:
What habitual sin have you struggled to overcome?
Are you a Christian who sins or do you have a “lifestyle of sin?”
Reward/ Warning: Read 1 John 5:16-18
You might be wondering if it’s even possible to “sin no more,” like Jesus commanded. Consider what John the disciple later said about sin in his first letter.
The blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin. 1:7, 2:2
Everyone has sinned. 1:8-10
Some make a practice of sinning (lifestyle). 3:4
There is no sin in Jesus. 3:5
Those who abide in Jesus don’t keep sinning. 3:6
Those who have a lifestyle of sin are of the devil. 3:7
A lifestyle of sin leads to death. 5:16
John points out that there are two types of sin: one of which leads to death. Type 1 Sin is something we did vs. Type 2 Sin, which is how we live: Action vs. lifestyle. We don’t know if the adulterous woman led a lifestyle of sexual sin or if this was a one night fling, but she was being judged by the Ten Commandments and the law to put adulterers to death (Leviticus 20:10).
Jesus forgives sins and knows we will sin again, and he will forgive us again, but he is calling us out of a lifestyle of sin. If we continue in that lifestyle, then we are rejecting the forgiveness of God. What hope remains for us then? Only death remains.
Obey: Shake off condemnation. Receive forgiveness.
Action: If you have a habitual sin, quit it.
Example: If you’re having sex with someone outside marriage, stop. If you’re getting drunk on Friday nights, don’t. If you struggle with an addiction, get help from a Christian counselor immediately.
Pray: the Lord’s prayer
Prep for week 5: Learn to forgive.
Read: Matthew 18:15-35
Take the Commandment Quiz to identify which of Jesus’ commands you obey and which ones you are not obeying.
WEEK 5
Command: Matthew 6:14-15
Forgive others.
Challenge: Forgiveness = cancelling a debt.
Someone owes you something. Maybe your parent failed to raise you right. Maybe a friend borrowed money from you. Maybe your boss doesn’t appreciate you. Maybe you have “church hurt,” because people judged you instead of loving you. You can’t forgive them UNLESS you appreciate how much you have been forgiven. Your debt was big!
Review Matthew 18:21-35 together.
Discussion:
Who has been the hardest person to forgive in your life?
Read what Jesus said on the cross (Luke 23:34).
Reward/ Warning: Matthew 6:14-15.
If you don’t forgive others, and cancel the debt they owe you, God will not forgive you.
Obey: Cancel a debt owed you.
Action: What debt will you forgive? Which debt will you let God cover?
Example: Let God father you and accept his motherly tough love. Let Him provide the extra money owed to you. Go to work for God’s glory, not people’s approval. Let God be the reason you go back to church every Sunday. Live in the freedom of having ALL your debts cancelled.
Pray: the Lord’s prayer
Prep for week 6:
Memorize Galatians 5:22-23
Write down the names of all the “influencers” you listen to:
-music:
-news:
-speakers:
-people who give you advice:
WEEK 6
Command: Matthew 7:15-20
Beware of false prophets.
Challenge: A false prophet is someone who speaks a message that contradicts Jesus Christ.
Prophets in the Old Testament tried to predict the future. If they got it wrong, they were considered a “false prophet.”
Prophets have another role- to remind people of God’s words. If they speak their own words, they are a “false prophet.”
Anyone that influences you with their words could be a false prophet if they are trying to persuade you with anything that contradicts the gospel and God’s word.
Discussion:
Read 1 John 4:1-6. How can you test the “influencers” in your life?
Reward/ Warning: Matthew 7:15 & 24:11-13.
Warning: wolves eat sheep. 7:15 You will be led astray and Your love will grow cold. 24:11-13
Obey: Test everything you hear, to determine if it’s Truth or a lie.
Action: Do you need to stop listening to a “false prophet?” Do you need to read the Bible more to learn Truth from lies? Do you need to stop asking people’s advice and instead pray God’s word?
Example: Pray through Isaiah 55 this week. Isaiah was a true prophet whose very words predicted Jesus as the coming Savior.
Pray: the Lord’s prayer
Prep for week 7:
Read John 15:1-11 every day this week (at least 5 times) and underline something new each time.
Scribe John 10:27-30