Discipleship

My Personal Testimony

It was Easter morning, eight years ago.  I walked into to a new church with my husband and our two kids at the time.  I saw a big screen over the stage, with a picture of a receipt that read, “Paid in Full”.  Sixty extraordinary minutes later, we were walking out, tears were still welled up in my eyes and my heart had been changed.  I had heard the Gospel for the first time in my life.  I felt like the Apostle Paul when “something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight” (Acts 9:18).    

Do you remember the first time you heard the truth?

How Jesus paid the debt of our sins so we could have eternal life with Him?  That day was just the beginning of a life lived for Christ.  It was also an incredibly fragile point of my baby Christian life.  With a newfound love for Jesus, my heart was now hungry for more and I could not do it on my own. I needed discipleship, people to feed my heart and mind with truth.  I needed people to follow up with me, point me in the right direction on how to grow in my faith and relationship with Jesus. 

Follow up was important even for the Apostle Paul

After Paul received the Gospel from Jesus on the road to Damascus, he immediately began his missionary journey.  We see Paul leave Damascus and head to Jerusalem (Acts 9:26-30), and then flee to Tarsus.  All the while he is preaching the name of Jesus wherever he goes.  As years pass, his missionary trips take him to multiple cities, and we see Paul return time and again to cities he had preached in.  He was writing letters and preaching, then revisiting the cities.  His follow up was part of his life mission.

The spiritual journey of the Apostle Paul is an incredible testimony and witness to the power of the Holy Spirit and faith in Jesus Christ.  This was a man who not only rejected Jesus, but tracked down, imprisoned, and killed those who followed him.  He seemed like the least likely person to ever believe and put faith into Jesus Christ. 

However, Jesus appears to him on the road to Damascus, blinds him, then sends Ananias to heal his eyes and fill him with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17), the impossible became possible.  He immediately began proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God (Acts 9:20).  Scripture tells us that he was empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:22), and THAT power can change even the most likely of unbelievers to be reborn in the Spirit of Christ.

Elements to follow up:

Important elements to follow up with a new believer are to stay in touch, be consistent in touching base with them and feed them as much of the Gospel as you can.  Paul made an effort to keep visiting cities and keep encouraging the new churches and new believers to safeguard the truth of Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:5-6).  We have been given the same gift that Paul was given; the power of the Holy Spirit.  May we be as confident and intentional as the Apostle Paul, to preach and proclaim the name of Jesus wherever we go and to help those around us live a life for Christ.