RETURNING TO THE FOCUS OF THE FELLOWSHIP

Four years ago when we began in this journey in earnest, we committed to practice three basic habits…
1. Walking with Jesus.
2. Walking with others.
3. Waiting on Jesus to lead out with orders and opportunities.
At the beginning I felt God would be raising up leaders for us to encourage and equip. Well, now it has happened. We are being asked to partner with others in the task of mentoring the mentors as they are raised up by the Lord.

Our problem is two-fold…
1. We have no strategy for mentoring/discipling one another in Jesus.
2. We have no strategy for mentoring/discipling those God brings our way.
Therefore, Diana and I feel the need to invest our time and energies in seriously mentoring/discipling those who are interested, so that we have something significant to share with those God brings us—whether local or global.

There are three vital results we will experience as we refocus a bit…
• The first and foremost result of refocusing will be a closer, personal relationship with Jesus, leading to joy and peace.
• The second result of refocusing is that you will be able to embrace the principles of Jesus together with your brothers and sisters.
• The third result of refocusing is that we as a fellowship will be ready to minister to anyone God brings our way.
It doesn’t mean much to be a believer in Jesus. The Scriptures say that even the demons are believers. Jesus said false prophets are believers, but Jesus rejects them. And you say that you are believers, but it doesn’t make any difference to claim you are just a believer as far as Jesus is concerned. Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you.”

The only ones who will enter the kingdom of heaven are those who do the will of the Father. And what is the will of the Father? To trust Jesus enough to follow Him—His teachings and principles!

We must refocus ourselves to be faithful followers of Jesus.

Some of you may think you have nothing to offer in the discipleship process. Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes someone known to be a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever welcomes someone known to be righteous will receive a righteous person's reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is known to be my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly be rewarded."

NOTE by simply welcoming a disciple and by giving a disciple a cup of water, you will be doing something significant enough to be specifically rewarded by Jesus. You don’t have to be a teacher. Your life as you gather together in the name of Jesus will teach more than any gifted teacher could ever teach. Where two or three are gathered together….

So, we have determined two things about the present strategy…
FIRST—We want to be personally involved with everyone who wants to join in the refocusing process.

SECOND—We want to begin this process after the first of the year.

Whether you signed up to participate or not, please pray about joining with us in this next step.

Let’s learn and grow together in loving the Lord and loving one another.