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We All Follow Someone

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. HEBREWS 5:12-14 ESV

“You need someone to teach you again”

I get to choose who leads my life spiritually:

I must follow someone who runs ahead of me spiritually

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 CORINTHIANS 11:1 NIV

… pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. PHILIPPIANS 3:17 NLT

… You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 1 THESSALONIANS 1:5-7 ESV

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. PROVERBS 27:17 NIV

For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 1 CORINTHIANS 4:15-17 ESV

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. PHILIPPIANS 4:9 ESV

For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. 1 THESSALONIANS 2:11-12 NIV

I must follow someone who won’t let me settle

“You need milk, not solid food”

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. … 1 CORINTHIANS 3:1-2 ESV

Follow someone who has a plan to help me mature

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. COLOSSIANS 1:28-29 ESV

“by this time, you ought to be teachers”

Follow someone with a vision to multiply my life

… and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” 2 TIMOTHY 2:2 ESV

My Notes

Personal Reflection Guide

Get alone with God. Find a place where you can relax and clear the clutter from your thoughts and feelings. Consider going for a walk or finding a place where you can simply be still. Allow your thoughts, breathing, and body to be aligned. When you are ready, have a conversation with God about your spiritual maturity. Ask God some questions like, “To what extent am I growing spiritually? Where in my life am I spiritually stuck? In what aspects of my life would benefit from being discipled by someone more spiritually mature than me? What type of person would be best for me? Where might I find them?” Next, ask God to help you discern where you might be struggling with mature discipleship – that is “solid food” – and what He wants you to do about it. Reflect on 2 TIMOTHY 2:2 and how God uses our following a more spiritually mature person to transform us, and how we replicate the process with someone else. Use your imagination and picture how practicing this principle could impact the world around you. What is this stirring-up inside of you? Close your time by asking God to guide you into what He wants you to do to participate in multiplying disciples.

Discussion Questions

  1. Begin by slowly reading through (a few times) and reflecting on HEBREWS 5:12-14. Allow yourself to be open to God’s Spirit in order to receive from God whatever he would have for you in this moment. What did God bring to you as you listened to Him?
  2. We all participate in some form or another with media; social, books, news, sermons, entertainment, and conversations with others. What are a couple of the things that speak the loudest in your life on a regular basis?
  3. To what extent are you allowing anyone to actually get close enough to you, so that you can accept from them some hard truths that will sharpen your character?
  4. We all need to follow someone who’s spiritually ahead of us. Who are you following and in what way are they helping you to become more like Jesus?
  5. Mentorship is rooted in wisdom and guidance. Discipleship is rooted in a spiritual growth plan. What is your current discipleship plan for your life?
  6. Next Step: Read 2 TIMOTHY 2:2. Where are you in this process? To what extent are you sharing your life with those that are less spiritually mature? What do you need to adjust to more fully participate in this work?