Let me begin by saying that following Jesus is not like anything you’ve ever experienced. In fact, a lot of people have the wrong idea about it. Let me give you an example. Often on a Friday night, we will surprise our kids by taking them to see a good family movie. It’s nice to just sit back, relax, escape the pressures of the week and enjoy the show. There is something about the cushioned stadium seats, massive screen, and surround sound that can’t be beat. For a lot of people, following Jesus looks kind of like that. When you head to church or even watch it online — you sit back, enjoy the show and are done until the next time.

Although you get to see God do many amazing things, just sitting back and enjoying the show is not what church or following Jesus is all about. His plan is a lot more like joining a gym than going to the movies. Think about it. You go to a theatre to be entertained, but you go to a gym to be trained. You go to a theatre to escape, but you go to a gym to get in shape.

Do you get this? Following Jesus is not just enjoying the show — it’s being in the middle of the action. It means learning what Jesus taught and doing what He said. It means being transformed from the inside out so that you don’t fall apart when things get tough. It  means building your life on the only thing that will last. 

Jesus described it this way:

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. (Matthew 7:24-27)

Jesus is the Rock you can build your life on, but it doesn’t happen automatically — you have a part to play. That’s what this book is all about. We believe Jesus has a clear action plan for you to follow, a growth path we call the “5 D’s.” These five steps from Scripture will be your training program:

• Decision

• Dunked

• Delivered

• Discipled

• Deployed

 

For the rest of this chapter we are going to look at someone whose world got turned upside down when he met Jesus. As I walk through the 5 Ds in his life, ask yourself where you are with each one so you can see what your next step is in following Jesus. If you have completed all five, you’ll see how to bring others with you on this amazing journey with Jesus.

An Unlikely Role Model

In the 1970s and 80s at the height of rock and roll music, there was a phrase that people used when they had been utterly impacted by something: “That rocked me!” You can’t meet Jesus without getting rocked. That’s why we’ve coined this slogan at All Peoples Church: “Get rocked, get real, and give it away.” That’s what happened to a man named Saul (later called Paul) who got so rocked by Jesus that He left everything behind, started a slew of churches and ended up writing much of the New Testament.

First, the backstory. After Jesus died and rose again, He hung out with His disciples, teaching them about what was to come. He promised that although He was going back to heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit to baptize them with the power they would need. When that happened on Pentecost, the church was born. 3000 people got saved in one day, and things just exploded from there. Then this angry dude with a lot of power showed up:

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. (Acts 9:1-2)

Saul, a Jewish leader, hated Jesus’ followers, so he was having some people thrown in prison and others killed. As a side note, hopefully you know this by now, but Jesus isn’t looking for “good,” “nice” or “perfect” people. He reaches out to the most sinful and unlikely looking folks and invites them to follow Him. Here’s how He got Saul’s attention:

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:3-6)

Imagine this scene. Everyone who is with Saul hears God’s voice, so they’re all looking around, probably freaked out because they can’t see where the sound came from. Saul stumbles to his feet, only to discover that he can’t see a thing. His companions take his hand and lead him to the nearest town. The Scriptures tell us that for the next three days Saul did not eat or drink a thing (verses 7-9). Jesus had rocked his world.

Decision

An encounter with Jesus always calls for a response. What was Saul’s? He addresses Jesus as Lord and then does exactly what He tells him to do. It is clear this guy wants what Jesus has for him. He has made a decision to follow Him.

Meanwhile, the drama is playing out not far away with a Jesus follower named Ananias, whom God appears to in a vision, telling him to go to the specific house where Saul is staying. God assures Ananias that Saul will be ready because he’s had a vision of Ananias praying over him and restoring his sight.

Of course, Ananias is terrified—wouldn’t you be? Every Christian far and wide knew about this vicious murderer named Saul. But God astonishes Ananias with an amazing prophecy about how Saul is His chosen instrument to proclaim his name outside of the Jewish community. So, Ananias goes and prays over Saul, saying: “Brother Saul, the Lord — Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 9:17)

Dunked

The story goes on to say: “Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength” (Acts 9:18-19). The very first thing Saul does after being healed is get baptized, a word that literally means “submerged” or as we say, “dunked”! (Okay, it’s a little cheesy, but we needed a “D” and this works!) Baptism is a great picture of what God has done in giving us new life: 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

In a sermon to a bunch of new followers of Jesus in the Bible, Peter tells them that their next step is to repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38). We will discuss it more in detail in the next chapter, but if you have made the decision to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, then your next step is to be baptized

Many people have given their lives to Christ but have never been baptized. If this is you, now is the time! Sometimes people who were baptized as babies wonder if that counts. As meaningful as that event may have been to your parents, they were dedicating you — it wasn’t your decision. True baptism takes place after you have made the decision to trust in Christ and have experienced the new birth by His Spirit

But baptism by water isn’t the only way God wants to immerse us. Later we will see how Jesus promises to baptize us in the Holy Spirit and to baptize us with fire, some pretty incredible experiences.

Delivered

When Ananias laid his hands on Saul and prayed, the Bible says that “scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again” (Acts 9:18).” We know that Saul received his physical sight, but this is also a picture of what happens when God removes the scales from our spiritual eyes, and we can see the things that have been keeping us from experiencing the abundant life Jesus promised and be set free from them. That’s our third “D” – delivered.

So many people are dealing with various types of bondage, suffering from despair, hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. Scores of people have visible addictions such as drugs, alcohol, pornography, and gambling, while other people are addicted to more acceptable vices like food, media, gaming, and shopping. Anger, bitterness, unforgiveness and anxiety control people’s lives and relationships. This is not how it is supposed to be.

Jesus explained his mission on this earth in this way: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free” Luke 4:18. How amazing is that? Jesus came to heal you in all the ways Satan has tried to hold you down. The scripture says he “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). Jesus is for you. He wants to bless you, deliver you from oppression and set you free, and that is really good news.

Discipled

Back to our story, which tells us that “Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.” (Acts 9:19) This simple statement says a lot about what we need once we’ve been rocked by Jesus. Saul was dunked, then delivered and now he is being discipled, which is our fourth step in God’s growth path.

One of the reasons that many churches are more like a movie theater than a gym today is that they have no training. In a gym, when you want to up your game, you hire a personal trainer, someone who can help you learn how to practice the moves and use the right equipment to get in top shape. In the church, we call that being discipled. Discipleship is intentional training.

There are two ways discipleship takes place, and Jesus demonstrated both. First, He spent a lot of time with a small group of people who traveled around with Him. You also need to have a community of people with whom to practice your faith. In a small group community, you learn how to study the Word, pray, develop committed Christian friendships, use your spiritual gifts, and meet each other’s needs. This is what the very first home groups in the early church looked like:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. (Acts 2:42-43)

As great as a large church service can be, it can never provide the atmosphere for training that a small group offers. So, the first way to get discipled is to join a small group.

The second way to receive intentional training is through a mentoring relationship with a more mature believer. Jesus took three of the disciples away many times so He could give them more personal training. Even Saul, who wrote about many powerful encounters with Jesus in the New Testament, needed a mentor. God gave him a man named Barnabas to guide and encourage him in his faith. Doesn’t it make sense that if the great Apostle Paul needed a mentor, then we do too?

A mentor is someone you can learn from, someone who will not only share truth with you, but show you how to put it into practice. A mentor will ask you the hard questions so you can live free from sin. They will help you face the daily battles in life and train you to share the gospel, serve others and make disciples as Jesus commanded us to do (Matthew 28:19-20). There’s really nothing that can take the place of being discipled through a small group and by a mentor.

Deployed

Saul’s story shows us he wasted no time after getting rocked by Jesus. He immediately took his new faith and moved into action, something we call being deployed.

At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. (Acts 9:20-22)

For Saul, being deployed meant preaching about Jesus. God wants to deploy every one of us into our unique purpose. Like Saul, we are all called to take the message that Jesus is the Son of God into our own sphere of influence.

I love that phrase “Saul grew more and more powerful.” If you have given your life to Jesus, please don’t settle for anything less than this kind of growth. Never be content to coast along or let the leaders do all the ministering. Determine to stay on God’s growth path and you will become more and more powerful.

In Ephesians 4, Paul tells us: “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (v. 12). As leaders, we are here to equip you and others for works of service. As a pastor, I want to train people to share the gospel in their workplace, in their schools, and in their neighborhoods.

Our greatest goal as leaders is to deploy others—to send them out as missionaries into their sphere of society—the business world, the medical world, the sports world, the entertainment world, and even to other nations of the world, to share the gospel, to make disciples, and to gather people in Spirit-filled communities.

One Step at a Time

Okay, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. Maybe you’ve made the decision to say yes to following Jesus but can’t imagine living out all these steps. If so, I want to encourage you that faith is a journey, and no one gets there in a day or two.

But think for a minute — how will you ever know if you are becoming a mature follower of Jesus? I can promise you it doesn’t come from reading enough books or going to enough church services or even attending Bible college or seminary. The only way you can be sure you are growing as a Christian is if you are getting to know Jesus more, doing the things he did and becoming more and more like Him in your character. This happens one step at a time, and all you have to do is take that next step. Have you figured out what yours is yet? The next four chapters will dig deeper into each component of the growth path.