So here it is the 14 qualities of a Disciple...now this is not the end all and be all of the qualities, there are plenty more but the main things that a disciple of Christ is are listed here, so get out your Bibles and your note books because you are going to want to get a hold of this...this is good preaching stuff right here :P

Matthew 28:16-20

Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

So we are going to use this scripture as our starting point seeing as it is one of the most commonly used scriptures use for discipleship, evangelism...the great commission... get ready because the first 3 are listed here:

1) v19: They are water Baptized - This is a command that Jesus gave, that He followed, and that the disciples of Christ followed. It is the outward showing of the inward act, and a declairation of the disciples commitement to Christ. In otherwords it phyiscally draws the line in the sand.

2) v20a: They are taught, obey and teach the ways of Jesus - This point in itself is a series of sermons :P

3) v20b: They are marked by Jesus - Those who are not christians and even those that are, can tell when someone has genuinly been with Jesus. The true disciple is marked by Jesus, they have been branded and everything they do shows it. An example of this is like when Peter and John where brought before the Jewish Counsel and they where confused by their boldness, and they also precieved that they had been with Jesus.

Mark 16:15-18

And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

I want to make a note here that while there are really 6 points in this passage I am purposly leaving out "they preach or speak the gospel" as it is mentioned later on in the list. So get ready for the next 5 points of what marks a disciple...

4) v.17: Signs follow them (God backs up their words)

5) v17: They have spiritual authority (they will cast out demons)

6) v17: They are able to communicate with God on His level (speaking in tongues)

7) v18: They have supernatural protection - Now in saying this I am not saying that the disciple will not experience hardhips or sufferings, or even death, because Jesus infact promises us that these type of things will happen to us. What I am saying here that on a general rule you have supernatural protection, you are not going to die unless your job on this planet is done, so if you are poisned in your drink without you knowing of it, it won't harm you, and the part of the snakes reminds me of Paul when he was bit by the snake after being shipwreaked.

8) v18: They heal the sick - Jesus gave us the same authority He had been given, and if He healed out of compassion, we should be doing the same, after all Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Isaiah 49:6

Indeed He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.' "

9) A disciple is one who tells others about Jesus - Need I say more? Evangelism is a must for any believer because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the revealed word of God. This is the only way faith comes, experience strengthens faith and adds to it, but it does not come by sight, if it did, then people would be getting saved all the time around us with no talking. But only when the Gospel is preached do people get saved. Our lives still need to be an example and we need to live the gospel, but this is so we do not disqualify ourselves by what we do when it doesn't line up with what we are saying.

Luke 24:47

and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

10) They preach the Gospel in the name of Jesus.

Acts 1:8,14

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me...These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers...

11) Has the Power of the Holy Spirit (is baptized in the Holy Spirit)

12) Live in Unity with tother disciples

13) Prays Continually (Makes a daily appointment with Jesus and keeps it)

Romans 6:3-4

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

14) Stops the things that they know are holding them back in their relationship with Christ.

So, the last couple of weeks have been absolutly insane! Work, school, youth, prep for conference (repeat as necessary!) Yet it was so good. The Filling Station was a smashing success, and for those of you that where not there, you missed out big time, first you missed me dancing to hip-hop (this guy who specializes in the "running man"). But more importantly you missed out on the manifest presence of God, that changed over 200 lives this last weekend. Nolan Clark, Stacy Campbell, and Gregg Johnson, all spoke powerful, life changing messages where the power of God showed up and He indeed touched and shaped people. To quote Gregg Johnson "If you spend too much time with Jesus it will mess you up good, because everytime you meet with Him, someone changes...and well He just refuses too!"

For those of you wondering I spoke at the Jr. High workshop on the Saturday of confrence, and it went really well, I will have the message up soon for all of you to listen too! Thanks for all of you who where praying for me I greatly appreciate it, and I would not be the man of God I am today if it wasn't for all your constant prayers and support.

School is almost over! Thank God, now it is just a matter of making sure I have all my papers completed this week! :S Way to crazy.

Fianally, Youth! I love youth Church "theParty" is going well, while attendance has been down lately, God is getting ready to build "World Shakers" such was the message of my sermon tonight "Shaken...not Stired" and well I will have that message up as well for you all to listen too. But now back to what I was saying. I knew that attendance was going to be down for a while because well the Holy Spirit told me so, yet those that are coming are the youth that are hungry for the presence of God and want to change, and change they are. Tonight was amazing with all 12 youth up at the front for prayer desiring to be comissioned with power to be a world shaker. To turn their school and city upside down for Jesus. Not only that but we prayed for healing for many youth and we will see how the testimonies come along over the next week! I am excited.

I also led worship tonight in youth as David Hunt our worship leader was sharing the Word of God in the Sr. High gathering across the hall. I heard it went very well, as he spoke on "Unity" yet everything that David Hunt preaches is gold. Good quality stuff, that comes from the Heart of God. But yeah worship went okay, considering that it was the first time in like 3 years that I have actually lead worship.

Fine, for those of you wishing that I would just write down what I talked about I will so you don't have to sit here and listen to the message...maybe I should just start a podcast so you all can listen to it on the go?

But the Key text was in Acts 9 starting in Verse one. Going through the conversion of Saul (Later called Paul). Arguably the greatest world shaker in the History of the Church, his conversion story gives us several principles that we can impliment into our lives to become world shakers.

1) We need to have a radical conversion: This doesn't mean that we litterally fell down or had this grand experience when we where saved, but that when we encountered God it was so significant that our hearts where changed, that we where different, never to go back. Never to look back again. We have to have a life changing encounter with Christ (and continue to have these) in order to be a world shaker.

2) We need to be willing to listen to what Jesus tells us to do immediatly: When we give our lives to Jesus our lives are no longer our own. He didn't die an ordinary death, so we should not live ordinary lives. Just as Paul obeyed Jesus to go to the city we need to go when Jesus says go, and do what Jesus says to do.

3) We need to be willing to go without what is normal for us to have: Fasting and prayer should be common in the life of a world shaker. Paul went without food or drink for three days (I can guarentee you that he was also praying in this time...I mean wouldn't you if you had just lost your sight and talked to Jesus?). Another person who shaped history did this and her name was Esther. But just so you know this point alone is a sermon.

4) We need to have someone speaking the truth into our lives: Paul recieved from Ananias, as a result he gained his vision. Likewise a world shaker can not gain proper vision and motivation if they are not being discipled.

5) We need to speak to those around us that Jesus is the Christ: Preaching the gospel was not an option given to believers, to be a world shaker we need to tell others about Christ. We need to step out and stretch out our hand, and use those things that God has given to us. As we do this God will indeed stretch out His hand and make our natural into Supernatural and He will take the Glory. I mean heck The red sea split when Moses stretched out his hand with the rod in it. But untill he did that that sea was not going anywhere. But who got the glory? not Moses, but rather God. God took Moses natural movent of stretching out His hand and split the sea.

So there you have it people, I am out, I pray that you enjoyed this update, the next time an update happens it will most likely be with an audio file. Blessings.

For His Pleasure Alone,

~G~

Well, I have to say this last week has been very interesting indeed, a lot has happened so let me start from the beginning...

You honestly don't know how to deal with certain situations until they actually become a part of your life, for instance, do you actually have friends that chose to willingly go against the Word of God and live a lifestyle that you can not agree with in the slightest bit? What do you do if one of your youth that you haven't seen or heard from for like 6 months walks up to you out of the blue and says "I am gay"? Do you respond in love and compassion, letting them know that you still love them as they are even though that you don't agree with their lifestyle, or do you shun them, try to cast a demon out, or tell them that they are a sinner and need to repent, maybe a combo of two or all of them? Or how about if a friend walks up to you and says "I think I am pregnant" how do you respond? What would you do if they (not knowing Christ) decided they wanted to get an abortion? How would you really and honestly treat them? I know our first response is I would love them! But is that really the case? Look deep within and truthfully answer. If a compassion and a love bursts forth, to the point where you want to cry with them, or for them then props to you...but if you can't, may I be harsh and say that you need to reconnect and examine your relationship level with Christ? All of these examples have happened to me over these last two weeks and I must say that God has taken me to the limit at times just so that He can use me to pour out His love in and through me and to give me His heart for His people, so that I can more effectively feed His sheep.

Next, Wednesday was a good night, we had a "Together Night" where we join the Jr. and Sr. High together. This week we had a healing service, in which many people where healed. On the heals of this Friday rolls a long and I had my first Jr. High Youth "CORE" bible study. I must say even though it was just simple me on the guitar goofing up a lot the presence of God came so sweet and began to tough the lives of those whom I had invited there. God is stirring His people once again to believe for the supernatural, and to experience His manifest presence! Are you ready for it? Are you willing to give all for the sake of the Kingdom? These are questions I am asking myself, and searching scripture about, and to tell you the truth, the Word of God is shaking me to the very core of who I am and what I believe, to the point of where I ask, "Can I really call myself a true disciple of Christ? Am I exhibiting the fruit of a true believer?"

Well all in all that has been my week in a nutshell, and now I must go, prepare for Wednesday where the title of my message is "100% in Love..." Be blessed and until next time... oh and if you have not signed up yet make sure you take April 13-15th off and come to Surrey BC. For our annual Youth Conference "The Filling Station" This years theme is AWAKE. BE THERE! for more info check out http://www.thefillingstation.ca

For His Pleasure Alone,

~G~