Follow Me

Luke Shackelford

Description

Follow Me is about discovering identity and purpose through discipleship. Knowing Jesus and what it means to follow Him are key to discovering ourselves.

Follow Me approaches discipleship with the themes of identity and purpose in mind. In this book, Shackelford examines the identity of God and the teachings of Jesus in order to present a framework through which we can correctly understand discipleship. He argues that identity and purpose are only truly found in following Jesus. As we follow Jesus we are transformed into the image of God. What we find is that to be the image of God means to bring forth restoration to the earth as He did and that we exist to carry on the life and work of Jesus. Beyond exploring what it means to be a disciple, this book seeks to reveal who we are and why we exist, which are in fact synonymous.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Discipleship
• Christian Ministry
• Philosophie et théologie
• Jesús de Nazaret
• Jesus
• Disciple (Christianity)
• Purpose
• Adult
• Identity
• Leadership
• Transformation
• Ministry
• Jésus de Nazareth

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 14 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664294110
• Langue: English

Extrait

FOLLOW ME
 
Discovering Identity and Purpose through Discipleship
 
 
 
 
 
Luke Shackelford
 
 
 
 
Copyright © 2023 Luke Shackelford.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9409-7 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9410-3 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9411-0 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023904098
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 04/19/2023
Contents
What is Discipleship?
SECTION ONE
Preface
Chapter 1: Who Is God?
Chapter 2: The Unique Identity of Christ
Chapter 3: The Spirit of God in Us
SECTION TWO
Preface
Chapter 4: The Sermon on the Mount Part One
What Does God Expect of Us?
Chapter 5: The Sermon on the Mount Part Two
Chapter 6: The Sermon on the Mount Part Three
Conclusion
SECTION THREE
Preface
Chapter 7: Responding to the Call
Chapter 8: The Image of God
Call to Action
 
 
 
If you had the opportunity to discover the meaning of your existence, the reason that you are alive, or the why to your life, would you take it? These fundamental questions enter all of our minds at one point or another throughout our lives. Who am I, and what is my purpose? Some may think that the answers to these questions are found in their careers, relationships, or hobbies. While all these things are part of us, they are not where we find our true identity and purpose. There is one place alone where we can find the answer to these questions: Jesus.
My own thoughts on the matter are similar and my story has a bit of irony to it. I grew up around the church my entire life. My family was always involved in ministry and church was just a way of life for me. Despite this, I was never sold on the idea of following this man named Jesus. During that time, I witnessed the corruption and hypocrisy of the church and its leaders and felt that all of it was simply a money-making scam. Therefore, I swore that I would never become involved in ministry in any way. The last thing I wanted was to be involved in ministry or have anything to do with Jesus. I suppose that part of my problem was that I equated church with Jesus. I allowed the church and its leaders to define Jesus for me instead of allowing Him to speak for Himself.
Another thing about me is that I am very purpose driven. For as long as I can remember the questions of purpose and identity have been at the forefront of my mind. I have never been infatuated with money, relationships, or anything else that people chase and find purpose in. I have always sought to discover who I am and why I exist, and I felt that there had to be something more to this than the world offers us. The irony of my story is that the one thing that I was searching for was found in the very thing that I was running from and swore to never have anything to do with.
I’ve taken on the project of this book to help people discover the why of their existence by unraveling what it means to follow Jesus. What we will find is that these two statements are interdependent; what it truly means to exist, is found in following Jesus. My hope and prayer are that throughout this book, Jesus will make Himself known to you and that through His identity, you will discover your own. This is exactly what He did in my life, and He never stopped pursuing me even while running as far as I could from Him. Jesus is our path to true life and the only way to discover who we are and why we exist.
What is Discipleship?
To begin our exploration of what it means to be a disciple, it will be helpful to explore the meaning of discipleship or what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Of course, this book will more fully develop the sense of discipleship. First, however, it is essential to consider what the Bible communicates regarding the characteristics of a disciple to understand the concept of discipleship as a whole. This introduction aims to orient one’s mind around what they should strive towards as they read this book. We are trying to familiarize ourselves with who we should be at the end of this book and prepare for what is to follow over the coming chapters. The goal is to make Jesus the center of our lives and strive to move towards that center every moment.
Discipleship, at its core, is being Jesus-centered. That means rooting our identity in Jesus and who He has called us to be. We become disciples of Jesus by following His way of life in order to bring forth the kingdom of God that He began in His time here on earth. Through following Jesus, we discover who we are and why we exist. Therefore, discipleship, in part, is about identity and purpose. A follower of Jesus believes that in putting their focus on Him, everything else in their lives falls into place. Jesus, when made the center of our lives and focus, becomes a gravitational force that everything else revolves around, similar to how the planets revolve around the sun.
Following Jesus is not simply a philosophy nor a moral guidebook. Instead, learning who Jesus is and choosing to follow Him defines our entire lives and how we perceive the world around us. No standard of living leads us to Jesus. It is Jesus who sets the standard by which we live. Jesus is the source from which everything in our lives is defined and given its true meaning. This book is about discovering our purpose and identity. It is about who we are and why we exist. We will find that the reason we live is not simply for our sake alone but for the sake of God’s kingdom and the well-being of others. We will see that Jesus has called us to follow Him for reasons much more significant than ourselves. The moment that we allow Jesus to define our lives is the moment that our lives truly begin.
Neither the life of a disciple nor the Bible are designed to be a guidebook for responding to every situation we encounter. Both are undoubtedly relevant to every life situation, but their relevance is much more fundamental than we often think. If we approach following Jesus as a rulebook, we become religious behaviorists like the leaders of Jesus’ time. In this, we leave room for the principles of religion to take the place of an organic relationship with Jesus. Our goal is to be transformed internally on a fundamental level. It is to be molded into the likeness of God’s character and allow His law to be written upon our hearts as He promised through the prophets Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:33 and Ezequiel in Ezequiel 36:26-27. In this, we become predisposed to be like Him in all we do and do what is right automatically. We no longer need a law or rulebook to tell us how to act because it is within us and dictates our living already.
What is striking about being a disciple of Jesus is that we do not simply reflect who He is; we literally participate in His life. We carry forth what Jesus began by becoming vessels that bring the kingdom of God to the earth, intending to restore creation. We will find that the Bible or God’s plan for creation is cohesive. It is one unified story that is coming around full circle. Through us, God is carrying out a plan that began with Jesus to restore creation to its original state in the Garden of Eden, a place where heaven and earth overlap. We will find that God’s work is rarely separate from a human agent and uses humans to enact His will on the earth. The story of the Bible is about the restoration of creation back to what it was intended to be. Jesus enacted this when God’s kingdom arrived on the earth through Him. As His disciples, we must carry this movement forward as we await His return to establish it fully. As followers of Jesus, we must be obsessed with bringing forth the kingdom of God by participating in the life of Jesus.
What is a Disciple?
A disciple, by definition, is a follower or a student of a leader or teacher. A disciple is a devoted follower of their leader’s teaching and example. As disciples of Jesus, it is essential that we exclusively bind ourselves to Him and nothing else. Following Jesus permeates every aspect of our lives, and can not be forced to compete with anything else. Following Jesus requires everything that we have and demands our total devo