Please take time to read the following Article.

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“Followers “R” us.”

 

In order to see the Return of Jesus; Repentance must precede Revival.

 

Personal Repentance must be the building block over which Revival will occur, as the cry of a newborn baby will awaken the nursery of the elect.

 

It is time to wake up the sleeping giant of the elect from their Rest and Relaxation (R&R) in order to cry out loud to God in prayer for love and grace in order to obey the most Revolutionary principle Jesus brought from heaven.

 

Let me be clear from the start. According to the Great Commission, “It is not Evangelism to which God has called us in Jesus but Discipleship.

If the church is a nursery, the one thing the nursery is full of is newborn babies competing in sleep. It is R&R after a life of Pray and Play. 

 

Reformers like Midwives, Doctors and Nurses are not the parents of the newborn babies in the nursery but they are only servants.

 

In the same way, the Followers of Jesus are not the parents of those born again by conversion. The conversion of a sinner into a Saint is the work of God alone. That is “The greatest miracle of all other miracles.”

 

However, the care of a new believer has been entrusted in power and authority to the followers of Jesus by the greatest occupation, that of discipleship.

 

Discipleship should not be understood in any other way except as, “Jesus choosing twelve and for him to be with them.” “Is to be with people we are called.”

 

When Jesus said to Peter, James and John, “Follow me,” he was talking to independent souls using the verb “To Follow.” It was with the intention to make out of “these verbs” a “substantive” that is “Followers.”

 

By barking like a dog and sleeping in the doghouse you will never become a dog. In order to be a dog, you must be born like a dog and even if you never bark or sleep in a doghouse, you will always be a dog. In the same way, singing like a believer sings, praying like a believer prays and going to where believers go will never make you a believer. But if you are born again by the power of conversion from God, you are a believer even if you do not do a single thing in your life. This is because you are like the dying thief who Jesus promised to be the first born into the kingdom of God.

 

Conversion or Evangelism is the Work of God who is converting or evangelizing the world through his word. Without the Word of God it is inconceivable to evangelize a single soul into the nursery of God.

 

The act of obedience by faith “to follow Jesus” converts an ordinary man into an extraordinary human being known as a “Follower.” Once you become a “Follower” by being with Jesus then you will graduate to become “A fisher of Men.” The ultimate intention of God in Jesus is “to make” a follower into a “Fisher of men,” a "Disciple maker," like Jesus his Son. 

 

The work of salvation through evangelism is followed by the work of sanctification, which is equally the work of God’s creative power in action.

 

“I who made the world” even “I will make you a fisher of men.”

Let us separate “I” and “Make” and we will see that in Discipleship the creative power and authority of God is ever present and is in progress.

 

If you become a “Fisher of men” you did not learn a trade nor did you acquire a skill, but you have “become” what you were never before, “A fisherman” by being with the “Fisherman” of God, Jesus.

 

The Repentant Redeemed by crying out loud in the power of the spirit will cause the Revival of the elect from their Rest and Relaxation. Thereby producing the great awakening and also the loud cry of the elect in the nursery of the Church for the Return of Jesus. “Your Kingdom come.”

 

Many are dying without repentance and forgiveness of sin while others die without confession with the mouth in unbelief of heart. As a minister of the Gospel it makes me extremely sad to see the death of the wicked in their wickedness. The free gift of salvation by grace through faith alone is within reach of the penitent.

 

Yes my friends, the “Repentant” are “us.”

This is the conclusion of the matter.

“We must Disciple a few. We must fellowship closely with fewer like Jesus did with Peter, James and John. Then the world will change many times over and it will be faster than when we aim only at the multitudes.” 

 

The multitudes went after Jesus not the other way around. Nowadays the figure seems to be quite the opposite of Jesus. “Great numbers matter more”  

 

What is the virtue of filling the nursery of the church with little ones that are the result of a one-night stand who came to Jesus “just as I am?” If they will remain just as “they are,” they are just in different forms of Rest and Relaxation?

 

The small obedience of making disciples of two or three by being one in agreement with them will truly change the world in our generation.

 

Jesus changed the history of the universe with twelve, no name brand, people that to this day has prevailed ever so alive and strong.

 

Show me your Peter, James and John and I will show you that you have lived. Any other way of life is catch and release. Raise a few disciples and you will never die. Mentoring will not only cost you what you have, what you know, what you can be but what you are.

 

If you do not die for a few disciples you have not lived at all. The grain of wheat must die first in order to be fruitful. No death, no gain. “Death is gain.”

If you do not have a friend like John was for Jesus, you cannot have three like Peter James and John. If you do not have three disciples, you do not have twelve and let alone any more. Invest your God’s given talent in others. We are in this world to live for others. It is selfish and boring to live for self-alone. 

 

Foam is like fog. You cannot drink fog. Do not deceive yourselves; a man reaps what he sows. When everything is said and done, only what is done in obedience to Jesus will last.

 

Repent, Revive and seek the Return of Jesus. Followers “R” us.

 

This was your bottle feeder on duty. Please burp on my shoulder today. 

 

Gerry Gutierrez.

 

PS. The pictures are of my office in Georgia. The Reverend John Stott and me in Thailand. Cesar and Edgar are two of our orphans in the Andes.