The Way to Follow the Way: Jesus Said, "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No One Comes to the Father Except Through Me.”

By Don Little

When Jesus wasnt ministering to people, He was teaching the disciples how to do what He did. The Way to Follow the Way is a step by step instruction manual in learning to follow Jesus who is the Way, using the same methods He used to teach His disciples.

Why do people struggle with their old sinful nature?
What actually changes when youre born again?
How do you receive everything you need for life and godliness?
What were the final instructions of Jesus?

These questions and many more will be answered with clear, concise and detailed information. It begins with why we believe in the God of creation, quickly explains the knowledge explosion Daniel prophesied would happen in the last days, then proceeds to the first steps a Christian takes and continues all the way through with how to make more disciples the same way Jesus did.

After Jesus ascended back to Heaven and the disciples started to spread the Gospel, they went about praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Wouldnt you like to have the ability to positively influence the people where you live?

www.omega-ministries.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 2, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449759599

Don Little

Don Little has been a dedicated Bible teacher for nearly thirty of the forty three years he has been a Christian. After managing several businesses during his career, he started and ran his own successful business, which he sold in 1999. Now he is retired and living with his wife of fifty years near Tulsa, Oklahoma. They have two sons and three grandchildren.

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Contents

Preface

Introduction

Dedication

Chapter 1 The Increase in Knowledge

Chapter 2 In the Beginning

Chapter 3 Getting to Know God

Chapter 4 Attributes of God

Chapter 5 Finding the Way

Chapter 6 The New Creation

Chapter 7 Renewing Your Mind

Chapter 8 Three Baptisms

Chapter 9 Benefits of Holy Spirit Baptism

Chapter 10 Receiving from God

Chapter 11 Healing

Chapter 12 Tests from the Enemy

Chapter 13 Final Instructions from Jesus

Preface

The increase of knowledge in science, medicine and physics that began during the Industrial Revolution was followed soon afterward by a tremendous increase in spiritual knowledge, just as it was prophesied by Daniel.

This increase in spiritual knowledge really began to blossom in 1906 with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California. It has continued with people learning that they can really know God well enough that they can hear His voice speaking to them through the Holy Spirit.

This book contains a brief history of civilization as it relates to Christianity from creation all the way to the present time. Hopefully it will serve as a textbook (without sounding like one as you read it), for those people who would like to know more about what we have learned about God and how to follow Jesus, who is the only way to the Father.

All through this book there are scripture references that give instructions in Christian living. What I have done is merely link them together so we have order and progression that follows the growth a Christian should experience as they follow Jesus on the Way.

The goal is to teach people to be like our perfect example, Jesus Christ, and help them learn to do what Jesus did.

Don Little

Introduction

Eph 4:11-16 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴ that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵ but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

As a teacher, God holds me accountable for what I teach. James 3:1 says, Not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. (NLT) There is no question in my mind that when I teach, I am to tell you what the Word of God says without deviating. I am NOT to tell you what I think or give you my opinion regarding scriptural doctrine. In some cases I have explained the meaning of words in the original text by using different translations or concordances.

From early in my new life as a Christian I realized that God had called me to occupy the role of the teacher from the list above. It has been a responsibility that I have thoroughly enjoyed and also one that I never took lightly.

Then a few years ago something happened to let me know that God had something additional for me to do. It started at the end of 2003, when we bought the house we have now. There were some things that we wanted to fix up or change before we moved in so I contacted several different contractors to paint the inside, replace the carpet, do some work on the cabinets and a few other things.

I made an appointment for 1:00 PM on a certain day to meet with a contractor so my wife and I could explain what we wanted done to the cabinets. A few minutes after 1:00 my cell phone rang and he explained that he was running late and asked if we could change the appointment to 2:00 PM. I was a little bit aggravated but I understand that sometimes things just don’t go as planned.

After he arrived, he explained that he had been at a Full Gospel Businessmen’s meeting where he was the guest speaker and that it ran a little later than they had planned because he was being used in the gift of prophecy by the Holy Spirit.

We agreed that was more important than being on time and we went on with our discussion. After we finished talking about the cabinets, he asked where we went to church. After I explained, he wanted to know more about my teaching. Even though there was no heat in the house and it was December, we were still talking at nearly 6:00 that evening. We really enjoyed discussing the goodness of God and His blessings on all of us.

Just before he left, he asked if we could pray for each other. Of course I was glad he brought it up. It’s not often that happens at a business meeting. I prayed for him first, and then as he prayed for me and my wife, he stopped and began to prophesy. In the prophecy he said, Don, the Lord has shown me that you are going to be like Samson who slew more Philistines in that one final act at the end of his life than he did during his entire lifetime. He went on, You have been a faithful teacher for many years, but near the end of your life, you are going to reach more people with the Gospel than you have during the rest of your life put together.

In my spirit, I knew this was a message from God. Like Mary, when she was visited by the angel who told her she would have a child that would be the Savior of the world, I pondered these things in my heart. On one hand I was glad that the Lord was going to use me, but the fact that it would be near the end of my life was not particularly good news. Also the question of how it was going to happen puzzled me.

Since that time, I spent many hours in prayer wondering when and how that prophecy would be fulfilled. I don’t think I ever really doubted that it would come to pass, but I just couldn’t figure out how.

Last year, it became obvious to me. God wanted me to write a book describing in simple terms what I had spent a lifetime learning. Being an author is not something I ever thought about. In all my life, it never even occurred to me to think about writing a book.

Then as I began to write, it seemed like it just flowed through my hands into the computer. Sometimes I would look back at what I had written maybe a month or so earlier and wonder, did I really write that? I’m not saying I thought it was that good. The reason for my amazement was that the Lord was showing me what to write. I would pray and ask for inspiration and guidance. Then as I typed, the Holy Spirit would bring scriptures to my mind that I hadn’t read in a long time and they would fit together in what seemed to me like a seamless document. It was almost effortless. I have never experienced anything quite like it before.

What you hold in your hand, I believe, is the fulfillment of prophecy from nine years ago and I am expecting this book to be used to reach thousands of people with truth that they didn’t understand before and that lives will be changed forever.

My goal in writing this book is to share with this generation and all that follow until the Lord comes back for His church, what it took me a lifetime to learn. That way they can build on what I have learned just like scientists and technicians have built on the knowledge of those who came before them in creating things like computers, modern medicine, airplanes and etc. It is my hope that the amount of knowledge and understanding of the Word of God will continue to increase as God has already begun to pour out His spirit as He prophesied in Joel 2:28-29, "That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. ²⁹ and also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

Christians everywhere can learn to change the culture where they live just like those who were in the Upper Room did in their day. There is no risk involved for Christians who do what Jesus did by taking God at His Word and believing that He will do exactly what He said He would do.

Remember this from the Word of God, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Phil 4:13)

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my wife’s brother Mel Wood and his wife Betty who were persistent in ministering to us. Even after we repeatedly made excuse after excuse why we couldn’t or didn’t want to go to church with them, they kept inviting us and explaining the Way.

Finally, because it was Easter Sunday, on April 6, 1969, we accepted their invitation to attend church with them at Anaheim Christian Center. I didn’t know until the pastor gave the altar call that it was going to be the day my life would be changed forever when I gave my life to Jesus.

My wife, Lavoyce, made Jesus her Lord a few days later. They continued to nurture us until we were finally able to take the training wheels off and make it on our own.

Thank you, Mel and Betty, for following the example Jesus provided by making disciples. We will be eternally grateful for your faithfulness in doing what Jesus did.

Chapter 1

The Increase in Knowledge

One day the disciples came to Jesus and said to Him, " Why do You speak to them in parables?"

He replied, "You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. ¹² To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. ¹³ That is why I use these parables, for they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.

¹⁴ This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, ‘When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend.

¹⁵ For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes — so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. ¹⁷ I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it. (Matt 13:10-17 NLT)

In these verses, Jesus explained to the disciples, in very simple terms, that there are two types of people on earth. We’ll call them the haves (which included the disciples) and the have-nots. I am going to make two lists from what Jesus said, breaking it down into what the haves have in one list and what the have-nots don’t have in the other.

Haves

Understanding – more given

Ears – able to hear

Eyes – blessed and able to see

Hearts – able to comprehend

Knowledge – in abundance

Have-Nots

Understanding – taken away

Ears – cannot hear

Eyes – closed

Hearts – cannot comprehend

Why is it so important to learn this? It’s because through history this is exactly what has happened time after time. In fact, is still going on today. The prophecy that Jesus spoke has been fulfilled exactly as He said. We need to understand that God’s Word is absolute truth. When He says something is going to happen, it always happens exactly like He says it will.

Prophecy Of Increase In Knowledge

Earlier in the Old Testament, God spoke through a prophet named Daniel. Some of the most amazing prophecy in the Bible is contained in the book of Daniel. But there is one particular verse that adds to the air of mystery that Jesus spoke about. It is found in Daniel 12:4, "But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase." (NLT)

God gave Daniel instructions to close the book and seal it up until the time of the end. I have heard prophecy teachers talk about how knowledge will increase at the time of the end. They mention things like the internet, global positioning systems, advances in medical knowledge, physics and astronomy and other things like the space station or the Hubble telescope.

For proof that knowledge has increased and is still increasing exponentially, all you have to do is look at a little bit of recent history. In my own family, for instance, my father was born in 1898. That was about the time the first automobiles were being built and thoroughly tested on the roads that existed then. There were steam trains available if you lived near a town that had railway service. Telephones had been invented, but they weren’t available except in a few very large towns. If you lived in Arkansas, where my father did, working in a coal mine, none of these new inventions mattered, because they didn’t exist as far as he was concerned. He didn’t even see a car until he was a teenager.

The only tools he needed were a pick, a shovel and a carbide lantern to dig coal. He left that life of ease at age 16 to go to Texas to lay track for the railroad that was moving westward. With that job, he no longer needed the carbide lantern.

Fast forward to the summer of 1969, when my wife and I were on vacation from where we lived in California to visit our parents in Arkansas. While we were there, my Dad and I watched grainy television pictures of Neil Armstrong when he became the first man to set foot on the moon. I will never forget it. Just think how much things had changed in those few years and the giant strides that mankind had made in just his lifetime.

When he was born, it would take a family three months to travel between California and Arkansas with horses and a wagon. It was an easy three day trip for us with motels to sleep in instead of sleeping on the ground beside what was little more than a dirt trail. People with money could fly that distance in less than a day.

But now I realize that Daniel was not only writing about scientific advances, he was also writing about the things that would take place at the time of the end from a spiritual perspective. That means that our knowledge of God would also increase dramatically as the end of time grows nearer. People would have the opportunity to get to know God better and better in a personal and up-close relationship.

Another prophet named Joel also wrote about what would happen as the time of the end grew near. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:29)

It was just a few years after Dad was born that some people on Azusa Street in Los Angeles were having a revival which started in 1906 and continued until 1915. The people in attendance, both black and white sitting together, experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was accompanied by miracles and speaking in tongues. The newspapers and most of the established churches criticized the attendees for behavior considered at the time to be outrageous, to say the least. People now consider the Azusa Street Revival to be the beginning of the Pentecostal renewal.

Mankind is still divided between the haves and the have-nots. But if an increase in knowledge is a sign of the time of the end, then we are obviously very near that time and growing closer with each day that passes.

The increase in the knowledge of God really began with Jesus’ ministry here on earth. He taught truths never heard before. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) This was something completely new and different than anything people had ever heard before. Some of them had expectations for the Messiah and Jesus simply didn’t fit their preconceived notions. The have-nots didn’t get it, but the haves did.

He explained the scriptures with authority. Miracles occurred all the time. After Jesus ascended back to heaven the church grew and flourished. People, who accepted and followed His teaching and that of the Apostles, were said to be of the Way. They were the haves. Even though many of the religious people (these would be the have-nots) opposed the Way, it continued to grow.

Opposition To Increase In Knowledge

The person that presented the greatest opposition to the Way and persecuted people the most was Saul of Tarsus. He was a Pharisee all the way to the bone. He traveled around Israel rounding up people who were of the Way. Unless they renounced Jesus as the Messiah, they were locked in prison or put to death. Acts 8:3 says, As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

The men laid their coats at the feet of Saul while they stoned the first Christian martyr, Stephen, to death. Later, "Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ² and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

³ As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. ⁴ Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?

⁵ And he said, Who are You, Lord?

Then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. (Acts 9:1-5)

The bright light blinded Saul and the men who were with him had to lead him by the hand into Damascus. He was still there when God told a man named Ananias to go lay hands on him and pray for him because Saul was expecting him.

Ananias knew of Saul’s reputation in persecuting Christians and he was reluctant to do God’s bidding. But he obeyed anyway and did as he was told.