What Makes a Christian a Disciple of Christ?

By John S. Johnson

A disciple is one being taught by a teacher. Pretty simple stuff isnt it? Only in this case, our lives depend on it! Jesus said to go make disciples. This study will, by no means, exhaust everything it takes to make a disciple. Its purpose is to focus on some of the essential truths that a Christian must know and apply to his life. Discipleship is a process of commitment to learn to become like Jesus. To find Gods will takes a commitment of time in perseverance, faithfulness, memorization of His Word and prayer. This process equips us to ultimately become more like Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512747843

John S. Johnson

John Johnson was born and raised on a family farm in the foothills of Mendocino County, California. After a short service in the Army, John married Sandra Stoddard; and they were blessed with three daughters. Soon after their third daughter was born, John found a Gospel of John at a check stand in the grocery store where he worked. He took it home, read it, and gave his life to Jesus. Days later, he and Sandie shared with each other they had both surrendered their lives to Christ within days of each other! Several years passed, John and Sandie went to seminary for a year, packed up their three girls and went to Africa. They served a four year term, of which included one year in Switzerland to learn the French language. John also served on two church planting teams, one before his time in Africa and one after. Since John’s encounter with Jesus, his passion is to “be excited about Jesus”! It is his greatest desire to ignite this passion in other believers. John and Sandie are retired and have ten grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren to keep them busy. They currently reside in the foothills of Northern California.

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Copyright © 2016 John S. Johnson.

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.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

All Greek Definitions are from the The Strongest NIV Exhaustive Concordance, Edward W. Goodrick and John R Kohlenberger III, 1990

All English Definitions are from the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, Principal Copyright 1993

Artist name: Sandra Johnson

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.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-4782-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4783-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4784-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016910525

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/20/2016

Contents

Note from John

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Getting Started What Makes A Christian A Disciple Of Christ?

Chapter 1 The Believing Christian

Chapter 2 The Loving Christian

Chapter 3 The Obeying Christian

Chapter 4 Wise Counsel For The Christian, Part 1

Chapter 5 Wise Counsel For The Christian, Part 2

Chapter 6 The Christian In Relation To The Church

Chapter 7 God Wants The Whole Christian, Part 1

Chapter 8 God Wants The Whole Christian, Part 2

The Weapons Of Battle For The Christian, Illustrated

Chapter 9 The Belt Of Truth

Chapter 10 The Breastplate Of Righteousness

Chapter 11 Feet Fitted With The Gospel Of Peace

Chapter 12 The Shield Of Faith

Chapter 13 The Helmet Of Salvation

Chapter 14 The Sword Of The Spirit, Part 1

Chapter 15 The Sword Of The Spirit, Part 2

Chapter 16 Prayer Power Is Air Power

Ten Distinct Characteristics Of A Disciple

Note from John

I want to share some of the reasons I decided to compile this study book.

I first believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ when I was twenty-seven years old, and as of this writing I have been a believer for fifty years. I am a seasoned citizen and have been around the block a few times. In the early years as I was developing my own walk with Jesus, I think it was based mainly on my love for Him and for what He did for me.

We know that love for Jesus must be our first and last love. It was like being on cloud nine, but eventually we must come down out of the clouds. As we return to earth we begin to experience turbulence and then it is back to reality.

The question began to come – what is my real purpose as a Christian? Since Jesus has all power and authority in heaven and earth, why did He leave the earth and expect Christians to continue His work and message? How can I make a difference?

There were many other questions and prayers to God. He said to me, Through My word, if you are willing, I will show you examples of your questions and prayers through your own life. This happened about nine years after I first believed, Like Isaiah, I said, here am I, send me.

God sent my wife, three daughters and me to two different countries. We were one year in Switzerland and three years in Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa. You might say, he is a missionary so he knows the Bible inside and out. Here is the point – you can know the Bible inside and out and not really understand much of it.

As the years keep clicking off I must admit I still don’t know much and I am still learning. I don’t know how many times I wished I would have known this earlier in my Christian life.

I have compiled this study book with basic truths, so that if we can understand and grasp them, it will make our walk with Jesus sweeter each day.

As we each read this book, may we gain insight that will help us live the Spirit-filled life.

Dedication

I dedicate this book first to my immediate family: to my wife, Sandie; children, Stacie and Mike, Terrie and Hal, Sallie and Burt; to my grandchildren, Anna and Scott, John and Rachell, Jason and Lauren, Kiersten and Nathanael, Brock, Dawson, Nathan, Summer, Zachary and Aubree; to my great-grandchildren, Grant, Claire, Logan, Gwen, Alex, Joshua and Jude; and to those who are the future born; also, to all my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

Acknowledgements

I wish to extend a special thank you to my family and friends who diligently encouraged, supported me in prayer, and helped in the research, printing and editing of this book to make it possible.

First, to my wife, Sandie and daughters, Stacie, Terrie and Sallie; also to my Men’s Bible Study group, Ken, Jim, Mike, Roy, and Justin who took the time to critique this project, and to Betty who kept the coffee and goodies coming.

A Note To The