Ashburn Presbyterian Church's mission is to glorify God in everything we do, to make and equip disciples of Christ, and to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to love and serve others through word and deed. The main task is to make and equip disciples. To put it simply, a disciple is a follower of Jesus. You cannot be a Christian without following Jesus, it’s just not possible. Jesus called people to believe certain things about him and follow him.
What kind of things is a disciple doing?
- Reading God’s word regularly
- Seeking out fellowship with other believers
- Praying for the lost and looking for opportunities to share the good news
- Loving and serving others
- Confessing sin
From the beginning, the church has been doing these things:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common… And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)
Many things in the world are distractions to keep us from following Jesus. The more we follow Jesus with the power of God's spirit, the more we look like Jesus. We are little anointed ones (this is what Christian means, Christ the Messiah is the anointed one). This means just believing the right things does not cut it. What you need is for God to take up residence in your heart so that you love what he loves and hate what he hates. Religion can hinder people from becoming fully devoted followers of Christ. A dead religion “has a form of Godliness but denies its power” (2 Timothy 3:5). The wonderful thing about God is that he loves us and has mercy as we stumble on this journey toward him.
Some questions to ask ourselves as we follow Jesus:
- Where have you wrestled with temptation this week? What steps will you take to avoid temptation?
- Have you been loving and prayerful for ________ this week?
- Have you sensed God bringing you opportunities to love and share?
- What specific step will you take this week to influence ______ towards Jesus?
- Where were you convicted or encouraged in this week’s Bible reading?
- What do you sense God doing in you that you need to respond to?
These days with so many challenges to our faith, let's spur each other on: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:19-25)
