Disciple comes from the Greek word meaning "a pupil" — someone who comes to learn and be taught. We are all apprentices in the life of Christ, and our coaches are pastors and teachers who have themselves been discipled.

We have two choices: we can speculate or we can dive in. God has far more in store for those willing to believe it, to be part of this experience. Make the choice to learn and give everything to it.

We are promised as believers in Jesus Christ that we will have eternal life. Jesus saves us from our sin and then we begin our journey of growing spiritually.

In John 3:3, Nicodemus asked, "Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You must be born again."

When you are born of the Spirit, you begin a new life as a spiritual newborn. Being born of water and Spirit means beginning a new life — and that requires connecting with God.

Just as there are stages of physical development, there are striking similarities between physical and spiritual development:

• Natural babies need natural milk — so do spiritual babies. We must take in the Word of God in order to grow.
• We must be cautious with spiritual junk food — content that is not based on the encouragement of a growing relationship with God.
• Scripture teaches that there are strong similarities between the way a child grows physically and the way someone grows spiritually.
• Be open and transparent with your small group. Our journey with God is ongoing — what do you need to do to go to the next level?

When you love the Lord your God completely and devotedly, it is worship. God loves us and we're transformed by His love — our hearts are enlarged to love others as He loves them. This is the greatest relationship.

As He was going into a village, ten men with leprosy met Him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When He saw them, He said to them, "Go show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked Him — and he was a Samaritan.

One of the ways we love God is by vocalizing it. "I will praise you, O God, as long as I live; in your name I will lift my hands." You can continually have an attitude of worship. Natural human love is ready to believe the word — it will find out what God says about what it is doing.

For obedience to be love, we can know what God says and choose to obey and follow His instructions. We must be motivated by love to obey God.

The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

• The Word of God is a defense against Satan's lies — so we can walk in freedom.
• As born-again believers, we cannot let reading the Bible be a rare part of our life. It must be a central part of our life.
• The Bible is a book of God's promises — healing, forgiveness, grace, supernatural blessing, financial blessing, and many more. As believers, we use God's Word daily.

God wants us to pray. He wants communication between us and God. We talk to Him, and at times He takes to us. Prayer is two-way communication between us and God. In fact, prayer is so important and there is no formula, but the entire Bible shows us we should do to pray more effectively.

1. Confession — Begin by Acknowledging Who God Is

   When we confess who God is, we enlarge Him in our hearts and in our lives. Get your heart right with the Lord. Glorify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. Confess any sin, and forgive others.

2. Ask — We Have Not Because We Ask Not

   God is calling us to ask. We need to seek, and we need to persist in prayer. He has access to God, and you can come to God with any request, big or small, believing He hears you and will answer you.

3. Adoration — Worship Him

   "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." You can continually have an attitude of worship — God at all times.

4. Intimacy — Soaking in His Presence

   "The one thing I ask of the Lord — the thing I seek most — is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in His Temple." Sometimes we can be in such a hurry in life that it affects us spiritually, so much that we allow distractions and dedicate time to rest in the presence of the Lord.

5. Intercession — Standing Before God on Behalf of Others

   The Holy Spirit intercedes, "stands in the gap," and prays for us. God sees the deepest issues we face. Like the same, we are called to stand in the gap for others by praying for them. Jesus Christ stood in the gap for us by dying on the cross.

6. Thanksgiving — Thanking God for the Victory

   Being thankful to God is the manner we ought to come into His presence. God shows us of God's goodness often releases us to being thankful. Thanksgiving reminds us of God's goodness, that He has moved on our BROKENNESS. By faith, you can begin to thank God for the future blessing and healing before it even happens.

7. Praise — A Song that Changes the Atmosphere

   At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, and the chains were loosened. Breakthrough praise — sometimes at Faith Assembly the atmosphere shifts when we praise. Believe loud, faith-filled praise fills the Spirit of God into our every situation. When we praise, God responds and victory follows.

Our friends affect the quality and direction of our life. We want to surround ourselves with those who are following Jesus. We also want to be fully devoted to reaching those around them to do the same. Immediate pleasure regardless of what it will become is for momentary satisfaction. We live for eternal fulfillment.

Two men were following John the Baptist, and when John pointed Jesus out, they chose to follow Jesus instead. John 1:35–37 — good friends will point you toward Jesus. We also find in Acts 2:42 that the disciples were together continually — building friendships, discussing their faith, and encouraging one another.

Some questions to ask yourself when you are with them:

• How do you feel when you are with them?
• What do you talk about when you are with them?
• Away: Gossipy things you know you shouldn't say
• Away: Discouraged
• Away: Things that don't align with God's Word
• Toward: Things that align with God's Word, hope, and hopeful

The devil hunts three types of animals: the young, the sick, and the old. All three have the same thing in common — they are ISOLATED. If the enemy can't get you stuck in sin, he will isolate you because he knows people will be protected from themselves in a community setting.

Whether you are an introvert or extrovert, every person needs to belong to a community. Practical ways to connect:

• Connect Group — join a small group and build healthy friendships
• Join a Connect Group at church on Sunday
• Attend every Sunday and start praying about where you can serve

What is water baptism? It's the public declaration of an inward transformation that God has done in your life. Baptism is a symbol: you go under the water left behind (burial/resurrection) — and we follow His example. Scripture teaches us that it is important to be baptized.

The Holy Spirit is not a thing or an "it." He is an equal part of the Trinity — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit: 3 in 1. He knows exactly what we need.

• The Holy Spirit is our advocate in overcoming temptation.
• The Holy Spirit comforts us through difficulty and pain.

John answered their questions by saying, "I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Being filled with the Holy Spirit will give you the ability to speak in tongues — a special prayer language. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were all together when suddenly they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues.

If you want to receive the Holy Spirit, here are 3 prayers you can pray:

• Holy Spirit... Show me.
• Holy Spirit... Fill me.
• Holy Spirit... Use me.

The flesh is weak. Then you'll be doing what your sinful nature craves. The spirit and the sinful nature are the opposite of each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. The more time we spend with God, the stronger our spirit becomes. The less time we spend with God, the stronger the flesh becomes.

We are not only tempted by our fleshly desires. We are also tempted by Satan. Satan tempts Jesus in three main areas of life where we are also tempted:

• The LUST of the FLESH (physical)
• The LUST of the EYE (soul, mind, will, and emotions)
• The PRIDE of LIFE (spiritual)

We cannot allow our flesh to rule us. The devil took Jesus to the highest point of the Temple and said, "If you are the Son of God, jump off!" But the Scriptures say, "People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

• Our spirit is controlled by God, and is not perfect.
• We need to watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
• A Spirit-filled believer has the power to overcome temptation and to be free.

Receiving the revelation of who God truly is gives us the confidence that we don't have to be tempted. God provides for every spiritual, emotional, and physical need we have. Some names of God:

• El Shaddai — Almighty God
• Elohim — Creator
• Jehovah — The Lord / The GREAT I AM. I AM THAT I AM.

• We hear the voice of God through His Word and by His Spirit. When God's voice is consistent in our life it will keep us on the right path.
• We understand God primarily speaks through His Word, and God is EVERYTHING the Word says He is.
• Hear God's voice and then do what He says. OBEDIENCE to God's Word will empower you to OVERCOME any temptation.

Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. When we surrender our lives to Christ, He becomes a new life. We must honor God and not just "not sin" — we must take care of ourselves as we are told to take care of everything that belongs to God.

We must strive for purity in every area, especially sexual sin. Sexual sin covers:

• Lust — any person or thing regarded with sexual desire, self-gratification
• Fornication — Sexual intercourse between unmarried people
• Adultery — Marital unfaithfulness in marriage
• Homosexuality — Sexual desire, attraction, or behavior directed toward a person of one's own sex
• Pornography — Any form of sexually explicit media

Take authority over the sexual thoughts of the mind. This is the area the enemy will try to aim and target the most. You will have to renew your mind to the Word of God and allow God's thoughts to take captivity to the obedience of Christ.

JESUS IS CLEAR: If you are not married, then you are to not be having sexual intercourse. 2 Corinthians 5:17 — when we surrender our lives to Christ, we step into a new life. We may argue that we do not have God's blessing because we do not obey. God-fearing men and women will correct you in love and in truth.

When we have God's word in us and obey it, our spirit remains strong against the flesh. "When I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." God gives us His grace for our future, and gives us the strength now to be tempted.

Every person we know and love has the potential to hurt us. We have shown them how to hurt us — even people who are close to us may hurt us by their words, behavior, or lack of consideration for our feelings. The Bible is full of stories of people who chose to forgive and people who did not.

True forgiveness is self-sacrifice, where we let go of something offensive to us at no cost to the other person. The act of forgiveness is a seed of healing, and once we sow that seed, we reap God's blessings. Regardless of our own opinions, there must be willful obedience to do God's will — we MUST forgive in order to be forgiven.

Holding onto unforgiveness is like drinking poison hoping the other person dies. Unforgiveness turns us into a bitter seed. If we do not forgive, the same pain that happened to us, we start to inflict it on others. Jesus says in Luke 17:1: "Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little."

Unfortunately, some choose to review their offenders for years, even decades. We must make the decision, although difficult, to forgive.

We have the choice to love or hate, and forgiveness means to speak. We CHOOSE to forgive and lay it all down — and once we sow that seed, we reap an abundance of blessings. We CHOOSE to forgive and lay it all down because God CHOSE to forgive us when Jesus Christ laid his life down to die on the cross.

• Recognize the people in your life now, and from your past, whom you have not forgiven.
• Repent for the specific areas of unforgiveness in your life.
• Release and forgive the offenders in your life. This doesn't necessarily mean you contact them, but it does mean you release them in your heart for the pain they have caused.
• We CHOOSE to forgive and lay it all down because God CHOSE to forgive us when Jesus Christ laid His life down to die on the cross.

Jesus came to serve. His nature was not to demand or force others to serve Him. His example — when we see Jesus' example, we follow the Lord's example. When we serve, we are to be reminded of the servant's heart.

The leadership culture of this world is to selfishly invest a lot of personal effort into taking a title or position. The leadership culture of Jesus is to serve "nothing" over others, while the leadership culture of Jesus is to serve selflessly without expecting to gain something in return.

The body has many different parts, not just one part. "If the foot says, 'I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,' that does not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?" All parts of the body are equally important. Consequently, the parts that seem weaker and least important are actually the most necessary.

Some parts of the body are very visible, while some are under the skin and are not seen in the public eye yet are equally important. There are those who have various roles within the church, whether they interact with each other directly or not. We are on a team — have a part to play.

DO YOUR PART AND GOD WILL DO HIS.