Lift up your voice and bless His name. Give Him thanks, because He is a good God.
Ask The Lord to give you an encounter, tonight, because He brought you here to receive an encounter from Him.
Pray: Father, my ears are open to hearing from You, tonight. Change me and do an inner work of consecration in my life, in the name of Jesus Christ!
You must approach every moment in Gods presence as though it’s your first time. Approach God with a childlike heart, always ready to receive from Him.
Your passion for God is the secret to your victory, and you must pay the price to keep your passion for God ever-burning. You have the responsibility to guard your passion for God and His presence.
God speaks to us from the throne, through a vessel, to a willing heart.
You never miss a thing by being in the presence of God. However, your approach before the presence of God really matters. To excel and receive in God’s presence, you must approach every moment in His presence as though it were your first and last time.
Never allow coming to church to become a ritual.
Let’s remove the routines of familiarity.
Today’s teaching contains precious keys that sustain the power to transform lives, territories, and nations.
The assignment of tonight’s teaching is to deliver to us the key to transformation individually and nationally.
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” – Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV)
The Great Commission (the mandate given by God to the Church) has three components:
1. World evangelisation (Soul winning) – our ministry to the world of unbelievers.
2. The equipping and maturing of the saints – our ministry to the Church.
3. Impacting and transforming society, using the value system of the Kingdom.
The great commission is the core of the Believer’s work with God.
As soon as an individual becomes saved, he or she has a mandate to get other people to become saved in Christ Jesus.
Failure in equipping and training Believers will result in a decline in the availability of change agents that should transform the society.
The degree to which an individual is transformed, is the degree to which the individual can become an effective witness, bringing unbelievers to the saving knowledge of God.
The degree to which the saints are properly discipled and mature influences and reflects in the society, and in bringing people to the knowledge of Jesus.
The cure to the many evils in our society and backwardness within a society or territory is discipleship.
It is not enough to pray and fast. There must be a commitment and an intelligence when addressing the issue of national transformation and human capital development.
The cure to the evil that has plagued our world today is that many become discipled, matured, and equipped as saints. This makes discipleship the most important component of the Great Commission.
Every regional problem is a family problem that was not dealt with. Every national or global problem is a regional problem that was not dealt with.
What is discipleship?
- Discipleship is the ongoing process of becoming like Jesus Christ; in words, in thoughts and in actions, through the transformative power of The Holy Spirit
- Discipleship is a lifelong journey of spiritual growth, transformation, and conformity to the character of Jesus Christ, in experience.
- Discipleship is the intentional and structured mentorship of Believers, so that they progressively attain unto spiritual maturity and stature in experience.
- Discipleship is building the culture of the Kingdom in Believers. (Titus 3:1-8, Ephesians 5:2NKJV)
- Discipleship is strategically transforming people so they can build others (Human Capital Development)
On a broader scale, discipleship involves strategically transforming the lives of those who will eventually transform their territories and their nations.
Discipleship has to do with building people that will in turn build societies.
The Church is the most reliable institution for transforming people. It is the most reliable institution on earth with the most divinely accredited strategy for reformation and transformation of people.
The Church of The Lord Jesus Christ is not ordinary; the Church is a solutions centre. Where science and therapy and other institutions fail, the Church will always have a solution.
Educating the human mind alone can not produce reformed and transformed people. This is not to downplay education.
Education of the human mind alone may produce an intelligent person, where quantitative and qualitative reasoning is concerned. However, it is not enough to produce reformed and transformed people.
The Church is not the only capacity building institution. However, it is the most reliable. Where other institutions fail, the Church has the solution.
No matter the failure experienced anywhere else, it is only in the Church that the true answer is found.
I pray that God will raise people who will build an academic curriculum that is hinged on The Word, and students of that curriculum will, in turn, transform individuals and society, in the name of Jesus Christ!
Unless the curriculum is built on The Word of God, educating the human mind alone can not produce reformed and transformed people.
Dear Parents, it’s wonderful to educate your children. But, more importantly, is the content of what they are learning.
This does not downplay secular education. Rather, it is a call for an emphasis on the foundation of our transformation, that it needs to be based on The Word.
It’s not enough to be saved as an individual. You must be interested in territorial transformation.
Most of the problems in homes, marriages, political spaces, work spaces, pulpits, etc, are connected to the absence of discipleship.
A healthy and transformed people will always reflect, and eventually translate to the health of a society.
Sadly, when wrong things happen as a result of the lack of discipleship, it can rub off on anybody, regardless of how good they are. This is the reason for which the issue of discipleship must be the assignment of everyone.
It is not beauty nor looks that run a home, but the mindset of the individuals present there.
A man who does not fear God will become a father, pastor, senator, or president who does not fear God.
Having a good and active conscience doesn’t come arbitrarily. It is engineered based on standards.
Every problem in life has a root cause. Every time you see widespread bad behaviour, it is proof, and an indication that the people within that area are ill trained people.
Unlike the old saying goes, charity actually does not begin at home. Rather, it begins when you open God’s Word.
No matter what you think is happening in our society, it can be corrected through discipleship.
Discipleship can benefit anyone, whether the person is saved or unsaved. However, Biblical discipleship is only most profitable to Believers: that is, anyone who has received the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
To fully benefit from discipleship, an unbeliever needs salvation first, because without The Spirit of God Who’s received at the salvation experience, the capacity to get transformed won’t be possible.
Transformation is by The Holy Spirit and through The Word.
Charity begins when you open The Word, find what is written in it, and continue in it.
In order of priority, an unbeliever needs salvation first; likened to the operating system of a computer. Transformation is not only about acquiring a superior belief system. True transformation and reformation is by The Spirit, through The Word.
Two Major Aspects of Discipleship:
1. Knowledge-based discipleship: This is becoming like Jesus Christ by contending for a sound knowledge of the scriptures.
The Word of God alongside Word-compliant materials are used to acquire and transfer spiritual knowledge and the understanding of God and His ways. Knowledge-based discipleship is profitable but if one remains there, they cannot truly reflect the character of Jesus The Christ.
2. Lifestyle-based discipleship: This is deciding to adopt the culture and the lifestyle of the Kingdom as demonstrated by Jesus Christ, and replicating that lifestyle through the enablement of The Holy Spirit.
This is growing progressively into a lifestyle of obedience and surrender that reflects the life of Jesus Christ. This is also living out the fruits of The Spirit, in experience.
There are many people who have knowledge, yet they lack the corresponding character that should emanate from the knowledge they acquired. An example is the Pharisees in the Bible.
Knowledge is important, but it is not enough to transform an individual into a territorial and societal agent of transformation.
Lifestyle-based discipleship is beyond character modification. It is a complete change of lifestyle and behaviour to reflect the values of Jesus Christ.
Once you are in Christ Jesus, the life you live must not be of the flesh. What you need is an overhaul of the old self.
Becoming like Jesus Christ is a daily process; even with the enablement of The Spirit, you must die to ‘self’ every day. You must make a deliberate decision to die to your fleshly desires daily.
As ministers of the Gospel, you must not focus on ministry more than your growth, because your lack of growth and transformation will be visible to all the people you lead. You must remain a student of growth and transformation.
As servants of God, let’s trust God for grace and remove deceit in what we portray. When ministering to others, let’s maintain the mind of a student.
Most of the challenges of people and churches are not just attacks and demonic activities. Oftentimes, it is a result of a class that leaders missed or ignored in the school of The Spirit.
Your liberty in The Spirit begins the day that you realize that if God doesn’t help you, help won’t come from anywhere else.
If God doesn’t help us, vain is the help of man.
One thing about God is that He will not raise you, just to watch you fall again. He’ll preserve you also.
Dear Minister of The Gospel, it is not every issue in the body of Christ that you discuss publicly on the pulpit.
There are issues that should be dealt with privately within the Church, because it will help preserve the honour and the sanctity of the Church.
When Satan comes to you, he will try to deceive you by making you feel proud and self-important. Then he attacks.
There is no man too big to fall or fail. You must learn to humble yourself under God, and let Him curb your excesses.
Discipleship must capture certain teachings or elements, or else it can become a religious ritual that can put Believers in danger.
Societal transformation doesn’t begin in electing leaders. Rather, it must begin with the massive emergence of transformed people.
It is better to be right with Jesus, than to be right before men.
Discipleship is beyond looking like a man of God, and beyond conforming to the tenets of the Church; it is becoming like Jesus Christ.
Discipleship is not about making slaves out of people, in an attempt to enforce standards. The goal is to become like Jesus Christ.
ELEMENTS OF DISCIPLESHIP:
For your discipleship to be effective, it must capture the following:
1. Anyone seeking to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ must understand salvation through the finished work of Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2: 8-9)
2. The responsibility of obedience and alignment in becoming like Jesus Christ.
3. People must be taught to walk in love – love for God and love for people. (Ephesians 5: 1-2)
4. People must be taught the value of living by The Word.
5. How to live by faith and act upon The Word, so that you commit God to perform. (Ephesians 6: 16)
6. Productivity, as a key to impact and economic emancipation.
7. Responsibility as a lifestyle.
8. Selflessness.
While it is true that there is such a thing as the saving grace, however you cannot become like Jesus Christ without the virtues of surrender, alignment, and obedience.
Dimensions of Grace:
1. The Saving grace.
2. The Enabling grace (actions of obedience whose strength comes from God).
You can not produce true disciples if you don’t teach them how to walk in love for God and people; and of that love walk, forgiveness is the highest demonstration of it.
The greatest way to identify a Believer is when they have love, one for another (John 13:35).
There is no true disciple of Jesus Christ who doesn’t culture his or herself to love and live by The Word of God. This is why Matthew 4:4 KJV:
“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Must be the modus operandi of every Believer.
Lack of passion for The Word of God is relatable to an attack, because it corrupts our becoming like Jesus Christ.
I pray for you, any attack on your passion for The Word of God, let fresh grace rest upon you right now, in the name of Jesus Christ!
On the topic of productivity as a key to impact and economic emancipation; failure to teach people systems of being productive would turn their hearts to the vices of the day.
The joy of a genuine servant of God should not be to see people attend conferences nor the people giving their resources.
The true joy of a genuine servant of God should be to see their people become just like Jesus Christ in experience.
You don’t need to be in power to disciple nations. You just need to be in God.
The nations will not be fixed from the government directly. They will be fixed from the Church.
A time will come when the Church will not be laughed at again. The Church will dominate every sphere of influence, in the name of Jesus Christ!
There is an emergence of people who will influence and transform nations. People, who even though, are politicians, will pray and engage the wisdom of The Holy Spirit, before signing any policy document.
On the topic of Responsibility as a lifestyle: Every gift or open door must be viewed from the lenses of stewardship. There’s responsibility attached to everything we receive from God.
The word ‘Responsibility’ is from two words: Response and Action.
People in our society will change, if our discipleship covers responsibility.
While the message of favour and other graces are valid, we must balance it with the teaching of responsibility. If you teach people lifting, without the responsibility component, that will be their tool of destruction.
On the law of Selflessness:
The understanding that nothing created by God lives for itself, and everything created only finds its relevance by giving.
The understanding that a man’s life does not constitute of the abundance of what he has. This does not validate poverty, but creating in us the virtue to live beyond ourselves.
To make an impact, you have to live beyond yourself.
Someone whose value system is not rooted in the scriptures, can not be good or nice forever.
In isolation, it is difficult to keep the tenets of the faith.
A platform for service is an effective tool for discipleship. It starts by serving in the house of God. Service is one of the ways we grow and one of the ways God measures greatness.
(Matthew 20:27)
A good leader in the kingdom may have a heart of servitude: One of the postures of the cross in discipleship, is that of service: that we would live for Jesus, all the days of our lives.
THE FRUITS OF DISCIPLESHIP:
The greatest fruit of a thoroughly discipled Believer, is a balanced Christian life that reflects the following:
1. The fruits of the Spirit, especially love (Galatians 5: 22)
2. Death to self – a healthy detachment from an excessive love for pleasure. It is to embrace a life of modesty, even in the face of abundance.
3. Placing priority on Jesus Christ as the most important relationship in your life, greater than all other relationships, but not to ignore loved ones, family, spouse, friends etc.
4. Freedom from Mammon – the ungodly and unhealthy attachment to money and other material things.
5. Victory and dominion by engaging the mysteries of the Kingdom.
6. Freedom from fear of persecution and death.
No relationship on earth, should sustain the power to tamper with your relationship with God.
The proof that you have been delivered from mammon, is your ability to let go of material things. Any material thing you can not let go of, is your god.
Every time God gives you an instruction to part with something that is valuable, He is trying to set you free from mammon.
The presence of the fruits of discipleship, is how you identify a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
When you’re a true follower of Jesus Christ, His voice becomes your restraint or your system of allowance.
Persecution should not be a strange phenomenon for the Believer. You should avoid what can be avoided, but when trouble meets you on account of Jesus The Christ, you must obtain grace to stand with honour.
A true disciple is not only the one who lives for Jesus alone, but if need be can die for Him.
Somewhere in the journey of your Christian experience, you will be faced with a situation where you will have to choose between Jesus Christ or yourself.
You will not be a true Believer nor a disciple, if you are not taught to accept persecution as a part of our Christian experience.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I speak the blessing over you; I pray that beginning from this week, you will be a true reflection of a Christian, one who has met Jesus Christ, and every victory that comes with knowing Jesus Christ, may it be manifest in your life this week, in the name of Jesus Christ!
Everything Jesus Christ died to abolish, may it be abolished in your life, in the name of Jesus Christ!
You’ll be the head and not the tail; I declare that lines are falling for you in pleasant places. Everything that attaches you to the things of this world, I disconnect them from you, in the name of Jesus Christ, and in the midst of that detachment, you will enjoy plenty!
God will fill your hands with good things, God will fill your home with good things, in the name of Jesus Christ!
I speak wisdom over your life, I speak wisdom over your destiny, and because you have allowed God to build you, may He raise you to be a captain over His inheritance, in the name of Jesus Christ!
Monday is blessed!
Tuesday is blessed!
Wednesday is blessed!
Thursday is blessed!
Friday is blessed!
Saturday is blessed!
Sunday is blessed!
For you and your children, blessed!
For your spouse, blessed!
For your family, blessed!
For your ministries, blessed!
For Abuja, blessed!
For Nigeria, blessed!
For Africa, blessed, in the name of Jesus Christ!
Go in peace and I declare that you will return with testimonies, in the name of Jesus Christ!
Genuine peace and fulfilment flows from an encounter with Jesus. Tonight, He is reaching out to you and wants to give you a new beginning, regardless of your past or current situation.
Take this bold step of faith to begin the journey of salvation, by saying “yes” to Jesus. With faith in your heart, declare this prayer of salvation to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
”I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.“
Luke 15:7 (KJV)
If you just received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour tonight, we celebrate you and Heaven rejoices over your decision. We’d love to read from you and become a part of your Christian journey.
Originally posted on September 7, 2025 @ 7:20 pm
The post Discipleship (Building The Men That Transform Society) by Apostle Selman appeared first on NgGospel.com (Formerly Ngmp3.com).