DISCIPLESHIP BY GOD’S DESIGN

FOREVER FORWARD

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” – Rev. 12:11

PERSONAL DISCIPLESHIP FOR LEAD PLANTERS

Fifth Seal Family discipleship for lead planters is designed to equip, release, and journey with those the Holy Spirit has set apart to advance the Gospel of the Kingdom. We teach eternal disciple-making principles and processes held together by an irreducibly minimal frame for biblical church form which directly correlates to biblical church function. This discipleship process is designed by God according to the scriptures, was first established by Christ, and modeled by Paul and the Apostles of the New Covenant. When applied, results in the multiplication of new disciples and churches in any culture, context or community.

Our discipleship for new church planters revolves around a basic, bold and biblical expression of Jesus’ church where “everyday ordinary people who have been with Jesus” can multiply disciples and churches as they hear and obey His voice. It has been our experience in nations around the world that the church Jesus is building does not require talent, big budgets, buildings or dynamic personalities behind pulpits, but rather a love motivated family of highly obedient disciples of Jesus Christ. For those whom the Holy Spirit has called, we equip the original expression of the church that powerfully advanced into the nations for the first three centuries of church history despite overwhelming opposition, discrimination, and persecution. We empower leaders to celebrate the seed of the Kingdom, to not despise the days of small beginnings, and create communities where every person called by Christ steps in and says, “In Him, I can do that!”

Our discipleship for lead planters focuses on seven foundational components to help you begin, or perhaps begin again, on a journey that will allow you to partner with Jesus in the church He is building to advance His Kingdom at the end of the age.

The Lordship of Jesus Christ – The Leader of Movement

Fifth Seal discipleship begins by re-introducing Jesus as Lord to many who have only known Him as Savior. Jesus is the only foundation that can be established for the church He is actively building. In this, we apply all of Jesus’ love motivated imperatives rooted and firmly established in His Lordship as revealed through the scriptures. Knowing Jesus as Lord and leader of our lives is essential to making last days disciples. Understanding Jesus as Lord produces fully devoted, self denying, disciple-making disciples of Christ who are highly obedient to His commands and will not shrink back during times of extreme difficulty and danger. As a result the Kingdom advances through every gate of hell on earth. “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I tell you?” (Lk. 6:46). Those we disciple learn that obedience to Christ is not optional but essential to keeping the New Covenant.

The Gospel of the Kingdom – The Message of Movement

The Gospel of the Kingdom begins with the good news of salvation offered exclusively in the person and work of the King of the Kingdom – Jesus Christ. Through His life’s perfect obedience to the Father culminating in His substitutionary atonement on the cross for the sins of every tribe, nation, and tongue, the door to the Kingdom has been opened for everyone who obeys Jesus as Lord from the heart. The Good News of the Kingdom begins with salvation but continues with the message of the King’s return when He will establish His Kingdom on earth and reign over all nations from Jerusalem. The Gospel of the Kingdom is not only a call to salvation, but to love, serve, and obey the King as we prepare for His return. It is essential for us to understand the bad news and its historical origins rooted in disobedience in the Garden, before we can truly appreciate what makes the Good News of Jesus so good. We teach both the kindness and severity of God through the full counsel of His commands. Those who are forgiven much, love much. The correct appropriation of the Gospel of the Kingdom levels the playing field and exalts Christ alone as the only hero of the story. This produces a full picture of who God is, while helping us both love and fear Him with supreme adoration in the highest respect. The Kingdom of God is not a democracy – we do not get to vote regarding the King’s edicts. There is only one appropriate response to the King’s commands. The Lamb of God came, the Lion of God is coming. As disciple makers at the end of the age – it is imperative that we know both.

The Church Jesus Builds – The Foundation and Framework of Movement

The church Jesus builds (Mat. 16:18) begins with a call to return to the essence of living, gathering and multiplying the way the church did when she exploded onto the scene two-thousand years ago. The Scriptures reveal an expression of Jesus’ church which has the ability to mature and multiply in all nations – no matter how open or closed they may be to the Gospel. Despite being born under the rule of a totalitarian world order that aggressively persecuted all who confessed Jesus as the coming King, the early church did not give up meeting or making disciples. At that time, the church effectively expressed itself in simple Christ-exalting communities that matured unto multiplication. Established in love for Jesus and one another, they gathered as God’s family in homes and pre-existing spaces to pray, worship and be equipped. Despite overwhelming opposition to the Gospel of the Kingdom, their love-motivated obedience to Jesus transformed the world.

Our discipleship regarding Jesus’ church is designed to provide a clear framework on what the scriptures reveal Jesus’ church to be in biblical form and biblical function. We are committed to building with Jesus’ living stones, not Babylon’s bricks. Our training is irreducibly simple, unashamedly biblical and powerfully effective in preparing people to establish life and gathering rhythms that multiply disciples, churches and movements under the supreme leadership of Jesus, the chief Shepherd.

Uncommon Prayer & Worship – The Epicenter of Movement

In the New Testament – as well as our experience in the nations – uncommon prayer and worship mark the beginning of authentic movements of God. The Lord desires to renew and deepen our understanding and expression of worship according to the New Covenant. The worship He desires is more than a song or a musical moment. We teach a Romans 12:1 life surrendered to Him in full obedience as our highest expression of worship. In the New Covenant, we worship God by prostrating ourselves to His commands. As we obey Jesus, the fire of the Holy Spirit burning on the altars of our hearts does not go out. This renewal empowers worship moments to become Romans 12:1 worship movements (obedience to Jesus as Lord) that sweep through neighborhoods, cities and nations in Spirit and truth.

The worship renewal will be marked by a move from understanding Jesus as Savior, to knowing Jesus as Lord. In this reality shift, we believe God desires to bring in a full restoration of New Covenant worship according to Acts 15:16-17. The restoration is biblically purposed by God to release apostolic reality once again- where discipleship moments become discipleship movements and multiplication occurs daily as in the book of Acts. The renewal of our understanding of worship will exalt Jesus and His supreme worth over everything.

It is in the place of prayer and obedience God fashions His servants into flames of fire, where He both equips, and sets apart His people for extraordinary works of Kingdom advancement.

Into the Kingdom – The Cost of Movement

A robust understanding of suffering as a cost to entering the Kingdom is one of the most important biblical truths missing from the majority of Western theological framework. In Acts 14:22 the scriptures reveal we must go through many tribulations to enter the Kingdom of God. When Christ called Paul into the Kingdom after He knocked Paul off his horse, one of the first things Jesus told him was how much he must suffer for the glory of His name. The call to follow Jesus as a disciple is an invitation to die daily. As we understand our identity as biblical disciple makers, we submit to the cost of the cross Christ has called us to embrace. The call is expensive and separates Christ’s disciples from the crowds. It will cost our time, talent, treasure, comfort, security and even our lives. Once we encounter the supreme worth of Jesus, our willingness to embrace suffering for the glory of His name becomes an essential mark of obedience as His disciples. Obedience, no matter the cost, is required to fuel love-motivated disciple making movements that exalt the supreme worth of Jesus at the end of the age.

Disciples who Make Disciples – The Multiplication of Movement

We have all heard stories from the mission field of incredible moves of God that have swept thousands upon thousands into the Kingdom in unbridled moves of the Holy Spirit. It is important to understand in these moves there were a people who said yes to Jesus. They went through a process of personal, theological, and ecclesiological deconstruction and scriptural rediscovery. They suffered for His name. They entered seasons of extraordinary prayer and subsequent encounters with Jesus that resulted in lives that became highly obedient to Christ. This process is rarely spoken about and not usually taught, especially in nations with Western foundations for church expression. Modern Western worldview by default creates pragmatic, goal oriented people who are driven by numeric results, not those who value authentic life on life relationships.

Learning how to make disciples who make disciples is a process with a price. If you are ready to say yes to Jesus, our discipleship takes you through a relational process that will deconstruct the traditions of man and retool you with the commands of God found in the Scriptures alone. It is important to understand that our discipleship for lead planters is not a pragmatic course but a call to be relationally embraced. Our training requires change. We will equip you in a biblical lifestyle to be lived in the context of a committed community of fellow disciple makers who exist as a family about their Father’s business.

All Glory to Jesus’ Name Alone – The Sustainer of Movement

Jesus is coming to vindicate His own holy name. No man and no ministry will receive the credit, glory or honor that is due to Jesus Christ. He alone is worthy. Psalm 115:1 is an essential and eternal value that we build into the foundation of all lead church planters we disciple. “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory…” Most authentic movements of God burn up and blow out when the glory of God is misappropriated by a man, method, or ministry. God opposes the proud.

Fifth Seal discipleship will flip the current metrics, methods and motivations of modern Christian expression upside down and unashamedly shake everything that can be shaken, so that only that which is unshakeable remains. Although the road to seeding Maranatha movements within your city will not be easy, it will be worth it in the end. If you sense the call of Christ and have counted the cost to begin, we look forward to joining you in the journey to exalting the supreme worth of Jesus at the end of the age within your city for the glory of His name alone.

Last days wine goes into last days wineskins

A mic-less and stage-less multiplication of new disciples and new testament churches.

Has the Holy Spirit set you apart to plant a Christ exalting community where Jesus is the only rockstar and everyone has a seat at the family table (Acts 20:28)?