Walking the Path: Essential Qualities of a Good Disciple

Welcome to Equipped for Purpose. I'm your host, Vincent Rain, and this is the podcast

where discipleship meets impactful leadership. Whether you're new to faith or a seasoned

follower of Christ, this podcast is designed to help you deepen your relationship with

Jesus, grow as a leader, and make a difference in every area of your life. Together we'll

explore practical tools, biblical insights, and real-life strategies to equip you for

the purpose God has called you to. Let's dive in.

Welcome back to another episode of Equipped for Purpose. Today we're going to be talking about

what makes a good disciple. This is one of those topics that is foundational. We need to lay the

foundation for what a disciple is, what discipleship is, and how to make disciples. This podcast is

about equipping, developing, and empowering you as a disciple and a leader in fulfilling

the Great Commission. That's the underlying basis for everything that I'm doing with this podcast

and all of the content I produce. With that, like I said, we're laying a foundation.

I just want to be clear. I don't have all the answers, but this is a base. This is a place to

start from. I would never claim to have all of the answers, to know it all, to be able to say

definitively, this is the final say on what makes a good disciple. Just keep that in mind. This is a

base. That's what we're starting with here today. I wanted to make that clear right up front.

One of the things that we're going to be covering today is being a good follower.

We have to understand what it means to follow as a disciple. At the same time,

we're also going to be talking about being a leader because there is that tension there of being

both a follower and a leader as a disciple. Then we're going to look at some examples of

disciples, some of those characteristics that we'll talk about, and really about some different

attitudes. Looking at those will answer the question also who is called to be a disciple.

Let's get right into this. When we talk about being a follower, there are some different things

that we look at and that aspect of being a disciple is the behavior that comes with that.

What does the behavior look like as a follower of Christ? Not just who claims to be a follower

and then there's nothing in their life that backs up that claim. When I think about behavior,

I look at values. What is it that you value? You can look at a company or a business,

a corporation, and they're likely to have things that they value.

They'll have some documents or posters put up that say, we value this. One of those,

for example, could be communication. They may value something like that, but what does that mean

in action? This is something that is called fundamentals. I wish I could remember the book

off the top of my head, but there's a book about this that you can say you value something, but if

there is no behavior that backs that up, that backs up that value, if you can't define what it

means to put that value into action, then do you value that thing? What does the behavior look like

that demonstrates that value in action? Your actions demonstrate what you believe.

You can say you believe something. You can say that you're a follower of Jesus, but do your actions

demonstrate that? Do your actions in public demonstrate what you practice in private?

There is a visible facade. You can look out at the Christian landscape right now and you can see

the facade that's put on for actions in public. Do you think those same actions demonstrate what

is practiced in private? We've certainly seen through many scandals that that's not the case.

Be honest with yourself. Do your actions in public demonstrate what you practice in private?

Do those actions truly demonstrate what it is you believe? Because it's your actions in private

when you know that no one's watching, those are the actions that are going to back up

what it is you believe in that outward demonstration. This is something that we

have to keep in mind. We can't have this mask on when we're out in public that demonstrates

something different than who we are in private. That's a dual nature and that's not part of

who we are as Christians, who we are as followers of Jesus. When we call ourselves his disciples,

his followers, there's not going to be a difference between private and public actions.

There is a boldness and a courage that comes along with that both in private and in public.

Okay, so that's values. Those actions you take, what is it you say you value?

If you value following Jesus, then your actions are going to demonstrate that. You should be able

to define what that action looks like and find that your definition is backed up with Scripture.

But we're going to talk more about Scripture here in a few minutes.

One of the things that is often overlooked in the behavior of a disciple is sacrifice.

We hear a lot of calls to salvation on a Sunday morning in a church service

that only wants to paint a good picture of what it means to follow Christ.

There is a lack of communication that does not convey the sacrifice that comes along with that.

It doesn't convey that there will continue to be hardships in life. Salvation doesn't overcome that

and moves you to some mystical place where there are no more problems, where there are no more

hardships or issues that come up in life. That just wouldn't be honest to say. Unfortunately,

salvation is often portrayed in that picture. You can't truly count the cost of the decision

you're making and the actions you're about to take if we don't take a full scope of what that means.

I don't want us to forget the behavior of sacrifice. I want to read Luke 9 verses 23 to 26,

and this is Jesus talking. And he said to all,

So that was Luke 9, 23 to 26.

So we cannot forget this call from Jesus. It says if anyone would come after me,

let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. We have to be understanding of the

fact that there is a sacrifice that will come. Following Jesus does not bring about some place

where there is no more sacrifice because there are relationships that are going to make it beyond

your decision to commit your life to being a follower of Jesus. And there are going to be

things that will be stripped away from your life. The Holy Spirit will highlight something and you

will know, Hey, I need to move away from this thing, or I need to stop doing this thing.

Or maybe it's I need to start doing this thing over here, which causes friction with somebody

or friction in something in your life that you're already doing. There's going to be a

sacrifice there. You're going to have to make a choice. Which path am I going to follow?

With that, we need to understand that we are being guided by the Holy Spirit in this.

So there is a choice that needs to be made. Am I going to be self-empowered here? Am I going to

look to self-empowerment or am I going to look to

spirit empowerment or being spirit-filled? You could ask yourself what or who is guiding me

in this decision. I say I value being a follower of Jesus. I value scripture. I value prayer.

Do your actions demonstrate these things? Does it show that you are empowered by the

Spirit or guided by the Spirit? Or are you self-empowered to do this all on your own?

This is an aspect of following Jesus, the behavior that we display, that we engage in.

This is just simply another word for the actions you take.

Okay, what does it look like? The next piece that I want to look at is the disciplines we engage in.

What does that mean? What am I talking about here? Disciplines. This isn't about being

disciplined by God. This is about the disciplines, those things that you do daily. Not as a habit,

but as something more intentional. If you do something long enough, it becomes a habit.

It becomes something that's just done automatically over time. Well, in disciplines, we want there

to be more intentionality in what it is that you're taking action on. That's what we're

talking about with disciplines here. The first one of those I mentioned a minute ago was prayer.

This is a discipline of discipleship that needs to be not just simply a daily part of life,

but in every aspect of life, every aspect of your day. Prayer should be a part of that.

This doesn't have to be some super spiritual or religious thing either.

You could be sitting there, silent, with your eyes open, going about your day,

but stopping and taking a moment to say a prayer, offering thanks, asking for strength or wisdom or

guidance, or praying over an event you're passing by. These are all things that prayer is about.

It's not just simply something we do in quiet time. This should be part of our daily lives and

so intertwined that it is something we can recognize ourselves doing intentionally over

and over again. This isn't something that we want to just be a habit where it's just done

automatically without thinking about it. That's not what we're talking about with these disciplines.

This has to be intentional. I see something, I recognize something that I want to talk to God

about, and I talk to him. The next discipline I want to talk about is the study of scripture.

This is one of those things that Christians in particular talk about extensively, which is

is being in the word daily and studying, but we are in a time where biblical literacy is at an

all-time low. People just don't know the scriptures anymore. There are quotes that people will use in

a tribute to the Bible, and it's not in there. Or they will think they know what a passage says,

but it doesn't say what it is that they were remembering. If we were in there every single day

and at a minimum just reading, we would have a better understanding and a better literacy

of what is in scripture. What we're talking about now when looking at that intentionality of the

study of scripture is going beyond reading. This is where we're getting into the text. We're starting

to look at the cross-references. We're starting to look at the study notes if you have a study

Bible or even finding a commentary online. Eventually, maybe even getting into the original

languages. If you can get there, great. If not, though, we do need to make it into the study that

goes as far as we can. This is going to take an investment, not just of time, but you may decide

to invest a little bit of money to get some of these resources that help you get deeper into

what the Bible is talking about and how it is referencing itself. There's no other collection

of books on the planet that you will find that references itself more than the Bible does.

How are the writers in the New Testament using the Old Testament? How are they referencing that?

What are they saying and what are they seeing that is a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy?

When Jesus is doing things or saying things, there is a surface level meaning that we can see.

There is a meaning that would have had something more to it as well to his direct audience in the

first century. There would have been a better understanding of what was going on in the mind

of an ancient Israelite in that first century than we are now, even 2,000 years more removed

from that. We talk about the study of Scripture as disciples, but the one problem I'm seeing is that

we aren't even getting to the point of just reading it daily, of reading the Bible every single day.

Even just finding some reading plan and starting to do that, that's a great start.

Remember these disciplines. They are about intentionality.

We need to remember the intentionality of studying Scripture.

I want to read to you a little bit out of Psalm 19. I'm going to read verses 7 through 11.

Verse 7. It says, The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is

sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The

commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring

forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are

they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than the honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant worn, and keeping them is a great reward.

In verse 7, it says, The law of the Lord is perfect. Now understand when this was written,

what they were talking about in the law. This is the Torah, those first five books of the Old

Testament. That was their Scripture. That's what they studied. That's what they read. That's what

they memorized. They devoured it. They loved it. And it was desired more than gold. They saw it as

sweeter than honey. We want to talk about value in Scripture. Do we value it that much?

Do we value it more than fine gold? If we say we do, our actions would bear that out

in everyday study, in everyday reading. We would set aside some intentional time to study.

The last thing I want to talk about in disciplines is sharing the Gospel.

That is, sharing your faith with other people, having conversations about Jesus,

having conversations about Scripture, and having conversations about prayer.

These are all things you can do within a community. But even spreading beyond a community to sharing

the Gospel with people that haven't come to a place where they are, placing their believing loyalty

in Jesus Christ as their Savior. That is the Great Commission. That is fulfilling that.

We are making disciples of the nations when we share the Gospel of Christ with others

and see them come into the family, see them say, yes, I believe in Jesus.

There are just three disciplines that I'm talking about today within the base of what I believe

makes a good disciple. Prayer, study of Scripture, and sharing the Gospel, or sharing your faith.

These are just three baseline disciplines, three baseline things that we should be

carrying intentionality into. Yes, they are similar to habits because they are things we

are doing daily. The difference, remember, is intentionality. And yes, I've said that over

and over, but it bears repeating because we need to keep that in mind. As we build up these

disciplines in our lives, we have to understand that we are being intentional about them.

We aren't just letting them go and reading on autopilot and not taking in what it is that we

are seeing. We're not praying on autopilot and not making a connection with the Lord.

We're not entering into these things and becoming more intimate in that space with Jesus

without intentionality. Something else here that I want to close out talking about

is being a follower. And this discussion of being a follower is about attitudes.

So we talked about behavior. We talked about disciplines. Let's talk about attitude now.

This is how we respond to the assignments that God brings to us in places before us

inside of fulfilling the Great Commission. Yes, we know that we have the Great Commission.

Make disciples of the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit,

teaching them the things that Jesus taught. But the attitude that we carry into that is something

that we have to look at. We have to understand our attitudes. We have to

own the attitude that we carry into this. We know the Great Commission. And I mentioned

assignments a minute ago. Assignments are, God calls me here and in that calling is where I'm

going to fulfill the Great Commission. Now, if you are gifted in a certain area of business or

whatever that looks like, that's likely an area that God is calling you into.

This is the place where you are filling the Great Commission, whatever that is.

Recently, I read a book called Not a Fan, talking about the difference between being a fan

of Jesus and being a follower. A fan, you can think about it like this. Say there is somebody

you admire on social media or TV. You know a lot about them, but you don't necessarily

know them personally. You just know a lot about them. That makes you a fan, but you're not a

follower because a follower is going to make sacrifices in knowing that person on a deeper

level. There are going to be those actions taken. Knowing a lot about someone doesn't make you a

follower. It just makes you a well-educated fan. You're going to see this played out and

demonstrated in life, such as the disciplines we discussed earlier in Following Jesus.

In that book, some questions came out of that in direct relation to talking about attitudes.

I think this is great in terms of being a follower because God's going to say,

what about over there? If we're telling God, hey, wherever you want me to go,

I will go to fulfill this great commission. When he says, okay, what about over there?

What's your response? Sometimes that's a hard question for us to ask or a difficult statement

to make to say, God, wherever it is you want me to go to fulfill the commission that you gave

right before you ascended back up into heaven, I'll go. Because we don't know what it is that's

going to be asked of us. It's a bold and sometimes difficult thing to say, God, wherever.

When he says, what about over there? What's your response? What's your attitude to that?

Is it still wherever? What about whenever? Whatever you want me to go, God, I will go.

What if his response is now? Right now. You're walking through the grocery store, you see somebody,

you feel prompted by the Holy Spirit to pray for that person. So this is a wherever, whenever moment

right now. What about now? The last of these attitude statements to make is whatever.

God, whatever it is that you want me to do, whatever assignment it is that you have for me,

I'll do it. And he says, what about that? What about that right there? Yes, God,

is that your response? Is that your attitude to quickly go and be obedient to that?

I understand there are certain things like if you feel called to be a missionary and go to another

country or another continent, there needs to be some prayer in preparation that goes along with

that to truly understand what it is that you're being called to. But is your attitude still

wherever, whenever, whatever? That's the attitude of a disciple. So when we look at being a follower,

we're talking about those behaviors, those things that we say we value. What do those things look

like in action? Are we taking seriously the disciplines of discipleship, prayer, the study

of scripture, and sharing the gospel? Are we having the right attitude that says wherever,

whenever, whatever? These are all aspects of following Christ that we need to be paying

attention to. With that, the tension of discipleship is leading. Yes, we need to be good disciples to

be able to make disciples. And so at the same time that we are following Christ, we are also

leading others to follow him as well. We're not leading others to follow us. We're not making

disciples unto ourselves. We're making disciples unto Christ. But there is an aspect of leadership

within that. And the first piece of that is replication. When we are fulfilling the Great

Commission, we are replicating disciples. That's the first point of what makes a good disciple in

leading is that there's replication. We're seeing people come into the faith and professing,

believing loyalty in Jesus, and that there's longevity behind them. We're seeing growth and

maturity come into this person. We're seeing, we're starting to see them transform and looking

to replicate as well. That's the first aspect of what we're talking about when it comes to

what makes a good disciple in being a leader is replication. The second is listening. Now,

it goes without saying in being a follower of Jesus as an aspect of discipleship, listening,

of course, is a trait that is there. But it's not always common for leaders to be good listeners.

When you are leading people and you are thinking about replication and multiplying,

bringing in more people to discipleship, we have to be listening and not just listening to their

stories, not just listening to what it is that they're saying or what it is that is

underlying what they're saying. We need to be at the same time listening to the Holy Spirit for

guidance. Now, you know, not everybody is the same, so not every person is going to

respond the same or go through a program or system at the same pace. People will

pick up on things at different rates. It's just reality. You can see it in school,

grasping concepts in different things and understanding and connecting. This all happens

at a different pace, and so not everybody can just be put through some cookie cutter system

or program and say, okay, this is how it's going to go. Whether they go slower or faster through

that program is irrelevant. It is still the same cookie cutter program. This is where being a

leader who is listening and being guided by the Holy Spirit is one that is going to be more

effective because you're going to be able to hear what it is the Holy Spirit is saying and

be able to come to a place with that person that brings them into transformation. You're going to

be able to give them the right guidance that you're getting from Holy Spirit. This isn't

self-empowered. This is Spirit-empowered guidance. Being a leader, this is what we're talking about

when we talk about the aspect of that listening. Yes, we're listening to that person. They need to

know that they're being heard, but at the same time, we need to be listening to and in tune with

what it is that we are hearing the Holy Spirit say. There has to be that connection with the

disciplines that we are entering into as a disciple each and every day. Those intentional

moments, they're preparing you for these moments to lead. When there is a difficult situation that's

taking place, you are already listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying to bring mature and

kingdom-backed guidance to this person. This is what we're talking about when we mention and discuss

listening. The third aspect I want to bring up at this base level about being a leader

inside the discussion of what makes a good disciple is accountability. I can't stress enough

what it means to be accountable to another. We have to understand that there are different

levels of accountability. We are not just being accountable to someone you could say

hierarchically is above you. Yes, there is that aspect of accountability, but at the same time,

we are accountable to those who we are leading. You have to know, hey, this is what it is that

I'm doing here. This is what it is that I'm bringing and trying to pull out. I'm going to be

here for you in this. There is accountability there because you are putting on display your

discipleship disciplines for this person. There is an accountability there. There's also an

accountability coming from above you or adjacent from elders in the church, whatever that looks

like. There's an accountability there that says, yes, I'm doing the right things with these people

or with this person. I'm leading in a way that is going to bring glory to Jesus.

That's what we're talking about in accountability, the aspect of what makes a good disciple

and that tension that's held between follower and leader. When we're talking about leaders,

looking at the base, just the base things again, is not the end-all list here with what I have

highlighted in replication, listening, and accountability. Those are three things that

I think make up a good base for someone who is a disciple and who is taking that step into leading,

which is fulfilling the Great Commission. We've talked about being a follower and a leader,

and so now I want to look at some biblical examples. The first one is Elijah, and I want to read

1 Kings 19 verses 19 to 21. It says, Verse 19, So he departed from there and found Elisha,

the son of Shaphad, who was plowing with twelve yokes of oxen in front of him, and he was with

the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him, and he left the oxen and ran after

Elijah, and said, Let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.

And he said to him, Go back, for what have I done to you? And he returned from following him,

and took the yoke of oxen, and sacrificed them, and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen,

and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elisha and assisted him.

This is Elijah coming and calling Elisha out to be his disciple, to be able to train him and bring

him into what it is that he was doing. And what was Elisha's response? Let me kiss my mother and

father, and then I'll follow you. That was his response. So he said these words, Yes, I'm going

to go, say bye, and then I'll follow you. Those were the words, but then came the action that

backed that up, and the action was he returned, took the yoke off of the twelve oxen he had,

lit those yokes on fire, sacrificed the oxen, and boiled their flesh on the burning yokes

that had held them together, that they were to plow the fields with, and he gave it to the people,

and ate. Elisha's response was, Let me go, say bye, and then I'll follow you.

The action that backs that up is that he sacrificed the oxen on the fire of the yokes that had held

him together. So that is, I'm not going back. This is the action that says, Yeah, I'll follow you,

because there's no going back. The animals and the equipment that were used to help him produce from

the land were gone. There was no going back for him. This is the action that bears out those words

that says, Yes, I value this call from you, and I will follow you. The wherever, whenever, whatever

attitude was there, and so he followed. The second example I want to look at is from the New Testament.

Matthew 4 verses 18 to 22 says, While walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon,

who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers,

James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending

their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

This is an interesting story, and it's one I love to consider because we see Jesus

call these men, and immediately they drop their nets and follow him.

We know that Jesus was called a rabbi, and that's how people refer to him often, rabbi.

There is something we need to understand about this story and what it meant for a Jewish boy

to be called to follow a rabbi. At a very early age, Jewish children were set apart

and trained to study the Torah. This is what they did. The goal was to memorize the entire Torah,

those first five books that we have in the Old Testament, to memorize all of that.

I have a hard time memorizing things personally, so I can't imagine memorizing these entire books

here, but some did that. A very small percentage though, but they did do this. At the end of that

time of study, and I can't remember what the ages were, but at the end of that time, if they had all

these books memorized, they were called by a rabbi to come follow him and to go deeper into

the scriptures and start to memorize the rest of what it is that we have as part of the Old Testament.

And so, it was a big deal to be called to follow a rabbi. We have to understand that aspect. These

men are fishing, which means that they likely didn't make the cut at an earlier age to be called

for continued study. They couldn't memorize the whole of the Torah. Maybe they had part of it,

but they didn't get the whole thing down. They went back and they followed their father's footsteps

become fishermen. When we see this scene where Jesus shows up and he calls these men to follow

him, the father mentioned here is Zebedee, I can imagine that he was elated. A rabbi is calling

my boys to follow him. This is a big deal. This is something that was sought after. This was something

that Jewish boys and Jewish parents wanted to have happen for their children. It meant something to

be called by a rabbi to follow him, to study the scriptures, to go deeper. To see this scene, we

have to look at it with a different mindset and not look at it so much in our current reality of

Western thinking or wherever it is that you live. We have to understand what it meant to the people

of the first century when Jesus was walking the earth. We have to understand that what it meant

to be called to follow a rabbi was a big deal. These men did not hesitate. They dropped their nets

and they followed him because they knew they were being called into something deeper.

Those are just two examples and it demonstrates value in action. It demonstrates that wherever,

whenever, whatever attitude, it opens them up to get into the disciplines of discipleship because

they're about to be taught and there's a continual teaching going on for us as well in these

disciplines. So we need to remain open to that. We can see what it looked like for them because

we have the scriptures to read. Now we need to understand what that looks like for us. So with

that, who is called to be a disciple? This is a question that we think is easy to answer and it

really is easy to answer. The answer is anyone. It's an open invitation. Just like salvation is an

open invitation, so is the call to be a disciple. I believe that being a disciple is a mandate.

It's not optional for those of us who say we are followers of Christ, who call ourselves by the

title of Christian. Discipleship is mandatory. That's my personal belief. I don't see anywhere

in the Great Commission when I read Matthew 28, 18-20 that there is some set-apart group of people

for this call or that there is an exclusion in there that limits it to some people. Anyone can

be a disciple. The problem is that sometimes we gatekeep that. We have to ask ourselves,

are we holding the door open for people to come in and be disciples? Are we gatekeeping and rejecting

certain people because we don't like an aspect of their lives or their past and so for some reason

we deem them unfit for discipleship, unfit for inclusion into the kingdom? There are people

carrying around a lot of hurt from those already in the church because we're gatekeeping based on

our own set of morality and our own set of ethics and we're forgetting those that Jesus

dined with, who he hung out with, who he celebrated feasts with. Those same people today we exclude.

We judge their lives rather than embracing them and loving them. I'm not saying that we completely

look away from lifestyle or choices that are sinful. There is going to be a transformation in

people that moves them away from those things but we have to allow the Holy Spirit to do that work

in them. If all it is is gatekeeping and pushing these people away, that's not going to happen or

it's going to be much more difficult for that to happen. This is another point of sacrifice that

we're going to talk about in the future but it's about sacrificing reputation. We care too much

about our reputation that we will exclude people from the church, from the kingdom because what

does it look like for me to associate with that person? What will people think? We care about our

reputations when we stop and truly think about it. We'll talk more about that in the future but this

is something we have to understand when we're answering the question, are we holding the door

open or are we gatekeeping? I want to read Matthew 28 verses 18 to 20 because I think it's important

when we're talking about what makes a good disciple. We need to understand the great commission

that's been given to us. And it says,

All that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

We can't forget verse 18. Often times when people talk about the great commission,

they start at verse 19. But we cannot forget 18. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given

to me. That is Jesus' words, which should mean something because right after that he says,

Go therefore. Because he is holding all of the authority, he's telling us to go on his behalf,

which means we're backed by that same authority. Go therefore because of his authority and make

disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy

Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded us. Then he's saying he's with us always

to the end of the age. We must remember that there is an authority that backs up this commission

that he's given us. Again, I don't see any exclusions in there that say, oh, this group of

people? No. You're not called to discipleship. You're not called to replicate and make disciples.

There's an inclusion of everybody here. This is why I believe that discipleship is mandatory

for those of us who call ourselves Christians. When we look at the word commission and just

define that, it's the act of committing or entrusting a person or group with supervisory

power or authority. It's also an authoritative order, charge, or direction and can be an authority

granted for a particular action or function. If we're calling this set of verses the Great

Commission, that means we're entrusted with supervisory power and authority to make disciples

of the nations, to baptize them, to teach them. There's an authoritative order, charge, or

direction there, mandatory. This isn't an option. This is an order from Jesus. I think we have to

keep that perspective and keep that in view when we're talking about what makes a good disciple.

We have to keep in view what it means to be a follower, those behaviors, the disciplines,

and the attitude. We also have to keep in view the other aspect of what makes a good disciple,

which is leading. That's the base of replicating, listening, and accountability.

We also need to be including people, holding the door open. After listening to this, I want you to

take some time to sit down and think about what it is that God has called us to as disciples,

the Great Commission. Think about the assignments that He's given you, the place where you are now

and start saying, God, wherever you want me to go, I'll go. Whenever you want me to go, I will.

Whatever it is that you want me to do, I will do it. Start looking at that. When He says,

what about there? Where is there? When He says, what about now? What does that time frame look like?

When He says, what about that? What is that thing that He's calling you to?

When is that assignment that He's laying out in front of you?

I also want to know what you would add to the discussion of what makes a good disciple. My

email address is in the show notes. Please send me an email or a DM on social media. What would

you add to the discussion? Thank you for listening and if you're finding value in these episodes,

I'd ask that you share this with someone, leave a review. I would really appreciate it and I look

forward to hearing from you. Thank you for tuning into Equipped for Purpose. I hope today's episode

gave you tools and inspiration to deepen your discipleship and strengthen your leadership.

Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. If you found value in today's content,

share it with someone who could benefit. Let's connect on social media and through my website

and remember, you are being equipped for a purpose. Go make an impact.