Discipleship Across the Lifespan

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Discipleship Across the Lifespan

• Trinity International University

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What is Teaching?

• The facilitation of learning

Christian education is the ministry of bringing
believers to maturity in Jesus Christ (Downs, Pg
16).
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Is there a difference between

• Teaching

Discipleship
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What does the Old Testament teach about teaching?

• 26 And it will come about when your children will
  say to you, What does this rite mean to you?
  27 that you shall say, It is a Passover
  sacrifice to the LORD who passed over the houses
  of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the
  Egyptians, but spared our homes. And the people
  bowed low and worshiped (Exodus 1226-27).

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What does the Old Testament teach about teaching?

• 18 You shall therefore impress these words of
  mine on your heart and on your soul and you
  shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they
  shall be as frontals on your forehead. 19 And
  you shall teach them to your sons, talking of
  them when you sit in your house and when you walk
  along the road and when you lie down and when you
  rise up. 20 And you shall write them on the
  doorposts of your house and on your gates
  (Deuteronomy 1118-20)

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Proverbs 18-9

• 8 Hear, my son, your father's instruction,
• And do not forsake your mother's teaching
• 9 Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your
  head,
• And ornaments about your neck.

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Proverbs 226

• Train up a child in the way he should go,
• Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Choose your rut carefully youll be in it for
the next 20 miles
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My purpose is to establish the centrality of
teaching as a means of establishing people to
grow in their faith as Christians - Perry Downs,
Pg 24, Teaching for Spiritual Growth

• Divide into groups of 3 to discuss share
• Is teaching central?
• How has Downs accomplished his purpose in his
  chapter on Teaching in the Old New Testaments?
• Does Faith Development depend on teaching? Why
  or why not?

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Group Assignment(Remain in Groups of 3)

• Discuss the models of teaching from the early
  church as seen in Acts the Epistles
• Compile some implications for the churches
  ministries today.
• How much time do churches today spend in
  teaching?
• What would entail and optimum balance?

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Jesus as a Teacher
God had only One Son and He was a Teacher

• Incarnational Teaching
• Teaching in the language of the hearer
• Experiencing the life of the hearer
• Speaking to both the felt needs and the real
  needs of the hearer

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Jesus as a Teacher
God had only One Son and He was a Teacher

• Small Group Assignment

What are some of the methods of teaching that
were used by Jesus?
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Stieneker Bells Taxonomy
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Teaching Methods of Jesus
Parables Storytelling

• Parables serve to illustrate
• Parables serve to conceal

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Matthew 1310-13

• 10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why
  do You speak to them in parables?"
• 11 And He answered and said to them, "To you it
  has been granted to know the mysteries of the
  kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been
  granted. 12 For whoever has, to him shall more
  be given, and he shall have an abundance but
  whoever does not have, even what he has shall be
  taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to
  them in parables because while seeing they do
  not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor
  do they understand.

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Teaching Methods of Jesus
Parables Storytelling

• Parables serve to illustrate
• Parables serve to conceal
• Parables fly under the radar of our defenses
• Parables capture the imagination

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Teaching Methods of Jesus
Allegory

• What is the difference between an allegory versus
  a parable?

• Simile It is like a mustard seed (Luke
• 1319)
• Metaphor I am the door (John 109)
• An allegory is an extended metaphor

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John 151-2

• I am the true vine, and My Father is the
  vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not
  bear fruit, He takes away and every branch that
  bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more
  fruit.

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John 154-5

• Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot
  bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the
  vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
  5 I am the vine, you are the branches he who
  abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit
  for apart from Me you can do nothing.

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Teaching Methods of Jesus
Question Answer

• A question gets everyones attention
• A question needs little introduction
• A question is sometimes a smoke screen for a
  deeper question
• A question can sometimes be answered by the
  questioner
• When in a group, make sure everyone hears
  understands the question

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Matthew 1613-14

• Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea
  Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying,
  Who do people say that the Son of Man is? 14
  And they said, Some say John the Baptist and
  others, Elijah but still others, Jeremiah, or
  one of the prophets.

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Matthew 1615-16

• He said to them, But who do you say that I am?
  16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art
  the Christ, the Son of the living God.

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Matthew 1617

• And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are
  you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did
  not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in
  heaven.

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Matthew 1618

• And I also say to you that you are Peter, and
  upon this rock I will build My church and the
  gates of Hades shall not overpower it.

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Matthew 1618

• And I also say to you that you are Peter, and
  upon this rock I will build My church and the
  gates of Hades shall not overpower it.

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Teaching Methods of Jesus
Humor

• The nature of humor
• Middle Eastern humor versus American humor

if I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a
liar like you (John 855)
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Matthew 1525-27

• 25 But she came and began to bow down before Him,
  saying, Lord, help me! 26 And He answered and
  said, It is not good to take the childrens
  bread and throw it to the dogs. 27 But she
  said, Yes, Lord but even the dogs feed on the
  crumbs which fall from their masters table.

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John 414-16

• He said to her, Go, call your husband, and come
  here. 17 The woman answered and said, I have
  no husband. Jesus said to her, You have well
  said, I have no husband 18 for you have had
  five husbands, and the one whom you now have is
  not your husband this you have said truly.

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Teaching Methods of Jesus
Visual Aids
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying,
Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And He called a child to Himself and set him
before them, 3 and said, Truly I say to you,
unless you are converted and become like
children, you shall not enter the kingdom of
heaven. 4 Whoever then humbles himself as this
child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. (Matthew 181-4)
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Teaching Methods of Jesus
Teaching by Example

• He told us how to pray and He prayed
• He told us how to forgive and He forgave
• He told us how to give and He gave Himself
• He told us how to love and He demonstrated His
  love for us

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Jesus in the School of Discipleship
Taken from Robert Colemans The Master Plan of
Evangelism

• Selection of a few
• Men willing to learn
• Concentration on a few
• The masses not neglected

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Jesus in the School of Discipleship
Taken from Robert Colemans The Master Plan of
Evangelism

• Selection of a few
• Association
• Consecration
• Take My yoke upon you (Mt 1129)
• Count the cost
• The way of the cross

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Jesus in the School of Discipleship
Taken from Robert Colemans The Master Plan of
Evangelism

• Selection of a few
• Association
• Consecration
• Demonstration
• Delegation
• Supervision
• Reproduction

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