ENCOURAGE

Providing support, confidence, and hope to Equip the Seeker for Discipleship

Luke 22:31-32

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Encouraging is the fourth and final fin a man of God employs as an Agitator to stir other men into action. First, he Embodies Christ to set the example for the Seeker. Second, he Engages with the Seeker to build a relationship with him. Third, he Explains the Gospel to help the Seeker learn who Christ is. Finally, he Encourages the Seeker to commit his life to learning of Christ, imitating Christ, and following Christ in his daily life to Equip him to live righteously as a Disciple who makes Disciples.

No Seeker makes the commitment to Discipleship lightly, or it will not hold when the worries and temptations of the World creep in on him. When this happens, as it inevitably will, the Agitator must continue to Encourage the Seeker to be self-controlled; to set the example in all things by doing good; and to teach with integrity, serious and soundness of speech (Titus 2:6-8).

The Agitator must also Encourage the Seeker to withstand suffering, for this is also inevitable for those who have determined to become active participants in God’s Plan of reconciliation and transformation.

Discipleship runs counter to the desires of the spiritual forces of evil that have control over the World and wish to continue the enslavement of man to sin. Thus, a man committed to Agitation will also agitate the Splitter, the enemy that separates man from God and man from man. In response, the Splitter will look to test the Seeker through suffering in hopes of bringing him to spiritual ruin.

To withstand the schemes of the Splitter and persevere through pain, the Seeker must learn from the Agitator how to put on the full armor of God through spiritual disciplines.

Providing support, confidence, and hope to Equip the Seeker for Discipleship