Three Stages Of Life

Matthew 9:36-38, "When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to His disciples, "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields."

I believe that every believer must grow through life and I want to share three stages that every believer needs to progress through. As I write to you, I ask the Spirit of God to examine your heart and life, help you to examine which stage you are in, and convict you to go to another stage in your walk with God.

Stage One: Multitudes

We are called to be like Jesus. That means, to have the worldview and paradigm of Jesus. Jesus saw the multitudes and the Bible says He had compassion on them. Indeed, everywhere Jesus went, multitudes followed Him and He loved them. The Bible says He ministered to them, healed their sick, taught them the way of the Kingdom of God, and delivered all who were oppressed by demons, (Acts 10:38).

Jesus never turned the crowds away. Jesus served them and ministered to them. As a Church, we have to have a big vision. We have to see beyond, ‘as for me and my family, we shall serve the Lord,’ (Joshua 24:15). We have to see the multitudes because that is what Jesus sees.

In every crowd, there is that one person. Once, you and I were part of the crowd. Jesus saw us, Jesus taught us and now, we are part of His disciples. We are not just all about numbers but we care about each one in the number. We are about the 1, out of 100, who is lost, not the 99 sheep who are safe in the field.

The Last Days Church

We do not share the view of some who believe there will be so few who are saved, even repeating the Lord’s question, will He find faith when He returns? We will not be the elect, who hide in caves away from the world, waiting for Jesus’ return.

Jesus said that in the last days, as the darkness increases, so His light will increase. As sin will abound, so His grace will abound even more. We as the church will continue to be a stiff resistance to the antichrist and all of his works. That means we are going to be growing, we are going to be powerful, and we will be a fighting force against the darkness.

The church of God will be powerful in the last days. Jesus is not returning to take a bride that is feeble, weak, and powerless; He is coming for a glorious, victorious bride! That is why I want you to embrace the mindset and vision of Jesus: He cares for the crowds. He loves, He sees and He ministers to many people. God sees the four corners of the earth, not just a few people here and there. If all would come to God, He would receive them. Share in Christ’s vision to see our family, extended family, schools, city, state, and entire nation saved.

Jesus is worthy of the crowd. Thinking anything less than that is selfish because once upon a time, you and I were part of the crowd before Jesus embraced us. That crowd deserves Jesus; it deserves to hear the Gospel and the power of God expressed in healing, deliverance, and breakthroughs in Jesus’ name.

Everyone Starts In The Crowd

Every believer starts in the crowd. The crowd is a place where you first come to hear about and know Jesus. There, you begin to hear His message. People in the crowd received healings, deliverances, love, compassion, and were miraculously fed.

However, being part of the crowd following Jesus carries a shallow commitment. The same crowd that shouted, celebrated, and hailed Jesus as the Messiah (Matthew 21:9) also shouted crucify Him (Matthew 27:22).

I want to encourage you to enjoy your time in the crowd. Enjoy the ministry, time, teaching, and compassion that you receive right now. Enjoy the season of receiving but there is more. There is another stage. Crowds just followed Jesus and received His benefits. Then, there is the next step that every Christian has to take and that is to be a disciple.

Stage Two: A Disciple

A disciple is still a person going through inner healing and the renewing of the mind. They are still getting set free from various things and strongholds over their lives are being broken but what is added makes them a disciple is Christian discipline, instructions, and even correction or rebuke. This requires a deeper level of commitment. Being a disciple requires you to begin to walk with Jesus.

Crowds come to events and services. They enjoy and receive the blessing of those events and conferences but then you have to go deeper. To go deeper is to become a disciple of Jesus, learning to walk with Jesus on a daily basis. If you are still part of the crowd and have not become a disciple of the Word, I encourage you to engage, get involved in a local church and get plugged into a home group so that you can become a disciple of Jesus.

Four Identifiers Of A Disciple Of Jesus

Prayer

Luke 11:1-4, "Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As He finished, one of His disciples came to Him and said, "Lord, teach us to pray."

As a disciple of Christ, one of the first things you have to learn is to develop your prayer life. It may look different for each person but you have to have time each day to cultivate your personal relationship with God through prayer. You may start with a few minutes but be consistent. You will grow. From there, develop your prayer language with God and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. As you grow, it needs to grow with you.

In Matthew 26:40, Jesus asked three of His sleeping disciples if they could not stand to pray with Him for an hour. Jesus was not condemning their weakness but challenging His disciples to continue to grow and develop their prayer life. Prayer has to be part of your daily life as a disciple of Jesus. Without prayer, you cannot be a true disciple of Jesus.

The Word

Matthew 13:11, "You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven but others are not".

Who are others Jesus referred to here? The crowd. Even though Jesus preached to the crowd, they only had a certain level of understanding. A disciple goes further. He takes the message, goes into prayer about it, meditates on it, and studies the Word themselves so that they may apply it. When you make time in your personal life to read the Word of God, the Holy Spirit will give you revelation and open up the mysteries of the Kingdom. They are not only being spoon-fed on service days, Sundays, and conferences, but they are learning to feed themselves on the Word on a regular basis.

What stage are you at on your journey as a believer? Are you still part of the crowd, relying on a leader to spoon-feed you? Do you still rely on events or a Sunday service to receive the Word of God? If you are, then you are still part of the crowd. The Holy Spirit challenges you today to get deeper with God. Become a disciple of Jesus. That means you have to establish your prayer life and your Word life. Begin to read God’s Word and let God reveal the mystery of His Word to you.

Serving

Serving was another aspect that made the disciples separate from the crowd.

Luke 9:13-17, "He replied, "You give them something to eat." They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish - unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." (About five thousand men were there). But He said to His disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke them. Then He gave them to the disciples to set before the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over."

There was practical service offered by the disciples. They ushered people, spoke to people, gave food to people, and cleared up after the service was over. Throughout the life of Jesus, the disciples were serving Him. The disciples were there to accommodate the crowd, to help the Sunday service experience to be excellent, and serve wherever there was a need for the events to go smoothly.

As a disciple of Jesus, where are you serving? You might not be part of the ushers every Sunday, but whatever your gift and area are, are you using it to serve for the glory of God? If you are not serving, you have yet to become a true disciple of Jesus. True disciples served. Serve with your gifts, talents, and your time.

Commission

Matthew 28:19-20, "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."

When Jesus was wrapping up His discipleship program, before His ascension to Heaven, He made sure His disciples had caught the vision, which was the commission to see people saved and discipled.

What solidifies the stage of discipleship is when you begin to embrace the vision of Jesus for the lost souls to be saved. When you share Christ’s vision, you begin to pray, fast, give, and serve toward the goal.

A true disciple of Jesus is an image of Jesus. Without having the great commission of Jesus at the core of your heart, to love, share, cherish people and lead them to Christ and establish them in the faith, you are not a disciple.

How To Leave The Crowd

If you feel you are still part of the crowd and want to know the next step to take, get plugged into a home group church community. This is where you will be strengthened, you will learn God’s Word, you can be held accountable, and people will pray for you. The Bible says in Proverbs 27:17 that iron sharpens iron. This is where you get sharpened and prepared for the mission.

Hungry Generation Specifically

In Hungry Generation Church, the next step is we enroll you in Destiny Training, where we take you deeper into the teachings of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God and how to live a healthy Kingdom lifestyle. Destiny Training has three levels that go on to prepare you for, and instill a vision within you for you to serve and fulfill the Great Commission. This ends in an encounter retreat where you receive personal ministration, inner healing, healing, and deliverance.

We are working towards a one-year Hungry Generation Bible College course where people who have completed Destiny Training and are leaders or servers will be able to sign up to be discipled and equipped on the deeper things of the Word and ministry.

We are also working on an accredited Hungry Generation Bible University course that will enable leaders, not only to have a Theology degree but to empower them and very strategically empower future leaders and pastors that will plant churches all around the world.

Stage Three: Laborer/ Worker

This is the third stage in the progression of every believer. In Matthew 9:36-37, we saw all three stages represented. There was a crowd. Jesus had disciples serving but they were not yet laborers. That was why Jesus told His disciples to pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send more laborers into His field. Jesus wanted all His disciples to graduate to become laborers.

The first two stages of the believer’s progression as a part of the crowd and as a disciple are mostly about receiving. When you step into the stage of being a laborer, you begin to give love, serve with compassion, and move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now, you don’t just come to church to serve, but when you leave, you are going forth as a minister of the Gospel to carry on the work of God wherever you go. You are a worker in the Kingdom of God. You are part of the last-day army that is pushing back the darkness and capturing territory for Jesus, harvesting souls for God.

Don’t Get Stuck

Some of you have been in the discipleship stage for a while. You are already anchored and established as a believer. I encourage you to move to the next stage. Don’t get stuck. There is more grace in the next stage. Jesus is constantly moving forwards. If you feel your life has lost purpose or meaning, it might be because you stopped at the discipleship stage. Discipleship is great, it is more about you and the Lord uses it to fix a lot of things in your life but that is not the end. The goal was always for you to be a worker in His field.

I want us to be different. I want us to have this blueprint for our lives. It is okay to start in the crowd but don’t stay there. It is okay to be a disciple but don’t get stuck there. There is more for you in the stage of laboring. Step into the phase of laboring for Jesus. You don’t have to be perfect or know every Scripture; you are still being trained but start laboring for Jesus.

The simplest way to start is to be a helper to your home group leader. Then, start your own home group. Before you know it, you have trained others who can in turn be released to start their own groups.

Not everyone is called to be a pastor or part of the fivefold ministry of the church but everyone needs to graduate to the stage of being a laborer and worker for the Kingdom of God.

Sermon by Ilya Parkhotyuk; Blog by Edward Gardiner

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