1. welcome! new wineskin online seminary Presents The 2007 – 2008 Celebrate Jesus Discipleship Conference

2. The Problem Ephesians 4:22-24 states this; to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, (23) and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, (24 ) and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Also; Paul states in Romans 12:1-2; I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God . I believe that one of the mysteries that has been withheld from the Gentiles over the last two thousand years is the operation of this transformation. In other words, most have been taught to simply transform the flesh themselves. I call it being NIKE slogan Christians. They are told to just do it. The fact is that this can never be done in the flesh and so it merely puts the would-be-saint into bondage and fear. The remnant that has really matured in Christ has done so by the operation of believing the gospel in spite of this. One of the things, that happens to most babes in Christ first, is, once they are saved, the Church starts a timer ticking. This timer is keeping track of their transformation and the progress they are making in changing their behavior. This puts the new believer under a law and Paul has explained that the letter kills but the spirit gives life. The end result is a stillbirth. The timer puts a limit on the time necessary to transform. The reality is however, that only the gospel and the indwelling Lord through his Spirit, can transform a life for real.

3. Further, there is some great misunderstanding as to what the transformation will be, that is, what the fruit of transformation will be. If God is love, and we find that He is in 1 John 4:8, then, if we are to be transformed into the image of Jesus, who is God, then it stands to reason, that we will be transformed into a loving person and the fruit of the transformed life, will be the fruit of the Spirit, which springs from, and is in all aspects, part of, agape love. This study is devoted to explaining the catalyst or the moving force of the process of transformation. Yes, transformation is a process, and yes, the Lord wants to see us put on the new man created in true righteousness and holiness. The Problem Continued

6. Rev 2:4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. NOT BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BUT BECAUSE OF CIRCUMSTANCES The first step to recovery

8. Regaining Your First Love So, how does one regain that first love? Well, the answer is resting in Jesus by faith! This resting then, is what is necessary to stay in the place of divine forgiveness and blessedness twenty-four hours per day seven days per week. So, resting in the finished work of Christ on Calvary is the only way to keep your first love. The first principle of discipleship then, is, finding rest in Jesus. One can only rest in Jesus when the need for him is recognized. One cannot become a disciple of Christ without seeing a complete and utter need for him.

9. NEED Rom 1:28-32 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. (29) They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, (30) slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, (31) foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless . (32) Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Rom 3:10-19 as it is written: " None is righteous, no, not one ; (11) no one understands; no one seeks for God. (12) All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." (13) "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." (14) "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." (15) "Their feet are swift to shed blood; (16) in their paths are ruin and misery, (17) and the way of peace they have not known." (18) "There is no fear of God before their eyes." (19) Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

10. Rom 2:1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. When you think about it, there is nothing that man has that God could possibly want except man’s love. God created man and thus had a purpose in creation. The Bible teaches us that God’s motivation in the creation of mankind was to be praised and loved. God does not want love from a being that has no choice. God wants to be loved by a person who really truly loves Him. John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him . This is exactly why God decreed that He would permit mankind to fall. The grand purpose of God in allowing the fall of humanity was to bring about a plan of redemption. It is the plan of redemption, which is the impetus for real praise and worship and thus, genuine love for God Jer 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (10) "I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds." WITHOUT EXCUSE

11. SABBATH REST Heb 4:9-11 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, (10) for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. (11) Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. What exactly is the Sabbath Rest? Well, the writer of Hebrews states that man should rest from his works just as God rested from His works. The Sabbath Rest, simply put, IS resting in the works of Jesus. This is why the sovereign decrees of redemption are so important to the proper operation of the gospel and the proper obedience. Obedience should and must be from the heart and not from the flesh. This is the biggest struggle of the church. Is your obedience from the heart or from the flesh? The Sabbath Rest produces obedience from the heart!

12. OBEDIENCE FROM THE HEART Rom 6:17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, Rom 1:5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, Obedience from the heart and the obedience of faith are similar concepts and they are descriptive of the operation of the gospel in the life of an individual. Heart obedience is motivated out of love for God based upon believing in God’s love as demonstrated by the cross. Faith and trust in the decrees of God Provides the catalyst for true obedience

13. RESTING IN GOD’S DECREES OF REDEMPTION The New Testament letters are divided into two distinct types of messages. Actually it is one message with two distinct perspectives. One is God’s perspective outside of linear time. This perspective has been called God’s decrees. The other perspective is also God’s perspective, but it is written to describe man’s proper response. In these two concepts, we find the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of humanity. These two messages seem to contradict one another and appear to be mutually exclusive. For example, if God is sovereign, how can man be responsible and have a choice? In fact, the two main views of systematic theology, i.e., Calvinism and Arminianism, emphasize one or the other of these two concepts. They do this chiefly, in their description and definition of salvation. The truth, it seems, is that there is a paradox of sorts. First, God is absolutely sovereign, but then, man is also completely responsible. If one is to ever resolve these issues, it is necessary to view these two types of messages, i.e. sovereign decrees and reasonable service instructions in the way that the apostles and writers of the New Testament used them. The decrees must have precedence!

14. LOOKING AT THE DECREES Rom 8:1-7 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (3) For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, (4) in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (5) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. (6) For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (7) For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot . Remember, the mind on the flesh to improve is still the mind on the flesh!

15. Rom 8:28-31 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (29) For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (30) And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (31) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Rom 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? (36) As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." (37) No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (38) For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. MORE DECREES

16. THE MERCIES OF GOD Rom 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Rom 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (2) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. The Mercies of God lead to Reasonable Service

17. Eph 4:22-24 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, (23) and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, (24) and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. True righteousness and holiness begins with resting in Jesus, and in the sovereign decrees of redemption. It comes from a truly cleansed conscience. Heb 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God Eph 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS

18. GOOD WORKS AND REASONABLE SERVICE What are the good works? Mat 25:31-46 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. (32) Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (33) And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. (34) Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (35) For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, (36) I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' (37) Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? (38) And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? (39) And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' (40) And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' (41) "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (42) For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, (43) I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' (44) Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' (45) Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' (46) And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

19. SHINING LIGHT Mat 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Isa 58:5-9 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? (6) "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? (7) Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? (8) Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard . (9) Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,