𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭… 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡-𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬.

 𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤? 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡'𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦? 𝐼𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑛, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑐𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑.

𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑂𝑙𝑑 𝑇𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝐸𝑙𝑖𝑗𝑎ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐸𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒. 𝐸𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐸𝑙𝑖𝑗𝑎ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚 (1 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 19:19-21) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝑆𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦, 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠’ 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑒𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒. 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠, 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠’ 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛. 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐸𝑙𝑖𝑗𝑎ℎ 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑇𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝐸𝑙𝑖𝑗𝑎ℎ (𝑀𝑘 6:15, 𝐿𝑘 9:19).

𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑒?

𝐵𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦, 𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑐ℎ 𝐶ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑠 13: 1-4, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝐵𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒. (𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝑩𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔). 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝. 𝐵𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑎𝑢𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑐ℎ 𝐶ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ. 𝐴𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑎ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑.

𝑻𝒐𝒎𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒔

𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒊@𝒈𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎

 


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