Meeting: Sunday Service
Date: 10th May, 2026
Message: The Essence of Discipleship Pt. 3
Minister: Pastor Laide Olaniyan
(Matt 28: 19 & 20) — “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
The method of baptising souls into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and is through discipleship. Discipleship is an unstructured learning module where not just instructions are passed down, but also the life.
Paul said Timothy had known his doctrine and his manner of life. Timothy understood Paul’s life this much because he was a disciple.
(Philippians 2:22) — “But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.”
(Philippians 2:20) — “For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.”
(Philippians 2:2) — “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”
(Philippians 2:5)— “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”
It was while he served under Paul that Timothy was proved. It was proved that he had the same spirit and mind as Paul. Timothy came into Paul’s mind and the mind of Christ through service. The like-mindedness Paul was talking about is the life of Christ. Timothy emulated the work that was wrought in Paul and came into the same Christ mind as Paul because he fellowshipped with him. It is very important to fellowship and relate with those ahead and higher than you in their walk with the Lord so that much of their life and spirit can be shed to one.
(2 Timothy 3:10 ) — “But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,..”
For some of us, it cannot be said that we have “fully known” as Paul said to Timothy, because we don’t follow hard. Much of the lives of those ahead of us is obscure to us. This is why we cannot use their minds and judgments to make decisions.
A disciple follows hard for the purpose of full disclosure or full comprehension. In that relationship, we would have opportunities to ask many questions to fetch intent and instructions for judgments/decisions made. For those of us who do not have physical proximity to God’s anointed servants, we can still follow them fervently by sitting with their materials and following the manner and dealings of their spirit until their life is revealed to us.
A disciple follows for full apprehension of the work God has done in a soul. We can only follow to the degree we know, as we can’t emulate what we don’t know. We will know if we follow on to know. (Hosea 6:6)
The goal of following is for the purpose of fully knowing, and it must be clear that this is a lifelong journey. This is because knowledge can bring to anyone a delusion of satisfaction. However, knowledge must be mixed with pressure/tribulation to test that solid work has been done in us.
(Genesis 14:12-16 KJV)— “And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. [13] And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram. [14] And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. [15] And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. [16] And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.”
Let’s take a cue from Abraham’s life as an example of a disciple. As a householder, the Lord expects us to command, train, and raise our children and household in the way of the Lord, like Abraham. (Genesis 18:19). The house should be the ground for raising disciples. Satan fights discipleship by fighting the home and family front and making it difficult for the life of God to be passed from one generation to another. God wants his knowledge and life with men to be transgenerational.
When Abraham heard that his cousin had been taken captive, he armed his trained servants. This means Abraham trained 318 servants. The servants were trained in character, skill, and spirit. This training might be structured or unstructured, but what is obvious is that those servants were being born within.
(Genesis 14:15 KJV)— “And he divided “himself” against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.”
These servants had become one with Abraham by reason of their training. To get here took many births on the part of the servants. But a servant can come and not want to be birthed or trained by the householder. Abraham armed trained servants. If we are not trained, we should not expect to be armed because we can become dangerous and even harm the person who trained us.
The tutelage of training can be tedious because training is different from teaching. In training, they show us theory, and also practical, and if we don’t get it right, we will be rebuked, sometimes discouraged, but in the training of discipleship, we will be encouraged to rise again. Training requires chastisement and discipline, because there is foolishness in us that needs to be driven out by someone of authority. The superfluity of naughtiness in our hearts will be dealt with by the rods of discipleship. (James 1:21)
(1 Samuel 22:1-2 KJV) — “David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him. [2] And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.”
People in distress, debtors, and those discontented were those over whom David became captain. David drilled them not just in warfare but also in character. We saw how David, in 1 Samuel 30, chose to share the spoils of war with everyone, including those who didn’t partake in the warfare. That lesson became an ordinance for everyone in Israel going forward. (1 Samuel 30:25) Here we see how David’s life became a standard for his men and for all of Israel. At the end, these men who followed David in spirit became mighty men. (2 Samuel 23: 8-39). The mighty men weren’t just mighty by external acts, but they were mighty because of their inward configuration.
Again, we see in Abraham that he undertook with 318 trained servants to fight the trained soldiers of five (5) kings. They fought, overcame, and though they could have died in the war, Abraham chose not to take the spoils for himself or for his servants. Genesis 14:23-24. The servants were being trained and cultured by Abraham’s way of life, and they were content to learn that way.
(Genesis 15:1-2 KJV) — “After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. [2] And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
Eliezer was also raised as a servant/son of Abraham. Many servants, sons, and relatives who knew Abraham had different versions of who God is, but the purest version of the knowledge of God was retained in the seed of promise.
Also, in Genesis 24, we saw Abraham send the trained servants of his house to go find a wife for Isaac. Now, Abraham couldn’t have committed the magnitude of such sensitive responsibility to someone who had not shared his spirit. The servants had learnt to walk in the way after their master Abraham. It would have been imprinted in their hearts to fear God greatly after they saw how Abraham obeyed God fearfully in offering Isaac unto God.
The servant Abraham sent to get a wife for Isaac was faithful to take his master’s resources to do his master’s bidding. Contentment to stay under is a great price for discipleship. Many servants not desiring to stay under for all their lives become rebellious (for instance, serving both a father and son); that’s pride and not meekness. Fear of the Lord will teach such souls to seek the will of God rather than promote pride and self. Insufficient fear (of God) has led many to run away from where He has designed to help us grow and become disciples.
(Gen 24:12-13)
The servant called on the God of His master. He had Abraham’s spirit and did as Abraham would do, i.e., leaning on the Lord for guidance.
(Genesis 24:27) — “And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.
We could see that even the servant of Abraham had drunk into the ways of God as revealed by Abraham, insomuch that he could be led in the way. A servant must learn to faithfully capture the essence of any assignment given. This same servant demonstrates meekness: despite being sure he was orchestrated by the Lord to find Rebecca, he still checked again for confirmation (Genesis 24:29). We should learn that when God says a thing or orchestrates a dealing, it can change. We shouldn’t be too rigid in following the Lord. We should be like Abraham’s servants; even though he has conviction, he still waits for divine order.
We must understand that following is to receive the spirit of the one you are following. We must also understand the manner of the spirit of the one we are following. That servant took the spirit of Abraham. Abraham trained his household to know the way of the Lord, to be meek, hardworking, not to seek their own, to pray, to fear the Lord, etc. They learned it first-hand by observing Abraham. Elisha took the spirit of Elijah by following him. Uriah also partook of David’s spirit. His jealousy for the ark of God at the battle front was from David. Even in weakness and subconscious, David could not undo the work that had been done in Uriah
The world has seen that the people who have learnt truth from childhood, it is difficult to undo all they have learnt. Therefore, they are going after them very early and from their foundation. God has to relay and reprogram all that we have learnt from the world till our default mode becomes righteousness. The Lord will help parents raise their children in the way. As householders, we should raise our household in the spirit, and we can only do this by walking in truth.
We should be wary of following and getting only a part of the spirit. It’s scary. We see how some brethren in 1 John 2:19 were part of the fold, but they weren’t “all of us”; they did not come into the fullness of the spirit, so they became false. Getting only a part and stopping halfway can make us become false. We can get another spirit, a wrong spirit, if we don’t follow till the end.
(Hosea 6:3)
In the program of discipleship, the goal is to finish well and finish all. We should not want to graduate until we have laid hold on all of God. We should stay under and be fully trained; we should be disciples, not apprentices who just want to learn for a while and then leave to do their own thing. We must never choose preeminence over purpose, nature, and inheritance. We should learn to be faithful in another’s business wholly. Our price should be that we end well. We should learn to serve without reward in view, for if a man can repay us, then it means we were never serving God.
Discipleship is for life, and it takes meekness to move through all the phases in discipleship. The church of old was very meek to learn from and wait for all that the Lord wanted to bring through all the apostles of the Lord Jesus. Discipleship is to do a great work of meekness in the one being discipled.
We must note that all stages where we are individually, we may not have close proximity to the very head in the company where we have found ourselves. However, there are under shepherds that we will have proximity to and we must not despise them because they are not at the very head of the company.