The ministry of discipleship is sharing God's Word with other Christians regarding the depth of sin from which God rescued them and the height of salvation to which He has lifted them.
The more we grow in our relationship with Christ, the more the Holy Spirit reveals to us the depths and heights of our salvation...and the more amazed we'll be at grace...and the more we will experience true life.
Christians know about Christ dying for them for the forgiveness of their sins. However, many don't yet know they died with Christ to be given a brand new life in union with the risen Christ. The joy of ministering through discipleship is sharing these glorious biblical truths.
Starting at the foot of the cross above and proceeding heavenward, and listed below, are God's truths about you. Each truth is past tense. Each truth is already true of you, whether or not you understand or feel they are true!
DEAD IN SIN WITHOUT CHRIST
For you were dead in trespasses and sins,
in which you once walked...
...according to the prince of the power of the air.
You were by nature children of wrath.
EPHESIANS 2:1-3
You are no longer spiritually dead in your sins. This is because of what God has done for you by His grace alone, without you doing anything to deserve or to procure it.
Faith is simply the channel through which you receive what God has done for you and in you through the finished work of Christ.
The following truths are what God has done for you and in you by His grace!
CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST
I have been crucified with Christ,
it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me.
BURIED WITH CHRIST
We were baptized with Christ
through baptism into death.
ROMANS 6:4
MADE ALIVE WITH CHRIST
But God who is rich in mercy,
because of His great love for us,
even when we were dead in trespasses,
He made us alive together with Christ.
EPHESIANS 2:4-5
RISEN WITH CHRIST
And God raised us up together
in Christ Jesus.
EPHESIANS 2:6a
SEATED WITH CHRIST
(IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES)
And God made us sit together
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
EPHESIANS 2:6a
Christianity is not about believing certain beliefs. Christianity is not about becoming a better person.
Christianity is all about what God has done by working the most profound change in us: death to who we used to be and life in us through a new creation with Christ!
Why is such a profound new birth absolutely essential? Because we were created for relationship with God.
Before salvation, man is totally hopeless and incompatible with God. Man is in darkness, God is light. Man in his sins must be judged by a holy God. In addition to forgiveness, a man must be born again with Christ in order to have an intimate relationship with God.
Because of God's grace,
we can look in His face
and see a loving Father
as we run the race
with our living Savior.
More in the coming weeks about being made alive, raised, and now seated with Christ in the heavenlies!
God bless you in your journey with Christ this week!
With Christ thru the Cross 
