What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?

In first century Israel, you would regularly see rabbis walking along the road or teaching at your local synagogue. They were revered teachers, not just of the Torah, but of life. Behind the rabbi would be a group of students, called talmidim. This word literally means Student, Disciple, Learner, or Follower. Many scholars argue the best word for disciple in the English language is apprentice.
The goal wasn’t to learn about something, but to become someone. Unfortunately, most of the formation in our life is unintentional. There are six primary forces that act upon our formation positively and negatively.
- Our Relationships
- Our Environments
- Our Stories
- Our Habits
- Our Experience
- The Passage of Time

It’s time for us to transition from unintentional formation to intentional formation. These many ways to influence our formation, but nothing influences us more than three driving goals: Be with Jesus, Become like Jesus, and Do what He did. It’s our responsibility to turn these goals into habits. We can’t have a holy life without holy habits. At the end of the day, we’re only as healthy as our habits. This message ends with the following evaluation questions:
- WHO am I BECOMING?
- Do you LIKE who you are BECOMING?
- WHAT will improve WHO you are the most?
- WHAT will improve YOUR TRAJECTORY the MOST?