Real People Real Talk
Relevant conversations that take you from Surviving to Thriving. Our goal is to encourage and empower you to answer God's call on your life and to be all that He has called you to be. This podcast is all about Faith, Relationships, and Mental Health. We keep it real, practical, & Christ-centered, tune in and be inspired! Host Paul Calcote New episodes every other week.
Real People Real Talk
Discipleship: The Art of Obedience
What if discipleship isn't just another Christian buzzword but the very essence of following Jesus? In this profound conversation with Steven David (known online as Sahil the Disciple), we unpack what it truly means to be a disciple in today's complex world.
Steven offers a refreshingly simple yet powerful definition of discipleship as "the art of obedience" - learning to follow Jesus in every aspect of life. Drawing from scripture, particularly John 15 and Matthew 28, he illuminates how abiding in Christ forms the foundation of all discipleship efforts. "Without Jesus, if I am not connected to the Lord Jesus Christ, I can't do anything," Steven explains, highlighting our dependence on divine connection.
For those experiencing spiritual dryness, Steven offers compelling wisdom about continuing spiritual practices even when emotions wane. Using marriage as an analogy, he emphasizes that just as spouses don't abandon their relationship during emotional lulls, we shouldn't abandon our spiritual disciplines during desert seasons.
Whether you're a new believer seeking guidance, a seasoned Christian mentoring others, or someone navigating a spiritually dry season, this conversation offers practical wisdom for authentic discipleship in today's world. Connect with Steven @SahiltheDisciple on social platforms where he continues to share insights on theology, relationships, and Christian living.
Free audio. Post production by Alphoniccom.
Speaker 2:Welcome and thanks for tuning in to Real People, real Talk, relevant conversations that take you from surviving to thriving. This is the podcast that goes there. My name is Paul Calcoat and I'm your host. Now let's talk. Hello, thriver, and welcome to Real People, real Talk, the podcast ministry that equips you to thrive spiritually, relationally and mentally, and today's episode is all about thriving in your walk with the Lord.
Speaker 2:As we're going to talk about all things, discipleship. Before I introduce my guest, I want to share two of my favorite discipleship quotes. The first one by Leif Hetland. He says If you're not following Jesus, you're not really a disciple. The second one, by Dallas Willard, says Discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus will be if he was you. My guest today, stephen David, also known as Sahil the disciple on TikTok and Instagram, is a deacon and a law student who loves Jesus and is committed to serving him through the practice of law and through the local church. A former campus missionary, stephen has had the opportunity to work with and disciple several college and high school students over the last few years. He firmly believes that God can be glorified both through the church and also through one's career, and I agree with that. He seeks to encourage all to use their gifts for the glory of God. Welcome to the show, stephen.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, Paul. A pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2:Well, first things first. Stephen, tell us how would you define discipleship in your own words?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I think discipleship really just gets down to abiding with Jesus Christ, right, and you know, when we're talking about discipleship generally, in some sense a lot of dictionaries might define it as following a master or following a teacher. But yeah, you know, obviously in the context of Christianity I would say, yeah, it's abiding with and learning the ways and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so that's kind of a simple definition. I know we'll probably tease that out a little bit more, but that's probably the simple definition I'd give.
Speaker 2:Definitely. I love that. It's something that we can build upon, and could you just share some of your favorite scriptures or biblical examples? That's related to discipleship.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. So. I mean, this one might be a little bit of an unusual one, but I really just think of John, chapter 15, where Jesus talks about being the vine, and it's in verse five. He says you know, I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit, and apart from me, you can do nothing. So that's one where it's just like hey, without Jesus, if I am not connected to the Lord, jesus Christ, I can't do anything, I'm not going to be a successful disciple, I'm not going to be a successful Christian. So that's one of the first ones that I think about.
Speaker 1:Some other scriptures that I look at is, you know, matthew 28, the Great Commission, where Jesus says go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. So he says go, make disciples. And then he gives kind of the mission of the disciple. He says teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. There's this idea that when you become a Christian, when you start to follow Jesus, you are learning from him and you are walking in his way. You are learning what he has commanded and you are learning how can I successfully obey him in all areas and aspects of my life. So those are just a couple of the scriptures that I think of off the top of my head when I'm looking at how can I be a successful disciple of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:I love that you brought up a scripture from John, because when I think of discipleship, I love that word abide. Love that word abide because if I'm not just abiding with Jesus and just slowing down to spend time with him, just at his feet in his face, reading my Bible, meditating on the scriptures, and just spending the time in prayer, praise and worship, I personally think I would be missing the mark of discipleship if I'm not abiding with our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. It's one of those things where you know if you're trying in your own strength. You know a lot of. There are a lot of self-help books out there about you know how to get stronger or how to be more financially wise or whatever else, and and you can have some success with that. But if you want to have success in the area of being a Christian, you got it, you got to have the Lord Jesus. You can't do it without him. Right, christian without him.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and also, as you was talking, you mentioned another word that really just sparked my attention was obedience, because a huge aspect of discipleship is obedience, and I saw this quote that says spiritual maturity isn't measured by how high you may jump in your praise, but how straight you walk in your obedience. So, stephen, could you speak to the role of obedience as it relates to discipleship?
Speaker 1:Amen, absolutely. Obedience really is just, that's our call, right. You know, we as Christians, we believe that there's one God, the Father, son and Holy Spirit, that he's the creator of all things and, as the good creator, as the person who made the trees, the forest, the water, he created everything with order and with righteousness, and not to be the strict school teacher person, but for our good right, he ordered things in a way that is good for us and for our flourishing. And so when we talk about obedience, when the Lord says things like do not lie, do not steal, do not murder, why is he saying those things? Does he want to be this control freak over our lives? No, it's good, those are good things. When I'm not lying to my neighbor, when I'm treating him fairly and honestly, that is a good thing. When I am not stealing from him, or when I'm not murdering from him, that's a good thing for my neighbor and vice versa. And so, with obedience, it's really recognizing that, yes, one, there is a God, you know, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he wants me to succeed, he wants me to have a good life, but in order to have that good, fruitful, abundant life that Jesus promises.
Speaker 1:I can't do whatever I want. You know, I can't just try to do things my own way. There's a way that God has created the world and if I want to be successful and enjoy this rich and abundant life, obedience is going to be part of it. I'm yapping a lot, but if I could really just say concisely, I would say discipleship really is just the art of obedience. How can I obey Jesus better? What does obedience look like in my particular life and circumstances? Yeah, I mean, obedience really is everything when it comes to discipleship.
Speaker 2:Steve, I don't know if you know, but you just dropped the bar. That's something that's definitely worth tweeting, or X or whatever people want to say now. But when you say that discipleship is the art of obedience, that really just kind of takes the bar. That's something that's definitely worth tweeting, or X or whatever people want to say now. But when you say that discipleship is the art of obedience, that really just kind of takes the cake, because if I'm not doing what God has told me to do, then I'm missing the mark on discipleship. And I want to hear from you what do you believe are some of the most important spiritual disciplines that can help our listener grow as a disciple?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, jesus has commanded things right. So it's like, hey, if you want to know, well, what does Jesus command us, read the Bible, right? You know, in Sunday school they kind of when you're a kid they're like, yeah, yeah, read the Bible. And you're like, okay, yeah, you know whatever pastor or whatever elder. But no, really, as you get older, it's like, hey, if I want to obey and if I want to know what Jesus has commanded, well, he's given me 66 books of scripture to which where I can get to know who God is, what he wants, what he desires, and how can I command him. And so, yeah, st Paul really talks about this a lot too, right? He's like, hey, we have the scriptures, we have things that are useful for rebuking and reproving us and helping us to be men of God, and so you look at the scriptures, and I could go to a lot of different scriptures. I'm just, I'm going to keep it simple.
Speaker 1:One of the first things I did when I started college was I looked at the passage of the fruit of the Spirit. College was I looked at the passage of the fruit of the spirit and my mentor at that time, a guy named Lante Lante, was discipling me and we were reading the fruit of the spirit passage and he's like Stephen, do you think you have the fruit of the spirit? And a young, young, 18 year old Stephen, he had kind of, you know, knew the fruit of the spirit song from you know, being growing up in Sunday school, but I, just I was like you know, I was like I, I know the song, but I haven't really thought about do I have some of those qualities? So he's like, hey, let's pull it up, let's pull up Galatians, chapter five, and let's look through some of those things. So, um, yeah, I would say, hey, anybody watching this podcast, this is just a really good exercise. But what we did is we looked at Galatians 5. We said, hey, we know these are traits that we want to develop. And so we looked at love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness. You know you can go down the list.
Speaker 1:And what me and Lante did is Lante said, okay, hey, steven, this week focus on being loving. And I said, okay, I'm going to focus on being loving. And so throughout that week I was like, okay, who can I be loving to? I was like, okay, well, I see my family members, so let me be loving to my family members. Oh, you know, I'm going to class. I see people in my class. How can I be loving to them? Oh, I'm driving in Atlanta traffic and I'm getting really, really person in front of me and I'm like, wait, I need to be loving to that guy. Each week, we would add each fruit of the spirit. Until you know, we worked on on getting, on getting it. So that's one just really practical way I can think of of saying here's something in scripture that God has given. Here's how I can practically apply it in my life. Right? So yeah, that's kind of one thing I'm just thinking of off the top of my head.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because when it comes to spiritual disciplines, we need to have those and do those so we can be disciples. And you hit the nail on the head with the one that I think is the most important. It starts with the Bible. It starts with God's Word knowing it, reading it, knowing it, reading it, meditating on it, most importantly, obeying it. And I don't think I would add to that is, you know, definitely prayer. I feel like those go hand in hand.
Speaker 2:As you're spending time with the lord, you're spending time reading your bible. The reading the bible is when god is talking to you, and then his prayer. That's when we talk back to him. And then another discipline that I would add steven is definitely going to church, as the bible tells us in Hebrews not to forsake the assembly. We need community, because you nailed it on the head with two important things when you talked about community. Talk about discipleship, when you said that somebody was discipling you. We need to be pouring into others and others need to be pouring to us, and one of the best places to find that healthy spiritual community is in God's house.
Speaker 1:Amen, Absolutely. Yeah, we, we can't do it alone, right? You know, sometimes some people might have this idea of like, oh, you know, I'm going to be this lone wolf Christian, I don't need to go to church, I don't need to go to things. You know, I can just be, I can be a Christian in, you know, the confines of my home. And it's just like, no, no, you're going to fail, right?
Speaker 1:You know Jesus talks so much about unity within the church. You just mentioned that verse. Do not forsake the gathering, right? Like no, we need brothers and sisters in Christ who can come alongside us and pray for us and encourage us, because without those things, we will fail. You know, right, we will fail. I mean, look at God. God is a trinity, right? He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There's community within the Godhead. And so you know, if there's community within the Godhead, like we would be very, very foolish to say like, oh, I don't need Christian community, I can just do it. And it's like, no, God, this is a gift from God. Our brothers in Christ are a gift to us to encourage us and build us up and, you know, often even hold us accountable if we're going down the wrong path, because that's definitely something that can happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I want to dive even deeper into that because, like I said, I believe that there are two key aspects of discipleship On one hand, I need to be being a disciple and, on the other hand, I need to be discipling somebody else or pouring into somebody else. I think about Elijah and Elisha, I think about Moses and Joshua, I think about, in the New Testament, paul and Timothy. So could you just speak to that? The importance of having a mentor, or just the overall thing of discipling others and being discipled as well? Speak to that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. You know young people who have never been discipled before. You need to be discipled, right. And also older Christians. You know, I'm 27, so I've both been discipled and have done some discipleship. But it's one of those things where older Christians, you have a lot to give. You know, I know Gen Z and I guess Gen Alpha is starting to rise up too, but hey, we have a lot of people that need discipleship. I heard a quote a couple of weeks ago. It said this thinking you don't need to be discipled is one of the most arrogant things you can think. And then, on the flip side, thinking you don't need to disciple anybody is one of the most selfish things you can think. Because here's what it is. Um, you know the example, uh, the the guy I was talking to was saying was you know, imagine that you have the cure to cancer and everybody in the world has cancer and you can heal it. Uh, you can heal it. If you just give it to everybody else, they can be cured.
Speaker 1:But you're just like nah, you know I'm gonna keep it to myself, I just want it because you know I don't. I don't really need to give it to anybody else. Why would I give it to anybody else? And when you say I don't need to disciple anybody, you are depriving somebody of the great gift of the gospel, the great gift of sanctification, not necessarily that you give those things.
Speaker 1:God ultimately gives those things, but he uses people to distribute some of those gifts right. On the other hand, you know, I remember being a young buck. I remember when I first became a Christian I was like, oh, I'm going to evangelize my whole high school and my college. And you know, I was out there talking authoritatively about theology and I don't even think I really understood the Trinity that well at that point. So you, you know I was out there being like, hey, you know jesus. I was like, well, you know, he's not quite god, but he's like this halfway god human thing. And I'm just like, wait a second, that's not, that's not christian teaching at all. So, um, so yeah, for you young guys out there, you young women out there, when you first became a christian, praise the lord, angels in heaven are rejoicing.
Speaker 1:But you don't't know everything. Right, you need somebody, an older Christian, to come alongside you and to meet with you week to week and say, hey, here's what Jesus said. How can I be a Christian in my theology? Right, what are the basics of Christianity? Trinity is a big one, you know. No other religion believes in the Trinity. What is that distinct Christian doctrine. You need to know how to be a Christian when you know finding a spouse A vast majority of people on this earth, you know there's some exceptions, but a vast majority of people are going to get married, right?
Speaker 1:How can I find a godly spouse, how can I prepare to be a godly spouse one day? And then you know with that, how can I one day be a godly husband, godly father, and then, if you're even looking even more long-term, godly grandfather, and then, like your job, right, your work is one of. You know most people are going to spend about 40 to 60 hours a week on some kind of job. You know some people may be a little bit less, some people may be a little bit more, but that's a big chunk of your week. How can you be faithful to Jesus Christ there? And so, at the risk of being super too long-winded, discipleship is necessary for every aspect of your life. Nobody knows everything right, and so if you're a young person, like, go get discipled, get somebody pouring into you. At the same time, if you're an older person, hey, there's a lot of young people that desperately need someone to pour into. Go out and find someone young at your church and spend some time pouring into them, praying for them and guiding them through life.
Speaker 2:Steven, you said so many good things, I'm not even sure where to start, but I'm going to start here. I love when you said I think you brought up the quote that you ran across maybe a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to personalize this To think that I don't need to be discipled is very arrogant of me. To think that I don't need to disciple somebody else is very selfish of me. I just think the listeners need to let that sink in, because we can't go with this thing alone. We are a community. We should be pointing others to Christ, and we should be around people that are also pointing us to Christ as well. So I want to ask you this, before we kind of get to our conclusion what does it look like to be a disciple in today's culture?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, discipleship hasn't ended, right, you know, jesus gave the Matthew 28 command about 2000 years ago, but we're still going, we're still working on making disciples, we're still looking to proclaim the gospel to our friends, neighbors and all the nation. So yeah, I mean, in the modern day, in some ways, the call is still the same, right, you know, we still have the same Lord, we still have the same mission. So that is the same Doing it today in modern settings. Certainly some things have changed from 2000 years ago. You know, I kind of mentioned it just a few minutes ago but, like, you and me are able to talk even though we're hundreds of miles away. That wasn't something that was possible 2000 years ago, but now it is possible today. So, yeah, technology, technology is a great way that we can incorporate discipleship in our lives. You know there's a few guys that back when I was working in college ministry, you know I used to meet with them week to week in person. Eventually I moved back up to Atlanta to do law school, but I still stay connected with a lot of these guys and we call and we, we uh zoom, and so, uh, one practical way if you are struggling to find a time to meet up with person. I know people are busy with work lives and discipleship lives. Uh, it's not, it's not always ideal. I would still recommend meeting in person if you can, at least sometimes. But yeah, I mean if you're just too busy to meet super frequently. Things like uh zoom, things like FaceTime, things like just a phone call, are really really easy and accessible ways to do discipleship in the modern day, right? Another thing, I think about busy schedules. Like I said earlier, a lot of people are working 40, 50, 60 hours a week, sometimes even a lot more than that. That's something that wasn't always necessarily true in the ancient world.
Speaker 1:What I would say is, in the modern practice, I think of the verse where God says to be still and know that he is God. There are so many things calling for our attention today. Right, you know you have the TVs you have. You know you go out into the world and you see billboards and magazines. When you're watching TV, there's all these advertisements coming in. We also have our phones and so, like you know, really at any aspect of the day, there's just so many things calling for your attention Friends DMing you, commercials on the TV calling for your attention. You know you go to school or you go to class, like there's all these these things trying to get your attention and trying to uh, pray for your time.
Speaker 1:I would say it can be hard sometimes, but I really say, take some time each day. It doesn't have to be long, it could be five minutes. If you're a really, really busy person, it could be five minutes. Or if you have some more time, I would say maybe even take 20, 30 minutes. Or, if you really can do this, even an hour or two hours.
Speaker 1:Put the phone away, kind of get by yourself and really just say Lord, I'm going to commit this time to praying to you. I'm going to be still Know that you are God. I'm going to say Lord, how can I glorify you today? I'm starting, you know I'm starting my morning or I'm ending my day. What are some things I can do today to make sure I am honoring you? What are some temptations maybe that I might experience today and how can I maybe avoid some of those temptations?
Speaker 1:Um, who do I need to call? Who is somebody I haven't talked to in a while, or who is somebody I'm going to see in person today, where I'm like, hey, I see Billy Bob, joe all the time, or I see George all the time, but I've never shared the gospel with him. Maybe that's something I need to do. And so those are two things where I can say, hey, we have a lot of stuff in our modern day today, but you still can make time. There still are ways to say, I can put away things and I can go into the word. I can get a discipleship meeting with my pastor or with my elder or with a friend and I can say God, it's a busy modern world, but you're important to me and I'm going to put all of that aside because you are the most important thing on this planet that matters and I'm going to spend time with you.
Speaker 2:Stephen, your response was both practical and rich and just kind of boiling it down like discipleship you said it best like it hasn't really changed, like the message hasn't changed Maybe some of the methods have. But kind of summing it up with, discipleship of today is you know, you need to be following Jesus, you need to be pointing people to Jesus and then, as you just said, you need to be being with Jesus. Kind of remind me of Mary. She had a lot to do. Both Mary and Martha had a lot to do, but Mary chose the good part, and that was just spending time at the feet of Jesus. And on that note, steve, I want you just to think about the person that may be just having a tough season in their walk with the Lord. Maybe they just feel a little stagnant. What encouragement would you give to that person, as well as what encouragement would you give to the person that may be starting out their walk with the Lord? So just give the listener some encouragement.
Speaker 1:I've been there. I've been there where I have felt like my faith walk is stagnant. It's like I'm going through the motions, I'm reading the Bible, I'm going through the motions, I'm reading the Bible, I'm going to church, but but something feels off to that person, Um, and I'll get to the new believer in just a second. But yeah, to that person I would say, um, I actually might say something that might be a little bit against the grain in some sense, but, uh, you know, I would say, keep going through the motions. You know, it is good that you go to church, it is good that you are reading your Bible.
Speaker 1:I love this example that, you know, my pastor gives sometimes. He says you know, your relationship with God in some sense is like being married. Right, we're called the bride of Christ. You're not always going to feel lovey-dovey feelings toward your wife all the time. You know, when you've been married five, 10, 15, 20 years, um, you know you, it's not. It's not going to feel like the first date, right, it's not. It's not always going to feel that way. When, when things are feeling off with their marriage, Do you stop going on coffee dates? Do you kind of like, do you stop spending time with your spouse. Do you like take a break from your spouse? No, you don't do that right.
Speaker 1:You know that's a good way to deteriorate your relationship really, really fast. What you do is you still keep doing those things and you know you communicate. I think about where there was the man who had a son who was demon possessed, and Jesus goes and the man's really frustrated and he's like you know, your disciples tried to heal my son but they couldn't do it. But if you know if you can do it, you know, please heal my son. And Jesus is just like if I can, anything is possible for those who believe. And then the man immediately says this very, very beautiful thing that can be say, said as a prayer, almost. He says Lord, I do believe, help me to overcome my belief. The man recognized his heart wasn't in it, he was frustrated, he was mad. He's like my son is here, he's demon possessed. These disciples were supposed to do it. They haven't done it. Here comes Jesus. Can he do it? Like that was his feeling. He couldn't control his feeling, but what he could control is he could say how am I going to respond to the feeling I have? So I said a lot.
Speaker 1:But to the person who's being stagnant, I would recommend reading the Psalms, particularly the Psalms where this sounds a little bit blasphemous, but I promise it isn't. Listen to the Psalms, where the reader is kind of mad at God. Right, it is not a sin to be mad at God. You know, life is the way it is. Sometimes, when you serve an all-powerful, all-knowing God, you might be thinking God, you're perfect, you're all-powerful. Why can't you just fix my problems? Why am I even having problems? It is okay to feel that way. It is okay to be frustrated with God. It is okay to be angry with God. What's not okay is to take that frustration and go and excuse sin.
Speaker 1:When you're feeling frustrated, when you're feeling angry, go to God and say Lord, I'm frustrated, I'm angry, I'm feeling stagnant, I don't feel like you're there, I don't feel like I don't feel the joy I want to feel. And then do what the guy said Say help me to overcome my unbelief. Be honest with God. God already knows everything in your life. Feel free to be honest with him. Feel free to tell him that you're mad at him, that you're frustrated with him. And again, I know that sounds like a little bit blasphemous, but God can take it right. He loves you. You're his child and you're allowed to vent your frustrations with him at times. So that would be my first practical tip. Psalms has a lot of good stuff with that the book of Job if you read Job, there's a lot of frustrations that are expressed in that book. Lamentations Lamentations is also another great book of the Bible that you can read. So if you're feeling stagnant in your faith or if you're feeling frustrated, I would say, hey, those are some great books to go to.
Speaker 2:See, I'm so glad that you took the time to kind of divide up that question and how you just spoke to the person that's stagnant in their walk with the Lord, because what you said is so important, because you know, a lot of times I think we need to go to church. You know, wear our Sunday best, act like you know. Nothing is wrong with this, this cookie cutter Christianity. But life can get messy and life can be hard, and I, walk with the Lord can be hard. Not that God is hard, but our life can be hard. I'm so glad that you spoke to that. This makes the same that God is big enough to handle our doubt.
Speaker 2:God is big enough to handle all of our mess and we shouldn't allow our doubt. We shouldn't allow our mess. We shouldn't allow the circumstances of life to draw us away from the Lord and just to use it as an excuse to sin. But that should be something that should draw us to the Lord. So I'm so glad because maybe there's a person listening right now, maybe just going through a tough time, and that encouragement was for you. You may feel like you're far away from God, but you want to be close to him. That's a good thing that you want to be close to him. The dangerous thing is when you feel far away from God and you just don't care. And so the fact that you want to be close to him and you feel like it's a dry season and, like I say once again, you want to be close to him, you're in a good place to be. So, stephen, I'm so glad that you took time to break that down that God is big enough to handle all of our frustrations.
Speaker 1:So for the new believer, this is an exciting time. I remember when I first became a Christian, just life felt so light and freeing and I just was really, really overwhelmed with joy about who Jesus was, what he had done for me on the cross, how he had resurrected from the dead, and I just kind of had butterflies just thinking about wow, the Lord of the universe loves me. That's amazing. Here's the encouragement I'm going to give to the new believer, and this isn't to hamper your joy. This isn't to say you know that you need to get all serious and you know, sullen all of a sudden, but life is going to happen and life is going to happen very fast. You know, whether you become a Christian as a child or whether you become a Christian at, whether you become a Christian at 50 or 60, life's going to happen. You know we can't foresee all the things, things in life. But you know, sometimes you lose that job or you don't get that job you really, really want it. Uh, sometimes you start to have marital problems with your spouse. You know, uh, you get married and you're like, wow, things are going to be great and amazing. And then, um, you know, as things happen, you know, conflict happens. You guys might not see eye to eye on things with their families, things with finances, things with where should you live, what kind of people are you associating with? And all of a sudden, that joy you first had in the Lord, all of a sudden, you know, you might start to get nervous and hurt and doubt again. And so I would say you are not alone. But you need discipleship because you know, nobody knows how to deal with those things. Right, uh, you know. Uh, god forbid if some of this, some of these things will happen. But, like you know, how do you be a Christian when you've lost your job? How do you be a Christian when you were in a relationship where you thought you were going to get married to that person, but now the relationship's ended? Or you know, hey, sometimes this happens too You're married to the person and then divorce happens.
Speaker 1:This is like whoa, how do I continue to follow the Lord when something like really, really tragic like that happens? And that's where discipleship is so important, when you have an older Christian that can walk alongside you and has either experienced some of those things themselves or at least has talked to and counseled people through, has either experienced some of those things themselves, or at least has talked to and counseled people through that have encountered some of those things. What happens is, when those storms in life hit, there's already someone that's been walking with you for days, weeks, months, years and even decades and it's like, okay, I'm not alone, I have somebody that I can run to because they've been walking with me for all this time. Uh, but two, um, they can prepare you for some of those things, right? Uh, you know, I remember 18 year old me, you know, uh, I was like, oh, I'm handsome, I'm young, I'm confident, I'm going to, I'm going to be a great husband.
Speaker 1:One day I did not know the first single thing about being a good godly man, pursuing women or anything like that. As I started to read the scripture and I would read things like Jesus saying hey, even look at a woman with lust, you've committed adultery in your heart. You know, 18 year old me was like oh, I do that a lot. I need to stop doing that, right. So it's one of those things where when you're a new believer you're going to read things in scripture, you're going to encounter things where you're like I didn't know that was a sin, but now I know it.
Speaker 1:But if you're not being discipled you might continue to do a lot of sins and you don't even realize you're doing it because you're not getting proper discipleship. So I know I've said a lot of things, no, but really just if I could summarize that in two seconds One, find someone to disciple you so that you know what God requires and how to live the obedient Christian life. But two, also, new believer, get someone to disciple you so that when not if when the storms of life come, you have somebody that already has been there with you consistently and they can help walk and love you through some of those very difficult things in life.
Speaker 2:We're going to drop the mic right there, stephen. Thank you so much for joining the show and just offering the honesty, the practicality and just offering insights. I really appreciate you and your time.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, thank you. Thank you so much, paul. I really appreciate being on this show and keep up the good work. I know you are blessing so, so many people with this podcast and just administering your personal life, so keep doing what you're doing, brother. You are blessing so, so many and the work you're doing glorifies our Lord Jesus Christ very, very tremendously.
Speaker 2:Amen, and I appreciate that. I love doing this. This is another way of doing ministry. It also gives me a quote-unquote excuse to rekindle friendships and to go back in time, if you will, like I say as we met on that mission trip. And same thing to you just what you're doing with social media and just using that platform to point people to Christ. Kudos to you. Remind me of the Apostle Paul. He did so much ministry with the paper and pen. And here we are. We got the internet, we got social media, but that's another story for another day. Speaking of social media, Stephen, tell the people how can they connect with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, my username on TikTok and Instagram is Sahil the Disciple. That's spelled S-A-H-I-L and then the disciple. So, yeah, you can follow me on those platforms. I'm also on. I know it used to be called Twitter, it's now X. I'm also on X, so if you wanted to follow me on there as well same username you can just type in Sahil the Disciple so you can find me there. And yeah, I talk about theology, I talk about relationships, I talk about Christian living. I also make memes because, you know, life can be very, very serious sometimes. So sometimes, you know, I think we just need a good laugh, so I also make memes. So if you are into any of those things I just talked about, feel free to find me on those platforms so I'm going to leave that link in the show notes.
Speaker 2:I recommend that you connect with him on social media. Great guy to follow and, speaking of you, thank you so much for tuning in today and listening. I really pray that this episode will spur you on to good works and that it will inspire you to keep following Jesus, no matter the cost. So until next time, go, be all that God has called you to be free audio post production.