Continuing Pastor John Samuel Barnett‘s discipleship message, the first thing we should always do when discipling someone is a) make sure we are saved from our sins and b) make sure the other person is saved from their sins.
The only way we are able to please God is if we have His Spirit living in us by accepting His Son, Jesus’, sacrifice for our sins on the cross. To understand that for ourselves should be obvious why that is important. Why we should make sure that is the case for our discipleship partner is also important. Maybe they only think they’re a Christian because their parents were. Maybe they only had an emotional response one time twenty years ago but their lives do not show evidence of living as a new creation. Maybe they only view the church and your meeting with them as social, self-help meet ups. If we charge ahead without confirming people on both sides of the table have a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, then all proceeding steps would be like continuing to walk at a brick wall and not realize it.
John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.””
From 2015JAN11 – FTF-15 – Face2Face Discipleship – 7 Habits Of Highly Useful Believers