Page 69 - Discipleship Ministries Student E-Book

Study Section 8: Discipleship – To Know Him

“Not hero worship, but intimacy with Christ.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

8.1 Connect

How many friends do you have? A couple of dozen or so? Now, how many REAL friends do
you have? You can go through your entire life and count on your fingers the true friends
you may develop over the years. These are the people that would do just about anything
for you in any situation. These are those with whom you share your thoughts and needs
and rejoice when you rejoice, and weep when you weep. John 15:13 says that the greatest
test of a true friend is that he would be willing to lay down his life for you. Now surely, we have
eliminated almost all of your acquaintances EXCEPT one, Jesus Christ.

Christ wants to know you and He desires that you know Him. He desires an intimate relationship with
all His children. If we do not have that type of relationship, whose fault is it? Obviously, ours. Today we
want to see how we can personally know Jesus Christ and help our disciples come into a similar
relationship with Him.

8.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to explain the difference between knowing about Jesus and
knowing Him.

2. The student should be able to describe the two Greek words for “knowledge” and explain the
difference between the two.

3. The student should be able to describe the three levels of knowing and experiencing the Lord.

8.3 Knowing Christ

We learn about Christ from the Bible, especially the Gospels. But the entire Bible speaks of
His Coming, His atoning work, His process of adopting believers into a relationship, and His
future reign as King of kings, and Lord of lords. The amazing thing about learning about Christ
is that Jesus, who is God, loves us and wants to have an intimate relationship with every one
of his adopted children. Why should God love sinners like we are and desire to commune with
us? It called GRACE-- not deserved but freely given. Here are some verses that prove that
point:

Philippians 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being conformed to His death;

John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You
have sent.

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