03. Fall in Love With Jesus, and Learn to Follow Him
Extraordinary DNA That Multiplies | Article 3
You can learn disciple-making tools and still overlook the Person you are asking others to follow.
You can explain multiplication without becoming more compassionate.
You can facilitate a gathering without forgiving the person who hurt you.
You can discuss obedience while postponing your own.
Our first year together needs to help us know Jesus, love Him, and become fully devoted followers of Christ.
The people we help disciple will learn from the life we practice together.
What will they see?
Where We Are Going Together
This series follows a simple progression:
The introduction gave us the vision: What could God begin through ordinary people gathered around your table or in your living room?
Article 1 called us to begin: Put your training into action. Invite a few adults and start, or strengthen, a fellowship.
Article 2 gave those people a shared purpose: Become fully devoted followers of Christ who make multiplying disciples.
Now, Article 3 develops the first stage: Spend the first year discovering Jesus through His miracles, healings, encounters, and parables, and practice what He teaches.
As we continue, we will explore daily Scripture and prayer, life together as a biblical fellowship, reaching receptive households, and coaching others to repeat the process.
Our end vision is a fellowship that lives like the believers in Acts, with each family unit committing to help begin at least one new church that does the same by the end of the second year together.
Today, we begin with the Jesus we will follow.
Let People Discover Who He Is
Imagine a few adults opening the Gospels together.
They see Jesus touch a man with leprosy whom others would avoid.
They watch Him stop for a blind beggar while the crowd tells the man to be quiet.
They hear Him call a tax collector, and then share a meal with his friends.
They discover that people others dismiss matter deeply to Him.
His compassion begins challenging their own.
Who have we been avoiding?
Whose cry for help have we ignored?
Who might welcome us around their table if we were willing to go?
Then they explore His parables.
The good Samaritan challenges how they treat a neighbor.
The unforgiving servant confronts the resentment they have been carrying.
The two builders expose the difference between hearing Jesus and doing what He says.
Story by story, Jesus begins shaping how they see people and how they live.
Love Leads to Obedience
Jesus said:
“If you love me, keep my commandments.”
John 14:15 WEB
As our love for Jesus grows, His words carry increasing weight in our decisions.
We want to forgive because He has forgiven us.
We want to serve because we see Him serving.
We want to care for overlooked people because we discover how deeply He cares.
We want others to know Him because we are discovering how good He is.
Following Him will sometimes be costly. His teaching confronts habits, loyalties, and attitudes we would prefer to keep.
But we are learning to trust the One who calls us.
The question after a Bible story becomes personal: “Jesus, how will I respond to what You have shown me?”
Let One Story Move You Into Action
Consider Mark 1:40-45.
A man with leprosy comes to Jesus, begging Him for help.
“If you want to, you can make me clean.”
Mark 1:40 WEB
Jesus responds:
“Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, ‘I want to. Be made clean.'”
Mark 1:41 WEB
Slow down and let your group consider what happened.
The man approached Jesus with a desperate need.
Jesus was moved with compassion.
He reached out and touched him.
What does this reveal about Jesus?
What might that touch have meant to this man?
How does Jesus’ response challenge the way we respond to people in pain?
Stay with the passage. Give everyone room to notice, ask, and discover.
Then ask:
“Who around us needs compassionate attention this week?”
Perhaps an elderly neighbor rarely receives a visitor.
Perhaps someone in your fellowship is carrying grief quietly.
Perhaps a coworker has become difficult to be around because life at home is falling apart.
You cannot promise the same outcome as this miracle. You can respond to Jesus’ compassion by drawing near, listening, offering practical help, and asking whether you may pray.
Make the response specific:
“On Tuesday, I will visit my neighbor, listen to how she is doing, and ask how I can help.”
At the next gathering, share what happened.
Did you follow through?
What did you discover?
How can the fellowship help?
Now the story is shaping life beyond the meeting.
Learn the Training Along the Way Through the Stories You Select
You do not have to finish all ten Zúme lessons before beginning this fellowship.
Learn and practice the training while discovering Jesus together.
A story about Jesus praying can lead into practicing prayer.
His instruction to the changed man in Mark 5 can help you learn to share your testimony.
His sending of the disciples in Luke 10 can help you recognize a person of peace.
Introduce the relevant tool, practice it together, and use it during the week. Return to encourage one another and learn from what happened.
Over the year, the group can learn SOAPS, prayer, testimony, gospel sharing, the List of 100, and a simple 3/3rds gathering through this rhythm.
The tools help us put biblical truth into practice. Jesus remains the center of our attention.
Give the First Year a Clear Purpose
The first year gives your fellowship time to establish habits through repeated practice.
People learn to open Scripture for themselves.
They grow comfortable praying together.
They become honest about obedience and struggle.
They begin noticing people who need care.
They gain courage to speak about Jesus.
They learn that every person can contribute.
You can begin serving and sharing immediately while these habits deepen. Growth happens as people respond to Jesus, receive help, and try again.
By the time someone helps another household begin, they have a life together worth passing on.
Your Assignment This Week
Read Mark 1:40-45 with your group.
Retell the story and check it against the passage.
Discuss what it reveals about Jesus and people.
Then let each person identify one compassionate action they will take before your next gathering.
Pray for one another. Follow through. Return ready to share what happened.
As you plan the weeks ahead, choose more stories about Jesus’ miracles, healings, encounters, and parables.
Keep asking:
What are we discovering about Jesus?
How will we respond?
The vision reaches toward multiplying churches and helping finish the Great Commission by 2033.
Our next step is close enough to take this week.
Open the Gospels.
Discover Jesus together.
Let His words and example shape your life.
Fall in love with Him, and learn to follow Him.
Ordinary People. Extraordinary Movements.
Want to go further?
All ten Zúme discipleship lessons are on my site, free, with the video and the same teaching notes I use when I train leaders in person. Take them on your own, take them with a few friends, or join me live on Zoom and I will teach them to you face to face. When you finish, tell me and I will coach you personally.
Start the ten lessons:
https://internationalafricanmobilization.com/training/terrys-zume-teaching-series/
Join a live training –
https://zume.training/join-a-training
Next Steps form: https://airtable.com/appUh4Y3McdFcQ8Xg/pagCyMWEWZbPNlyH5/form
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9Ft4Bo0VVw
Series playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJmb0Da-UPyM
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Terry Ruff