104 Bible Verses about discipleship, nature of

In the prophets it is written, 'And all men will be taught by God.' Everyone who ever listens to the Father and learns from Him will come to me.

Another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go back and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

And at once they left the nets and followed Him.

And at once they forsook their nets and followed Him.

So you must keep on following God's example, as dearly loved children of His, and practice living in love, just as Christ loved you too and gave Himself for you as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Our people too must set examples of doing good, so as to meet the necessary demands and not to live unfruitful lives.

but in accordance with the Holy Being who has called you, you must prove to be holy too, for the Scripture says: "You ought to be holy, because I am holy."

And at once they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Put on my yoke, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls,

He at once called them. They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and went after Him.

For I have set you an example, in order that you too may practice what I have done to you.

So after they had brought the boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

But this is not the way you have learned what Christ means, if, as I take it, you have heard Him and in union with Him have been taught the truth as it is seen in Jesus,

and He died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Keep on fostering the same disposition that Christ Jesus had.

For none of us can live alone by himself, and none of us can die alone by himself; indeed, if we live, we always live in relation to the Lord, and if we die, we always die in relation to the Lord. So whether we live or die we belong to the Lord.

He said to them, "Come! Follow me, and I will make you fishermen for catching men."

Indeed, it was to this kind of living that you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might follow His footsteps.

so that he no longer can spend the rest of his earthly life in harmony with human desires but in accordance with God's will.

So Jesus said to them, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishermen for catching men."

Whoever claims, "I am always in union with Him," ought to live as He lived.

So when He had washed their feet and had put on His clothes and taken His place at the table, He said to them again: "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right in calling me so, for that is what I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another's feet.read more.
For I have set you an example, in order that you too may practice what I have done to you. I most solemnly say to you, no slave is superior to his master, and no messenger is greater than the man who sends him. If you know all this, happy are you if you practice it.

And as He was going on from that point, He saw two others, brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, getting their nets in order; and He called them.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send to represent me, will teach you everything Himself, and cause you to remember everything that I have told you.

I have loved you just as the Father has loved me. You must remain in my love. If you continue to keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in His love. "I have told you these things, that the joy which I have had may remain in you and that your joy may be complete.read more.
This is my command to you, to keep on loving one another as I have loved you. No one can show greater love than this, the giving of his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you keep on doing what I command you to do.

for at that very moment the Holy Spirit will teach you what you ought to say."

But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into the whole truth, for He will not speak on His own authority but will tell what is told Him, and will announce to you the things that are to come.

Anybody who loves father or mother more than he loves me is not worthy of me, and nobody is worthy of me who does not take up his cross and follow me. Anybody who gains his lower life will lose the higher life, and anybody who loses his lower life for my sake will gain the higher life.

He said to another man, "Follow me." But he said, "Let me first go back and bury my father." Then He answered him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but you go on and continue to spread the good news of the kingdom of God."

These truths we are setting forth, not in words that man's wisdom teaches but in words that the Spirit teaches, in this way fitting spiritual words to spiritual truths.

Then Jesus said to His disciples: "If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must say 'No' to self, put his cross on his shoulders, and keep on following me. For whoever wants to save his higher life will have to give up the lower life, and whoever gives up his lower life for my sake will find the higher life.

And as He was passing along from there, He saw a man named Matthew in his seat at the tax-collector's desk, and He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed Him.

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may grant you the Spirit to give wisdom and revelation which come through a growing knowledge of Him,

Then He called the people to Him along with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must say, 'No' to self, put the cross on his shoulders, and keep on following me. For whoever wants to save his higher life, will have to give up the lower life, and whoever gives up his lower life for me and for the good news, will save the higher life.

And as He was passing by, He saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting in the tax-collector's office, and He said to him, "Follow me." Then he got up and followed Him.

and beg Him to grant you, in accordance with the riches of His perfect character, to be mightily strengthened by His Spirit in your inmost being, and that Christ in His love, through your faith, may make His permanent home in your hearts. You must be deeply rooted, your foundations must be strong, so that you with all God's people may be strong enough to grasp the idea of the breadth and length, the height and depth,read more.
yes, to come at last to know the love of Christ, although it far surpasses human understanding, so that you may be filled with the perfect fullness of God.

Then He said to them all, "If anyone chooses to be my disciple, he must say 'No' to self, put the cross on his shoulders daily, and continue to follow me. For whoever chooses to save his lower life will lose his higher life, but whoever gives up his lower life for my sake will save his higher life.

It was made known to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in their searching for these things that have already been told to you by those who through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven brought you the good news. The angels long to take a peep into these things.

After this He went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi in his seat at the tax-collector's desk, and He said to him, "Follow me."

He ordered them not to take anything for the journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in the purse;

Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come back here and follow me."

Practice the things you learned, received, and heard from me, things that you saw me do, and then the God who gives us peace will be with you.

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and still more, his own life too, he cannot be a disciple of mine. Whoever does not persevere in carrying his own cross and thus following after me, cannot be a disciple of mine.

Then Jesus looked at him and loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing. Go, sell everything you have, and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come back and follow me."

Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will preserve it.

When Jesus heard this, He said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell everything you have, and distribute the money among the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come back and follow me."

Whoever loves his lower life will lose the higher, but whoever hates his lower life in this world preserves the higher for eternal life.

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. So He sought out Philip and said to him, "Follow me."

to lay aside, with your former way of living, your old self which is on the way to destruction in accordance with its deceptive impulses; and to have a new attitude of mind and put on the new self which has been created in the likeness of God, which fruits in right and holy living inspired by the truth.

He said this to point out the sort of death by which Peter was to glorify God. So after He had said this, He said to Peter, "Keep on following me!"

Now, brothers, for your sakes I have applied all this to Apollos and myself, that from us as illustrations you might learn the lesson, "Never go beyond what is written," so that you might stop boasting in favor of one teacher against another.

So you, my followers, ought to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is."

and nobody is worthy of me who does not take up his cross and follow me.

A pupil is not better than his teacher, but everyone when fully trained will be like his teacher.

Then Jesus said to His disciples: "If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must say 'No' to self, put his cross on his shoulders, and keep on following me.

You must follow my example, just as I myself am following Christ's.

For those on whom He set His heart beforehand He marked off as His own to be made like His Son, that He might be the eldest of many brothers;

Follow my example, brothers, and keep your eyes on those who practice living by the pattern we have set you.

Then He called the people to Him along with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must say, 'No' to self, put the cross on his shoulders, and keep on following me.

I beg you, therefore, brothers, through these mercies God has shown you, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies as a living sacrifice, devoted and well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. Stop living in accordance with the customs of this world, but by the new ideals that mold your minds continue to transform yourselves, so as to find and follow God's will; that is, what is good, well-pleasing to Him, and perfect.

Then He said to them all, "If anyone chooses to be my disciple, he must say 'No' to self, put the cross on his shoulders daily, and continue to follow me.

You know yourselves how you ought to follow my example; for I was not a shirker when I was with you;

Whoever does not persevere in carrying his own cross and thus following after me, cannot be a disciple of mine.

Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and put a stop to gratifying the evil desires that lurk in your lower nature.

A married woman must learn in quiet and in perfect submission.

My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them and they follow me,

And all of us, with faces uncovered, because we continue to reflect like mirrors the splendor of the Lord, are being transformed into likeness to Him, from one degree of splendor to another, since it comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in the treatment of their own families, and to pay the debt they owe their parents or grandparents, for this is acceptable to God.

But you, on your part, must continue to abide by what you have learned and been led to rely upon, because you know from whom you learned it

So, since we have such promises as these, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles our bodies and spirits, and in reverence to God carry on our consecration to completeness.

If anyone serves me, he must continue to follow me, and my servant also must go wherever I go. If anyone serves me, my Father will show him honor.

Through Him He picked us out before the creation of the world, to be consecrated and above reproach in His sight in love.

These are the men who have not been defiled by relations with women, for they are as pure as virgins, These are the men who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been redeemed from among men as the first fruits for God and the Lamb,

We are proclaiming Him, warning everyone and teaching everyone with ample wisdom, in order to present to God everyone mature through union with Christ.

for you know that it is from the Lord that you are going to get your pay in the form of an inheritance; so keep on serving Christ the Lord.

So as God's own chosen people, consecrated and dearly loved, you must once for all clothe yourselves with tenderheartedness, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience; you must keep on

But Jesus called them to Him and said, "You know that the rulers of the heathen lord it over them, and their great men rule as despots over them. It is not to be so among you, but whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to hold first position among you must be your slave,read more.
just as the Son of Man has come, not to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom price to set many free."

so that the man of God may be perfectly fit, thoroughly equipped for every good enterprise.

Then Jesus called them to Him, and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule the heathen lord it over them, and their great men rule as despots over them; but this is not to be the case among you. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to hold the first positions among you must be everybody's slave.read more.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom price to set many free."

As obedient children, stop molding your character by the evil desires you used to cherish when you did not know any better, but in accordance with the Holy Being who has called you, you must prove to be holy too,

never slack in earnestness, always on fire with the Spirit, always serving the Lord,

Now for this very reason you must do your level best to supplement your faith with moral character, moral character with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with patient endurance, patient endurance with piety, piety with brotherly affection, brotherly affection with universal love.

For the people themselves tell us what a welcome you gave us, and how you turned from idols to the true God, to serve the God who lives on and is real,

Dearly beloved, we are now God's children, but what we are going to be has not been unveiled. We know that if it is unveiled, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in him tries to make himself as pure as He is.

So Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him, "If you live in accordance with what I teach, you are really my disciples,

Now there was a man named Nicodemus, who belonged to the party of the Pharisees and was a leader among the Jews. He came to Jesus one night and said to Him, "Teacher, we know that you have come from God, for no one can perform the wonder-works that you are doing, unless God is with him."

Whoever continues to hold and keep my commands is the one who really loves me, and whoever really loves me will be loved by my Father; yes, I will love him myself and will make myself real to him."

One of them, Nicodemus, who had formerly gone to Jesus, said to them,

If you continue to keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in His love.

By this we can be sure that we know Him -- if we practice obedience to His commands.

and we obtain from Him whatever we ask for, because we practice obedience to His commands and do what pleases Him.

For love to God means this, to practice obedience to His commands, and His commands are not burdensome,

Then Jesus came up to them, and said, "Full authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptize them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to practice all the commands that I have given you. And I myself will surely be with you all the days, down to the very close of an age."

You are the light of the world. A city that is built upon a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and put it under a peck-measure but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all that are in the house. Let your light shine before people in such a way that they may see your good deeds, and praise your Father in heaven.

The things you learned from me before many witnesses you must commit to trustworthy men who will be competent to teach others too.

And He has given some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers, for the immediate equipment of God's people for the work of service, for the ultimate building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to unity in faith and to perfect knowledge of the Son of God, namely, to a mature manhood and to a perfect measure of Christ's moral stature;read more.
so that we may not be babies any longer, or like sailors tossed about and driven around by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men through their cunning in inventing new methods of error. But, on the other hand, we shall go on holding to the truth and in love growing up into perfect union with Him, that is, Christ Himself who is the Head. For it is under His direction that the whole body is perfectly adjusted and united by every joint that furnishes its supplies; and by the proper functioning of each particular part there is brought about the growing of the body for its building up in love. So I mean this and now testify to it in the name of the Lord: You must now stop living as the heathen usually do, in the frivolity of their minds,

And they devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to fellowship with one another, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

So Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him, "If you live in accordance with what I teach, you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."

"I am the real vine, and my Father is the cultivator. He cuts away any branch on me that stops bearing fruit, and He repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more. You are already pruned because of the teaching that I have given you.read more.
You must remain in union with me and I will remain in union with you. Just as no branch by itself can bear fruit unless it remains united to the vine, so you cannot unless you remain in union with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in union with me and I in union with him will bear abundant fruit, because you cannot do anything cut off from union with me. If anyone does not remain in union with me, he is thrown away as a mere branch and is dried up; then it is picked up and thrown into the fire and burned up. If you remain in union with me and my words remain in you, you may ask whatever you please and you shall have it. By your continuously bearing abundant fruit and in this way proving yourselves to be real disciples of mine, my Father is glorified. I have loved you just as the Father has loved me. You must remain in my love. If you continue to keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in His love. "I have told you these things, that the joy which I have had may remain in you and that your joy may be complete. This is my command to you, to keep on loving one another as I have loved you. No one can show greater love than this, the giving of his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you keep on doing what I command you to do. I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master is doing; I now call you friends, because I have told you everything that I have learned from my Father. You have not chosen me; I have chosen you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit, that your fruit may remain too, so that the Father may grant you, as bearers of my name, whatever you ask Him for. "What I command you to do is, to keep on loving one another.

I give you a new command, to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you too must love one another. By this everybody will know that you are my disciples, if you keep on showing love for one another."

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and still more, his own life too, he cannot be a disciple of mine.

"Just so, no one of you who does not forsake everything that he has, can be a disciple of mine.

You must continue telling the people what is proper for wholesome teaching: the older men to be temperate, serious, and sensible, healthy in faith, in love, and in steadfastness; the older women, too, to be reverent in their deportment, and not to be slanderers or slaves to heavy drinking, but to be teachers of what is right,read more.
so as to train the younger women to be affectionate wives and mothers, to be serious, pure, home keepers, kind, and subordinate to their husbands, so as not to cause God's message to suffer reproach. Keep urging the younger men to be sensible. In everything you yourself continue to set them a worthy example of doing good; be sincere and serious in your teaching, let your message be wholesome and unobjectionable, so that our opponent may be put to shame at having nothing evil to say about us.

While they were going along the road, a man said to Him, "I will follow you wherever you go." But Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, even wild birds have roosts, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." He said to another man, "Follow me." But he said, "Let me first go back and bury my father."read more.
Then He answered him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but you go on and continue to spread the good news of the kingdom of God." Still another man said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say 'Goodbye' to the homefolks." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow, and then continues to look back, is fitted for service in the kingdom of God."