241. Saved By Jesus Christ

We explore the stark difference between having a relationship with a church versus a relationship with Christ, highlighting how true discipleship happens through authentic relationships rather than religious rituals.

• Christians are commissioned to make disciples, not just church attendees
• The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) gives believers clear direction to baptize and teach others
• Many Christians develop a genuine passion for souls only after years of spiritual growth
• Effective discipleship requires consistency between our words and actions
• The "soft gospel" of Western Christianity contrasts with the persecution faced by believers in other countries
• True discipleship follows Jesus' example of compassion rather than harsh judgment
• We must view others as souls in need of salvation, not just people to be converted
• Building relationships is essential for effective discipleship—people won't listen if they don't feel connected
• The Word of God—not our arguments—is what actually convicts people of truth

Our challenge to you: Look at people as souls rather than just individuals, and ask yourself if your words and actions align in a way that draws others to Christ.

Chapters

• 0:08 The Soft Gospel Challenge
• 3:55 Understanding Our Commission
• 7:30 Relationship with Church vs. Christ
• 10:50 The Great Commission Explained
• 16:12 Discipleship Through Relationships
• 21:22 Compassion: Christ's Example
• 23:52 The Western World's Soft Gospel

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

And in the Western world we have a soft gospel.

Speaker 2: 0:06

Mercy. Welcome to the Call by God podcast. I'm your host, Brother Nick, and I'm here with Adney. Sister Adney, how you doing on this blessed day?

Speaker 1: 0:28

Good afternoon, brother. Nick, I'm doing amazing. How are you doing?

Speaker 2: 0:32

The allergy is kicking in again, but it's that season. Yeah, the show must continue.

Speaker 1: 0:39

Yeah, it sure should. It sure has to. We don't get to stop.

Speaker 2: 0:44

I know, I know that's right. So I'm excited about today's episode because you know we'll be talking about our Savior, amen. You know, everything that Christians ought to aim to do is highlight Jesus.

Speaker 1: 0:57

Amen.

Speaker 2: 0:58

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our life, he's our foundation, he's our Savior, he's our Master, he's our Teacher. He life, he's our foundation, he's our savior, he's our master, he's our teacher, he's the Messiah, he is God. So whenever we have an opportunity to talk about Christ, jesus Christ, the gospel, it gives me a time to reflect of how good he's been to me, good to you and even good to the world. And I know we're in the month of April and Good Friday is right around the corner and you know most folks they want to celebrate Good Friday and also Easter. And you know, you know, addy, you know this. You know one of the busiest days where worldly people go to church, unchurch go to church is Easter. There's also the holidays. Do you remember some of those other holidays?

Speaker 1: 1:53

Christmas, Mother's Day.

Speaker 2: 1:55

Yeah, so when I was a kid, adney, my, I don't know if you remember, but on Good Friday it was the Tenth Commandment, that old school movie, that Ten Commandment movie used to come out. Yeah, I enjoyed that movie. I forgot it's called the Tenth Commandment, right.

Speaker 1: 2:14

Mm-hmm, yeah, asa played it all day long. Yeah, it's called the Tenth Commandment.

Speaker 2: 2:18

Yeah, asa played it all day long, mm-hmm, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it Seeing the miracles of God, the children of Israel crossing the sea and all the plagues. Yeah, that movie right there is a classic.

Speaker 2: 2:31

Amen initiated from the disobedience of mankind, when Adam and Eve ate from the tree that they wasn't supposed to touch. So as a result, because of the disobedience of man, sin entered into the world not only sin, suffering and death. So God had a plan for us. So the plan was to reconcile man back to God because our relationship got broken and I don't think people really understand the devastating effect of what Adam and Eve did in the beginning and how, without Christ, a person will have peace. And that's why I appreciate God so much, especially when you read the origin, how everything unfolded, and you look back in the present day like, wow, god's ultimate plan came to fruition, that Jesus Christ was born. Jesus Christ was here on earth over 2,000 years ago and that's a blessing that God himself went through a Virgin Mary and he came here on earth and he walked the earth for 33 years, fulfilled his ministry, his mission. He died and he was buried and, most importantly, he was resurrected, but before he went on back to glory. So Jesus Christ had his mission that he fulfilled for humanity, obviously to bring humanity back to God Once they hear, believe, repent, confess and be baptized of that gospel, and that's what I wanted to talk about today. Yeah, we'll be talking about you know, I mentioned it earlier Jesus Christ, but also the gospel, I think and this is just a conversation between hosts and co-hosts. But before we get into the gospel, jesus Christ gave the disciples a commission in Matthew 28. And I had to look this up and I like keywords. So commission? So commission refers to like a duty or a task to an assigned person or group, and I like that.

Speaker 2: 4:34

And I think sometimes, adney, and I want to hear your opinion before we actually get into the gospels, when we are when God saved us. So when God saved you, adney, and God saved me, we have our own individual mission. And I think at some point when you appreciate what God has done in your life, you got to, in essence, make it personal. At least for me I made it personal, like when I was lost, I said I went hard for Satan. You know that's what lost people do. They do sinful things and they just go hard for the opposite.

Speaker 2: 5:07

But when I got saved, I really appreciated what God, through his son, jesus Christ, did for me. So I was like man, you know, if I went hard for Satan when I was lost, now that I'm saved. I got to go hard for God. So when God, reading through his word, when he commissioned me and gave me a duty, an assignment to go share the gospel, I say say no more, lord, that's, that's exactly what I'm going to do, and I still have that passion to this day. So before we get into the gospel, what are your thoughts on the commission?

Speaker 1: 5:37

And I have to be transparent and honest with me. That was not a priority for me. And I'm going to be honest because it's like I didn't understand what and whom I was saved to right as I'm getting older and I'm comprehending. It's not about me getting up on a Sunday morning and going to somebody's church. It's about me getting up Monday through Sunday and having a passion and a love for God to the point where, when I see a person that is not saved, that my heart will bleed for them and I would desire for them to have a relationship with the Lord. And that started happening once I got into my 40s.

Speaker 1: 6:29

And it's just like okay, no, you can't keep living this life like this. You need to understand that you are in a relationship and a covenant with God and you need to understand what your assignment in this work is Right. And now it's like, okay, I'm seeking the Lord's face and saying, okay, I've been commissioned to make disciples. Right, what does that look like, lord? Like no lie. What does that look like? And it's like when God said to Moses what's that in your hand? Right, what was in Moses' hand was a staff. What's in my hand is my testimony and my story and helping people to get into the relationship with God, but not into a relationship with the church, because for me I got into a relationship with the church and not a relationship with Christ. If that makes a difference.

Speaker 2: 7:20

Amen.

Speaker 1: 7:20

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 7:22

No, that's profound, because you and I, we both have children and that's one of the things that we want our children to fall in love with. We don't want our children to fall in love with the church building per se. There's nothing love with the church building per se, there's nothing wrong with the church building or the place of assembly. But primarily we want our children to fall in love with the Savior, jesus Christ, and have a personal relationship with him. Because everything you know, anything that man built, it could be destroyed, it'll fade away. But you know, having that relationship with God like that intimate, it's just not a relationship, but it's like an intimate relationship with him. And I compare it to Adney, like when you love somebody, you know, when we was young we used to have puppy love. I'm not encouraging you to have puppy love, you know. You say, do you like me? Yes, no, or maybe right. And then the other person say yes. And then, man, you just can't stop thinking about the individual. Like man, like I, just can't stop thinking about an individual because I believe I love them so much. But that's not really love, that's really lust. But when you have a deep feeling for someone, you just can't stop thinking about them and I think that every Christian that is saved, that's the type of relationship they had to have with Jesus Christ, because if you really think about it and the Bible says this when we were yet in our sins Christ he died for the ungodly. So when Christians become saved like me, you and even those that are watching us when Christians become saved like me, you and even those that are watching us when we become saved we got to think about that. We could have died unsaved. And the last time I checked, you know, if you're not in the right covenant with God and not in the right relationship with God, where he is, you cannot go so to me when I. That's why I say I make it personal because, adney, you know this. You know when we sin, we sin hard. Before we were saved, we were all alive for the enemy and you're like man. And then, as you age, you start to lose loved ones, you start to lose friends and you're like man. Where are they going? Sometimes preachers are challenged because you may have the family members try to preach somebody that they know isn't right with God into heaven, and that's not how it works and that's the importance of the gospel and that's where we're putting more of an emphasis on it to share the gospel and that's how men and women will be saved. It's only through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2: 9:54

And Matthew 28, verse 16, the Great Commission. We talked about what commission means, but I want to highlight what Jesus Christ told the disciples. So you know, when we're saved, we are disciples. We're no longer our own, we are bought with a price. So we are not what most people. They ought to know, that they're disciples for Christ.

Speaker 2: 10:18

So in verse number 16 of Matthew, chapter 28, it says but the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. It says when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some were doubtful. Now this is the time if folks don't read their Bible, if y'all watching me for the first time, watching Adney for the first time, this is after Jesus Christ has resurrected from the dead. So Jesus Christ is going to give his disciples instructions on what they need to do. But they were doubtful because they didn't actually believe that it was him. So we know that there are eyewitnesses that Jesus Christ, he's the only God that was risen from the death like death the grave. In other words, there is no other God that has conquered death. So that's why we know that Jesus Christ, he is the true Messiah, he is the true God, and I'm going to leave it as that.

Speaker 2: 11:16

So verse number 18 says Jesus came up and he spoke to them, saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Speaker 2: 11:29

Now, this is the great commission, right, and this is where we get to sing our hallelujah, because most people still don't get it. So verse number 19 says Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and in the Holy Spirit. And verse number 20 says teaching them to observe all that I commanded you and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And this is encouragement to me. It's kind of like what we highlighted, how God commissioned us. So, when we're saved, god has given us a duty to perform. And he says go, therefore. And I'm going to read another passage where Jesus Christ instructed him. But he said go there and preach the gospel. But in this essence, in this version of the Bible, the NASB version, he says go there for and make disciples. So, annie, when you think about when he says go there and make disciples what comes to your mind.

Speaker 1: 12:36

OK. So the version I'm reading right now says go, therefore, and disciple all the nations Right. What version?

Speaker 2: 12:43

is this.

Speaker 1: 12:44

So it's called the Recovery Bible and it says go, therefore, and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And the reason I liked it is because we're baptizing them into the Father. We have people that believe that the whole thing of asking God into your heart right, if I'm asking him into my heart, I'm not being baptized into him. That's not what I'm told to do. I'm told to disciple. And to simply put what is a disciple? A disciple is a person that is imitating someone else's actions. Right, we're discipled by something. Let's be honest. We're discipled by something. If we're not being discipled by the body of Christ, we're being discipled by something.

Speaker 1: 13:49

Our children that love listening to rap music they're being discipled by those rappers. Our children that look at all these women, with you know, walking the street half naked. They're being discipled by them. So we are called to disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So who am I discipling them into? I'm discipling them into Christ. I'm discipling them to Jesus and whatever Jesus has and however Jesus walked this earth. That is how we're supposed to live our lives and imitate, and that's what the commission is, if I'm making sense.

Speaker 2: 14:30

You're spot on. So let me ask you a question. Do you feel like in this modern age, do you feel it's challenging to most to disciple individuals? And so why do you believe that?

Speaker 1: 15:37

I don't think it's difficult to disciple individuals. I think the biggest issue we have and I'm going to be honest is we're so judgmental. So in us being so judgmental, we don't allow ourselves to build relationships right, amen. The best way to disciple anyone is to establish a relationship. If I don't have a relationship with you, are you going to listen to me? If I'm telling you, if I'm explaining to you, if I'm trying to disciple you into Christ, you're not going to hear me because you don't know me and the first thing that's going to come to your mind is you judging me, you trying to judge me. But the key and the goal to discipling is establishing a relationship. And I think let me not say I think I know for a fact when I read the scriptures Jesus established a relationship with those who were around him and as he's establishing this relationship, they're seeing his walk and they're hearing him preach. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. He's not just preaching it, he's living it.

Speaker 2: 16:46

Amen.

Speaker 1: 16:47

Right. So in order for us to do that, today, we can't just be speaking it. We got to live it. People need to, and that's why I say it's not difficult. If our actions and our words align, people will listen to us. It's when we say one thing and we live in another type of way and people are like bro, you fake.

Speaker 2: 17:13

And even when it comes to like discipling, we have to be an example. It's like what Paul told Timothy. You know, be an example to the believers. Yeah, Paul was sharing that to Timothy, but I think it's even apropos to non-believers. You know, we can't. We can't be acting one way, you way like have a mask on when we're in a place of worship and then outside of the worship or when you're not in close proximity with the saints, you're acting a totally different person. And then you'll have somebody talking about hey, I thought you was a Christian. Because they see some ugly fruit, they see some rotten fruit. So now they saying words like hey, I thought you was a Christian. So now it puts you at a position where you can't even disciple them.

Speaker 2: 17:58

And I like what you said earlier, Adney, you said it had to take you until you was like 40 plus to really look at souls. And I think most Christians not all, because there are some Christians that are spiritual and there are some that are still on milk and I get it they're babes. So maybe that this episode would help the babes. So for me, when I look at individuals, I look at souls. I don't look like I don't when I see, either it could be a male or female if they're in front of me, or even a far off. I'm like man. I wonder if they're saved, I wonder if their soul is right with Christ. And there's sometimes, you know, I fall, I make mistakes, but I'm very, very careful the way I carry myself around unbelievers, careful the way I carry myself around unbelievers. And even times when I fall in front of an unbeliever, like I have to catch myself and I even have to say, you know, I have to apologize to them or say something like, you know, I didn't mean to say what I said, I didn't mean to do what I did. I do apologize to show them that look, you know, I am man enough to either walk up to you and tell you about my errors and my flaws, Because, a believer as a believer, you should never be a stumbling block to a potential believer.

Speaker 2: 19:23

And then I think in today's society most Christians paint this picture like, as though it's prosperity, like prosperity like god. If you could give me what I want, I'll do this for you. You know, I mean like that. That shouldn't be the case. It's supposed to be. It's like christ humbled himself. You know, even john john. John put himself as a lord. He's like lord, you know. He exalted the Lord and he went low right and I think that's the disposition that we have to have. We have to exalt Christ and that's to be left of us and so to make a disciple to me.

Speaker 2: 20:02

You hit it spot on, because when Jesus Christ here on earth, he's the best example, Jesus Christ had compassion, and that's one of the things that I didn't have as a new babe in Christ Adney. I was hitting the streets and I was like mentally and verbally beating people up with the word of God and I wasn't showing them the compassion, the same love and the compassion that Christ showed individuals when he was on earth. And I read the gospels, I have my testimony, but I didn't quite understand until it happened to me. So when I was in my lowest state, when I needed that same grace, when I needed that same mercy, folks wasn't giving it to me. So it came back at me. So you're going to always reap what you sow.

Speaker 2: 20:48

And then, at that moment, that's when I realized you know what we're already living a difficult, difficult world. You know there are a lot of people going through it, People that are saved. Yeah, People that are saved are going through it, but we're blessed. But think about the people that don't have Christ. Think about the whirlwinds that they're going through. So, when it comes to making disciples reaching out to the lost and making disciples always strive to be an example to them, it's not easy. It's not easy because those entities that be that you cannot see will potentially use them, and then it may cause you, if you're not careful, if you don't have that spiritual discernment, if you're not careful, it may cause you to say some things or even do something that you're not even supposed to be doing.

Speaker 1: 21:38

Amen, and I love that you brought out the fact that when you were a babe in Christ, you were beating people up with the word of God. Right, because again we get so zealous and until we study the rabbi himself. Right, and the rabbi of rabbis is Jesus. He wasn't like those rabbis back then. He wasn't the one that was flashy, he wasn't the one that wanted people to exalt him and for him to sit at the head of the table. He was the one that humbled himself. Jesus was a nomad. Let's be honest. Jesus didn't have a place to live, he had no job, but what he showed was, like you said, compassion. Showed was, like you said, compassion, jesus's bowels, jesus's love, jesus's his um, uh, there, I can't, the word escapes me now for humanity was just so great that he knew I have to die for these people because if I don't, what becomes of them? Right, and it gets to the point where we have to imitate that, I think, what has happened in the Western world. We have a soft gospel.

Speaker 2: 23:08

Mercy Wow.

Speaker 1: 23:11

And when I say we have a soft gospel, mercy, wow. And when I say we have a soft gospel, I mean, if we go to Africa, oh, let's go to a Muslim country, let's go to China, let's go to Korea, where these are atheistic people who are being beaten up. They have to go in hiding to share the gospel. We here in this country, we don't have those shackles on us. But, yeah, we're shutting our mouths, we're giving people soft. We don't want to hurt feelings. And here's the thing. It's not even about hurting the feelings, because you don't do that. The word of God is actually what convicts. If the word of God ain't convicting somebody, you can't be beating them over the head Once you give them the word. Let the word of God do what the word of God does. That's the best way to disciple a person is to allow the word of God to infiltrate and penetrate, is to allow the word of God to infiltrate and penetrate.

Speaker 1: 24:12

Paul says in the ancient Corinthians, when the people were fighting, that they were baptized under this and baptized on that. And Paul had to come back to them and say did Paul die for you? Look, I'm grateful and thankful. I ain't baptized none of y'all right, because he had to put Christ back where Christ belonged. And what I've seen and I've recognized in this world, especially in the Western world, is that we've exalted so many people, but the one that we really, truly need to be exalting our savior, our master. We haven't done that and we're losing souls. And that's where compassion for me is like the Holy Spirit is doing something in my heart, like when I tell you there's just a shift in me where it's just like no, all that extra stuff is non-essential. The essential thing is this Jesus said all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and disciple all nations. That's all that matters. All that other stuff that we fighting about, it don't matter to God. What matters to God is those souls that we need to be discipling.