Tyler Lynde: So we were in a sermon series called Discipleship Matters.
Tyler Lynde: And the way that this came about is we went away as an elder team in October to ask the Lord what we needed to do for this year for 2026.
Tyler Lynde: And we felt like he was encouraging us to make sure that we were better equipped to handle crisis.
Tyler Lynde: Now, before you get too scared about that, how many of you know that crisis happens?
Tyler Lynde: It's going to happen.
Tyler Lynde: It's not like if it happens, it's more like when it will happen.
Tyler Lynde: It happens in each and every one of our lives in different ways, in different scenarios, right?
Tyler Lynde: And so we need to be equipped for that and prepared for that.
Tyler Lynde: We kind of walked away with this slogan, which is that sharpened Christians are best equipped for crisis.
Tyler Lynde: Sharpened Christians are best equipped for crisis.
Tyler Lynde: So my question for each and every one of us, how sharp are we?
Tyler Lynde: We're not talking about IQ or anything or the way we're dressed or anything like that.
Tyler Lynde: We're talking about being prepared, spirit, soul, and body, to face whatever it is that we might face in this year of 2026.
Tyler Lynde: And so as we were asking the Lord for strategy, we felt encouraged to focus primarily on discipleship.
Tyler Lynde: Discipleship, specifically the way that Jesus discipled his followers.
Tyler Lynde: His plan was to take a few ordinary people, to pour his life into them, and then to release them to do the same thing over and over and over again.
Tyler Lynde: And 2,000 years later, all of us are sitting here today because Jesus did what he did.
Tyler Lynde: Was it a good plan?
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, I've often wondered what the angels thought about as Jesus was beginning to implement this plan and saying the things because they're like, seriously, you're gonna leave it up to them?
Tyler Lynde: And then Jesus said, no, no, no, no.
Tyler Lynde: I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: He's gonna live on the inside of them, he's gonna help them and encourage them and strengthen them and all of those things, right?
Tyler Lynde: So this is the plan of God, and we want to participate with the plan of God, right?
Tyler Lynde: And it didn't stop uh last year or the year before or a thousand years ago.
Tyler Lynde: This plan of discipleship continues on.
Tyler Lynde: And uh Neil reminded us last week that a disciple is a person who desires to be like Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: And I want to add one to this that I don't have in my notes.
Tyler Lynde: A disciple is a person who wants to know Jesus, who wants to know him.
Tyler Lynde: Remember, Paul's crying out, I want to know him, and his suffering and the power of his resurrection and all of those things that he is.
Tyler Lynde: I want to really know him.
Tyler Lynde: So let's not forget about that in the doing of things.
Tyler Lynde: Let's not forget about the knowing aspect.
Tyler Lynde: A person, and it's also a person who desires to be like Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: It's a person willing to practice the things that Jesus practiced, and it's a person who desires to be used by Jesus to draw others to him.
Tyler Lynde: We see a journey of four steps that Jesus engaged with his followers that all include a call to respond.
Tyler Lynde: So it was God doing the work or Jesus doing the work, but there was a response that was required out of the people that were to follow him.
Tyler Lynde: And again, we believe that that same practice continues today.
Tyler Lynde: So I'm gonna put up the slide that they built last week and just remind us of these four segments.
Tyler Lynde: So the first one is come and see, come and see.
Tyler Lynde: Second is follow me, third is be with me, and fourth is go for me.
Tyler Lynde: And if you haven't had a chance to snap a picture of this right now, go ahead and take it if you want to, and that way you can have it to refer back to later on.
Tyler Lynde: Or if you are an artist and you can quickly get this drawn out, go ahead and do that.
Tyler Lynde: But that's the four stages that we're looking at.
Tyler Lynde: Last week, Neil did an excellent job of sort of opening this whole thing up.
Tyler Lynde: In fact, one of the things that's dangerous about having a teacher of Neil's stature go first in a series like this is you're hoping as you're listening to the sermon that he's gonna leave you something to say.
Tyler Lynde: So when he gets back, you can thank him on my behalf.
Tyler Lynde: He's in Florida right now ministering at a church, but you can thank him on my behalf for leaving a little meat on the bones so that we could take kind of the foundation that was laid last week and build on it.
Tyler Lynde: But the big picture of Jesus' discipleship style, while focusing in on come and see, this is the simple call to observe who Jesus is and what he does.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know that this call goes out to the masses?
Tyler Lynde: It went out to the crowds, it went out to the multitudes, and it also went out to individual people.
Tyler Lynde: Come and see this man.
Tyler Lynde: Come and see, come and listen to him, come and watch, come and observe what is going on with this man.
Tyler Lynde: And then we turn, as in turn, as believers in Christ, have the privilege and responsibility of inviting others into our lives to come and see.
Tyler Lynde: And we're and that's again sort of the what uh what Neil led us through last week.
Tyler Lynde: Today we're going to observe the second stage, and all of these are relational.
Tyler Lynde: All of these move deeper and deeper into uh a deeper relationship with Jesus, right?
Tyler Lynde: So the second one that we're going to talk about today is follow me.
Tyler Lynde: So if you would turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4.
Tyler Lynde: If you're reading in our uh New Testament reading plan, this last week we would have read this chapter, and so hopefully these words will uh will come back to your memory just from having read them recently.
Tyler Lynde: Matthew chapter 4, verses 18 through 22.
Tyler Lynde: It says, While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers.
Tyler Lynde: Who's the he there?
Tyler Lynde: Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Yeah.
Tyler Lynde: Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
Tyler Lynde: And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Tyler Lynde: Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Tyler Lynde: And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.
Tyler Lynde: And he called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Tyler Lynde: So, Lord, we pray for this day.
Tyler Lynde: We we thank you, Lord, for what you've already accomplished.
Tyler Lynde: We give you all of the glory for that.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, we ask that you would take the words that you've put in my heart for this morning and that are from your word, Father, that you would cause them to produce life, to produce change where change is needed, and to inspire us, Lord God, to follow you and to help others to follow you as well.
Tyler Lynde: In Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: So it's interesting in this passage in Matthew, we aren't given the precursor to the story.
Tyler Lynde: In fact, there's only one gospel book that tells us the before of what happened with Peter and Andrew and James and John.
Tyler Lynde: It's found in the book of Luke.
Tyler Lynde: And do you remember the story?
Tyler Lynde: They were fishing and they had been fishing all night.
Tyler Lynde: And how many had they caught?
Tyler Lynde: They were fishermen.
Tyler Lynde: Now, I have a question about how good of a fish a fisherman they were.
Tyler Lynde: Because every time Jesus encounters them, he's having to produce fish for them.
Tyler Lynde: So and being a fisherman myself, I've had many occasions like that where I go out and I fish all day and catch nothing, right?
Tyler Lynde: My children, one of the reasons that they don't like to go fishing with me is because it's not called catching.
Tyler Lynde: If we could change the name to catching, I'm sure they'd all be right there with me all the time.
Tyler Lynde: But part of the whole thing is the fishing aspect, right?
Tyler Lynde: So uh anyway, we know the story.
Tyler Lynde: They've been fishing all night.
Tyler Lynde: They come close to shore.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus is standing at the shore.
Tyler Lynde: He calls out to Peter and says, Hey, if you want to catch some fish, you go back out deeper into the water and cast your net on the other side of the boat.
Tyler Lynde: Now, how many of you know it's not that far from one side of the boat to the other side of the boat, especially those boats.
Tyler Lynde: They were not humongous boats, right?
Tyler Lynde: So, and also it's like Peter could have easily said, Who is this guy?
Tyler Lynde: First of all.
Tyler Lynde: And second of all, how's why what why is he trying to tell me how to do my job, right?
Tyler Lynde: That could have easily been his refrain.
Tyler Lynde: But Peter does it.
Tyler Lynde: He he goes back out a little bit, they cast the net on the other side, and guess what happens?
Tyler Lynde: The fish show up and they pull that net, and it's so full that they can't even get it all into their boat.
Tyler Lynde: It's gonna sink their boat.
Tyler Lynde: So they call over James and John, who are in another fishing boat, and they have to give them some of the fish, right?
Tyler Lynde: It was such an overflowing thing.
Tyler Lynde: And so then uh adjacent to that story, we see this in Matthew, where Jesus says to them, Come and follow me, right?
Tyler Lynde: It's interesting, uh again, that only Luke records that.
Tyler Lynde: Um, when he obeyed, his nets were so filled with fish.
Tyler Lynde: James and John, the sons of Zebedee, didn't have this initial encounter with Jesus when Jesus spoke to Peter, right?
Tyler Lynde: They had to be called over.
Tyler Lynde: And yet they were called over and they became a part of the twelve.
Tyler Lynde: It's really interesting the way that God does things.
Tyler Lynde: So, in my opinion, that was an example of the come and see part of Jesus' ministry, the miraculous side, the signs and wonders, all of those things.
Tyler Lynde: But the come and see for Peter and Andrew and James and John transitioned into follow me, follow me.
Tyler Lynde: And that's what we're gonna talk about this morning.
Tyler Lynde: He said, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Tyler Lynde: Fishers of men.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus talks to people in language that they understand.
Tyler Lynde: And he talked to fishermen about fishing, but he talked to them about fishing for men instead of for fish.
Tyler Lynde: And this this call to follow him is such a simple, straightforward call.
Tyler Lynde: We don't want to overcomplicate it today.
Tyler Lynde: I'm not gonna give you, I'm not gonna go so deep that you can't uh you know come along with what I'm trying to say to you.
Tyler Lynde: It is it is not complicated.
Tyler Lynde: I simply want us to build this idea out of what following Jesus looks like and how we can implement his model of discipleship in our own lives.
Tyler Lynde: Here's the bottom line.
Tyler Lynde: If you get nothing else this morning, I hope you get this.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus gave his disciples an invitation to imitation.
Tyler Lynde: That's what he that's what he meant when he said, follow me.
Tyler Lynde: Follow me.
Tyler Lynde: He was inviting them into his life so that they could learn of him and learn to walk the way that he walks.
Tyler Lynde: That's what we're talking about here.
Tyler Lynde: His call was not simply to observe him from a distance, to come and see, it was to follow him.
Tyler Lynde: The plan was to move those who received his invitation from seekers to saints, who then would have a heart for seekers to become saints, who would then have a heart for seekers to become saints, and on and on and on.
Tyler Lynde: Time does not allow us the ability to talk about every way that Jesus influenced these 12 disciples.
Tyler Lynde: We would be here, and in fact, the book of John says that there's not enough paper, there's not enough time, there's not enough space to write all of the things that he said and did.
Tyler Lynde: But the disciples would learn specifically what it looks like to live as citizens of another kingdom.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you are thankful that you belong to a kingdom that is not of this world?
Tyler Lynde: All you have to do is watch the news for an hour, and at the end of that time, you're either you're repenting, you are interceding, or you are saying, Thank you, God, that you're in control and that you're sovereign and that we can trust you, and that we're citizens of another kingdom and of another realm.
Tyler Lynde: And you are God above all.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus came to represent the kingdom of God.
Tyler Lynde: And you know this because almost every talk that he ever gave was a description of what the kingdom of God looked like, what the kingdom of God was, how it operated.
Tyler Lynde: He spent most of his time showing everyone, especially his disciples, what it was all about.
Tyler Lynde: And this kingdom is an upside down kingdom, and maybe I'll correct that.
Tyler Lynde: Maybe the kingdoms of this world are upside down, and the kingdom of God is right side up.
Tyler Lynde: Can we say it like that?
Tyler Lynde: Because that's the truth.
Tyler Lynde: It is the truth.
Tyler Lynde: We are called to be a part of the kingdom of God that is not a kingdom of this world, even though it influences this world and affects this world, and we are in this world, right?
Tyler Lynde: But we are kingdoms of another, we are citizens of another kingdom.
Tyler Lynde: So let's look at what Christ's followers are called to do.
Tyler Lynde: First of all, Christ's followers are called to serve wholeheartedly.
Tyler Lynde: Christ's followers are called to serve wholeheartedly.
Tyler Lynde: In Mark chapter 10, verse 45, it says of Jesus, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus is the greatest example that has ever walked this planet of what it looks like to be a servant.
Tyler Lynde: He was a servant and he loved serving God and serving people.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus in this passage in Mark is responding to James and John's request.
Tyler Lynde: Remember what they're saying, James and John later on.
Tyler Lynde: What was their request?
Tyler Lynde: That they could sit at the right hand and the left hand of Jesus when he comes into his kingdom.
Tyler Lynde: One passage says that they asked Jesus, another passage says they sent their mama.
Tyler Lynde: Oh my goodness.
Tyler Lynde: Don't we love our mamas?
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, anyway.
Tyler Lynde: Yeah.
Tyler Lynde: So but Jesus looks at them and he loves them, but he also wants them to get it.
Tyler Lynde: Guys, it's not about that.
Tyler Lynde: That's the kingdom of this world.
Tyler Lynde: You're thinking about the way that Gentiles live, you're thinking about the kingdoms of this world.
Tyler Lynde: It's not that way.
Tyler Lynde: In fact, if you want to be great in this kingdom, learn to be the servant of all.
Tyler Lynde: If we are to be true followers of Jesus Christ, we will be servants who serve wholeheartedly.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: So let me ask us a question together.
Tyler Lynde: We're all here together.
Tyler Lynde: We're family, right?
Tyler Lynde: We can be honest with each other.
Tyler Lynde: How is our serve game?
Tyler Lynde: Not talking about tennis or pickleball, but how is our serve game?
Tyler Lynde: Are we serious about modeling for those around us what it looks like to emulate this attitude, this heart, this wholehearted service?
Tyler Lynde: Do people in our workplaces say of us, man, they'll do anything for anybody?
Tyler Lynde: Man, when I was really struggling and I didn't have enough, I couldn't get everything done that I needed to get done.
Tyler Lynde: So-and-so stepped in and they helped me get to the finish line.
Tyler Lynde: How was our serve game?
Tyler Lynde: I gotta be honest with you, many of the people in this room challenge me when it comes to serving.
Tyler Lynde: Because Trinity Community Church, by the grace of God, is filled with people who love to serve the Lord and serve other people.
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, and I just want to give you a hand for that because it is amazing.
Tyler Lynde: It's amazing to be a part of a church like this.
Tyler Lynde: And why do how do we do it?
Tyler Lynde: We do it by God's grace.
Tyler Lynde: His grace is sufficient for us.
Tyler Lynde: So if you're going to be a Christ follower, you got to make sure that you're willing to serve, right?
Tyler Lynde: Follow me means that you're going to be a server.
Tyler Lynde: Christ followers are also called to reflect the character of Christ.
Tyler Lynde: The character of Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Why was it important for the disciples to follow Jesus so they could learn what it looks like to serve, but also so they could learn what it looks like to live, how to live.
Tyler Lynde: How then should we live?
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know Jesus, again, is the greatest example of living out good character, godly character that there has ever been or ever will be, right?
Tyler Lynde: In fact, in John 14, verses 6 and 7, it says, Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life.
Tyler Lynde: No one comes to the Father except through me.
Tyler Lynde: If you could stop there and maybe not catch the whole gist of this, but listen to what he says next.
Tyler Lynde: If you had known me, you would have known my father also.
Tyler Lynde: From now on, you do know him and have seen him.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus was carrying out, walking out the same principles that he was asking his disciples to do.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know that Jesus did not say anything or do anything unless he heard his father say it or his father asked him to do it?
Tyler Lynde: Jesus was following the Father just like he asks us to follow him.
Tyler Lynde: And part of that has to do with character.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus was a perfect representation of the Father.
Tyler Lynde: His thoughts, words, and deeds were inspired by and divinely granted because of his relationship with his father.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus' followers are intended to carry this practice on by emulating the character of Jesus, which should be ever increasing based on the sanctification process.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you, if you're if if we're all honest today, if you've been in the Lord for some period of time, you cannot get away with things that you could get away with 20 years ago or 30 years ago.
Tyler Lynde: And why is that?
Tyler Lynde: Because you've just become a better version of yourself?
Tyler Lynde: It's because the Holy Spirit gets louder and louder and louder and fine tunes and fine tunes and fine tunes.
Tyler Lynde: And once we're done with maybe the top 10 list of sin, then he begins to deal with attitudes and motivations and uh you know why we do what we do and all of those things, right?
Tyler Lynde: Am I the only one?
Tyler Lynde: Okay, good, good.
Tyler Lynde: I'm glad I'm in good company here this morning.
Tyler Lynde: So let me ask you this question.
Tyler Lynde: Again, these are these are things that make me think, and hopefully they will too.
Tyler Lynde: If those we are discipling followed us around for any length of time, what type of character would they be learning to imitate?
Tyler Lynde: Just look at your neighbor and smile at them because that way nobody will know what you're thinking or how you're feeling right now.
Tyler Lynde: But it's true.
Tyler Lynde: Let's ask the question.
Tyler Lynde: If we were to ask somebody to imitate us, to follow us around and do what we do and say what we say and have the attitude that we have, what product would we produce?
Tyler Lynde: That's a good question.
Tyler Lynde: I'm asking myself.
Tyler Lynde: I did ask myself this week.
Tyler Lynde: Here, I want to just clarify something real quick.
Tyler Lynde: The pastors of this church are not super Christians.
Tyler Lynde: What I mean by that is we are not like extraordinary, like we have superpowers that are beyond what you're given.
Tyler Lynde: We have grace for a gift that we've been asked to to uh to walk in, right?
Tyler Lynde: To function in.
Tyler Lynde: We have grace for that gift.
Tyler Lynde: But beyond that, we we have to live just like you live.
Tyler Lynde: And so when we're talking about you discipling.
Tyler Lynde: We're talking to me too, to us.
Tyler Lynde: So I'm saying these things to you with a heart that understands that this affects all of us, including me.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know we can step it up by God's grace, not in our own strength, but we can step it up by grace to make sure that our character is lining up with Jesus' character.
Tyler Lynde: And we can do that again because the Holy Spirit lives within us.
Tyler Lynde: Oh, by the way, if you don't know the answer to the question about how would those followers act if they were imitating you, ask your family.
Tyler Lynde: At least my family, they they they tend to tell me the truth.
Tyler Lynde: Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't, right?
Tyler Lynde: But I need it.
Tyler Lynde: I need the truth.
Tyler Lynde: Okay, so so what I'm saying to you is I'm not I'm not trying to condemn you, but what I am saying is there's room for improvement.
Tyler Lynde: If we are going to be disciplers of other people, we have to understand what it looks like to be a disciple ourselves.
Tyler Lynde: Aren't you so thankful that Jesus saw through the crowd that came to see him and called out a few?
Tyler Lynde: Aren't you thankful that in the crowd of this whole earth, the billions of people on this planet, God saw through the crowd and he called each and every one of us to follow him?
Tyler Lynde: What a privilege.
Tyler Lynde: And we get to be a part of that continuing story.
Tyler Lynde: And finally, Christ's followers are called to share God's heart for the lost.
Tyler Lynde: Luke chapter 19, verse 10, it says, For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
Tyler Lynde: This verse just taken by itself is a nice verse, but here's the context with it.
Tyler Lynde: Zacchaeus, remember Zacchaeus, the tax collector, the wee little man, that climbed up in the sycamore tree to see what Jesus might do.
Tyler Lynde: And Jesus came by and he said, Zacchaeus, I'm going home with you today.
Tyler Lynde: We're having lunch at your house.
Tyler Lynde: And so he did.
Tyler Lynde: And during the time of the conversation with Zacchaeus, something changed.
Tyler Lynde: How do we know it changed?
Tyler Lynde: Because Zacchaeus took the money that he had stolen from everybody else and he gave it back.
Tyler Lynde: And he also gave more.
Tyler Lynde: What was a sign?
Tyler Lynde: It was an outward sign of what was happening on his heart.
Tyler Lynde: And when Jesus was questioned about why he would go sit in a filthy, stinking tax collector's house, and you can fill in tax collector with whichever sin you hate the most.
Tyler Lynde: But he would why would he go and sit in a filthy tax collector's house who is stolen from all of us, who is on Rome's side instead of our side?
Tyler Lynde: And Jesus said, I'm doing my father's work.
Tyler Lynde: The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
Tyler Lynde: If there was anything that Jesus wanted his disciples to catch, it was that his very purpose was to ransom back those who had been lost because of the curse of sin.
Tyler Lynde: We see it in Genesis 3:15.
Tyler Lynde: As soon as sin occurred, as soon as the curse of sin was given, there was an answer.
Tyler Lynde: And the answer was Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Think about the many times that it is said of Jesus that he was moved with compassion and did fill in the blank over and over and over again.
Tyler Lynde: It says that his heart was torn.
Tyler Lynde: He was moved.
Tyler Lynde: He felt what the crowds were feeling.
Tyler Lynde: He felt what individuals must feel.
Tyler Lynde: He stopped a funeral procession of a widow whose only son had passed away to reach up his hand and touch the coffin and for the young man to rise again.
Tyler Lynde: This is the love that Jesus has for those who are lost.
Tyler Lynde: In fact, as part of his entry onto the scene, he stood up in his hometown and he read from the book of Isaiah and is quoted here in Luke chapter 4: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
Tyler Lynde: He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Tyler Lynde: This is the message of Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: This is the heart of Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: This is what we carry with us as followers of Jesus who are attempting to reach those who are not yet following him.
Tyler Lynde: The Spirit of the Lord is upon us to bring freedom into people's lives.
Tyler Lynde: You see, the work of discipleship isn't finished until disciples are making disciples.
Tyler Lynde: Can you imagine if there was a moratorium on having children in the world?
Tyler Lynde: How long would it take for the world to be depopulated?
Tyler Lynde: It's hard to even imagine.
Tyler Lynde: It's hard to even think about, right?
Tyler Lynde: It's never going to happen.
Tyler Lynde: But in our lives, Christianity could suffer the same fate.
Tyler Lynde: If disciples refuse to disciple those who would come next.
Tyler Lynde: Remember, he said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
Tyler Lynde: The temptation for all of us is to throw up our hands and say that this is an impossible feat.
Tyler Lynde: I cannot do this.
Tyler Lynde: I can't do it.
Tyler Lynde: That none of us can ever even get close to accomplishing in our lives what uh what discipleship, what how Jesus was a disciple and emulated discipleship to us.
Tyler Lynde: Thankfully, we have the rest of the story where these followers of Jesus who were imperfect, aren't you glad that the Bible's real?
Tyler Lynde: Any other religious religious book makes everything pretty, makes all the characters perfect and excellent.
Tyler Lynde: And you know, like otherworldly, the Bible made Peter Simon before he was Peter, right?
Tyler Lynde: Jesus did that.
Tyler Lynde: But it showed all of the failings of everyday average people who Jesus was working with.
Tyler Lynde: And how many of you know that they became fishers of men who represented Christ, most of them even being willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Let's look at an example from the Bible.
Tyler Lynde: Paul was a great example of this follow-me aspect of discipleship.
Tyler Lynde: He told the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, be imitators of me.
Tyler Lynde: Don't stop there, as I am of Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Paul wasn't saying just do everything I do.
Tyler Lynde: He's saying everything that is of Christ, do that.
Tyler Lynde: In fact, I want to say to you that if you follow me around long enough, I'm going to disappoint you.
Tyler Lynde: It's not my goal, it's not what I'm aiming for, but I'm going to say something, do something, act a certain way, whatever it is, that's going to be a disappointment to you.
Tyler Lynde: But I would say to you, if there's anything of Christ in me that you see, follow that.
Tyler Lynde: Follow that.
Tyler Lynde: You see, we're not emulating our own personalities or our own goodness or our own kindness.
Tyler Lynde: We're emulating the kindness of Jesus, the goodness of Jesus, the mercy of Jesus, the faithfulness of Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Paul understood this as he told the Corinthian church.
Tyler Lynde: He also encouraged his son in the faith, Timothy, concerning his own example as a Christian leader in 1 Timothy 4.12, my life verse.
Tyler Lynde: He's saying to Timothy, if you really want to do this, if you want to be a part of the kingdom of God, if you really want to have an impact in the churches that you are serving, make sure that you're living this life the way that Jesus lived his life.
Tyler Lynde: He also reiterated to Timothy the fact that he wouldn't be finished with his job until his disciples were making disciples.
Tyler Lynde: In 2 Timothy chapter 2, it says, You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
Tyler Lynde: Paul understood that this was something that was to be transferred, it was to be expanded, it was to be multiplied.
Tyler Lynde: The kingdom of God is a kingdom of multiplication, not addition.
Tyler Lynde: And yet, so many times we focus on subtraction, right?
Tyler Lynde: The kingdom is a kingdom of multiplication.
Tyler Lynde: So let's get to sort of a bottom line thing to finish this out.
Tyler Lynde: Disciple making is investing ourselves in the lives of others in order to help their growth in the faith, which includes helping them to invest in others who will invest in others.
Tyler Lynde: It's the simplest way I know how to say it.
Tyler Lynde: We help people grow in the faith so they can help other people grow in the faith.
Tyler Lynde: Obviously, it's easy to focus on the tremendous result in the lives of those who are being discipled.
Tyler Lynde: In other words, we could say, well, it's just all for them.
Tyler Lynde: It's all for the people that I'm discipling.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you, if you've ever discipled somebody, what do you discover?
Tyler Lynde: Every time I've ever come back from a mission trip where I poured myself out to try to bless the people there and to be an example to them, I came away feeling like they had given way more to me than I could have ever given to them.
Tyler Lynde: My friends, there is gold found in them their hills.
Tyler Lynde: When we make disciples, it not only affects them, it affects us.
Tyler Lynde: Teaching something to somebody else helps you to learn it better yourself.
Tyler Lynde: There's a book called Habits of Grace by David Mathis, and our staff just went through this and we're almost finished, or we finished it?
Tyler Lynde: I can't remember.
Tyler Lynde: Almost.
Tyler Lynde: One more chapter.
Tyler Lynde: So um, in this last chapter, we talked about they talked about this very thing, and I wanted just to pull a couple thoughts from there.
Tyler Lynde: So let's look at four disciple-making lessons for disciplers.
Tyler Lynde: Number one, disciple making shows us our smallness and God's bigness.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know that's a proper perspective?
Tyler Lynde: God is big and I am small.
Tyler Lynde: It doesn't mean that I'm not significant or important or anything like that, but his purpose, how many of you know the call to discipleship is huge?
Tyler Lynde: Go therefore and make disciples of what?
Tyler Lynde: All nations.
Tyler Lynde: Is that a big deal?
Tyler Lynde: God's a big deal with a big plan.
Tyler Lynde: And me as an individual feels like a small part of that big deal, big plan.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know you're an important part?
Tyler Lynde: You and I are an important part.
Tyler Lynde: The vision is huge.
Tyler Lynde: Our part in the equation is relatively small, but very important.
Tyler Lynde: So this is something that a lot of people use as a slogan.
Tyler Lynde: I think I may have a oh, my son corrected it on the slide.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Benjamin.
Tyler Lynde: I have it wrong in my notes, but he's got it right on the slide.
Tyler Lynde: So these three little uh segments that a lot of um missionary organizations use.
Tyler Lynde: So think big, think big, start small, and go deep.
Tyler Lynde: If if you if you want to just wrap your mind around what this discipleship process looks like for you, think big.
Tyler Lynde: This is a big deal.
Tyler Lynde: This is a huge deal.
Tyler Lynde: It's God's master plan, right?
Tyler Lynde: Think big, start small.
Tyler Lynde: It's one-on-one.
Tyler Lynde: It's me with one other person.
Tyler Lynde: It's a small beginning, but go deep.
Tyler Lynde: Go deep, walk with that person, help them to understand who Jesus is and why he does what he does and how important he is to them.
Tyler Lynde: And don't walk away from them until they're discipling somebody else, right?
Tyler Lynde: While we're going, make disciples.
Tyler Lynde: Make disciples.
Tyler Lynde: Number two, disciple making challenges challenges us to be authentic Christians.
Tyler Lynde: And we please, for the love of God, be authentic in our Christianity.
Tyler Lynde: We've talked about this many times before.
Tyler Lynde: The number one thing that keeps people away from Christ is not Satan in the flesh, like Satan appearing to them.
Tyler Lynde: It's the fact that he uses the hypocrisy within those who call themselves Christians as a reason to stay away from Christ.
Tyler Lynde: The only answer.
Tyler Lynde: One thing to invite someone to an event where they might encounter Christ that's important.
Tyler Lynde: Please do that.
Tyler Lynde: Invite people to come to church.
Tyler Lynde: It's a good thing.
Tyler Lynde: But it's another thing to invite them into your life where they see Christ in you.
Tyler Lynde: Good disciple making requires us to be both intentional and relational.
Tyler Lynde: It's strategic and social, it's the sharing of ordinary life, which is relationship, while seeking to initiate and make the most of teachable moments, which is intentionality.
Tyler Lynde: Think of Jesus as long walks and talks with his disciples.
Tyler Lynde: He performed miracles and all of those things.
Tyler Lynde: But I would have loved to just be around the fire, listening to him, watching him.
Tyler Lynde: Number three, disciple making makes us more aware of our sin.
Tyler Lynde: Oh, I don't want that.
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, it does.
Tyler Lynde: It feels much easier to fly under the radar when we assume that no one is watching us.
Tyler Lynde: But here's, you guys ready for the big news of the day?
Tyler Lynde: God is always watching.
Tyler Lynde: He knows.
Tyler Lynde: So who are we trying to fool?
Tyler Lynde: That's silly.
Tyler Lynde: It's actually a silly thought.
Tyler Lynde: God is always watching.
Tyler Lynde: In good disciple making, we are able to demonstrate for the ones we're investing in what it looks like for sinners to repent.
Tyler Lynde: One of the lessons that people need and we need to experience in our own lives is that you actually enter into the kingdom by repenting.
Tyler Lynde: And that's not a one-time deal.
Tyler Lynde: Repentance is something that happens over and over and over and over again in our lives.
Tyler Lynde: Sometimes on a daily basis, sometimes hourly, sometimes minute by minute.
Tyler Lynde: Those who are looking to our lives and seeking to imitate our faith need to see us be honest about our sins, to hear us confess our sins, and to witness our repentance, which means that we earnestly are pursuing change.
Tyler Lynde: I'm not content to remain the way that I am.
Tyler Lynde: By the grace of God, I'm going to change.
Tyler Lynde: And that thing which has had a hold of me for 10 years in 2026 no longer has real estate.
Tyler Lynde: In the name of Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: You see, we must be willing to allow the death of much of our privacy in order to be effective disciple makers.
Tyler Lynde: The hiddenness of our lives, except for that which is hidden in God, has to go away to a certain degree.
Tyler Lynde: We have to be willing to be open and honest and transparent if we're going to produce real Christians.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know part of the crisis that the church is facing today is that they in the 1900s there was a move to do away with talking about the wrath of God and hell itself.
Tyler Lynde: And with that, there was an altar call that was given that was basically come to Jesus, and everything in your life is going to be just great.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know that's great for a day, maybe for a week, and even a month?
Tyler Lynde: But you get much beyond that.
Tyler Lynde: And what do you discover about this life?
Tyler Lynde: You discover what Jesus said in this world, you will have trouble.
Tyler Lynde: But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.
Tyler Lynde: Right?
Tyler Lynde: So we need authentic Christianity.
Tyler Lynde: We need our privacy to not be as important to us as helping others to follow Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: And the last one is disciple making teaches us to lean heavier on Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Disciple making is often messy, difficult work.
Tyler Lynde: But before you judge them too uh strongly, how's Jesus been walking with you?
Tyler Lynde: When we are attempting to represent Christ to those around us, we become keenly aware of our own weakness, our own failure, our own inadequacy.
Tyler Lynde: And with God's help, these realities will teach us to lean on Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: It is about Him.
Tyler Lynde: It's not about us, it's about Him.
Tyler Lynde: And we can lean on Him.
Tyler Lynde: It's His work that we get to participate with Him in.
Tyler Lynde: Look at Hebrews chapter 12 in closing.
Tyler Lynde: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Tyler Lynde: This is the word of God.
Tyler Lynde: So Neil gave us these steps, and I'm not going to go into them, but just to remind us practical steps to disciple making.
Tyler Lynde: Number one, dare to be a disciple yourself, and that's sort of what we're talking about here today.
Tyler Lynde: Let's be authentic followers of Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Number two, take stock of your present relationships.
Tyler Lynde: You may ask the question, who are the they that we're talking about here?
Tyler Lynde: Who are those people that I'm supposed to disciple?
Tyler Lynde: Can I give you some heavy revelation this morning?
Tyler Lynde: I feel like I'm said that a couple times.
Tyler Lynde: Anyway, let me help you.
Tyler Lynde: Do any of you have children?
Tyler Lynde: Do any of you have grandchildren?
Tyler Lynde: Do any of you have parents?
Tyler Lynde: Grandparents?
Tyler Lynde: Aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, godparents?
Tyler Lynde: I mean, I can't how about co workers?
Tyler Lynde: Is there anybody that you work with?
Tyler Lynde: Do you go to school with anybody?
Tyler Lynde: Uh do you uh have neighbors that you live around?
Tyler Lynde: Right?
Tyler Lynde: I'm not trying to be facetious, but I'm saying to you, opportunities are everywhere.
Tyler Lynde: They're everywhere.
Tyler Lynde: And trust me, as parents of children, we are discipling them.
Tyler Lynde: And if you wonder how you're discipling them, pay attention.
Tyler Lynde: And I'm not talking about during the times where they're just hit, they're hitting on something and they're they're stuck there, right?
Tyler Lynde: You're having to say, no, no, no, no.
Tyler Lynde: I don't mean that.
Tyler Lynde: But sometimes when we hear our children and we don't like what they're saying or how what they're doing, if we thought about it for a minute, what would we realize?
Tyler Lynde: They learned that from me.
Tyler Lynde: They're imitating me, right?
Tyler Lynde: So I won't linger on that.
Tyler Lynde: But who's in your life right now?
Tyler Lynde: This is not this is not hard.
Tyler Lynde: It's a commitment, it's a serious commitment.
Tyler Lynde: But it's not hard to find one person.
Tyler Lynde: And I guarantee you that some of you, without even realizing it, are already doing this.
Tyler Lynde: Some of you in your workplace, you're the prayer person.
Tyler Lynde: Somebody needs prayer, they come to you, send you an email, they send you a text, whatever the case is.
Tyler Lynde: Some of you are the person, you're the person who gives an encouragement.
Tyler Lynde: Some of you, uh, you take care of, like, you take care of some of the needs around your office, right?
Tyler Lynde: You're already doing this.
Tyler Lynde: So let's let's do it with purpose, with intentionality.
Tyler Lynde: Let's make sure that we're training people what it looks like to follow Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Number three, pray about who the Father might want you to disciple.
Tyler Lynde: Number four, invite someone into your life.
Tyler Lynde: Number five, teach them how to follow Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: And number six, teach them to multiply.
Tyler Lynde: So I'm gonna ask Nick Prisco to come just here at the close.
Tyler Lynde: And Nick has uh he's gonna give us just a little part of his story.
Tyler Lynde: Um, and we were talking about this, I think it was Friday or yesterday, maybe.
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, yesterday.
Tyler Lynde: And I just thought, wow, this is a great example of what I was just talking about.
Nick Prisco: So well, hello, my name is Nick Prisco, as most of you guys know me, but my story starts that I when I can remember, probably six or seven years old.
Nick Prisco: And my parents were divorced, and I grew up in a broken house.
Nick Prisco: So from a very young age, there was um it was pretty unsettling as a child.
Nick Prisco: And so I would ask lots of deep questions when I was alone in my bed at night.
Nick Prisco: What is the purpose of life?
Nick Prisco: You know, the questions that a little kid doesn't typically necessarily ask.
Nick Prisco: So I was going through my life very life, it was very meaningless.
Nick Prisco: You know, I was a happy little kid, but but there wasn't a lot of meaning, you know, and I would find myself in those little dark corners of my room, despairing, um, without hope, because I didn't grow up in a Christian home.
Nick Prisco: And life went on, and when I was about, I would say about 11 years old, there was a woman who worked with my mother, and she was a Christian, and she uh took my mother under her wing a little bit for a short season and brought us to church a couple times.
Nick Prisco: And um, I remember there was one time when we were little, we made it into church with my mom.
Nick Prisco: I had a younger brother, and the communion wafer, I guess it was like a little styrofoam little uh wafer, and he spit it out, ran screaming out of the sanctuary, and that was kind of the the end of that uh church for us.
Nick Prisco: So fast forward a little bit, and um we were in, you know, I was in high school, and just I turned this this feeling of despair into busyness and and youthful activities and um just the typical things that that youth of the world turn to, you know.
Nick Prisco: And so I was just going about my life.
Nick Prisco: I had gotten into sports and um had made good friend relationships, but deep down there was something that I was still so broken, and I wasn't a good student, so I didn't have college to look forward to.
Nick Prisco: So there was really no hope for my life when I was in um high school.
Nick Prisco: So I was in a pretty hopeless spot um in my senior year, and uh that I was on the wrestling team with this guy, and his name was Peter.
Nick Prisco: And Peter and I weren't great friends, we were we were pretty good friends, but Peter was a Christian, and he grew up um in a Christian household, and there was just something a little bit different about Peter that that drew a lot of people close to him, and and that this was his faith.
Nick Prisco: And so I was over at his house after some sporting event or something, and you know, we were kind of just playing or whatever, you know, and just hanging out.
Nick Prisco: And um his dad, you know, looked kind of looked over at me and said, Hey Peter, why don't you invite Nick to Bible study?
Nick Prisco: Because there was a youth Bible study at the church.
Nick Prisco: And he said, Oh, okay, yeah, Nick, you want to come to Bible study?
Nick Prisco: And I said, Well, what's Bible study?
Nick Prisco: And told me a little bit about it, and I was like, Yeah, I'll come.
Nick Prisco: So I showed up to Bible study, and about two weeks later I ended up giving my life to the Lord.
Nick Prisco: And that was yeah, because of him.
Nick Prisco: And that was a big deal for me because I went from this, this I was a young man at the time, you know, and went from this place of spiraling, hopeless, not really directionless place.
Nick Prisco: And now all of a sudden, my world turned around and I was able to redirect my life to him because of um the Lord Jesus.
Nick Prisco: And the Lord Jesus deserves the credit.
Nick Prisco: Um and that man, his father, had the wisdom to, in the following several months, to take me out to breakfast and would and walked alongside me as I kind of went from this place of knowing nothing to being in the Bible every day and trying to go to three church services a week, trying to just eat anything that had to do with the Lord and just fill my life.
Nick Prisco: And it was a complete 180-degree turn for me because I just came, he brought me, picked me up out of the mud, and he set me on solid ground.
Nick Prisco: And I was able to take our weekly, or I can't remember, it might have been monthly, breakfasts and just talk to him about what I was struggling with, what I was excited about.
Nick Prisco: And there was just this um, this godly man who was my father's age, and he just walked alongside me and was just patient and don't remember much of anything that he said to me, but I do remember that that he was there in my formative um Christian years, just taking me.
Nick Prisco: So yeah, that's what I wanted to do.
Tyler Lynde: And and honestly, guys, it's it's that simple.
Tyler Lynde: It's uh it's that's that's an exact like when when he was telling me the this yesterday, I'm like, hello.
Tyler Lynde: Peter's dad just remembered a Bible study and mentioned it to him.
Tyler Lynde: And God was already working, obviously, on Nick's life and drawing him and and use that.
Tyler Lynde: But you know the beautiful part is that Peter's dad didn't miss the opportunity to follow up.
Tyler Lynde: That's the follow-me part.
Tyler Lynde: That's inviting somebody into your life, right?
Tyler Lynde: And and we can do this.
Tyler Lynde: We can do this.
Tyler Lynde: Each and every one of you can do this.
Tyler Lynde: And my my hope is, and the hope of every elder here, is that by the end of this year we will all be able to look back on it and say, hey, I was able to be a part of that.
Tyler Lynde: Yep.
Tyler Lynde: And uh let's pray for that.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Father, we thank you and praise you for your great example through Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Lord, we ask that you would help us to be those who serve like Jesus, who have the character of Jesus, who uh uh love the lost the way that Jesus loves the lost.
Tyler Lynde: Help us, Father, to be representatives of the kingdom of God here in this earth.
Tyler Lynde: And just like Peter's dead, Lord, give us opportunities and windows into people's lives that are just natural, just in the natural rhythms of life.
Tyler Lynde: Give us open doors, Father, so that we can walk with people as they begin their journey with you.
Tyler Lynde: We thank you for it in Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.