Discipleship Matters - Follow Me

In Discipleship Matters, Tyler Lynde continues with Follow Me by naming a reality we all feel: crisis isn’t an if but a when. The answer isn’t panic; it’s formation. Tyler frames the year with a simple conviction—sharpened Christians are best equipped for crisis—and then walks us through Jesus’ four-stage path of discipleship: come and see, follow me, be with me, go for me. He highlights the hinge, “Follow me,” where spectators become imitators who carry Jesus’ heart into everyday places that need it most.

Drawing from Matthew 4:18–22, Tyler shows how Jesus’ invitation is an invitation to imitation. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” redefines success around serving. Mark 10:45 anchors the new definition of greatness: even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. Tyler asks, “How’s your serve game?” and paints a practical picture of servants who step into gaps at work, at home, and in the city—people about whom others say, “They’ll do anything for anyone.”

From there he presses into character. John 14 reminds us that Jesus reveals the Father; disciples reveal Jesus. Tyler invites honest self-examination: if those you’re discipling shadowed you for a week, what would they learn to imitate—patience, integrity, repentance? He normalizes the Spirit’s refining work: over time motives, tone, and thought patterns come under grace, and repentance becomes a rhythm. Authentic character, lived with appropriate transparency, is credible evangelism in a skeptical world.

Tyler keeps Jesus’ heart for the lost at the center. Luke 19 and Luke 4 frame a life moved by compassion—seeking, saving, setting free. Instead of treating outreach as a program, he calls us to notice real names in our contacts, neighbors on our street, co-workers who ask for prayer, and to move toward them. And he keeps the target clear: multiplication, not addition. With Paul’s pattern—“Imitate me as I imitate Christ,” “entrust to faithful people who will teach others also”—Tyler offers a doable rhythm: think big, start small, go deep. One person, one meal, one prayer at a time.

A moving testimony ties it all together. A dad simply said, “Invite Nick to Bible study,” then kept showing up for breakfasts. God used ordinary presence to rewrite a life. Tyler closes with clear next steps: dare to be a disciple, take stock of your relationships, pray, invite in, teach to obey, and release to multiply. Watch to be equipped with courage and practical steps to follow Jesus and help someone else do the same this week.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Why Discipleship Matters In Crisis
• 3:20 The Four-Stage Path Of Jesus
• 5:16 Follow Me: Call And Cost
• 8:40 From Miracle To Movement
• 12:40 Serving As Greatness In God’s Kingdom
• 16:15 Forming Character That Reflects Christ
• 21:00 Sharing God’s Heart For The Lost
• 25:10 Paul’s Blueprint For Multiplying Disciples
• 29:10 Practical Steps For Everyday Disciple Making
• 41:45 Nick’s Story: A Simple Invite Changes A Life
• 48:00 Prayer And Commission To Go Deep

Transcript

Tyler Lynde: 0:02

So we were in a sermon series called Discipleship Matters. 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. And we felt like he was encouraging us to make sure that we were better equipped to handle crisis. Now, before you get too scared about that, how many of you know that crisis happens? It's going to happen. It's not like if it happens, it's more like when it will happen. It happens in each and every one of our lives in different ways, in different scenarios, right? And so we need to be equipped for that and prepared for that. We kind of walked away with this slogan, which is that sharpened Christians are best equipped for crisis. Sharpened Christians are best equipped for crisis. So my question for each and every one of us, how sharp are we? We're not talking about IQ or anything or the way we're dressed or anything like that. We're talking about being prepared, spirit, soul, and body, to face whatever it is that we might face in this year of 2026. And so as we were asking the Lord for strategy, we felt encouraged to focus primarily on discipleship. Discipleship, specifically the way that Jesus discipled his followers. 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. And 2,000 years later, all of us are sitting here today because Jesus did what he did. Was it a good plan? 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? And then Jesus said, no, no, no, no. I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit. 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? So this is the plan of God, and we want to participate with the plan of God, right? And it didn't stop uh last year or the year before or a thousand years ago. This plan of discipleship continues on. And uh Neil reminded us last week that a disciple is a person who desires to be like Jesus. And I want to add one to this that I don't have in my notes. A disciple is a person who wants to know Jesus, who wants to know him. 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. I want to really know him. So let's not forget about that in the doing of things. Let's not forget about the knowing aspect. A person, and it's also a person who desires to be like Jesus. 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. We see a journey of four steps that Jesus engaged with his followers that all include a call to respond. 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. And again, we believe that that same practice continues today. So I'm gonna put up the slide that they built last week and just remind us of these four segments. So the first one is come and see, come and see. Second is follow me, third is be with me, and fourth is go for me. 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. Or if you are an artist and you can quickly get this drawn out, go ahead and do that. But that's the four stages that we're looking at. Last week, Neil did an excellent job of sort of opening this whole thing up. 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. So when he gets back, you can thank him on my behalf. 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. 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. How many of you know that this call goes out to the masses? It went out to the crowds, it went out to the multitudes, and it also went out to individual people. Come and see this man. Come and see, come and listen to him, come and watch, come and observe what is going on with this man. 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. And we're and that's again sort of the what uh what Neil led us through last week. Today we're going to observe the second stage, and all of these are relational. All of these move deeper and deeper into uh a deeper relationship with Jesus, right? So the second one that we're going to talk about today is follow me. So if you would turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4. 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. Matthew chapter 4, verses 18 through 22. It says, While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers. Who's the he there? Jesus. Yeah. Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 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. And he called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. So, Lord, we pray for this day. We we thank you, Lord, for what you've already accomplished. We give you all of the glory for that. 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. In Jesus' name. Amen. So it's interesting in this passage in Matthew, we aren't given the precursor to the story. In fact, there's only one gospel book that tells us the before of what happened with Peter and Andrew and James and John. It's found in the book of Luke. And do you remember the story? They were fishing and they had been fishing all night. And how many had they caught? They were fishermen. Now, I have a question about how good of a fish a fisherman they were. Because every time Jesus encounters them, he's having to produce fish for them. 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? My children, one of the reasons that they don't like to go fishing with me is because it's not called catching. If we could change the name to catching, I'm sure they'd all be right there with me all the time. But part of the whole thing is the fishing aspect, right? So uh anyway, we know the story. They've been fishing all night. They come close to shore. Jesus is standing at the shore. 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. 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. They were not humongous boats, right? So, and also it's like Peter could have easily said, Who is this guy? First of all. And second of all, how's why what why is he trying to tell me how to do my job, right? That could have easily been his refrain. But Peter does it. He he goes back out a little bit, they cast the net on the other side, and guess what happens? 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. It's gonna sink their boat. So they call over James and John, who are in another fishing boat, and they have to give them some of the fish, right? It was such an overflowing thing. And so then uh adjacent to that story, we see this in Matthew, where Jesus says to them, Come and follow me, right? It's interesting, uh again, that only Luke records that. Um, when he obeyed, his nets were so filled with fish. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, didn't have this initial encounter with Jesus when Jesus spoke to Peter, right? They had to be called over. And yet they were called over and they became a part of the twelve. It's really interesting the way that God does things. 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. But the come and see for Peter and Andrew and James and John transitioned into follow me, follow me. And that's what we're gonna talk about this morning. He said, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Fishers of men. Jesus talks to people in language that they understand. And he talked to fishermen about fishing, but he talked to them about fishing for men instead of for fish. And this this call to follow him is such a simple, straightforward call. We don't want to overcomplicate it today. 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. It is it is not complicated. 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. Here's the bottom line. If you get nothing else this morning, I hope you get this. Jesus gave his disciples an invitation to imitation. Jesus gave his disciples an invitation to imitation. That's what he that's what he meant when he said, follow me. Follow me. He was inviting them into his life so that they could learn of him and learn to walk the way that he walks. That's what we're talking about here. His call was not simply to observe him from a distance, to come and see, it was to follow him. 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. Time does not allow us the ability to talk about every way that Jesus influenced these 12 disciples. 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. But the disciples would learn specifically what it looks like to live as citizens of another kingdom. How many of you are thankful that you belong to a kingdom that is not of this world? 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. And you are God above all. Jesus came to represent the kingdom of God. 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. He spent most of his time showing everyone, especially his disciples, what it was all about. And this kingdom is an upside down kingdom, and maybe I'll correct that. Maybe the kingdoms of this world are upside down, and the kingdom of God is right side up. Can we say it like that? Because that's the truth. It is the truth. 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? But we are kingdoms of another, we are citizens of another kingdom. So let's look at what Christ's followers are called to do. First of all, Christ's followers are called to serve wholeheartedly. Christ's followers are called to serve wholeheartedly. 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. Jesus is the greatest example that has ever walked this planet of what it looks like to be a servant. He was a servant and he loved serving God and serving people. Jesus in this passage in Mark is responding to James and John's request. Remember what they're saying, James and John later on. What was their request? That they could sit at the right hand and the left hand of Jesus when he comes into his kingdom. One passage says that they asked Jesus, another passage says they sent their mama. Oh my goodness. Don't we love our mamas? Yeah, anyway. Yeah. So but Jesus looks at them and he loves them, but he also wants them to get it. Guys, it's not about that. That's the kingdom of this world. You're thinking about the way that Gentiles live, you're thinking about the kingdoms of this world. It's not that way. In fact, if you want to be great in this kingdom, learn to be the servant of all. If we are to be true followers of Jesus Christ, we will be servants who serve wholeheartedly. Amen. So let me ask us a question together. We're all here together. We're family, right? We can be honest with each other. How is our serve game? How is our serve game? Not talking about tennis or pickleball, but how is our serve game? Are we serious about modeling for those around us what it looks like to emulate this attitude, this heart, this wholehearted service? Do people in our workplaces say of us, man, they'll do anything for anybody? Man, when I was really struggling and I didn't have enough, I couldn't get everything done that I needed to get done. So-and-so stepped in and they helped me get to the finish line. How was our serve game? I gotta be honest with you, many of the people in this room challenge me when it comes to serving. Because Trinity Community Church, by the grace of God, is filled with people who love to serve the Lord and serve other people. Yeah, and I just want to give you a hand for that because it is amazing. It's amazing to be a part of a church like this. And why do how do we do it? We do it by God's grace. His grace is sufficient for us. So if you're going to be a Christ follower, you got to make sure that you're willing to serve, right? Follow me means that you're going to be a server. Christ followers are also called to reflect the character of Christ. The character of Christ. 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. How then should we live? 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? 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. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you could stop there and maybe not catch the whole gist of this, but listen to what he says next. If you had known me, you would have known my father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Jesus was carrying out, walking out the same principles that he was asking his disciples to do. 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? Jesus was following the Father just like he asks us to follow him. And part of that has to do with character. Jesus was a perfect representation of the Father. His thoughts, words, and deeds were inspired by and divinely granted because of his relationship with his father. 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. 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. And why is that? Because you've just become a better version of yourself? It's because the Holy Spirit gets louder and louder and louder and fine tunes and fine tunes and fine tunes. 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? Am I the only one? Okay, good, good. I'm glad I'm in good company here this morning. So let me ask you this question. Again, these are these are things that make me think, and hopefully they will too. If those we are discipling followed us around for any length of time, what type of character would they be learning to imitate? 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. But it's true. Let's ask the question. 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? That's a good question. I'm asking myself. I did ask myself this week. Here, I want to just clarify something real quick. The pastors of this church are not super Christians. What I mean by that is we are not like extraordinary, like we have superpowers that are beyond what you're given. We have grace for a gift that we've been asked to to uh to walk in, right? To function in. We have grace for that gift. But beyond that, we we have to live just like you live. And so when we're talking about you discipling. We're talking to me too, to us. So I'm saying these things to you with a heart that understands that this affects all of us, including me. 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. And we can do that again because the Holy Spirit lives within us. 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. At least my family, they they they tend to tell me the truth. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't, right? But I need it. I need the truth. 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. If we are going to be disciplers of other people, we have to understand what it looks like to be a disciple ourselves. Aren't you so thankful that Jesus saw through the crowd that came to see him and called out a few? 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? What a privilege. What a privilege. And we get to be a part of that continuing story. And finally, Christ's followers are called to share God's heart for the lost. Luke chapter 19, verse 10, it says, For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. This verse just taken by itself is a nice verse, but here's the context with it. Zacchaeus, remember Zacchaeus, the tax collector, the wee little man, that climbed up in the sycamore tree to see what Jesus might do. And Jesus came by and he said, Zacchaeus, I'm going home with you today. We're having lunch at your house. And so he did. And during the time of the conversation with Zacchaeus, something changed. How do we know it changed? Because Zacchaeus took the money that he had stolen from everybody else and he gave it back. And he also gave more. What was a sign? It was an outward sign of what was happening on his heart. 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. 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? And Jesus said, I'm doing my father's work. The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. 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. We see it in Genesis 3:15. As soon as sin occurred, as soon as the curse of sin was given, there was an answer. And the answer was Jesus. 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. It says that his heart was torn. He was moved. He felt what the crowds were feeling. He felt what individuals must feel. 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. This is the love that Jesus has for those who are lost. 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. 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. This is the message of Jesus. This is the heart of Jesus. This is what we carry with us as followers of Jesus who are attempting to reach those who are not yet following him. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us to bring freedom into people's lives. You see, the work of discipleship isn't finished until disciples are making disciples. Can you imagine if there was a moratorium on having children in the world? How long would it take for the world to be depopulated? It's hard to even imagine. It's hard to even think about, right? It's never going to happen. But in our lives, Christianity could suffer the same fate. If disciples refuse to disciple those who would come next. Remember, he said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. The temptation for all of us is to throw up our hands and say that this is an impossible feat. I cannot do this. I can't do it. 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. 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? Any other religious religious book makes everything pretty, makes all the characters perfect and excellent. And you know, like otherworldly, the Bible made Peter Simon before he was Peter, right? Jesus did that. But it showed all of the failings of everyday average people who Jesus was working with. 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. Let's look at an example from the Bible. Paul was a great example of this follow-me aspect of discipleship. He told the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, be imitators of me. Don't stop there, as I am of Christ. Paul wasn't saying just do everything I do. He's saying everything that is of Christ, do that. In fact, I want to say to you that if you follow me around long enough, I'm going to disappoint you. 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. But I would say to you, if there's anything of Christ in me that you see, follow that. Follow that. You see, we're not emulating our own personalities or our own goodness or our own kindness. We're emulating the kindness of Jesus, the goodness of Jesus, the mercy of Jesus, the faithfulness of Jesus. Paul understood this as he told the Corinthian church. 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. 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. He also reiterated to Timothy the fact that he wouldn't be finished with his job until his disciples were making disciples. In 2 Timothy chapter 2, it says, You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 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. Paul understood that this was something that was to be transferred, it was to be expanded, it was to be multiplied. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of multiplication, not addition. And yet, so many times we focus on subtraction, right? The kingdom is a kingdom of multiplication. So let's get to sort of a bottom line thing to finish this out. 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. It's the simplest way I know how to say it. We help people grow in the faith so they can help other people grow in the faith. Obviously, it's easy to focus on the tremendous result in the lives of those who are being discipled. In other words, we could say, well, it's just all for them. It's all for the people that I'm discipling. How many of you, if you've ever discipled somebody, what do you discover? 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. My friends, there is gold found in them their hills. When we make disciples, it not only affects them, it affects us. Teaching something to somebody else helps you to learn it better yourself. 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? I can't remember. Almost. One more chapter. 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. So let's look at four disciple-making lessons for disciplers. Number one, disciple making shows us our smallness and God's bigness. How many of you know that's a proper perspective? God is big and I am small. 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? Go therefore and make disciples of what? All nations. Is that a big deal? God's a big deal with a big plan. And me as an individual feels like a small part of that big deal, big plan. But how many of you know you're an important part? You and I are an important part. The vision is huge. Our part in the equation is relatively small, but very important. So this is something that a lot of people use as a slogan. I think I may have a oh, my son corrected it on the slide. Thank you, Benjamin. I have it wrong in my notes, but he's got it right on the slide. So these three little uh segments that a lot of um missionary organizations use. So think big, think big, start small, and go deep. If if you if you want to just wrap your mind around what this discipleship process looks like for you, think big. This is a big deal. This is a huge deal. It's God's master plan, right? Think big, start small. It's one-on-one. It's me with one other person. It's a small beginning, but go deep. 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. And don't walk away from them until they're discipling somebody else, right? While we're going, make disciples. Make disciples. Number two, disciple making challenges challenges us to be authentic Christians. And we please, for the love of God, be authentic in our Christianity. We've talked about this many times before. The number one thing that keeps people away from Christ is not Satan in the flesh, like Satan appearing to them. It's the fact that he uses the hypocrisy within those who call themselves Christians as a reason to stay away from Christ. The only answer. One thing to invite someone to an event where they might encounter Christ that's important. Please do that. Invite people to come to church. It's a good thing. But it's another thing to invite them into your life where they see Christ in you. Good disciple making requires us to be both intentional and relational. 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. Think of Jesus as long walks and talks with his disciples. He performed miracles and all of those things. But I would have loved to just be around the fire, listening to him, watching him. Number three, disciple making makes us more aware of our sin. Oh, I don't want that. Yeah, it does. It feels much easier to fly under the radar when we assume that no one is watching us. But here's, you guys ready for the big news of the day? God is always watching. He knows. So who are we trying to fool? That's silly. It's actually a silly thought. God is always watching. In good disciple making, we are able to demonstrate for the ones we're investing in what it looks like for sinners to repent. 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. And that's not a one-time deal. Repentance is something that happens over and over and over and over again in our lives. Sometimes on a daily basis, sometimes hourly, sometimes minute by minute. 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. I'm not content to remain the way that I am. By the grace of God, I'm going to change. And that thing which has had a hold of me for 10 years in 2026 no longer has real estate. In the name of Jesus. You see, we must be willing to allow the death of much of our privacy in order to be effective disciple makers. The hiddenness of our lives, except for that which is hidden in God, has to go away to a certain degree. We have to be willing to be open and honest and transparent if we're going to produce real Christians. 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. 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. How many of you know that's great for a day, maybe for a week, and even a month? But you get much beyond that. And what do you discover about this life? You discover what Jesus said in this world, you will have trouble. But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. Right? So we need authentic Christianity. We need our privacy to not be as important to us as helping others to follow Jesus. And the last one is disciple making teaches us to lean heavier on Jesus. Disciple making is often messy, difficult work. But before you judge them too uh strongly, how's Jesus been walking with you? 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. And with God's help, these realities will teach us to lean on Jesus. It is about Him. It's not about us, it's about Him. And we can lean on Him. It's His work that we get to participate with Him in. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 in closing. 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. This is the word of God. 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. Number one, dare to be a disciple yourself, and that's sort of what we're talking about here today. Let's be authentic followers of Jesus. Number two, take stock of your present relationships. You may ask the question, who are the they that we're talking about here? Who are those people that I'm supposed to disciple? Can I give you some heavy revelation this morning? I feel like I'm said that a couple times. Anyway, let me help you. Do any of you have children? Do any of you have grandchildren? Do any of you have parents? Grandparents? Aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, godparents? I mean, I can't how about co workers? Is there anybody that you work with? Do you go to school with anybody? Uh do you uh have neighbors that you live around? Right? I'm not trying to be facetious, but I'm saying to you, opportunities are everywhere. They're everywhere. And trust me, as parents of children, we are discipling them. And if you wonder how you're discipling them, pay attention. 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? You're having to say, no, no, no, no. I don't mean that. 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? They learned that from me. They're imitating me, right? So I won't linger on that. But who's in your life right now? This is not this is not hard. It's a commitment, it's a serious commitment. But it's not hard to find one person. And I guarantee you that some of you, without even realizing it, are already doing this. Some of you in your workplace, you're the prayer person. Somebody needs prayer, they come to you, send you an email, they send you a text, whatever the case is. Some of you are the person, you're the person who gives an encouragement. Some of you, uh, you take care of, like, you take care of some of the needs around your office, right? You're already doing this. So let's let's do it with purpose, with intentionality. Let's make sure that we're training people what it looks like to follow Jesus. Number three, pray about who the Father might want you to disciple. Number four, invite someone into your life. Number five, teach them how to follow Jesus. And number six, teach them to multiply. So I'm gonna ask Nick Prisco to come just here at the close. And Nick has uh he's gonna give us just a little part of his story. Um, and we were talking about this, I think it was Friday or yesterday, maybe. Yeah, yesterday. And I just thought, wow, this is a great example of what I was just talking about.

Nick Prisco: 41:56

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. And my parents were divorced, and I grew up in a broken house. So from a very young age, there was um it was pretty unsettling as a child. And so I would ask lots of deep questions when I was alone in my bed at night. What is the purpose of life? You know, the questions that a little kid doesn't typically necessarily ask. So I was going through my life very life, it was very meaningless. 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. 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. And um, I remember there was one time when we were little, we made it into church with my mom. 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. 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. And so I was just going about my life. 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. So there was really no hope for my life when I was in um high school. 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. 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. 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. 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? Because there was a youth Bible study at the church. And he said, Oh, okay, yeah, Nick, you want to come to Bible study? And I said, Well, what's Bible study? And told me a little bit about it, and I was like, Yeah, I'll come. So I showed up to Bible study, and about two weeks later I ended up giving my life to the Lord. And that was yeah, because of him. 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. 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. And the Lord Jesus deserves the credit. 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. 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. 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. 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. So yeah, that's what I wanted to do.

Tyler Lynde: 47:13

And and honestly, guys, it's it's that simple. 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. Peter's dad just remembered a Bible study and mentioned it to him. And God was already working, obviously, on Nick's life and drawing him and and use that. But you know the beautiful part is that Peter's dad didn't miss the opportunity to follow up. That's the follow-me part. That's inviting somebody into your life, right? And and we can do this. We can do this. Each and every one of you can do this. 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. Yep. And uh let's pray for that. Thank you, Lord. Father, we thank you and praise you for your great example through Jesus. 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. Help us, Father, to be representatives of the kingdom of God here in this earth. 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. Give us open doors, Father, so that we can walk with people as they begin their journey with you. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.