Tiniest of Seeds
"He told me all that I ever did." - the Samaritan woman in John 4:39
Yes, life is messy and integration of Jesus and faith with life often doesn’t look like what we thought it was “supposed” to or think it "should" look like. Are we shocked? We are literally told by Jesus that this life is full of trials. Yet we as we show up we can heal and grow in ALL God promises. He has after all, overcome. We can too.
He saved me. I can’t say it more clearly than that. Yes, Jesus has proven to me to be the ultimate answer. Has it been easy? No. It’s been 25 years of a winding road that he has made straight. As I continue to walk it out, I can’t help but testify - and to talk with others in their own unique places on the discipleship road. How amazing.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21
Tiniest of Seeds
Discipleship: What Does It Mean to Answer the Call?
We can, by His power, be disciples. We can leave condemnation, rumination, analyzation, and all else and walk in the joy He has for us. We were created by Him, for Him, and we can walk with Him. It's not too lofty a goal, we need to ask, seek and knock and it's worth it.
Hello, welcome to the Tiniest of Seeds podcast. My name is Laureen Decker, and today I'm going to be talking about discipleship, and I wonder if you know why and how I choose these topics. Well, long story short, it is from a devotional that my twin sister, autumn, and I co-wrote. We have decided not to pursue publication at this point and I don't know what the future holds with that beautiful book that we wrote, but I'm finishing out my project, which is the podcast, and that is how I'm choosing these topics. So today I'm going to be talking about what it means to be a disciple.
Laurine:If you attend New Day Church I know many of my listeners do attend New Day you probably have heard by now I've spoken with many of you personally that Monty and I have decided actually, we feel that the Lord called us out and, to be more specific, monty felt very strongly that he was being called out and I also feel released and in following the Lord Jesus Christ, as a disciple, in unity with my husband, into a new community of believers. We do not yet know where that is, but I'm just super excited to visit many churches with many different communities of believers and to be exploring more of the church, so that's super exciting for me. I want to start by saying the church is not a physical structure. It is the bride of Christ and that is the community of believers at large, and I think that many people in our culture call themselves Christian. But I feel that many of us did not own our own personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and perhaps are walking check in the box. I mean no judgment. The Lord, god Most High, is the one that opens ears, open eyes and calls as to himself. The Lord Jesus stands at the door and he knocks and we can open the door. We can choose personal relationship, but I do think that there is a difference with holding Christian values and going to church on Sunday or watching church online and being a disciple of Christ. And Jesus says if you're going to be my disciples, you need to forsake everything, surrender it all, follow me. He has some really hard words in the Bible that call us to loving the Lord God with all of our heart, soul and strength. What does that mean? It means showing up to him, and to be a disciple is to leave father, mother, sister, brother. It is to obey. Now, can we do it perfectly? No, absolutely not. We are human and so we struggle, and that is where I'm wrestling right now.
Laurine:Is my purpose? I'm going to be talking, hopefully, in a week or two, about purpose. I'm hopeful to have a guest on there that I love chatting with, but haven't heard back yet if that's going to be a possibility or not. But what is my purpose? Well, that's going to be a possibility or not. But what is my purpose?
Laurine:Well, I have declared my purpose to be a servant and a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because I believe that we are created for God's glory. I believe we are created for fellowship with the Lord God first, and then with others, but everything is meant to flow out of that love that the Lord, god most high, has for us as his children. Second, peter talks about adding to things, and it always ends up with love, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace. Now tell me that that doesn't benefit us. Tell me that that does not result in eternal life, this moment that is full of joy. Tell me that being a disciple of Christ does not result in our ultimate good, and I think we get it backwards. I think we forget that to be a disciple is, first and foremost, to forsake all and to listen to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Laurine:Jesus talks a lot in the New Testament, especially in John. All of those I am statements, I am the bread of life, I am the vine, I am the door, I'm the gate, etc. I am everything we know. In exodus, god declared himself I am jehovah, yahweh. He is everything. The righteous can run into his name and be safe. The name of the lord is a strong tower. We, we are righteous through Christ. The only way that we can achieve righteousness is to be in Christ.
Laurine:The pure and simple gospel Isaiah says all of our righteousness is as filthy rags, and yet Jesus won our righteousness, it tells us. In Romans, one man achieved our righteousness and we can enter through that gate, that gate of the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet it also tells us that in the church going back to the church, there are many that want to speak falsely says that Jesus will judge the quick and the dead. It says that God, the Father, knows who his children are, that Jesus will say I never knew you to some that have declared to be in faith. And so that is my call, day after day, to receive the truth of discipleship, without condemnation without rumination. And you know what?
Laurine:I woke up today feeling I was inadequate, imperfect, not enough. What is my purpose? I've gone through quite a few four or five years entering the partnership with my sister showing up at my place of worship. New Day has been such a blessing to me. I have been sharpened, I have been refined, I have been called to more. Isn't that what the church is called to do? I appreciate my pastor Jeff's constant pointing to the gospel, to the salvation of Jesus Christ, knowing that we cannot be more than what Jesus has won for us on the cross. We are more than conquerors to him and we get to continue to stand up and say there is more Lord, jesus Christ. And that's what discipleship is. If you are wrestling with your purpose I said at the beginning I was wrestling with my purpose Is it really enough to be created for this present moment of love and worship? Is it really enough?
Laurine:We look at people all over the world. They all operate in different ways of glory to God, the Father. There are different people that serve, there are different people that are monks. There are people that have dedicated their lives to all sorts of different things. We can't put ourselves in a box and compare ourselves to another disciple. We need to continue to say here I am, lord, send me. I take great comfort from the Old and the New Testament, which had so much public failure.
Laurine:Even looking at the Apostle Paul, his discipleship, his apostleship, the disagreements between believers, you know we cannot look to anything other than Jesus' command follow me, pick up your cross, follow me, pick up your cross, follow me. What does it mean to die to myself to pick up my cross to follow him? Am I enough? Whose standards am I defining myself by? Am I looking at external parameters? What is the motive of my heart? If the motive is to seek understanding from man, if my motive is to accumulate wisdom or knowledge, if my motive is to have control over my circumstances, if my motive is even to serve, those are not the motives of a disciple of Christ. And you know who can discern the intentions of our heart? The Holy Spirit. The Word is living and active and the Holy Spirit is the one that counsels and instructs us. Everything that sets itself up against knowledge of Christ is to be torn down. Everything, and you know, proverbs tells us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Am I spending adequate time not in condemnation or legalism, but as a disciple of Christ, walking and talking with Jesus, abiding in the vine. That is what to be a disciple is.
Laurine:I've been thinking a lot about the community of believers, the church, what Jesus modeled in his discipleship. You guys, he had a few intimate heart friends, and then he had the 12, and then he had the 70. He was not stuck in rigidity, routine or regulation. He did go to the temple, a religious institution that was erroneous in its theology, and ultimately crucified him. And in Acts the disciples continued to show up, they continued to go to the temple, and yet they were the church of Christ, they were Christians. They were named a new and different name because they had been filled with the Spirit, sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and received the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. But they continued to go back to that body of worship at the temple. It says they went to the temple every day to pray.
Laurine:What are we looking to as our place of community discipleship? You know, monty and I will be looking for a new church eventually. I have told people I'm not seeking a new church right now, I'm seeking the community of believers, and I still love New Day. I consider many of those precious ones there, fellow disciples, and you know so. To me it is beginning to feel more and more like a discipleship call. It says the road is narrow. It says that we can walk with him. It says if we seek him, we will find him. If we seek him with all of our heart, what does to seek the Lord, jesus Christ and knowledge of Christ? What does that mean?
Laurine:Paul says in Galatians I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. Paul says in Corinthians that he resolved to know nothing but Christ and Christ crucified. What does it mean to have that be our highest calling and this is where it's a call If we are not spending time at the feet of Christ, if we are not submitting ourselves? Paul again says in Romans 12, 1 and 2, I quote it all the time I beseech you therefore, submit yourselves as a living sacrifice wholly acceptable.
Laurine:If we are not taking that moment to say yes, lord, I surrender, I submit, fill me. I cannot do it. My purpose is nothing. Without you, I fail left and right. I am not the friend you call me to be. Yes, there is no condemnation. I will not ruminate, I will forget what is in the past and press on toward the upward call of knowing Christ. Jesus, my Lord, the author, the perfecter, running that race set before me, running alongside those in the body. We are called to different things in the body of Christ, but if we have received Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we are all called to devotion and love of Him first and foremost, to throw off those distractions, those weights that entangle.
Laurine:And it is a hard calling. But, just like Jesus, christ agonized before going to the Christ for the joy of obedience, the joy set before Him. There are so many scriptures, you guys, so much prophetic word in the Old Testament that points to Jesus and so many things that we are asked to do out of love and devotion because of the freedom that Christ has won for us on the cross. It is a joy. It is not old law. To be a disciple of Christ is not old law. It is joy, the joy and obedience, because he has accomplished our righteousness. He has accomplished it and that is where the freedom is, you guys, I can't stop testifying because he has set me free from the law of sin and death. And it is still a hard walk sometime to pick up my cross, to throw it off and say, no, I am not defined by my external success. I am not condemned by my humanity. You have won the victory. Lord Jesus Christ, I am your disciple.
Laurine:Do you guys recall the rich young ruler when Jesus said, hey, sell everything that you have and give it to the poor and follow me. And the rich young ruler turned away sadly because he knew he couldn't do it. I feel that that is where many of us are in the church in America. We turn away sadly and you know what we neglect to do. Say, lord Jesus, you are right, I cannot do it. Help me, fill me, give me the strength I believe, help my unbelief and fill me with your spirit, give me your joy. And you know where the joy is. It is in the presence of the Lord. God Most High.
Laurine:Hebrews says boldly, approach that throne room of grace to find mercy and grace in your time of need. Are we boldly approaching that throne room to look at Jesus, to worship, to proclaim him holy, holy, holy, worthy, worthy, worthy to receive that oil of gladness, to receive that feast, to receive that bread? Are we looking to him as disciples and saying yes, lord, I will follow you. Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God, the father, and you know what we are joint heirs with Christ. I will follow you. Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death. I will follow you. Jesus Christ has won the victory. I will follow you. Are we doing that? That is our delight, our privilege as disciples of the Lord. Jesus Christ. He has done it. He has accomplished it. It is finished. He has won the victory. And so, dear listeners, I pray that as you consider what Christ has won for you, you will know that you want to forsake all and follow him.
Laurine:To say yes, lord, despite what it may look like or feel like, this morning took me a while to settle down. I reached out. I know if you've listened to me for a while, you hear I call it sending out an SOS. I reached out to a few of my sisters and said hey, I am feeling inadequate, imperfect, purposeless, like I can't even be a good friend, like I got nothing to offer. And you know what? The Lord has restored the joy of mass salvation as I have pressed in to the disciplines that Christ calls me to be as a disciple. The first discipline surrender, submission. He fills up everything that is lacking.
Laurine:So I pray, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the more he is able to do, exceedingly, abundantly, more than all that we ask or think. He is able to provide us with every fruit of the spirit. Lord God, fill us up more of your Holy Spirit. Not that we need more, you have sealed us but we pray, father. I pray that you would make it a reality that we will hear.
Laurine:I am the good shepherd. You say that we will hear the voice of our shepherd, that we will know that when you speak we can obey, because you've given us that power by the strength of your Holy Spirit. Your power is perfected in our weakness, in our inadequacy, in our imperfection. You have given us everything that we need for life and godliness. You have told us to ask for what we need. You have told us to say your will be done, your kingdom come. You give us the strength, as your disciples, to continue to show up to walk that sanctification road. So, lord, god most high, I honor you today.
Laurine:I pray for my listeners. Bless them, encourage them, strengthen them, quicken their minds with truth, my mind with truth. May we be quick to listen to your voice. May we say no to everything that sets itself up against knowledge of Christ. We say no in the name of Jesus. Lord God, you are able to keep us from falling. You are able to fill us with praise and hope and love and strength. In the name of the Lord, jesus Christ, amen, go in the blessing and the peace of the Lord today. Thank you.