SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be finishing up our series on a baptism of discipleship today.
SPEAKER_00: And uh next week we'll be diving into a new series of messages.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's just gonna be a couple of messages called the door.
SPEAKER_00: The door.
SPEAKER_00: And uh it's gonna be basically this it's eliminating generational gaps and releasing generational blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Eliminating generational gaps and releasing generational blessing.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna tap into that.
SPEAKER_00: And then after that, I'm gonna start a series on relational health.
SPEAKER_00: I refer to it as relational success.
SPEAKER_00: Uh how many of you know true success is relational success?
SPEAKER_00: You can have success in every other area of life, but if you fail relationally, you failed in life.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna dive into relational health.
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about that.
SPEAKER_00: It is uh one of the most important things that we can know how to do is build relationships and have successful, healthy relationships.
SPEAKER_00: And it how many of you know if they're not good, things are bad.
SPEAKER_00: And when they are good, things tend to be good.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna we're gonna dive into that.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna help your marriage, it's gonna help your friendships, it's gonna help every single area of relationships in your life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_00: And then in the fall, I want to dive into some messages, some teachings on uh spiritual reality, on the spirit realm, spiritual warfare, some of that fun stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I usually refer to it as the spiritual reality, and really, really diving into what the Bible says uh that looks like and what that means for us who are kind of stuck in between this spirit realm, the heavenly realms, and the earthly uh realms, the natural and the supernatural, and we have to toggle back and forth and what what does that actually look like?
SPEAKER_00: So I'm looking forward to that as well.
SPEAKER_00: So today we are jumping back into our series on a baptism of discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: I called this as the last message, kind of bookend this series, and the title is the discipleship blueprint.
SPEAKER_00: The discipleship blueprint.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read Matthew 28, 18.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came and told his disciples, I've been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this.
SPEAKER_00: I am with you always, even to the ends of the age.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you have laid it all out there for us.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to wonder what we're supposed to be doing, what our relationship with you is supposed to look like, what it what it is and what it isn't.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to wonder it.
SPEAKER_00: You told us, you explained it in great detail.
SPEAKER_00: You gave us a beautiful, clear picture of what it looks like to be in relationship with you and to be your follower and to be your church.
SPEAKER_00: And so we thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00: Show us, God, reveal in a more tangible, real way.
SPEAKER_00: Give us eyes to see and ears to hear.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So to be baptized in the name, that's a big conversation.
SPEAKER_00: We had a lot of different teachings on that in this series.
SPEAKER_00: Very important, though, because if you don't know what that actually means, you'll misuse the name.
SPEAKER_00: You'll misuse the name.
SPEAKER_00: To be baptized in the name is to be fully immersed, submerged under and firmly fixed into God's very own authority, character, and nature.
SPEAKER_00: So the very own authority, character, nature of the Father to be submerged into that, to be fixed into that.
SPEAKER_00: God's very own authority, uh, the Son's very own authority, character, and nature, and the Holy Spirit's very own authority, character, and nature.
SPEAKER_00: There is a baptism of discipleship that I believe is to get us to abide in the Father, to abide in the Son, to abide in the Holy Spirit, to have strong, healthy connection.
SPEAKER_00: There's a reason that he separated those three because there's different things that happen in those three expressions of God or roles of God.
SPEAKER_00: They're three in one.
SPEAKER_00: He is the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: And the Father is it's about identity.
SPEAKER_00: It's about identity.
SPEAKER_00: The Son is about acceptance.
SPEAKER_00: And the Father, it's personal, and the Son is about acceptance and it's positional.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Holy Spirit is about power.
SPEAKER_00: It is powerful.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's these baptisms that we're supposed to have as his followers, as disciples, and this is what that looks like.
SPEAKER_00: There's a work of his spirit, there's a work of the Father that has to happen in our life, there's a work of the Son that has to happen in our life, and there's a work of the Spirit that has to happen in our life in order for us to be disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And so I love that Jesus doesn't just say, go make disciples, and then he doesn't tell them what that means or what that looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Then he defines it.
SPEAKER_00: Then he says, This teach them to obey all the things that I have commanded you or taught you.
SPEAKER_00: And that would essentially not just be the red letter teachings of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that Jesus is the word.
SPEAKER_00: And so it includes the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Not just to believe it, but to obey it.
SPEAKER_00: Joyce Meyer says, Without the go of the gospel, all you have left is a spell.
SPEAKER_00: Everything that Jesus said, everything that Jesus did, and everything that Jesus was on the earth with his disciples led up to that moment.
SPEAKER_00: It led up to that moment.
SPEAKER_00: That means everything as a believer leads up to that moment.
SPEAKER_00: Go and make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: One question that's a good question to ask is will his work stop with you or accelerate through you?
SPEAKER_00: The disciples had years with Jesus to receive and obtain his love, his acceptance, his power, his teaching, his way of life, his habits.
SPEAKER_00: And now that is his instruction.
SPEAKER_00: Now go and take what you've received from me and give it to others.
SPEAKER_00: Give it to others.
SPEAKER_00: And he put no limits or restrictions on who that could include.
SPEAKER_00: He said, All the nations.
SPEAKER_00: There's no nobody's left out.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know we're called to be rivers, not reservoirs?
SPEAKER_00: And the only difference between the two is one goes and one sits.
SPEAKER_00: One releases what it has, and the other one keeps what it has.
SPEAKER_00: One receives and doesn't give, and the other one receives and releases what it gives.
SPEAKER_00: Being a reservoir is the kingdom of this world's plan for our life.
SPEAKER_00: Gathering and not giving, building and not blessing, receiving and not releasing, but being a river is what God's called us to do.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said that out of their bellies would flow rivers of living water.
SPEAKER_00: I love the quote from David Platt.
SPEAKER_00: He says this being a disciple always leads to making disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Being a disciple always leads to making disciples.
SPEAKER_00: You are first called to be a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: We easily see the very clear biblical invitation that we have to be a disciple, and we see the mandate that we have to make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: But what does that actually look like?
SPEAKER_00: I think one of the things that the enemy has tried to do is he wants that passage, go and make disciples of all the nations.
SPEAKER_00: He wants it to be very misunderstood, very vague, very intangible, unpractical.
SPEAKER_00: And because what happens when we don't really know what that means, we don't know what that practically looks like, how that flushes out in our life and in our relationships, and so we just don't do anything.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what the enemy would want us to do is to just be paralyzed at that commission of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Years ago, I was hungry to learn more about discipleship, and I was grieved that it seemed like a lost reality in the church.
SPEAKER_00: How could something so major and so central be so minimized and marginalized in the church?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, I don't understand.
SPEAKER_00: We we were uh had thank thankfully we had been discipled by some people, and they really got their hands on our life, and they taught us how to pray, and they taught us how to read and study the Bible, and they taught us how to wait on the Lord, and they they they held us accountable for the things that God spoke to us, and when we weren't obeying it, they would call us out and they would coach us up in life, and they would push back on us when we would give excuses and when they would see complacency and they just were poking and prodding us all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And thank God they did, because I probably wouldn't be here today if I didn't have some people go, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: You're not just gonna believe this, you're gonna live it.
SPEAKER_00: You're not just gonna believe this, you're gonna obey it.
SPEAKER_00: You're you you got a call on your life.
SPEAKER_00: God's hand is upon you.
SPEAKER_00: And we had people around us that were pouring gasoline on that fire.
SPEAKER_00: And the burns that we had, it wasn't burning anything we needed.
SPEAKER_00: It was burning the stuff off of us that didn't need to be there that were a threat to our life.
SPEAKER_00: And so I was like, man, I love discipleship, and we were making disciples, but I looked around and it was very rare.
SPEAKER_00: What we were doing was extremely rare, and we were seeing God move.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we had a a group of young adults that we were discipling, and we were we were like young adults, but we were a little bit older than the the rest of the young adults, and so we had been in youth ministry for years and years, and we uh started doing uh groups, life groups, and some of them were seniors, but most of them were kind of drifting into that college age, and we started this group on Friday nights, seven o'clock, every Friday night, every Friday night, seven o'clock, and we didn't miss, we were there, and um sometimes we'd go do something as a group, you know, go to a football game or do something like that, or if we were out of town, or but it was every Friday night, and that group grew and grew.
SPEAKER_00: We packed out our first house and we moved and got a bigger house, and then we started packing out that house, and for about well, at least 10 years, we met every Friday night with this group.
SPEAKER_00: People met in our living room and got married and started families, and it was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: And then those people started their own groups.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody in our group started their own group, and then they had people in their groups that started their own groups, and we had layers of these groups, and so what we were seeing was these young adults, this you know, uh 18 to 30 age group that Barna says they're not in church.
SPEAKER_00: And we were seeing revival, we were seeing God move, we were seeing amazing things, and it was because we were making disciples, and so they they started getting involved.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things we said is, you're gonna serve.
SPEAKER_00: You're not just gonna attend church, you're going to serve, you're going to be a contributor.
SPEAKER_00: And so everybody was serving.
SPEAKER_00: It transformed our church.
SPEAKER_00: They created a whole department of ministry in our church called the crew, and that was all these young adults that were serving.
SPEAKER_00: And and it it really did change our church, and it blessed our pastors, it blessed the people.
SPEAKER_00: It was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: We would do quarterly meetings, we called big life meetings, where we would bring all these groups together for a big dinner and you know, do some worship, and it was it was it was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: We'd have 60, 80 young adults.
SPEAKER_00: And again, these are the these are the age group Barna says they're not in church.
SPEAKER_00: They're the nuns.
SPEAKER_00: They're out there.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they select none.
SPEAKER_00: When they fill out an application that says religion, none.
SPEAKER_00: Not this group, but I believe it was because they found something they were hungry for.
SPEAKER_00: They found a place where they could belong, where there was value placed on their calling and their identity.
SPEAKER_00: They could be shaped and molded and enter into the things that God had for them.
SPEAKER_00: It was an amazing thing to see happen.
SPEAKER_00: So I was hungry to go, God, why is this so rare?
SPEAKER_00: And and and I I want you to teach me how to uh how to disciple and how to how to do it better.
SPEAKER_00: I want to understand it.
SPEAKER_00: And I began to study the Bible and study the ministry of Jesus, and I found what I would later refer to as Jesus' ministry model.
SPEAKER_00: And it's helped me tremendously as a pastor to understand people and how to lead them in the goal line of making disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and but it also, I believe, has helped other people kind of know where they are in the process.
SPEAKER_00: And then how do I step into this commission, this mandate, to make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: And what does that look like?
SPEAKER_00: Because it looks different for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: But I found four different people that Jesus strategically ministered to, or four different groups, if you will, uh, that he ministered to in specific ways.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus always called people out of where they were by inviting them into something else.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the four groups.
SPEAKER_00: Number one is unbelievers, number two is believers, number three is followers, and number four is disciples.
SPEAKER_00: You could add a fifth group there of disciple makers, um, but like that quote from David Platt, being a disciple always leads to making disciples.
SPEAKER_00: So I'll leave it at four.
SPEAKER_00: But here's something else to remember.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus never gave us the title Christian.
SPEAKER_00: That came later, and it was people that just started calling the disciples and the and the followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They started calling them Christians.
SPEAKER_00: And but that's not a title that Jesus used.
SPEAKER_00: He used the title follower and disciple, and those were different, they were closely related, but they were different.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's no other objective or goal than that.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's not about being a believer or even a Christian, it's about being a follower and a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: And there are uh these are think of these as stages, maybe even, that someone must progress through in order to be who Jesus has called them to be and do what he's called them to do.
SPEAKER_00: This is the progression of the Christian life for an individual.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's what I began to see that Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: He interacted differently with all four of those groups, and he knew who was who.
SPEAKER_00: He knew who was who.
SPEAKER_00: And he had very different ways that he ministered to each of them based on who they were.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus provided opportunity for unbelievers to become believers.
SPEAKER_00: This is what ministry looks like for us, is why I'm sharing this.
SPEAKER_00: He provided opportunities for unbelievers to become believers.
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you how he did that.
SPEAKER_00: He provided opportunity for believers to become followers, he provided opportunity for followers to become disciples, and he provided opportunities for disciples to receive the Holy Spirit's power in order to provide all these opportunities for others.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Any good leader will do the same thing for you, they will help you uh journey through those various stages of your Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: And if at any point, here's an interesting thing that I've seen over the years: if at any point you say no to Jesus, uh for whatever reason you're not willing to move forward, everything stops in the life of that person.
SPEAKER_00: Everything stops.
SPEAKER_00: All growth, all maturity, all forward progress, it stops, and those people get stuck at whatever stage they're at.
SPEAKER_00: And what I want to say as someone who uh loves being a disciple and making disciples is that I will always challenge you to move forward.
SPEAKER_00: You're at a church where you're always going to be challenged to move forward.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not okay with people camping out at believer and never moving on to follower.
SPEAKER_00: Again, the goal is to be a disciple maker.
SPEAKER_00: That is the finish line.
SPEAKER_00: That is the the ultimate goal line of a Christian is to be a disciple maker.
SPEAKER_00: And what we've ended up with in American Christianity is just believers.
SPEAKER_00: That's the goal line.
SPEAKER_00: You're a believer, goal accomplished.
SPEAKER_00: That's all you need to be is a believer.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to minimize being a believer.
SPEAKER_00: Being a believer is is is very, very important because the the other option is to be an unbeliever.
SPEAKER_00: And then we're lost.
SPEAKER_00: But being a believer is just the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Being a believer just gets you in the door of all that God has for you.
SPEAKER_00: For I know the plans that I have for you, right?
SPEAKER_00: All that, all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: It starts with being a believer, but you can't accomplish those things if you stay only a believer.
SPEAKER_00: I always say it like this: we got to get beyond belief.
SPEAKER_00: We got to get beyond belief.
SPEAKER_00: If your goal is to just be a believer that attends church, I will be a source of constant agitation and frustration for you.
SPEAKER_00: And you it and if you dig your heels in enough, you'll probably start looking for other places to go that won't challenge you, that won't get in your face, that won't poke on you and say, hey, uh-uh, you got to keep moving.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't the destination, this isn't the goal, this isn't what God has.
SPEAKER_00: We got to keep moving.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna call out apathy and complacency.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna call out unwillingness to deny yourself and truly follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I'll lovingly call out anything that is hindering you as a believer from having a genuine, vibrant relationship with God and making disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had tens of thousands of believers.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
SPEAKER_00: At certain points in his ministry, he had tens of thousands of believers.
SPEAKER_00: He had thousands of followers, hundreds of disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Then he had the twelve, and even then he had the three that we see in Scripture that received things from him that the others did not.
SPEAKER_00: All of them got different things from Jesus because he was strategic and intentionally, uh, he was strategic and intentional to lead them to the next steps of their personal faith.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever their personal level of surrender was, whatever their personal level of faith was, Jesus would meet them there and he would give them things based on where they were in their heart and in their faith.
SPEAKER_00: He had different messages and different opportunities that he presented to each group.
SPEAKER_00: I love this scripture in Matthew 13, 10.
SPEAKER_00: His disciples came and asked him, Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?
SPEAKER_00: He replied, You, listen to that, he replied, You are permitted to understand the secrets of my kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, but others are not.
SPEAKER_00: So he recognized there was a difference between them and the others.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, You're permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom, but others are not.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to those, and then he gives them the principle behind it, the law that's operating, the spiritual law that's operating behind how he's operating.
SPEAKER_00: To those who listen to my teaching, that word listen actually includes obedience.
SPEAKER_00: To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that fascinating?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus educated unbelievers.
SPEAKER_00: Here's how he ministered differently to these groups.
SPEAKER_00: He educated unbelievers.
SPEAKER_00: He motivated believers.
SPEAKER_00: He equipped followers and he empowered disciples.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I, as I studied out the ministry model of Jesus, that's what I found.
SPEAKER_00: He educated unbelievers by proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom to them, giving them opportunities to repent, to change what they believed to be true.
SPEAKER_00: He motivated believers, and then he equipped followers and empowered disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus constantly shared the truth about eternity and the kingdom of God with all people, educating them that they may come to believe.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 4, 17 says, From then on, this was right in the beginning of his ministry, after John the Baptist, from then on, Jesus began to preach, repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, change what you believe to be true.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom is here.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to miss the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus constantly shared truth with believers, motivating them to become followers.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so he educated unbelievers, providing opportunities for them to believe.
SPEAKER_00: He motivated believers, giving them opportunities to become followers.
SPEAKER_00: I love this scripture in John 8.31.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to those who believed in him, hey, who's he talking to?
SPEAKER_00: Believers.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to those who believed in him, you are truly my disciples.
SPEAKER_00: If you continue to obey my teachings, then you will know the one translation says, remain faithful to my teachings.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know which one we have up there.
SPEAKER_00: Remain faithful to my teachings.
SPEAKER_00: One says, continue to obey my teachings, then you will know the truth.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, more knowledge of truth.
SPEAKER_00: And the truth will, you've heard this one before, set you free.
SPEAKER_00: So what he's saying, he's talking to believers and he's motivating them to not stay believers.
SPEAKER_00: He's looking at them and going, hey, you're a believer and I have more.
SPEAKER_00: You're a believer, and the believer package doesn't come with freedom.
SPEAKER_00: There's some great things the believer package does come with.
SPEAKER_00: Freedom's not one of them, according to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So he goes, To those who believe, I have something better for you than just being a believer.
SPEAKER_00: It's called being a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I'm inviting you in on that exciting journey.
SPEAKER_00: But the way you become a disciple is by continuing to obey me.
SPEAKER_00: Submit to my authority.
SPEAKER_00: Continue to obey me.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, live your life according to my teachings.
SPEAKER_00: Then you will know what Jesus have the power to do?
SPEAKER_00: Unlock and reveal truth to people, just like he did with the disciples versus the crowds.
SPEAKER_00: He permitted them to understand.
SPEAKER_00: He permitted them to have knowledge, but the other people weren't permitted to, and even what little they had were taken away.
SPEAKER_00: So, same thing as what he's saying here, it's in line with what he's saying is when you live a life that continually obeys me and follows me, that's how you become a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: And once you become a disciple, that's where it gets fun.
SPEAKER_00: Once you become a disciple, now you're going to unlock certain powers that I have for you, like freedom.
SPEAKER_00: Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
SPEAKER_00: Mark 8, 34, he says, then calling to the crowd to join his disciples, listen, what is he doing?
SPEAKER_00: He's providing an opportunity for them to come out from the crowds, probably believers, the crowd of believers, and to become a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: So he was putting invitations out there.
SPEAKER_00: And what's also interesting, you've got to think about when he said to those who believed in him, You are truly my disciples, if, see that, if what he was saying to those believers is, you're not disciples.
SPEAKER_00: You need to know that you're not a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know if you think you're something that you're not, you're not looking to become that thing, right?
SPEAKER_00: So what does that actually look like?
SPEAKER_00: And he was, he had no problem separating the crowds.
SPEAKER_00: He knew who was who, and he taught them according to who they were.
SPEAKER_00: But then he says to the to the crowds uh calling to them to become his disciples, to join his disciples, he said, If, there's that word again, if any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he's giving the invitation, and then he's telling you what it's gonna cost.
SPEAKER_00: Then he's telling you exactly how to receive that invitation, exactly how to go from just being a part of the crowds to being in the inner circle of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling you what he's inviting you, and he's saying, if you want to do it, you have to turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.
SPEAKER_00: But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the good news, you will save it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus lovingly, graciously was extending opportunities for these groups to come into the more that he had for them.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, say more.
SPEAKER_00: And so the reason I'm the reason I'm calling this a discipleship blueprint, and we're bookending this series with this message, is because all the messages that I've preached in this series were directed at you, right?
SPEAKER_00: For hey, let's make sure we are disciples.
SPEAKER_00: But then it's equipping you to make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And so all of this is a blueprint for you to make disciples, for you to be a disciple and for you to make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And so, so all of these, when we're studying how Jesus did it, that's so we can do it the same way that he did it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus constantly shared truth with followers, equipping them to become disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I mentioned there's sometimes it interchanges the word, depending on translation, follower and disciple, but they were different.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus delineated those as very different things.
SPEAKER_00: So there were unbelievers, there were believers, he had a certain message to believers, then there were followers, and what I would say, then there were disciples.
SPEAKER_00: But I would say the difference between the believers and the followers, when they would come out to hear Jesus teach and to see him do miracles and heal the sick and cast out demons and multiply fish and bread and all the things that they wanted to see Jesus do, the believers they just went home at the end of the night.
SPEAKER_00: They just went back to their lives as normal.
SPEAKER_00: They came and they had this amazing encounter, and then they just went home and lived their lives.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus left and went to other places.
SPEAKER_00: The followers, they there was no going back home.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm in.
SPEAKER_00: I'm with you, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so they gave up their lives and followed him, but then in the process, they found the most rewarding, fulfilling, satisfying lives that can that you can have on this earth.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus constantly shared truth with followers, equipping them to become disciples.
SPEAKER_00: In Luke 14, 25, it says a large crowd was following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He turned around and said to them, If you want to be my disciple, you must by comparison hate everyone else, your father and mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, even your own life.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.
SPEAKER_00: And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was laying it out there, right?
SPEAKER_00: He was saying, if you want to, if you want to continue to walk with me, to follow me, and to be my disciple, here are some things that you're going to have to settle by comparison.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't saying hate your mother and father.
SPEAKER_00: He was saying by comparison, it's I have to be first.
SPEAKER_00: I have to be where your allegiance is, where your loyalty is, where your submission is, where your obedience is.
SPEAKER_00: Not to anything in your earthly life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus constantly gave invitations like this.
SPEAKER_00: And then he would say, This is what it's going to cost.
SPEAKER_00: And he would use this word every time.
SPEAKER_00: If, verse 26, if you want to be my disciple, if here's what you need to do.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 10 1, Jesus called his twelve disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I missed this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus constantly shared truth with disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, empowering them to make disciples and advance the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 10 1, Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus called his twelve disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So for whatever reason, those twelve got what other people didn't.
SPEAKER_00: They followed him in a manner, they lived in a manner, they obeyed him in a manner that other people didn't.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, what did they get?
SPEAKER_00: They got what other people didn't get.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, there were so many believers and followers, and yet he goes, These people, these people are doing it different.
SPEAKER_00: These people are staying, staying by me.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna get the goods.
SPEAKER_00: So he gives his authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal diseases and illness.
SPEAKER_00: At that point, there was a lot of believers, even followers, but only the disciples were given that authority.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, recently I was praying, and I really felt like the Lord said to me that the American church is the rich young ruler.
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't even know exactly what that meant.
SPEAKER_00: The American church is the rich young ruler.
SPEAKER_00: And the rich young ruler, interesting story, we're not diving into that today, but he comes to Jesus as a believer and wanting eternal life, desiring eternal life, desiring to be a part of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And he had all the stuff.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, Yeah, I'm I'm a believer.
SPEAKER_00: I've I've obeyed that that law, right?
SPEAKER_00: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, your speech, and and love your neighbors yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And have you obeyed the law?
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus tells him what it's gonna cost him.
SPEAKER_00: Go home and sell everything and come follow me.
SPEAKER_00: Motivated.
SPEAKER_00: He gave him the invitation.
SPEAKER_00: And it says the rich young ruler went away sad because he had many possessions and great wealth.
SPEAKER_00: He went away sad.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that the saddest story you've ever heard?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was standing in front of him, giving an opportunity an opportunity to become one of his followers.
SPEAKER_00: And you know why he was sad?
SPEAKER_00: Because he knew it.
SPEAKER_00: He knew.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna say no.
SPEAKER_00: This is where I draw the line.
SPEAKER_00: I heard someone say one time to you, he didn't have many possessions.
SPEAKER_00: Many possessions had him.
SPEAKER_00: He was so caught up, so wrapped up in the affairs of this earthly world, this earthly life, that he walked away sad, knowing I'm not willing to do what it takes to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: One of the saddest stories in the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_00: So the question really then becomes if I want to be a disciple, what does being a disciple look like?
SPEAKER_00: Now we know Jesus defined the cost of being disciple.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to give up our life.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to give up this earthly life.
SPEAKER_00: We can't live according to this earthly life, we can't live in the entanglement of this earthly life.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to give that up.
SPEAKER_00: But practically, what does it look like?
SPEAKER_00: So the literal definition of the word disciple, like dictionary definition, is one who adheres to the teachings of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Not one who believes, one who adheres to the teachings of Jesus, one who lives it.
SPEAKER_00: The responsibility of the disciple, listen, first we be a disciple, then we make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: The responsibility of the disciple is to be hungry for spiritual growth and to be available.
SPEAKER_00: It also is to be responsive to the invitations, showing up consistently where spiritual leaders are facilitating opportunities for growth, and to consistently obey the teachings of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's literally the responsibility of a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus called the disciples and said, If you want to be my follower, come be my follower.
SPEAKER_00: Deny yourself, pick up your cross, follow me.
SPEAKER_00: So for anyone who decided they were going to be his follower, they followed him.
SPEAKER_00: He left and walked, and they followed him.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever he went, and wherever he was, they were there.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have any record that he ever invited them again.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we can't imagine Jesus and the disciples waking up and Jesus was going to go to Bethany and he's waking them up going, Peter, hey, I'm getting up, I'm going to Bethany.
SPEAKER_00: Do you still want to follow me?
SPEAKER_00: Do you still want to come?
SPEAKER_00: No, Jesus got up and he moved.
SPEAKER_00: And when he turned around, whoever was right there, those were his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: They had proximity.
SPEAKER_00: They gave up stuff.
SPEAKER_00: They cleared their calendar.
SPEAKER_00: They said, This is the most important thing in our life.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care what anybody else is doing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm showing up wherever Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: We lose our life.
SPEAKER_00: But the beautiful thing about the promise is that that's where we find it.
SPEAKER_00: All the stuff we're trying to strive for, to keep it, to hold on to it, to cling tightly to it, all the works, all the striving, all the American dream, all the goals, all the stuff that marginalizes Jesus in our life, that's what actually causes us to lose our life.
SPEAKER_00: But when we give all that up and we prioritize being where Jesus is, being a disciple, being discipled by other spiritual leaders, where we show up in those places, man, God just gives us all that stuff we were trying to strive for anyway.
SPEAKER_00: And he adds no sorrow with it.
SPEAKER_00: John 15, 25, to those who love their life in this world will lose it.
SPEAKER_00: Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: It seems backwards, right?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who wants to be my disciple, again, there it is.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, because my servants must be where I am.
SPEAKER_00: Again, it's being where he is.
SPEAKER_00: It's being where when we were being discipled, we showed up where those people were.
SPEAKER_00: We showed up at their meetings, we showed up at their houses, we showed up at their kitchen tables, we showed up, we showed up where they were, and they were able to disciple us.
SPEAKER_00: Changed our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Father will honor anyone who serves me.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me because my servants must be where I am, and the Father will honor anyone who serves me.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know you can't be at two places at the same time?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus forces you to choose.
SPEAKER_00: He forces you to choose between a life in this world or a life following him.
SPEAKER_00: To be a disciple, you have to decide which one you're going to do.
SPEAKER_00: You have to prioritize where you physically show up.
SPEAKER_00: That is one of the main responsibilities of a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: I love the quote that says, every true yes must be defended by a thousand no's.
SPEAKER_00: Every true yes must be defended by a thousand no's.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just say this to you?
SPEAKER_00: Get around people that challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: Do not have ground level associations.
SPEAKER_00: If all your friendships are ground level associations, they're just sitting around licking your wounds with you.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to feel good about yourself when you're around ground level associations.
SPEAKER_00: It's when you start getting around people who are down the road from where you are, who are having a measure of success, who have a measure of spiritual health, who have a measure of relational health, who have a measure of whatever it is, get around those people and let them challenge you, let them mentor you.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay to have friends, but if that's all you have, you're in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: You're in real trouble.
SPEAKER_00: If you're avoiding the relationships that challenge you, if you're avoiding the relationships with leaders and all of that, and you're only hanging out with people who are your equals, if you will, I guess, uh, that's that's a dangerous, dangerous place to be.
SPEAKER_00: Get around people that challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: Get around people that push back against your excuses and the reasons why you feel you can't do what Jesus is calling you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Get around people that lovingly help you see the areas in your life where you have said no to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Get around people that help you identify the keep out signs that you have posted because of the hurt that you've experienced.
SPEAKER_00: You got to break out and get around people, right?
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the responsibility of the disciple maker.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the responsibility of the disciple.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the responsibility of the disciple maker to be available.
SPEAKER_00: To be available, to create opportunities for people to grow spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: That means if you're going to make disciples, so this is if you are a disciple and you want to figure out what it looks like to make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you recognize it's incredibly challenging, it's incredibly hard to figure out what does that look like?
SPEAKER_00: This is what it looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Now I will say this a group is to me, having a group, having a life group, is the uh best vehicle for making disciples that I've ever that I've ever seen, that I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_00: But it's it's also possible outside of a group.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what you'll have to be: you will have to be available and you will have to create opportunities for people to grow spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: You have to have something to invite someone to.
SPEAKER_00: Then you have to invest in those who respond to the invitations that you create.
SPEAKER_00: This is everything I'm saying, this is what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: You can go read the gospels and you'll see all of this is what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: You have to invest in those who respond to the invitations.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gave more to those people.
SPEAKER_00: He prioritized those people.
SPEAKER_00: He would do stuff for the crowds and he loved everybody, but those people got the best of who Jesus was.
SPEAKER_00: Those people got the inside scoop.
SPEAKER_00: He pulled back the veil and explained stuff to those people that he didn't do to other people.
SPEAKER_00: And then here's the fun one that everybody loves.
SPEAKER_00: You have to confront compromise and complacency in people's life.
SPEAKER_00: That's the fun one.
SPEAKER_00: You have to confront compromise and complacency.
SPEAKER_00: You have to teach surrender and obedience to Jesus, and you have to ensure that they are really abiding in Christ, not listen, not the superimposition version of Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that's very specific language to this series as I close.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh Brady and Joanna, you guys can come up for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna have a moment of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: But remember when we were talking about in the name, there was different meanings of the word in where it says, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name.
SPEAKER_00: We did miracles in your name, we did these things in your name, and he said, Get away from me, I never knew you.
SPEAKER_00: The works you did were unawful.
SPEAKER_00: Authorized.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, that was a different than in the name of what Jesus said, baptized in my name, in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That word was superimposition.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same one with the seven sons of Skeva that were going around and saying, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, Paul preaches, right?
SPEAKER_00: Come out.
SPEAKER_00: It is a superimposition.
SPEAKER_00: And listen to what it means.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe this is part of that American Christianity thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's closely related to the rich young ruler.
SPEAKER_00: But it's that we're just, it means to lay something on top of another thing as so to see both.
SPEAKER_00: Superimposition.
SPEAKER_00: It's where we get the word poser from.
SPEAKER_00: Superimposition.
SPEAKER_00: Poser.
SPEAKER_00: It's just lay to take Jesus and just to lay him on top of our life.
SPEAKER_00: To sprinkle a little Jesus on our life, right?
SPEAKER_00: To add him to the life we're already going to live and the life we're going to continue to live.
SPEAKER_00: That's literally what it means.
SPEAKER_00: Superimposition.
SPEAKER_00: So part of discipleship is making sure people aren't doing that.
SPEAKER_00: That that's not the version of Christianity that they have, this superimposition.
SPEAKER_00: Because listen to me, we don't want them to get in front of him and him say, Depart from me, you who work iniquity, I never knew you.
SPEAKER_00: The works you did were unauthorized.
SPEAKER_00: The faith you had was unauthorized.
SPEAKER_00: The belief you had was unauthorized.
SPEAKER_00: We don't, let me say that, at River Life Church, we don't want someone to have attended River Life Church to have come here, to have been a part of this family, and to ever stand before God and hear, depart from me, I never knew you.
SPEAKER_00: And in order to make sure that that doesn't happen, we have to call out the superimposition version of Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: And go, you're not really living in him.
SPEAKER_00: You just added him to your life and went on about your business.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what we want for people.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's stand together.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that might feel a little heavy.
SPEAKER_00: And I do believe we should count the cost of following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I know from experience, many, many people will say no to him.
SPEAKER_00: Seen it happen.
SPEAKER_00: Never get over it, but I've seen it happen so many times.
SPEAKER_00: And you can dim the lights a little, Daniel, if you want to hit that number four.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know how to do that on that pad right there?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, somebody's already back there doing it.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I want to say today.
SPEAKER_00: I think the invitation is to be a disciple and to make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you today, believer?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess I could I could back up and say unbeliever, believer, follower, disciple, disciple maker.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you in in that stage of your Christianity, of your faith?
SPEAKER_00: And as we're just thinking and asking these questions, if you're not a disciple maker, why not?
SPEAKER_00: What has hindered you from it figure it out?
SPEAKER_00: We're here to help.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's here to help.
SPEAKER_00: I believe one of the healthiest versions of making disciples is just having one person that you meet with that you're pouring into.
SPEAKER_00: One person.
SPEAKER_00: Coffee, lunch, dinner, shopping, whatever it is that you're helping them move from unbeliever to believer, from believer to follower, from follower to disciple, from disciple to disciple maker.
SPEAKER_00: It's helping someone through that process by educating them, by motivating them, by equipping them, and by empowering them, just like Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we stand today in closed service, after hearing a message like that, I just want to ask those questions.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you?
SPEAKER_00: You need to answer that, not out loud, obviously, but where are you?
SPEAKER_00: You need to answer that in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And then if you're not making disciples, why not?
SPEAKER_00: And be honest with yourself.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm a believer, but I'm camping out at this believer space, it's kind of comfortable and there's some benefits to it.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm but I hear the Spirit beckoning me to come and follow him, to lay down my life, to let go, and to become a follower.
SPEAKER_00: And then out of the followers, he goes, You could I'm inviting you to become a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: And then the disciples get empowered.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, I pray that you would help us to evaluate where we are, to be honest with ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Only hope, no condemnation, no accusation, only intercession in this room.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, only exhortation and invitation in this room.
SPEAKER_00: No guilt, no shame, no condemnation.
SPEAKER_00: We silence that voice in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Only the excitement of the invitation to enter into the journey of a lifetime.
SPEAKER_00: The thrill of a lifetime, abundant life, abiding, following, being a disciple, and making disciples.