SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning, First Baptist Church, Tampa.
SPEAKER_00: It's been 34 years since I've been able to say that.
SPEAKER_00: It's been a long time.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I was thinking the uh the last time I stood up here was the last Sunday, our last Sunday here, and I was able to preach that last Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: The pastor gave me opportunity to preach on that last Sunday, and uh two weeks before I sat right there and then came up and read my resignation.
SPEAKER_00: So this is special for Robin and I to be able to come back and uh just want to say what a privilege, what an honor it is for us to be here.
SPEAKER_00: We have such sweet memories of our time here at uh at First Baptist, and it played a great role in our life and shaping us as followers of Christ, as a husband and wife, as a young couple.
SPEAKER_00: And as I think about this and seeing the baptisms, it brought back a memory of baptizing right back there, what used to look like an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
SPEAKER_00: And going back there, and one Sunday we were baptizing two couple two or three couples, and so the pastor wanted to baptize them at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: So I was baptizing the wife, and he would baptize the husband, and I typically did the baptism, so I had my favorite pair of waiters that I would put on.
SPEAKER_00: They were the new ones.
SPEAKER_00: And that Sunday, because he was the pastor, he got to wear the new pair of waiters, and I got the old pair.
SPEAKER_00: And so we got in there and we're standing and the choir's doing their thing, and we're waiting, and all of a sudden I was standing there and I'm thinking, my legs are feeling wet.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this was in the suit days.
SPEAKER_00: Suit and tie, and I'm standing back there, and the water starts filling up.
SPEAKER_00: And I told the pastor, I said, My waders are leaking.
SPEAKER_00: And I am soaked, I am full, and I'm not staying, I'm going home after this is over.
SPEAKER_00: And so he started laughing.
SPEAKER_00: And so after it was over, I went out and emptied out my waders, and I was drenched, and I got in the car and drove to Horatio Street and changed clothes, and I don't think I came back.
SPEAKER_00: I think I stayed home.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and he gave me some grace, but it was it was fun.
SPEAKER_00: But have some just some wonderful memories.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to say thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Rob and I have had a great time being with you during the Thrive and Not Lame.
SPEAKER_00: Is that right?
SPEAKER_00: Not Lame Marriage Conference.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to say just thank you to to Bob and also to Darren and Chris and Jackie Hyatt.
SPEAKER_00: I know they put a lot of work in, and many others of you that worked hard to make this weekend a just a very sweet time and a special time for us.
SPEAKER_00: And uh brother, I know it's it's always difficult.
SPEAKER_00: We're always careful to give up our pulpit, and so I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00: I know what that's like, and so uh I appreciate you doing that.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to say to you as a church, I just want to say thank you because uh I hope you realize that our journey, you had a part in our journey.
SPEAKER_00: We will have been in ministry uh close to 40, or I've been in ministry close to 44 years this year.
SPEAKER_00: And when we left here, we thought we would stay in the Tampa area and plant a church somewhere around here.
SPEAKER_00: That was sort of the intention, but God shut that door, and we ended up going to the country in East Texas in a little country church.
SPEAKER_00: And we stayed there about six and a half years and saw God do some great things, and then we moved to New New Bronfels, Texas, pastored there for about seven years, and then minding my own business.
SPEAKER_00: I went on a short-term mission trip, and God calls us to Southeast Asia.
SPEAKER_00: And so we sold everything we had, we sold our house, and we packed up our two boys, and we moved to Southeast Asia and spent 15 years there serving in a restricted access country, uh, trying to reach an unreach people group in that area.
SPEAKER_00: And then through God's providence, during COVID, we came back and uh God opened the door, and I've been pastoring for the last four and a half years again, back in the in the pastorate.
SPEAKER_00: But you guys, some of you weren't here, most of you probably weren't here, but the church was here.
SPEAKER_00: And the church made an investment in us.
SPEAKER_00: And I think I think you should thank God and praise God for that because there's others like us that have gone through this sanctuary, gone through this property, have had the opportunity to minister here and be on staff here or sit in the pews and serve here, that God has called out.
SPEAKER_00: But the church has had a part of that.
SPEAKER_00: And I just praise God, I praise God for you that this church invested in our life and allowed us to make a lot of mistakes, but then continue on.
SPEAKER_00: So praise God for that, and uh, I just thank the Lord for you.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna read this morning from Deuteronomy chapter six, probably a very familiar verse.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you have your Bible, turn there, and we're gonna look at the first nine verses, and I'm gonna ask you to stand and we're gonna we're gonna read this, I'll read this uh passage for us, the first nine verses, and then we'll just start trying to unpack it a little bit and see what it has to say to us today.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all of his statutes and his commandments which I command you all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.
SPEAKER_00: Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey.
SPEAKER_00: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
SPEAKER_00: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.
SPEAKER_00: And these words that I commend you today shall be on your heart.
SPEAKER_00: You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit down in your sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets on your between your eyes, and you shall write them on the doorpost of your houses, your house, and on your gates.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: This message this morning is talking about passing the faith forward.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that in this passage we see a blueprint for biblical discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we look at this, I want you to think, as we shared with the couples this weekend, in order to have a strong marriage, each person in the relationship must pursue God individually.
SPEAKER_00: And they must understand that their needs and their satisfaction is, it doesn't come from their spouse, it comes from the relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: But then as they pursue God individually, they're also to pursue God together.
SPEAKER_00: And as families, that's also important.
SPEAKER_00: That men, as men in the head of the family, as a spiritual leader in the family, you are to lead your family spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: Your family needs you to pursue God with all your heart, that you might be that spiritual leader that God wants you to be.
SPEAKER_00: And where does this teaching, where does this discipleship take place?
SPEAKER_00: I believe God has given us two institutions where discipleship should take place.
SPEAKER_00: The first and the primary one is the home.
SPEAKER_00: The home is where discipleship should begin.
SPEAKER_00: The church is the second institution where discipleship is reinforced.
SPEAKER_00: But we're not to send our kids and send our children to church to be discipled.
SPEAKER_00: But the church reinforces what we teach them and how we lead them at home.
SPEAKER_00: And both of those institutions, we need both, right?
SPEAKER_00: We need the family and we need the church.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're here today and you're a you say, wait a minute, I'm not married, I don't have a spouse, I don't have a family, I'm a single adult.
SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
SPEAKER_00: You pursue God individually.
SPEAKER_00: And you find someone that you enter into a disciple-making relationship with, and the church will reinforce the things that you're learning, the things that you're that God is teaching you individually.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to listen to a quote by C.S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis.
SPEAKER_00: He says, This the church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, the clergy, the missions, the sermons, even the Bible itself are simply a waste of time.
SPEAKER_00: God became man for no other purpose.
SPEAKER_00: The disciple-making commission that we see in Deuteronomy 6 and that we see in Matthew 28, I believe in Deuteronomy 6 it's very clear that God is first calling the parents.
SPEAKER_00: He's calling discipleship to begin in the home.
SPEAKER_00: As parents fully love God with all their heart and they begin to teach their children to do the same.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you may be saying, well, why another message on discipleship?
SPEAKER_00: We've probably you've probably heard it before.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we need to be reminded that?
SPEAKER_00: We're here in church, we're we're church people.
SPEAKER_00: In 2018, there was a survey done by the Barna Group and Lifeway.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what it says.
SPEAKER_00: Never heard the Great Commission, Matthew 28, 18 through 20.
SPEAKER_00: Never heard it.
SPEAKER_00: 25% had heard the term, but said, I I've heard it before, but I don't know what it means.
SPEAKER_00: 37% could correctly identify the biblical passage when given a multiple choice list.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you list the scripture, Matthew 28, 18 through 20, uh, Exodus 4, 7, John 3, 16, you say, pick one.
SPEAKER_00: Which one is the Great Commission?
SPEAKER_00: Only 37% could correctly identify which passage was the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: There's a problem, folks.
SPEAKER_00: There's a problem there when we see that.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Great Commission, the call to make disciples, was Jesus' last command, right?
SPEAKER_00: But it's our first priority as a church.
SPEAKER_00: It's my responsibility as a follower of Christ to make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Just a real quick review of Matthew 28 of the of the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus say about that?
SPEAKER_00: All authority has been given to me.
SPEAKER_00: Go, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you, and lo, I will be with you always, even to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you've heard, you've been in church probably long enough to know that the main verb in the Great Commission is not go, it's not teach, and it's not baptize.
SPEAKER_00: The main verb in Matthew 28, 18 through 20 is make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: The other three verbs that are there, go, teach, and baptize, those are participles that support the main verb.
SPEAKER_00: So what's the command?
SPEAKER_00: To make what?
SPEAKER_00: Not converts, not baptists, make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: How do we make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: We go.
SPEAKER_00: We baptize, which means we've shared the gospel and they've they're they've followed Christ in baptism just like the two did this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Then we teach them to observe, we teach them to obey Jesus and everything that I've commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: That's the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're supposed to do, that's what we're called to do.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some people today, even in the church, we have a misunderstanding of what disciple and discipleship and disciple making is all about.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we have the same vocabulary, but we use a different dictionary.
SPEAKER_00: What is a disciple?
SPEAKER_00: Disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Literally, the word means a learner.
SPEAKER_00: You can be a disciple, by definition, of any teacher.
SPEAKER_00: But specifically in the New Testament, when we see the word disciple, it's speaking of one who is a follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: One of the greatest examples is Jesus in Matthew 4.19, when Jesus calls his first disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what he said?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Repent, Jesus came out and said, Repent and what?
SPEAKER_00: Believe the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: He said the same thing in Mark chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Then it said, walking along the sea, he came across two fishermen.
SPEAKER_00: And what did he say to them?
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say, Come join the church.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Come and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: And what?
SPEAKER_00: I will make you fishers of men.
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus did when he called those first disciples, he called them and he invited them to follow after him, which they did, but then he said, I'm going to transform you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to make you.
SPEAKER_00: That's transformation.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to make you what?
SPEAKER_00: Fishers of men.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus made this invitation.
SPEAKER_00: He called them to follow after him.
SPEAKER_00: And then he said, I will transform your life.
SPEAKER_00: I will make you fishers of men.
SPEAKER_00: A disciple of somebody who has repented and believed the gospel and is following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What is discipleship?
SPEAKER_00: Discipleship is that act of intentionally equipping believers with the Word of God through accountable relationships, empowered by the Holy Spirit in order to reproduce followers of Christ, making disciples.
SPEAKER_00: But then what is disciple making?
SPEAKER_00: You see, disciple making is the verb.
SPEAKER_00: A disciple is the noun.
SPEAKER_00: Discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: It's a noun.
SPEAKER_00: But disciple making is the verb.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we do.
SPEAKER_00: It's the process of bringing people or leading people into a right relationship with God and helping them to mature in Christ through teaching them to obey the words of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is what Moses is talking about in Deuteronomy 6.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling the Jewish people, look, we've been wandering around, you're getting ready to go into the promised land, but there's some things you need to know.
SPEAKER_00: You see, he gives them this command, he gives them these instructions in Deuteronomy 6 to both prepare them to enter the promised land and to protect them.
SPEAKER_00: Because he gave them a warning and said, if you do not obey, this is what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: And so Moses was basically saying to the parents, you need to prepare your children, you need to prepare your people to go into the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you my discipleship story.
SPEAKER_00: I was saved at 19 years old as a sophomore in college, and I was going to a little Baptist church, and I was hungry.
SPEAKER_00: I'd been going to a fellowship of Christian athletes for almost a year and a half and been hearing about Jesus and hearing about the Bible, and I wanted to know more.
SPEAKER_00: And so going to this little church, I went forward one morning, I told the church, I said, Hey, I've accepted Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I had to convince the youth minister to say, I'm not coming to get saved.
SPEAKER_00: I'm already saved.
SPEAKER_00: I got saved in my dorm room.
SPEAKER_00: And the pastor said, Okay, tonight I want you to come back and meet with me at six o'clock.
SPEAKER_00: And so I go back to the church at six o'clock, and I meet with the pastor, and the pastor talked to me about my salvation and wanted to hear more of my testimony.
SPEAKER_00: I shared it with him.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Okay, this is what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: We've got this little book called a survival kit.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, One of our deacons is going to call you, and he's gonna start meeting with you every week and walking through this disciple, this survival kit with you.
SPEAKER_00: That was that was discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: And I was fired up.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking, man, I have got so much to learn.
SPEAKER_00: I I want to do this.
SPEAKER_00: I want this this deacon to call me.
SPEAKER_00: And and you know what it is.
SPEAKER_00: That was in 1980.
SPEAKER_00: And it is now 2026, and I'm still waiting on the first phone call from that deacon.
SPEAKER_00: That's my discipleship story.
SPEAKER_00: But praise God, God put other people in my life to help me, to encourage me.
SPEAKER_00: As a youth minister, as a student minister, I was burdened about that.
SPEAKER_00: I just didn't know how to do it because I'd never been in a church that did discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know what it looked like.
SPEAKER_00: And so now, after having been a pastor, having been on the mission field, the first year on the mission field that we were there, Robin and I our hearts were convicted.
SPEAKER_00: We've been serving in churches all these this time, and we have not been investing in people.
SPEAKER_00: We've been investing in groups, but not people.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we came back from the mission field after three years, went back to our home church, and they gave me an opportunity to preach and share about what we were doing.
SPEAKER_00: I had to ask forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Bob, I had to stand up and say, Church, I need to apologize to you and ask your forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: That I did not invest in people, in persons.
SPEAKER_00: I did not make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: So that became our passion then.
SPEAKER_00: And I came to the conclusion that you know what?
SPEAKER_00: As long as I live until I have breath, every chance I have, I'm going to be in a D group with some men and invest in them.
SPEAKER_00: Our church started about three years ago, had no disciple making.
SPEAKER_00: We started a group with five men, and I met with them and discipled them, and then the next semester they began to disciple others.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, you know who most of the men in my group have been?
SPEAKER_00: They've most of them have been older than me.
SPEAKER_00: Because what they said is, I've never been discipled.
SPEAKER_00: And they were hungry.
SPEAKER_00: And those groups and meeting with those men, and some of them, we were about the same age, and it was sweet.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, there's a man here this morning that moved to Florida from our church and is living just north of Tampa, and he was in my D group, and we have a sweet relationship.
SPEAKER_00: We still stay in touch with each other.
SPEAKER_00: But that's what discipleship looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what I want to do is look at verse one.
SPEAKER_00: This is a real easy outline.
SPEAKER_00: Two points, but about 15 subpoints.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you ready?
SPEAKER_00: You ready to go?
SPEAKER_00: Keep in mind that in the first part of Deuteronomy, Moses is explaining the history of Israel, reminding them of their history.
SPEAKER_00: Then he's going to tell them a little bit about where they're going to go and warn them.
SPEAKER_00: Then in verse chapter 6, he begins to give this instruction.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing we see here is the call to loving obedience by Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 1, we see that the word was given for them to obey, not a suggestion.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what it says.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is the commandment.
SPEAKER_00: What do we do with commandments?
SPEAKER_00: We obey them, we follow them, right?
SPEAKER_00: The statutes and rules.
SPEAKER_00: So he says, the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commended me or commanded me to teach you that you may do them in the land of which you are going over to possess.
SPEAKER_00: So he's preparing them to go in and possess what?
SPEAKER_00: The promised land, right?
SPEAKER_00: The promised land.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, the promised land is about 150 miles from where they started.
SPEAKER_00: It's about an 11-day journey.
SPEAKER_00: Keep that in mind.
SPEAKER_00: That's important.
SPEAKER_00: It's about an 11-day journey for them to get to the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: And he's preparing them to go in the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: Here's Moses being the teacher.
SPEAKER_00: He's being the master disciple right here.
SPEAKER_00: He says, God commanded me to teach you that you may do them in the land in which you are going over to possess.
SPEAKER_00: God is saying, or Moses is you're going to go over and they're going to you're going to possess this land, he tells the Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: Then verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: As God leads them to do this, the word was given to them to obey, but then the word also leads to transformation through fearing God.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what verse 2 says.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2, the results, your days will be long.
SPEAKER_00: It will go well with you, that you may multiply greatly.
SPEAKER_00: You see the promises?
SPEAKER_00: He says, if you obey these things, this is what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: This is what's going to take place.
SPEAKER_00: And so then we see he moves into verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3, he says, Hear therefore.
SPEAKER_00: In the Old Testament, when you see that word here, it's almost like saying, verily, verily in the New Testament, or truly, truly.
SPEAKER_00: It means to pay attention.
SPEAKER_00: Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them that it may go well with you, that you may multiply.
SPEAKER_00: As the Lord Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey.
SPEAKER_00: Again, here's the promise.
SPEAKER_00: The promised land is there for the taking.
SPEAKER_00: All you have to do is follow these commands, be obedient, fear the Lord, walk in his ways.
SPEAKER_00: Next, he lays out the principles, and this is what I want you to hear.
SPEAKER_00: This is what biblical discipleship looks like, is what he says next.
SPEAKER_00: And parents, this is for you.
SPEAKER_00: Single adults, this is for you.
SPEAKER_00: Teenagers, this is for you.
SPEAKER_00: To understand what real disciple making looks like.
SPEAKER_00: These are the principles.
SPEAKER_00: This is point number two.
SPEAKER_00: The principles of disciple making.
SPEAKER_00: What are those principles?
SPEAKER_00: What we have in verses four through nine is known, some of you know this already, it's known as the Shema.
SPEAKER_00: This was like the Jews' pledge of allegiance.
SPEAKER_00: When they would say the Shemema, it would remind them of who they were, who they belonged to, who had chosen them, not because of their number, not because of their strength, but out of his great grace and great mercy, God chose them.
SPEAKER_00: And the Shemema was a reminder of what God had done for them.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we look at this, at the Shem'ah, what I want you to see is first of all the confession that takes place in verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the confession: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
SPEAKER_00: This is a confession of who Yahweh really was to them.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
SPEAKER_00: Some translations may say or can be interpreted, the Lord is our God and Him alone.
SPEAKER_00: There is no other God.
SPEAKER_00: Now think about where they're going.
SPEAKER_00: They're going into a land of pagans, they're going into a land of many gods.
SPEAKER_00: But they're professing, the Lord our God, the Lord Yahweh is one.
SPEAKER_00: The second thing we see there in verse 5 is not only our confession or one confession, but we also see one commitment.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the commitment.
SPEAKER_00: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
SPEAKER_00: And these words I command you today that they may be on your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Their call in this commitment was to unreserved love for Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: And we mentioned this in our marriage, in our marriage conference, just briefly, what this word love here meant.
SPEAKER_00: It's covenantial love.
SPEAKER_00: It's a love that doesn't say, I love you for what I can get from you.
SPEAKER_00: It's a love that says, I love you for how I can serve you.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the kind of love that he's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: It's not some emotional, feel-good love.
SPEAKER_00: It's a love that says, I am sorry, I'm I'm committed to this covenant with you, and I love you not for what I can get out of the relationship, but what I can give to you.
SPEAKER_00: I love you.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he says, with all my heart, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and all your mind.
SPEAKER_00: We remember this being repeated from Jesus in Luke, Luke's gospel, but also in Matthew's gospel and Mark's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: In Mark's gospel, in chapter 12, verse 28 through 30, Jesus quotes the Shema as he answers the scribes.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew 22, he answers it and uses Deuteronomy 6.5 and says, This is the greatest commandment.
SPEAKER_00: You remember what the second was?
SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbor as yourself, right?
SPEAKER_00: You take care of the vertical and you take care of the horizontal.
SPEAKER_00: You love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and you love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You see, you can't really can't love your neighbor as yourself unless you love God.
SPEAKER_00: The same is true in marriage.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about this, right?
SPEAKER_00: That you can't love your wife the way or spouse the way you should, the way you need to, unless you take care of the vertical thing.
SPEAKER_00: That you're loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
SPEAKER_00: And we see here that he goes on to say, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart, you shall teach them diligently to your children.
SPEAKER_00: And then he gives a variety of things here that I say are the principles of disciple making.
SPEAKER_00: There's six principles.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, biblical disciple making is relational.
SPEAKER_00: How many times in the New Testament we see people called brothers?
SPEAKER_00: It talks about family.
SPEAKER_00: It's described as us being part of God's family, as being little children.
SPEAKER_00: And so we find in the scripture this relational aspect to how we relate to each other.
SPEAKER_00: We call these in the New Testament what?
SPEAKER_00: The one what?
SPEAKER_00: The one another's.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the one anothers are all very relational.
SPEAKER_00: In biblical discipleship, it's about the relationship with someone else.
SPEAKER_00: That we invest in someone else and walk alongside them to help them in their growth.
SPEAKER_00: For parents, it's you discipling your children, walking alongside them, teaching them how to grow in Christ, modeling for them how to grow in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Robert Coleman said this: having called his men, Jesus made a practice of being with them.
SPEAKER_00: This was the essence of his training program.
SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you as you read through the Gospels and you read about Jesus, notice how many times it says he was with them.
SPEAKER_00: That means he was relating to them.
SPEAKER_00: He was in this relational relationship with them.
SPEAKER_00: The second thing we see here is he tells them to teach these things.
SPEAKER_00: And so the second aspect or second principle of disciple making is it needs to be instructional.
SPEAKER_00: There needs to be teaching that takes place.
SPEAKER_00: You meet together for discipleship, it's not just having a kumbaya party, it's meeting together to study God's word, to learn from one another.
SPEAKER_00: Parents teaching their children.
SPEAKER_00: The church parents does not need to be the primary teaching vehicle in your child's life.
SPEAKER_00: It needs to come from you.
SPEAKER_00: Husbands and wives, you learn from each other as you study God's word together.
SPEAKER_00: We find in Acts chapter 11 that Paul, we don't have time to go there, but Paul having gone to this particular church, I believe it was with Barnabas, it said they stayed there and they taught the disciples for a period of time.
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples matured, the disciples grew.
SPEAKER_00: That's what discipleship is about.
SPEAKER_00: Third principle, principle number one, it's relational.
SPEAKER_00: Principle number two, it's instructional, it's teaching.
SPEAKER_00: Principle number three, it's doctrinal.
SPEAKER_00: How did this begin?
SPEAKER_00: It began with a confession.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord our God is one, the one true God.
SPEAKER_00: It began with doctrinal, a doctrinal statement.
SPEAKER_00: The scripture tells us in Titus 2:1, but as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: Parents, it's incumbent upon you to teach your children sound doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: And be careful what they're listening to.
SPEAKER_00: Be careful the other influences in their life, that those other influences are not teaching bad doctrine or false doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: You're responsible to guard them, to protect them.
SPEAKER_00: And in our men's session breakout, we talked about one of the roles of men is to be a protector of his family.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the areas that we protect our family is theologically.
SPEAKER_00: And in the way we protect our family spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: And so that responsibility is upon us.
SPEAKER_00: What Moses is saying here is listen, families, you have a responsibility to train your children in this in these areas.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't do it right, if you don't do it well, one day they're going to turn and they may go back to idols.
SPEAKER_00: Which guess what happened?
SPEAKER_00: It did.
SPEAKER_00: They did not remember what had taken place.
SPEAKER_00: Fourth, it's intentional.
SPEAKER_00: Everything in verses 7 through 9 is very intentional.
SPEAKER_00: You shall teach them diligently to your children.
SPEAKER_00: You shall talk of them when you sit in your house.
SPEAKER_00: That's intentional.
SPEAKER_00: When you sit down at home and you talk about spiritual things, when you walk by the way, when you're walking down the street with your son or your daughter or in the park, use it as a teaching opportunity to impress upon them the things of life that are important.
SPEAKER_00: When you rise up, when you lie down, bind them as a frontal, a front lid on your forehead.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it was a visual thing.
SPEAKER_00: And then also on the doorpost of your house.
SPEAKER_00: If any of you have been to Asia, Southeast Asia especially, you will find on the doorpost of homes not Christian signs, but signs about Buddha or signs about a spirit, and people post them on the doorpost of their homes.
SPEAKER_00: I think if the Buddhists can do it, if the pagans can do it, maybe we ought to do it.
SPEAKER_00: When Robin and I in our home, the first home we were in, we were feeling some great oppression, some heaviness in that home.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things Robin did is we found these scriptural scrolls.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them were in English, some of them were in the language that we were studying, and she put them around the house as a reminder.
SPEAKER_00: Or she would write a verse and stick it on the refrigerator as a reminder to us and to our children as well.
SPEAKER_00: We have to be intentional.
SPEAKER_00: Discipling your family is not going to happen accidentally.
SPEAKER_00: Fifth, it's going to be trans, it needs to be transformational.
SPEAKER_00: Just like when Jesus, when he called his disciples, he didn't say, hey guys, just follow me.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Follow me, and I will make you.
SPEAKER_00: I will transform you.
SPEAKER_00: You see, discipleship, disciple making is transformational.
SPEAKER_00: And then sixth, it is reproducible.
SPEAKER_00: What Moses is saying here, any parent could do.
SPEAKER_00: And not only any parent, but remember early on it said, your sons and your sons' sons.
SPEAKER_00: It was to be reproducible in their lives.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, what are the outcomes of effective disciple making?
SPEAKER_00: We don't have time to go through it, but in Deuteronomy, in chapter 6, it says, they will remember, they will obey, they will fear the Lord, it will result in in verse 25 in righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And folks, I wish I could tell you that it all turned out good.
SPEAKER_00: But even in Deuteronomy 31, it tells us that Moses knew Israel would fail to keep the covenant, including the commands found in Deuteronomy 6.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 31, 27, it says, For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness.
SPEAKER_00: This is Moses' own assessment.
SPEAKER_00: And there comes after Joshua, after Joshua dies, one more generation.
SPEAKER_00: I think one of the saddest statements in all of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what it says.
SPEAKER_00: Judges 2, 10 through 12.
SPEAKER_00: One generation removed.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, the generation that came out of Egypt did not see the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: They all died.
SPEAKER_00: So that generation is gone.
SPEAKER_00: Another generation has passed with Joshua as he led him into the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: It says, There arose after the death of Joshua, there arose another generation who did not know Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: The sons of Israel then did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baal's.
SPEAKER_00: Had not Moses warned them about this?
SPEAKER_00: We are one generation away.
SPEAKER_00: One generation away from this happening in our own lives.
SPEAKER_00: Who does the responsibility fall on?
SPEAKER_00: It falls on parents.
SPEAKER_00: It falls on the church, the two institutions.
SPEAKER_00: And so I asked you this morning, parents, I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: Pass on, you can't pass on your salvation or your faith, but you can pass on the truth to your children.
SPEAKER_00: May it begin with you.
SPEAKER_00: I would challenge you this morning to make a commitment this day to say, I want to follow this example found in Deuteronomy 6.
SPEAKER_00: That we're going to make disciple making a priority in our home, beginning with our children, beginning with husband and wife, and we're going to be a part of any disciple making opportunity that our church provides because it's that important.
SPEAKER_00: Because we are one generation away.
SPEAKER_00: One generation away from them not knowing God and who he is.
SPEAKER_00: I encourage you this morning, if you're here today, you don't know Christ as Savior, you would say, you know, I come to church, but and I I believe some of these things, but I'm just not sure.
SPEAKER_00: But I believe that I need to do something about this.
SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, you can't do anything.
SPEAKER_00: Christ has already done it.
SPEAKER_00: And the gospel, the beautiful thing about the gospel is this God is a holy God, a loving God, a merciful God.
SPEAKER_00: And we are sinners, right?
SPEAKER_00: We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: And we can't save ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: But what God has provided for us is Jesus Christ, who became our substitute on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus died on the cross in our place so that we would not have to.
SPEAKER_00: He paid for our sin, he paid the penalty God required, that if we would repent of our sin, self, and religion and turn to Christ alone for salvation, he would forgive us, he would save us, he would transform us, he would give us new life.
SPEAKER_00: And I guarantee you, for every one of us that is saved, he has called you, just like he called the disciples, to say, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
SPEAKER_00: And so I encourage you this morning, right where you're seated, to just have a talk with God and say, God, I want to turn and repent of my sin and I want to put all my faith and trust in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not really sure about that, when we stand and sing in a moment, you can come and talk to one of the counselors in the front or later in the counselors in the back or wherever they meet at or talk to one of us out under the tent.
SPEAKER_00: Do that.
SPEAKER_00: I also want to challenge you as couples.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe God has spoken to your heart this weekend, and maybe you need to make a commitment.
SPEAKER_00: You just want somebody to pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: Won't you come and let one of the counselors just take you by the hand and pray with you about that commitment?
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe as a family, you just need to get together.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some teenagers need to go to their parents, or children need to go to their parents and just pray during this song or stand together.
SPEAKER_00: Let it begin here.
SPEAKER_00: Let it begin now.
SPEAKER_00: Start today as you walk, as you rise, as you sit down.
SPEAKER_00: Let it start today.
SPEAKER_00: Start that process even today as you begin to pass on your faith to the next generation.