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April 9, 2020 9:00 am
My lynching reminder from Pastor Janie 75% of discipleship is informal.
It's just teaching people to follow Jesus like you follow Jesus and Jesus promised to help you do that, follow me, he says, and I will make you a fisher of men just like the beneficiary men. This is an essential part of being a disciple that Jesus says that this is not a part of what you do not really my disciples life with pastor Jeannie Greer.
I'm only benefits you know if you were about 100 people in the street mean to be a Christian, you probably get 100 different responses. No clear answer something, it means that you come from a Christian family, others think it means you just go to church and still others just think it means you believe in God today. Pastor JD brings clarity and defines what it truly means to be a follower of Christ. The final message in our series called in earth as it is in heaven, and Pastor JD titled this message. Disciple is not strange and interesting fact, the very first followers of Jesus did not call themselves Christian. Christian was actually a derogatory term that was used by people outside of the Jewish community.
It was a derogatory term. User what they didn't call themselves Christians what they call themselves, they referred to themselves as disciples of Jesus. Consider this the word Christian is only used three times in the entire Bible door disciple.
By contrast, is used to hundred and 81 times in the New Testament alone for several so what here's what Andy Stanley says this and I agree with him. I want to suggest to you that in changing the primary word that we use to describe ourselves.
We lost the clarity that the word disciple conveyed about what a follower of Jesus actually is. So I want to go back and try to get into what a disciple actually was, and in Matthew chapter 4 we have the calling of the first disciples and in that you'll get a glimpse of what it disciple, what Christians all themselves okay.
Matthew chapter 4.
Let's begin in verse 18. While walking by the sea of Galilee, Jesus, all two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen, verse 19 and he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Verse 20 immediately immediate obedience. They left their nets and they followed him.
When I heard that story as a kid it never really made sense to me like why you did it was a Jedi mind trick out of he does commit these guys.
The common follow him I would take just a couple of minutes and try to fill in some of the things happening historically around. This will make that passage of Scripture make a lot more sense. I got ready all Hebrew boys in those days went to what he called Torah school on the boys who remained in the Torah school I would study until about age 17 and if you wanted to go on with their religious studies after that and you had to find yourself a rabbi, a rabbi that you admired and applied to become that rabbis Powell Mead rabbi just means teacher tell me, means disciple Hebrew word for disciple. You see, the rabbis were able to be really selective because in those days becoming a religious ruler was the best of all possible jobs.
All that to say this is a really exclusive club that was pretty hard to get into now back to Matthew chapter 4. Here comes Jesus knows the Torah so well that we find them at age 12 in the temple correcting the religious rulers Jesus this new rabbi shoes is Simon Peter and Andrew who are fishermen, so this of course is one of the following guys without much potential personal power teachers in the follow him become like him to know God like he knew God to do what he did and be filled with his power to things we notice about being a disciple right there for Matthew chapter 4 taken note number one.
Choose the best features is the willing. You understand that when you face the things that God has told you to face.
He didn't choose you because you were also he wanted to make you awesome because it shows you your awesome this was not to come from your abilities or awesomeness was going to come from his power in you. Number one he chose the Jews investors will number two God shows us not we him we see from there that he chose us not we him. Like I explained the normal way. All this went down is that if you were in the best of your class that you applied to a rabbi and if you like what he saw. He choose you back. Now all we know is that that became a great source of confidence to these comedy because you know when when everything else was going against them. They, like, yeah, but my rabbi lie was that he chose me. He must've seen something to me what things you notice if you read the New Testament is how many times and how often Jesus and the apostles bring up this concept that he chose us as a means of instilling confidence. You'll see this in in a couple weeks we start our study of the book of Ephesians. This is the book of the Bible will be in next euro to see how Paul is to develop this theme but you didn't choose God.
He chose you and Paul is not just is not trying to unravel the mysteries of predestination to you what he's trying to say to the Ephesians and the you is in the midst of a world where you feel overwhelmed by opposition. You can be confident that if God shows you got to see it through and it didn't matter what the size of the obstacles are in front of you.
It matters the size of the God behind you and that God is greater than the greater is he that is in you.
What about the obstacles and start focus on God.
That's all points using know what what what here's what Jesus is worth usually says acetylene. You can choose me matches you appointed you that you might go when bear fruit different means when other people to Jesus and your fruit will last.
It's not to be a temporary thing. It could be permit for real pretty girl fruit so that whatever you ask in my name, the father will give you when Jesus says you can choose me, but I chose you.
His main point is not hey guys, I'm a Calvinist. His main point in saying that is. I chose you, and what I have planned for you, and purpose for you. I'm pursuing you, and I'm not gonna let it drop. And so when you lack confidence in yourself. You should put confidence in my purposes in you because even if you falter, they will never fail you see, here's where our competence fails is not a lot of times we talk about you. We lost our confidence in Jesus. But it's really not our confidence in Jesus that we lost we lost with our confidence that Jesus would do through us what he said he would do in the right. A good example of this.
Matthew 14, just a few chapters of that yet. Peter as you know there in the midst of the storm anything to say to her comes. Jesus walking on water, and Peter is like a Jesus is that you that you want to my me to come out and join you on the water. Jesus, as it is I so go on out to be drops on the boat boom is walking on water. Everything is awesome.
Peter takes a few steps up to the ways around them men what he does. He panics he starts to sink, and we only say say he lost confidence in Jesus is that really true know he still fully confident in Jesus because Jesus is doing just fine up there on the water. What he lost confidence in was not Jesus's ability to walk on water you lost confidence in Jesus's ability to make him walk on water right you see the difference where your confidence usually falters is not in the character of Jesus.
It's in the promise of Jesus to do through you what Jesus said he would do your fully commenced.
Jesus was married your spouse to be doing an awesome job right, in which what you're not confident of is that Jesus can use you to become it on a husband-and-wife you're supposed to be your confident that if Jesus were raising your kids you be doing a great job. That's not what he promised he promised he do it through you. Your confident that if Jesus were at your workplace, he be doing a great job in a witness. That's not what he promised what he did promise is that he would do these things through you and when you're confidence falters when life smacks you down when you fail when you feel like you're up against insurmountable obstacles in your marriage with your kids and your career and your ministry what you need to remember is faithful is he who called you who also will do it that he that began a good work.
Philippians 16 and you will continue with and never let it go all the way till even if it is that in the day of Jesus Christ, the greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world that what God's purpose. He will bring to pass. I'm convinced Paul says I know when I have believed in not persuaded that he is able to keep that which I committed to him against that day when I pay plus he will be faithful. He cannot deny himself. What I'm unable he is able.
Isaiah 4611. What I have said, Jesus says that I will bring about what I have planned that I will do when Jesus shows you you a plan yet a plan for your marriage a plan for your family had a plan to use you to bring forth fruit and not a bit of it depended on the amount ability. You brought the conversation what it depended on was his ability to do it through you and you gotta put your confidence in that whenever I have somebody at the church come up to me at the end of the service and I've this happens a good amount of the nature of a church that tells me that they're having to move away for a job and had this look of fear in their eyes is like this church is not so much to me and got stung so much of my life and my jobs transfer me and I don't know what church you go to and I get on my support group my friends in it and I just invariably every single time I quoted him. Ephesians 210. Ephesians 210 says that God has preordained predestined good works for you to go walking. Which means that God went ahead like he was your your travel secretary and he went ahead to the place you were going and he preordained good works for you to walk in. In other words, he set the support group he needed. He picked out the friends he made sure that everything you needed overcome temptation and to grow with him. He made sure it was already in place. Your job is not to go there and try to figure out what those things are.
Your job is to go there and look to the Lord Jesus Christ to lead you into the things he is already purpose and plan for you. He said it, he's going to do it. You can trust in him right so was a second. Here's the third thing. Our primary call we see is to be with him notice exactly what he said follow me. By the way in Aramaic left, I say translate that awesome then assembling his manly son except Jesus are making your best friend.
It's like I follow me as I love that you didn't tell him even tell where they're going to sign the form, because his primary call on you is not to do something it is to become like him, and become like him got to know him in the know him, you got to spend time with him and to spend time with him means that you soak in every single word that comes out of his mouth. I don't have a long time to spend on this one but I will just tell you at the summit church.
We offer so many outlets for you to take advantage of this, weekly messages, small groups, special studies that we do and all I'll say is if you're really serious about being his disciple Juergen to begin to take advantage of a lot of these and I don't mean just coming to hear me teach once a week. You're to be getting into the word every single day on your own you be memorizing Scripture unity reading books about the Bible unity listening to sermons on podcast or on the radio Juergen to saturate yourself in the work you want the dust of your rabbi to be all over you, then you can have to have his word saturating you inside of you until it dominates all your thinking in all your behavior until you think it and you talk it and you quoted and as we often say when life cuts you, you does believe God's word is listen. You cannot know Jesus anymore than you know his word.
You want the dust of your rabbi all over you, then learn his word and you gotta be with him. Number four the following, we see you had to leave it all immediately. It says they left their boat and their father.
Why do you think the author pick those two things in the highlighters odors is representative of significant things in our lives right but would mean your career what you depend on for today, care yourself, father, that would be your most significant relationship. Jesus is a follow me, I gotta take precedence over both of those things now need be real with you most of you, for you to follow Jesus, you're not actually going to lose your father and mother. Some of you will that we have grown our church right now on right now who couple years ago and some missionaries from the summit church in the Middle East letter to faith in Christ baptizer into the summit church over there in the Middle East right.
She was in the Middle East. There are parents found out about it demanded that she renounce her faith.
She said I can't. I'm commencing Jesus Christ is who he says he is. They said if you don't answer faith were to announce you. They locked her in a room. I'm she said she tells a story that she heard overheard them on her per brought her father and her brother talking that night about killing her. She she knew that they were there were serious this is not a joke. Will that night. Middle the night had an emergency and her family there.
Her sister-in-law went into labor prematurely so they all rest of the hospital after bar self locking room. She uses her moments.
If you get out. This economy has her she broke out. Went to this missionaries house and city. Gotta get me outta here is her to kill me. Well make a long story short of it. If you know a year or so, she made her way here a mentor for the first time last week.
I'm here at our church where she is now taking up residence in applying as a refugee here in our community. Now listen most of you aren't going to have that experience for those you to do.
It's it's a bitter experience but but we know that Jesus is sweeter.
Most of you are to be asked to leave your job to follow Jesus. Some of you maybe even Jesus may lead you to transfer your job from here to one of these places were planted church that may happen a few of you may be asked to quit your job altogether to become a full-time missionary that will happen with a few of you, but for many of you it's not going to be that dramatic, but you are going to have moments in your life where you have to decide what holds greater sway over your life. For example, college students, your parent, God's gonna lead you to take summer and go overseas in Michigan are after you graduate billable one of our church plants and you could tell your parents and there to say I for Bennett and Juergen have to decide in that moment, who has greater sway over your life. Your mom and dad who gave birth to you were Jesus who created you and died for you Thai school students are to be only one.
Some of you who chooses to follow Jesus out your set of friends and Juergen to get labeled that religious check or the Virgin or something else. I've added you have to decide if you sit back and be intimidated or Jesus has a larger presence in your life and those friends do some of you in business. You can face a temptation to cut some corners with some everybody else in your field does with your grandpa side of you to be patient do things God's way for some of you is simply what you do with your income now Scripture teaches in unequivocal terms that you give your first and your best back to Jesus when you're his follower, which usually for Christian start with about 10%.
That is the area where I see most Christians demonstrate that they never really become a disciple of Jesus because they just want to obey God. Here they don't let Jesus have greater sway over that.
Then there boat does seem to follow Jesus means you subject everything in your life to his Lordship, you forsake all that he is forbidden and you pursue all that he is prescribed unconditionally.
Number five last one and here we see that he commands us to reproduce spiritually, we see that to be a disciple he commands us to reproduce spiritually. Verse 19, follow me. He says, and I will make you a fisher of men just like he had been a fisher of men. His followers also would become fisher of men.
This is an essential part of being a disciple is not something that a few of us do. It is something according to Jesus, that all of us do, and that Jesus says that this is not a part of what you do that you not really my disciple meeting on a pastor like over speak like that's a dramatic and I will call your bluff. John 50 night by this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit's luscious and so proved to be my disciples.
I got through your disciple bear fruit. Spiritual unit reproduce spiritually which means that if you are really his disciple. This is going to be a part of your life and if you're not reproducing. Spiritually, you have good reason to question whether or not you are actually a disciple at all. Summit church, the great commission that Jesus gave to us was this. Matthew 2019 is last thing he said before he ascended into heaven. Go and all the world and make disciples that is reasonable than ATTAINMENT, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you right these three were ureters. Another is another nerd moment I'm go baptizing teaching recall participles only one verb in that sentence and it's make disciples. Which means if you're reading it in Greek that all these things kinda come from this thing which means the center of all the going the baptizing the teaching. The center is making disciples, which means that and everything else that we do as a church and everything we do as a Christian.
The core of what we do is the one verb he gave us which is to make disciple yes we have a lot of ministries at this church. We got a lot of ministries but everything that we do in ministry grows out of the call to make disciples of all these ministries. This is the core of all of it.
Yes, we love to show kindness and to meet needs. Wherever we see them. We want to help the homeless orphan underprivileged. The unwed mother, but the core of all that as we help them is teaching them about the salvation of Jesus. Some of you only talk specifically to a college student. Some of you are moved by the needs of the world and that's awesome you are moved by the needs of people all around you the greatest need in the world is the need for people to hear about the salvation of Jesus to be removed by suffering removed by the suffering of the refugee and the plight of people all over the world and that's awesome, the greatest of all suffering is eternal suffering which people who are outside of Jesus experience, which means yes give your life to meet needs. Give your life to relieve suffering, but as a disciple of Jesus know that the greatest need, you can meet in the greatest suffering that you can relieve is the need of people to hear about Jesus and to experience the salvation of Jesus. So in all that you do make sure the controlling verb is making disciples is he Jesus summarized his ministry in Luke 19 by saying the Son of Man me and have come to seek and save the lost. Doesn't that mean that if we are his disciples.
That's how you will summarize our lives to JD is here to seek and save the lost. If the dust of my Rabbi is all over me in that what my life will look like. This is the primary thing we do, and it involves every single believer. It's not just something we do in a few departments in the church. It's something that each of you as followers of Jesus do, he is called and appointed you individually.
You he calls you to go and bring forth fruit, Robert Coleman, who wrote a book called the master plan of evangelism which is one of the most important books I read, it was in college and it has one of his books at Bob in the top five of those it for now. I understood ministry of following Jesus. He a member, something he said there when will the church learn this lesson. Preaching to the masses but we do each week and right preaching. That's all the necessary will never suffice in the work of preparing leaders for evangelism. This means told you about Jesus Norton occasional prayer meetings and training classes for Christian workers do the job.
Individual women and men are God's method God's plan for the great commission for discipleship is not something's plan for the triangle is not Christmas at Deepak. I hate to break it. His plan for the triangle is not this pope again, louder lot's plan for the triangle is not even our Easter service.
His plan for the triangle are individual men and women's plan is not something to someone it's you. You are God's method. You are God's method we want to see you become by God's grace reproducing Christian this year not to let this intimidate you.
Disciple making is simply teaching somebody else to follow Jesus like you follow Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit some time to be studying the Bible together, but even more than that of simply opening up your life to let other people and I love our college ministry always says that 75% of discipleship is informal. It's just teaching people to follow Jesus like you follow Jesus and Jesus's promise to help you do that and what I doing what you asked me to do exactly that.
Make this up radicals. I cannot give you a few things on as community. First of all you need to get engaged in the church and the best means we have the do that is through a small group, small groups of the small organizing units of the Summit church where we execute all the values in the mission of the church.
It all happens on the small group level and so the moment you move from spectator disciple for a lot of used to be the moment you get involved in a small group that's were going to begin to live this out and put it into practice. Maybe most importantly, what I want you to walk away from here with his. I want you to identify want you to identify today. Your �1.01 was your one.
I want to challenge you to have one person this year that with the help of God you and introduce to faith in Jesus Christ. Now I know you can control the outcome shall not asking them put it on you, but I'm same we you commit the gods and got will you show me one person this year that I am supposed to reproduce myself and spiritually.
Summit was what would be a fact the 10,000 people who call themselves Christians at our church took this seriously will you take that challenge today is the one person you're going to introduce to the gospel this year. No matter who you picked we've got some resources on our website and can actually help you in that mission find them online@jdgreer.com you're listening to summit life with pastor Jamie Claire in the final message in her series called in earth as it is in heaven.
So pastor JD you've just finished teaching about how God wants to work in our lives and communities in the world around us that we simply don't feel very Christian at times we were honest, we probably all admit that there are moments when we don't really feel Christian moments where honestly you like another brand where you don't feel like reading your Bible, you feel more like it was coming on TV you do the spread of God's kingdom and the way what you do in that moment, the answer is to just to renew your belief in the gospel just sent it to rejoice in the matter how I feel my salvation is not based on how I feel is based on the finished work of Christ.
That's what this devotional that were giving out the series helps you do is help to show you how to believe the gospel when feel it's reality in your heart. I love to give you this resource. You can only find this for yourself and help those people in your life to find it. Also, just reach out to us here JD grid.com and and that would love to start a conversation when you call an option to link people with the gospel centered teaching every day on your radius when you give it a suggested level of $25 or more to say thanks by sending you pastor JD's newest resource attending devotional.
Now the gospel per copy and polish me down eight 865-5220 8665 20 or go online JD clear my leaving events, encouraging you to join us in this series the first time. Listen Friday. Jamie