WHAT IS A DISCIPLE?

RICHLAND UPDATE

Introduce myself and family

Launched Connection Church at Richland in Lynnville, Tn. Just over 4 months ago.

We brought with us probably, actually around 50 people from Wayne st for a 1 year mission trip. To come help us get launched.

We have been having around 85 on average regular. This past Sunday was our record regular service high attendance with 113. We also welcome 14 new adults to being new members of Connection Church.

Huge praise for all that the Lord is doing down in Lynnville.

I want to personally thank all of you for your continued support in giving and more importantly your support in prayer.

I can’t tell you enough how much we envy your prayers for us. I will tell you a little bit about it this morning but we are seeing the Kingdom of God advance in Giles county and Lynnville. Your prayers are vital to that happening.

So, PE and I decided it would be good to swap pulpits for a weekend. I wanted to thank you and ask for you continued prayers for the Lord’s work in Giles county. But also, a lot of our new members down at Richland have never met PE. So, PE wanted to meet some of the newest members of CCR.

Introduce message.

I have been watching PE’s messages and love what the Lord has been doing and is continuing to do here.

I actually feeling like the Lord is continuing what PE talked about last week and even look at some of the same passages of scripture to do that.

Do you guys love it when the OT aligns with the NT and the teachings of Jesus?

What I feel like the Lord is leading us towards this morning is to take a look at one of the more difficult verses in the NT and see how those some teachings were requested in the life of Abraham and how the Lord is asking the same thing of us today. And how the Lord still keeps these promises today.

AM I TRULY FOLLOWING JESUS? LUKE 9:57-62

yeah, I know… that question struck out at me when I was reading this passage a couple of weeks ago. I have been studying it and breaking it down for weeks. I don’t want to avoid difficult passages.

But there is hope in this passage. There is power in this passage. There is an opportunity to get it right in this passage. There is an opportunity to repent in this passage.

There is also an opportunity to see the Lord do incredible things in your life and the life of those around you. There is an opportunity to see the enemy defeated in this passage.

What we have in this passage are three short conversations with people saying that they wanted to be a follower of Jesus and Jesus, knowing their hearts, challenges the excuse or fear in them.

What we are going to see is that these are not new things that the Lord needs us to surrender or lay or let die in our lives in order to follow Him.

Let’s look at these three short conversations.

Read passage.

COMFORT VS. 57-58

The call to follow Jesus is not a call to homelessness or poverty. The call of Jesus is not to immediately sell all of you possessions and give it to the poor.

But to follow Jesus is to be willing to give up any and all things that He may ask of you. Jesus was reminding this person that at the moment, Jesus didn’t even have a home and in order to follow Him, he would have to be okay to go without some of the normal comforts and material possessions that he was accustomed to.

The Lord did the same thing to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In order to follow the Lord, He asked Him to be willing to leave his homeland and his family and their property.

The Lord asked Abram to follow His lead even though Abram had no idea where it would lead him.

I believe it was 6 years ago this past November that the Lord called me to follow Him into full time ministry. I’ll never forget that day.

I had no idea what it was going to take, but I knew it would take a lot.

I had no idea what I was going to have to give up, but I knew that I was going to probably have to move or even leave my church home.

I had no idea where He would lead us but I knew that He promised never to leave me or forsake me.

But I had been leading my own life for 32 years and I knew that I wasn’t doing what the Lord had made me to do. I bounced around for job to job to job never finding satisfaction. Never feeling like I was doing what the Lord had built me for.

I know that this one kills some of you. You want to follow Jesus but the fear of the unknown is overwhelming. The fear of not knowing what it will cost, what you will have to lay down or where it might lead you. I’m telling you, I love a good plan!

But can I tell you, I still don’t fully understand the cost. I am having to lay things down continuously. But I had no idea that 6 years later, I would be pastoring a church plant. And be seeing some of the incredible works of God in my life, my family and His church.

The promise to Abram rings true even today that if you trust in the Lord and be willing to lay down the comforts of this world in pursuit of following Jesus, He will bless you in ways that you have never thought possible. I don’t have enough time to tell you the ways that we have seen Him bless my family.

But i’m telling you, Its worth it.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES VS 59-60

The second challenge that Jesus lays down for His potential followers is the man who wanted to finish His responsibility to bury his father.

Now, scholars and commentators do not believe that this man was asking to go to his dad’s funeral but that he was asking to go and see his father though the final stages of his life. To be there for his father for who knows how long. Now, it was apart of his duty to his father to do that but the son was also asking for him to be able to go back and get his inheritance before following Jesus.

The call to follow Jesus is not a call to cause your family or your responsibilities to suffer.

A disciple of Jesus must not be MORE concerned about their supposed obligations or responsibilities. Though some may be valid and still our responsibility, we can not concern ourselves more with those than following Christ.

(slow Down)

Following Christ will not cause your God given obligations or responsibilities to suffer.

It might however, cause our oppressive or not God ordained responsibilities to be exposed as idols needing to be cast off.

Jesus said, unless one hates His family they can not follow me. That is not hate but love less. He is saying that your responsibilities and roles must take a 2nd seat to the following Jesus.

This false perspective has infiltrated our minds.

We are willing to sacrifice the Kingdom of God to “protect” our families. But a disciple of Jesus is willing to sacrifice their family for the Kingdom of God and trust Him with the protection.

Do we honestly not trust God enough with our kids, with our family that we have to put limitations on what God can ask of us to protect our children from Him? Yes, maybe your kids might not be able to have to life that you always dreams or hoped for them. Maybe their Christmas’ might look differently.

But a childhood of seeing their parents sold out for the Kingdom of God is so much more valuable than them have the best vacations or the latest technology. Train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it.

The problem is, we are teaching our children way that they should go but not living the example of the way they should go. In fact, we are passing down this idea of a healthy balance between following Christ and family instead letting Jesus lead and change everything. They are seeing the limitations that we are placing on the Lord and they are setting limitations for themselves as well.

This is not a new concept to following the Lord.

Abraham was asked to do this same exact thing in Genesis 22:11-12

Genesis 22:11–12 ESV

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

Many of us live in fear of letting go of our control over our roles and responsibilities. We think that we can steer the ship better than He can.

We can trust Him with our families. (Pause)

We can. (pause)

So, let go and follow the Jesus as He shows you how to fulfill your God given roles and responsibilities.

THE PAST VS 61-62

Jesus makes this very simple observation. It’s really hard to walk in a straight line and plow a field properly if your eyes are fixed in the behind you in the past!

And I think there are two ways that you can be looking in the past that can hinder your future.

The first is looking back at good times or success in the past and wishing you were still there.

The Israelites did this in the desert. They would have rather known there was going to be food tomorrow in slavery than trusting the Lord to provide in freedom.

We should just go back to Egypt!

I am guilty of this looking back and am currently resisting it! I am not as well off as I was before surrendering to the Lord’s call on my life and during difficult times I struggle to look back at the past and wish I was back there. But I was not advancing the Kingdom of God then. I was not set free from pursuing the world over pursuing Christ. So, I must keep my eyes forward. Set on the goal of Christlikeness in my life and advancing the Kingdom of God.

The second way we can be stuck looking into the past is to keep our eyes on past hurts, past sins, past mistakes, or missed opportunities.

Guilt and shame are prisons that drag you down and keep you focused on things that are causing your future paths to be crooked and off kilter.

The day that the Lord called into the ministry 6 years ago, every huge sin I commited while I was running from the Lord came to mind. Every person I had hurt, came to mind. Everything that should in my mind disqualify me from being a pastor came to mind. That entire day was a major battle in my mind. It was warfare for my future.

And I confessed to the Lord that there was so many reasons why I should not do this or that would cause be to fail.

He said those are a lot of reasons not to or that you will fail at. But there is only one way to do this, its to let me do it through you. Let me lead you. Trust me.

(long pause)

Look, I get it. These are hard truths. This is not an easy teaching. I get that. But Jesus is pleading with you to follow Him. Some of your feel it right now and know that you should say yes. Then the “but” comes to mind. But I say the a couple of the best words in the Bible “but God”.

John 1:17 ESV

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Francis Frangipane, “If you a teaching and feel as though it were unattainable in your condition, you have only heard half of the message. You missed the grace that is always resident in the heart of God’s truth. Remember this always; grace and truth are realized in Jesus Christ. What God’s truth demands, His grace will provide.”

His grace is ever present. His mercies are new every morning. His grace covers the past and the present. Perfection is not on this list for following Jesus.

But pursuing Christ first, the realization of truth and grace, is.

If you keep reading in Luke. You will see that after Jesus taught that hard teaching, those who were left, He sent out.

He sent out 72 people in pairs to to proclaim that the Kingdom of God was near to them.

He told them that they were going as sheep amongst the wolves and trust Him for all of their provision.

When they came back they didn’t say, Lord we were hungry!

They came back in joy saying, Lord, even demons are subject to us in your name! They were saying, YOUR NAME IS POWERFUL!! And we saw the enemy being defeated!

(ramp up)

And then Jesus says to them, “I saw satan fall like lightening!” and as our Pastor Wes talked about that one Sunday, that is in the present tense! That was right then. Jesus was saying, while you were out proclaiming the Kingdom of God, I was watching satan and his kingdom be defeated! Right then! God’s kingdom advancing and the enemies kingdom taking a big hit.

(ramp up more)

I’m tell you right now, it is worth it! It is worth laying down your comforts to advance the Kingdom of God! It is worth trusting your family with Jesus to see the enemy take a shot to chest! It is worth letting go of the past so that you can see people be set free from the slavery of this world to find freedom in Christ.

(slow down)

Did you know that every Sunday, even this one, the Word of the Lord is being proclaimed and the name of Jesus is being worshipped in a place were people were murdered in a school shooting? The kingdom of God is pushing back enemy territory.

Did you know that in the past couple of weeks, a marriage was about to fall apart but the Lord brought healing, restoration and a stronger relationship out of it?

Just this past week, I have spoken to 4 men who are experiencing breakthroughs and accepting God’s grace.

The kingdom of God is advancing. And it is all to the glory and praise of God.

When this happens, I believe the next verse is true.

Luke 10:21 ESV

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

I don’t know what Jesus rejoicing in the Holy Spirit looks like, but there are days that I feel like its true. And it makes everything worth it.

(Jimi to come play)

There are some here who are going to walk away and say that the price is too high.

But there are some here that are ready to say, yes.

There are some here that are going to hear Luke 10:2

Luke 10:2 ESV

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

and you’re hearing Isaiah 6:8

Isaiah 6:8 ESV

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Who here knows that the Lord is moving in and through Connection Church? The Lord is advancing the Kingdom of God right now. The evidence is here and the evidence is happening right now 19 miles south of here.

The Lord has more instore for Connection Church and we are going to need people to be willing to go!

You’ve prayed about it and you’ve weighed the cost and want to say “Here I am! Send me!”

You may be a Christian and you have been living for the world or for yourself. And its time to draw a line in the sand and say, today i’m walking the straight path. You are ready to say, I’ll go anywhere, You are ready to say, I trust you with my family, You are ready to say, i’m laying my past down and fixing my eyes forwards. I don’t need to think about anymore. I’m ready now!

With every head bowed and every eye closed.

Then, yes, I’m going to ask you to stand. Stand now, right where you are. I want to pray for you!

Maybe the Lord is calling you into full time ministry. Maybe the Lord is calling you into missions work. Maybe the Lord is just asking you to say yes and trust Him with the where and how. But He is asking you to stand.

I’m going to pray a prayer over you.

2 Timothy 1:6–7 ESV

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Colossians 1:10–11 ESV

so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

Maybe this be a day of remembrance for you. A damascus road for you.

Ephesians 3:16–21 ESV

that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.