Raising up Disciples

This week we are going to continue on our series called core values.

Living on Mission,

Raising up disciples,

Building the Kingdom.

And as I said last week that our core values will never undermine the foundation that we as a church family are built on.

We as a church are build on the Rock, Jesus Christ,

and

everything we do as a church family must flow from the place of being built on the Rock. (Amen!)

Last week we looked at what it means to live on mission.

Living on Mission means we intentionally and purposefully live out God’s mission.

Living out God’s mission will look different for each one here this morning because each one has different gifts that God has given us.

But everyone of these gifts are ment to serve the family of God.

We are apart of God’s redemptive story

and

each one needs to intentionally and purposefully live out God’s mission to the world to make disciple’s and build the Kingdom of God.

This morning we are going to look at the 2nd core value.

Today’s sermon is titled Raising up Disciples

(This conversation takes place at the end of Matthew… After Jesus’ death and resurrection)

Matthew 28:16–20 (ESV)

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This passage is called the great commission

and

Jesus gives this missional statement to his disciples to go and make disciples.

In the Kingdom of God disciples make other disciples. (Natrual)

David Turner states,

“The central responsibility of the disciples is to reproduce themselves, to make more disciples.”

It is important to know there is a difference between converts and disciples.

We as a western church tend to focus on conversion versus discipleship.

We have big crusades were people come forward for an alter calls which is great,

but what happens to them next? (who is teaching them about God)

Example pool wide but only an inch deep

What I mean is we have a lot of confessor’s of Christianity,

but there is not much depth in the faith.

Because of this we are seeing droves of individuals that are falling away from the faith.

I have seen the effects of surface level Christianity come up not only with people leaving the faith,

but in conversation that have happen within the church over the years.

I have grown up in the church my whole life… (my parents both served in ministry 50 years)

I have been blessed to have the opportunity to serve in ministry for over a decade,

which is crazy to think that church’s put me on staff at 12 years old. JK

I have had conversations with people who have been in the church many years and even severed in leadership roles.

And what I have found is that sometimes they won’t even know the basic things of Christianity that i learned as a child.

Using Paul’s terminology from 1 Corinthians 3:2,

we have many who have been in the faith for decades and are still drinking milk and have not moved to solid food yet.

I really believe it comes down to we have emphasized conversion so much that we have forgotten about discipleship.

This is why it is important for us as a family to be intentional and purposeful in raising up disciples.

Therefore, I want Rock Creek to be a church family that raises up disciple’s for the purpose of furthering God’s Kingdom.

I want to define what raising up disciple’s means this morning....

Raising up disciple’s means we equip and empower believers to walk out their God given calling. 2x

Few things to understand is that a disciple needs first be born again.

If someone has not yet surrendered their life to Jesus as Lord and Savior they cannot be a disciple.

A disciple is is one whom hears the call of Christ and leaves everything to be his follower.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes,

Discipleship is commitment to Christ. Because Christ exists, he must be followed.

Darrell L. Bock states,

“Discipleship could be defined as becoming and being a flourishing follower of Jesus who embodies the character of Christ by engaging in a lifelong, personal pursuit of holistic transformation and doing so within a like-minded community of faith that’s corporately committed to being and making other disciples.”

There are many things that could be said about what a disciple is,

but in the simplest of terms a disciple is one who follows Jesus and surrenders their life to His will.

Jesus made disciple’s for them to go out on mission to make more disciples.

Disciple’s make disciples.

In our core value of raising up disciple’s we are to equip disciple’s and empower disciple’s.

Equipping disciple’s means we are actively training them in the things of God.

Ephesians 4:11–12 NLT

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

As a pastor it is my responsibility to equip you do the work of the Kingdom.

Leaders who lead studies it is their responsibility to equip you to grow in your faith.

We are equipped by the teaching of the Word.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Teaching the Word without compromise equips men and women as disciples.

Disciple’s cannot rely solely on teaching from the church on a Sunday…

(need to be in the Word) [Equipping people to be inspired to be in the Word]

This is not exclusive to adults but rather is important for all ages.

In the youth and children’s ministry needs to be equipped by the Word.

Too many youth groups and childrens ministries is all about entertainment and not nearly enough about discipleship.

I taught youth ministry for years. (stuck with me… schools teach algebra and calculus… church Jesus loves me)

I believe that great church discipleship needs to start with the youth of the church.

(Not just in the classroom but also in the homes)

We need to be intentional about raising up the kids to be ambassadors for Christ.

I want the kids that are in our classrooms to be..... elders and decans, pastors and evangelist,

our generations ceiling to be next generations floor…

We as a church living on mission need to raise up disciples of every age that will bring transformation by bringing the good news to the world.

Raising up disciples… Willie George story discipleship

I believe one of the biggest aspects of discipleship,

that is often times forgotten,

is the importance of relationship with one another.

When reading the Gospel's think of all the dialogue's Jesus had in private with his disciples.

Jesus did much of his equipping and training not from the stage or platform but rather off the stage in private.

Because Jesus was in relationship with His disciple’s they were able to come to him and ask questions.... it was in conversations

I find it odd the church celebrity culture where church leaders become unapproachable.

(This can happen is small and big church’s) [completely different then how Jesus did ministry]

Jesus was very approachable and relational,

which led to many conversations that equip men and women to understand the Kingdom of God.

Being in relationship with one another is a key ingredient for raising up disciple’s.

Proverbs 27:17 ESV

17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Hebrews 10:25 (NLT)

25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Being in relationship with one another as a family is needed for raising up disciples

My own life… conversations…

(discipleship naturally happens when their is relationship)

That is why we are having the gathering… (women, men, youth, family)

(Gathering for the purpose of equipping one another)

Raising up disciple’s means we equip and empower believers to walk out their God given calling.

Equipping and training one another is not for the purpose of having knowledge. (Military trains for battle)

The purpose of equipping disciples is to send them out to live on mission.

We can’t just equip disciples,

we need to empower disciples to carry out the mission of God.

I have found that this is the area that church’s fail in the most.

We don’t like to empower people for usually 2 reasons.

We are afraid that they will mess up and it will reflect poorly on us.

(imagine if Jesus had that attitude)

2. We are afraid that we will lose our position.

(My own example) [Church as a business model vs Kingdom model]

Jesus said…

Matthew 9:37–38 (NLT)

37 “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

We as a church need to empower disciples to go into the field and bring in the harvest.

Empowering disciple’s is the way of the Kingdom because it follows the Jesus model. (Disciples)

Rock Creek church needs to raise up disciple’s because that is God’s missional call for us.

Raising up disciple’s means we call out gifting in people.

1 Peter 4:10 NLT

10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.

We as a family need to be looking for giftings in each other.

(Easy to find faults) [Barnabas]

Need Barnabas’s to raise up disciple’s

Raising up disciple’s means we hold each other accountable because we are compelled by love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Ephesians 4:15 NLT

15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

Raising up disciples means we create a culture where we naturally disciple one another.

Raising up disciples means we always point people back to the foundation (The Rock, Jesus Christ)

Raising up disciples means we are in relationship with one another as a family so we can speak into each others lives.

Raising up disciples means we cheer one another on to win the prize that is before us.

Hebrews 12:1 ESV

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Raising up disciple’s means we encourage one another and believe in one another to carry out the mission of God.

Close with this.

Living on Mission means we intentionally and purposefully live out God’s mission.

Raising up disciple’s means we equip and empower believers to walk out their God given calling.

Time of Reflection… (intentionally and purposefully) [equip and empower]