Next Steps: Finding Faith and Community- Grow

Announcements

OUR MISSION

To disciple and empower believers to transform the world for Christ.​

​OUR VISION

To cultivate a selfless community of believers transformed by the message of Christ. ​

Sisterhood Prayer Breakfast on March 15 from 9:00-12:00

Connect Night, this evening Sunday

Series Introduction

We are concluding our Next Steps series and celebrating Black History month this Sunday. We talked about three steps we should all take on our journey with Jesus:

Believe on Jesus

Commit to Jesus

Settle with Jesus

Grow in Jesus

Read Matthew 28:19–20 “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,* baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.””

Introduction: The Importance of Matthew 28:19-20

How many of you remember your teenage self? How have you changed and evolved over the years?

This passage was one of the first Scriptures I discovered when I started studying the Bible as a teenager and young adult. It was this Scripture that I opened my Bible to after praying to God about what to do with my life. I remembered it like it was yesterday.

Before this point, I had been a church musician, very introverted—a shy teenager entering young adulthood. Church really wasn’t my thing. I was eager to graduate, get out of my parent’s house, and move on to the things I wanted to do.

I had a plan. I knew exactly what I would do the day I graduated. Since my plans for the military had been ruined, I was prepared to get a good job working full-time, make a lot of money, and hit the fast track to success. On that Saturday, I graduated. On Monday, I would begin my first full-time job as a salesman at Stokes Craven Chrysler Jeep Dodge. I was a boy amongst men and women. They had families, years of experience, and a clientele I could never have developed. But, I was pushing my way through to the life I wanted!

Little did that young kid in that picture know, His life would be radically changed by the power of God’s Word.

Through a series of events, I began reading the Bible and I discovered something. I had always believed God only wanted conversion—the thing we do when we come up to God and give our life to Him. Or the thing we do when we are in church and rendering our services. I figured as long as I show up to church, I’m good. I had mistaken my weekly church attendance, which was many, for relationship.

I did not understand I was missing a crucial step in the process—discipleship. I was not growing. This is when I learned the premise I want to share with you today.

Premise: The greatest calling any person has is to discipleship.

Contrary to popular belief, the greatest call that a person can receive is not to ministry. We love the titles—Dr., Bishop, Minister, Deacon, Missionary, Music Director, Pastor, Superintendent, etc. But are you a disciple?

Many people always ask the question, what am I called to be? They often struggle, saying, “I don’t know what my calling.” Well, today, we are going to discover—if we don’t know anything, we are called to be a disciple.

In the Roman world and in the Jewish context, individuals would often approach teachers to request if they could become their disciple. However, in Jesus’s ministry the people who requested to be disciples of Jesus never made it. In the gospels any successful disciple was called by Jesus. Anyone who tried to become one on their own failed.

Rich man in Mark 10:17-27.

Mark 10:17–27 NLT

17 As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” 20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” 21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” 26 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. 27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”

The anonymous follower in Luke 9:57-60.

Luke 9:57–60 NLT

57 As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.” 59 He said to another person, “Come, follow me.” The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” 60 But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.”

Principle 1: True discipleship requires a break from your past.

Notice how God called these disciples and the unique way they were challenged to break from their past.

Mark 1:16–20 “16 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 17 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 18 And they left their nets at once and followed him. 19 A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. 20 He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men.”

Mark 2:13–14 “13 Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.”

The Meaning of Discipleship

What we read in our text for today is supremely about discipleship. It is Jesus’s command to the apostles to go into the world and make disciples. Here we find a very important characteristic of Jesus’s ministry. Jesus was not simply trying to convert individuals. He was striving to disciple the entire world.

At the core of its meaning, the disciple means to be a learner or student. It means to be a follower who is devoted to someone and their teaching. It marks a particular lifestyle, modeled after the one you are following.

Disciples of Jesus did three things:

Learn from Jesus

Lived like Jesus

Conformed to Jesus

The by-product of a community doing these three things is partnership.

Black Heroes

History has demonstrated the commitment of Black people who understood social activism. And some of them you know:

Martin Luther King

Rosa Parks

Frederick Douglas

Booker T. Washington

W.E.B. DuBois

Harriet Tudman

Malcolm X

But there may be some you may not know. Some who have influenced Christianity in a way that is hardly spoken of.

Tertullian- born 160-170 AD in Carthage, North Africa and became one of the most influential early Christian apologists and theologian. He introduced perhaps the earliest concept of what is known as the Trinity and had tremendous impact on Latin theology.

Cyprian- born 200-258 in Carthage, North Africa. A bishop of the church and a Latin church father. He wrote about the value of the church in a distinct and valuable way. He provided insight on why the church was valuable to the believer and the importance of apostolic succession. We receive our ecclesiastical insight from Cyprian. Due to persecution, he was the first African bishop to die for his faith.

Augustine- born 354 in North Africa, the most influential theologian to the western world. He was the pioneer of a concept we know today as original sin, predestination, and free will. He was the influencer of notable reformers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and many others. His brilliant mind was able to process complex theological and philosophical ideas, and his extensive writings serves as an influence to this day.

However, when we think about our premise today, there’s a Black hero that surpasses them all. Because, remember, the greatest call any person can have is to discipleship,

Perpetua, The Heroine of Discipleship

There was a woman by the name of Perpetua who lived in Carthage, North Africa in 180-203. She lived during a time when Carthage was under the control of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire had control of this territory and demanded one thing: order.

Since the Roman world was incredibly religious, they believed you must keep the gods happy in order to maintain prosperity and protection throughout the empire. If something went wrong in the empire, they were trying to discover which god was offended. While Christians tend to ask “What do we believe?” Romans ask, “What do we do?”

In his book Early North African Christianity: Turning Points in the Development of the Church, David Eastman wrote,

Roman religion was fundamentally conservative and relied on a give-and-take relationship between the gods and the people. It was based on what you did, not what you believed. The agreement was simple: if the Romans honored the gods with the proper sacrifices, then the gods would bless them and allow Rome to survive and prosper.

This meant, Rome was not concerned with whether you believed in the gods. They did not care if you had a “relationship” with the gods. They were concerned with whether you made the appropriate sacrifices to keep the gods happy.

Now, the difference was, Christians believed in a personal, singular God. And unlike the rest of the nation, they had an exclusive belief and commitment to God that did not tolerate any other gods. This meant they would not sacrifice to any other god or accept them. This created a tremendous problem for Christians.

They were seen as atheistic, because they did not accept the Roman gods.

They were considered unpatriotic, because they did not do what was best for the nation.

Christians were considered enemies of the empire.

This is the world Perpetua lived in. A young 23 year old mother with two small children, one still unweaned.

She belonged to the upper class

Was educated

An aristocrat

Wealthy

She had it made and was sure to avoid all of this terrible persecution. However, she heard the message about Jesus and was preparing for baptism, but was arrested for refusing to worship the Roman gods and emperor. She experienced these visions foretelling her martyrdom. Yet, she continued in her commitment to Jesus.

In the Roman world, family meant everything. And the father had complete authority over his household (wife, children, and servants). He went unquestioned.

During the trial, when these Christians were demanded to spare their life and offer sacrifices to the Roman emperors, they refused. Her father came out with her baby in his hand, and pleaded with her to simply make the sacrifice. He visits her in prison and demands she simply offer the sacrifice. She refuses. Ultimately, the decision is made. Since they refused to offer sacrifices, they were sent to the amphitheater to be torn about by wild beasts.

She placed her faith over her family and her life.

Why did she do this?

Simple.

Perpetua was a disciple. She knew the teachings of Jesus and she knew her greatest calling was to discipleship and nothing else.

She read Scriptures like Luke 14:26 “26 “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.”

Matthew 10:34–37 “34 “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword. 35 ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 Your enemies will be right in your own household!’ 37 “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.”

Conclusion:

Principle 2: True growth is the ability to deny yourself to follow Jesus.

Luke 9:23–26 “23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.”