What is Deep Discipleship? | Week 1

CREATE VISION

Biblical vs Christian…

People taking this class have asked me, “What IS Deep Discipleship?”

>> Thank you for signing up and thank you for asking (in that order!)

Tonight should shed light on this

THE MAIN POINT

We all inhabit a story, hold beliefs, and practice formative behaviors. Deep Discipleship seeks to root followers of Jesus in the Christian Story, Christian Belief, and Christian Formation.

Pg. 25 of Journal

What is the good, true, and beautiful life?

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Christian Story

“Everyone is living a story… But, is it the TRUE one?”

“Stories do what no bullet-pointed list can do. They sneak past our defenses, powerfully moving our hearts and minds to respond not to cold propositions, but to a masterpiece that is interwoven with goodness, beauty, and truth when it is told well. And when we see these three, stories can command a deep sense of responsibility and action.”

[J.T. English (2025). (p. 1). Remember and Rehearse]

Stories orient us or disorient us

Turn to page 296 in your journal...

>> Page 14ish in Remember and Rehearse

List of some of the “False Stories”

Follows a theme:

“The story says… The good life is…”

“One Of the keys to discipleship is being able to identify which of these stories you tend to live into by default.”

— J. T. English

>> Be honest with yourself: What false stories have you lived in or find yourself living in by default?

The Kingdom of God is the story of the Bible

>> People say “in Bible times”… We get what they mean, but…

Today is a day in Redemptive history

The Story of the Bible tells

Presence

People

Place

Purposes

Your story is a part of God’s big story

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Christian Belief

Doctrine, Theology…

“Everyone is a theologian… But, are you a GOOD one?”

theos = God

logos = word

Theologian

If Everyone is a Theologian, than

>> Our world is flooded with stories and beliefs

“You only live once...” — Drake

“Live your best life now...” — Joel Osteen

“You do you” — 18 year old me

“You just need to believe in yourself!” — 7 year old Becky

The Goal of DDP is that we would have greater Doxology (worship)

The more Theology, the more Doxology

"Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature" — ~55% of evangelicals agree

"Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God" — ~69% of evangelicals agree

"The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being" — ~53% of evangelicals agree

"God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam" — ~49% of evangelicals agree

"The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true" — ~23% of evangelicals agree

— The State of Theology, 2025

Theology is best done in Community, with Ancient Trusted voices

Everyone say, “My name is _________ and I am a Theologian”

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Christian Formation

“Everyone is being formed… But, is it into the BEAUTIFUL one?”

Three points on Christian Formation:

———

(1) We are constantly being formed

When I was a children’s pastor, one of the most convicting realities I had to address was the fact that, in children’s ministry, you are constantly combatting the “things” in this world forming kids.

Kids dozens of hours on YouTube/TikTok, AND with peers on YouTube/TikTok a week… and I had them for an hour on a Sunday.

We’re no different!

One of the earliest commands from the Bible comes in what is called, The Shema

>> Shema is the Hebrew word for, “Hear”/ “Listen”:

Deuteronomy 6:4–7 ESV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Image of constant, high-touch/high-rep discipleship...

We are constantly being formed… by what?

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(2) We become what we behold

The first commandment of the infamous Ten Commandments is,

Exodus 20:3 ESV

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

When it comes to our formation, we truly do become what we behold and God was fully aware of this.

“...we end up becoming the sum total of what hooks our love, desire, knowledge, and imagination. We end up looking like whatever we love. What we worship begins to work itself out in what we believe, why we think we are here, and the way we live.”

— (p. 2). Formed For Fellowship

The very Original temptation found in the Garden of Eden can be found in Genesis chapter 3:

Genesis 3:5 ESV

“...when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God...”

What our Parents in the Garden beheld was to be the center of the universe, a god of their own making…

>> And when it comes to the rest of humanity, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

We become what we behold, and

>> If we do not behold God, we cannot be like Him as we were designed to be…

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(3) God has created us in His image

When people have babies, the first thing ANYONE tries to do is figure out

>> WHICH parent this kid looks like!

Our kids are created in our image. They LOOK like us.

God is a Father who has created Man in His image — unlike ANY other created thing in existence:

Genesis 1:26–27 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

We were created to look like God

>> Not eye color, gender, or nose shape — But to rule and reign and be as God does

“The journey of Christian formation begins, ends, and is filled with God’s people beholding God. And as we behold God, we become like Him.”

— (p. 4). Formed For Fellowship

“Everyone is being formed… But, is it into the BEAUTIFUL one?”

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What is the GOOD, TRUE, and BEAUTIFUL life?

Consists of Christian Story, Christian Belief, Christian Formation