Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

The word disciple was not used until the gospels.

However, disciple was not a word that Jesus originated when He stepped into ministry.

John the Baptist actually had disciples before Jesus did.

So where did the term begin and why did Jesus choose to use this word to describe His close followers.

Discipleship was a term used for people who followed someone who was an advisor or spiritual guide.

This was not a student/teacher relationship to help educate young people.

The idea was for the disciple to become a “carbon copy” of the spiritual advisor or instructor.

So, when Jesus and John the Baptist used the term they were using a word that was used during the culture of that time period.

The term disciple would only be used in the gospels and also in the book of acts.

The term Christian would be used by rulers to describe follower of Christ, however at first the term was used as a derrogatory statement against people who believed in Jesus as the Son of God.

Later the term Christian would be adopted as an acceptable term for followers of Christ.

However, throughout the Gospel Paul, Peter, John, James, and Jude would all refer to follower of Christ as Sons or children of God.

talks about the privledge that we have to not just be called Children of God, but to actually be children of God.

In

Isn’t it incredible that Jesus not only asked us to learn and be like him, but because of His sacrifice he placed us in the position of sonship.

The Bible says that we seated next to Jesus in Heavenly places.

Jesus is our elder brother!

When Jesus left instructions to His disciples he told them to go into ALL the world and make disciples of all nations.

To be a disciple of Jesus is to make a choice to become a carbon copy of Jesus.

This is a process that will last a lifetime.

So during this season we will learn what it means to be a disciple and we will also learn how to make other disciples.

Submitting our Lives to Jesus

Jesus was making a call to the crowd for people to join His disciples and become disciples themselves.

However, He did not just welcome everyone to join, but He told them what would be required of them.

Jesus told them that to be his disciple then we must “give up our way” we must “pick up our Cross” and follow him.

What do you believe that Jesus was saying to the crowd when he said “give up your way?” __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What does it mean to “pick up our cross?”

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The price to being a disciple of Jesus meant that we would have to confront our habits, we would have to confront our thoughts, we would have to confront our personal theology, we would have to confront our behavior towards people, we would have to confront our feelings, and we would have to confront our attitude.

Jesus was not making suggestions, but He was telling the crowd the price.

The same price for the crowd to be a disciple is the same price that for everyone still today.

In order to be a carbon copy of Jesus then we must give up our way.

Jesus was not asking for a half you and half him commitment, Jesus was asking for full commitment.

Jesus knows Best

The Kingdom of God is in conflict with the world.

The world says that if I am going to grow and prosper then I need to fight for myself.

I need to keep what is mine, after all it is my life!

However, the Kingdom says if you are going to gain true life then you are going to give up your life.

5590 psyxḗ (from psyxō, "to breathe, blow" which is the root of the English words "psyche," "psychology") – soul (psyche); a person's distinct identity (unique personhood), i.e. individual personality.

5590 (psyxē) corresponds exactly to the OT 5315 /phágō("soul").

The soul is the direct aftermath of God breathing (blowing) His gift of life into a person, making them an ensouled being.

Jesus said we have a life, but if we want to have the life that He gave us then we have to give up the one we have.

This almost seems to confusing, but Jesus is giving us a choice.

God did not make us to be robots who are forced to follow him, we are all given a choice.

We can choose our way or we can give up our way.

Either way it is our choice.

However, the life that he gives us is really who we are.

The word life comes from the greek word psyxo, it is the word that we use for psyche and means soul.

It is the place where we get our personality, our identity.

So we do not find our true identity until we give up our life and pick up our cross.

Jesus knew that in order to have life we have to give up ours.

He knows what is best for us.

Jesus not only asked, but he also followed his own requirements.

Jesus gave us the example of how to give up His life when He prayed in the garden of Gethsemene.

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Jesus prayed and said “not my will be done, but yours.”

Jesus did not have to die on the cross, but he chose to.

He submitted himself to the will of the Father.

Jesus fulfilled his Life, by denying His life.

His example is our process that we follow in order to deny our life.

We submit to the Father, but denying our will and choosing His.

Disciples Deal with Their Sinful Nature

In the book of Galatians Paul spoke about what it means to follow Christ:

Galatians

Today we are living in a period of time when people are struggling with what is a sin and what is not a sin.

God has blessed us with the Bible and it tells us exactly what sin is.

However, the church has tried to use reason to say that certain sins are really not sins.

On the other hand there are many people who attend church who are declaring something as sin that is not really sin.

Lets look at some scriptures in the New Testament that will tell us what sin is.

I Corinthians 6:0

Anger

Matthew 5:21-

I Corinthians 6

Adultery

Matthew 5:

Divorce

Vows

Matthew 5:33-

Revenge

Matthew 5:

Loving your Enemies

Matthew 5:43-

Your Conscience and the Conscience of Others

Romans 15:14-

Romans 14:14-

Colossians 3:5-6

The decision to Sin

Pastors example:

I was dealing with a sin that seemed to keep coming up.

So I began to pray, “why do I keep seeing this temptation come up?”

I sensed the Holy Spirit lead me to realize that I thought that some of the actions that lead to the sin was ok.

So the temptation wasn’t the sin, it was actions that lead to the temptation that was sin.

For example, someone who deals with alcoholism knows that there are certain actions they cannot make if they are going to resist the temptation to drink.

Like being around others who are drinking, driving by and old hang out, or even attempting to take one sip of alcohol.

By making those choices when they know they will lead to drinking they are sinning against themselves.

Pauls Writings of Sin

Romans 1:24-

I Corinthian 6:9-10

Galatians

Ephesian