Sermon Tone Analysis

Discipleship Manifesto Sermon

Discipleship Manifesto

I walked through the door of a tiny building.

As I enter, the walls were covered with trophies for bowling, little league championships, softball tournaments, etc.

You name it, there was a trophy for it.

The Purpose of disciple making is that God would be glorified through the working of His people to know God and become more Christ-like in their daily lives.

This process, called sanctification, is the working of the Spirit of God in the individual Christian to transform their lives in such a way as to “infect” others with a desire to become more like Christ.

It is developed through the purposeful engagement of one person to another, in order to invest in the continuous transformational learning of God's word, for the purpose of growing each other in Christ ().

Why make disciples?

Paul soon came out from the back room.

He was the owner of Parker’s Trophy and Awards.

A one man operation who made trophies for people all over Muskegon county and surrounding areas.

Paul was a member of Muskegon Bethel Baptist Church.

He was a quiet, unassuming guy who was a hard worker both at his business as well as at his local church.

I don’t remember a lot about Paul, but I do remember this: Paul was a disciple maker.

How do I know this to be true?

Because I didn’t go into his trophy house that day to purchase a trophy.

I went in that day and for many weeks later, to learn about Jesus.

As imitators of Christ, we should follow His example of leadership and invest in others (; ).

You see, I had just trusted Christ as my savior and I didn’t know much about the Jesus of the bible.

Paul did, though.

And He was willing to share his time by taking a break from making and award for the best pie in the county, to help me understand who Jesus was.

To help me understand what this huge, daunting book, called the Bible, actually says.

Glorify God through the transforming of others into the likeness of His Son ().

Paul got connected with me at church.

He didn’t know me very well, but he took a chance and asked me if I would like to meet with him regularly for a while.

I jumped at the opportunity.

Paul was purposed and intentional about making me a disciple of Jesus.

I’ll never forget this.

I was a baby in Christ, and Paul transformed his little trophy house into a discipleship making classroom.

Not really.

All he did was move his tools and trophies out of the way, opened his bible and began to move me to the right by showing me the rich truths found in God’s glorious truth!

Believe me, our time together was nothing fancy.

No high tech computer programs, no fancy videos, no elaborate PowerPoint presentation.

It was just Paul, me, the Holy Spirit and God’s Word.

To rescue others from "the dominion of darkness" to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ (; ).

Col

What are disciples?

My dear friends, this is our glorious privilege.

We get to be Paul Parker in someone’s life.

We get to invite them into our world and provide a Christ-Focused relationship with them.

Paul gave me an hour each week for many weeks.

Eventually we parted company.

He, no doubt began to work with someone else in his little trophy house.

He did his part in my life.

He made his eternal investment and set me loose to engage in the next relationship God had for me.

Eventually, I started doing what Paul Parker did with me.

And this is how it should be.

He was not a pastor, and yet he was a disciple maker.

This is our duty!

This is our calling!

This is our God ordained privilege.

We manifest Jesus to those who need Jesus the most…

This is what Jesus did with His life.

He came to make disciples.

Forgiven sinners who are engaged in the transformative learning of Christ in repentance and faith (, ; ).

Constantly making progress in Christ-likeness by learning the truth found in the word of God and transforming their lives in everything they think, say and do.

(; ; ).

(ESV)

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28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

How are disciples made?

The Spirit of God working through His disciples, utilizing the Word of God to infiltrate and motivate the hearts of people ().

“Take my yoke upon you” - His yoke is way easier than our yoke because our yoke is one we simply cannot bear.

This is the bad news portion of the gospel.

Equipping others for encouragement and transformational learning through...

“Learn from me” - This is what it means to be a follower of Christ.

And this is what I would like to challenge our church with today!

Proclamation of the Word of God: giving proper instruction for the transformational learning of Christ (; ; ; ; ).

In the month of January, I preached four sermons that focused on Discipleship.

After all, this is the theme of 2018.

“Be One, Make One”

After those sermons we developed a Discipleship Team whose task was to ensure that our culture was inculcated with a spirit of discipleship.

From top to bottom, it was their task to figure out how how best to make this happen.

We followed the instructions from a wonderful book called, “The Vine Project”.

This text talked us through many things but the one challenge the group took on was to develop a “Discipleship Manifesto.”

What is a manifesto, you ask? Good question!

Eph

Manifesto: a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer

Prayerful dependence on the Spirit of God: only the Holy Spirit of God brings life and true growth in the lives of his followers, and we need to be constantly depending on prayer to God for that progression of growth in Christ (; ).

1 Thes

1 thes

Now this group didn’t work unilaterally and make this up without input from the elders.

They labored over writing this document and received the elders feedback.

We then brought it to the leadership of this church and had them review it as well.

People as God's fellow workers: God chooses to use those whom He wills to reach the lost, and encourage other Christians to grow in His likeness.

We are the instruments that God chooses to use to accomplish His will and bring glory to Him (; ).

Today I give you the fruit of their labor.

The Allendale Baptist Church Discipleship Manifesto.

This is our written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives and views of the Discipleship and leaders of ABC.

So what?

Big deal!

Isn’t this just another exercise in futility!

Isn’t this just another document that will end up in a drawer somewhere never producing its intended results?

Perhaps!

In fact, I say that is exactly what will happen if we as a church refuse to do what this manifesto recommends for us to do.

Now this Discipleship is not something that we made up out of our own minds, no!

This is rooted and saturated in God’s Holy Scriptures.

o Persevering in everyday life, step by step: becoming a Christ-learner is a day-to-day transformation by the continuous renewal of our minds, patiently and perseveringly over time (; ).