The Last Arrow

I have a secret and I want to be the first one to tell you before you hear it somewhere else.

I am dying!

I have another secret – So are you!

Our lives are represented on a tombstone with a hyphen!

My question to you today is, what are you filling that hyphenated space with?

Will your life matter – Will you have purpose and meaning?

Will that hyphen represent existence, or will it represent LIFE/purpose?

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Each year, as a church we focus on a word or phrase that God has given us. Our entire year is poised around it, strategy, budget and community life.

I have had to wrestle with my own thoughts to hear his.

Finally. the word came!

Discipleship!

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What is a disciple?

A Disciple

· Believes what Jesus believed (transformed mind)

· Lives as Jesus lived (transformed character)

· Loves as Jesus loved (Transformed relationships)

· Ministers as Jesus ministered (Transformed service)

· Leads as Jesus led (Transformed influence)

· Disciples others as Jesus discipled

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer said,

“Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.”

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We are all born with a desire for purpose – freedom – meaning!

We dream of it as a child – fireman- doctor – teacher – mom – dad – astronaut – president – professional athlete – military.

We pretend as a child and act out our dreams!

And then we get older and we settle for existence.

We settle for comfort – ease – boring!

Why? Because we realize to have purpose and meaning in the hyphen means sacrifice, pain, failure, discomfort!

We have settled to Exist, rather than to LIVE!

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The Call of Discipleship is a Call to Purpose!

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

This kind of life of meaning and purpose demands that we count the cost and choose the Life.

Luke 9

Luke 9:23 ESV

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

A life of meaning/ purpose/ discipleship demands you choose.

You do not slip or fall into this kind of life - YOU CHOOSE IT!

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We are not talking about going to church/ We are talking about Discipleship

Going to church is easy/ Discipleship is hard Going to church- sacrifice/hour or 2 a week

Discipleship – Sacrifice everything to abide with him always.

Going to church/ You make acquaintances

Discipleship – Choose to live in relationship to others on the same path/ Grace filled- trusting – Friendships.

Going to church / feel good about yourself and image.

Discipleship/ transformed into his image.

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Over the next month I will be talking about how we; Choose the Life of Discipleship

· Choose to get up and pick up your mat.

· Burn the plow

· Burn the idols

·Belong to a community

Today is step one –

Never quit! Never stop choosing the LIFE until your last arrow breaks!

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2 Kings 13:

2 Kings 13:14–19 ESV

Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them.” And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.”

I knew a young man years ago who was on fire for Jesus.

He desired to follow Jesus/ Play worship/ come to church every Sunday/

Then he heard a message online – The speaker called people to give up their will/ dreams/ everything.

The young man called me and explained he could not do that.

He made a choice right then/ I can’t, so I quit.

What he didn’t seem to understand is that God is not calling us to perfection

He is calling us to never quit – To keep striking the arrow until we have none left.

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Quitting is Easy! A Life of Purpose/ Meaning / Discipleship takes grit!

Peter - failed Jesus/ denied Jesus / Quit...... for a moment.

Jesus found Peter by a lake fishing / Do you love me Peter?/ Feed my sheep.

Peter quit the resurrected Jesus because of the fear of failure.

He then Chose the Life of Discipleship with Jesus because of the Love and Grace of Jesus.

From that point Peter never stopped striking his arrow until his last arrow broke.

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Like Joash Have You Stopped Striking Your Arrow?

Have you settled for being a church goer over being a DISCIPLE of Jesus?

Have you settled for religion over a relationship of discipleship with Jesus?

Have you given into fear?

Fear of rejection

Fear of failure

Fear of loosing your comfort

Fear of the sacrifice.

Have you become comfortable sacrificing your time and life for your dreams – Forgetting that you are called to a dream much bigger than yourself?

Do you feel like you have failed Jesus and others so badly that you have chosen to just show up on Sundays and go through the motions?

Maybe you feel like you are too young to choose the LIFE

Or too old to continue striking your arrows?

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The Call

Never stop striking until the last arrow – your last breath – is broken.

I will not stop until I convince you, that there is nothing else in this life to sell out for than Jesus.

I will never stop striking my arrows until you all have chosen to become disciples of Jesus.

I will never stop striking until I am transformed into the image of Christ or die!

Jesus said it like this -

Luke 11:5–13 ESV

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Luke

Never settle for the couch and Cheetos when Jesus has called you into a life of radical transformation and purpose!

Strike – Strike – Strike – and keep striking until your last arrow breaks!

Only then will you find the Life and Purpose God has for all His children.

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Some of you need to make a vow to God that you will never stop striking the arrow of being and making disciples of Jesus. You have been tempted to lay your arrows down and just blend in with the rest of American Christianity. Simple life, no pressure, no pain, no real sacrifice. But you also know! You know that you have been called to a life of disciple-making and discipleship.

Some of you need to count the cost - You are on the fence, you know God is calling you into a deep relationship - a life transforming relationship - but you are also held down by your own desires.

Some of you need to repent - You have chosen to exist and be a church goer over discipleship. You have settled for existence in the hyphen rather than living for the King and the Kingdom.

Lastly,

There is a group here with one arrow left. Your tired and you have been striking the arrows of discipleship most of your life.

You want to call it in - lay down and rest - But God is saying, “Look in your hand, you still have an arrow.”

Your days are not over and God’s dream for you is not extinguished.

If you will lay your hand on your last arrow and begin to strike, God will fill you with vitality, power, and LIFE.

There is more for you to accomplish – This church needs you – The world needs you – God is calling you.