The Essential 8- Believers are to be disciples that make disciples
Basic Discipleship • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsThe first of 8 part series encouraging the church to know the Gospel and be equipped/prepared to share it.
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Transcript
Where are we going? How do I get there?
Where are we going? How do I get there?
Those are always important questions
As we here again at a New Year I wanted to encourage the church in our direction
A couple years back, I wrote paper for seminary on the topic of discipleship
But primarily, based on a 5 year plan- how do we move people onward from infants in Christ towards maturity in Christ
Over the next few months I want us to see how we can implement and Lord willing move every believer forward in maturity in Christ
Maturity in Christ isnt like planting corn- give it 2-3 months and its there
Its like a live oak- Its takes time and more than likely you may not see the outward changes as fast as the roots are growing
Thats something I forget- In my life and when I look at others as well
This isnt a fool proof plan, some people just dont want more than bottom shelf theology and they dont have a real hunger to grow in godliness
But many do, as I believe you do, or you wouldnt be here or watching live with us now
So I would like us to look at the Essential Eight for the faithful follower
This will take us a few weeks and we may very well come back and revisit this every year
I recently went through the discipleship course that FCA seeks to utilize with coaches they are trying to reach and build relationship with
It was encouraging and always thankful for new tools and revisiting old tools
These Essentials we will look at are formulated out of those
So as we being today, I want to frame our time today around this passage
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
Paul encouraged Timothy to no get swayed in all kinds of presuppositions and false teachings
nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.
Some things that appear to be a struggle are found in 1 Tim 4:1-3
-forbidding marriage and requiring abstinence of certain foods- of which Paul equated those people to being insincere liars which seared consciences
-They were legalist- that thought they were conservative but in reality they had no biblical standing
Paul says dont get caught up in that- But rather devote your time to godliness
He makes it clear- physical training help for a little while but godliness has benefit for now and eternity
Im not saying physical exercise should be avoided- but rather it should superceded with our pursuit for Christ
Some spends hours in the gym but barely minutes in Gods word
My exercise science minor reminds me- you need 20 minutes of continuous exercise to make it profitable
Beloved, we need that and more to train our hearts in godliness
Spread it out in the day if you need to but set the time and keep it
So beloved, one of the essentials that every believer need to know is every follower is called to be a disciple who makes disciples
Every disciple is a believer, but not every believer is a disciple
Lots of people claim to be believers but there is no fruit of being a disciple
But a fruit bearing disciple is a believer
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
As we sit here today you may have heard this once or 1000 times but the fact remains relevant because the mission never stops and also because most believers never mature much which creates alot of questions
So today, Im gonna spend the rest of the morning on how to join Gods family and be a disciple and also 3 ways to for you and I share the Gospel
To be saved, we first have to realize we have an issue and that is sin
Scriptures make it clear that we all are sinners and need a Savior
God, out his abundance of grace and love, even though every man since adam rebelled against God, knowingly planned and purposed to send his son, Jesus to live the life we coudldnt and suffer the death we deserve for our sin
By his life, death and resurrection- we can now have a relationship with God because, Jesus paid the penalty of sin for us
This is isnt automatically applied to all people- if so, there would be no hell and Scripture and Jesus are clear about there existence and purpose
But by the grace of God, the power of HS, and the sharing of the Gospel- the HS brings dead hearts to life and man responds in faith to God great gift
No sin to great, no path to dark, no one to far gone that Gods grace, Jesus blood and The HS cant redeem
Im going to assume that every believer here understands this basic knowledge- because this would be the bare minimum that one would need to understand for salvation
So what is crucial is for you and I understand and be able to convey to others well
Disciple can you do that?
I want to share 3 methods with you today
I encourage you to take notes
The 3 circle methods- developed to able to share the Gospel on napkin in a restaurant in 2 minutes
Starts with Gods Design-
The world we live in is broken
Evil, sickness, death- its all we hear about it
It leaves us scrambling trying to figure out how make Life work
But in the beginning, it wasnt this way
God designed and created the work perfect and without sin
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
And everything He made declares that
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
The problem came when Adam and Eve ignored Gods truth and sinned against God
There seperated them from God- since he is holy and cant be around sin
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Not just Adam and Eve but you and me
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin leads us to brokeness
2. Brokenness
-that brokenness cause people to look for hope, joy, peace in all kinds of places but they fix the problem
-So everyone does what he thinks is best
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Those paths never fulfill and always leave us looking for something better.
3. Gospel
The good news is that God didnt leave us to our sin in this broken world
God sent his son Jesus to come and live perfectly accordingly to Gods design
Jesus came to rescue us from our brokenness by doing what we coudlnt- live sinless
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
He took our sin punishment and gives his righteousness un return
He didnt just wash it away- he paid in full our sin debt to God
by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
He did this by way of the cross
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
So, if Jesus did all this, what do I do?
We must repent and believe
We cant fix us, we need Jesus to do that
So every person must repent ( turn from your sin) and and follow Jesus
We must ask God to forgive us and make us new again
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
After this, we are to pursue Jesus with all we have
Many people get hung up here
Many want to be saved, forgiven, set free from consequences of sin but not give it up
God calls us to pursue him and seek after him
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We will still sin and still mess up and need to be forgiven but our desire is to be like him
Because the HS lives in us and is working in us to make us more like Christ
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
I know its alot in this setting, but in a real life you will be surprised how long 2 minutes is and what you can in that time
I have some handouts for you or you can use you drawing
Second Method- Core 4- use pics
God loves you
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
God made you and all things in his image and loves you and proves his love in that
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
2. Sins separates you
The problem that you and I have is that we all have sinned and been seperated from God
People look everywhere else for fulfilment and hope to fix whats missing but not to God
You and I dont naturally either and thats because of sin
Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23,
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
So our sin has made us enemies with the one who made us in his image
3. Jesus rescues you
The good news is just because we are enemies with God, it doesnt stop God from loving us
Its out of that love that God sent Jesus, his son, to live the life we coudlnt and die the death we deserve so we can be rescued from our sin
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
And he is coming back to get his people so we will be forever with him as it was in the beginning
In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
4. Will you trust Jesus?
Jesus has done all the work for salvation- its all a gift
Will trust that he is what you need to cure your sin sick heart
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
The Third method is the Good, the Bad, the New, The Perfect
I heard this from Alistair Begg as he shared one of his common ways of sharing the Gospel
He said you can use this with any conversation
Start speaking, what a good day the Lord has made
People have a couple options- they will agree or disagree
Agree— do you believe that? or disagree and then move on easily to the next point
Oh yeah, well the reason is what you see today isnt how God made it
The bad news is what you see here was cause by sin
Adam and Eve and you and me sinned and the world is in mess because of it
They respond- yeah your right it is
But you see God sent us Jesus so we could be made new
So we could have a new life in Christ
Well, you still make mistakes- of course, im new not perfect
But one day I will be made perfect- Jesus will finish the work he started in my life and yours if you trust him
I know I am going over these much more in depth than needed but I wanted to get across a couple things today
If we dont know this and cant articulate this we will have some struggle and issues
Im not saying you need to use these methods- but they are tools to use
You may be here and never realized why you needed Jesus - praise God today is the day of salvation and rejoicing
You may be here and now you have a better grip of how to help others with the Gospel
Where are we going? How do we get there?
All begins with every believer being a disciple that makes disciples- that all begins and ends with the Gospel