The Practical Stuff

I. Intro

A. For quite a few weeks, we’ve been talking about disciples and discipleship.

1. We’ve spent a lot of time laying the groundwork for being a disciple.

B. We began by first defining What a Christian is.

1. Someone who has heard the Good News of Jesus Christ.

2. Someone who has believed the Good News.

3. Someone who turns from the path they’re on and turns to the Lord.

4. Someone who experiences the grace of God.

5. Someone who becomes a Disciple.

C. Then we took that last point and defined a Disciple.

1. A Disciple is a Follower of Jesus Christ.

2. Being a Disciple requires self-denial.

3. Being a Disciple requires total commitment.

4. Being a Disciple requires complete obedience.

D. We talked about what the beginning of discipleship looks like.

1. Being called.

2. Laying down our nets.

3. Getting out of the boat.

4. Walking with Jesus.

E. Then we talked about a Disciple’s connection to Jesus.

1. We are to keep our connection with Jesus.

2. We are to abide, stay, live, within that connection.

F. So we’ve done a lot of talking and looking at being a Disciple.

G. So starting today, we’re going to see how we can put all this stuff into practice.

1. How do we take all this foundational understanding about a disciple and make it practical.

2. Real things, real steps, we can take to become the Disciple Jesus wants us to be.

3. That’s where we’re headed.

I. To do that, we’re going to use a couple of verses we’ve already looked at over the past month or so.

1. The first is Luke 9:23.

2. Read Luke 9:23

Luke 9:23 NKJV

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

Jesus tells us if we want to follow Him, we have to DENY OURSELVES.

Being a Disciple means we deny ourselves for Jesus.

1. This doesn’t mean we lose our identity.

2. It means we’re no longer our top priority.

3. Jesus is.

4. What we want no longer drives us.

5. Our world no longer centers on us and our wants.

So let’s get serious and ask ourselves some hard questions.

1. Is Jesus number one (#1) in your life?

2. What do you need to do to make Him number one in your life?

3. What motivates you?

4. What motivates you to do what you do?

5. If anything other than Jesus motivates you, Jesus is not your priority.

6. Your life is not centered on Jesus.

7. What motivates us is what controls us.

8. If we’re not motivated by Jesus and our love for Him, we’re not controlled by Him.

Probably all of us have a desire to be closer to Jesus.

1. We want Him to be number one in our lives.

2. But we get distracted.

3. We get busy.

4. We don’t think about Jesus very often until He’s the only option.

So how do we break out of that cycle?

1. How do we get to the point where Jesus is our natural first place to go?

Here it is,

THE KEY TO DISCIPLESHIP IS LORDSHIP.

1. And that leads us to our second Bible verse of the day.

2. Read John 15:5

John 15:5 NKJV

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

We can’t do anything worth doing without Jesus.

1. So we need Him in everything.

2. So we have to make Him Lord—Ruler—King.

3. Every aspect of our lives, big or small, we make Jesus the Lord of it all.

4. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, in our lives where Jesus is not Lord.

When Jesus is Lord, there are three things we’ll find in our lives.

A. Those three things are:

1. LOVE. John 13:34–35

a. Read John 13:34–35

John 13:34–35 NKJV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

2. OBEDIENCE. Luke 6:46

a. Read Luke 6:46

Luke 6:46 NKJV

46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?

3. FRUIT. John 15:8

a. Read John 15:8

John 15:8 NKJV

8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Disciples have love, Disciples obey, and Disciples produce fruit.

1. Love produces obedience and obedience produces fruit.

2. Let’s take them one at a time.

Love - Love is action.

1. When we love someone, the thing we find most is we want to be with that person.

2. To love Jesus, we have to spend time with Him.

3. What does that mean practically?

4. It means we devote some time each day to spend with the Lord.

5. We shut out everything else and totally give that time to God.

6. We make this regular and consistent.

7. 15–30 minutes a day is reserved for the Lord.

How?

1. Make this time a priority.

2. Schedule a time. When will it be for you?

3. Prepare for it. Where will it be? Put your Bible there tonight. Have it ready for tomorrow.

4. Balance prayer and Bible reading.

5. Pray first.

6. Read consistently. Don’t skip around. Start in John 1. A Chapter a day.

7. Have a notebook handy. What is God saying to you through what you’ve read?

8. Pray afterwards, asking God what He wants you to do with what you’ve read.

9. Be consistent. Short times each day are better than long times scattered out.

10. Expect interruptions. The devil will mess with your plans. Be ready.

11. Focus on the One you’re meeting with, not the act.

What steps do you need to make today so you can start this tomorrow?

1. Give up a 30 minute sitcom on TV?

2. Get up earlier?

3. Make a commitment to spend time with Jesus every day.

4. Show your love for Jesus by spending time with Jesus.

Love produces OBEDIENCE.

Obedience comes from the love we have for Jesus.

1. Once our love for Jesus is there, we will want to follow His teachings.

2. We’ll want to obey Him.

3. The key to discipleship is obedience.

Jesus doesn’t want us to obey Him just to be good.

1. He doesn’t want us to reduce obedience down to following a set of rules.

2. Jesus wants us to obey so that we put ourselves in a position that we can be part of what He is doing in the world, right now.

3. If we obey, we’ll find ourselves in places and situations where we see Him working.

4. You ever notice how some people always seem to see God doing huge things and we don’t?

5. It all comes down to obedience.

6. They love Jesus so much they’ll do whatever He asks them to do.

7. They obey and place themselves where God can use them.

How can you start to obey the Lord?

1. How can you incorporate obedience into your life?

Obedience requires two things:

1. Knowing the commands of Christ.

2. Doing the commands of Christ.

3. We know what He wants us to do because we’re spending time with Him and His Word.

4. We do the commands by obeying what He tells us when we’re spending time with Him.

5. What is one step you can take right now to know and do His commands?

6. What is one step you can take today to become an obedient Disciple?

Love produces obedience and obedience produces fruit.

Our job is to obey the Lord.

1. When we obey, Jesus provides all we need to accomplish what He wants.

2. And those accomplishments are fruit.

3. We obey and our families change.

4. We obey and our school changes.

5. We obey and our church changes.

6. We obey and Jesus will produce the fruit.

So love produces obedience.

1. And through our obedience, Jesus produces fruit.

2. Love compels us to spend time with Jesus.

3. Our time with Jesus leads us to do what He wants us to do.

4. We obey and He changes our world and those around us.

This is what the practical life of a Disciple looks like.

1. Are you ready to take a step up?

2. Are you willing to deny yourself so that Jesus can work through you?

3. Are you ready to see the supernatural power of God at work in your lives.

4. Then step up and make Jesus priority #1.