Hey everybody, this is Pastor John Ewart from Inglewood
Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.
Thank you so much for tuning into our podcast.
You're going to hear from God today as we share from his word
about important issues facing your life that can guide you
according to the Bible. Well, good morning, Inglewood.
Great to see everybody take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter
14, if you will. I'll be there with you in a
moment. Appreciate you all being here
very much. Please take a look inside of
that worship guide. There are several announcements
there that are important. Look at the work days for
Tarboro. One of them is this coming
Saturday. And so for those who are be
interested, that's the one that not everyone has to be skilled,
but we need some skilled labor and then we need some Gophers
and some grunts to help with the skilled labor that we're going
to be working on the building more this this first one.
But then on the 27th of September, it's for everybody.
Also, we want to welcome our new children's director.
Next week. Laura will be with us.
We'll introduce her to you. We look forward to that.
This past week, I had the privilege of visiting with Tim
Looper, our chairman of Deakins. And we every week I go out with
a Deacon and we go see some of our our members and shut
insurance especially. But we had to.
I had the privilege of meeting one of our charter members,
Teresa Braswell, who just turned 95.
You can find her name out on the stone out front.
And she was telling me that this Sunday is actually quite
special. This Sunday marks the
anniversary of the very first organizational meeting back in
1962 to consider forming a church that became known as
Inglewood Baptist Church. And so we're thankful for that
legacy and the foundation of all those who've worked so hard all
these years. And I just pray that we will
continue that legacy well. And so thank you for that.
This Wednesday night in our core training study, I'm going to be
sharing about the different views of the second coming of
Christ. For those who are interested in
that. We've been having some great
times talking about some of our primary and secondary doctrines.
And so we're going to be talking about that this Wednesday night.
Been a good crowd. You all come join them.
A friend suggested to me when I was preparing my sermon that I
remember an advertisement he saw for a washing machine.
It it went along the lines of after it spins dry, it shuts
itself off automatically. So I'm going to think through
that, see where God leads this morning.
Last week I threw about a seven point sermon on you.
So this week I thought I would throw it just a 2 point sermon
on you and you can say Amen to that if you want to, but I don't
know how many sub points there might be under those two points.
So we never know. So we need his direction to move
forward. Appreciate you being here.
I've been sharing this series to kind of warm us up, lay the
foundation for the next one for our fall studying.
Been asking some key, vital foundational questions to set
the stage because we've been walking.
And I know sometimes on this side, it's hard to know all the
time what's going on behind the scenes.
But are your leadership's been working hard through some
assessment and identification issues?
We've been talking about and discovering who we have been as
a church, where we really are right now and, and who we need
to become and who we should be and who we should be producing.
So we've been talking about that.
But once again, this morning, I want to invite you in this
series to to come be the King's Bride.
As we talk about his church, we talk about his people.
These sermons all build on one another.
It may not seem that way to you, and I can understand that if
you've missed some more times or weeks, but but they've been
building on one another. If you missed them, I'd go back
and and watch them As I've been asking vital questions about
salvation, about church, about baptism, about church
membership. And now the next biblical step,
let me just simply ask you, why be a disciple?
That's this morning. What's this whole discipleship
thing about and why now? Next Sunday we will be observing
the Lord's Supper to remember what Christ has done for us and
to proclaim what he has done for us and to commit to what he has
next for us. And so I just encourage you
biblically, because the Bible tells us to do this, to examine
our hearts and prepare ourselves to take the Supper in a worthy
manner. And then in two weeks I will
begin this new fall sermon series I've been talking about
for six months. I feel like and, and that, and
then building toward this and that series is called Come, Come
live the church's vision, the seven essentials of
discipleship. Because we're going to discuss
not only our new mission and vision statements, but we're
also going to be looking at what how we specifically define what
it means to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ and how that
needs to guide our planning and our programs and even our
special events on the church calendar, even on a week to week
basis. So how should all of our
ministries, how should all of our programs, how should our
personnel now, should our schedules work together to help
us and our families know exactly what the next steps are in
discipleship and how to achieve these essentials to become more
like Christ? I can stand up here all day long
and say be like Jesus, but we've got to know what that means.
What does that look like, who we need to be, What do we need to
know, what do we need to be doing?
And so like train tracks guiding us in One Direction, connecting
us together with one heart, one mind, and one spirit, we need
these definitions as we're working toward what discipleship
really means. And we also want to just
remember that our ultimate goal, the ultimate goal of salvation,
the ultimate goal of church participation, the ultimate goal
of discipleship is to truly know God and, and to be like God.
The theologian Ji Packer, and without a doubt his most famous
book, Knowing God wrote this. He says what were we made for to
know God What aim should we set for ourselves in life to know
God? What is the best thing in life
bringing more joy, delight and contentment than anything else
knowledge of God and I often think back to the story in
Genesis. I I think of Adam and Eve before
Genesis chapter 3 and you know, after the fall, after they send
they heard God walking in the garden.
And I often think about the intimacy that Adam and Eve
enjoyed with God before that time, before the fall and the
incredible time they had him with him in perfection and in
sinlessness. But then something was wrong and
they knew something was wrong. Adam and Eve were aware of their
sin and the and the Bible says that they hid from the Lord God
and instead of walking with God, they had their entire lives up
to that point. They were now hiding from God,
cowering in shame and guilt. You know, the Holy Spirit will
convict us of our sin. That's part of what his job is,
part of what he does. He'll convict us for our
incompleteness. He'll convict us for our guilt
before a very perfect God. But God still calls out to them
and he calls out to us. Where are you now?
God knew exactly where they were.
He hadn't lost them. He knew they were over there
cowering in the bushes. That's not the point of the
story. We can't hide from God, but we
serve a God who calls out. He calls that question out to
all of us. Where are we?
He seeks us to know Him. He seeks that none of us would
perish. So it's an important question.
Where am I in my walk, in my knowledge, in my relationship
with God this morning? He wants you to be saved.
He wants you to be forgiven. He wants you to be cleansed.
He wants you to walk with Him. He wants to you to know Him
intimately and and I don't mean some superficial periodical
walk, which is part of the problem today.
This is this is not a when I feel like it or when I have
nothing else to do type of message this morning.
I'm talking about an intimate, continuous, real discipleship
walk with God. And so the question for us today
is, do I really want that? Do I really want to be a
disciple? And if so, we must know what one
of those is. What is a disciple?
And that's part of what we're going to be talking about in
defining. We need clear destination
destinations and directions. So, so we need to know what that
is. How do we define true
discipleship? So listen to this this morning
and then plan to be here for this next sermon series because
I'm going to share these very specific descriptions for you
because we need those in order to move forward in the way God
wants us to. But we also will bring great
God, great glory, not only when we become the best disciple that
we can become, but also when we are making other disciples,
which is part of this as well. We, we don't want to just make
converts. We want to make disciples.
So are you making disciples? Is Inglewood really making
disciples? And, and how do we know?
So your church leadership has prayerfully been working
together to develop biblical definitions, biblical goals, so
to speak, that will help answer that question.
We're also developing methods to teach and to give practical
opportunities for these discipleship essentials to be
achieved. Our connect groups that you hear
me talking about a lot, our family ministries, all the age
graded ministries that we have, our reach strategy, which will
help us to reach and to pray and to minister together and and our
midweek times on Wednesdays are all designed to be vital parts
of this because you know what percentage I'm expecting?
What percentage am I expecting? That's right.
In New Testament Greek, many of you know that the word for
disciple is a word mathatase. But that's not just a student.
I've worked in academic life a lot, and I know what a student
is. This is a trained one who
imitates the master teacher. This is a trained one who not
only listens and learns the teachings of the master teacher,
but then bases their life and their actions upon those
teachings. They're imitators.
They're not simply students and learners.
So, so this is a person who is transformed.
This is the transformed life who abides in and who imitates Jesus
Christ. You know, I'm, we're from
Oklahoma. That probably explains a lot.
But anyway, so I'm from Oklahoma, but when you're from
Oklahoma, it's and, and you like football, you don't have a
professional football team. So your colleges are your teams
usually. And for a lot of Oklahomans,
it's the OU Sooners. And so we're OU Sooner fans,
even though neither one of us went to OU to go to school.
We have a granddaughter who's going there now.
But, but, but anyway, so I have a bunch of OU shirts.
I have a bunch of OU hats. I have, I have OU football
shirts and I have OU football jerseys that I could wear if I
wanted to when I'm cheering on the team.
But just because I wear an OU football jersey doesn't mean
that I'm playing football for OU.
It's just a label. It's just a facade.
And so for some, Christianity can be that way.
Is it, is it just a label? I'm a Christian, you know, is
that, is that, or is this a walk of life?
You can call yourself one and you might even recount how
you've been a member of a church for years, but that doesn't
necessarily mean you're walking with God or that you're really a
disciple. So what are the steps to being a
true disciple of Jesus Christ and achieving these essentials
that we're going to be addressing?
So I need to share this introductory message to you out
of Luke chapter 14 to help us because at this stage of his
ministry, there's a lot of people following Jesus.
He's got the crowds coming, the multitudes are still coming, but
he knows that many of them are coming just to see his miracles.
They're coming to here as teaching and they're coming to
here as miracles, but they're not willing to really make the
commitment and they don't really understand the Kingdom
commitment that he's demanding. And I'm afraid that some come to
church like that, that this is Christianity to you.
This is all that it is. I, I came to church Check.
I must be a Christian. And so there's some people that
kind of like the show, but they don't want any part of the
sacrifice. They don't want any part of the
service, right? But to be a true disciple, we
must make certain proactive decisions of commitment, and
that's what we have to talk about.
This is a tough passage. We're expected to take steps
with the help of, and only by the power of the Holy Spirit or
the way we can do it, to follow Him and to live for Him.
So in verses 16 through 24 of this chapter, Jesus is just
listing all the excuses everybody's giving him for not
following him. You know, they want to, they
want to see the show, but we're not going to follow you.
We can't do that. We can't give up this or we
can't give up that, or we can't give up this.
And he's listening all these excuses.
And man, over the years I've heard a truckload of reasons why
someone can't or someone won't when it comes to salvation or
when it comes to baptism, or when it comes to church
membership, or when it comes to service or when it comes to
discipleship. It's as if we believe we get to
load up our lives with everything else this world has
to offer first, and if there's any leftover time, we might give
it to Him. And so discipleship simply
can't. It becomes a secondary option
when it's convenient. Well, Jesus was just getting
started. I encourage you to buckle up
because this is an interesting passage.
Look at verse 25 of Luke 14. Now great crowds accompanied
him, and he turned and said to them.
And remember, he's just been listing all of these excuses
right before this. If anyone comes to me and does
not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and
brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be
my disciple. So point number one, I just want
to share with you is we need, we must decide the level of our
commitment Enough in a sense, Jesus says to the multitudes
enough. It's time to understand what
following me really means and what it really demands.
It's time to make a choice. It's time for a commitment.
It's time to define who you really are and what you really
believe. Am I going to be your highest
priority? And it's a great question for us
as we face this future for us. So decision number one that we
have to make is will I love Jesus more than anyone or
anything else. Verse 26, that word hate.
There's no pulling punches here, Misael.
We get our word misery. We, you can see that in there.
It's a strong word in Greek. It means to detest.
It means to persecute in hatred. It means to abhor.
Its deep seated hostility. That's how I'm supposed to feel
toward my family. What I mean, how confused.
Their eyes must have got big. Their mouth must have dropped
open. What?
What are you talking about right?
Am I to abhor my family for the sake of Christ?
Well we also know the Bible says in first John 315 everyone who
hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer
has eternal life abiding in him. So obviously Jesus doesn't mean
to actually hate our family. That's not what he's saying.
So y'all don't can't get off the hook.
Y'all still have to love your in laws and you still have to love
that. That weird Uncle Ralph out
there, you know you don't get off.
Still got to do that. But Jesus is speaking in
hyperbole. He's expressing something in the
most radical language possible. So they pay attention because
all these getting excuses, I'm going to make you all pay
attention by telling you something shocking.
He wants us to love Him so that all of our other relationships
pale in comparison. So when conflict arises between
personal or family desires or the world's demands, and it will
demand every bit of you and, and those are competing with
Christ's mission. A disciple has no problem
understanding what must be done. The greatest way to love your
family, the greatest way to love your neighbors is to be
radically in love with Jesus Christ.
And that means your schedule and your priorities must be defined
by truths other than what the world wants to and will pull out
of you. It will fill your life.
So discipleship is a commitment that's full time.
It affects every area of our life.
It's a commitment that nothing should modify.
It's an it's a commitment that nothing should interrupt.
Nothing must compete with your walk with God and win nothing.
Nothing should be used as an excuse like he's been hearing to
refuse to do what Christ has called you to do.
Will you love Jesus more than anyone or anything else?
A few chapters later, in Luke chapter 18, Jesus meets a rich
ruler and, and, and he asked him what he must do to inherit
eternal life. And Jesus told him that he must
continue to follow God's word, but he also must live out God's
word by giving God his highest priority and displaying that by
giving away his earthly wealth, his earthly goods.
Jesus knew his connection to that wealth.
Jesus knew what was in his heart.
He knew what to say to him because he knew that that was
his priority. Jesus knew that this would
compete with his loyalty to Christ.
And the rich man walked away sad, unable to make that
commitment. And the disciples responded to
it. In Luke 1825.
It says for, for it is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of
God. And those who heard it said
then, then who can be saved? But he said was impossible with
man is possible with God and Peter said, see we have left our
homes and followed you and he said to them truly I say to you,
there's no one who has left house or wife or brothers or
parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God who will
not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come
eternal life. God will bless our commitment
when it's authentic, when it's intimate and the crowd again
must have just been had a puzzled look on their face with
all of this. But but Jesus was just getting
started back in Luke 14. Look at verse 27.
He says whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple. Decision number one that we had
to make is why I love Jesus more than anyone or anything else.
And decision 2 is am I willing to sacrifice for Jesus.
People often use this expression incorrectly.
I have arthritis, but I guess that's just my cross to bear,
and that's not what it means. I certainly appreciate and feel
sympathy for the pains of this earthly life, but the expression
to bear a cross was clearly understood in a much more
literal way by this crowd that first heard it.
They would have known what he meant in that context.
Very simply. To bear a cross meant to die, to
be put to death, to bear the cross meant to pay that you were
willing to pay with your life and your dedication to Christ.
He's that important, He's that high of a priority.
But the question is, is are we that committed to Christ?
It seems so radical, too radical probably for today's world, for
this culture, it would see so foreign to us and too much.
But Jesus always knew by the means by which he would die.
He also knew that many who would call themselves his followers
would suffer death through persecution and martyrdom.
And they still do today, all around the world in huge
numbers. Christians are being killed
today, so to become his disciple, to really walk with
him, we too must be willing to die, both spiritually and even
physically if necessary. But I'm just afraid this is too
much. It's too much to comprehend for
the comfortable American church, which for so many has simply
become a choice of convenience. Many are simply not ready for
this. Some some seem to want to reduce
their relationship with Christ into something they get to
control instead of getting on board with His mission and
purpose. It's like they want to play and
control their own little toy trains.
We got that little switch where they turn it on and they turn it
off whenever they feel like it. This church and her purpose are
not mine. I'm not here because I believe I
have a purpose for this church. I'm here because I believe God
has a purpose for His church. It's not up to us to manipulate
or control. So you know, you, this crowd
must have set back, wow, Jesus, man, these are some tough things
you're telling us. These are tough decisions to
make. Exactly.
That was the whole point. Exactly.
So how do we walk like that with God?
How do we follow him and pay whatever price we must?
Our will must be surrendered to him.
And, and, and we got to we got to remember what's coming up.
And I'm going to help you define what it means to walk like this
with him in these next weeks. But also remember the words I
shared with you a couple of weeks ago when I baptized
somebody I quote out of Romans 6.
Let me read part of that again. In Romans 63 it says, do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with
Him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with
Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with
Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was
crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought
to nothing, so that we would be no longer.
We would no longer be enslaved to sin, for one who has died has
been set free from Sinner. Or maybe a verse that you've
memorized from years ago. Galatians 220 I've been
crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but
Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh.
I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. Some, however, it just seems
they seem to believe that Christianity is somehow kind of
a free ride that you can get on and off whenever you desire.
Friends, that's a hobo. That's not a disciple.
Will you walk intimately with God at all costs?
What is your level of commitment?
Just attending. I'm glad you're here.
Salvation, but that's about it. Baptism, but no more membership.
I mean, what else do you want? Preacher tithing.
Easy now. Connect groups.
I'm in one so quit bugging me. Serving in ministry, Living out
100%. Where are you?
The power and freedom to live as true disciples is found not just
in what you do, but in dying to self because of what Christ has
done for you. And next week, when we take the
Lord's Supper and remember what He's done for us, how would you
commit yourself to be who He seeks for you to be?
How can we go to that next level?
How can we go to a higher level? We have to decide the level of
our commitment. But Jesus wasn't done yet.
Look at verse 28. For which of you desiring to
build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether
He is enough to complete it. Otherwise, when He has laid a
foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to
mock him, saying this man began to build and was not able to
finish. So point #2 just a 2 point
sermon. We must decide to complete the
journey well. Will we finish well?
Jesus shared the first two commit requirements to follow
him. But but this was not a
commitment that ever ends. Discipleship is not some hasty
decision. To bear a cross means will being
willing to die for the sake of the gospel.
But we also must be just as committed to live for the
gospel. Will we finish well?
Will you continue to commit to becoming a true disciple?
We must continually commit ourselves.
This is an intentional pathway of discipleship that never, ever
ends. And we're going to teach you
what that means over these next few weeks and offer
opportunities in our program to help you stay on track and to
continue that journey of spiritual growth work regardless
of where you begin. What stage is your beginning
point? I cannot overstate how
significant it is for you to be here every single week over
these next few weeks because we want to make disciples who make
disciples who make disciples. And that's not going to happen
by accident. That's not going to happen by
luck. We have to budget for it with
our time, our focus, our energy, our giftedness, and our
resources. But Jesus wasn't done.
Look at verse 31. Or what king going out to
encounter another king in war, will not sit down 1st and
deliberate whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who
comes against him with 20,000. And if not, while the other is
yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of
peace. So therefore any one of you who
does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
So we will. I love Jesus more than anyone or
anything else. Am I willing to sacrifice for
Jesus and decision #3 am I going to persevere in my commitment to
Christ no matter the price? See to it that you don't have
1/2 finished tower that that can't describe your life.
It can't describe the history of Inglewood.
It can't describe our ministry here.
Learn and live out the essentials of a true disciple.
And then we're going to reinforce that and, and live
that out together. And for now, this morning I I
want you to hear some important discipleship questions that a
sister church, a well known church in Alabama, often uses.
Listen to these questions. How will I fill my mind with
truth? How will I fuel my affections
for God? How will I share God's love as a
witness in the world? How will I show God's love as a
member of a church? How will I spread God's glory
among all peoples? How will I make disciples among
the few people? These aren't questions to take
lightly. Discipleship is not simply an
expectation of you being fed. And for some, that's what it's
all about. This isn't just about whether
you're being fed or not. This is a question about whether
or not you're feeding others. Who are you feeding?
Who are you helping along the way?
Don't simply walk an aisle. Don't simply get dunked in some
water. Don't simply join a church and
then and then expect your commitment to somehow be
fulfilled. This is not about a decision
made today and forgotten tomorrow.
This is a life. True discipleship is a never
ending lifelong decision of obedience and perseverance.
He not only wants to save you, He wants to gift you, He wants
to equip you, He wants to call you, and He wants to use you and
His purpose for His glory. So discipleship affects the
whole person. It affects all of us and their
whole life, our whole life as God transforms us.
Listen to what Paul had to write, a troubled church.
Second Corinthians chapter 3, he says.
And we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord
are being transformed into the same image from 1° of glory to
another for this comes from the Lord who is the spirit.
We are being transformed. It's continuous.
It doesn't end. It's a process that's in
process. And as I stated earlier, it it's
it's not something that's going to come to an end as long as
there's time here. This is a journey and there's
going to be several destinations along the way.
I use train tracks. So think of that think of
several train stations along the way like racing down those
railroad tracks to known understood, valued, sought after
this. Here's my next step of
discipleship that then there's my next step of this.
This is what my kids need in discipleship and how this church
is going to help, you know, not only know what those are, but
how do I get there? That's what this is going to be
about. And don't just believe that
about you, but have an impact on others.
Bring others on the journey. Get them here.
Fill this house because the bearing of the cross ought to
lead to the bearing of the crops as we see fruit.
John 15-8 Jesus said by this my father is glorified that you
bear much fruit. And so prove to be my disciples.
You know these disciples who followed Jesus were unique.
They turned their world upside down because their hearts had
been turned right side up and they proved their discipleship
as they bore great fruit. So don't just be a label with no
life. Don't just be a subscriber with
no substance, not just be in a tender with no action.
Be a disciple who's defined, dedicated and determined,
striving to achieve the essentials of a true disciple.
An interesting verse in the Gospel of Matthew is Matthew
548. It says you therefore must be
perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
And in English that word perfect is often hard for us because
that might mean sinless to us. But what that word teleos really
means is complete. All the parts are there.
Think of a ripe piece of fruit with every single piece.
It's all perfect in there. We had a watermelon the other
day that was vine ripen. I mean, you know how you go to
the store and you get one of those?
You know, you thump on them like you act like you know what
you're doing, and everybody you know is impressed with you
because you're thumping. And then you take it home and
it's about white and nothing grainy inside.
Man, we had one the other day. Red and juicy grew on the vines
of a church member gave it to. I'm telling you what, that's the
best watermelon. I digress.
Another meaning of this word is to carry out the purpose for
which you were designed. Are you carrying out the
specific purpose for which God specifically designed you, or do
you have any idea what that is? Do you know why you exist?
Do you know why you were created?
My friends, You were created to be saved, to be called, to be
gifted, to be discipled, and then to disciple others, to know
Him, to serve him. So prepare yourself next Sunday
for a day of commitment. Kind of a line in the sand as we
observe the Lord's Supper. And we're going to commit
ourselves to discipleship, to following Him in a new way.
We're going to proclaim and remember what He has done for us
as our motivation. I almost brought it, but it's
just kind of a huge thing. I have an old, old book at home.
I got it from my parents who got it from their parents.
Been around a while. And it's a big thick book.
You know, it's a, it's a coffee table type book kind of thing.
And it's, it's really old and it's, it's a, it's a set of the
lithograph lithographic printings of John Audubon's bird
drawings. Now, you may not know what I
just said. If you've ever heard of the
Audubon Society, this is the guy that was named after.
He was a naturalist who went to great lengths to paint very
detailed images of birds. Part of what he did and and he
was he was into it. He counted his physical comforts
as nothing. He would go into the swamps to
set of these birds. He would he would sit motionless
all night long in the dark, in the fog, just to get a glimpse
of some species of bird. He would get in the stagnant
swamp waters up to his chin. Water moccasins would swim in
front of his face as he stood sat there just to get one more
detail of that species of bird and he was so excited.
He beamed with excitement. As you know their interviews
that are that were written about it, he'd beam with excitement.
He's just got one more detail about the colour or the beak or
the foot or something of some bird.
It's a beautiful book of birds. But if a man could be so
dedicated, so committed for bird paintings, how much more
committed could we be? Discipleship's never cheaper.
Easy. How are you growing in your
personal discipleship right now? Jesus came and he talked with
the new authority, Then he delegates that authority to his
disciples, and now we continue. That's what Paul's talking about
and some of the last things he ever writes to his spiritual son
Timothy in Second Timothy 22. And he says, and what you have
heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust to
faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
So Timothy was to take what Paul had shared with him and share it
with others. God's Word is always our primary
source has to be. So be in your connect group
every week. Come to the worship service
every week, be in the midweek every week so we can study it
more and more together. Paul was his secondary source
and a mentor of his. And so that's another image, an
example for us. And then Timothy was to share
and disciple with others who would be faithful with the
gospel and biblical teachings to others.
And the idea here is that it would be repeated over and over
and over again and never stop. It's a message that must be
passed on person to person, generation to generation.
And now, Inglewood, it's our responsibility.
So who are you discipling right now?
Who are you discipling right now?
You're not finished just because you're dedicated.
You're not finished just because you're committed.
You must bear fruit. So are you simply wearing a
label or are you a Mathetes, A disciple, an imitator of the
Lord Jesus Christ? A few years ago, my family had
the opportunity. My brother was a medical doctor
in Nashville, and he arranged this with us and my family
because we're Oklahoma fans. We, we wanted to watch Oklahoma
play Tennessee in Knoxville. And so we, we drove to Knoxville
and met my brother and his family and, and you know, the,
the man, these, these tickets today for college games, man,
that's a lot. It's a lot of money.
And so, you know, we're excited. We're going to have good seats.
We're going to have a lot of fun.
We're on the top row. I mean the top row.
I mean, the only thing behind us is the guardrail to keep you
from killing yourself. And there we are in OU gear, our
maroon OU gear in a sea of orange, all singing good old
Rocky Top. Right now.
This is one of the largest set. There's 105,000 people in this
football stadium, 1 of the larger stadiums in in the
collegiate sports. And that thing sways when you're
up there on the top. I mean, this thing's moving.
I mean, they're stomping their feet and clapping and singing a
good old out. So sick of that song, singing
that song. We saw them earlier.
They're tailgating everywhere. They got boats out in the river,
decorated out, lit up, all decorated, having party boats
out there, all kinds of stuff in there.
They're they're, they're camping, they're eating, they're
singing. I mean, they're full of passion,
they're full of fun. They're full of excitement,
cheering, a sense of unity, a belonging among them all,
cheering for a common purpose. I just pray our love for Christ
and his church compare. I just pray that passion and
that excitement, that sense of united purpose.
I pray that the church would sway and that the community
would sway because of what Christ is doing in his church
with that kind of passion, that kind of common purpose and
enthusiasm. So decide today whom you'll
serve Inglewood. Remember what he's done to bring
you here. Quite a legacy, but it's time to
decide. Father, thank you.
Thank you that you give us another opportunity to respond.
We're alive today. We're here today.
That means we still have purpose.
That means we still have a reason.
That means we still have an opportunity.
For some, it's salvation. They heard Marie's testimony
read earlier and they recognize I need to do that too.
I'm not walking with God in a personal way.
I really have never asked Jesus Christ into my heart to be my
Lord and Savior. Or maybe they've seen this
testimony of today of baptism. Next week we're going to baptize
3 more and they say I need to do that.
I need to publicly identify with Christ.
I've never done that. I need to do that.
I've trusted in Him, He saved me, but I've never been
baptized. Maybe I need to join the church.
Maybe that's it. Maybe I need to commit to serve
in a new way. Maybe I need to commit to pray
for others in a new way. So in a moment, Father, as we
sing out as pray, we'll respond. Father, there'll be pastors here
and they can come and talk to one of us or they can just come
to these steps and pray. I also pray that they would go
to our next steps room and just visit with people who who are
trained, who are ready to love them and, and just have private,
discreet conversations with them about what you're doing in their
heart. So Father, whatever we need to
do, it's time. Time to draw a line in the sand,
time to decide, time to commit, time to truly be a disciple.
Thank you, Father in Christ's name, Amen.
I'm going to invite you to stand.
The worship team is going to lead us.
They'll be pastors here. You can come pray.
You can come talk to us. I encourage you, if you want to
go straight to that room over there, the next steps room,
there are people there. There's going to love you.
They're going to talk with you, going to pray with you, going to
help. You can go straight over there.
You don't have to come to us first.
Just go right there. But whatever you need to do, do
it as we surrender to Him. Thank you so much for listening
today, and I also hope that you'll go to
ourwebsite@englewoodbaptist.com as well as our app and find many
other resources that will bless you and your families.
Thank you once again.