1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:05,120 For me, when I was growing up, first of all, you need to get 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,560 some context here. I was born in 89, so I grew up 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:10,200 all the way through the 90s. Best air to grow up in my 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:12,640 opinion. But when you were a kid and if 5 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,320 you grew up in the 90s, there was one individual that you 6 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:18,320 wanted to be like. Anyone know who it was? 7 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:24,920 Michael Jordan, right? The greatest of all time, this 8 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,800 was this is a jersey I had. I also had the black jersey, 9 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:29,760 which was so much cooler. You guys remember the Black 10 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:34,920 Bulls jersey? Anyway, I wanted to be like 11 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:36,120 Mike. In fact, there was like a 12 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,640 commercial I think that talked about the idea of being just 13 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:43,320 like Mike and Space Jam came out during that time. 14 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:45,400 That imprinted on me pretty deeply. 15 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:48,480 There's this scene in the beginning of Space Jam where 16 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:51,640 this young kid has this dream that he can fly, right? 17 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:53,840 And there's this scene right before the intro starts where 18 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:55,720 he, like, goes up to dunk the ball. 19 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,240 And then there's this sick montage of Michael Jordan. 20 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:00,560 I get goosebumps just talking about it right now, right? 21 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:05,440 It was so cool. And I wanted so desperately to 22 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:09,240 be like MJ, to win championships, to be able to 23 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,440 dunk a ball, right? In my efforts to be like Mike, 24 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,320 they started off really strong. I mean, I'm out there during the 25 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:19,320 summertime on my portable hoop or at the plastic backboard, 26 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:20,760 right? I'm like, I'm getting the 27 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:22,600 swishes. I'm doing it all right. 28 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:28,040 But but over time, as I grew up, my passion to be like Mike and 29 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:30,800 my ability to grew like Mike, that began to fizzle out, right? 30 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,040 Eventually I got into leagues that took basketball a little 31 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,600 more seriously. They made me do things like line 32 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:39,840 drills, if you're familiar with those. 33 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:43,040 Awful. They made me do things like 34 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,240 dribbling exercises, all of that. 35 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,280 I, I started off strong, but I didn't want to put in the gym 36 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,920 time in order to actually be like Mike. 37 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:54,000 You see, here's the thing, catch this. 38 00:01:54,680 --> 00:02:00,720 I wanted MJ's life, but I didn't want his lifestyle. 39 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:03,960 Do you know what I mean? I wanted to be like him, but I 40 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:09,120 didn't want his discipline, his work ethic, the cost that was 41 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,400 involved, etcetera. Michael Jordan has this famous 42 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:18,080 quote where he says my mentality was to go out and win at any 43 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,840 cost. And I can honestly say that was 44 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,400 not my mentality as a young kid. My mentality was to go out and 45 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:25,880 play video games at any cost, right? 46 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,560 That was my thing. So my my efforts to be formed in 47 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:34,920 the way of MJ fizzled out. I had the example, but I needed 48 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:37,880 the trainer. I needed the disciplines. 49 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,600 I didn't know the way to actually become like him. 50 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,600 OK. And as a church we talk a lot 51 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:49,600 about the idea of being formed into the image of Jesus. 52 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:52,840 We talk a lot about following Jesus. 53 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:56,160 But as a church we are asking the question, how are we doing 54 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:58,480 it? Actually helping people more and 55 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:03,680 more become like Him to actually follow who he is and take on his 56 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,960 commands. As a matter matter of fact, six 57 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:11,920 years ago during COVID, the statistics stated that over 1/3 58 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:15,480 of people walked away from the church, stopped attending both 59 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:19,280 in person and online. They just said we're done. 60 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,400 And those stats going through that season absolutely shook us. 61 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:25,880 It shook the church. It shook me personally, Pastor 62 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,000 Patrick as well. And for us, what happened was it 63 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,080 revealed something. It revealed that those calling 64 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:37,160 themselves Christians had been informed and they had been more 65 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:43,480 formed by politics, by cultural divides, and by modern secular 66 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:45,680 humanism. They've been formed by more than 67 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,640 more than they've been formed more by those things than the 68 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:53,320 actual call to take up the cross and to follow Jesus daily. 69 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:58,000 And so for us, we are sort of forced to ask the question, is 70 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,480 the church really making disciples of Jesus? 71 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:06,440 Like, are we actually forming them people not into the the 72 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,400 image of Michael Jordan, but into the image of Christ? 73 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:13,200 You're thinking, OK, that was 60 years ago. 74 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:16,680 How are we doing today? From December, Barna's research, 75 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:19,279 they put out an article, Barna's like a really well known 76 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:23,080 institution that researches church statistics and how we're 77 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,440 doing with with certain metrics. They've been doing it in the 78 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:27,760 game for a long time. They had an article called 79 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,560 Faiths Shrinking Influence. And here's what Barna writes. 80 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:37,040 Faith's importance has dropped 20 percentage points since 2000, 81 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:39,360 more than any other Christian commitment measure. 82 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:46,000 Practicing Christians have declined from 46% to 24% of US 83 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,560 adults over the past 25 years. Only one in three Christians say 84 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,760 they strongly feel a responsibility to share their 85 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:56,480 faith, a long downward trend that is only recently 86 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:00,040 stabilized. And so the metrics are showing, 87 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,880 at least from a big picture standpoint, from a church wide 88 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:08,960 perspective, we're not making disciples. 89 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,600 People actually take their face seriously and are formed in the 90 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,480 way of Jesus. The issue doesn't stop there 91 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:20,880 because the fact is, and it would be easy if the choice was 92 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,600 no formation or formation to Jesus. 93 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:24,760 That would be easy for the church. 94 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:30,040 But the fact is, is that you and I are constantly being formed by 95 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,400 something. OK, formation teacher John Mark 96 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,760 Comer says if we're not being intentionally formed by Jesus, 97 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:42,720 we are being unintentionally formed by someone or something 98 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:47,360 else. Becoming like someone or what we 99 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:53,680 call formation is not a choice. You have already been formed 100 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:56,520 into someone. You are being formed into 101 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,840 someone and you are going to be formed into someone. 102 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:05,240 And it's so easy in our culture to be formed into someone 103 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,160 unintentionally. OK, the smartphone in your 104 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:09,200 pocket. OK. 105 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:15,400 It was introduced 2008 and I would argue that there is few 106 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:19,760 devices in our lives that are as transformational to us. 107 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:24,160 We are able to get information about political parties and 108 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,240 narratives more often than we get to the person of Jesus. 109 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:32,760 We begin to get algorithms over the Almighty, we get Hollywood 110 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:37,360 over the Holy Spirit and workplaces other than church 111 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:43,200 places. You and I are are being formed 112 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:50,760 and the choice we have is are we going to intentionally be formed 113 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:57,760 into Christ likeness? OK, now Romans, Paul kind of 114 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:01,520 talks about this in Scripture. It's not just a a problem today, 115 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,160 but this is a problem throughout history. 116 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:08,160 He says in Romans 12, do not conform to the pattern of this 117 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:12,600 world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 118 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:17,520 But this is easy for us to talk about in like a big 119 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:20,600 philosophical way. But some of what we want to talk 120 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:23,920 about today is what does this actually look like in your daily 121 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:26,760 life? What does it look like in the 122 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:30,160 life of our church? And not just like, what do the 123 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:32,320 best writers today have to look at? 124 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,400 What do the best like formation writers, the Dallas Willards, 125 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:37,160 the John Mark Homers of the world. 126 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,600 But what does Scripture have to say? 127 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:46,840 OK, And then were Jesus people? What does Jesus have to say 128 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,360 about this? Anything that. 129 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,120 Yeah, so let's turn to Matthew chapter 4. 130 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,200 If you have your Bibles, we have them in the back available as 131 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:55,560 well. If you don't own a Bible, feel 132 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:57,600 free to take that. It'll be on the screens. 133 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:00,080 But we always encourage you to bring physical Bibles. 134 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:04,000 Like Patrick just said, our, our screens are formation machines. 135 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,160 We try to get away from them as much as we can. 136 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,200 But Matthew chapter 4, this is the beginning of Jesus's public 137 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:13,040 ministry. And He was going around doing 3 138 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:17,080 main things #1 Jesus was going around, He was teaching people. 139 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,680 Not only that, but He was proclaiming the good news of 140 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:22,680 what we call the good news of the Kingdom. 141 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,520 He was also going around healing the sick. 142 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:30,960 And this is what it says in Matthew chapter 4, beginning in 143 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:34,520 yeah, beginning here in verse 18. 144 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:37,919 This is where we see that Jesus was not only going around doing 145 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:41,640 these things, but He also called others to join Him in this 146 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:45,080 Kingdom effort. And we see here in 18, it says 147 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:48,640 as Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two 148 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:52,880 brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. 149 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:57,040 They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 150 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:05,840 Verse 19 Come follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to 151 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:10,720 fish for people at once. They left their Nets and 152 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:12,960 followed him. Going on from there, he saw two 153 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:15,400 other brothers, James and Zebedee that his brother John, 154 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:17,680 they were in a boat with their father Zebedee preparing their 155 00:09:17,680 --> 00:09:19,480 Nets. Jesus called them and 156 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:23,240 immediately they left their boat and their father and followed 157 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:27,080 him. So this invitation of Jesus to 158 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:31,080 he went up to these two initial disciples and he said, come 159 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:32,960 follow me. And what that was, was that it 160 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:38,760 was a specific invitation for them to come and be a disciple 161 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:43,640 underneath Jesus, a disciple underneath a rabbi, which means 162 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,200 teacher. And so disciple, the word there 163 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:51,200 means learner or student. But probably the best definition 164 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,000 for our purposes of what it actually means to entail and 165 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:57,880 embody A disciple would be the word apprentice. 166 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:00,800 Think of someone apprenticing as an electrician. 167 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:03,560 What do they do? They spend a lot of time around 168 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:05,760 the person training them to become electrician. 169 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:09,400 They study the way of electricity and wiring and then 170 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:14,160 eventually they go out and do electrician things or a plumber 171 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:17,240 or whatever. In the same way, an apprentice 172 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:20,520 of Jesus. They would follow him around and 173 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:22,640 do what he did and become like him. 174 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,880 Now this invitation of Jesus to go to them and say, hey, come 175 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,240 and be my disciple. This would have been very odd, 176 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:32,960 especially for this time. You see, the rabbis at this 177 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:35,240 time, they were the teachers. They were well respected in 178 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:37,880 their community. They would travel around and 179 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:40,320 they would give teachings and instructions. 180 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,240 But the people who could actually become a disciple of 181 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:48,040 the rabbi, it was not just the ordinary common folk like the 182 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:52,440 fishermen, rather it was reserved for the elites, the 183 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,040 best of the best. These are the people who made it 184 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:58,560 through the multi tiered education system for for young 185 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:01,640 Jewish boys and men. And so this would have been like 186 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:04,080 the tippy tip, the the Magna cum laude. 187 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:07,680 The best of the best could eventually go and ask their 188 00:11:07,680 --> 00:11:12,840 rabbi or ask a rabbi, Hey, let me follow you. 189 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:17,920 They would beg their their rabbi to say, please, let me take on 190 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:20,520 your yoke, your training. Let me become a rabbi like you. 191 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:23,520 Let me become your disciple. So it's kind of like maybe 192 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,080 auditioning for a movie in Hollywood or like a play in 193 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,440 Broadway, right? You have your initial audition. 194 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:32,560 Anyone can come to that. But if you're really lucky, 195 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:37,000 you'll get called back for a second wave of auditions and 196 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,520 only the best of the best that the tippy top will be called 197 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:41,840 back for 1/3 audition and so on and so forth. 198 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:44,960 So there was radical that Jesus would look at the look at these 199 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:49,480 ordinary men as a rabbi, as a teacher and say come follow me. 200 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:53,560 I want you all to become my disciples. 201 00:11:54,920 --> 00:12:01,120 If you were accepted as a disciple of a rabbi, it became 202 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:05,880 your entire lifestyle. You would spend 24/7 with your 203 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:07,800 rabbi. It would become your very 204 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:10,680 identity. You are a disciple of your 205 00:12:10,680 --> 00:12:13,600 teacher. This was a radical thing that 206 00:12:13,680 --> 00:12:16,160 Jesus approached these men and said come and do this with me. 207 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:22,560 Verse 419, Jesus said, come follow me and I will send you 208 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:27,440 out to fish for people. We'll talk a little bit more 209 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,880 about this, but the idea of fishing for people was to then 210 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:33,520 go out and make more disciples in the way of the rabbi, their 211 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:37,840 teaching, and their lifestyles. Disciples would become rabbis 212 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,000 themselves in order to make more and more disciples in the way of 213 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,360 Jesus. And so put really succinctly, 214 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:46,680 and hopefully you've heard us, if you've been around presence 215 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:48,160 long enough, you've heard us talk about this. 216 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:53,640 But a disciple is someone who orients their lives around 3 217 00:12:53,880 --> 00:13:00,920 driving goals. Number one, to be with Jesus #2 218 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:06,000 to become like Jesus. And finally, to do what Jesus 219 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:08,640 did. So if you hear nothing else 220 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:12,720 today, hear this. To be a disciple is to do these 221 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:14,720 three things. There's a lot of other beautiful 222 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:17,280 things we can do like church and scripture reading and prayer and 223 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:19,520 disciplines. All are helpful, but they're all 224 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:22,560 driven towards the three main goals of being with Jesus, 225 00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:25,320 becoming like him, and doing what he did. 226 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:29,960 But the good news for us is that Mark's gospel adds that Jesus 227 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:32,720 says that we will become fishers of men. 228 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:37,200 It's the word ganesthi, which is the idea of Jesus saying I will 229 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:41,080 make you become fishers of men. In other words, it implies that 230 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:45,120 there's a gradual process of training that will take place 231 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:48,400 where Jesus takes us on and he teaches us how to follow. 232 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:53,560 Luke 640 says the student is not above the teacher, but everyone 233 00:13:53,560 --> 00:13:57,720 who is fully trained will be like their teacher. 234 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:00,840 In other words, it's almost as if Jesus is looking at you and 235 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:02,840 me. He's looking at us and saying 236 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:07,120 you don't train yourself and then come to me. 237 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:12,160 What Jesus is saying is saying no, no, no, you come to me and 238 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:15,360 I'll do the training. Is that a relief for anyone here 239 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:15,880 today? Right. 240 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:18,880 Jesus is the teacher. I will help you become the 241 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:21,400 fishers of men. And I think so many times 242 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:25,800 church, we get this backwards when it comes to coming and 243 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:27,600 following Jesus. We think, oh, I need to, I need 244 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,160 to like improve my life. I need to fix my life a little 245 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:32,720 bit better or I need to be better at doing the spiritual 246 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:37,040 disciplines or church attendance or or sin management or whatever 247 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,240 it is. And so I can't follow Jesus yet 248 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:40,800 because I haven't had it all figured out. 249 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,000 I'm not committed enough. And it's almost as if the 250 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,560 invitation of Jesus is to say, no, no, no, no, you're just 251 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,880 ordinary fisherman. You're just sheep. 252 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:54,240 Come follow me and I will train you and teach you in order for 253 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:58,400 you to become an apprentice in my way, to adopt the lifestyle 254 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,440 that I have in store for you. This is a wonderful promise. 255 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:05,640 So before I kick it over to Patrick to summarize, the 256 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:10,280 invitation to follow and to fish is a holistic commitment to 257 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,640 apprentice under Jesus way of life, his teaching and his 258 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,720 mission. It's a lifelong commitment to 259 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:20,280 Orient our entire lifestyles around being with Jesus, 260 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:23,680 becoming like Jesus, and doing what he did. 261 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:29,840 So we're going to have another discussion question around your 262 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:34,520 tables want you to talk about when you think about the 263 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:38,920 invitation to follow Jesus and become a disciple, what comes to 264 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,200 mind? But before the speech thing, 265 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:44,960 right when you would hear this passage of the idea of following 266 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:46,640 you goes, what would come to mind? 267 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,440 And then after this, how does that make you feel? 268 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:52,920 Yeah, that's a good question. When I had it framed in this 269 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:55,840 way, because when I would hear the invitation initially, like 270 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:59,560 growing up in church or whatever that, you know, we were called 271 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:04,400 to pick up our cross and follow Jesus, that was like so 272 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:07,320 intimidating because like, I don't want to get crucified, you 273 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:11,200 know, as Jesus was. And the call, the call and cost 274 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:13,160 of discipleship is that high, right? 275 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:16,480 And and it is that important, like we are called to lay down 276 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:18,160 our lives. But I remember just thinking 277 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:19,920 like, this seems impossible, right? 278 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:22,440 This seems like like a pipe dream, like something like, how 279 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,600 does anyone actually follow and become like Jesus? 280 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:30,920 But it was only until, you know, maybe the last few or even 5 to 281 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,200 10 years of my life where I started hearing about the idea 282 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:37,200 of training in the way of Jesus, of him teaching us how to do it. 283 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,640 And that there was actually Rd. maps and pathways that we could 284 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,720 follow to open ourselves up to more of the Holy Spirit to 285 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,360 become like Jesus, or what we would call sanctification. 286 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:50,000 That it really like a light bulb was lit in my mind, right? 287 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,040 Because it's like, oh, this is, this isn't just something Jesus 288 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:57,400 put out there that he, he knew we couldn't attain or achieve or 289 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:00,040 do on our own, or we certainly can't do it on our own, but we, 290 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,880 it's attainable. We can follow in his footsteps 291 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:04,359 if he does the training. So. 292 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:05,880 That's so good. Yeah. 293 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:09,880 I mean, I, it's only been the last five years or so really 294 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:11,839 since COVID that I was opposed to this. 295 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:16,319 And I remember like growing up in faith, thinking about 296 00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:19,319 Christianity really in two ways. And I swung the pendulum both 297 00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:22,640 ways. The first was really more about 298 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:26,760 morality and this like, OK, I'm following Jesus, so I need to go 299 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:29,840 and do exactly what he did. I need to force myself. 300 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:32,320 And I don't know about you, but if you've ever tried to be 301 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:38,160 really good, it's miserable. Can't bear the weight of that. 302 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,200 But then I also think about in 6th grade, talking to my friend 303 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,880 who went to the summer camp with me and we heard the gospel, the 304 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,800 invitation to follow Jesus. And this I was just was thinking 305 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,120 about this right now. And I remember him afterwards. 306 00:17:53,120 --> 00:17:55,160 I was really excited to hear what he thought. 307 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,440 And I asked him, Chris, did you did you accept Jesus as your 308 00:17:58,440 --> 00:17:59,800 savior? Are you going to follow him? 309 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:04,160 And he said no, not yet. I want to live and have of the 310 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:06,640 time 1st and then I'll follow him. 311 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,400 Yeah, and what that is, is that's really just fire 312 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:12,360 insurance, right? It's like Jesus is this 313 00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:14,800 insurance salesman that's selling you insurance so that 314 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:18,800 you don't go to hell. In both of those types of 315 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,840 following Jesus are just unbeautiful. 316 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:24,160 They're ungood, they're uninspiring. 317 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:29,560 But this when I heard, as Ben said, that that Jesus was 318 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:34,440 looking at forming me into his image and that he was going to 319 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:38,040 do the hard work and I could become a person of love for the 320 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:41,320 sake of others. That was amazing and that was 321 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:43,240 inspiring. But we're going to look at 322 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:45,360 another passage. Ben looked at the beginning of 323 00:18:45,360 --> 00:18:48,640 Jesus's walk with the disciples and his invitation to follow me. 324 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:52,320 But I want to take us to the end of Jesus's time with disciples 325 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:55,400 in Matthew 28. OK. 326 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:59,480 This is what we would call the the Great Commission in the 327 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,800 church, but I want us to take it apart a little bit and see what 328 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,200 Jesus has for us and this idea of following him. 329 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,920 So verse 18. Then Jesus came to them and 330 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:15,680 said, All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. 331 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:20,080 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them 332 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:24,040 in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and 333 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:27,000 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. 334 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:33,320 And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. 335 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,080 I want to just look at a few things here. 336 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:40,960 OK, first, what does Jesus not say in this passage? 337 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:46,200 Jesus does not say go and make church attenders, go and make 338 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:50,920 religious consumers, or go and make people that know a lot 339 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:55,320 about the abiding go and make the theologian that's not in 340 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:57,600 there. OK, He says. 341 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:02,400 Go and make disciples. The mission of the church is not 342 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:06,760 simply to get people to believe in Jesus, but to help people 343 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:10,080 become like Jesus. Does that make sense? 344 00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:14,640 It's not about information transfer, it's about human 345 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:16,120 transformation. That's good. 346 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,720 So let's look at a couple other pieces First, where does the 347 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,480 authority come from when you're going and making disciples? 348 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:31,360 Comes from him, right? Jesus says all authority in 349 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:34,040 heaven and earth has been given to me. 350 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:36,920 So when you're going and you are making disciples and you feel 351 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,320 unable or unworthy, you're not drawing on yourself. 352 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:43,280 You're drawing on Jesus's authority to do that. 353 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:47,480 OK, this is an echo back from in Daniel 7 in the Old Testament 354 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:51,680 where the Son of Man receives dominion, glory and Kingdom over 355 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:53,880 all of the nations. That's why we refer to him as 356 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,240 King Jesus. Jesus is not sending the church 357 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:03,080 out as a fragile religious club trying to just get by in the 358 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:06,360 culture. He is sending people out as the 359 00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:10,160 enthroned hing. OK, the Great Commission is not 360 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:14,600 about what you are doing. It is about what Jesus is doing 361 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:19,800 through you. OK, second thing, this is a 362 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,200 little bit nerdy, but in the Greek, when we look at this 363 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:26,240 passage, it's important for us to know what the core idea of 364 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:28,920 the passage. What is the core invitation? 365 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:33,280 Often in church, I would hear it be go, like this was a passage 366 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:36,800 for ministries like go, guys, go out, go to another city, go to 367 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,640 another country. And that's that's kind of scary, 368 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:43,480 right? But actually the core idea of 369 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:47,840 this passage is to go in. It's to to make disciples. 370 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,200 And what does that mean? Well, first Jesus says to 371 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:56,080 baptize them and baptism is not just a one moment thing. 372 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:58,440 It's not just like the mark of becoming a Christian. 373 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:02,960 But what it is it is it an identity transfer to be baptized 374 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:05,600 in the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit is it 375 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:10,040 means that you belong to God. It means to go out and baptize 376 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:14,600 people and have lives that are no longer self self authored, to 377 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:17,840 have an identity that's no longer formed by the culture, 378 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:22,720 that's no longer being formed by your fears or or your ideas, but 379 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,680 to say that that Jesus, I belong to you. 380 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:33,760 My identity is formed in you. OK, now this the second part of 381 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:38,560 making disciples. I remember when I was reading 382 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,040 when I realized what it's actually saying. 383 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:43,160 OK, let's look at the passive again. 384 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:48,000 Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the 385 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,800 Holy Spirit, teaching them to what's the next word? 386 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,840 Obey, Obey. It's so easy to read this 387 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:01,320 passage and just see teaching them what I had taught. 388 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:04,680 It's so easy to look at and be like, listen guys, what I want 389 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:06,880 you to do is go and baptize people and then go have Bible 390 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:09,840 studies. Sure, good, but that's just 391 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,120 about information. Or go and go and just listen to 392 00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:15,160 some really good sermons and get some really good ideas of how to 393 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:21,440 be a better Christian. No, Jesus's command was to teach 394 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,600 them to obey. That means the goal of Christian 395 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,160 teaching is not about information transfer. 396 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:32,280 It is whole life formation into obedience. 397 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:38,960 Jesus is aimed is an embodied way that that teaches you to be 398 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:43,040 a forgiving person, a person of prayer, a person that's 399 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,760 generous, that's able to love your enemies. 400 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,880 Not just ideas, not just theories, but Jesus's invitation 401 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:54,040 is that you would go and you would slowly become a person 402 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:58,000 that is able to tell the truth, to live without anxiety, to seek 403 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:02,880 first the Kingdom. Jesus does not Commission us to 404 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:07,520 make smarter consumers of religious content, but embodied 405 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:12,480 practitioners of his way. The Great Commission is a call 406 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:17,560 to make apprentices of Jesus, people baptized into his life, 407 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:23,680 taught to practice his way, and sustained by what? 408 00:24:24,120 --> 00:24:26,320 What does Jesus say at the end of the passage? 409 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:31,040 Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. 410 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:33,040 That's good. That's so good. 411 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:33,840 Yeah. Can I jump in? 412 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,840 Yeah, yeah, that's so good. And I think for many of us, if 413 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:40,640 you spent time in church, we hear a lot about that moment of 414 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:43,480 salvation, right? That that moment of like 415 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:45,800 entering into the Kingdom and that was so important. 416 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,200 That was Jesus message was repent for the Kingdom of heaven 417 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,240 as at hand. How do we get into the Kingdom? 418 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:53,800 Well, we repent of the way we were living. 419 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:58,160 We trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross to receive 420 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:01,800 forgiveness for our sins. And now we have access into all 421 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:03,960 that God has. And I was trying to explain this 422 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,600 to a friend that it's not just about that that initial moment 423 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:10,440 of salvation, that fire insurance sort of thing that 424 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,520 that we often times can, can want, but that there's so much 425 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:15,240 more available. And I was explaining this to a 426 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,600 friend of my discipleship band this last week, actually. 427 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,840 And I was like, there's so much more available to us after that 428 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,200 moment of salvation. But so many Christians stop 429 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,000 there at that moment, think I'm good, I've got it. 430 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:28,680 I got it. And I'll kind of just kind of go 431 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,440 through this life and ask for forgiveness once in a while or 432 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,920 whatever. And he's like, oh, yeah, you're 433 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:35,960 right. Like it'd be as if you it'd be 434 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:40,400 as if you, you, you got the keys to the entire mall, but you only 435 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:42,720 hung out in like the Yonkers, you know what I mean? 436 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,720 And basically what he's saying is like you, you have access to 437 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,200 go wherever you want, but you only stay in that, that one 438 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:50,800 section. Because now that I'm in the 439 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:51,920 mall, I don't have to go anywhere. 440 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,440 I can just hang out and try on clothes or whatever. 441 00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,040 And it's like, no, no, no, you've got, you've got Cinnabon 442 00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:59,920 out there waiting for you. You know, you've got, you've got 443 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,080 Wet Seal or whatever, Abercrombie and Fitch. 444 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:03,160 I haven't been to the mall in a while. 445 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:04,080 I don't know what's still out there. 446 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:08,440 But you, you've got all the Disney Store, Apple, right? 447 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:12,800 In other words, you have the whole mall available to you. 448 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:16,720 All that the Kingdom has to offer is now yours through 449 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:18,880 Jesus. And so don't just stay at that 450 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:21,320 moment of salvation. Yes, that grant granted you 451 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:25,880 access, you're in but sanctification and becoming like 452 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,640 Jesus, living into your Kingdom purpose, boy, there's so much 453 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:33,280 more available to you. And our hope today, I think, is 454 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:37,240 to like get this in each of us. Like there's more. 455 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:39,560 Jesus is calling us to go and make disciples. 456 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:44,440 That's just so good and for me like that is a more beautiful 457 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:48,640 vision right like that's why Jesus says I've come to give you 458 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:52,680 life and life to the full. CS Lewis has this story than he 459 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,800 tells this illustration about often we live as Christians as 460 00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:00,240 if mother is inviting us to eat chocolate cake, but we are more 461 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:05,240 interested in mug pies. When you read the words of 462 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:08,200 Jesus, and honestly, it's part of our job as teachers is to 463 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:12,720 cast a more beautiful vision of what God has in store it for 464 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:13,960 you. Yeah. 465 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,560 That's so good. The invitation is to be a person 466 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,480 that is unanxious. That's not a pipe drink. 467 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,960 The things you just teach are actually able to happen. 468 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,880 So around your tables, here's another prompt. 469 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:32,560 How does this idea simplify or intensify what the Church does? 470 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:37,760 And then what keeps churches from being focused upon 471 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,280 discipleship? We've talked about the what 472 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:42,440 Scripture has to say about this. We've talked about what Jesus 473 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:45,480 has to say about his invitation to be a disciple, that Lily 474 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:48,640 talked about his invitation to be a disciple maker. 475 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:52,880 So the question is, what does that mean for us today as the 476 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:56,400 corporate church? But more specifically, what does 477 00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:02,240 it mean for presence church? So let me tell you, it means as 478 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:07,360 a church in our time, we are all about making disciples. 479 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:09,960 This is at the very heart of our church. 480 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:13,160 When we talk about what is the one thing we want to do, the one 481 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:17,000 thing we want to be known for, it is disciple making. 482 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,680 And part of the reason is, is that there is this new found 483 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:24,960 interest in spirituality going up, especially in young people. 484 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,400 We've had generations, especially as millennials. 485 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:29,600 We have friends that are angry with the church. 486 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:31,120 We probably have a little angry in the tree. 487 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,760 It's just in the millennial blood, but Gen. 488 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:39,080 Z and younger are becoming more and more interested in in 489 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,440 spirituality because honestly, secularism has shown that it 490 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,640 does not work. People are looking for a better 491 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:50,080 way of living and we want to be able to show people that. 492 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,800 David Copeland, Barno, we've already talked about them. 493 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:55,640 They're vice president of research, said. 494 00:28:55,840 --> 00:29:01,640 The question before us is what kind of change we desire, he 495 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:05,480 suggests. Do we simply want more people in 496 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:09,960 our churches, or do we want people and the world 497 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:15,200 transformed? It is a lot easier to get people 498 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:21,360 into a room than transformed. The Barnhai article continues 499 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:23,480 on. For church leaders, this tension 500 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:27,720 underscores a meaningful opportunity to recommit to 501 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:32,840 intentional discipleship and help people move from curiosity 502 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:38,400 to conviction, from Christian and name only to fully engaged, 503 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,280 deeply devoted followers of Jesus. 504 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:46,000 The church has a vital opportunity to guide a 505 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:51,360 spiritually furious generation toward deep, integrated, lived 506 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:55,520 Christian faith. I think for the last probably 50 507 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:59,120 years, the church has been really good at making concrete. 508 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,040 You've gotten a lot of people in the room and a lot of people are 509 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:03,840 saying. And as Pastor Ben said, 510 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:09,440 repentance is incredibly important, but it is only the 511 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:13,040 beginning. We want to be a church that 512 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:16,440 makes disciples. Our mission is we exist to 513 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:22,680 witness a spirit LED disciple, disciple making movement in our 514 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:27,120 churches and communities. Let me say that again, because I 515 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:29,520 butchered it and Ben's to be angry at. 516 00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:30,840 I wasn't. Going to say it. 517 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:36,040 Our position is to witness a spirit LED disciple making 518 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:38,840 movement in our churches and community. 519 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:42,520 That is what we are all about. CS Lewis. 520 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:44,600 And this is like ACS Lewis day for me. 521 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:49,320 Church says church exists for nothing else but to draw men 522 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:52,280 into Christ, to make them little Christ. 523 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:56,360 If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, mission, 524 00:30:56,360 --> 00:31:00,800 sermons and even the Bible itself are simply a waste of 525 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:02,840 time. The truth is because there are 526 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:07,880 lots of really good things that churches can do, but we can get 527 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:10,880 distracted and miss the main thing. 528 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:13,760 It's like this. Imagine you went to a gym to 529 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:18,360 join a gym, and there are inside that gym motivational pictures 530 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:22,480 all over the place, K, They have a masseuse on hand. 531 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:26,720 They have tanning beds, They have like a steaming room. 532 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:30,120 They have great music. TV's all over the place. 533 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,560 Even like people that say they're perfect personal 534 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:37,200 trainers, but there is not one piece of equipment. 535 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,040 Is that Jim able to do what it's supposed to do? 536 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:44,640 No. OK, There's a quote out there in 537 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:48,400 the business world that your system is perfectly designed to 538 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:54,480 give you your results. So as a church, our goal, 539 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:59,240 everything we do is pointed at making disciples through seeking 540 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:03,400 God's presence, becoming like Jesus together, and being a 541 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,560 presence in our city. And if you look up here, that is 542 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:13,640 what we are all about. But Ben, Ben, how do we do that? 543 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:15,400 Yeah, such a good question, right? 544 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,240 And like these three priorities we've said are the filters by 545 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:21,040 which we filter everything we do through these. 546 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:24,040 Like if we're not seeking God's presence through an event, we 547 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,120 pull off for an energy we're pouring out, like we don't want 548 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:28,360 to do it. If we're not becoming more like 549 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,200 Jesus through it or being a presence on mission in our city, 550 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:33,720 we don't want to do it. And so that's why it's it's so 551 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:37,240 important that we put it on the wall because these are our sort 552 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,640 of driving goals as a church. And you'll notice it's the three 553 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,720 goals of a disciple. Just contextualize for a body, 554 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:49,040 be with Jesus, become like Jesus, do what he did, live on 555 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:53,360 mission, go out. And so for us, the the machinery 556 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:56,080 that we have at the church ought to be producing the result that 557 00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:58,080 we want if we want to be making disciples. 558 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:00,800 What is the system in place in order to do that? 559 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:03,040 There's a couple of them. One of them, you're experiencing 560 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:05,440 it right now. This is called Disciple making 561 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:06,800 Sunday. We don't know of a ton of 562 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:10,200 churches who who do this sort of environment, but we've said what 563 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,720 if we took at least one to two times a year and we didn't do a 564 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,040 typical service, but instead we gathered people around the 565 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:19,440 central mission of our Church of making disciples. 566 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:23,800 What if we even what if we even encouraged people to join and 567 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:27,160 get trained into how to make discipleship bands. 568 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,200 So hopefully by now you've heard us talk a lot about bands. 569 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:35,120 Simply put, their groups of two to four people that that are 570 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,720 focused on disciple making, but not just any, not just disciple 571 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:42,080 making, but spirit LED disciple making through transparent 572 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:45,360 relationships. So our heart is that our church 573 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:47,760 would be made-up of groups of two to four people who are 574 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:50,880 meeting out in the community, even in their workplaces 575 00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:54,680 consistently in order to become like Jesus together. 576 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,880 And we want these to be spaces that are transparent in that you 577 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:03,800 can be fully known and fully loved, fully known as in like 578 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:07,200 your, your your secrets are out there with this group of, of 579 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:10,600 others, your fears, your concerns, the struggles that you 580 00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,280 have going on in your life, though those can be fully known 581 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:17,000 by the people around you. But as you're transparent, as 582 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,440 you're actually vulnerable with people that's met with an 583 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,880 unconditional grace and love of Jesus Christ. 584 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:26,840 And when you partner those things together, being fully 585 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:28,840 known and fully loved, that is transformational. 586 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,080 We all long deeply for relationships like that. 587 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:37,880 And so we say what could happen through these bands where deep 588 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:42,080 spiritual friendships are combined with sacrificial 589 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,040 mission. The people that I'm closest with 590 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,440 aren't just the people who share the same interests as me, but 591 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:50,760 they're the people who are living on mission with me, 592 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:54,199 right? Find your people who can live on 593 00:34:54,199 --> 00:34:58,280 mission, who can help you become like Jesus, spur you on in grace 594 00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:01,680 and in power of the spirit. And we've just seen discipleship 595 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:03,360 bands sort of take off in our church. 596 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:05,640 More and more people are interested in that. 597 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:08,480 People coming in, even for the first time we've heard say, hey, 598 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:10,760 I, I saw on your website you have these groups of two to 599 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:12,360 four. I'm really interested in that. 600 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,960 We just see that in a time in a culture where loneliness is an 601 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:18,760 epidemic, people are wanting environments where they can 602 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:22,560 actually be known and and loved. And so we are putting a lot of 603 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,640 our eggs in that basket. We have something like I, I 604 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:28,840 would guess 40 to 50% of our average church attendance are 605 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,720 made-up and already involved in a band and we're seeing more and 606 00:35:31,720 --> 00:35:33,760 more people interested in joining that. 607 00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:38,440 Our discipleship bands are centred around 3 values and I 608 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,360 share these today because a lot of you are already in a band and 609 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:44,400 I encourage you as we go through these quick to do a self 610 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,760 evaluation, take an audit of your band and say how are we 611 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:52,800 doing at these three values? Number one is that the value is 612 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,400 open Bibles. This is a commitment in our 613 00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:59,120 discipleship bands to rally around God's word through the 614 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:02,080 scriptures. Jesus taught us through the 615 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:05,640 Word, and the Holy Spirit speaks to us by reminding us of Jesus's 616 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:08,120 words in that way. And so this is a commitment to 617 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:12,360 follow Jesus teachings. First and foremost, open Bibles. 618 00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:15,600 Wherever we go, when we rally around our band, our Bibles are 619 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:18,600 open, ready to receive. This is a commitment to go 620 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:20,640 throughout the week and read scriptures together. 621 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,720 The second value of a discipleship band is that we 622 00:36:24,720 --> 00:36:27,520 have open hearts. Again, we mentioned this is a 623 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:31,760 transparent relationship. You can actually open your heart 624 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:34,640 to one another through love, through encouragement, you 625 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:37,680 celebrate wins together and you mourn losses together. 626 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:40,840 Open hearts is a commitment to vulnerability and actually 627 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:44,480 sharing what's going on in your life. 3rd and finally, it's also 628 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,680 a commitment to open eyes. What does that mean? 629 00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:51,800 This means we always maintain open eyes to see where God is 630 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:55,720 leading our band and who else He is calling us to go and reach 631 00:36:55,720 --> 00:36:58,360 for the gospel. This is not discipleship. 632 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:01,760 Bands aren't designed to just be insular, just inward focused, 633 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:05,240 just worried about our own personal growth in Jesus and 634 00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:07,040 getting Better Together. That's not it. 635 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,640 But rather a band should have open eyes to see God. 636 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:12,600 Who are you calling me to go and start another discipleship band 637 00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:14,440 with? Who are you calling me to go and 638 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:16,560 witness and share the good news of Jesus with? 639 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:20,920 And so we need to kind of always be keeping that in mind because 640 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:23,680 how many of us know it's really easy to just turn inward and 641 00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:26,200 focus on ourselves. We have to always have a 642 00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:29,920 commitment to others. Spiritual formation is being 643 00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:34,400 formed into the image of Christ for the sake of others. 644 00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:36,760 It's a process, but it's always for others. 645 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:43,320 Jesus came to seek and save The Who, the lost, the lost. 646 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:46,320 It's the sick that need a doctor, not the healthy ones. 647 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:47,560 And we need to always maintain that. 648 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:49,840 So those are the values of our bands. 649 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,560 We encourage you if you're in a band to re evaluate that and and 650 00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:55,720 to re centralized those in your meetings. 651 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:57,520 We've heard a number of testimonies. 652 00:37:57,520 --> 00:37:59,960 In fact, I'm going to invite Hannah to to come on forward if 653 00:37:59,960 --> 00:38:02,360 you could. I asked a couple of our our band 654 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:04,680 facilitators how it's going and what they're seeing in their 655 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,520 bands. And Russ said this, he said 656 00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:10,160 praying for one another. We're providing encouragement, 657 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:13,920 healing and a level of community not able to be found elsewhere. 658 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,120 I love hearing that another person wrote our small group 659 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,840 participants are amazed at how many prayers where we see 660 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:23,720 visible answers. Our our prayer requests are 661 00:38:23,720 --> 00:38:26,440 sincere and varied, some large, some small. 662 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,200 We keep written notes of answered prayers in review 663 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:31,280 periodically. People in the group feel 664 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:34,200 comfortable to share their perspectives and we back up all 665 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:38,960 aspects of our studies with with Bible reading, Another person 666 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,400 wrote. We have also greatly enjoyed a 667 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:45,200 deeper friendship, being able to be completely authentic, 668 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:48,480 vulnerable, and come to one another for prayer and wisdom in 669 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:50,960 the hard parts of life. So cool to hear those 670 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:52,720 testimonies. And I've asked Hannah, come 671 00:38:52,720 --> 00:38:56,680 around here and share a little bit about your experience with 672 00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:58,440 your band real quick if you could. 673 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:00,560 And then we'll kind of button up here. 674 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:02,720 The worship team can come forward and we'll we'll go from 675 00:39:02,720 --> 00:39:04,320 there. Hey guys, I'm Hannah. 676 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:08,920 As Min said, yeah, I'm in a band and I love it. 677 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:11,600 Although I will admit we have not been the best at being 678 00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:15,680 consistent with meeting, but that's life and God still works 679 00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:19,520 through that. So while what I've been 680 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:23,040 reflecting on has been His blessings here, it's just how 681 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,680 God has been very strategic and He always is, even if we don't 682 00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:30,720 realize it right away with the people he's placed in my life in 683 00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:32,600 general and specifically in my band. 684 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:35,840 And how the Lord has used things that have happened in my life 685 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,960 years ago, before I even came to presence, before I knew the 686 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:42,200 people that are in my band and how he's used that. 687 00:39:42,840 --> 00:39:46,000 It's for us to edify one another and just to walk through trials 688 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:50,560 together and cry together and see the joy that comes from 689 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:52,680 those heart things. And it's also great to celebrate 690 00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:54,920 one of our band members. He was graduated from me, Matt. 691 00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:58,360 And so that was quite to celebrate where and just, yeah, 692 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:01,120 around together and just be together. 693 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:03,240 That's good. Thanks so much, Hannah. 694 00:40:03,240 --> 00:40:05,200 Can we give it up for Hannah? Appreciate that. 695 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:13,840 That's so good. I want to close by reading Acts 696 00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:17,880 1/8. This is Jesus after he was 697 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,760 resurrected but before he ascended, He was giving some 698 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,640 departing instructions and encouragement to the other 699 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:31,840 disciples. At this time, in Acts 1/8 it 700 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:40,560 says this, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes 701 00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:46,120 on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all 702 00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:49,400 Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. 703 00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:54,320 Jesus was calling his disciples to be witnesses of the power of 704 00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:57,200 the resurrection that they had seen to go out into the ends of 705 00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,360 the earth and to tell others what they had experienced in 706 00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:02,800 Christ. You and I are called to do the 707 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:04,680 same. If you have received salvation, 708 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:08,040 if you having been encouraged and you have received the power 709 00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:11,080 of the living God, you're called to be as witnesses. 710 00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:13,240 You're called to go out and share. 711 00:41:14,720 --> 00:41:16,920 John 20, Jesus said, Peace be with you. 712 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:23,560 As the Father has sent me, I am sending y'all you. 713 00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:28,400 And with that, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy 714 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:32,280 Spirit. You see, going out and making 715 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:34,760 disciples is not going to be something that we can do on our 716 00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:38,200 own willpower. It's not something we can do by 717 00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:41,240 our own strength. It's not something we do because 718 00:41:41,240 --> 00:41:44,080 we think we're good enough or have it all together or our life 719 00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:49,240 is put together. Rather, it is a Commission from 720 00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:52,880 Jesus himself, who has all authority. 721 00:41:53,720 --> 00:42:01,280 And He's telling you and me to go to be his ambassadors, to 722 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:05,240 tell the world to make disciples in your workplaces, in your 723 00:42:05,240 --> 00:42:08,520 break rooms, in your families and your friend groups, and 724 00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:12,440 wherever you may find yourself, wherever you are, to now begin 725 00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:15,440 to make disciples. And so I just want to breathe 726 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:18,240 that encouragement over you. And I want to pray that the Holy 727 00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:21,560 Spirit would empower us, enable and enable us to do that here 728 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:24,000 today. You have been commissioned. 729 00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:28,480 Follow first and go fish for people. 730 00:42:29,240 --> 00:42:34,880 May we be a church that is deeply committed to making 731 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:40,800 disciples of Jesus. May we be a church that is on 732 00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:43,600 mission, commissioned by Jesus himself.