Real Life Community Church Richmond, KY
Real Life Community Church, is a church located in Richmond, Kentucky. Our fellowship is comprised of authentic followers of Jesus Christ who aim to glorify God in all that we do. We have a desire to reach our community, meeting both the physical and spiritual needs of those who are hurting.What to Expect in a Service Our Sunday Morning services include a time of dynamic, blended worship. We have a full praise band, consisting of real Christ-followers who are committed to worshiping God, not just through song, but in every area of their lives. Each service will include a relevant, Bible-based message, that will inspire and challenge those who hear it. Come casually or formally dressed… however you are most comfortable. We hope to see you soon!
Real Life Community Church Richmond, KY
Acts | Part 18 | The Necessity of Discipleship
Every human being is a disciple of someone or something. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we're all being shaped by the voices we listen to most—political ideologies, entertainment, social media, or Christ himself. Discipleship is power: it shapes our individual lives, our homes, nations, and the world.
Whether you're a new believer or a seasoned Christian, this message challenges you to evaluate who's discipling you and how you're discipling others. The discipleship journey isn't measured by comparing yourself to others, but by asking: "Do I look more like Christ today than I did yesterday?" Join us as we explore how the ancient church's discipleship practices can transform our lives and communities today.
Acts 11, 19 to 30. Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except the Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, also preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord.
Speaker 1:So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. Now, in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them, named Agabus, stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of Claudius, so the disciples determined everyone according to his Amen.
Speaker 2:The Word of God. For the people of God, you may be seated. Well, when we, as believers, hear the word disciple, we immediately think of Christianity, because, to be sure, we are to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. But did you know that every human being on the planet is actually a disciple of someone or some ideology? The word disciple in the noun form simply means to be a pupil or a learner. In the verb form it means to teach or to instruct. So we are all disciples of someone or something you know. If you are an athlete, you are a disciple of your coach. If you're a student, you are a disciple of your teacher or professor. Some of you are disciples of a political party or political ideology, because that's the loudest voice in your life, because you sit at home and watch Fox News or CNN all day long. That's not good, it's quiet. You know, some of you, sometimes discipleship happens, let's say, very subtly. So if you watch a lot of television secular TV, and I'm not trying to be a legalist, I watch television but if you do that a lot, do you know that you are being discipled by Hollywood? You're being discipled by what did you say? Producers and writers, and actors and actresses. Yeah, you better guard what your children watch, even the cartoons today, because I'm telling you, it's not just harmless TV, it's indoctrination. It happens very subtly, but we are all discipled. And listen, discipleship is very powerful.
Speaker 2:Think about the philosophers in the Greco-Roman world. You know you had Socrates, who considered himself to be a disciple of Homer. He thought man, homer not Homer Simpson, by the way, but Homer the philosopher and he thought man, this is a. He thought him to be the most wise and intelligent man in all of Greek history. So that was Socrates, the disciple of Homer. But Socrates himself had his own disciples, the most famous being Plato. Plato had his disciples. Star pupil was Aristotle, and Aristotle had many disciples and he actually discipled Alexander the Great. Just think for a moment about how the ancient world was shaped by these four philosophers, namely Homer, plato, socrates, aristotle. Rc Sproul said you cannot understand Western civilization without understanding the influence of those four men. My point is they were all discipled in some shape or fashion. And discipleship, then, we know, is extremely powerful. It impacts not just cultures, but you know what impacts individual lives. But you know, discipleship impacts your home and it will impact our nation and the world.
Speaker 2:It's important that you hear what I'm about to say today, because the Bible tells us again to be disciples of Jesus. It tells us to make disciples of Jesus, and I just suggest to you today that you never outgrow being a disciple, a pupil, a learner of the Lord Jesus Christ. Never outgrow that, like you don't arrive to, like you know, 100% disciple. You will not be that until Christ returns. So you're always being discipled and there are also always to be making disciples, and this is really important. And here's why it's important that you intentionally make sure you are discipled and that you disciple others. Here's why, hear me, if you are not being discipled by the word, you are being discipled by the world. Okay, that's worth repeating. If you are not being discipled by the word, you are being discipled by the world, in other words, beloved. There is no neutral ground. There are two kingdoms on this earth the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil. And so let me just say it bluntly like this If you are not being discipled within the kingdom of God, you are being discipled within the kingdom of the devil. There is no neutral ground. So we must be discipled by the word, we must sit at the feet of Jesus, amen. Well, how does discipleship happen? What happens? In two ways that I want to point, let's say, I want to point these out from the text today. One of them is this discipleship happens what I'll call in an organic matter matter organically. But secondly, it also happens intentionally, or you could say more formally. Okay, and that's what I see in the text today. So let me just give you let's jump into this give you an overview of what's going on.
Speaker 2:So, in verse 19, dr Luke writes about people who were scattered Jews who were scattered. Now, who's he talking about? Well, this harkens back to Acts, chapter 8. You remember, stephen had just been martyred. Then the persecution came upon the whole church in Jerusalem. So the apostles stayed in Jerusalem, but thousands of believers uprooted their homes and their lives and they began to travel throughout the ancient world finding other places to settle. So they went. You know, chapter 8 says they went throughout Judea and the Samaria and then some of them, as we see today, they continued on north. Well, what's very important about that story is what they did while they traveled. They weren't bitter about their situation, but you know what they did.
Speaker 2:The Bible says in verse 8, and it's repeated here that these ordinary believers, they shared the gospel everywhere they went and multitudes of people, through these ordinary believers, by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, were coming. They were being converted and coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so primarily what we read in chapter 8 is they would travel, they would generally go into the synagogues to share their faith. They would share their faith amongst their Jewish people who had not yet believed in Jesus. But there's a shift in the text today because they're realizing this is not just the Jewish gospel, it is the gospel for every tribe, every nation, every tongue, amen. So look at verse 20 with me. But there were some of them. These are the sojourners, as it were, men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists. So these are Greeks Also, preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. So the Greek-speaking Jews now make their way to the Hellenists or the Greeks in Antioch and share the Lord with them.
Speaker 2:Now, antioch at this time it is the third largest city in the Roman Empire. There's a lot of influence there and there's a lot of cultural diversity there. It's a prosperous city at this point but I want you to know this too it was a very pagan city, polytheistic worship, multiple gods, and it was a vile and dark place. I mean just rampant sin. But something begins to change, because when the gospel is preached, when Jesus is preached, light begins to break in the darkness. There are some things happening downtown Richmond Just a few, I think, this week that didn't make me very happy, and it was. There was darkness and I, man, oh, that we would take the gospel into those places and see light break into the darkness. Amen, I was just going to teach today and not preach, but here I go.
Speaker 2:Revival here's what happens in Antioch. Revival breaks out, multitudes are saved in Antioch of Syria, unbelievable. Now here's what I want you to see. The Jerusalem church gets news of this revival going on in Antioch and they celebrate the news. But these conversions are not enough. The story does not end there. The early church is quick to make sure that these multitudes of converts are discipled, because how many know that Jesus did not call us to make converts. What did he call us to make? He didn't say go into all the world and make converts of men. That's part of it. Go into all the world and make, let's say it again, the disciples of all nations. So how does this happen in the text One again, it happens organically. It happens organically. So the church in Jerusalem decides to disciple these new believers, that they need to sin. There's nobody in Antioch amongst the Jewish Christians who is qualified yet to disciple, so they decide in Jerusalem. Here's what we're going to do we're going to send Barnabas to train up these people.
Speaker 2:Now, we don't know how long it took for Barnabas to get to Antioch, but I can say some time went by. And here's how I know that Because you know that Antioch is about 300 miles north of Jerusalem and they didn't have an SUV or sedan. They walked and it would have taken them about two weeks, with stops and breaks and sleep and all of that. It would have taken them about two weeks. That's conservative, actually, but it would have taken, let's say, at least two weeks to travel. Okay, so let's just assume that. I mean, who knows how long it took the news to get to? Like did the news start traveling right away, and right at two-week mark, jerusalem hears. Also, how long did they wait before sending Barnabas? So let's just say the news traveled immediately and Barnabas came back immediately. We can say safely that there was at least a month that went by before Barnabas arrived.
Speaker 2:And so the question I want to ask today is well, what happened in the meantime? Did the Jewish Christians who shared the gospel and see these mass conversions? They just say, all right, guys, just chill out, barnabas will be here in a month? I doubt it. So what happened? How were they discipled right away, because discipleship shouldn't wait, amen. How were they discipled right away? Because discipleship shouldn't wait, amen. How were they discipled right away? Well, we can assume, or we can infer from the rest of the book of Acts, that they were discipled in an organic way, and that happens through Christian fellowship and community. So let me show you this In Acts, chapter two, and community. So let me show you this.
Speaker 2:In Acts, chapter 2, this pattern started All right. So, acts 2, peter preaches at Pentecost, 3,000 men, plus women and children, get saved. Acts 2.38 says they repented and were baptized for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. And all of a sudden, right after that, luke tells us, in verse 42, what transpires immediately following their repentance and baptisms. What happens? Well, let me read it for you Acts 2, 42. And they this is, the new believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. So that is formal discipleship. And they devoted themselves to the fellowship the Greek word koinonia this community of believers, to the breaking of bread and to prayers. This idea of fellowship is drawn out even more by Luke in verse 46. And day by day, day by day, these believers were attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. Think about this the new believers didn't just say, well, we'll meet you on Sunday at church for an hour. No, they didn't say that they lived life together in community. We named this church Real Life Community Church very intentionally, because discipleship happens naturally, organically, through doing life together.
Speaker 2:Let me just unpack this. So let's talk about since we have our Marriage Restored staff with us like, it's a really good thing to read Ephesians 5 and the book of Colossians and 1 Peter and all that the Lord says in his word about marriage. There we will find how husbands should treat their wives and how wives should treat their husbands, and we even learn in Ephesians 5, the mystery, as it's called, of marriage and the ultimate purpose of marriage. So that's really good and we should read those texts and you should hear those texts preached. But you know what, while that is necessary, you know what's so beneficial Is when you, as a married couple maybe you're new in the Lord or you're newly married you just do life with some seasoned Christian married couples and you just watch how they live out what you've read in the Bible. That's what I mean by organic fellowship. So let me read you Titus 2, 1 through 6.
Speaker 2:The apostle Paul, writing, he says to Titus as for you, teach with what accords with sound doctrine. That's formal. Then he says this older men are to be sober-minded. So, fathers, this is for you today, on Father's Day Dignified, self-controlled, how you doing dads, sound in faith, in love and in steadfastness. Older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good. And so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, husbands, that's your gift for Father's Day. All right that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Do you see what Paul is saying here? Older men, here's how you're to behave and I want you to teach the younger men to be like that and seasoned women in the Lord. I want you to teach those who are new in Christ or those who are younger in age to be faithful Christian mothers and spouses and Christians.
Speaker 2:This is what I mean by organic discipleship that comes through spending time together. Like I believe that our children should be discipled in church. Like I believe in Sunday school. I hope one day we can have a Sunday school program. I love kids' church. What they're learning down there today they're learning the word. I love youth group. Like those are all important. Those are formal means of discipleship, ways we disciple.
Speaker 2:But you know what? Listen to me, mom and dad. Moms and dads listen. You know where your kids are most discipled, most influenced it's your home. It's your home. Let me read you Deuteronomy 6, 4 through 7.
Speaker 2:So let me say that, parents, you should have formal Bible training and prayer with your kids. But there's also this element of organic discipleship that happens because they're watching you. They're watching you. We can't say, as parents, do what I say, but not what I do right, that doesn't work. Deuteronomy 6, 4 through 7. Hear O Israel, the Lord, our God. The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. Now watch this, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently. That's formal teaching, but then you should also, just as you're walking, taking a walk, or driving in the car, you should also teach them diligently. And when they get out of bed, when they go to bed, you ought to be talking about the things of God and living out the commands of the Lord. That's how your kids are discipled.
Speaker 2:I can tell when kids have parents who are prayer warriors I've been, I was in youth ministry ministry many years because they know how to pray and they're passionate about prayer. But it's shocking to me through the years how so many young who grow up in quote-unquote Christian homes don't even know to start how to pray, not even to start a prayer. They'll look at me if I ask them to pray and they're lost, which tells me mom and dad haven't prayed with them. Parents, if you are passionate about God's Word, I will tell you. They'll be passionate about God's Word, they'll savor it one day.
Speaker 2:So, for better or worse, discipleship happens at home and within the church community, organically. We need to be able to say, as Paul did, follow me, as I follow Christ. Secondly, though, I'll tell you that organic discipleship, while it is necessary and great, it's not enough. It is not enough. So, going back to verse 11, that you know the church in Jerusalem, when they get word of the conversions, they don't say, well, listen, man, they're living life together, they'll figure it out. They don't say that let's send Barnabas to train them in the Word, all right. So let me give you quickly five requirements for effective intentional discipleship. You ready? Smile at me if you're listening, all right, half of you are listening, all right. Number one effective discipleship requires encouragement.
Speaker 2:Barnabas, you may remember it tells us in Acts, chapter 5, his real name was Joseph, but the disciples gave him a nickname, barnabas, which means anybody remember, son of encouragement, good job. And Barnabas lived up to his name, Like names really mattered in the ancient world. So verse we're going to see here, he, and throughout many other places in Acts he lives up to his name. Like no pressure, son of encouragement, right, no pressure. 11, verse 23,. When he came and saw so he's going into Antioch when he saw the grace of God, he was glad and I love that. And then what did he do? He exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord, with steadfast purpose.
Speaker 1:I love that he was glad.
Speaker 2:You know, sometimes when people are, they're excited and they're saved. And sometimes those people are excited and they're saved and sometimes those people are really rough around the edges. Still, there's a pastor that told me that a new Christian came out and said he'd just been saved. And pretty rough guy. He said Pastor, that was a blankety-blank sermon, just want you to know, in a good way, like he was complimenting. And he said I didn't even say anything to him, I just high fived him on the way out, kind of thing. But but you know, um, here's the thing. Sometimes we can rain on the parade right, cause somebody comes up and gets saved and somebody's going. Well, I don't know if it's real, they've been to the altar so many times. Come on. No, barnabas was glad, aren't you glad there's some people here who can celebrate you when God's doing something in your life? Amen, listen, we are all starving, I believe, for encouragement. The Greek word translated here exhorted. It's a loaded word, but partly it means to encourage. So he was glad, barnabas, when he saw the people and what they were doing. He didn't give them a list of rules and said he didn't say listen, don't drink, don't smoke nor chew, don't hang with girls who do. He didn't say that, he just celebrated what God was doing in their life. Amen. Oh, how powerful encouragement is.
Speaker 2:Thomas Edison experienced countless failures. I don't know if you know that, but you know he attributed his perseverance and his ultimate victory in creating the light bulb inventing the light bulb to his mother. In her continual encouragement he said, her belief in him, her encouragement, ignited his success. Martin Luther King Jr often spoke of the role of encouragement in his own life. He often said that just a few words of affirmation from his mentor helped him to press on. That's Barnabas's, if you read the verse. That's his encouragement. Guys, grateful for the grace of God in your life, keep moving forward. Because it wasn't going to be easy for them. They were going to experience persecution and hardship. And he said I celebrate what God's doing and I want to cheer you on as you continue in your faith. God's grace in you can carry you through, don't quit. It's been said that encouragement costs you nothing to give, but it is priceless to receive. That's rich. When's the last time you've encouraged your spouse, your children, your friend, another church member? Let's be encouragers, amen.
Speaker 2:Secondly, effective discipleship requires teaching. So encouragement isn't enough, we need teaching. Matthew 28, 19, and 20,. You know the famous Great Commission passage. Jesus says to His apostles Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. So there's discipleship. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, son and Holy Spirit, which we're going to be doing today, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you Like. This is important. This is important. So effective discipleship what's it require? Requires formal teaching. Now watch this.
Speaker 2:Titus 2.1,. To go back there, paul says to Titus but it's for you, teach what accords with sound, what Doctrine? Now? Doctrine has almost become a curse word in the church today. Well, we don't need doctrine, we just need practical living. You'll never be able to live faithfully to God if you're not God, if your belief is not rooted in who God is and the beautiful doctrines, orthodox doctrines of the church. I know it's not cool today, I know many people just want a little sermonette, but you need to know, I need to know who God is. We need to know what God is doing in the world. We need to have a robust understanding of God's goodness, his sovereignty, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the authority of God's word, on and on and on. Like doctrine matters, it really matters.
Speaker 2:In 2 Timothy 4.2, paul writes to his apprentice preach the word, preach what, Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, and watch this Preach the word and with the word he's saying reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching, which tells me that part of encouragement and part of preaching the word and encouraging people in the word it's not all. You know, feel good sermons, right, there's some tough things because we're to also through the word reprove, rebuke and exhort, which means that preaching the word isn't always palatable for the listeners. This is why many people today, you know, let me say this let's go back to the philosophers for just a moment. Remember they all had disciples, but after one philosopher would be discipled by another, that philosopher would then try to add to that teaching, right, yeah, and try to improve upon it. It was, they were.
Speaker 2:These teachings were quite progressive, beloved. We don't have that same liberty when it comes to the word of God. We don't see many preachers today, many full denominations today, very sadly. You know what they're doing. They're taking God's word and trying to do what the disciples did. They are the what would you say the philosophers did. Here's what they're doing. They're saying oh, you know what? This doesn't really fit with our culture. So they're letting culture define how they interpret the Bible. That's heresy and it's damnable. Hear me, the word never changes. It transcends time and history. It is the same like Jesus yesterday, today and forever. You say it's not relevant. Oh, it's the most relevant, relevant book teaching to every generation. God, help us Preach the word.
Speaker 2:Discipleship requires teaching. Number three it requires integrity. This is important, for he was a good man, barnabas. Like, if you're going to be discipled by somebody, wouldn't it be good that you're discipled by a good man and not a bad man? You know, I don't ever want to hear you know what? Somebody in the church is discipling me and they're, yeah, I'm enjoying it, but they're really bad. Like you know, I don't want to hear that he's not only a good man, righteous man seeking to serve the Lord, but he's full of the Holy Spirit, he's powered by God and he's a man of faith. So he really believes what he's preaching and he's practicing what he's preaching.
Speaker 2:Do you know that one of the biggest hangups that the world has with Christianity is what? It's hypocrisy? Yeah, it's hypocrisy. None of us are perfect, but hypocrisy is literally. It's saying you believe one thing and living a completely contrary life to that, and within the church and outside the church people can't stomach that. You know, it's always funny to me.
Speaker 2:You know, when I I worked at different corporations, you know somebody would be a christian, but kind of, and then somebody else would find out and they're like you're a christian, like they're shocked, you're no, they should never be shocked. I had a member come to me last week looking for advice and this lady works with somebody in an office who claims to be a Christian and she's even a holiness Christian, legalistic, got the, you know, just talks about Jesus, brings her Bible to work, talks about prayer, but there's a problem because she bad mouths everybody in the office in front of crowds of people. She is vicious with her words. Beloved, that's going to send people away from Christ, not to Christ. We've got to have integrity.
Speaker 2:Number four discipleship requires teamwork. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. So Barnabas goes and he's like man. There's a lot of people and then even more are getting saved, and I love this. Barnabas is humbled, he doesn't need all the credit and all the glory and so he goes to Tarsus and he looks for Saul saying help, because discipleship, like in your life, you don't just need one Christian speaking into your life, it's a team effort and you don't need to put your claim on a new convert and say, oh, this is my disciple. No, the church in Corinth did that. Paul said one waters, one sows, one waters, but it's God who gives the increase.
Speaker 2:Okay, you may think, some of you may think that it's quite excessive in this church for us to have five pastors, but it's not. Let me tell you why. Because we in this church feel that we're not called just to preach to you. We're called to disciple you, which means we need to give you individual attention. So we, a couple of years ago, went to a plurality of elders pastors and there's five of us and we're just now learning. I mean, this is new for us. We're trying to figure out how to make this work best, but the goal is is that every one of you who are regular attenders and members of this church would be able to personally be discipled. Your families would be discipled by a pastor, one of us.
Speaker 2:I can't effectively and completely and wholly disciple 150 people. Can't do it, and we're continuing to grow. It requires teamwork. Number five effective discipleship requires patience For a whole year. So Barnabas and Saul make their way back to Antioch For a whole year verse 26, they met with the church and taught a great many people Discipleship.
Speaker 2:Look at me, it's not an overnight process and we need to be patient with people. You know somebody gets saved and it's not like well, you know, I've been teaching you two days and I just feel like you're not getting it. We need to be patient with people. I had another lady come up to me about a week ago in tears because she loves the Lord so much and she's so hungry for His Word, and she was reading the Bible constantly, is reading it still constantly, but she couldn't remember what she was reading. She couldn't understand a lot of what she was reading, and so I asked her some questions and come to find out like she's trying to read the whole Bible overnight. Right, like I believe in reading through the Bible, you know just whether it's in a year or two years, but don't expect to understand everything when you're reading that quickly.
Speaker 2:But this dear woman of God was reading, trying to really study out, a text here and then a text here and then a text here and it was just overwhelming and I said listen, it's a big book. I've been pastoring for over 25 years I've been a Christian. I'm almost 50. I've been a Christian since I was seven and I'm still learning every day, every day. We can never exhaust what the Word teaches us Never. And so I would just say to you don't just be patient with other people, but be patient with yourself. I told this lady listen, just take it a section of scripture at a time, and so I hope that was helpful to her. So it requires patience, and I'm going to give you a bonus here, because I think I said five points, but effective discipleship requires empowerment. Finally, it requires patience, and I'm going to give you a bonus here, because I think I said five points, but effective discipleship requires empowerment finally. So look at verses 27 through 30.
Speaker 2:Now, in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them, named Agabus, stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine all over the world, and this took place. So it happened in the days of Claudius. So what's happening? This man, agabus, has a prophetic gift, and this would be what we call the word of knowledge. The Lord, by His Spirit, has revealed to him what's going to happen with this famine. So that's the word of knowledge, prophetic gift. But then we're going to see the word of wisdom, the gift of wisdom. So the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. Judea was going to get hit the hardest by this famine, and so Agabus said here's what's going to happen. And then God used the disciples, he gave them supernatural wisdom to show how they could take care of the brothers and sisters in Judea. But here's what I want you to see. It says that everyone, according to his ability, participated. So this would be all of these new converts. Here's what I want you to see.
Speaker 2:As disciples, we sit at the feet of Jesus. We're always learning right, but eventually you got to go out and use what you've learned for the good of the kingdom, which means, as pastors, we don't just need to equip you, but we need to empower you, as Ephesians 4 says, to do the work of the ministry. So there it is We've got to empower. We've got to empower disciples. So in closing, praise team can go and come up. In closing, let me say to you. Maybe you're here and you are not a Christian. Ok, you've never made, you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus.
Speaker 2:The journey of discipleship doesn't start with you just trying to be a better person and try to follow Jesus. Jesus said to Nicodemus. He said how do we get into the kingdom? What did he say? You must be born again, regenerated, which happens through faith. It's believing in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and it's receiving that gift of salvation. And that requires if we've seen it requires repentance. It's not just, lord, be my Savior, it's be my Lord, which means, lord, I'm going to turn. To repent means to have a change of mind, to turn, and so it is to say, lord, I've been ruling my own life, but now I lay my life down at your feet. And that's what these two baptismal candidates are doing today. Lord, these young children, I want to follow you. I've put my faith in you. So I would invite you today, on this journey of discipleship, to be a real follower of Jesus. So if that's you, today, I'd invite you up after service to talk to one of our pastors. We'd love to show you how you can be a Christian.
Speaker 2:But let's talk about organic discipleship quickly. Let's talk about organic discipleship. How can that happen? Well, you can't just come on Sundays. You can't come late and run out the door. You're not going to be discipled in that way. Beloved, live life with this community of believers so many of you do already. Those of you who do, is it not the most wonderful thing in the world? Well, you sounded really enthusiastic. I mean, that's what people tell me. They say I've never experienced community like this in all my life. It's wonderful.
Speaker 2:I would also encourage you to join a small group, like, if you are not in a small group, this is one of the main ways here, outside of Sunday morning, this is the main way we disciple people. So, if you're not in a small group, talk to any of our pastors. Look on the church center app. We will get you connected. And then, finally, I'm really excited to tell you about the formal discipleship that we've got coming up. Pastor Ben back here on the base. He's going to be starting a class in two weeks, july 29th yes, june 29th, sorry, june 29th, two weeks and it's going to be Christianity 101. So if you've never formally been trained in the key doctrines of the church, or if you've never been trained in just the basics of Christianity how to pray, how to read the word, those kind of things, how to share your faith. You need to come to this. It's going to be about eight to ten weeks. We're going to try to do it in eight, but anyways, it's going to be awesome. So you can sign up for that on the Church Center app or on the welcome table. Awesome, so you can sign up for that on the church center app or on the welcome table.
Speaker 2:Finally, I was going to tell you something else, but I'll tell you this later. Let me close with this. The world wants to disciple you. Okay, let me ask you this Do you look a little more like christ today than you did last sunday? Like never compare yourself. Jordan peterson says never compare yourself to somebody else, but compare yourself to who you were yesterday.
Speaker 2:You know what the disciples life looks like. Disciple's life looks like. The disciple's life looks like it's, day by day, taking one more step closer to Jesus. You know the Bible says in Romans 8 that we're being conformed into the image of Christ. So, day by day, you look a little less like that old self and that new creation is coming out a little bit more and more.
Speaker 2:So I just want to encourage you today. How are you being discipled and how are you helping disciple others If you're not into like, if you are spending your day, you know. If you're spending eight hours on your cell phone, if you're spending two hours, three hours, four hours in front of Netflix and you're spending five minutes on your way to the supermarket praying and listening to the Bible, let me just slide you in there somewhere, lord. Fit you in where I can. You're being discipled by the world, not the word. I just encourage you evaluate your life this week. I'll close with this verse from Psalms. These verses Psalm 1, 1 and 2. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law.
Speaker 1:He meditates day and night.
Speaker 2:I hope you are being discipled by the word, lest you be discipled by the world.