Intentional Discipleship that Increases Evangelism

good morning church go ahead and have a seat and thank you for being the brave ones uh in our church I am going to say that you are the brave ones everyone else is not um I'm also going to say that because I am going to encourage the church to listen to this sermon um so I just want them to hear it I also want them to hear that our pendl and Greenfield members are here when the majority of those who are inside the loop are nestled up in their warm homes right now um but with that being said um I am as I said

I'm going to encourage the church to listen to this that's kind of my second cue to make sure it's recording in the back um because as we are walking through this Vision series uh last week we looked at the foundation of um what we need as a church to be a church and then the next four weeks we're going to be looking at kind of how that really fleshes itself out when it comes to each one of us as members a part of the local body but what this sermon is is really the the the pivotal connection between those two things having the foundation of

what we need and what we looked at last week of the Majestic glory of God uh the need for uh prayer and the need for the word of God as sort of the foundation for the actual power of the church to be able to be a church and then how that then implies in our lives is this specific task of going and making disciples and so that's what we're going to be talking about today and specifically what it means for us and so um that's why we titled this series building the future by rediscovering the past and and again as I said last week we

looked at that idea of what we need as a foundation um and we talked about sort of the digging of Wells or the redigging of wells and I use that kind of example from Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 26 where Abraham um dug Wells that God called him to dig in order for his people to have water source to be able to have life and vibrancy for their people and then the Philistines the anti-god um people who um are known as the Philistines came and filled in those Wells with dirt and Earth in order to essentially cut God's people off from the source of life

that they needed to be uh to be able to flourish as a society and yet um that actually brought on famine it brought on destruction it brought on death when it comes to Isaac after Abraham died God called him back to redig those Wells go back to the place where I have given you life and flourishment and vibrancy and I believe that's what God is calling us to do as the district church is ReDiscover the authority and the power that God gives the the church in order for the church to be effective in the tasks and the mission that he actually gives to us um

and so that's what we want to look at and not only do we want to look at that for the here and now but we want to look at that for the next Thousand Years um and and so instead of just having a immediate mindset how do we survive as a church now it's how do we survive as a church for the next Thousand Years having a a and that's where I kind of brought in this idea of a cathedral mindset um one of the reasons why they built Cathedrals back in the day was because they weren't just thinking of the here and now they

were thinking of the generations to come they were thinking we want to build and construct something that not only reflects the Beauty and the majesty and the glory of God that we serve but we want to build something that's going to be here for our children's children and their children's children a place of worship for them to come and belong and so we want to have with the foundation laid that we talked about the the vision and this idea of building and constructing a Thousand-Year cathedral in mind and now I don't literally mean we're going to like construct a physical cathedral but what are we

building as a church body that is the temple of God and in kind of give you an illustration of of having that mindset about 260 years ago there was a young man named Arthur Guinness who inherited a 100 pounds from Arthur price Arthur price was an Archbishop and he was the pastor of a Protestant Church of Ireland well Arthur Guinness would go on to use that 100 pounds that Arthur gin or Arthur price um inherited to him or or left to him he would use it to start a brewing company known as Guinness Brewing Company um but what he did with that 100 pounds is

he signed a lease for a property that had this like dilapidated old um Brewery already on it he signed a n a 9,000-year lease for that Brewing Company with that 100 pounds and so when you look at that like was Arthur Guinness thinking hey I'm GNA do this startup I have this idea I'm G to give it maybe three years see if it works and if it doesn't well then I'll just move on to something else like that's kind of our current modern mindset is if we're going to start something maybe I'll start a career maybe I'll start a job maybe I'll start a church

maybe I'll start something I'm going to give it my all for about three years and then if it doesn't work out well then I'm just going to move on to something else well that's not what God has called us to like we do we have a 9,000-year mindset like he had confidence in his product he had confidence in um his his business his entrepreneurship like he knew that what he was going to start wasn't only going to be good for him and for his family but for his children's children I mean they still have the same property now Guinness has gone on to actually buy

out the entire 9,000 year lease because of how successful they became but they had that mindset what we're going to start is going to be here for the Long Haul and do we have that similar mindset when it comes to what we are building and and when I say what we are building ultimately what Christ is building through us do we have that mindset do we have a cathedral mindset versus a bunker mindset like I mentioned last last week like in a bunker mindset we're looking around at the world outside of us and we're just thinking everything's going to hell in a hand basket everything's

falling apart everything is not going the way it should be going and so what we should do is store up for ourselves just take the people that we have let's separate ourselves from the society around us and let's hold up until Jesus returns like let's get into a bunker mindset well we don't want to have that mindset we want to believe that the gospel is still um working and that the gospel is still effective and that the gospel is still going to go out and spread and win and that it's actually going to win well we don't want to have a bunker mindset well we

also don't want to have and this is where I'm going to combat it with maybe some current Church philosophies out there uh we don't want to have a shopping mall mindset take glendell shopping center just north of here on Keystone in 62nd um it was originally open in 1955 and when Glendale mall was opened in 1955 there were 45 retail stores connected to two large upscale chains and it was considered to be uh the premier retail Center in Indianapolis and it bolstered the most upscale retail shops in one location if you fast forward 50 years after the Fashion Mall opened just two miles north of

it it rendered the Glendale Mall Obsolete and it was demolished in 2007 so so if we just go with the mindset of bigger faster famous shinier brighter uh whatever we can do to to attract the most people to come immediately well we will render ourselves obsolete as soon as the next shinier brighter bigger faster model comes into existence and honestly you can just see this I mean you can see this and and I'm not going to name any names but just look looking at some of the churches that are um around Indianapolis that have grown fast we'll go back 10 years and look at the

other ones that grew fast they just swapped them out they just moved on those are now struggling and others are continuing to grow even though when it comes to looking at the numbers new converts in Christianity in here in Indianapolis has not increase even though certain churches are growing rapidly and really fast so so there's something to that idea and that mindset that what we are building what we are constructing is it actually making disciples is it making disciples how do we have a different mindset versus the bunker or the shopping mall that is actually building a cathedral well there's good news if we build

something that has substance has stability has True Glory power and presence to transform a community and those who res in it then we will begin to build something that will Outlast us all and in that is True Glory True Glory and so let's build a cathedral a church body that reflects the glory of God and it Stakes its presence in the community for centuries to come for centuries to come something that nothing else can rival because there's nothing else like it there's nothing else like it it kind of reminds me of William Wallace in Braveheart um he has this Freedom culture in his mind this

vision of Freedom this vision of of not being enslaved and he wanted to instill and cultivate a culture of freedom for his people and he was willing to die for it like he actually never saw it come to fruition but because of his sacrifice and because of what he built and because of what he cultivated it did eventually come to fruition and so what are we doing as a church what is our strategy what's the vision behind that mission That Glory that goal well we do it by at the district treasuring Jesus and helping others follow him through intentional discipleship that increases evangelism we do

it by helping others treasure Jesus Through intentional discipleship that increases evangelism in a podcast I was listening to this last week I heard several pastors or pastors refer to it in terms of cutting stones to build the cathedral cutting stones to build the cathedral it it it is great to imagine the cathedral in all of its glory and Beauty to have a vision for something Grand but if we don't take time to lay the foundation to cut the stones to build the infrastructure to lay out the the plumbing to put in the electrical and on and on then we will never actually see the cathedral

built it will actually never come to fruition if we are not at the very beginning cutting the stones and so we need this Foundation we need the wells to be dug that we draw water and resources from to fuel our efforts and then in addition to the foundation we need to be the ones that are actually cutting the stones to be the ones that are actually engaging in that and so with that cathedral in mind what is the process of cutting Stones what what is that actually for our church because I don't want us to just stay in the lofty vision and in the lofty

the kind of grand scale of the Thousand Years how do we actually get there with the current daytoday what is the work of the church or to draw from the well that we dug that is the word of God God gives the church a mission and you may have heard it referenced as the Great Commission and probably have heard it preached so many times if you have a church background but that's where we're going to go Matthew 28 16- 20 Matthew 28 through 20 so if you have your Bibles you can turn there or turn them on and scroll there Matthew 28 and starting in

verse 16 this is what he says now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them and when they saw him they worshiped him but some doubted and Jesus came and Jesus said to them all authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I Am With You Always to the end of the age I think this passage is where many churches

draw their their mission statements from We Exist glorify God by making disciples of all Nations I think most churches have um that that's the verse almost ver them but I think most churches have a similar maybe even a rephrasing like acts 18 where it says um to be my Witnesses or to go and make disciples in indie or the Midwest uh the us or the rest of the world like there's always some sort of adaptation and to be honest with you throughout the last eight years of the district Church those have been things that we have said we are to go glorify God by going

and making disciples of all Nations and we are to adopt a vision or a mindset that we are to do this in Indian Apolis and the Midwest and the US and to the ends of the Earth those are good things but again those are still sort of Cathedral mindsets those are kind of what you heard when when um you were in college and they told you hey go and change the world for Christ and so we have this lofty goal we have this lofty mindset we have this lofty idea that we are going to go and change the world that we were going to go

and make disciples of all Nations but then what happens is we become 25 and all of a sudden we're like we haven't changed the world like we were promised that if you go to church and that if you follow Jesus that you're going to change the world and then you become 25 or you become 30 and all of a sudden now you're looking around and you're thinking well nothing looks different like I I I jumped into this thing and now I'm not seeing any fruit from it I haven't changed the world and in respects the the world almost looks like it's getting worse and so

there we start thinking well because I haven't changed the world things look worse maybe the college Ministry was a lie maybe youth ministry was a lie maybe Christianity is a lie maybe therefore God is a liar and so I need to rethink this whole thing start deconstructing my view on all of these matters and what we end up actually doing is just saying at the end of the day we want to divorce from Jesus like we don't think it's working out with him well there's good news Church we don't have to have a change the world mindset if our specific job is just to cut

stones that eventually build to a changing the world mindset I think a lot of times we want to see the cathedral completed In Our Lifetime when that's actually not what we are called to ultimately do listen th this I think you just need to hear this your entire lifetime might be one stone in the building of the cathedral it might be one stone and you may never see its completion if you read the weekly email uh I mentioned the col the Cologne Cathedral uh that was constructed in 1248 at least they started Construction in 1248 they started Construction in 1248 they did not complete the

cathedral until 1880 632 years later that means the original architect who designed it never got was never able to sit back and behold his designs come to fruition that means the the the first patrons of the church the first members of that church who invested their time and their resources and their money into the raw materials in order to begin constructing this Cathedral never got to worship inside its walls like that's what we're talking about is when it comes to our work and our job as Disciples of the district Church in the community of Indianapolis we might not ever see the the exponential fruit of

what God has called us to in changing Indianapolis making it Christian we might not see it in our lifetime but that does not draw us away from our responsibility to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples so what do we do now to change the World of Tomorrow well good news church and I'm just going to keep saying that just good news church because I just think that's biblical um but there's good news for us we don't realize that Jesus in giving that big Vision to go and make disciples of all Nations also provided the exact place way to run in order to see

it accomplished not necessarily in their lifetime Paul and Peter both did not see the fruition of the Gospel so spreading throughout their world that it became the quote unquote National religion of the Roman Empire like actually if you go back and you trace church history and you start looking looking at the numbers of of how many disciples there were by the end of the first century there were maybe 10 to 20,000 actual faithful disciples looking at kind of their work and what they were doing they're going to look at that and say man we're still just a mustard seed we barely have scratched the surface

we've barely been able to really affect any change but when you get later into the end of the second centur cury it's hundreds of thousands of people who have accepted Christ who are Disciples of Jesus who are still being persecuted for their faith and then you actually get to around 350 ad Christianity has so spread throughout the Roman Empire that some people kind of in in historical um whether it's theologians or even just um first second third Century historians they're trying to figure out who actually made this decision was it Constantine who became a believer and said this is going to be a national religion

of the Roman Empire or was it the fact that more than half of the Roman Empire had become Christian that Constantine's thinking well what do I do like do I continue to fight and persecute against this or do I convert over to this and history tells us that he converted over to it he then made it the national religion because it was winning it was winning if you actually continue to this a side note but if you just continue tracing history secular culture wants to dub at the dark ages of the Medieval Time at that time if you were to go back and just ask

someone are you Christian everyone was Christian it was actually probably the Golden Age of Christianity was the Dark Ages the best songs that were sung Christian the best artwork that was painted or sculpted Christian the best architecture that was designed out there Christian why because Christianity permeated the culture and everybody was Christian and whenever they wanted to look back and behold something as beautiful it was Christian now in our current day in society if you like watch a Christian movie you're like okay yeah I think that the the plot is beautiful because it's got Christian undertones to it but we don't do it well we

don't do it well no one's looking at any Christian movies and thinking that's going to win a Golden Globe but that's what was winning back in that day and age why because it permeated the culture and so yes big Vision go and make disciples of all Nations but this big vision is only attainable through small slow intentional discipleship that increases evangelism and that's why the mission of the district church is a Christian Community in Indianapolis that Treasures Jesus and helps other follow him through intentional discipleship that increases evangelism now look at Matthew 28 because I want you to see how we cut stones in order

to make that mission and vision come to a fruition Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I Am With You Always to the end of the age I want to give you four principles that help you know what we mean by intentional discipleship that increases evangelism and so one of the points I'm going to make is actually not the

point to go and make disciples that's that's the mission that's the call of God like that's how we know we're being a church is if he tells us go and make disciples and we are actually doing it what we need to know from this passage is what do we do in order to actually make disciples because unfortunately I think that's where most churches stop is just the go and make disciples of all Nations and then we adopt that as our mission and strategy and then we expect you to go and do it and you're sitting there thinking well how do I do it how do

I do it and that's actually I think and I'm really encouraged by the conversations that I've been having within our church because a lot of those conversations are I really desire deeper discipleship and I desire to disciple others but the conversation then lands on I don't know that I've ever been discipled and I don't exactly know how to disciple somebody else and so there's this deep desire and understanding that God has called us to this and that God wants us to do this but then at the same time there's this there's this um hesitancy towards how do I do it and H have I ever

actually experienced it good news like that's what we want to show you in what Jesus has actually called us to by what he's given us in this specific passage and and it's going to be a sandwich so it's going to be what Jesus gives us and then what Jesus tells us to do based on his example so the sandwich to begin with the first one is Authority number one all authority is his all authority theologians refer to this characteristic of God as omnipotence which means all power power is embodied in what we talked about last week The Majestic glory of God prayer and the word

of God is what possesses the power Jesus is saying that is all mine and I'm giving it to you I'm giving you my Majestic Glory I'm giving you um The Avenue of prayer and I'm giving you the word of God which is what you need in your tool set in order to be able to make disciples like that's your Source that's the wells that you pull water from in order to make make disciples by giving them the living water so that it quenches their thirst satisfies them and then allows them to be able to treasure Jesus to then be able to go and help others

follow him so the authority is very important The Authority also is Jesus telling us hey whatever I tell you to go and do because of my authority in Heaven and Earth you can know that it's going to win it's going to win whatever play I give you to run you can have assurance that it is going to work because I possess all authority I am the one that is able to actually get it done this is this this makes discipleship different than any sort of secular mentorship or coaching because all secular mentorship or coaching can do is encourage you give you advice give you a

play to run but does not possess the power and the authority to help you actually be successful it would be like um as a Cowboys fan the coach telling them hey here's what play to run and then them actually not having the power or authority to actually score and win the game I understand that more than anybody because and you can pray for me tonight at 4:30 the Cowboys take on the Packers in week one of the playoffs and they will probably lose because it's just what happens they do not possess the authority and the power to win even though I wish they they could

but with Jesus combating his opponent which is sin evil and death the game plan of discipleship comes with a power that provides an assurance that what we are doing will work and will win in defeating sin death and evil so we have this authority of Jesus we have the power of the Holy Spirit which is the dunamas in Acts 18 the holy spirit is the agent of God's Power and Jesus says I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit I'm going to fill you with the holy spirit so that where you go my power goes my authority goes he goes on in 1 Corinthians 1:18

to say that the word of the Cross is also the power so that when we preach that Christ died for your sins to forgive you of your sins and free you from the bondage of sin to evil and death 1 Corinthians 2:5 goes on to say faith is the effect of God's power so when we have all authority of Jesus Christ sent to us in the person of the Holy Spirit who is all authority as well who is the power of God who then indwells us as we then preach the word of the Cross which is also power the effect of all that the fruit

of all of that is that we come to Faith in Jesus Christ defeating sin evil and death people get saved like that's what happens just from his authority and then he tells us what's the result of preaching the word of God with the authority of Jesus well the result of it is baptism baptism go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit that word this is the second principle that word baptism is baptis in the original language and it means to immerse it means to immerse some Greek translations even

render it to dip repeatedly to immerse them in what to immerse new disciples or converts to to immerse people in New Age philosophy spiritualism emotionalism materialism Church growth models marketing strategies no we don't immerse them in those steps without power rather we immerse them in the godhead making sure that it covers them that it washes them repeatedly make sure that they never run dry drenched in the glory and the grace of God baptism is the salvific reality that we are now in Christ and that Christ is in us when you are underwater you are completely engulfed you are completely drenched clothed if you will by

water in a Christian sense and and in a Christian sense The Living Water the Lord Jesus and so simultaneously you are also then consuming the living water on the inside he fills you up with the Holy Spirit the spirit of Christ so baptism is a being totally clothed totally engulfed totally immersed in God and at the same time being completely filled on the inside so that your outside and your inside is Under the Umbrella overshadowed by the spirit of Christ and then indwelt by the spirit of Christ so that you are saved and secured and assured of this faith that you have in Jesus because

he has completely saved you saved you that's what baptism is referencing so that we can we can then Proclaim things like Romans 81 there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Romans 8 goes on to say those who are in Christ know that they are in Christ because the spirit of Christ also dwells in them so you you are in Christ and Christ is in you and water baptism is just the physical proclamation of that internal spiritual reality in addition we treasure Jesus because as 2 Corinthians 4:7 says we have this treasure in Jars of Clay to show what the dunamas to show the

power of God in us well why would he put his treasure in Jars of Clay so that others can see others can partake others we can be poured out in others to be able to see it again it's not just meant for us baptism is meant for others to be able to behold the glory of God in what he's doing in us that then LS us into the third principle which is then the functional discipleship God is in through baptism suiting us and readying us for the mission of God which is discipleship well what is discipleship go and make disciples of all Nations baptizing them

in name of the father Son and the Holy Spirit okay awesome what do we do how do we do that teaching them to observe all that I commanded you teaching them to observe all that I commanded you teaching is dasco in the Greek and it means to impart knowledge or instill Doctrine into another theologians refer to this characteristic of God as omniscience the biblical belief and doctrine that God knows all things and possesses in himself all knowledge and part of the command of Jesus to go and make disciples is this charge to teach them all that Jesus has imparted to them to teach sound Doctrine

and call them to not only know it because if you only know theology if you only know doctr then you're just a the theological eggh head and we don't want that but what you're also called to is to observe it to know it and to observe it to keep it to hold fast to it to practice it that's what observation means in its original language keep it know it and practice it so functional discipleship has to at its core be a teaching component and a practice component teaching and observing in is the ministry of knowing um teaching and observing is is is the ministry of

knowing and doing the word of God by means of the power of God the baptism and the authority which gives us the power pulling those two together learning them and practicing them learning them and practicing them in other words God is telling us to learn the knowledge of God teach the knowledge of God and then be practitioners of the knowledge of God this means e the the core of discipleship is theology like it's theology the study of God that's all theology means ology is study and Theo is God study of God which means which makes total sense if the mission of God is the glory

of God like knowing the Triune God and His Beauty And His Majesty worshiping him because we are understanding him growing in our understanding of him some people are afraid of that word theology they think it just breeds debate um or infighting and sure it can handled immaturely but if we neglect good theology then we divorce ourselves from the actual mission of God because theology is again the study of God Brian so who's a pastor in Ogden Utah he dubbed the term theological maximalism as a goal for discipleship you say what is theological maximalism well great question for starters I'm going to explain it by telling

you what the opposite of it is so it's not theological minimalism which is doing the bare minimum in regards to the study of God it is preaching the bare minimum in order to be considered Christian what is the bare minimum we need to know to be Christian well Andy Stanley recently said it doesn't matter if the 66 books of the Bible are true as long as we believe in the resurrection of Jesus well what is he saying what he's saying is it doesn't matter if the flood never happened as long as Christ is resurrected well no that does matter because if the flood didn't happen

then the resin Christ is a liar it doesn't matter if Mary was a virgin as long as Christ resurrected well no that does matter because if the Risen Christ was born um if Mary was not a virgin then the Risen in Christ as a sinner like these things matter like the study of scripture and the study of God matters in order for us to get it right I've used this example before it would be like me um telling you that I believe my wife is beautiful and what's most beautiful about her is the fact that she has brown hair and blue eyes and if you

don't know my wife you're going to look at me and you're going to say that's that's so sweet and that's so kind and that's so like amazing to say say that except she has blond hair and brown eyes and and I think she would be concerned if I was going around telling people that she has wonderful brown hair and blue eyes God is concerned with what his church is preaching and declaring about who he is because at the core of his mission is them knowing him and understanding him so that they can behold his glory and spread his glory so we need to know know

God rightly in order to be able to rightly worship Him and behold his glory and at the same time rightly speak on his behalf when it comes to declaring who he is and what he is and what he has come to ultimately accomplish here so to combat the theological minimalism which is just what can I bare minimum preach and teach to be considered Christian actually in my mind divorces you from Christianity and you just become emotionalism spiritualism um decisionism like let me and there's some mantras out there that are let's win the people for Christ and do so at any cost less of sin well

that's not the goal the goal isn't to convert everyone to get them to become Christian and do all means necessary less of sin actually the opposite is theological maximalism ISM let's get all of Christ into all of life let's do as Colossians 3:11 tells us which is Christ is Christ is all and in all so discipleship involves this deep level of learning the scriptures learning theology that is applied to the whole of one's life and so if I were to give you a definition of discipleship it would be this the study of God theology to inform the student of God the disciple how to experience

the glory of God in all of life discipleship that would be my definition for discipleship the study of God theology to inform the student of God disciple how to experience the glory of God in all of life discipleship it is teaching that transforms that makes New Creations that clothes us in Christ that gives us tools for living out this new community and Kingdom that Christ is establishing that guides us to be countercultural and therefore set apart from the secular culture around us discipleship is theology applied to every aspect of our life to every aspect of our life everybody is theologians every one of us are

it's just some of us are bad ones we don't know God we don't know what the word says about him we don't know his characteristics and his attributes we don't know his activity and how he deals with sin and how he restores and how he reconciles we don't know these things and if we don't know those things we don't know how to be the church that reflects him that imitates him and that's honestly going to require a lot of you salvation may be the free gift of Grace but discipleship will cost cost you everything it will cost you everything and sadly I don't believe many

churches preach this anymore for the sake of minimizing the gospel to cheap conversion Theology and not true discipleship Dietrich Bon Hoffer in the in the cost of discipleship said this cheap Grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance it's baptism without church discipline it's communion without confession it's Absolution without personal confession cheap Grace is Grace without discipleship it's Grace without the cross it's Grace without Jesus Christ Living and incarnate he goes on to say costly Grace is the treasure hidden in the field for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has it is the pearl of great

price to to buy which the merchant will sell all his Goods it is the kingly rule of Christ for which a sake for for which sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his Nets and follows him you see true biblical discipleship is declaring the study of God and applying it to every aspect of my life it's saying there is a Christian way to cook there's a Christian way to landscape your yard there's a Christian way to send emails there's a Christian way to drive on the road especially

this morning there's a Christian way to dress yourself in the morning there's a Christian way to establish and build a career Christ is all and in all that's what we are declaring and proclaiming and so discipleship is teaching you individually and corporately to observe all that Christ has commanded you both in the Old and New Testament scriptures that we call the Bible so in order for us to be able to teach others what to observe we need to know what it is that Christ taught us what it is that Christ commanded us this is the cutting the stones that build the cathedral discipleship is taking

your rounded Stone when you are saved and cutting it to form and fit what will be used in the construction of the cathedral the Church of Jesus Christ and guess what it's going to take your entire life for you as a disciple to be formed in the image of Christ and used as a stone in the construction of the cathedral the new Christendom that Jesus is building and establishing in our community I want to show you a picture real quick um of a sculpture of a work of art that Michelangelo did now he also uh did this when he was 20 which again is just

showing you we have such a low Bar for our um adolescence I guess you would say um we need to raise the bar when it comes to our children and our teens on what we can expect out of them but when Michelangelo would carve a sculpture out of marble he would start with just this large Stone marble and what he said one time when someone asked him like what is your process what is your process for sculpting which it took him two years to sculpt this which again is also insane like that would take me a lifetime and it's not going to come out looking

like this by any means um but when he was referencing his process he said I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set it free like that's what Christ is doing with us in discipleship is he sees us with the Heart of Stone he sees us as this round object that you cannot stack anything on you cannot use in construction you cannot build upon it and he says I'm going to come with my authority and I'm going to come with my word and I am going to begin forming you into my image so that I can set you free from the

bondage of sin evil and death and this is the work and process of discipleship this is what he did with the 12 this is what he sent the 12 out to do and this is what he continued to the mission for the church is to go and cut stones to go and take the word of Christ with the authority and power of Christ and to teach others and to expect them to observe it hold them accountable to observing it to keeping it to practicing it in their life so that they are transformed from one degree of glory to the next and what that means is

that you are becoming more glorious as you rightly reflect an image who God is how God loves how he speaks how he talks talks how he thinks and how he creates all of that comes out of us as we are formed in His image and So functionally speaking discipleship is men and women and children taking seriously the opportunities of the church for you to grow in your theology for you to grow in your knowledge of God and then applying that knowledge to your life living it out being like Jesus and doing what Jesus was would do and so practically speaking for us as a church

that looks like several different Ministries that we engage in we're not going to do anything that is in vain like that it well I I'm sure there are times that we have done things that have been in vain but it's not come from intentional prayerful thought when it comes back to intentional prayerful thought and the Ministries that we construct or program and lay out for us as a church it's because we believe there is a purpose behind it that is ultimately seeking to to con to to um see this goal come to fruition to actually make disciples and so we have the gathered church that

comes and sings the word of God preaches the word of God praise the word of God so that we might grow in our Theology and our understanding that's why we preach through the word of the Bible verse by verse is because that's what you need in order to be transformed into the image of Jesus so we're not going to come and give you we're not going to minimize the word of God and give you a TED Talk we're going to in Stand preach the word of God and expose the meaning of it so that you actually have what you need in order to be discipled

and make disciples we then want to see that applied when it comes to engaging one another and holding one another accountable to observing this and so we Gathering Community groups throughout the week so that we can know one another know each other's lives be known by one another and be able to see things hey I think you should grow in this I think you should learn this I think you should be taught this hey at the same time I want to be able to teach you I want to be able to help you I want to be able to hold you accountable to this how

is this going how are you doing in regards to this what are you learning in Jesus right now like we want it to also be relational to take it a step further we have a couple of Ministries that we are going to be solidifying this year and specifically that I'm mentioning now for the first time but when it comes to Men's Ministry we're going to start something that's called The King's table and the King's table is going to be a 12 Monon on the last Sunday of each month we're going to gather the men together of the church we're going to get together in the

evening and we are going to get after discipleship with one another we're going to what we're going to do over the next 12 months the first one which will be the last Sunday of January we're going to get together and we're going to Feast because men like to Feast we're going to get together or feast and it's probably just going to be a lot of meat and so if there are any men that are vegetarians or vegans then like you bring your impossible burger with you and that's totally fine but we're probably going to eat a lot of meat but what we are going to

do that night is we are also going to pair one another up as disciples in pairs and that's going to be your accountability partner for this entire year that's going to say hey are you coming to the next King's table hey did you read the required material for this discussion did you listen to the podcast that we're requiring for this next discussion and we're going to walk through 10 months of the five aspects of biblical masculinity which I'm not going to talk about right now but we're going to walk through those aspects because we want men to be men who are of the Bible who

know God who are learning what God has called us to and we can hold each other accountable to that so that we can raise the bar on our discipleship and what it means to be men that God called us to be in addition to that there are also the women's ministry there elevated things there that not only is there the brunch for relationship but there are Bible studies that are going to be rolled out and we want our women to know what God has called us to what God has called you to what God has instilled in you what he is um ministering to you

when it comes to being a woman who is biblical being a woman who knows God who Treasures God who who trusts God and who implements that in their life who applies the knowledge of God to their life this is what we are called to do teach them to observe all that I have commanded you and then the last thing he says the fourth principle I Am With You Always to the end of the age with discipleship in the middle Jesus sandwich discipleship with his power at the front and his presence in the back his power at the front and his presence in the back theologians

refer to this characteristic of God As omnipresence I Am With You Always omnipresence is the doctrine that God is everywhere always in his fullness but with this passage Jesus personally encourages us that he is with us in this Mission till the end of time now what I find fascinating with this mission is that didn't he then leave them like just a few days later after after him giving them this Mission he ascends off to heaven and they're kind of standing there dumbfounded watching him leave watching him go so how is he still with us always to the end of the age well good news he

sent the power of His Spirit the Holy Spirit and at Pentecost we see the indwelling of the spirit filling them so that wherever they go he goes wherever we are God is with us now we have again this view that God is infinite and finite or infinite and eternal and everywhere always in his fullness in his Pres presence so even the non-believer who is walking down the street similar to the Apostle Paul walking or going down the road to Damascus the presence of God is there and the presence of God Saves him in that moment absolutely we believe that but at the same time there

is a specific presence and power of God that indwells each one of us as Believers that wherever we go he goes wherever we go his authority and his power is present and that power and presence that is within us is one of the reasons why he's able to tell the disciples I'm going to be with you always to the End of the Age why because you are going to be with one another until the end of the age because my spirit my power has has has um come into you in order to indwell you so that my presence is always with you and this is

actually why I believe Jesus sent the disciples out in missions of or on Mission in par in pairs why because if Jesus is in you and you come alongside of me then Jesus is with me in vice versa with you so that as I see you struggling the power of Christ Within Me can pray for you and ask and request the authority and power of God to strengthen you and to also give you assurance that he's also still within you and so whenever I'm also struggling and you're alongside of me you're able to help me with the power and the presence of Jesus that is

in you and so I think this is why again the Proverbs go back and it talks about the the chords like one is easily broken but two is stronger three is unbreakable like he's talking about presence in that regard and so we as the body of Christ the church when we get together and we pair or disciple one another in relationship we are increasing the power and the presence of Jesus and what we are actually affecting in the world work of discipleship and so one thing Jesus did in his ministry his development of the TW was pairing them up when he sent them out to

make disciples and there's an interesting book by Dr Tim Miller uh it's a book called 30 by 60 by 100 and and not a lot of people know about this book but it lays out a theory when it comes to the growth of the early Church in scripture now this is conjectured this is this is not me saying this is exactly how it happened but I don't think it's coincidence all right so I want to give you these numbers just to show you why I Think Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs that again included the presence of God included the authority and power of

God and that it was actually through discipleship that we see the numbers of church growth in scripture so let's just say that first time that Jesus paired them up and sent them out you've got six pairs going out all right 12 disciples going out in six pairs the second time time Jesus sent them out says that there were 72 disciples that he sent out if you were to take those original six pairs and they each practiced the same thing Jesus just did which was go and disciple 12 6 x 12 would be 72 the next time he sends out was 72 was that because of

those original six pairs going out and discipling 12 each well then you take the 72 let's say he then sends them out he sends them out in pairs that brings it down to 36 pairs going out 36 * 12 and if you add those original 72 into that number that's around 500 504 to be exact how many people did it say in 1 Corinthians 15 Jesus revealed himself to after the resurrection it says about 500 people in all if you were to take those 500 and again just keep running the same model hey split up in pairs go out and disciple 12 people that would

bring it down to 250 * 12 would be 3 3,000 how many people got saved at Pentecost 3,000 were added to the number that day was it because Peter stood up and just declared a sermon and 3,000 people heard it for the first time and got saved possibly or maybe it was because 250 people went out and started discipling 12 people and when Peter preached the word of God they got saved because they have heard this before and the spirit of God came with power and authority and indwelt them and baptized them in that moment went and they became Believers if you were to take

that 3,000 and do the same thing 1500 time 12 comes to 18,000 well Peter's second sermon that he preached says 5,000 people got saved and you're like well 5,000 is not 18,000 where it says 5,000 only counting the men most theologians would say when you only count the men if you add in the women and the children that would be present with them them it would bring the number to somewhere between 15 to 20,000 people actually 18,000 at the second sermon of Peter at Solomon portica I don't think the the the ministry of God and the mission of God to go and make disciples is

just go and preach the word I think it's dis I think it's preaching the word through discipleship through discipleship through intentional relation relationship and teaching and imparting and instilling Doctrine into others that might not be saved yet but they get saved as you are preaching and declaring and teaching the word to them and the authority of God comes to them and the presence of God wraps them up as well and then they get saved I think that's the Pinnacle of what the church mission and Ministry is geared towards therefore we are not going to throw all of our eggs in the basket of what we

promote and do on a Sunday morning I think Sunday mornings are incredibly important and imperative to the mission of the church but it is not going to be the only thing we do in order to try to convert people to Christianity rather what we are going to do on Sunday mornings is gear what we do towards the church and the equipping of the Saints around the word of God to know the word of God so that you can take the word of God out and have intentional discipleship that increases evangelism I'm going to leave you with this encouragement from Peter that hits on power salvation

discipleship and presence in second Peter 1 3-15 so I'm going to read this and and literally we're just going to close out with this because I want you to see everything I just said apply to it actually has happened Peter says his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness so so his divine power shows us there's a way to live that is Godly through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and Excellence how's it going to it's going to come to us through the knowledge that allows us to be able to see his glory

that's everything we're talking about by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire for this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith which is kind of your conversion supplement it with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love what he's saying there is is just coming to Faith is not enough just merely saying I've been converted

I'm now a Christian is not not enough it has to be followed up with discipleship that actually proves you persevere to the end for if these qualities are yours and are increasing they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ for whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins that's the baptism therefore brothers be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election that is your your salvation coming to know Christ for if you practice these qualities you will never fail or fall for in

this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the Eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at the end of the day what he's saying is his divine power and His glory has come to us and his word is leading us and teaching us and training us and not only is it converting us us but it's discipling us it's training us to renounce ungodliness that's Titus Chapter 2 that's the hope of his glory that has appeared to us and bringing to us salvation and it's training us to be able to worship and not sin he goes on in verse 12

to say therefore I intend always this is the reason why we gather this is reason why we have groups this reason why we have discipleship therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities though you know them and are established in the truth that you have I think it right as long as I am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon he's just saying I he's about to die he knows that as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me and I will make every effort so that

after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things to observe these things to know these things that we need for discipleship so let's build the cathedral cutting one stone at a time and be okay that we might not see it in our lifetime let's pray as we come to the table for substance father we thank you so much for your goodness to us and your glory we thank you that it is your power and your Authority that that we dig the wells and that we draw the source of life from the living water we thank you also that you give

us your presence to be with us always with us wherever we go to encourage us to give us Assurance of Faith to be able to give us um comfort to be able to give us encouragement to be able to give us strength that we need in order to do the work of the ministry of reconciliation to be able to do the work of discipleship to be able to to teach those around us all that you have commanded us and that we would give our lives over to this endeavor every single day for our joy and For Your Glory thank you Father for this mission of

you sending your son Jesus to come to this world to reconcile us back into a relationship with you forgiving us of our sins because of his sacrifice it's in Jesus name we pray pray amen if you would go ahead and stand with me I want to invite you to come and get the elements and bring them back to your seat and we will partake together we come to Jesus for his power and we come to Jesus for his presence that is made possible because of his sacrifice where baptism brings the individual into the unity of the body of Christ communion brings the Community of Faith

into the union of the individual Body of Christ for I reive from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and you drink the cup you proclaim the

Lord's death until he comes let's sing one more song together