Steve Gentry
[0:00] If you have your Bibles open them to Hebrews chapter 10 we will be continuing down those [0:05] that line of verses this week as well as next week continuing from what we hit on last week [0:12] about this great forgiveness that we have in Jesus and the fact that he has done everything [0:18] that ever will need to be done for us to have a relationship with God for us to be with [0:25] him for eternity and for us to come continually into his presence that there is nothing that [0:31] we can earn there is nothing that we can do there is nothing that we can fashion in
[0:36] our lives there is no religious activity there is no work hard enough to where we [0:41] can close the gap that is between us and God because of the sin that we are born with [0:47] that we are born into but God in his great love and in his great mercy sent his son [0:53] Jesus Christ and Jesus accomplished it all Jesus was righteous Jesus was holy Jesus was perfect [1:02] and lived a life that we can’t live that none of us do maybe we think in our strange conception [1:08] of this world that we are perfect but at the end of the day we all go to bed with this longing
[1:12] inside of us for more and what that is is that is the reality of sin and the fact that we are not [1:17] perfect and the fact that we are not whole but Jesus does it for us Jesus earns everything [1:23] and then he gives it to us freely and he says come come through everything that I have done [1:28] I have lived a perfect life and then in his death he died for your sin he died for my sin [1:33] then he rose again so that we could have a new life and so what we touched on last week [1:38] is that Jesus gives us a forgiven life this life that we can actually walk through this world
[1:47] guilt free we can walk through this world without that baggage of shame without that baggage of having to [1:55] earn something of having to be perfect of having to be the best but instead we can just point our lives [2:02] and say Jesus is perfect Jesus is the best Jesus is God and when we do that what happens to our lives [2:10] is that it is completely transformed it is completely changed you go through life trying to prove [2:17] yourself and then in Jesus you realize I can’t do that on my best day I am not him and on my worst day [2:29] he is still him so we have this amazing weight lifted to where we can walk free in this world
[2:41] the question that comes after that because my fear is that we will just stop there [2:47] we will not think about anything else but it doesn’t end there because Jesus like we said last week [2:53] he doesn’t just wipe the slate clean he gives us a new life but how does the forgiven life translate [3:00] into our every day how does it move us into what Jesus calls all of us to be and that is his disciples [3:10] in the New Testament whenever he walks through the world he constantly looks to people and he says follow me [3:17] and that is really the theme of the New Testament is that Jesus in his work looks to each and every one of us
[3:24] and he says everything else that you have got going on every other voice that is in your head even your own [3:29] it is not worth paying attention to you follow me that is the voice of Jesus what does that look like [3:37] what does that mean because to follow Jesus is to be his disciple in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 24 [3:46] I think we have a picture of what that looks like because he spent 17 through 23 unpacking this amazing [3:55] forgiveness that we have in Jesus this amazing gospel and then he comes out of that and he goes into the life [4:02] that we live through it he says and let us consider how to stir up one another to what to love and good works
[4:11] not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see [4:20] the day drawing near I want to spend our time together unpacking these two verses because last week we saw [4:29] that he makes two demands he says draw near to God through Jesus hold fast to the confession of your faith [4:35] everything is about what Jesus has done that your action is to draw near to him keep your focus on him [4:41] and then as you are doing that whenever your faith begins to falter you then turn back and say Jesus is enough [4:48] Jesus has done it you hold fast to that confession and then he continues and he says this is the way it is going to look
[4:55] like in your life it’s going to look like that you’re stirring one another up to love and good works
[5:01] encouraging each other coming together with one another so what he’s saying is the forgiveness of Jesus has a [5:09] vital and extreme impact on the relationships in your life two things that we may not naturally put together [5:18] the author of Hebrews just flows them as if they’re seamless it’s the same thought he connects them with that [5:24] word and and it’s very important he says because Jesus is faithful you stir each other up and so we may look at [5:34] forgiveness and say it’s all between me and God the author of Hebrews looks at it and says it also goes between you [5:41] and others and this forgiveness that you have is supposed to become the economic status between the two of you
[5:49] that the way that you view others the way that you treat others the way that you walk with others is going to be [5:55] radically changed by this great forgiveness that you have experienced in Jesus’s life and he starts with the term [6:01] love that’s where discipleship starts number one this morning discipleship is defining love the way God does [6:12] that’s where he begins the discipleship is about relationships in your life first your relationship with God [6:20] then your relationship with others so in the New Testament Jesus brings this amazing ethic where he’s actually [6:26] I mean Jesus is really smart he takes 39 books of the Old Testament and sums it up in one sentence I don’t know anyone
[6:32] else that could possibly do that the Pharisees come to him and they say Jesus why don’t you define for us the greatest [6:38] commandment so looking back at the Torah they’re looking back at the prophets are looking back at everything the [6:42] priest ever did and they’re saying Jesus what’s the greatest of all that and so Jesus looks at me sums all of it up [6:47] and he says love God the second is like it love others and in those that phrase Jesus not only sums up the 10 [6:54] commandments but he sums up the entire law he says it’s all bound between your relationship with God and then your [7:02] relationship with other people and then in first John the apostle John actually goes as far and John actually
[7:09] refers to himself constantly as the beloved disciple we see throughout his following Jesus that he’s one of the [7:14] inner circle one of those three that Jesus poured himself into intimately more than all the others and so in first [7:21] John when he’s writing to the church he writes and he says a very fascinating thing that all of us maybe know maybe you [7:27] don’t know but he says God is love so he sums up this great attribute and he says God is love but the way that we [7:36] often hear it is that love is God and so we’ll look at this great commandment of love God and love others then we’ll [7:43] look at the term God is love and what we will do is we will interpret that by our definition of what love is when
[7:53] actually what Jesus is telling us is that through the forgiveness of Christ your definition of love needs to change [8:01] it can’t be based on what you think it is because what are you you’re full of sin because of the forgiveness of Jesus [8:08] you’re focused on him so in being transformed your definition of love will then necessarily be transformed as well [8:18] that’s why he says stir one another up to love if it’s something that we all know about if it’s something that we all [8:25] understand then why would we have to stir one another up to it through the forgiveness of Jesus he says that because he [8:31] knows the radical impact that Jesus is going to have on your very definition of love because my definition of love doesn’t
[8:39] always lead to the gospel my definition of love will lead to me making people feel good about themselves making me make [8:48] people feel good about the situation that they’re in all the while I’ll even know you are heading off a cliff bro
[8:58] and my definition of love is just to pat him on the back and say you’re okay but the gospel would say no even if it [9:08] offends them you grab them and point them to Jesus that’s love love is much harder than we think so what we often do is [9:17] we in our sentimentality and we in the situation that we’re in based on sin which is all that we really know apart from [9:25] Jesus we’ll say love is God so we will then begin to transform the identity of God after our own image rather than [9:35] transforming our identity and our definition of love after his image friends the gospel defines the life of love [9:45] you realize that verses 17-23 lay out God’s definition of love if you weren’t able to be with us last week please go listen to
[9:55] that podcast as I can’t summarize all of it the reason that the author puts stir one another up to love is because he’s saying [10:04] everything that I’ve just talked about is the way that God is going to define love for your life and if you are ever going to have [10:10] anyone to offer love give love turn anyone to what is really love you will constantly point them to Jesus you will constantly [10:20] turn your attention to Jesus if you’re going to love your spouse it’s going to be because of Jesus if you’re going to love your [10:28] children it’s going to be because of Jesus if you’re going to love your friends your co-workers people that you come into contact [10:35] with each and every day anyone it’s going to be because of Jesus it’s not going to be because of you love then is all about
[10:48] Jesus apart from the forgiveness of Jesus all of our definitions of love and our efforts to give and get love are going to be [10:55] by love by sin and therefore incomplete in Jesus though we find pure and righteous love a love that empties himself completely [11:10] for the sake of others for the sake of salvation a love that looks the hardest work ever it says for the joy set before me I’ll [11:25] turn the world into existence will say I’ll set my deity aside I’ll become my creation so that I may save them the gospel then [11:37] changes how we define love to follow Jesus means that you must define love differently than you would without Jesus [11:46] think about the love that you have in your life the love that you offer to others the love that maybe you think you’re even giving
[11:53] yourself and then consider would it look the same if I wasn’t a follower of Jesus inside of many of our lives it may and that [12:07] if you listen to pop music and you define love like that it’s got to change all right love is not like that love is not about someone [12:21] making much of you nor is love about you making much of someone other than Jesus all loves in your life must be pointed to the cross [12:32] love is not about the love that you have in your life you must give it to others and give it to them and give it to them [12:34] without Jesus being the forefront of your definition of love you will always have a false God of your making in that position [12:42] you’ll have other things that you’re convinced that you need and you have to give to those around you that will stand in the place of you
[12:49] growing in Jesus what Jesus has to offer is greater than anything else you can ever get or give in the life of faith means that you [12:58] trust him more than any of those other things the life of love is one in which you’re giving yourself wholly over to Jesus because you [13:09] realize that that’s better because you understand that anything you could get anything you can earn in anything that then therefore you can give to [13:18] someone else is less than Jesus so what we do with the people around us is we even in light of saying I trust Jesus I believe that he is [13:31] what we will do is we will begin to pour ourselves into 20 other things that have nothing to do with Jesus because we have to have those things to give to those [13:41] around us whether it be money whether it be prestige whether it be sex whether it be lust whether it be any host of things including your prominence is who you
[13:53] are you’ll begin to pour yourself because you believe the lie of this world that those things are ultimately more important but what Jesus comes to give us is what is real love [14:06] and what he’s saying is is that you could lose out on all of those other things and yet if you still have me you have love you can be destitute you still have Jesus you have love
[14:24] Jesus is enough what we are to consider then is how to live life to stir that love up in ourselves as well as others summer to this morning we have to understand that discipleship [14:40] re-orients all of life around the gospel one thing you are going to find in the scriptures is that discipleship and love go hand in hand is that you really can’t have one without the other because it’s all about [15:00] orienting my life towards Jesus love then is all about the gospel and therefore drives you continuously to who he is when we build life around discipleship and build that around Jesus then it prevents us from making it about [15:16] ourselves it’s based on the love that Jesus pours out even when it moves on to good works look at what he says in verse 24 he says stir one another up to love and what good works
[15:35] here’s what we’ll do with love will make it static it’s something that is it’s it’s still it’s just there it never moves it never changes but what the author here does is he welds together love with work [15:54] and he says your movements in life your efforts in life will actually be an outcome of what love really is that’s why when people say silly things like if you love me you’ll accept me for who I am that’s foolishness that’s foolishness that’s the last thing love will do [16:13] if love finds you in quicksand does it leave you there well I love you just the way you are even bury it up to your neck oh you accepted me for who I am thank you no love grabs a shovel and does something but the problem is is that most of us have misdefined the place that we’re in in our lives to make ourselves feel better about where we are because we don’t want to move
[16:42] it’s a very sad thing to be in the middle of pain and suffering and not want any different but it’s a very loving thing to look at someone and point them to Jesus and say look at where Jesus wants to take you I want you to be there with me love will demand change love will demand you to move love will demand effort love will say your life must be different
[17:10] because Jesus is enough Jesus did not come to leave us in the plight that we’re in Jesus came he does accept us where we are because it’s not about us remember it’s about him but then through his love he will beckon us he will move us he will define us
[17:31] in 2 Corinthians 5 verses 14 and 15 this is the way the apostle Paul really describes discipleship he says for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this that one has died for all therefore all have died and he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised is that your definition of love? [17:55] that’s God’s definition of love God says if you’re to have any hope of real life if you’re to have any hope of actually experiencing the forgiven life you must understand that the love of Christ controls you not your natural inclinations in life not what you think culture is going to demand that you do to earn and get but rather what Jesus has done and then that controls you and you walk through this world free completely free of everything else because you’ve concluded [18:24] this he died once for sin therefore he died for all therefore he’s changing me he’s controlling me he’s moving me on to love on to good works in a life in which I don’t even have to worry about whether or not I’m successful in those good works because it’s all about Jesus
[18:45] what a great freedom that is to not have the boss breathing down your neck and saying this better work out or you’re fired to be able to just freely do good works because Jesus has already brought the mission to completion therefore if I just give him my life he’s promised it will work out in the end
[19:06] there’s two places that we go wrong in our effort to grow as disciples we either do it vertically or horizontally and vertical discipleship what I’ve seen is that it’s all about my relationship with God I mean it’s all about being in the word it’s all about prayer maybe you bought a journal and you’re like I’m on a prayer journal every day I’m going to write my thoughts down and prayers down what God’s doing in my life I mean you’re just going to be in the world [19:35] you’re just spending all of this time with your relationship with you and God it’s all about you and him you’re going telling others you’re going and you’re confessing sin and it’s all about you and God but very quickly what begins to happen in this is that you’re once again overcome with guilt once again overcome with the fact that you missed a quiet time here oh my goodness you opened that journal up and you’re like I haven’t journaled in six months alright that blog that you started so that people can go on your faith journey with you alright you look at it and you’re like oh no last post June 2nd [20:05] 2012 I have failed completely and so you begin to be overcome with guilt overcome with what you’ve done because why because who’s the authority figure in your discipleship you are who sets the standard you do who sets the values and the parameters you do you missed all those episodes of that show that you were
[20:31] you’re like oh I’ve sinned set myself back months in my discipleship there’s a second one to its horizontal discipleship it’s where it’s all about serving others your missional alright you change everything about your life you change everything about where you eat where you get coffee I mean you’re signed up for Elijah House you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship you’re like oh I’m so there because that’s discipleship [20:59] discipleship alright and in your effort you’re just moving you’re doing you’re witnessing [21:04] you’ve got an accountability partner that’s sure to make you feel guilty about every thought [21:08] you ever have every week and then if you’re really honest with yourself you say I’m still [21:18] full of guilt I didn’t tell that guy about the Lord why didn’t I tell him I had the opportunity [21:27] to pay for this person’s lunch and I didn’t do it I had the opportunity to serve this
[21:32] neighbor and I didn’t do it so you’re overcome with guilt or maybe you think you measure [21:39] up so you look at the people who are obsessed with vertical discipleship and you say why [21:42] don’t you people serve others and then if you’re obsessed with vertical discipleship [21:46] the word heretic this is two extreme opposites but they’re both really having the same outcome [22:00] guilt religion self-authority self-fulfillment selfishness no love there’s a third way in [22:12] chapter 18 when Jesus is talking about discipleship here’s what he has to say Jesus came to them
[22:18] and said all authority and heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore make disciples [22:24] of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy [22:27] Spirit teaching them to observe all that I’ve commanded you behold I’m with you always to [22:30] the end of the age who’s the authority Jesus what are you supposed to teach what Jesus [22:42] told you to observe so who is it all about Jesus I mean we even baptize people to what [22:51] the Holy Trinity which Jesus is the son and so if your discipleship is all about measuring
[22:59] who you are what you’re doing what effort you’re getting and what effort you’re giving [23:04] you’re the authority you’re the one you’re observing and ultimately you’re baptizing [23:09] your entire life in you so there’s a third way that’s progressively going to get you [23:18] closer to Jesus both vertically as well as horizontally and it’s with you focusing all [23:24] your attention all of your focus on Jesus and then it becomes very pious because you [23:31] go to the word not because you’ve got to check that mark off in your one-year study Bible
[23:37] but because you want to fill your life with Jesus you go to him to pray because you want [23:44] to be there you want to grow towards him you serve others because you’re overcome with [23:50] how great of a God that you have and others need him you go to Elijah house because you’re [23:55] so grateful that God and all of his expansive wisdom is in Richmond Virginia loving people
[24:05] you avoid sin because you don’t want it to keep you from Jesus you embrace holiness because [24:13] you know that’s where Jesus is and so you grow upwards and you ultimately grow outward
[24:24] because friends discipleship is opposed to earning but it is not opposed to effort there’s [24:33] a type of effort where you don’t worry about earning anything there’s a type of effort [24:38] you’re not worried about losing anything it’s the life of love it’s the life of this wild [24:46] relationship that you have with the God of the universe where he said you’re accepted [24:52] you’re free you’ll never be kicked out of this house and so you walk around that house like [24:59] you deserve to be there but you never are filled with the inclination that you want
[25:04] to leave because there’s no better place to be it’s the life of love and it’s the life [25:11] of discipleship with Jesus is the authority and nothing I do is about me or anyone else [25:16] anymore and everything is about Jesus making life about anything else will not disciple [25:22] you it’s about faith in Jesus your effort then must drive you toward him and nothing [25:28] else under Jesus’s authority which is what Matthew 28 18 gives us and then in order to [25:34] be a disciple which is where Matthew 28 19 is going to start us out that’s why discipleship
[25:41] then requires others because what does Jesus say his authority and everything about him [25:46] is going to lead to go make disciples so therefore someone’s got to make you and then you got [25:54] to make someone and that’s the way towards Jesus is when you’re focused on him and you’re [26:04] got to grasp that decide what discipleship is built on discipleship is built on relationships [26:10] in scripture it’s far simpler than anything else you’re going to come up with you say [26:18] surely there’s more than that there really isn’t here’s why there are two movements
[26:25] in discipleship and it’s all in this text first is relationships note in verses 24 and [26:32] 25 what he says about relationships he says stir up one another don’t neglect meeting
[26:41] encourage one another the new testament is filled with over 50 different forms of one [26:48] another so you cannot grow in Jesus without other people because everything that Jesus [26:56] is about is about emptying himself so that he can redeem others therefore how can you [27:01] follow him without having the same mission you cannot therefore if your entire life [27:07] is spent in avoiding other people look out you may have the reason you’re not being
[27:15] discipled because that’s not the way of Jesus Proverbs 27 17 Solomon tells us this great [27:23] wise saying he says iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another man there’s this [27:30] great theme of the new testament about you and others then Jesus comes and he tells us [27:35] that he’s going to be all about others and that you can’t ultimately fully love God unless [27:39] you have the second one love your neighbor as yourself secondly it’s also about scripture
[27:47] because we tend to like in the vertical and horizontal we’ll either have one or the other [27:52] you’ll either say it’s all about relationships or you’ll say it’s all about scripture and [27:55] the two fight but what if it’s about both because here’s a big question what do you [27:59] stir one another up with what do you encourage one another with where do you find the basis [28:06] of love and good works in you we’ve already seen that you’re pretty bankrupt second Timothy [28:14] chapter two verses fifteen and sixteen put it this way it says do your best to present
[28:17] yourself to God as one approved a worker who has no need to be ashamed rightly handling [28:22] the word of truth but avoid irreverent babble for it will lead people into more and more [28:29] godliness here’s what he says pour all of your life into the scripture and you’ll be [28:35] approved know it memorize it put great effort into it but I love verse sixteen because [28:40] verse sixteen explains verse fifteen because what we’ll always do is we’ll have this great [28:44] fear that there’s no boundaries over sixteen places the boundaries on scripture and says
[28:49] how do you avoid irreverent babble the Bible so how do you avoid not making discipleship [28:56] about bad things the Bible so long as your discipleship is saturated with scripture guess [29:02] what you’ll avoid heresy you’ll avoid being wrong you’ll avoid wrong love you’ll avoid [29:07] all the wrong because it’s all about what Jesus gave us in the scriptures second Timothy [29:13] chapter three verses sixteen and seventeen the very next chapter he unpacks it by saying [29:16] all scriptures breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for a proof for correction and
[29:21] for training and righteousness that the man of God may be complete equipped for every [29:25] good work also would disturb each other up to love and good works for those good works [29:30] well there in the Bible what is discipleship if it’s not teaching reproving where you’re [29:37] wrong correcting where you’re wrong and training and righteousness and making you complete [29:43] is that not discipleship if your discipleship is found outside of the bounds of scripture [29:51] then it will be incomplete you cannot be a disciple without these two things in practical
[29:59] life these are the two things that drive everything else all of life then is about being a disciple [30:06] we have three environments here village church to aid you in this journey two of them for [30:15] many of you you’re familiar with the first environment is what we’re doing right now [30:20] is Sunday morning worship experience we unpack the word we come together and worship Jesus [30:25] together we’re sent out on a mission the second one is our village groups where we make this [30:32] more practical and relationships where our families come together under a roof and we
[30:37] try to disciple one another try to pray with one another try to pray for one another and [30:42] unpack how to live what we learn on Sunday morning in everyday life there’s a third group [30:47] that we’re going to begin unfolding over the next month called personal discipleship here [30:56] you’re probably already saying oh lord another meeting have I not given you enough track with
[31:07] me there’s a problem because sometimes with the first two environments what we’ll do is we can [31:14] they can become separate from everyday life and we simply check off two boxes of activity and [31:20] we retreat to what we think is real life it’s like I gotta go to church well you know I need to be in [31:30] this and it’s like check check the last thing I want to give you is something else to check [31:36] because I know how you people work so I’m not doing that it’s not program it’s not something [31:43] that we’re unfolding as an initiative but rather this is an understanding that the answer to all
[31:48] checks of life is personal discipleship the answer to this is a third place and that is [31:54] something that you’re going to create our relationships must flow into the environment [31:59] of everyday life to push us toward Jesus in every other day we’re not together because if [32:07] discipleship is about the whole of life if discipleship is built on the relationships [32:12] and the scripture that we have at some point it’s got to go out of those two environments [32:19] that we have together into the environment of everything else that you’re doing in your life
[32:24] and if it does not do that my fear is that you will never be discipled friends discipleship will [32:32] necessarily change your life and it is your responsibility it’s not mine it’s not some [32:45] pastor somewhere’s responsibility to make you become a disciple you can offer environments we [32:52] can offer the teaching of the word we can offer to bring you together in environments like that [32:56] but when you walk out of all of that and you just do whatever you want to then that is on you
[33:05] when you will not change your schedules to make sure that you’re growing in the grace of Jesus [33:10] Christ that’s on you there’s a hole in the discipleship of our lives when we think that [33:20] two hours a week we’ve got everything that we need friends you need to take initiative for your [33:26] own discipleship this is not another meeting though this needs to be in the flow of your everyday [33:38] life the meals coffee with people are another space with people that you are or will build [33:46] relationships with but I know what happens when I say that and it’s like this all out here thing
[33:52] you’ll say you know what I need to get around to that in six months when I have time and in six [33:59] months you’re busier than you are today enough funny how life works that way when I was in my [34:04] 20s I was certain that in my 30s I’d be able to slow down I’d really like to go back to my 20s
[34:12] or further remember when you could just watch cartoons I had all the time in the world so what [34:25] we want to do for you is we want to help you engage in another environment of life we do want [34:33] to help you engage in a third environment offered by the church but the responsibility is going to [34:38] be on you to come together for this it’s not another meeting like we said it needs to flow into [34:43] your everyday life what we want to see is two to four people getting together during the workweek [34:50] to encourage one another to be in the word and to be building relationships around the gospel in
[34:55] everyday life men with men women with women dealing with uncomfortable situations in the most [35:03] possible with people that you’re actually going to commit to do life together with I know what [35:09] it’s like when you meet with me that once every six months and we’re not friends you’re like can I [35:14] tell them this I don’t know whether you can or not because it is going to be uncomfortable you want [35:20] to know why because once every six months does not a friendship make your life is going to be [35:26] changed by real relationships and real friendships with people who know the real you what’s glorious
[35:34] is that we want to unfold this because this is already happening in the church where people just [35:38] took the initiative to start getting together to study the Word of God and what I’ve seen in those [35:42] people is that their lives are really being changed and want you to have that as well want you to meet [35:50] together weekly with a focus on becoming more like Jesus in every area of life with a primary [35:56] diet of studying scripture together and then sometimes maybe supplementing it with a book or a [36:01] video series to go through but your primary diet needs to be the Word of God I’m convinced that if
[36:08] you have relationships with others and the word you’ve got enough you do not need anything else [36:13] you can trust the sufficiency of scripture and you can trust the Holy Spirit to work through it with [36:19] you you don’t need a spiritual guru you don’t even need a pastor in the coffee shop with you do you [36:26] trust the one who wrote the book I did not write this but I can study it so can you the format is [36:36] simple this is not about a class with a pastor or a teacher with you giving you all the answers [36:40] about people doing life together to help one another grow through Jesus much like Sunday it
[36:46] should have a steady diet of scripture and going through books of the Bible together I’ve got a [36:52] simple format that you can grab ahold of three words text theology life too often when we come [37:02] together for any type of discipleship with our friends an hour after we’ve caught up we spend [37:08] two minutes in scripture that’s all I got to go now come together study the text read the [37:19] scriptures together maybe prepared a little bit beforehand you’ve taken some notes you’ve written [37:23] some scripture you know what you’re going to be talking about so you go through the text and then
[37:27] in theology the second step you say where’s Jesus in this what does this teach me about the gospel [37:36] because if Hebrews is all about me pointing my life towards Jesus then in every page of the word [37:42] I’ve got to understand he’s there he’s doing something he’s preparing something he’s pointing [37:48] me to him and then thirdly life how does this impact my everyday life do I know my sin am I [37:59] fighting my sin and what needs to change about my life because of the Word of God the first place [38:09] to start to look for this type of relationship is in the environments we’ve already given you
[38:16] who’s in your village group who do you need to get to know who could you spend some time with [38:24] studying the scriptures who would you like to do this with if I say you need to meet with a couple [38:32] of people to study the Word of God who are those people that pop up in your head who are those [38:37] people that come to your mind immediately or if you know two other people at village who would [38:44] like to start a group with you that’s okay I understand that your village group may be full [38:48] of weirdos you know I’m in a village group so I know by that that weirdos are in village groups
[38:58] all right so I grasp that so maybe you’ve connected with a few other people that aren’t in [39:04] group with you that’s okay as well remember this is about real life this isn’t about you know some [39:10] Sunday school class that we’re gonna form no this is about you in your everyday flowing into what’s [39:17] already happening but there’s also we also understand that some of you are a little more [39:22] introverted some of you’re a little shy or some of you’re a little quieter maybe you need some [39:25] help getting connected that’s great as well because what we’ve got right now we’re unloading right
[39:30] now is discipleship group resources on the city which is how we socially network as a church you [39:37] can find men’s discipleship resources and women’s discipleship resources on the city and what we [39:41] want you to do is we want you to first if you don’t have an account please sign up for an [39:45] account and then secondly go in there and mark off that you want to be discipled you want to be [39:51] in discipleship relationships and we will do we’ve got coaches that are going to help people in this [39:56] discipleship because I know that you’re saying I’m not capable I can’t do this I don’t know
[40:02] enough that’s okay friends you don’t need to know anything I don’t it’s okay to walk into this [40:10] feeling unprepared because what remember it’s not about you it’s not about your authority it’s not [40:16] about your effort who’s it about it’s about Jesus the only thing necessary is looking at him and if [40:24] you go on the city and mark that out we’re gonna have a coach contact you we’re gonna have a [40:28] group leader to get in touch with you and we want this to be a place that is a simple part of your [40:34] life to go into to walk because you cannot become a disciple of Jesus in two hours of week will this
[40:42] take sacrifice yes it will sacrifice a meal sacrifice that coffee that you drink by yourself
[40:55] but what I want to do is I want this to happen in your everyday flow of life you don’t have to [41:02] make it more complicated than it needs to be and I know that this is frightening for some of you [41:07] but that’s why the author ends verse 25 the way that he does look at what he says says do not neglect [41:19] the meeting of to get excuse me don’t neglect meeting together as is the habit of some but [41:27] encourage one another and all the more as the day draws near I’m convinced for through this [41:37] morning that discipleship matters because eternity matters no follower of Jesus in history gives
[41:50] an out for discipleship no discipleship in history presents allowances for not being a disciple and
[42:04] you’re either a disciple or you don’t know Jesus those are the options there are no outs because [42:12] your schedule is too busy there are no outs because you’ve got too much going on there are no outs [42:20] because it’s just not your personality type the response of the author of Hebrews is that you need [42:26] to up your discipleship as the day of Jesus’s return draws near so he sets out a lifestyle of [42:36] preparing yourself now for a kingdom that you believe is coming friends life will drown out [42:45] your discipleship or you will overcome life through discipleship those are the two options
[42:56] eternity will reveal the legitimacy of your faith what are you building your life on if we trust him [43:06] then all of life is a celebration of the love that his forgiveness provides we will cease to look at [43:14] as a sacrifice to be discipled and long for it every day to where we’re going from being disciples [43:22] to making disciples and I believe that God wants each and every one of you on that path in your [43:32] lives because Jesus is that good and our affection needs to be stirred up every day in our lives after [43:44] the service there will be information on discipleship groups in the foyer information is on the city
[43:52] friends don’t wait don’t wait let’s be disciples of Jesus together as the band comes up every week [44:10] we reflect on the Lord’s Supper we reflect on what Jesus did so that we could be his disciples
[44:23] the shed blood of Jesus is in the cup his body is in the bread it’s an allegory for the fact [44:35] he shed his blood and had his body broken so that we would never have to pay the penalty for our sin [44:42] so that we could join him on his journey so that we could grow and following him grow and loving [44:51] him so that we could have the lifestyle of our affections of our encouragement of building a [45:00] life that matters built totally on a solid foundation that’s incorruptible that will never change [45:08] never falter he says follow me this morning if you’re a follower of Jesus let’s answer that call
[45:21] of Jesus let’s come and reflect on the cross and say Lord I want to follow you I want to keep [45:30] following you and if you don’t know him today you can start following him and he’ll never leave [45:40] you he’ll never forsake you when you’re ready come