← ArchiveSunday, August 16, 2015DateAugust 16, 2015Speaker—TextJohn 17Passages in this sermonMatthew 20:192:25Matthew 282:37John 173:31John 17:204:02Acts 226:35Acts 2:4626:48Hosea 4:634:16TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00good morning everyone that was weak it's like all two of you good morning all right um again um thank you all for for being here this morning and um it's always a pleasure to0:26to take the pulpit and um it's something i don't take lightly um my wife just asked her um usually i'm locked up in a closet room somewhere studying um and even even last night lord just kind of put something on my heart and i'm like i have to have to put this in and um and so uh so anyway um it's always a great honor um and i do want to say this um thank you i just want to say thank you0:52bethel baptist church for investing in me i know i don't say that often i've been here since 1995 i got saved here at 21 years old and been on staff since 2008 as full-time before that i was just kind of wandering around just kind of aimlessly just kind of trying to find my place to fit and i landed in youth ministry and um and so now um i just kind of do a little bit of everything um but youth ministry1:18is definitely my passion and so i just want to thank you so much for investing in me and discipling me and that's one thing that we're going to be talking about this morning is what is what does it mean to make disciples what does it mean to make disciples and we're going to talk about that in different lights one individually how do you become a disciple individually and then we're going to move into what does it mean together how do we do how do we do discipleship together so individually1:45and then together collectively as a church um we are destined as his church to impact our community as a believer you're just destined to do that if you are a believer in jesus christ there's nothing that you cannot do about that you will impact your community somehow whether it be negative or positive so if you're a believer in christ and you are seeking god hopefully that will be a positive impact on the people around you and in your community in your workplace and in the church and so we just want2:13to make sure that you understand that to be discipled is so important it's so very important uh matthew 20 19 don't go there just yet but matthew 20 19 says go therefore make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit um and so we have to celebrate this morning because guess what that command that jesus commanded in matthew 28 we are here sitting2:37here today in the church and we can celebrate 2 000 years later there has been a multitude of forces that try to has tried to stop this there has been a multitude of individuals countries governments kings that have tried to stop this very thing that we have going on here this morning even in other countries right now they're meeting underground because of the oppression and so there have been3:03tyrants there have been evil forces that have come up against the church and we're still here this morning worshiping jesus and so that command to go and make disciples those before us have accomplished that those before us have done that they have they've accomplished that goal and that is to make disciples and i want to look at how making disciples takes place in the local church um and of course individually in the local church first thing we'll look at is john let's turn to john3:31chapter 17 and we're going to look at a prayer of jesus john chapter 17 it says i do not ask on behalf of these alone but for those who also will believe in me through their word um this is a prayer that jesus was praying on behalf of the disciples but then he shifts a little bit halfway through the verse i don't know if you guys picked that up or not he shifts just a tad3:58bit in john chapter 17 verses 20 or verse 20 he shifts jesus shifts from his folks disciples to the church i want you to read this just one more time i don't know i do not ask on behalf of these alone which means those that were there with him but for those also who will believe in me through their word in other words he's talking about the church there in that second part of that verse he's praying for us he's praying for us seeing us here today he's praying for us prayed for this even4:24then and so the church is now envisioned by christ the church now is envisioned by christ he saw those who would believe as a result of these first christians and then launched out he envisioned us sitting here this morning worshiping him and making disciples of nations in verse 21 it says and they that they may be one even as you father are in me and i in you that they4:46may also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me the prayer of jesus is that the church you and i would be unified as one that's part of this prayer is that you we would be unified as one we would be one body working together many moving parts one body working together to do what to go and make disciples to go and make disciples and so it's a command that we're supposed to be supposed5:12to work together for his glory to share his glory so that the word may be so that the world may believe that you sent me think about that just for a second that we're supposed to be one going and making making disciples so that the world may believe that you sent me and so believers in jesus if you're a believer in christ this morning5:40i just want to say as a church collectively we need to be making disciples going and making disciples so that the world will see and believe and believe and so it's a witness just for us sitting here this morning it's a witness to the world a lost world cannot see christ but a lost world can see christians individually and they can see christians6:04working together in the church they can see us collectively working together they can see us doing projects love service projects they can see us going on mission on the mission field we're going to commission the dominican republic team as they come here and we launch them out this next week they can see those things they can see the hands and the feet of jesus as as the church is launched out as we go and make disciples of the nations they can see that but sadly what we've done over the years is we kind of recall because6:34of of governments of of different things that have happened over there over the years and we're going to see how we can be emboldened by the word this morning we are to share a life together as one sharing the glory of the lord together the glory of the old testament could only be experienced in the temple but as we see here jesus prays to give them my glory so wherever two more gather guess what he's there with us he's there with us and so we shouldn't be confined to these walls7:02this meeting that we have this morning is glorious it's a glorious meeting when greg sings and and we all worship together that's a glorious meeting we sit in our classes and our groups together this morning that's a glorious time we get together and we we said this morning just fellow shipping with those other believers those men that was a glorious time but if we just spend that one a couple of hours on sunday mornings and that's it7:31and we go about our daily routine we are not making an impact on the nations and our community so how can we accomplish this going and making disciples here's jesus commission and jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given7:51to me all authority in heaven and on earth has been given me this this from the man that has just been8:14beaten crucified put in a grave rose from the dead all authority has been given to me all of it all authority has been given to me and then he says this8:40go therefore make disciples go therefore make disciples and i want to stop just for a second we're going we're going to kind of camp out on the word go um i think encapsulated in the word go is the desire for christians those of us that are believers in christ to do our best i think encapsulated in that word go is is this9:04missional attitude to want to do something for christ whenever we hear that whenever we hear the great commission even whether it be in a sunday school class whether it be whether it be on it just in it just in talking to one another whenever we hear the word go make disciples something just kind of wells up in myself especially and i don't know about you but it just kind of makes me want to go you know what i'm on the winning team here because all authority has been given to christ9:33and so i want to go whatever that means in my life whatever that means in my my spirit of influence i want to go make disciples and so he lists out these commands and at the end he goes and i'm going with you i'm going with you he's saying i have a purpose for you have uniquely designed you i have uniquely placed you so go and do what make disciples therefore since all authority in heaven is on earth has been given to me9:58go make disciples and so where are you supposed to go to the nations go therefore make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son the holy spirit teaching them to observe all that i have commanded you and behold i am with you always i'm with you always even until the end of the age and so he's telling us that he's going to go with us10:26this is what he's saying man it's going to get hard church it's going to get difficult there's going to be enemies press against you there's going to be governments to tell you that you can't do this there's going to be institutions that tell you you can't do this but i'm with you i'm with you on an individual level when you're at work when you're at your workplace when you're in your cubicle wherever you're at when the boss says no you can't talk about that you can't put that bible there you can't do this he says i'm with you i'm with you10:51and so this should make us courageous knowing that jesus christ the holy spirit is with us as we go as we go we should be excited for the fact that he's with us wherever we go he's with us because he knows there's going to be days when we want to sheep that we want to shrink back we want to hide there's gonna be days when we want to quit11:21and you're going to need to remember that he's going to be with you when it's difficult when it's costly this is where christian fearlessness should take root in the heart of all of us that call ourselves believers though i walk through the shadow of a valley of death i fear no evil because he's with us he's with us so i want to look at two ways we should be going and making disciples individually and together individually11:52um this is you living your life day by day you'll get up in the mornings you'll have your coffee um whether you have the fancy keurig thing where you put the little cup in it and it makes you one cup jealous um or if you stop by the coffee shop wherever that may be um and you start your routine you get to your office at that particular point in time and12:21and maybe you have that time where you're just kind of unfolding everything and you're getting the projects from the previous day and you're whatever that may be some of you may be in the working in a warehouse some of you may be in different points in time whatever that looks like for you you need to understand that christ is with you through all of that individually what does it look like to make disciples what does it look like when you're just doing life together the routine of your life12:50how do you go and make disciples and i think one is a no-brainer and a lot of you are going to say i know you're going to talk about evangelism eventually brad and i am i'm going to talk about evangelism eventually because that's part of it that's part of making disciples um we can't get away from that one as much as we want to as much as we're like man i'm just not gifted for that but here's the thing i'm gonna give you some some little nuggets here um repeatedly throughout the13:19old testament in the in the new testament the followers of christ are commanded to be hospitable to show hospitality and you know talking about being hospitable in the south is kind of like are you serious you're gonna lecture us on being nice to people we're nice to people and my question are you really um because this is one thing that we really i think in the church and even outside we13:45we need to work on um hospitality biblically speaking is loving strangers treating fellow believers with love take caring widows orphans unbelievers poor and needy missionaries foreigners immigrants refugees even your own enemies as though they were your own family that's what being hospitable means that's what that means that's hospitality hospitality is to walk alongside people for an extended period of time14:13so that the glory of christ may be shown to those people because you have the glory of christ in you so you're walking along these people that you're next to at that cubicle at that meeting and that warehouse at the drawing board in the office you're walking alongside those people are you being hospitable to those people are you loving on those people are you being a model for those people when christians walk14:39with genuine gospel-centered hospitality hospitality none of the labels listen to me none of the labels that the secular world wants to put on us will stick if we are being hospitable toward people none of the labels that the secular world will try to put on us as believers will stick here's a great example15:03if i'm living my life and i'm being hospitable my doors are going to be open in my home at my in my job place and i hear it's a little different um because i work at the church and so but i was in the actual uh field working as um a designer for seven years um before that i was uh i did several jobs so i know what it's like working on um the mission field that you guys work15:31on here's a little different when someone comes in um i've got to be nice i don't have to be but you know what i'm saying i want to be if i'm not y'all hear about it brad was a jerk and some of you go well that's the way he is sometimes um but here's the deal if i am being hospitable in my home and i'm opening my door to friends that are of different color than me16:01i'm having lunch with someone that's a different color no one can call me a racist could they because guess what i'm being hospitable to someone that is different than me it's really easy for someone to say well hey man you're you're you're just a a right winger you're you're just a bible thumper you're you're probably a racist and everything and you don't like women's rights and all this kind of stuff it's the labels they want to put on us as believers16:28so if i'm walking in hospitality along with those that are lost along with those that are different than us along with those people that we may disagree with but i'm being nice to them i may fundamentally disagree with those that have a homosexual lifestyle but i'm not going to throw rocks at them that's not going to win them to lord i may completely disagree with them but if i'm walking alongside of them and they see my life16:56and at some point in time i start to share with them about the lord that's much better than being judgmental it's much so we need to just be nice some of you if you smiled your face would fall off i'm convinced of it some of you are just mad at the world for some reason you know it's like oh become the church you know and you know the wife17:22probably is is you know i know how it is jessica's not here she's listening online so i have to be careful she just told us text me what to go fix your shirt it's so so anyway um i promised i wouldn't talk about her um she's at home with uh with my baby he's sick and so anyway um just being nice just loving on people just being nice being hospitable to people um if you're angry and you just have this17:51attitude all the time you're not going to win anybody to jesus you're just not and let me just say this i'm going to press a little harder if you're angry and you're just not nice you might want to just move out of the way because there's some of us that want to reach people and you're hindering us you're hindering us that's all i'm going to say about that now sharing the gospel sharing the gospel18:23how do how does that happen how do we do that um you will not be effective at going and making disciples if you just don't share the gospel you have to share the gospel at some point in time it has to come become verbal you can't just walk around being nice to people all the time at some point in time it has to become verbal you have to we have to get out of our box a little bit let me tell you18:50let me share with you how this has happened for me over the years let's just say i'm going to pick on somebody pick on one of my one of my guys here caleb let's just say caleb let's say caleb's lost he's not but let's just say he's lost and and i know he's dealing with some stuff and i walk into him and says hey dude man i'm just letting you know i'm praying for you can i how can i pray for you and he he tells me man my grades which is not not right he's a straight a student um my grades man i'm19:20i'm really struggling with my grades okay man i'm gonna pray for you okay i i pray for him right then not later i pray for him right then and this is what i'm gonna i'm gonna circle around a couple days later and go hey dude how's your grades man i've been praying for you as a matter of fact here's a verse right here i want you to read this he reads that verse everything and guess19:46what i'm doing i'm actually having a conversation with him about the word of god do you see how easy that was a lot of you were like man you just don't know what i work you just don't my boss is dude my boss is a there's a dog dude well sometimes a dog you need to pet a dog okay sometimes you need to encourage the dog a little bit because guess what that love may be penetrating to the hard heart20:16and so that's how easy it is then you have this conversation with that person they may be lost man that may be the first time they ever really read any scripture but you have opened the door up to that conversation and then you start to press a little heart say hey man you have a relationship with the lord no man what is that about i've never had anybody say dude don't pray for me i've never had that happen some of you may have i've never had anybody say don't pray for me man i don't want20:45you praying for me then i'm gonna be like okay i'll pray for you anyway dude let me help and know how that works out for you um so individually sharing the gospel individually we need to be faithful so we need to be nice hospitable to people we just share the gospel and then we need to be faithful now there's all kind of things i can go with being faithful but one in particular um if you're a christian21:11what you're going to do now that you're a christian what are you going to do now you've been faithful to what god has given you that's how you be faithful being faithful everywhere even in the workplace now i'm pressing on the workplace and school because here's why that's your mission field that's where god has you that's where he's placed you you may not like it but guess what there's a21:38lot of the a lot of people don't like where god placed them there's a couple people ran they got swallowed by well but they ran from the places that god wanted to go so he's placed you in your place of influence i tell my students all the time man if you're a football player you have an incredible influence you can reach the team if you play in the band you can reach the band if you are a scholar you can reach nerds um if you if you are if you if you are in any aspect of your life if you are in22:07those areas you have influence and so being faithful on the workplace let me just put it this way if you're sharing if you're being nice if you've been hospitable if you're sharing the gospel but if you're lazy if you're a bum at work you lose it you can be as nice as you want to you can share the gospel but if you're a bum at work if people having to work around you and take up your slack you're22:37going to lose it man you're not going to be as effective i'm just saying because guess what going and making disciples means to do our best in what god has given us it's just as simple as that you may struggle in those areas and that's fine to struggle but struggle hard struggle hard and that wasn't that was me in a lot of cases man i was i was not a model student23:06um i've always tried my very best to work hard i have a great worth ethic from my my family my stepdad especially but the guy who don't finish his projects the guy that don't turn anything in on time the guy that's constantly constantly complaining all your hospitality sharing the gospel vanishes if you're the guy or girl at work who everybody has to work around be faithful at work be faithful at home23:32be faithful at home if you are treating your wife like she's a dog you'll be found out eventually and you'll lose your witness if you're running around on your wife guess what you're gonna be found out you'll completely lose your witness so be faithful at home people are watching especially if you're if you're announced if you're being24:03outspoken people are watching watching every move we make because they're waiting on to put a label on us and if we do these things now here's the deal there's going to be hypocrisy there's going to be sin that we're going to have to deal with and guess what how the church responds to sin is also a witness to the world if we're forgiving and graceful and merciful for those that are caught up in sin24:34guess what the world's going to see that and go man that's weird that's different so individually we need to be faithful hospitable share the gospel be faithful and i'm going to move into two together how do we do this together as the church how do we do this together as a church what does it look like at the church level let me just say this at the church level we have to be organized to help us we have to be organized to help us as a25:02church to make disciples um it is almost impossible without some kind of organizational help we have to be organized someone has to build the systems someone has to build the on ramps and the off ramps to show us where we need to go someone has to do that whether it be a life group leader this this tracking along and they've got their lessons ready and everything whether it be at the25:33staff level whether it is myself trying to build systems and and trying to get us in the right areas as far as where we're going to go with discipleship where we're going to go in youth ministry someone has to do that discipleship does not happen by accident it just don't someone has to be organized now i'm not the best in the world if you walk in my office right now you'll say dude this dude is not organized26:01but it's a working office that's what i like to call it somebody walks in man your office is a mess it's working dude it's working man i've got all kind of stuff going on here there's this piles for this this piles for that right there you know a student walks in goes man we can't mess your office up man it's already messed up yeah it is um on some days but someone has to do that at that level working together making disciples um and so those systems have to be in place i want you to turn to26:26the brook of acts the brook of acts chapter 226:48verse 46 day by day continue with one one mind in the territory there it is again one mind remember jesus's prayer and john that we would be one day by day continue with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity heart there's hospitality27:17so jesus's prayer was one mind and then all of a sudden we see hospitality happening together together with gladness and sincerity heart verse 47 pray praising god and having favor with all people and the lord was adding to their number day by day those who are being saved discipleship was not taking place only in the temple but look it was taking place from house to house it was a lifestyle27:46discipleship is a lifestyle i've heard that three times twice this morning men's not out i heard it too discipleship is a lost i could not agree more it is a lifestyle individually it's a lifestyle what you do in the workplace what you do outside of these walls is a lifestyle then you come in here and we have28:13things that are there are there for us to to drive on things things the missions and stuff that we can actually go and do as a church together collectively it's a lifestyle if we're confined to this building we will never impact our community for the glory of christ we just want we'll just scratch the surface the question is when is the last time you intentionally met with someone to invest your life28:43to disciple them on an individual level and collectively when is the last time you did that you you say well man sunday morning i just got out of class by my group that's awesome that's great i want to encourage everyone in this room if you're not a part of a group whether they are sunday morning or off campus which we're gonna we're gonna hit i want to encourage every one of you to be in a group29:09every single one of us need to be i'm gonna be in a group we're going and man i'm just and i are excited about it because it's something we don't we don't get to do on sunday mornings because you guys are picking on me all the time um i love it though when is the last time you met with someone when the bible was taught christianity was never meant to be in29:33isolation it just wasn't never meant to be in isolation if you're not connected to others on campus or off campus you are going to stall your growth as a believer there's a study and i may have used this before i love this we need each other we really do as believers in christ we need each other because even in conflict that's the beautiful thing about30:02being a believer even in conflict we need each other because we learn from each other even in conflict even we made we may disagree and we may we may rub together a little bit where it says iron sharpens iron guess what's gonna happen there's gonna be some sparks fly a little bit and that may hurt but when we all come back to the table and we agree or maybe we disagree we still love each other in christ and we can move on and the world sees that and go man that that that was awesome those guys were being30:29men they met together even though they disagreed and they were to work those things out or not but they met together and so we need each other um in 1979 a published landmark study referal illusionized our understanding of the impact of social environments on health in a nine-year study of nearly 7 000 adults30:53these two scientists found that most socially the most socially isolated people with the fewest social ties to others were at the highest risk for mortality so let me break that down for you if you're a loner you don't never meet with people your risk of dying is higher than those that meet so31:16here's the deal the results were devastating people who are not in a group are twice as likely to die in the next year as those who are in a group people who have strong social connections but poor health habits eating exercise smoking etc are just as healthy as those with good health habits but with weak social31:40connections and here's the here's the catch line better to eat twinkies with friends they eat broccoli alone as a rough rule of thumb if you belong to no groups whatsoever to no groups whatsoever but you decide to join one you cut your risk of dying over the next year and a half so join a life group will save your life32:07and you can be discipled for jesus we are in desperate need in the church today to be educated about this desperate need we're so biblically illiterate it's not even funny we're so scared to death that someone's going to say something that we don't know about32:37we're so fearful that someone's going to come in here and tell us that we can't do this or that we need to know what the word says so that we can live a life full so life groups off-campus we're launching them today as a matter of fact in your folders your worship folders there's a list there's nine of them on the list there's actually ten eric i've added one this morning as33:06a matter of fact um and there's more that's going to be actually coming let me tell you something having nine life groups to begin with um is awesome off campus i've met with other church leaders and they said man how many you got so did i and i literally was like i was kind of bummed out a little33:32bit i was like i have nine you have how many is that good or is that bad man that's awesome you have nine groups that are going to be meeting off campus that are going to be sharing god's word yeah man that that's that's nine different opportunities in your community that is going to place discipleship as a front for the community that's awesome so i don't know i'm excited i don't know if you guys are or not but34:06i'm very excited and those of you that are leading those groups man it's gonna be great hosea 4 6 you don't have to turn there this is just a side note hosea 4 6 says this people are destroyed for lack of knowledge it's as simple as that people are destroyed for lack of knowledge so life groups we need to get in one we need to we need to become we need to become faithful servants of the word and get in those studies and learn about those studies now there's other areas34:35you can you can the discipleship happens too it's just not life groups it's just not when we meet here in the mornings but it's also other things that we that we do too um this this thursday um a lot of you may not know this those of you that are there you know this this thursday our food bank opened up for the first time actually they were open last week but it's officially open this thursday 11 families we fed 11 families35:0424 people total first thursday open come on now that we need to celebrate that i mean we just we just we just fed people that needed it and you can go to sharing stevens and she she'll be more than happy to to tell you about some of those that just they just kind of broke her35:32heart a little bit matter of fact her comment was i didn't sleep that night because man there's some there's there's people that are in need and here's the deal man we're going to have an opportunity to disciple those people because some of them don't know the things that we're just kind of common to they don't know how to manage their finances they don't know how to to to to get a job some of them know how to go to an interview so man we're going to be able to disciple them pull them in and go man this is this is how you do35:59this and do it with brotherly love and teach them that god's word 10 families actually 11 families and those people giving their food out guess what you don't think there's discipleship going on right there oh yeah they were there was celebrate recovery i mean silver recovery is one of those areas that um my family has been involved in36:24my step does not hear but man he can he can give you he can tell you stories about how this church wrapped him up wouldn't leave him alone was his comment chased him down man and i thank god for for for that program because here's the deal they're discipling people they're just entrenched in addictions they just got this just they just got them and we want to love36:53people enough to say hey man you don't have to live that way you don't have to live that way you need to you need to be discipled so there's so many different areas that we can be a part of this jesus's strategy was so simple he took 12 ordinary men and changed the world 12 ordinary men he poured his life into those men during those three years of his ministry and he didn't then he concentrated on three37:23concentrated on three peter james and john that was his strategy for spreading the gospel and making disciples so jesus invested most of his time in these 12 and he knew that as he prayed these 12 men would invest in others and the 12 became thousands and so on and so on and here we set today making disciples so here's my challenge to you we need to focus on people individually37:55make disciples in the workplace you need to think about that i want you to think about tomorrow for a second think about when you get up think about that place you stop by maybe to get a biscuit or a cup of coffee think about your first hour or two on the job how can you individually in your life make disciples38:19it may be guys it may be something as simple you may be mentoring someone right now you may be taking someone and training them in the job that you have you may be training them in that profession it may be that you're training a new teller at the bank or something and you're you're investing in that person38:45maybe you're you're training a teacher or maybe you're you're you're facilitating classes we need to use that for god's glory some of you swing hammers no we're not really use nail guns um some of you are in construction man i'll tell you what after working with with my brother tim out there um i can see that profession you can make disciples there because those dudes are rough39:11they just are they just rough folks man roofers i don't know how they do it all day but they need jesus too and so we need to learn we need to rethink how we walk in this thing we called christianity those of you that are retired39:40those of you that are like you're like man brad i'm not on the job place no more you've got grandkids those grandbabies need you to invest in their life i will never forget my grandparents some of the only godly influences i had in my life growing up so those of you that have different color hair than i do white gray salt and pepper however you want40:05to call it even those of you that cover it up we know we can actually we can tell just so you don't anyway um those of you that are of that age that golden age we need you let me tell you something we need you more than ever because you've been there and you've done it we're standing on concrete40:33that those guys back there invested in we're standing in a building that those guys back there sweat and bled on we need you my encouragement to you is just don't sit idle we need you to stand up and push a future generation forward41:00let's pray lord jesus thank you so much for your word lord my prayer is that we will be diligent in making disciples everywhere we go that it will become a lifestyle for us in the home in the workplace at the school on the ball fields everywhere we go everywhere we walk41:30well i pray lord that we would be in diligent pursuit of making disciples so with every head bowed and every eye closed in here maybe here this morning you're like brettman i need to be discipled i want to encourage you this morning that this is a place where you can be discipled41:58this is a place where it's okay to come forward and say man i need this i need to start walking with the lord my life is a mess can't seem to get anything right i need jesus to be the42:27light of my life i need him to be control of my life that's you i'm going to encourage you in a moment to to step forward and just say just come to this altar and maybe pray and just talk to myself one of the counselors that'll be up here maybe you're here and you're visiting with us your guest well you've been a guest for some time and you you're like man i need a place to plug in i need a place to be discipled any place to plug my family in we welcome you with open arms that's what you're doing and maybe you're here and you've been a christian for some time42:57but you're not discipling anyone you're not engaged would you become engaged would you start to invest in others lord jesus take this service and do as you will name it jesus would you stand43:31and do as you will name it jesus would you standMore sermons on John →
