Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Strengthening Your Grip on Discipleship │ Msg 716

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Strengthening Your Grip on Discipleship │ Msg 716 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Even though I'm a preacher, I'm convinced a church is
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Speaker 1: not just a gathering of people who sit and listen
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Speaker 1: to one person preach.
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Speaker 2: It's not that at all.
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Speaker 1: As important as the message is, it is only part
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Speaker 1: of what happens in the local church. In addition to
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Speaker 1: a pulpit ministry, there is an essential ministry that occurs
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Speaker 1: on the personal level in each Christian's life, or perhaps
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Speaker 1: I should say should occur. One person's life touches the
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Speaker 1: life of another, who then touches the lives of people
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Speaker 1: in his or her sphere of influence, those whom the
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Speaker 1: originator would never have even known. To make things even
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Speaker 1: more exciting, those recipients, in turn, touch the lives of
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Speaker 1: others also.
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Speaker 2: Dr.
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Speaker 1: Duane Litfin, former president of Wheaton College, calls this the
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Speaker 1: endless chain of Christian discipleship. The Navigators call this the
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Speaker 1: ministry of multiplication.
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Speaker 2: Both are correct.
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Speaker 1: Now, why do I say all of this with such conviction?
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Speaker 1: Partly because I am the product of this kind of discipleship.
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Speaker 1: I have been personally mentored. There have been men in
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Speaker 1: my life, some of whom you would not even know
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Speaker 1: if I mentioned their names, who have made a major
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Speaker 1: difference in my life, the way I live and the
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Speaker 1: way I read the Word of God, even the way
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Speaker 1: I deliver the message. They saw potential where I didn't.
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Speaker 1: They encouraged me to become something more than I was.
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Speaker 1: They reproved me and they corrected me. They encouraged me.
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Speaker 1: They affirmed me. They modeled what I longed to become.
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Speaker 1: They saw the most potential in me where I often
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Speaker 1: saw the least. Another of my mentors, the late Dr.
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Speaker 1: Howard Hendricks, said that every Christian needs at least three
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Speaker 1: individuals in his or her life. We need someone who
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Speaker 1: has come before us who mentors us. We need another
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Speaker 1: beside us who shares our burden. And we need someone
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Speaker 1: beyond us whom we're mentoring. This process has been occurring
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Speaker 1: since ever since Jesus began it with his disciples. As
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Speaker 1: we talk today about strengthening your grip on discipleship, we
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Speaker 1: need to focus our attention on what the Lord said
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Speaker 1: in his Great Commission, as found in the 28th chapter
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Speaker 1: of Matthew. I like the way the New Living Translation
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Speaker 1: renders verses 16 through 20. Listen carefully. Then the eleven
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Speaker 1: disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus
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Speaker 1: had told them to go. When they saw him, they
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Speaker 1: worshipped him. But some of them doubted. Jesus came and
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Speaker 1: told his disciples, I have been given all authority in
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Speaker 1: heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of
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Speaker 1: all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
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Speaker 1: Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these
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Speaker 1: new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.
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Speaker 1: And be sure of this, I am with you always,
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Speaker 1: even to the end of the age. And now I'll
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Speaker 1: turn next in my Bible to the book of Mark,
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Speaker 1: chapter 3, verses 13 and 14, where we read, Afterward
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Speaker 1: Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the
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Speaker 1: ones he wanted to go with him. and they came
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Speaker 1: to him. Then he appointed twelve of them and called
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Speaker 1: them his apostles. They were to accompany him, and he
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Speaker 1: would send them out to preach. Being a disciple does
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Speaker 1: have a price tag, and Jesus spelled that out for
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Speaker 1: us in the 14th chapter of Luke, verses 25 to 33.
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Speaker 1: A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and
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Speaker 1: said to them, If you want to be my disciple,
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Speaker 1: you must hate everyone else by comparison, your father and mother,
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Speaker 1: wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even your own life. Otherwise,
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Speaker 1: you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not
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Speaker 1: carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be
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Speaker 1: my disciple. But don't begin until you count the cost,
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Speaker 1: for who would begin construction of a building without without
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Speaker 1: first calculating the cost, to see if there is enough
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Speaker 1: money to finish it. Otherwise, you might complete only the
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Speaker 1: foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would
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Speaker 1: laugh at you. They would say, there's the person who
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Speaker 1: started that building and couldn't afford to finish it. Or
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Speaker 1: what king would go to war against another king without
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Speaker 1: first sitting down with his counselors to discuss things whether
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Speaker 1: his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching
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Speaker 1: against him. And if he can't, he will send a
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Speaker 1: delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is
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Speaker 1: still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without
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Speaker 1: giving up everything you own.
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Speaker 2: Now, some time ago, we began a series which we
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Speaker 2: have called Pulpit Talk. We've addressed the issues that the
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Speaker 2: church is experiencing, and we have done it up front.
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Speaker 2: Not the things we feel will be needs and issues,
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Speaker 2: but things that are. We began with a talk on priorities.
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Speaker 2: We talked about the importance of our ministry being biblical,
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Speaker 2: that our ministry ought to be authentic and gracious and relevant.
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Speaker 2: If at any time one of those four ingredients is missing,
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Speaker 2: we're getting off target. So we emphasize the value of
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Speaker 2: staying with our priorities. With those priorities in mind, we
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Speaker 2: launched the second time around the subject of involvement, and
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Speaker 2: we challenged all of us to guard against being isolated believers.
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Speaker 2: The tendency of our times is to become isolationists, to
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Speaker 2: sort of become our own person and care little, need
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Speaker 2: little that has to do with others. We don't want
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Speaker 2: that around here. If that is your goal in life,
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Speaker 2: you don't belong here. We don't want to become a great, big, giant,
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Speaker 2: uninvolved body of onlookers who who come like people in
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Speaker 2: a stadium to watch it happen. Somehow we want the
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Speaker 2: Spirit of God to move within our midst and to
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Speaker 2: help all of us see ourselves as mutual ministers with
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Speaker 2: one another, not people who come to watch someone minister.
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Speaker 2: So we dealt thirdly with encouragement, and our ministry, we hope,
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Speaker 2: will take on more and more of that. Not people
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Speaker 2: who destroy and discourage others, but people who help construct
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Speaker 2: other lives. People who have healing in their hearts. Who
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Speaker 2: care about people in need and hope, if possible, to
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Speaker 2: lift the burden rather than add to the weight on
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Speaker 2: other's shoulders. Then we got very serious the fourth time.
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Speaker 2: We talked about purity. Personal, moral purity. We allowed God
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Speaker 2: to speak through 1 Thessalonians 4 as he addressed directly
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Speaker 2: the issue of being people who don't compromise with their
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Speaker 2: marital fidelity. If you are single, you don't compromise in
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Speaker 2: your sexual life. You remain morally pure until and if
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Speaker 2: God brings you into marriage. Purity is a vital part
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Speaker 2: of the Christian's mark. It's one of our symbols, or
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Speaker 2: it should be, and has been throughout time. When we
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Speaker 2: compromise morally, we lose our distinctive. So we dealt with
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Speaker 2: purity up front. The fifth time we talked rather boldly
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Speaker 2: about money, not just giving money to a church, but
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Speaker 2: seeing our money as a gift from God and everything
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Speaker 2: we make as having come from God and all of
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Speaker 2: it being a part of his possession. entrusted to us.
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Speaker 2: We talked about saving. We talked about borrowing. We talked
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Speaker 2: about coveting. We talked about investing. And we talked about giving.
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Speaker 2: We saw in 1 Timothy chapter 6 three categories that
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Speaker 2: relate to money. Those who don't have it and their
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Speaker 2: problem with covetousness. Those who desire to get rich and
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Speaker 2: the problem with traps that we fall into with greed.
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Speaker 2: And those that have plenty of money and the wisdom
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Speaker 2: needed in using it. Last time we dealt with a
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Speaker 2: personal matter of honesty and we called it integrity. The
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Speaker 2: value of being people who are honest. We keep our word.
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Speaker 2: We keep our promises. We pay our bills. We don't
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Speaker 2: fool around when it comes to something we have stated
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Speaker 2: would be true of our lives. Therefore, we hate phoniness
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Speaker 2: and wearing masks. We shoot for that which has integrity
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Speaker 2: at the heart of it. Today we're covering a theme
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Speaker 2: that I fear might lose a little of the punch
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Speaker 2: of this series. The theme of discipleship. The reason I
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Speaker 2: fear that is because it is the N-word. I don't
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Speaker 2: think I read a dozen articles on the subject of
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Speaker 2: ministry that did not either imply or directly address the
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Speaker 2: subject of discipleship. It is an overworked and overused term,
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Speaker 2: but I'm going to be rather bold in saying it
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Speaker 2: is an underapplied concept. Even though you and I have
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Speaker 2: heard a lot about discipleship, and even though we're now
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Speaker 2: familiar with the word, if the truth were known, most
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Speaker 2: of us still are not discipling. Most of us are
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Speaker 2: still spectators when it comes to ministry. That is not
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Speaker 2: only unwise and unhealthy, It is unbiblical. Matthew chapter 28
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Speaker 2: is the chapter that includes the final words of Jesus
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Speaker 2: before he ascended from the earth. His last will and
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Speaker 2: testament has been called the Great Commission, which is another
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Speaker 2: way of saying his final challenge to the people that
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Speaker 2: are left to carry on in his place. Most of
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Speaker 2: us could quote the words in verses 19 and 20,
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Speaker 2: for we have heard them all our Christian lives. But
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Speaker 2: right in the center of this quote, great commission, unquote,
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Speaker 2: there is discipleship that most of us have missed. Beginning
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Speaker 2: our reading in verse 16, we find Matthew 28 saying,
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Speaker 2: but the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain
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Speaker 2: which Jesus had designated. And when they saw him, They
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Speaker 2: worshiped him, but some were doubtful. It might encourage some
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Speaker 2: who read these words, by the way, to notice that
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Speaker 2: after three years and more, eyeball to eyeball, shoulder to shoulder,
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Speaker 2: life to life, face to face with Christ, to the
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Speaker 2: very last minutes he was on the earth, some still doubted.
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Speaker 2: That's understandable. A lot of things were deep and mysterious
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Speaker 2: and strange to them right up to the end. So
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Speaker 2: they still wondered how it all fit together. If you're
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Speaker 2: a struggler, you're in good company. So were some of
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Speaker 2: the disciples. Some still doubted. And Jesus came up and
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Speaker 2: spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to
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Speaker 2: me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, and make
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Speaker 2: disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name
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Speaker 2: of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
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Speaker 2: teaching them to observe all that I command you. And lo,
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Speaker 2: I am with you always, even to the end of
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Speaker 2: the age. There it is, big as life. Make disciples. Now,
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Speaker 2: if I read this correctly, as Matthew originally wrote it,
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Speaker 2: There is one major action word. Everything else sort of
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Speaker 2: supplements that one major word of action. The major word
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Speaker 2: is make disciples. Now to do that, you have to go.
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Speaker 2: You need to baptize. You must teach. But the major
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Speaker 2: emphasis of his final word to his church was Make disciples. Question.
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Speaker 2: Are you making disciples? Oh, I'm going. I'm witnessing. Are
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Speaker 2: you making disciples? I've been involved in evangelism since I
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Speaker 2: was in the family of God. Are you making disciples?
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Speaker 2: You don't realize how many hours I have taught the
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Speaker 2: scriptures to classes. Are you making disciples? Disciples. If the
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Speaker 2: answer is no, you are not fulfilling the Great Commission. Now,
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Speaker 2: I don't mean to be needlessly offensive in making it
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Speaker 2: sound like that, but I think unless we see it
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Speaker 2: like that, it'll never come through to us. We will
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Speaker 2: do anything but make disciples because making disciples requires personal involvement.
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Speaker 2: You see, I think a number of people live under
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Speaker 2: the mistaken impression that Jesus held mass crusades. And he
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Speaker 2: won a lot of converts to Christianity. So that by
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Speaker 2: the time he left the earth, there were thousands of
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Speaker 2: people who had been led to Christ because he met
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Speaker 2: with them in places around that first century time. No, No,
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Speaker 2: there were a few occasions when the scripture records that
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Speaker 2: he did have those mass meetings, but his time was
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Speaker 2: spent with a handful of 11 or 12 men. Before
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Speaker 2: we stop off at Luke 14, I'd like to have
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Speaker 2: you go to Mark 3. So it's just a few
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Speaker 2: more pages on. I'd like you to see how this
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Speaker 2: all started. We're going to go back in time some
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Speaker 2: three years. And we're going to see Jesus Christ as
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Speaker 2: he begins his ministry. Now, when we do this, you
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Speaker 2: need a little orientation. The world of Jesus' day was
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Speaker 2: a religious world. There were Sadducees, there were Pharisees, there
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Speaker 2: were scribes, there were religious pros. There were people who
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Speaker 2: knew the synagogue talk, and they met faithfully every Saturday.
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Speaker 2: They kept lists in their minds of people that did
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Speaker 2: and did not do the things they expected and required.
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Speaker 2: They had a system of do's and don'ts that would
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Speaker 2: just outrank any legalist today. The religionist of that day
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Speaker 2: was hardcore and he was zealous. He was determined to
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Speaker 2: get people into the religious rigmarole of their day. Jesus
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Speaker 2: came and cut a new swath. He didn't fit into
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Speaker 2: their system. In fact, he saw right through it. And
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Speaker 2: he called a spade a spade. Rather than meeting with them,
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Speaker 2: he called his own band together. And of all things,
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Speaker 2: not one of them was a was a religionist. Not one.
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Speaker 2: One man had been fishing. Another was fishing along with
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Speaker 2: his brother. There was a man who was in the
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Speaker 2: tax gathering business and another was in his own personal work.
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Speaker 2: Several of them. We don't even know what their profession was.
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Speaker 2: If they had one, not one was really impressive. But
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Speaker 2: verse 13 of Mark 3 tells us he went up
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Speaker 2: to the mountain and summoned those whom he himself wanted.
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Speaker 2: I don't exactly know how that happened. I rather expect
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Speaker 2: that Jesus, looking out over a group of people in
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Speaker 2: a period of time, picked and chose different ones and
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Speaker 2: said in this summons, wouldn't you be mine? Wouldn't you
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Speaker 2: give up your profession and become a part of this
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Speaker 2: God movement that I'm a part of, I'm the leader of?
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Speaker 2: Wouldn't you follow me and trust me for job security
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Speaker 2: and retirement benefits? Wouldn't you be willing to do that?
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Speaker 2: And they did. They were summoned, and it says in
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Speaker 2: verse 13, they came to him. Now, when they got
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Speaker 2: to the mountain together and he looked out over this group,
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Speaker 2: it says he appointed 12 men. Here again, I'm not
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Speaker 2: exactly sure what that means. Perhaps it's at this time
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Speaker 2: he gets down specifically and says, gentlemen, I'm not talking
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Speaker 2: about just part of your time being spent doing this.
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Speaker 2: I'm telling you, I want you to be committed to me.
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Speaker 2: I want it to change your whole profile. I want
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Speaker 2: it ultimately to alter your attitude. I want it to
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Speaker 2: affect the way you make decisions. I want it to
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Speaker 2: make an impact in your home. I want it to
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Speaker 2: so revolutionize you that you are not like you have
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Speaker 2: ever been before spiritually. I want you to be one
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Speaker 2: of the 12. Right about now, some of you are
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Speaker 2: probably thinking, oh, those guys must have been very, very
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Speaker 2: bright to have been chosen. I mean, to have been
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Speaker 2: picked among the 12 What an honor to become one
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Speaker 2: of Jesus' own choices. Robert Coleman, in my estimation, has
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Speaker 2: written the finest book on discipleship that I have ever read.
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Speaker 2: It's called The Master Plan of Evangelism. And in the book,
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Speaker 2: I quote, a few things Coleman says. It all started
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Speaker 2: by Jesus calling a few men to follow him. The
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Speaker 2: initial objective of Jesus' plans was to enlist men who
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Speaker 2: could bear witness to his life and carry on his
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Speaker 2: work after he returned to the Father. Now keep listening.
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Speaker 2: What is most revealing about these men is that at
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Speaker 2: first they do not impress us as being key men.
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Speaker 2: None of them occupied prominent places in the synagogue, nor
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Speaker 2: did any of them belong to the Levitical priesthood. For
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Speaker 2: the most part, they were common laboring men, probably having
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Speaker 2: no professional training beyond the rudiments of knowledge necessary for
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Speaker 2: their vocation. Perhaps a few of them came from families
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Speaker 2: of some considerable means, such as the sons of Zebedee,
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Speaker 2: But none of them could have been considered wealthy. They
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Speaker 2: had no academic degrees in the arts and philosophies of
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Speaker 2: their day. Like their master, their formal education consisted only
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Speaker 2: of the synagogue schools. Most of them were raised in
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Speaker 2: the poor section of the country called Galilee. Apparently, the
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Speaker 2: only one of the 12 who came from the more
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Speaker 2: refined region of Judea was Judas Iscariot. By any standard
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Speaker 2: of sophisticated culture then and now, they would surely be
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Speaker 2: considered as a rather ragged aggregation of souls. I like
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Speaker 2: the way Coleman puts it. That makes us all feel comfortable.
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Speaker 2: We at least fit there in a rather ragged aggregation
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Speaker 2: of souls. Not many noble, not many high, not many mighty,
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Speaker 2: not many significant, not many impressive, says Paul, but God
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Speaker 2: chose people like you and me and appointed us to
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Speaker 2: be his own. So he appointed them to be among
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Speaker 2: the 12. Now verse 14, one of my favorites in
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Speaker 2: all the New Testament. And he appointed the 12 that
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Speaker 2: they might be with him and that he might send
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Speaker 2: them out to preach. There was a summons. There was
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Speaker 2: an appointment. There was an association, which we will call
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Speaker 2: involvement with Christ. And then there was service. One of
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Speaker 2: the greater mistakes the church of this generation makes is
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Speaker 2: snapping people quickly from the birth process and putting them
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Speaker 2: in places requiring maturity prematurely. How many of us went
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Speaker 2: through that and lived through the frustration of serving Jesus
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Speaker 2: Christ before we were ready? We heard one of our
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Speaker 2: missionaries talk about the difficulties connected with the premature birth
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Speaker 2: of their little boy, Alan. We all understood that baby
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Speaker 2: needs care, needs time, needs attention, needs assistance. Spiritually speaking,
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Speaker 2: we too need time to heal, to get on our feet.
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Speaker 2: We need time with Jesus Christ. Then we're ready to preach.
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Speaker 2: Then we're ready, better ready to serve. The church of
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Speaker 2: Jesus Christ has become so all-fired, involved with prayer Service, service,
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Speaker 2: service that very few feel they have the time to
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Speaker 2: just spend time with Christ. The vital role of discipleship
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Speaker 2: has been lost in the mass hysteria of our concept
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Speaker 2: of Christianity. I was a Christian long before I was
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Speaker 2: a disciple. I was working in the church long before
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Speaker 2: I was a disciple. Oh, I knew Christ. I was
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Speaker 2: born into his family by faith in God's son. I
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Speaker 2: believed in the Bible. I was convinced that the Bible
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Speaker 2: had the answers. But there was a great moment in
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Speaker 2: my life where a man loved me enough to pull
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Speaker 2: me aside and help get me on my feet. Now,
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Speaker 2: you know, I think before I can say anything else
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Speaker 2: about discipleship, I've got to tell you up front, forget
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Speaker 2: the navigators, okay? Forget Campus Crusade for Christ. Forget Campus Life.
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Speaker 2: Forget InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and all of those fine ministries,
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Speaker 2: lest some little hang-up you have with one or more
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Speaker 2: of them will keep you from understanding the New Testament
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Speaker 2: teaching on discipleship, the value of it. Because some of
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Speaker 2: you have been ripped off. Some of you have been offended.
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Speaker 2: Some of you have seen the extreme and therefore you
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Speaker 2: throw the baby out with the bathwater. I mean, I've
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Speaker 2: seen discipleship, Chuck. You should see how it happens. And
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Speaker 2: then when you hear the word, off it goes. Not
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Speaker 2: for me. Forget all of those bad things. Jesus says
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Speaker 2: make disciples. Jesus did make disciples. But the question is,
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Speaker 2: does it work? I mean, can anyone ultimately tell if
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Speaker 2: you have really been with Jesus? So that your roots
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Speaker 2: were put down deeply and you caught a vision of
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Speaker 2: life like Christ? I'm glad you asked that. Look at
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Speaker 2: the book of Acts chapter four and I'll answer it
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Speaker 2: for you. Chapter four, verse four. Now we're jumping back
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Speaker 2: and forth in time. We began at the end of
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Speaker 2: Jesus' ministry. We went back to the beginning of Jesus' ministry.
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Speaker 2: Now in Acts 4, we go to that time when
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Speaker 2: he has left the earth and the disciples are left
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Speaker 2: to carry on. And they are now the talk of
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Speaker 2: the country. Their strange ministry is revolutionizing the world in
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Speaker 2: which they live. And they are making the religious people
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Speaker 2: terribly nervous, terribly uneasy. In fact, they're doing things like
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Speaker 2: street meetings and public healings, etc. So now a few
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Speaker 2: of the hotshots, chapter 4, with a squint eye, began
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Speaker 2: to look at these strange disciples with a jaundiced eye.
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Speaker 2: Verse 4, many of those who heard the message believed,
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Speaker 2: and the number of the men came to be about 5,000.
26:35
Speaker 2: And it came about on the next day, that their
26:38
Speaker 2: rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem.
26:42
Speaker 2: Notice the group, rulers, elders, and scribes. And Annas the
26:45
Speaker 2: high priest was there, and so was Caiaphas, and so
26:49
Speaker 2: was John and Alexander, names we don't know but familiar
26:52
Speaker 2: to those in that day. The religious moguls, the bosses
26:56
Speaker 2: of the church, the established synagogue world of that day,
27:01
Speaker 2: they were all there. along with those who were of
27:04
Speaker 2: high priestly descent. And it says all of them. This
27:08
Speaker 2: is a large group of men. And when they had
27:11
Speaker 2: placed them in the center, whom? Well, specifically Peter and John,
27:17
Speaker 2: but implying the disciples, those that had been with Christ.
27:21
Speaker 2: They put them in the center and they began to
27:24
Speaker 2: press away with questions concerning what they were, what they
27:29
Speaker 2: were doing, what's going on. When they placed him in
27:33
Speaker 2: the center, they began to inquire, by what power and
27:36
Speaker 2: what name have you done this? Peter, filled with the
27:40
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people,
27:43
Speaker 2: if we are on trial today for a benefit done
27:45
Speaker 2: to a sick man as to how this man has
27:47
Speaker 2: been made well, let it be known to all of
27:51
Speaker 2: you and to all the people of Israel that by
27:53
Speaker 2: the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom you crucified,
27:58
Speaker 2: whom God raised from the dead by this name, This
28:02
Speaker 2: man stands here before you in good health. He is
28:07
Speaker 2: the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but
28:10
Speaker 2: which became the very cornerstone. And there is salvation in
28:14
Speaker 2: no other name. No one else, for there is no
28:17
Speaker 2: other name under heaven that has been given among men
28:21
Speaker 2: by which we must be saved. Wow, the courage that
28:25
Speaker 2: took to say that in front of those inquisitors. Think
28:33
Speaker 2: of it. This is Peter. This is John. These are
28:38
Speaker 2: men who were ignorant in the eyes of the world.
28:45
Speaker 2: Stroking their beards, staring into the faces of these courageous, secure,
28:52
Speaker 2: confident men, the religious rulers began to see something different
28:58
Speaker 2: in their lives. Verse 13, as they observed Peter, the
29:02
Speaker 2: confidence of Peter and John. They understood that they were
29:07
Speaker 2: uneducated and untrained men. They were marveling. And began to
29:15
Speaker 2: recognize them as what? As having been with Jesus. That's something.
29:28
Speaker 2: They looked into their faces. They listened to their answers.
29:32
Speaker 2: They studied them and they said, these are Jesus men.
29:45
Speaker 2: Significant to anybody else? Hey, they're now out doing the job.
29:52
Speaker 2: Christ has left the earth. The thing that has marked
29:56
Speaker 2: their lives is that they are Jesus. Just like Christ.
30:04
Speaker 2: They didn't see them as Peter and John and James
30:08
Speaker 2: and Matthew and Andrew. They saw them as Jesus men.
30:16
Speaker 2: They were different. They had been discipled. They were different.
30:32
Speaker 2: I would wish that many, many Christians who are impacted
30:38
Speaker 2: by our ministry would become disciples. And there's no way
30:43
Speaker 2: to gauge how many or who. I would consider it
30:51
Speaker 2: a successful decade if at the end of the decade,
30:56
Speaker 2: many of the Christians who have been onlookers satisfied with
31:02
Speaker 2: a mediocre Christianity, got off the fence and became Jesus people.
31:12
Speaker 2: In the full true sense of that name, Jesus people.
31:21
Speaker 2: People whose consciences are pricked by wrong. People who hate anything,
31:27
Speaker 2: anything that smacks of an inauthentic lifestyle. People who realize
31:34
Speaker 2: not only their treasure, but their very lives are not
31:37
Speaker 2: their own. They've been bought with a price. People whose profession,
31:43
Speaker 2: no matter what the profession may be, whose vocation, whose profession,
31:50
Speaker 2: blue collar, white collar, whatever, is bathed in their Christianity.
32:00
Speaker 2: People who take God seriously. People who have a sense
32:06
Speaker 2: and a depth and a level of consecration that is
32:09
Speaker 2: unlike the multitudes who just kind of go along. Now
32:13
Speaker 2: we're ready for Luke chapter 14. Back into Jesus' ministry.
32:19
Speaker 2: And we're going toward the middle of it now as
32:21
Speaker 2: we land in this 14th chapter. And as you would expect,
32:28
Speaker 2: we find a crowd following him. I can hear their
32:31
Speaker 2: stomachs growling. I can see their eyes bugging out onto
32:35
Speaker 2: their cheekbones thinking another miracle is about to happen. Come
32:39
Speaker 2: and watch it happen, folks. And there's a crowd and
32:42
Speaker 2: there's noise and there are people milling around back behind
32:46
Speaker 2: him as he's walking up ahead. And suddenly he turns
32:49
Speaker 2: around and he says, wait, you cannot be my disciple.
32:52
Speaker 2: If you cannot be my disciple, if you cannot be
32:55
Speaker 2: my disciple, if three separate times and immediately thins the ranks.
33:03
Speaker 2: Suddenly they are stunned with the realization that he's not
33:06
Speaker 2: interested in drawing a crowd and having great numbers follow him.
33:09
Speaker 2: He's interested in disciples. Look at verse 25. Great multitudes
33:18
Speaker 2: were going along with him. I'm going to say it
33:22
Speaker 2: because you know it is true. There are some in
33:25
Speaker 2: the Fullerton ministry who are just going along with the ministry.
33:31
Speaker 2: Just kind of slipping in and out, not getting close
33:33
Speaker 2: enough for it to make much difference, but just close
33:36
Speaker 2: enough to enjoy the benefits. You like being with us,
33:41
Speaker 2: and there's a part of this ministry that is really attractive,
33:45
Speaker 2: and it certainly beats what's going on at the place
33:49
Speaker 2: where you live, and for what other reasons you've kind
33:52
Speaker 2: of gone along. And you picked up enough of the
33:55
Speaker 2: language to say, well, that's fine. Yeah, that's good. That
33:59
Speaker 2: certainly beats this, and But it has not come much
34:03
Speaker 2: deeper than the shallow, superficial level of, well, yeah, okay,
34:07
Speaker 2: I believe in Christ. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, sure. I
34:10
Speaker 2: can't get to heaven on my own. Christ died for me.
34:13
Speaker 2: That's for me. But stay out of my life. Don't
34:20
Speaker 2: push me. No, I'll run the business my way. I've
34:28
Speaker 2: always believed this about the home, and that's the way
34:30
Speaker 2: it's going to stay. Or I've got my privacy and
34:34
Speaker 2: what goes on there is nobody's business, including God's. That's
34:39
Speaker 2: part of going along with him. Jesus says, wait a minute.
34:47
Speaker 2: He turns, verse 25, and I can just see that
34:51
Speaker 2: long index finger pointing directly into some faces. You mark
34:57
Speaker 2: the words, verse 25. Six, he cannot be my disciple.
35:01
Speaker 2: It ends with those words. Verse 27, he cannot be
35:05
Speaker 2: my disciple. It ends with those words. Verse 33, so
35:08
Speaker 2: therefore no one of you can be my disciple. Who
35:12
Speaker 2: does not? So he spells out the requirements. What is
35:20
Speaker 2: expected of this level of consecration? Okay, hang on. You
35:26
Speaker 2: think it's been tough so far. Just Just wait a
35:29
Speaker 2: few minutes. Verse 26. If anyone comes to me and
35:33
Speaker 2: does not hate his own father and mother and wife
35:36
Speaker 2: and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his
35:39
Speaker 2: own life, he cannot be my disciple. You know, open
35:46
Speaker 2: the door so we can leave. I mean, how can
35:50
Speaker 2: that be? Skeptics get a hold of a verse like
35:53
Speaker 2: this and they turn backflips with delight. See there, you
35:56
Speaker 2: said there are no contradictions in the Bible. Jesus is
35:59
Speaker 2: the one that says we're to honor father and mother,
36:01
Speaker 2: and yet he comes along and says we're to hate
36:02
Speaker 2: father and mother. And you're the one that says the
36:05
Speaker 2: home is all important and it's so important how we live,
36:08
Speaker 2: and he says we're to hate sister and brother and kids.
36:12
Speaker 2: I mean, if you can't do that, you can't be
36:13
Speaker 2: one of his disciples. Close the book and we're on
36:18
Speaker 2: our way. Totally confused. Now, you know in your own
36:23
Speaker 2: intelligent mind that that is not true. Maybe you can't
36:28
Speaker 2: explain what it does mean, but you know that God
36:31
Speaker 2: does not contradict himself. Certainly not the teachings of Christ
36:36
Speaker 2: or any of these that wrote in Scripture. This is
36:41
Speaker 2: what I will call language of accommodation. Jesus is a realist.
36:47
Speaker 2: He knows that in personal relationships, now hear this well,
36:51
Speaker 2: there was always the competition of loyalty.
36:54
Speaker 1: Always.
36:58
Speaker 2: There is a loyalty factor connected with any personal relationship
37:02
Speaker 2: in the Christian's life. And Christ says, I am to
37:08
Speaker 2: come out first. So if I am a single person
37:13
Speaker 2: and I am dating a young woman who is a
37:15
Speaker 2: single person and I realize this young woman is not
37:19
Speaker 2: good for my spiritual life, something must be changed or
37:22
Speaker 2: she can never be the woman for my life. That's
37:28
Speaker 2: hating brother or sister. If I am hearing counsel from
37:34
Speaker 2: God and it is straight from his word and it
37:36
Speaker 2: is clearly delineated as direction from him and his will
37:40
Speaker 2: for my life, I cannot allow my wife or my
37:44
Speaker 2: children to discount what he has said. Illustration. I have
37:49
Speaker 2: a friend who back in the Vietnam War was a chaplain.
37:54
Speaker 2: This chaplain, while overseas, had a significant ministry in the
37:58
Speaker 2: lives of a number of of men who were in
38:00
Speaker 2: the paratroop organization. And a number of them were not
38:05
Speaker 2: only led to Christ, but were being discipled by this fine, clear-thinking, sharp,
38:11
Speaker 2: believing chaplain. It came time for him to come home.
38:15
Speaker 2: He had a wife and, as I recall, two, perhaps
38:18
Speaker 2: three children waiting for him in the States. God began
38:24
Speaker 2: to move on his heart. He began to wrestle with
38:27
Speaker 2: what he should do. Should he take it and go
38:31
Speaker 2: right on home or should he stay? He stayed. I
38:35
Speaker 2: am not saying that that is God's will for every chaplain.
38:39
Speaker 2: I am not saying that that is God's plan for
38:41
Speaker 2: any other person. I'm saying for this friend of mine
38:45
Speaker 2: who stayed another term, it was God's will for him.
38:49
Speaker 2: In that sense, he hated wife and children. In the
38:54
Speaker 2: priority level of loyalty as it comes to personal relationships,
38:59
Speaker 2: Christ must be first. As you apply this, understand that
39:08
Speaker 2: all of Scripture is to bear on those kind of decisions.
39:15
Speaker 2: Guard against being a, quote, Jesus-only person. The Lord told
39:19
Speaker 2: me to do this, and so I left my wife.
39:23
Speaker 2: Or I left my husband, the Lord led me to,
39:27
Speaker 2: and then you fill it in. Understand that if you
39:31
Speaker 2: take this out of context and if you twist it
39:33
Speaker 2: to make it say what you want it to say,
39:36
Speaker 2: you can level anybody with the words the Lord led
39:39
Speaker 2: me or told me. What Jesus is talking about is
39:44
Speaker 2: the issue of competition, the loyalty of those personal relationships,
39:50
Speaker 2: Christ must be first. You're not a disciple if he isn't.
39:55
Speaker 2: If you have made your wife into a goddess, you
39:58
Speaker 2: are not a disciple. If you have made your husband
40:02
Speaker 2: into a god, you are not a disciple. If one
40:06
Speaker 2: of your children has become so significant to you that
40:09
Speaker 2: that child is number one, you're not a disciple. And
40:14
Speaker 2: that's what he's saying. There's more. Verse 27, whoever does
40:20
Speaker 2: not carry his own cross and come after me cannot
40:23
Speaker 2: be my disciple. What does that mean? Well, the first
40:27
Speaker 2: had to do with personal relationships. This one has to
40:30
Speaker 2: do with personal goals and desires in life. If you
40:34
Speaker 2: carry a cross in those days, you were going to
40:37
Speaker 2: the electric chair. You were going to the hangman's noose.
40:42
Speaker 2: You were going to the gas chamber. It was a
40:44
Speaker 2: sign of death. Jesus is talking here about personal goals
40:48
Speaker 2: and desires in life. I've heard people say, my one goal,
40:52
Speaker 2: my great goal is to be, and they'll name some profession.
40:55
Speaker 2: That's not a disciple. My great goal in life is
41:00
Speaker 2: to honor Jesus Christ and to so follow his will
41:04
Speaker 2: that his direction becomes my directive for my choice of vocation.
41:09
Speaker 2: For some, it's ministry. For most, it's not. That is
41:13
Speaker 2: vocational Christian service ministry. And I must say, no, I
41:19
Speaker 2: must die to what I particularly plan and want. I
41:24
Speaker 2: must say, Lord, you direct me. Now, it may very
41:26
Speaker 2: well be the thing that I have pleasure in and
41:29
Speaker 2: I would choose. It may be something different than that.
41:33
Speaker 2: For me, it was different. I had my world all arranged.
41:37
Speaker 2: It was so well set that I just kind of
41:39
Speaker 2: fit it into the military service just to get it
41:41
Speaker 2: out of the way. So I could go right back
41:44
Speaker 2: into a profession that was all set. Perfect situation, perfect job,
41:48
Speaker 2: waiting for me, fine salary. You know what Christ did?
41:52
Speaker 2: He fouled all that up. Well, you know what I mean.
41:55
Speaker 2: He stepped in and he says, that's not my will
41:57
Speaker 2: for you. I want you to go back to school.
42:00
Speaker 2: I want you to enter into another career. The very
42:02
Speaker 2: career you said you would never enter into. Oh no, don't,
42:06
Speaker 2: don't do that to me. Come on. You know when
42:09
Speaker 2: that happened? When I became a disciple. Hey, this is
42:14
Speaker 2: risky stuff. This means that I become very, very sensitive
42:20
Speaker 2: to his voice as it relates to my choices or
42:25
Speaker 2: my occupation and my plans. What else does it mean
42:31
Speaker 2: when he says, if you don't carry your cross and
42:33
Speaker 2: come after me, you can't be mine? Well, there's one other.
42:39
Speaker 2: Verse 33 says, No one of you can be my
42:43
Speaker 2: disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Oh,
42:47
Speaker 2: thanks a lot. Can you imagine that? All his own possessions.
42:55
Speaker 2: What he's saying here again in this language of accommodation
42:57
Speaker 2: is that things aren't to have me. Christ has me.
43:02
Speaker 2: I may have a few things, but they're all his.
43:04
Speaker 2: As Corrie ten Boom put it, I've learned to hold
43:06
Speaker 2: everything loosely because it hurts when he pries open my
43:09
Speaker 2: hands and takes them from me. I like the way
43:13
Speaker 2: one man put it when he called it purchasing the
43:15
Speaker 2: pearl of great price. Listen, I want this pearl. How
43:19
Speaker 2: much is it? Well, the seller says it's very expensive. Well,
43:23
Speaker 2: how much? Well, it's a very large amount. You think
43:27
Speaker 2: I could buy it? Oh, of course. Anyone could buy it.
43:29
Speaker 2: But didn't you say it was very expensive? Yes. Well,
43:32
Speaker 2: how much is it? Everything you have. We make up
43:37
Speaker 2: our minds. All right, I'll buy it. Well, what do
43:41
Speaker 2: you have? He wants to know. Well, let's write it down.
43:45
Speaker 2: I have $ 10, 000 in the bank. Good, $ 10, 000. What else? Well,
43:49
Speaker 2: that's all. That's all I have. Nothing more? Well, I
43:53
Speaker 2: have a few dollars here in my pocket. How much? Well,
43:55
Speaker 2: we start digging. We get $ 30, $ 40, $ 60, $ 80, $ 120. There,
43:59
Speaker 2: that's fine. What else do you have? Well, nothing. That's all. Well,
44:04
Speaker 2: where do you live? He's still probing. In my house, yes,
44:08
Speaker 2: I have a house. Then I'll take the house, too.
44:10
Speaker 2: He writes that down. You mean I have to live
44:11
Speaker 2: in my camper? Oh, you have a camper. Well, that, too. Well,
44:16
Speaker 2: what else? I'll have to sleep in my car. You
44:18
Speaker 2: have a car. Well, I have two of them. Both
44:21
Speaker 2: of them are mine, both cars. What else? Well, you
44:24
Speaker 2: already have my money, my house, my camper, my cars.
44:27
Speaker 2: What else do you want? Are you all alone in
44:28
Speaker 2: this world? No, I have a wife and two children. Oh, yes,
44:31
Speaker 2: your wife. And children, too. What else? I have nothing left.
44:34
Speaker 2: I'm left alone. Suddenly, the seller exclaims, oh, I almost forgot.
44:40
Speaker 2: You yourself, too. Everything becomes mine. Wife, children, camper, house, money, cars,
44:45
Speaker 2: and you, too. And then he goes on. Now, listen.
44:49
Speaker 2: I will allow you to use all these things for
44:51
Speaker 2: the time being, but don't forget, they're all mine. Whenever
44:56
Speaker 2: I need any one of them, you must give them
44:59
Speaker 2: up because I'm the owner. That is the way to live.
45:07
Speaker 2: It is fantastic living like that. That means whatever I
45:15
Speaker 2: have is on loan from my Savior. And I do
45:20
Speaker 2: not bow down and worship before it. I worship Him.
45:23
Speaker 2: And He gives me a direction in life that makes
45:28
Speaker 2: it fulfilling and satisfying. None of the other things are
45:31
Speaker 2: going to satisfy me. Only he can satisfy and only
45:35
Speaker 2: when I've come to the place that it's all his.
45:40
Speaker 2: Every single thing. And then he loans it to me
45:43
Speaker 2: regularly on a day-by-day basis. Am I saying there's no
45:50
Speaker 2: struggle in it? You never heard me say easy once
45:53
Speaker 2: in this message. I mean, isn't that an expensive price?
46:00
Speaker 2: That's why he gives two stories. in the middle of
46:03
Speaker 2: these commands. And you know, for years in teaching this passage,
46:08
Speaker 2: I never understood it. I used to say, now to
46:10
Speaker 2: be a disciple, you really have to count the cost.
46:14
Speaker 2: You always say those things when you're not a disciple.
46:16
Speaker 2: You say those things because it sounds so holy. But
46:20
Speaker 2: never once does Christ say the disciple must count the cost.
46:25
Speaker 2: Go back and look. Some of you are giving me
46:27
Speaker 2: that who me look right now, and I want to
46:29
Speaker 2: take it off your face. Verse 28. Which one of you,
46:32
Speaker 2: when he wants to build a tower, doesn't first sit
46:34
Speaker 2: down and calculate the cost to see if he has
46:37
Speaker 2: enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a
46:39
Speaker 2: foundation and has not been able to finish, all who
46:41
Speaker 2: observe begin to ridicule him, saying, the man began to
46:44
Speaker 2: build and was not able to finish. But does he
46:47
Speaker 2: say to you, count the cost? No, he says it's
46:50
Speaker 2: a standard principle. Before you sit down to build, you
46:52
Speaker 2: think about how much it's going to cost. Question, who's
46:55
Speaker 2: doing the building? Christ.
46:58
Speaker 1: Christ.
47:01
Speaker 2: Who's calculated the cost? Christ. That's why he says three
47:07
Speaker 2: separate times it will take relationships, it will take your
47:10
Speaker 2: own personal goals, it will take your own possessions. I've
47:13
Speaker 2: counted the cost and that's what it's going to take.
47:17
Speaker 2: I've sat down and planned for this building. In fact,
47:20
Speaker 2: it is an army. Remember the hymn? Like a mighty
47:24
Speaker 2: army moves the church of God forward. Look at verse 31. Oh,
47:29
Speaker 2: what king, when he sets out to meet another king
47:32
Speaker 2: in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel
47:34
Speaker 2: whether he is strong enough with 10,000 men to encounter
47:38
Speaker 2: one with 20,000? We'll always be outnumbered. Jesus says, when
47:41
Speaker 2: I've got the kind of quality, I don't care about
47:44
Speaker 2: the odds against me. But it's taking quality soldiers to
47:48
Speaker 2: get the job done. That's why the cost is so high.
47:57
Speaker 2: There's no hocus pocus in this message, I'll tell you, friends.
48:00
Speaker 2: None at all. Some of you have been waiting for
48:03
Speaker 2: a long, long time for some spiritual guru to come
48:06
Speaker 2: along and disciple you. Stop that. Find a friend. Get
48:15
Speaker 2: a friend. Get involved. Let that friend become like iron,
48:19
Speaker 2: sharpening the iron of your soul. You can't always get
48:22
Speaker 2: the one you pick. Let God give you one. At
48:25
Speaker 2: least one, maybe two, only a few. And make that
48:32
Speaker 2: your ministry. I love the way Ray Ortlund writes in
48:35
Speaker 2: his book, Intersections. My mother had five kids. She lived
48:40
Speaker 2: 90 years and had lots of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. By
48:43
Speaker 2: the time our third child was born, my older brothers
48:46
Speaker 2: and sisters had many children. I wrote mother one time,
48:50
Speaker 2: it's a boy. I got back the most unenthusiastic letter
48:53
Speaker 2: you could imagine. It had two words that referred to
48:56
Speaker 2: the birth of this new child in our family. More Ortlunds.
49:01
Speaker 2: That's all. Sometimes I would ask my mother, how did
49:04
Speaker 2: you raise those five mean little kids? We'd joke about
49:06
Speaker 2: the early days. But if I'd ask her, mother, how
49:09
Speaker 2: did you raise the 17 grandchildren and the multitudes of
49:12
Speaker 2: great grandchildren? She would have said, now, wait a minute.
49:15
Speaker 2: Those are your kids, not mine. I took care of
49:19
Speaker 2: my five. That's it. No more. Spoken like a real grandmother,
49:23
Speaker 2: isn't it? Sounds just like one. She would have been right.
49:26
Speaker 2: It wouldn't be fair to expect my mother to raise
49:28
Speaker 2: her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. And that principle is true spiritually.
49:34
Speaker 2: You're not committed to a generation of people. You become
49:37
Speaker 2: committed to one, two, four, six in the entire decade.
49:42
Speaker 2: One person with whom you are accountable, with whom you grow,
49:46
Speaker 2: in whom you build a life. It is remarkable what
49:51
Speaker 2: that will do when everything else breaks down and you
49:59
Speaker 2: need somebody. It's amazing what that will do. It's amazing
50:05
Speaker 2: what that'll do to your Christianity when it is no
50:07
Speaker 2: longer a sterile spectator sport. And it becomes a people
50:14
Speaker 2: involvement with one, two, three, perhaps never more than five people.
50:27
Speaker 2: Warren Webster, for a number of years a missionary in Pakistan,
50:30
Speaker 2: came back to InterVarsity's big Urbana conference one year. Look
50:39
Speaker 2: back over his life, as I recall reading the message
50:42
Speaker 2: that was put into print. If I had my life
50:45
Speaker 2: to live over again, I would spend it changing just
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Speaker 2: a few people. Just a few people. I'm not saying
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Speaker 2: you stop evangelizing. I'm saying you start. Discipleship will help that.
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Speaker 2: But I'm saying that you don't just skate and skip
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Speaker 2: through life like a rock across the top of a pond,
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Speaker 2: never getting deep, but that you stop and sink into
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Speaker 2: a few lives. Make some disciples who will in turn
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Speaker 2: make some disciples. That ministry will revolutionize this church. It
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Speaker 2: will change our entire future. You had your life to
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Speaker 2: live over again, what would you change? Webster says, I'd
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Speaker 2: change a few people. That's where I'd spend my time.
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Speaker 2: I'd like us to bow our heads together. I'd like
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Speaker 2: you to think about this for a few moments. Close
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Speaker 2: your eyes, please. Just sit quietly. Listen to the words
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Speaker 2: of this poet. I had walked life's way with an
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Speaker 2: easy tread. I had traveled where pleasures and comfort led
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Speaker 2: until one day, in a quiet place, I met the
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Speaker 2: Master face to face. With station and rank and wealth
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Speaker 2: for my goal, much thought for my body but none
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Speaker 2: for my soul, I had entered to win this life's
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Speaker 2: mad race. And I met the master face to face.
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Speaker 2: I'd built my castles and reared them high till their
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Speaker 2: towers had pierced the blue of the sky. I'd sworn
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Speaker 2: to rule with an iron mace. Till I met the
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Speaker 2: master face to face. I met him and knew him
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Speaker 2: and blushed to see that his eyes full of sorrow
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Speaker 2: were fixed on me. I faltered and fell at his
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Speaker 2: feet that day while my castles melted and vanished away.
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Speaker 2: Melted and vanished and in their place nothing else could
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Speaker 2: I see but my Savior's face. My thoughts are now
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Speaker 2: for the souls of men. I've lost my life to
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Speaker 2: find it again. Since that day in their quiet place
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Speaker 2: when I met my Master face to face. It's time
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Speaker 2: for some of you to stop running. You're like that
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Speaker 2: rock across the pond. You don't know one close, close friend.
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Speaker 2: I'd venture to say most of you don't have one disciple.
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Speaker 2: I'd love to be proven wrong, but I'm afraid I
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Speaker 2: wouldn't be. Start with one person. Ask that person if
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Speaker 2: he's willing. Choose someone in whom you have a sense
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Speaker 2: of interest and a kindred spirit and start there. Ask
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Speaker 2: that person if he's willing to help build into your
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Speaker 2: life and you're willing to do that with him. Not
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Speaker 2: some great, strong, upfront, public person. Just a friend. Just
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Speaker 2: a friend. I guarantee you you'll hardly know loneliness again. Father,
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Speaker 2: we need to begin to think of ourselves as ministers.
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Speaker 2: We need to blow the dust off this fine commission
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Speaker 2: that we have somehow systematically put into a church organization
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Speaker 2: and made it read into something it was never meant
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Speaker 2: to say. We love what you're doing through the mass crusades,
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Speaker 2: and we ask you to not stop that. We are
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Speaker 2: thrilled to know those converts that come into the family
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Speaker 2: of God. But, Lord, it's easy for us to just
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Speaker 2: shift into neutral and just whistle our way through the
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Speaker 2: rest of our life. Man, that's another Christian, another member
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Speaker 2: of the family, and be committed to no one. Give
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Speaker 2: us the insight to find the Andrew of our lives
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Speaker 2: or the Matthew or the John or the Peter. And
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Speaker 2: may we get a whole new vision so that our
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Speaker 2: Christianity makes a very significant journey in this decade.
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Speaker 3: Deep.
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Speaker 2: Into our hearts. I pray for Jesus' sake.
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Speaker 1: Amen.
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Speaker 3: The preceding message, Strengthening Your Grip on Discipleship, was copyrighted
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Speaker 3: in 1981, 1985, 1989, 1995, 2014, and 2024. And the
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Speaker 3: sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
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Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 3: commercial use is strictly prohibited.