What’s the purpose of the local church?

• The purpose of the local church is to train people to be spiritually mature, fully devoted followers of Christ, and then in turn having those disciples make more disciples.
• Become a disciple of Jesus who can make disciples of Jesus!

Colossians 1:28 (ESV)

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

• Our focus & method for this season is… RELATIONAL DISCIPLESHIP
  • The focus = biblical discipleship
  • The method = relational environments

How do we measure success/effectiveness with relational discipleship?

• We measure success by how many people are being loved and led into the way of Jesus, are coming to Christ and following him.
• It measures how many people are being transformed into Christ’s likeness and are pursuing his kingdom mission.
• It values and measures how many are actually becoming disciples who can make disciples.

Acts 11:26 (ESV)

and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

Being a Christian is about becoming more and more like Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God.

Romans 8:29 (ESV)

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV)

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Discipleship is the emphasis. Relationships are the method.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (ESV)

4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

• Emphasis — Love & obey God.
• Method — Relationship as you do life
  • When you sit in your house
  • When you walk/drive on the way
  • When you lie down
  • When you wake up

2 Timothy 3:10-14 (ESV)

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?

Matthew 4:19 ESV

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

#1) HEAD — WE FOLLOW JESUS

• Following Jesus means you recognize and accept who Jesus is as Lord, leader, and master of your life.

John 12:26 (ESV)

If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

A disciple must be obedient.

John 14:23-24 (ESV)

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

Luke 9:23-25 (ESV)

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

How does one follow Jesus?

A) DENY YOURSELF

• This means putting aside your own interests for the sake of God’s kingdom.

B) PICK UP YOUR CROSS DAILY

• This means that before you can follow Him you have to be willing to do so no matter the cost.
• After you are willing to put aside your own interests over God’s interest no matter the cost, then you can follow Him.

#2) HEART — WE ARE CHANGED BY JESUS

• Discipleship involves Jesus molding our hearts to become more like His heart.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (ESV)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

A disciple needs the Holy Spirit.

John 15:1-2 (ESV)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

• Discipleship, at heart, involves transformation at the deepest levels of our understanding, affection, and will by the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God and in relationship with the people of God.

#3) HANDS — WE COMMIT TO THE MISSION OF JESUS

• If our acceptance of Jesus begins in the head and extends to the heart, it leads to a change in what we do with our hands.

Matthew 6:33 (ESV)

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

• We now begin to care about the things that God cares about, especially lost people.

2 Corinthians 5:15-20 (NLT)

15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

• Being on a mission means that we acknowledge that we’re saved for God’s kingdom purposes.
• Our mission is not simply to come to church each Sunday, to be nice to other people, or to cram a lot of biblical facts inside our heads. It’s for every disciple to join in God’s mission in this world, to participate with God’s purposes in the world.
• There’s no greater gift of love we can give than to share the good news that brings people into a relationship with God. It’s a privilege to be an ambassador of Christ.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God has commissioned us— a call to action.

CONCLUSION

DISCIPLE = Follow Jesus, be changed by Jesus, and commit to the mission of Jesus. (Matthew 4:19). HEAD | HEART | HANDS

• This season is a season of relational discipleship. We want to grow into strong mature disciples of Jesus. This requires a shift from simply making converts to reaching people & disciplining them… A SHIFT FROM REACHING TO MAKING.

Colossians 1:28 (ESV)

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.