House Calls

Discipleship Part 4

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton

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Series Code: HCL

Program Code: HCL170007A


00:01 Hello, friends, grab your Bible and a friend
00:03 and sit back as we explore God's word together
00:05 on this edition of House Calls.
00:23 Welcome to House Calls.
00:24 Thank you for tuning into the most exciting
00:27 Bible informing program on television right now.
00:30 And I know you know that that's why you're watching.
00:33 Thank you so much humbly for tuning into this program.
00:36 I'm John Lomacang.
00:37 John Stanton, good to have you here, Pastor.
00:39 It's good to be here again.
00:40 When whenever we get together
00:41 we know the Lord is going to bless.
00:43 Yes.
00:44 And give us just a preview of what we're headed today.
00:46 Well, we've been talking about discipleship,
00:48 specifically, in the context of what is it.
00:50 Now we're gonna move in this program
00:52 to what is a disciple making church look like.
00:56 Or how can the church build and organize
00:58 to be more effective disciple makers.
01:01 And so we'll talk about that.
01:02 Wonderful, wonderful,
01:03 and I know that as you've tuned in,
01:05 you have your Bibles and you have your pens,
01:09 invite your family and your friends
01:11 see that rhymes there to join us
01:13 for this wonderful excursion together,
01:15 where we're looking forward to it.
01:17 You know, your questions, your comments,
01:18 make a huge difference in this program,
01:20 but before we do anything
01:22 we always like to begin with prayer.
01:23 John? Let's Pray.
01:25 Our Father in heaven, we come before You
01:27 asking for Your presence to be here with us.
01:30 We pray that You direct our thoughts, our hearts,
01:33 and our minds
01:34 so that we can rightly divide Your word of truth
01:37 or be with all those who have joined us here today
01:38 and bless them.
01:40 Speak to their hearts we pray in Jesus' name.
01:42 Amen. Amen, amen.
01:46 We have questions that we get on occasion and every program
01:50 we have questions either in written form
01:53 or they come through the internet.
01:55 And so if you want to send any of your questions to us
01:57 through the internet,
01:58 you can send those to housecalls@3abn.org.
02:02 That's housecalls@3abn.org.
02:04 And that's where we have the quickest access to those.
02:07 Try to make them as succinct and compact as you can,
02:10 we do appreciate that.
02:11 But if you don't have internet,
02:14 you can send those to PO Box 220,
02:17 West Frankfort, Illinois 62896, attention House Calls.
02:22 John, what do we have today?
02:24 What's the first out of the shoot for you?
02:26 Yeah, we have a question from Mark
02:28 and he's concerned about his sister
02:30 who has committed suicide, and just wondering
02:33 what the implications are here spiritually for her.
02:37 She was in physical and mental anguish for years.
02:41 Yet she was kind, sincere
02:43 and treated people with respect.
02:45 She accepted Jesus as her Savior
02:47 and was always talking about Him.
02:51 So she was trying the best
02:53 she could to live a Christian life
02:54 but she succumbed to suicide.
02:59 And this is always as you know, John, a difficult question,
03:03 I don't know her, even if I did I wouldn't,
03:07 I wouldn't even dare to step on the ground
03:09 of making a judgment
03:10 as to what her salvation stance is.
03:13 Right.
03:15 Certainly God knows,
03:18 He and His relationship with her
03:20 and as He's worked with her,
03:22 leading up to that
03:23 He knows how receptive she was and how she was following Him.
03:26 We don't know that, I don't know that.
03:29 And Mark probably doesn't realize that
03:31 or know that either.
03:32 There's no Bible verse that says
03:34 if you commit suicide you're lost, it's not there.
03:39 We do have verses, thou shalt not murder.
03:42 Some incorporate that into murder yourself as well,
03:46 but yet there are things that go beyond that,
03:49 that involve mental states and conditions
03:52 that are beyond our control.
03:55 And so sometimes and you know how severe mental disabilities
04:00 and other things can be.
04:02 I had a mom who over years of time suffered from dementia.
04:06 She wasn't the mom that I grew up with
04:08 or that raised me.
04:09 And so I think she's probably judged based upon who she was,
04:14 not who she was before,
04:16 not who she was just before she died.
04:19 And so, but this is, this is something
04:20 that God takes care of, and,
04:23 you know, John, I will say this,
04:24 maybe to finish this up.
04:26 God is not trying to keep people out.
04:28 Right.
04:29 He's trying to get people in.
04:31 True.
04:32 And as He said even the faith of a mustard seed
04:35 moves upon the heart of God with His power
04:38 and so we need to leave this in God's hands.
04:42 My nephew recently passed away, he had an accident,
04:45 a car accident.
04:47 We don't know if he fell asleep at the wheel or what.
04:48 All we know is the trend of his life
04:50 up to that time was his bottle by his bedside,
04:54 he had gone from a party guy into seeking the Lord.
04:58 That's all we know.
04:59 We can't answer anything else,
05:01 and so I think the best thing to do Mark is
05:03 leave your sister in God's hands
05:05 and trust that He loves her even more than you do
05:08 and wants her in the kingdom, so, He knows what's best.
05:12 Yeah, that's...
05:13 I am glad you dealt with it that way,
05:15 because it's such a delicate topic,
05:17 sometimes people are looking for answers
05:20 and we thank you for considering us,
05:22 but there are hidden issues in a person's life
05:25 that we have no idea of.
05:27 Sometimes we look at a person and we say, well,
05:29 we know they're saved,
05:30 but then again we still don't know
05:31 the hidden issues of a person's life
05:34 which are known only to God.
05:36 One thing I could say that is encouraging,
05:39 when Peter says
05:42 the Lord has not slack concerning His promises
05:46 but is longsuffering towards us,
05:48 not willing that any should be perish.
05:51 And when we think about that He's not,
05:53 He's not willing that any should perish.
05:56 Another text in John, the Book of John it says,
06:00 "Whoever the Father gives to me,
06:02 no one can take them out of my hand."
06:06 The Lord looks at the trend of a person's life,
06:09 not the momentary deed or the momentary misdeed.
06:14 That's why in the insurance industry
06:17 we have something called insurance
06:19 and they give you rewards for good driver record.
06:23 They look at your history rather than, you know,
06:26 if you have an incident that is outside of your norm
06:29 and they'll say, "Well, you've had
06:31 a good driving habits for the last four years,
06:34 so we're not gonna increase your rates
06:36 for this one infraction that happened this weekend."
06:39 The Lord is a just God, a loving God,
06:42 not willing that any should perish,
06:44 so I would say lean on the sovereignty
06:48 and the love of the Lord
06:49 and allow that issue to be settled by Him.
06:52 I had a dad.
06:55 I had two fathers
06:56 and I'm glad you mentioned your mom,
06:58 and what I'd like to reiterate is
07:01 time takes a toll on some individuals
07:03 and change them from who we knew them to be,
07:07 to who they became.
07:09 And sometimes their cognitive skills
07:11 are affected by that, their recall,
07:14 sometimes they go back into their childhood memories,
07:17 sometimes they just, they know us visibly
07:19 but they can't respond.
07:20 All these issues that are connected to sin
07:23 but the Lord knows that
07:25 and He understands that there's a point
07:28 where we are very much in control of our faculties
07:31 and another time
07:32 we're not in control of our faculties
07:34 or at the same time our emotions.
07:37 And number of years ago
07:40 an issue that came to me was this issue of euthanasia.
07:44 I thought about this, remember Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
07:49 When the issue came up they called it mercy killings
07:52 at one point and I thought, "Wow".
07:55 And the question really came down,
07:57 if you had a loved one that was suffering, intense,
08:02 irreversible pain that had no remedy to it,
08:06 what would you prefer?
08:07 If you knew their quality of life
08:08 was not gonna be restored
08:10 and they just lived in a moment,
08:11 constant moment of suffering.
08:13 Would you want them to go on that way?
08:16 Or would you want to put them to sleep out of mercy?
08:19 And this guy Dr. Jack Kevorkian made a lot of decisions
08:23 based on people who said I want my loved one
08:25 to be put to sleep in mercy.
08:26 I don't want to watch them suffering like that,
08:28 but it was not a legal process.
08:30 So sometimes we think
08:32 what's the nicest way to pass away,
08:35 you know, lay down in the night
08:36 and don't wake up in the morning,
08:38 which has been the experience of so many.
08:40 But when it comes to suicide,
08:42 it's that gray area that you don't know
08:44 what happened at that particular moment.
08:46 Yet I say, I was so excited
08:48 when I read in the quote of Ellen White.
08:50 The Lord looks at the trend of our life,
08:53 He looks at where our lives were headed,
08:55 not that momentary misdeed or that momentary good deed
08:59 and it really makes a difference.
09:01 So when my dad passed away,
09:03 I was at the Andrews University church
09:06 and Dr. Dwight Nelson was speaking
09:09 and my dad was a musician his whole life,
09:11 and he looked at me and he said,
09:14 "If there's a way, if there's a possibility
09:17 then your dad will be saved, the Lord will save him,
09:20 but leave it in God's hands."
09:22 And you know I left him there and that brought me
09:23 such a lasting peace,
09:25 that I don't concern myself with it,
09:27 but I know that when I get to the kingdom,
09:30 during the thousand years
09:31 which is the time we're gonna be in heaven with the Lord,
09:33 looking at the records of those who were saved and lost,
09:36 it'll be a settling moment
09:38 that God's judgments and decisions have been just.
09:42 So don't let that be haunting memory for you,
09:46 think of your sister and all the things
09:48 that she meant to you.
09:49 Just like did you mention your nephew?
09:51 Yeah, it's a sad thing 25 years old,
09:54 you know, it's unfortunate.
09:55 You look at young people and you say
09:57 they had so much life ahead of them
09:58 and I'll tell you one last story.
10:00 And I'm just reaching out to you in a very real way.
10:03 My sister-in-law,
10:06 she was not an Adventist Christian,
10:07 she was a Christian of a different nomination
10:09 and so she began to inquire
10:11 about things that were different.
10:13 Let's be specific she was Catholic
10:15 and I said to her,
10:16 she said, "One day tell me what you believe?"
10:17 And I said, "If I tell you what I believe,
10:19 it's gonna destroy everything that you thought of it."
10:22 She said, "I could handle it."
10:23 So I began to share with her,
10:25 her eyes were open to the Sabbath,
10:27 the state of the dead, all the different doctrines
10:28 supported by scripture,
10:30 and then she noticed she was diagnosed with cancer,
10:34 a very on her foot melanoma, you know,
10:37 from the sun living in the Virgin Islands.
10:40 And it wasn't handled as well as it could have been
10:42 and it ended up taking a life at 34 years old.
10:46 But just when she passed away in the hospital,
10:48 the hospital room was cold, cold, cold,
10:53 and 15 minutes after she was declared dead,
10:56 she sat up on the bed.
10:59 Six family members there plus
11:00 the nurse seven people in the hospital room
11:02 and the nurse later said in 28 years of nursing
11:05 I have never seen anything like this ever happened.
11:09 She wore a very thick glasses
11:11 but when they declared her dead,
11:12 they took the glasses off,
11:14 they took all the leads out
11:15 and she looked across the room and said, What time is it?
11:17 3:15 I could be out of here in 15 minutes
11:20 and her mom said,
11:21 "First of all what's going on here?"
11:23 Then after you declared dead,
11:24 confirmed dead and you sit up in 15 minutes
11:26 and just start talking
11:28 and she settled all the issues with her family members
11:31 but my brother what he said is the point of the story
11:34 and he said to her,
11:35 "We have been praying for you to be healed,
11:38 we've been praying for you to be healed,"
11:40 and she said, "I have been,"
11:42 she said, "The Lord is allowing me to be laid
11:44 to rest now because I'm ready,
11:48 instead of healing me
11:50 and letting me go back out of the world
11:53 and giving me the possibility of going back,
11:56 she said I'll be just fine,
11:58 I'm gonna go to sleep, I'm gonna rest
12:00 and I'll see you in the morning."
12:02 And so we had this picture
12:03 we took of her pointing at her dashboard
12:05 and "Why worry"
12:06 and we put that on the screen at the funeral "Why worry".
12:09 And so there's so many issues of life
12:10 that are gonna be a bright surprise to us.
12:13 The Lord is not slack concerning His promises
12:16 as men count slackness
12:17 but it's a longsuffering towards us,
12:20 not willing that any should perish,
12:22 and I'm holding on to that promise
12:23 because I have some friends,
12:25 I'm looking forward to seeing in the kingdom.
12:27 And I'm sure they're looking forward
12:28 to seeing me too
12:30 when we all get there but, you know,
12:31 those issues of life,
12:33 there're gonna be some surprises in both sides.
12:35 One surprise is,
12:37 we're gonna see people there we gonna say,
12:38 "How did you get here?"
12:40 And they gonna say, "How did you get here?"
12:41 Exactly. How beautiful heaven's going to be.
12:43 This is a cute little question, I'm just gonna read this
12:46 because the person that took the time to write it
12:48 felt important to write it.
12:51 He says, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
12:54 I'm not trying to be rude
12:55 but I feel the Lord has impressed on my heart
12:59 to rebuke you for telling people
13:01 to write to your show with our Bible questions
13:05 because I'm sure mine is not the only ones
13:08 that has not been answered by mail or on TV.
13:12 So I think you should stop telling people.
13:16 Stop telling people
13:17 that if you are not going to respond
13:18 to our letters with our questions.
13:21 Thank you and God bless you.
13:22 I love your show,
13:24 all the good solid Biblical texts you teach,
13:27 the good solid answers you give,
13:28 I think you both are great pastors."
13:31 He rebuked us and he commended us.
13:33 We can take that. We can take that.
13:35 I thought it was a nice letter, you know, so, John, and, John,
13:38 so I just decided to read that.
13:40 I want to tell you we try our best, John,
13:42 to get to so many questions
13:44 but when we hit the internet and we start scrolling down,
13:46 there's list and pages and pages and pages,
13:49 sometimes and even the letters,
13:51 sometimes they come when we're not here.
13:53 And I have a lot of letters
13:55 that sometimes come before we tape our programs
13:58 and it just sometimes you miss it.
14:00 And it appears as though we try to be clear and kind
14:04 so we apologize if we haven't read your question but...
14:07 And I think that's where we give some instructions
14:09 if you kind of get straight to the point
14:11 instead of long several paragraphs
14:13 or something we tend to take those.
14:15 Right.
14:17 And given them priority over the ones
14:18 that are like these big treatises
14:20 as to what someone believes,
14:22 they're trying to convince us of something, so we just,
14:24 we want questions, we want things
14:27 that we know that others are thinking as well
14:29 and we tend to give those priority.
14:31 That's right and so that was just a question,
14:33 that was a statement I want to read,
14:35 but here's the question.
14:37 "I know Jesus had 12 disciples but why is that,
14:40 why is it that the list in Matthew 10
14:42 and Luke 6 do not match.
14:45 Example Thaddeus is mentioned in Matthew's account
14:48 but not in Luke,
14:49 and Judas the son of James is in Luke but not in Matthew.
14:53 Please help me understand.
14:54 Well the gospel writers in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
14:57 had differences in their gospel.
14:59 The one thing I'd like to point out
15:01 if four people stood on four corners at the end,
15:03 at an intersection and looked at a car accident
15:06 and the insurance company interviewed every one of them.
15:09 They will all see the car from a different angle,
15:11 they will see people that are there
15:12 and people that are not there
15:14 and so in the explanation of the gospels,
15:18 the intention of scripture
15:20 is to combine scripture with scripture,
15:23 compare scripture with scripture
15:25 to get the complete picture.
15:27 One of the examples,
15:28 so the names that are mentioned in Matthew and John,
15:31 I mean, Matthew and Luke, all include,
15:32 you combine them together
15:34 to get the complete picture of the disciples.
15:37 Another example
15:38 that the Bible talks about Peter, James, and John.
15:40 Well, which James?
15:42 You have two James mentioned, and you have James and John,
15:49 and then you have James, Judas the son of James,
15:52 and then you have Judas Iscariot,
15:54 so it depends on how you go through the list
15:56 and how they are,
15:57 but when you combine them together,
15:59 then you get the complete picture,
16:01 it's kind of we call it
16:02 a reconciling the text together.
16:05 Another example in scripture
16:06 where you have to combine the gospels,
16:08 one that talks about the resurrection of Jesus.
16:10 The Bible talked about while it was yet dark
16:13 and then somebody said at the breaking of the day,
16:15 another one says early in the morning,
16:17 and the ones that talk about that
16:19 are not the ones that were at the actual experience,
16:22 the one that was actually there was John,
16:24 so we tend to take John's account as an eyewitness
16:27 because John went to the tomb with Peter,
16:29 but if you combine them together,
16:31 you come to the conclusion
16:33 that Jesus rose the first day of the week.
16:36 So combine them together
16:38 and to get a better understanding of that
16:40 rather than saying one was left out
16:41 and one was included.
16:43 Yeah, and there's also a specific explanation
16:44 in regard to Thaddeus,
16:46 because Thaddeus is in two
16:47 and then Judas the son of James is in the other two,
16:50 not Thaddeus,
16:51 and most have concluded that that's the same person,
16:54 but using different names and so...
16:56 Like...
16:57 Yeah, go ahead.
16:59 Like Simon and Peter, you know, some say Simon,
17:01 and other say Peter.
17:04 So you have to understand what Simon in the context
17:07 because you have Simon in the New Testament
17:09 in the Book of Acts,
17:10 then you have Peter, Simon Peter,
17:13 so you have to understand the context of the verb.
17:15 There's just, there's no aberration
17:17 as to all of a sudden a new one appearing
17:19 in one of the gospels, there isn't anyone else.
17:20 That's right.
17:22 That doesn't exist but you have a pretty easy explanation here
17:25 that probably it's the different names
17:27 refer to the same person among the lists
17:30 and it's just a matter of like you said lining them up,
17:33 and you'll see the whole and all encompassing list.
17:36 Yeah, reconcile them together makes a difference.
17:38 What do you have out?
17:39 What else do you have, John?
17:41 This question says or asks, it's coming from Carlos,
17:45 "If we daily may fall away from God into sin,
17:48 doesn't that make salvation our responsibility?
17:51 I'm confused."
17:53 We all sin daily.
17:55 God calls, God calls why, no,
17:58 why would He call us to knowing Him,
18:01 if we would fall away.
18:03 God's nature is good.
18:04 Sorry I'm confused, help me.
18:07 And he says he likes the program
18:09 so he's looking forward to an answer.
18:13 There's a lot of things in here,
18:15 like we got a lot of different tangents on this
18:17 and so I'm trying to get at the heart
18:18 of what Carlos is asking here.
18:21 A couple of things here, number one,
18:23 and I know we have said this recently is just
18:25 because you've committed a sin doesn't mean you're lost.
18:29 We live a life, our life in Christ
18:33 sometimes making mistakes
18:35 and He doesn't cast us away when we make mistakes.
18:38 He's our advocate applying His blood
18:40 to cover our sin,
18:42 when we make mistakes,
18:43 that's why He asks us to confess and repent.
18:45 And if we live a life of repentance
18:48 and confessing those sins,
18:49 He doesn't cast us off when we sin.
18:53 As you said earlier, John, the trend of our life is living
18:56 and trusting in God
18:58 to stand in to be our substitute
19:03 for the sinful life that we do live.
19:05 Right.
19:07 Now in regard to falling away,
19:14 is there seems to be implied here in this question,
19:16 you know, why would He call us to Him,
19:18 if we are going to fall away.
19:20 And there's no guarantee of falling away
19:23 or of making it to the end,
19:25 to a degree there is some correctness in this.
19:29 There is a responsibility that we have.
19:32 We can't save ourselves,
19:34 but God does ask us to respond to His invitation to salvation.
19:37 Right.
19:39 So the salvation of God has appeared to all men.
19:43 He came to save the world
19:44 and save His people from their sins
19:46 and so He has done that.
19:48 He has paid the price for every sin
19:49 that anyone will ever commit on the cross.
19:51 The question is,
19:53 have we responded and accepted
19:55 that salvation that He brings and when we do,
19:58 it involves living daily with Him.
20:01 And of course we just mentioned,
20:03 what that looks like there's a life,
20:05 that our life's not perfect.
20:06 Yes, we're sinners and He can handle that.
20:10 But in regard to, you know, why would He call us,
20:13 if we would fall away,
20:15 He doesn't predestine anybody for anything.
20:17 There's no predestination here.
20:19 I think the issue is that
20:21 it is our responsibility to respond to that invitation.
20:23 In fact, Revelation 3 tells us that Jesus stands at the door
20:28 He knocks, and He knocks, and He knocks.
20:32 And He won't open the door and force His way in,
20:34 we have to respond to that invitation
20:36 and let Him in,
20:38 and He's asking us to let Him in,
20:39 and when we do,
20:41 all of the benefits that He's given us,
20:42 as our substitute and our surety of salvation
20:45 are a portion are given to us,
20:48 so we're imputed, righteousness,
20:52 and then we are imparted righteousness
20:54 as we live and walk in Him,
20:56 we live in righteousness even though we are sinners.
20:59 And I'll tell you what, there is no greater offer,
21:02 John, than this.
21:04 True.
21:05 There's just no greater offer in the world,
21:07 there could be a lottery.
21:10 And the lottery is $25 million,
21:14 and you have just been given a chance
21:17 that you're one out of only ten people
21:18 to get to play and someone's going to win.
21:22 You might think those are great chances
21:23 and what a great deal.
21:25 Let me tell you this offer that Christ gives to us
21:27 is absolutely 100% guaranteed.
21:30 And there's no greater offer in this world
21:34 than eternal life.
21:36 And so salvation isn't our responsibility,
21:39 it's God's responsibility,
21:40 yet He asked us to respond to that,
21:42 because He will not, He will not interfere
21:46 with our free will,
21:47 He's given us the ability to choose
21:49 and that is what pure love is all about.
21:51 A couple of passages I want to add to that
21:53 which is really important
21:55 because one of the points he made here,
21:57 which is to some degree important,
21:59 we have to make decisions.
22:00 You know, Paul says, "Let's not sin reign
22:02 in your mortal body that you should obey it
22:04 in the lust thereof."
22:06 We have to make those decisions.
22:07 And sometimes we do, sometimes we don't,
22:09 but I want to point out a passage
22:11 that kind of takes you down the path where
22:13 and John led into this by saying,
22:17 and I maybe paraphrasing it a little bit,
22:20 but I want to read it and then I'll go ahead and classify it.
22:24 The Lord knows that we are sinners.
22:27 His righteousness is our only hope.
22:31 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
22:35 He is our righteousness,
22:37 always has been, always will be.
22:39 But there is a context I want to show you here,
22:41 a few passages.
22:43 First of all, Hebrews 12:1, "Therefore we also,"
22:47 talking about our personal responsibility,
22:50 "since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses."
22:54 Since everyone is watching, "let us lay aside every weight
22:58 and the sin which so easily ensnares us,
23:02 and let us run with endurance
23:03 the race that is set before us."
23:05 Now the endurance talked about here
23:07 is not endurance for those who could run fast,
23:09 but those who keep running.
23:11 Right. There you go.
23:12 He who endures to the end,
23:14 I want to add to that shall be saved.
23:17 The battle of the Christian life
23:18 is a daily battle dying to self,
23:21 that's a part of the enduring.
23:23 And you know, that when you wake up
23:25 in the morning sometimes
23:26 you're faced with two decisions,
23:28 do I pick up my iPhone, or my cell phone first,
23:30 or my Android, or do I pick up my Bible first?
23:33 Do I turn on the news first, or do I pray first?
23:36 So much decides, so much is depended
23:39 on the right action of the will.
23:41 God wouldn't force us to say,
23:42 you better pick up your Bible first,
23:43 you better not do that, but 1 John 3:3,
23:47 everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself
23:51 even as He is pure.
23:53 The Lord purifies us,
23:55 but we have to make pure choices.
23:57 That's the key.
23:59 And choices is a very important thing.
24:00 Sometimes we say there was a person that once asked,
24:03 well, if God knows who's going to be saved,
24:04 who's going to be lost.
24:06 No, God isn't predestined some to be saved,
24:08 and some to be lost, He predestines all of us
24:10 to be sons and daughters of God.
24:12 He is made a provision for us to become His children.
24:14 And, you know, when we do, He knows as a babe in Christ,
24:17 there is no point and the parent knows this.
24:20 One parent told me, they said, I can't wait till he hits 18,
24:24 and I said to them, and his problems
24:27 will transition into a different area.
24:29 Because there're parents that have children
24:31 that are fully grown, been married have children,
24:33 still have problems.
24:35 Parents don't get rid of their children
24:37 because their children have problems.
24:39 In the very same way, if anyone sins,
24:42 he has an advocate with the Father,
24:44 Jesus Christ the righteous, He knows,
24:47 He knows that we are capable by His strength to avoid sin,
24:51 but He also knows that because we are sinful creatures,
24:53 we can fall into sin.
24:54 If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father.
24:57 But here's the part that's encouraging.
24:59 1 John 5:16-18,
25:03 and look at that a very interesting passage,
25:04 we often don't see this, it says,
25:09 "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin,
25:13 which does not lead to death, He will ask,
25:18 and He will give him life, and he will give him life
25:22 for those who commit sin not leading to death,
25:25 and he will give him life for those who commit sin
25:29 not leading to death."
25:30 I want to say that again, "And he will give them life
25:32 for those who commit sin not leading to death."
25:34 Now somebody might say, what kind of sin is there
25:36 that does not lead to death?
25:38 An athlete is a perfect example.
25:41 I've seen in the Olympics,
25:43 athletes are running all they have,
25:45 their country is cheering,
25:46 the flags are waving and they stumble in the crowd,
25:50 everyone in the crowd,
25:51 whether they are supportive or not goes, oh!
25:55 Because they see this, this well trained machine
25:59 of an athlete fall into a human frailty
26:03 called stumbling.
26:06 And they know he didn't do that intentionally.
26:09 So one of the most amazing stories
26:11 and I told this in one of my sermons,
26:12 I looked in the audience and everybody's tears
26:14 were in their eyes.
26:15 One man who, the sun rounded, running as hard as he could,
26:19 and he caught a Charley horse, and he Charley horse
26:22 and he fell in agony to the ground
26:24 and he laid face to the ground on his knees
26:27 just lamenting that he had let his country down,
26:30 and it was just all the other athletes
26:32 already crossed the finish line.
26:34 And it was just like this hush, people didn't know what to do.
26:37 I mean, look at this guy, what do we do, what do we say,
26:39 do we cheer, do we boo.
26:41 The crowd was, we couldn't even pick an emotion.
26:44 Then this man broke away from the crowd.
26:47 Stout Gentleman, it was his dad,
26:50 went out and scooped up his son
26:54 and put his arm of his son on the shoulder.
26:57 And the crowd just began to cheer,
27:01 I mean, I cannot tell whole story.
27:03 Yeah, I remember seeing, it's fantastic story.
27:06 The crowd began to cheer.
27:08 This guy wasn't representing their country.
27:11 The crowd began to cheer, then all of a sudden
27:13 they began in a cadence and to by rhythm
27:16 mentioning his name.
27:18 And then he and his father was walking with him
27:20 to the finish line
27:21 and he got close to the finish line,
27:23 and his dad let him go,
27:25 so he could cross the finish line by himself.
27:26 And I thought, when I saw that I don't get emotional,
27:30 when I saw that story, it still impacts me
27:32 to this very day.
27:33 It reminds us of us, when we stumble to him
27:37 that it is able to keep you from falling
27:39 and to present you faultless
27:41 before the presence of His glory
27:43 with exceeding joy.
27:45 When that young man crossed the finish line,
27:47 it didn't matter what country he was from,
27:49 he was surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.
27:52 And that stadium erupted not that he won,
27:57 but that he crossed the finish line.
27:59 And I thought to myself,
28:00 that's who our Heavenly Father is,
28:02 not that we went and came in first,
28:05 not that we were the first one to get into the New Jerusalem,
28:07 but that we crossed the finish line.
28:09 We endured to the cross. We endure to the end.
28:10 Yeah. And that young man his...
28:13 Instead of the athlete I felt bad for the winners
28:16 because they didn't make the front page,
28:18 this young man who fell and got up,
28:20 and crossed the finish line in agony
28:22 was on every newspaper
28:23 and every language in almost every country,
28:26 he was the story of the Olympics that night.
28:28 I felt bad for the guy who crossed the line
28:31 with the gold medal, he was an after mention.
28:33 So be encourage, you may fall,
28:36 but there's a father in the stands.
28:38 He's watching his children press toward the mark,
28:41 press toward the prize.
28:43 When we fall He's going to break rank and come out,
28:46 and pick us up, and carry us to our destiny.
28:49 So be encouraged, I mean, I did intend to get emotional.
28:52 But I remember that story and you know, John,
28:54 it's your story.
28:56 It's my story, it's our story.
28:58 Our Father wants to get across that...
28:59 And He's not willing that any should perish.
29:01 Yeah.
29:02 You know, I think some have this idea.
29:05 You know, they hear that we don't believe in the Bible
29:07 doesn't support a once saved always saved theology.
29:12 No, no.
29:13 This is either a situation
29:15 where we're either growing steadily
29:17 or we're steadily declining.
29:18 Right.
29:19 Rarely do we ever find the case where someone goes
29:21 from walking in Jesus to the next day saying,
29:24 I think I'm going to stop.
29:25 Right.
29:27 That's not what we're talking about,
29:28 we're talking about losing our salvation,
29:30 this happens very slowly,
29:31 and the Bible's full of analogies
29:33 in regard to that, one of them is the moth,
29:36 your garments are moth eaten.
29:38 That's right. Okay.
29:40 What happens with moth?
29:41 I mean, do you know
29:42 that a moth is eating your suit,
29:44 your wool suit in your closet when he's doing it,
29:47 do you know it?
29:48 No, you don't know. No.
29:50 Because if you did, what would you do?
29:51 You'd stop him. Right.
29:53 But usually it's when you pick up the clothing
29:56 and you hold it up, I'm going to wear this
29:57 and what's that, there's a hole in your garment.
30:00 That's right.
30:02 Well, that's the analogy here is that this happens slowly
30:04 and imperceptibly a lot of times,
30:07 because when you're not growing, you're dying.
30:09 That's right.
30:11 You never stay stagnant, there's no such thing
30:12 as maintenance in a relationship with Jesus.
30:15 And so 2 Peter 3:17, speaks to that,
30:18 and verse 18 as well,
30:19 "You therefore beloved since you know this beforehand,
30:22 beware, lest you also fall from your own steadfastness."
30:25 That's right.
30:27 "Being led away with the error of the wicked."
30:29 This is leading away, not all of a sudden,
30:31 boom, you're falling away.
30:33 But it's a steady leading away, and then verse 18,
30:36 which is what we hope for everyone
30:38 but grow so this is opposite,
30:40 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord
30:42 and Savior Jesus Christ, because that is His,
30:47 that is His will for us to grow in His grace.
30:50 And so, we just encourage all of you
30:52 who have this question, who have wondered.
30:54 I know sometimes we have this thing of,
30:56 you know, am I saved, am I walking with God.
30:58 You know, if I done the right things
30:59 or I made a mistake, does He cast me off.
31:01 No, He's looking for a steady direction
31:06 in your life of growing in grace,
31:08 learning from your mistakes,
31:10 and let God not only be the author of your faith.
31:14 But let Him take you to that as you said before,
31:15 the finish line.
31:17 That's right, the finish line.
31:18 He is the author and finisher of our faith.
31:21 So, "Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments,
31:25 lest he walks naked, and they see his shame."
31:27 The garment is that righteous character of Jesus.
31:30 Day by day, let's keep it that way
31:32 by our choices we make.
31:33 Choices are influenced by what you put in your mind.
31:40 If you are reading your Bible, and you are praying,
31:41 you have the best food to direct your life.
31:44 Thank you for your questions and comments,
31:46 and if you have any more questions or comments
31:48 you can send them to housecalls@3abn.org.
31:52 That's housecalls@3abn.org.
31:56 And surely, we'll get a chance to download those,
31:59 and even the ones we miss periodically we hoped
32:03 and thank you for your patience.
32:05 John, lead us into our topic today.
32:07 This topic, very important about discipleship.
32:11 Yeah, we've been talking about discipleship
32:13 in several contexts, basically up to this point
32:17 what does a disciple look like, what does it mean to walk
32:21 and be disciple by Christ,
32:23 to engage in a life of discipleship
32:26 and as a commitment,
32:27 a lifelong commitment to Christ.
32:29 So we're looking at several areas,
32:30 we've talked about the implications
32:34 regarding the church.
32:35 I made the statement a couple times already
32:37 that if the church did discipleship right
32:41 in the way that God intended,
32:42 that evangelism would largely take care of itself.
32:45 The mission of the church would be fulfilled
32:47 just by virtue of disciples
32:49 fulfilling their great commission,
32:51 the great commission given to them by God.
32:53 Then we looked at the conditions of discipleship.
32:56 The four conditions that Jesus gave for discipleship.
33:00 In another program we looked at discipleship
33:02 in the context of the Spirit and the truth
33:05 that Christ mentioned there as He said,
33:08 the Father is looking for true worshipers
33:10 to worship Him in spirit and truth.
33:11 What did that mean?
33:12 How the spirit, the heart, conversion,
33:16 transformation is key to the life of a disciple,
33:19 but also to walk in truth, that's also important
33:22 in the life of discipleship.
33:24 Now we're getting to a point, John,
33:25 where we're shifting gears.
33:28 We want to look at the church as a whole.
33:31 And how can we as a church like Jesus did methodically
33:36 with His disciples, how could we as a church
33:38 with disciples of Christ help to disciple them,
33:41 and to grow them, and to nurture them,
33:44 so that they might as well become disciplers of others.
33:46 Okay.
33:48 This is a situation where it's just not addition here
33:50 and there like a few leaders finally get one or here, or two
33:53 and they come to the church, this is a multiplication thing.
33:56 It's supposed to, the church is supposed
33:58 to grow exponentially,
33:59 okay.
34:00 And so that means everybody living the life of discipleship
34:02 and responding to Christ, and to sharing and testifying
34:06 as to what He's done for them.
34:08 And as they witness the church grows exponentially.
34:12 So what is the church, what do we need to do?
34:14 How is a church...?
34:16 What does it look like when a church
34:17 is organized for discipleship?
34:19 So we'll look at what's called
34:20 the disciple making matrix today.
34:23 And will also start with the great commission,
34:25 will spend some time with that here.
34:26 In fact, that will be our first verse that we go to.
34:29 Okay, let's go to that.
34:31 We mentioned, I think
34:32 it was in the first program John 14,
34:34 I want to bring this out, I did,
34:36 I mention it in passing but I want to take
34:38 a look at this here briefly, if you turn to John 14.
34:46 And I believe it's right around verse 9.
34:49 Okay.
34:51 Have I been with you so long?
34:54 No.
34:57 It is, yeah, we can, let's start there
34:59 because it's 9-11.
35:03 Okay.
35:04 Jesus said, "Have I been with you so long,
35:07 and yet you have not known Me, Philip?
35:09 He who has seen Me has seen the Father, so how can you say,
35:12 Show us the Father?
35:14 Do you not believe that I am in the Father,
35:17 and the Father in Me?"
35:19 And here is the key passage.
35:21 "The words that I speak to you
35:23 I do not speak on My own authority
35:25 but the Father who dwells in Me does the works."
35:29 Now, did you know what he just did?
35:30 Did you see what he did subtly?
35:33 He said, I'm going to emphasize this again
35:34 as I read this.
35:37 The words that I speak to you
35:39 I do not speak on My own authority
35:41 but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
35:46 He just shifted from words to works.
35:48 Right.
35:50 Very subtly, unless you're looking for that,
35:52 it's hard to pick it up.
35:54 So words also always must translate into what?
35:57 Works. Works.
35:58 So here's the context of this passage.
36:01 What I've been teaching.
36:03 What I've been showing you all these things you've learned.
36:04 We're going to talk about
36:06 how these words translate to works.
36:09 Verse 11, "Believe in Me that I am in the Father
36:11 and the Father is in Me, or else believe Me
36:13 for the sake of the works themselves.
36:15 Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me
36:18 the works that I do.
36:20 He will do also.
36:23 And greater works than these He will do,
36:25 because I go to My Father and whatever you ask
36:28 in My name that I will do,
36:30 that the Father may be glorified in the son.
36:32 If you ask anything in My name, I'll do it."
36:34 Now do you see the context of that now,
36:35 you see that's in the context of doing
36:37 the works of Christ carrying on His ongoing mission,
36:41 not just name it, claim it whatever you want.
36:43 That's right.
36:45 He'll do it, if we're doing it to glorify our Father
36:47 and to glorify Christ to whom we serve.
36:50 And so here what you find is the bookend
36:53 for the great commission, the same language is used here.
36:58 Jesus is talking about the mission that He had,
37:01 the works that He wants them to carry out,
37:04 how these words,
37:05 the things He's been teaching will translate into works
37:07 that they're going to do, and they'll be greater works,
37:09 not because they're better than Christ's works,
37:12 but because they're greater in number.
37:14 Okay.
37:15 Okay, that's the reason why they are greater works.
37:19 And then He says, "That you're going to receive,
37:22 if you go on in the rest of the passage
37:24 or receive a helper to help you do that,
37:25 it will be Christ living in us,
37:27 who are actually doing the works through us."
37:30 And so I share this with you, because now as we go
37:33 to the Great Commission, turn to Matthew 28.
37:39 You will find the exact same thing.
37:41 It's almost as if Christ was telling them
37:45 what was going to happen,
37:47 then of course His crucifixion happened
37:49 because that was in the upper room,
37:51 that John 14 took place in the upper room.
37:53 That's right.
37:54 The night before His crucifixion,
37:56 and then afterward when He comes back,
37:57 He gives them the Great Commission.
37:59 And the Great Commission has the same language.
38:02 Notice the language of the Great Commission
38:03 in Matthew 28, starting with verse 18.
38:07 "Jesus came and spoke to them, all authority has been given
38:10 to Me in heaven and on earth,
38:13 go therefore and make disciples."
38:16 And that word make disciples
38:17 is actually meaning be disciplers of others.
38:19 Okay.
38:21 Is what it's saying there in the Greek?
38:22 "Of all the nations baptizing in the name of the Father
38:26 and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
38:28 teaching them to observe all things
38:30 that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always
38:33 even to the end of the age."
38:34 So not only is He saying, the words that you learned,
38:38 now go do, teach, baptize,
38:41 in other words you're making disciples.
38:44 And then notice it comes back to Him,
38:46 I'll be with you.
38:47 This is the same format of the passage we just read
38:50 in John 14.
38:51 Because he says in John 14, "Pray for the Holy Spirit
38:54 because when it comes, it will be Me
38:56 coming along with Him and I will help you."
38:58 And here it says, He's saying, "I will be with you."
39:01 So it's beautiful here, this Great Commission
39:04 is more than just nice words,
39:08 it really is intended
39:11 not just for the disciples that were there,
39:13 it's intended for every disciple
39:15 that professes Christ today in the church.
39:19 This is their commission.
39:21 Wow, I like that that you brought that out,
39:22 when we make disciples, He is with us even to the end.
39:27 Yeah.
39:28 When I make a disciples and the connection was
39:30 and I saw the connection,
39:32 you know, I have a look at program here,
39:33 I highlight text and do a little thing
39:35 that reminds me of what we talked about,
39:38 this is the words John 14:10,
39:40 "The words that I speak to you,
39:43 I do not speak on my own authority."
39:45 And then later on he says, "All authority is given to me."
39:48 That's right, there we go.
39:49 It's the same language being used there,
39:51 it's fantastic.
39:52 "All authority is being given to me."
39:53 So now, now that
39:55 I am speaking with all authority,
39:58 I'm telling you to go.
40:00 To go. Remember opening Jammy.
40:03 Yes.
40:04 Remember, what he used to say standing up there.
40:06 He's a Personal Ministries director for years in Fairfield
40:09 and he'd stand up in front of the church during
40:11 the Personal Ministries time
40:12 and you remember what he would say?
40:14 God did not ask people to come.
40:17 He tells you go, go, where did you go this week?
40:23 I remember distinctly, he used to,
40:25 he used to challenge us, are you going?
40:28 That's right.
40:30 And this is a reminder today, are we going
40:33 or we're just part of the church
40:35 that keeps on doing what it's doing,
40:38 maintaining, it's okay, I'll be saved.
40:44 I had a problem with the one thing,
40:45 you know, we used to say this thing.
40:46 The only thing you can take with you to heaven
40:48 is your character.
40:50 No, that's not true.
40:52 Yeah, you take your character, I agree with that.
40:53 But you can also take somebody else.
40:57 Very good point and so this would be,
40:59 there will be no stars, crowns that you can take with you.
41:02 Yes, the Lord wants us to take somebody else.
41:06 Now something else that's interesting here.
41:10 I see that Great Commission has less of a mission
41:17 of the church as it is a disciple's job description.
41:22 Okay, I could understand that because...
41:26 So, you know, we talk about in the context, okay,
41:28 our mission is the Great Commission
41:30 given to the church.
41:31 Actually, it's the disciple's job description
41:34 more than it's the church commission.
41:37 Because sometimes, you know, how sometimes, John,
41:39 when we speak in generalities, we don't apply it
41:41 to us personally very well.
41:44 We need something to actually speak to us personally,
41:46 to be relevant, to engage us.
41:49 So to engage us in the mission, I think,
41:51 it's better to think of this as not just,
41:53 oh, the church's mission is fantastic, make disciples.
41:56 No, it's Christ telling us as disciples to go
42:00 because it's my job description as a disciple.
42:03 That's right.
42:05 Matter of fact, Ephesians 2 and this is a text,
42:07 a lot of times people believe that well,
42:09 I shouldn't say believe, but sometimes we respond
42:11 as we were just called to wait for Jesus to return.
42:16 He didn't call us to wait for Him to return,
42:18 He called us to get others ready for His return.
42:20 You know, on the baptismal certificate,
42:22 will you buy your life and your influence help others
42:25 get ready for the coming of the Lord, and we say,
42:27 I will when I get a chance.
42:30 But the Lord says in Ephesians 2:10,
42:34 speaking about for by grace are you saved through faith.
42:36 That's verse 8-9,
42:37 it is a gift of God not of works,
42:39 lest any man should boast.
42:41 We are not saved by works, we are saved for works.
42:44 That's right.
42:45 Verse 10, for we are his workmanship
42:48 created in Christ Jesus for good works
42:52 which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
42:56 So before you come to, before we come to Christ,
42:59 He has work for us to do.
43:02 When a person goes for a job interview,
43:04 I like the fact that you made this a job description
43:07 rather than an activity.
43:09 When a person goes for a job, they look in the newspaper
43:13 and they say, "Oh, okay, I could fit that position."
43:18 What Christians, what people
43:20 that have given their life to Jesus ought to say is,
43:24 I want to be a part of that, rather than I want to be,
43:27 I want to get a paycheck.
43:30 Somebody once said, people stop looking for work
43:33 when they find a job.
43:35 They don't want to work, they just want the job.
43:37 They want to make ends meet, they want to pay their bills.
43:39 But the Lord has called us for good works.
43:42 These works are already there.
43:44 That's why Jesus said, the harvest is ripe
43:46 but the laborers are few.
43:48 The harvest is plentiful, look everywhere,
43:51 but I don't have anyone that wants to go out there
43:52 and bring the harvest in.
43:54 And so we have the ministries,
43:56 let's talk about this for a moment.
43:57 We have...
43:59 When a person is appointed to an office,
44:01 and I think you mentioned this before
44:02 in one of our prior programs.
44:04 When a person is appointed to an office in church like
44:06 deacon, elder, deaconess, treasurer,
44:08 Sabbath schoolteacher.
44:10 That's internal. That's not discipleship.
44:14 That's simply the function of the body.
44:16 He gave some to be administrators,
44:18 some helps, some teaching, some pastoring, some preaching.
44:22 Those are all the functions of the body.
44:24 Giving an example, your body is functioning perfectly.
44:27 Your eyes, your ears, your nose,
44:28 it doesn't mean you're a baseball player.
44:31 It doesn't mean you're a football player.
44:32 Your body is functioning just like theirs,
44:34 all the components are working just fine like theirs,
44:37 but they've taken on a different mission.
44:39 I'm gonna get on the field.
44:40 The fans have working bodies but their working bodies
44:43 are sitting in the stands.
44:44 Right.
44:46 The athletes are on the field where they are doing something.
44:48 They've got a goal, they want to get to that goal.
44:50 The other ones wants to get to that goal.
44:52 So unless there is a goal in your life that pushes you
44:54 to mission, you're just a spectator.
44:57 You're sitting in the stands with fully functioning bodies
45:00 that have no purpose at all.
45:02 Can you imagine sitting there two and a half to three hours
45:05 and the most I can do is drink my soda,
45:08 eat my popcorn and yell, go.
45:11 Well, this is, I think... That's the church today...
45:14 I think conceptually we have it wrong
45:16 in regard to worship,
45:17 when we come to worship from Sabbath to Sabbath.
45:21 Worship is less about what I get out of the service
45:25 and more about what I give to God, okay.
45:30 I mean, this is an important distinction.
45:34 We have people that complain, they come to the church
45:36 and they complain, well, the pastor is nut,
45:38 it wasn't a very good message
45:39 or so and so treated me poorly or this,
45:43 the Sabbath school lesson, it just,
45:44 I wasn't into it today.
45:46 The writer, I don't like the editor
45:47 on how they put this one together.
45:49 We talk about all the things
45:50 because we're not getting something out of it.
45:52 When Christ is actually calling us before Him,
45:55 He extends the call to worship that we might bring to Him
45:58 an offering of ourselves,
46:01 a living sacrifice of ourselves for his,
46:04 for reasonable service out there to others.
46:07 The worship service is to give God glory,
46:09 to give of ourselves and then to receive
46:12 the sending commission to then go out
46:14 for the rest of the week, do His work
46:17 and then come back the next week
46:19 to talk about it and praise for it.
46:20 In fact, Ellen White made
46:22 an interesting distinction one time.
46:23 She says, there is far too much sermonizing in church.
46:26 Because sometimes the church just needs to get together
46:29 and talk about what's going on all week long evangelistically
46:33 to encourage, to stir up good works,
46:35 and to help us continue to focus
46:37 evangelistically on our mission.
46:40 But no, often we turn internally and we...
46:44 Well, I'm not getting this or that out of it.
46:46 Oh, the church doesn't really do a lot for me
46:47 and that's why I don't go and...
46:49 That's not why God calls us to worship Him.
46:52 We worship Him with as a living sacrifice,
46:55 as we give ourselves to Him
46:57 and offer ourselves for His use, for His service.
47:00 That's right.
47:02 And so many people in America primarily,
47:05 let's look at, I'll just use one example.
47:10 We have, our churches are all over
47:12 in different locations.
47:14 But if we had one mega church,
47:16 let's just use Joel Osteen as an example.
47:18 I'm not speaking about his preaching or sermons.
47:20 You know, he has a lot of good positive things.
47:22 That's not the point, I'm gonna use.
47:24 I'm not gonna try to down him or anything.
47:26 But let's just say, 30,000 people come on a Sunday,
47:29 30,000, we saw the pictures of those stadiums,
47:32 it's just awe inspiring to see how many people
47:34 can pack into that arena.
47:36 But there is one man that's upfront speaking
47:39 and 30, 000 after the sermon, or however long it is,
47:44 or after the entire service, 30,000 go back
47:47 in 30,000 different directions.
47:50 And what would happen
47:53 if 30,000 people left that stadium
47:56 and hit the streets that afternoon,
48:00 going from door to door, home to home?
48:02 Even if it's all week long, you know.
48:04 I'm going there. Yeah.
48:06 And then you exponentially push that
48:07 to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
48:10 activity all week long.
48:12 That stadium wouldn't be big enough
48:14 in just a matter of a month.
48:17 If he said, bring one person with you next week,
48:20 there would be 60,000 people next week.
48:23 Let's put that down to a smaller scale,
48:25 a 120, bring one person with you next Sabbath,
48:28 and pray all week long for just one person,
48:32 there will be 240 people the next week.
48:35 Hey, the person you brought with you,
48:37 bring one of your friends with you next week,
48:40 there would be 360 people the next week
48:43 and just if you try that, if you said,
48:45 I'm just gonna bring a friend, there is no commitment.
48:48 You don't have to buy anything,
48:49 you don't have to give any offering,
48:51 just come as you are.
48:53 We have a special invitation just for you,
48:55 and you've made your focal point
48:58 just that one week to meet one person invite them
49:01 and secure that they're coming with you next Sabbath.
49:03 Do you realize how the church will explode
49:06 and that's what happened on the day of Pentecost.
49:11 They left Pentecost, they left Jerusalem with a mission
49:15 and the church exploded 3,000, 5,000 multitudes
49:18 and then they got to the point
49:19 where they couldn't count anymore
49:21 and in 34 short years,
49:24 the gospel went to the entire world
49:26 because they were filled with the idea
49:28 that if we get the gospel to the entire world,
49:30 Jesus will come.
49:32 So Matthew 28, the commission there to make disciples
49:35 is not a come for a good sermon and then go home
49:39 and enjoy the trees and go, you know, walking through,
49:43 looking at butterflies.
49:45 That's great, you don't have to spend the entire day
49:47 but be a mission minded person
49:49 rather than just maintaining the needs of the membership
49:52 because there is a need of the membership.
49:54 Some people are ill and sick, they need to be visited,
49:57 they need to be prayed with.
49:58 But then there is a mission outreach.
50:00 What are you doing in your mission outreach?
50:01 And this is, this is balanced thing.
50:03 Yeah.
50:04 Because I don't want to minimize the fact
50:05 that sermon shouldn't be good, they shouldn't be encouraging.
50:09 You know, they should,
50:10 we should do a good job with that.
50:12 We should do a good job with our Sabbath schools.
50:13 We should do a good job
50:14 as we come together to encourage
50:16 and to build one another up.
50:18 But we shouldn't leave the other undone.
50:21 That's right.
50:22 'Cause if we do that, the focus will just become eternal,
50:24 internal and I think that's kind of the problem.
50:27 That we're seeing in a lot of our churches today,
50:29 we've lost that working in the harvest field aspect
50:33 in lieu of just kind of being consumed about
50:36 what's happening in the church.
50:38 Now, we're gonna shift here in the last few minutes
50:42 and talk about what I put together here
50:45 which I believe is biblical.
50:46 I got this straight from the word.
50:50 As a disciple making matrix there are four quadrants,
50:53 four components or aspects to this disciple making matrix,
50:57 and all four of them combine together
51:00 represent important characteristics or qualities,
51:06 things that church will do to make disciples.
51:09 To build a disciple making culture,
51:11 and so if you wanted,
51:13 if you like to see a church become
51:14 more of an evangelistic disciple making culture,
51:18 the thing that we've been talking about here
51:19 for the last several programs.
51:21 These are the things that you need to look at,
51:23 this is kind of the test and also things to implement
51:26 that the church should do to put that or establish that
51:29 within the church.
51:31 So it might become that
51:32 disciple making church you wanted it to be.
51:34 That's right.
51:35 We won't talk, I don't, I can see right now,
51:36 we're not gonna get to each
51:38 and every one of them individually.
51:39 We'll finish in our next program
51:40 talking about these things individually,
51:42 because there are some wonderful things in that.
51:43 Okay, sounds good.
51:44 But we'll introduce this and talk about
51:46 the importance of just the cycle.
51:47 All right.
51:49 Number one, so think of this as four quadrants,
51:52 one, two, three, four.
51:55 Okay.
51:56 Starting with the upper left which is the first quadrant,
51:59 so you're going to start with the first one
52:02 which is to connect.
52:04 That means to begin the process of discipling others
52:09 and helping the church foster
52:10 or build the culture of discipleship.
52:12 We have to know that connection with the church
52:15 is an important part of it.
52:16 Right.
52:17 And significantly and we'll talk in more detail
52:19 about this in the next program,
52:21 but significantly this revolves around relationships,
52:25 not doctrinal teaching.
52:27 Right.
52:28 Connection happens through relationships,
52:31 and so there needs to be a strong emphasis
52:33 on meeting people that are non-Adventists
52:37 in the workplace, as you socialize...
52:41 and being intentional about this,
52:42 and we'll talk more about this next time.
52:44 So I don't want to get ahead of myself.
52:45 But let's go to the number two, quadrant two.
52:49 Quadrant two is to grow.
52:52 Once a connection is made, an individual has accepted
52:55 Christ as your savior.
52:57 I think a lot of times in our churches,
52:59 we kind of think at the time of the baptism,
53:01 oh, they are in the church now and we kind of relax.
53:05 But what needs to happen is there needs
53:07 to be an intentional deliberate nurturing process
53:11 that encourages them to grow in the grace of Christ
53:14 like we just read in the text from 2 Peter.
53:16 That's right.
53:18 So grow is the next part of a disciple making matrix.
53:21 So now we've got connect and we've got grow,
53:23 and this is personal growth
53:25 and all the things that come with,
53:28 it's a very important spiritual practices
53:30 in the life of a Christian,
53:31 the devotional life of a Christian.
53:33 Then the third quadrant of the matrix,
53:35 dropping down from grow is equip.
53:40 And, John, equip, to equip the church is probably
53:44 the most significant deficiency we have in churches today.
53:48 We are not intentional about equipping our members
53:51 but we need to be,
53:52 because equipping brings empowerment.
53:56 If you're not equipped
53:57 and you're not feeling comfortable
53:59 and able to be able to share your faith
54:03 because you haven't been equipped,
54:04 you're not gonna do it.
54:06 It's like sometimes we go from connect to grow,
54:09 straight to send.
54:10 Now send them out.
54:12 And people, they are not comfortable with being sent out
54:15 because they really don't know what to do.
54:16 This equipping process is not being met.
54:18 I would say, it's probably the biggest deficiency
54:20 in our churches today is not equipping
54:22 our members for service.
54:24 Okay.
54:25 That doesn't bring empowerment, and then lastly is descending.
54:28 Once you're equipped, you got to go use it.
54:32 Christ was intentional about sending His disciples out
54:34 and we'll talk a little bit about that
54:35 in the next program as well.
54:37 So connect, grow, equip, send, each of these things
54:41 are key to determining whether or not your church
54:44 has got a well-rounded program that disciples others,
54:48 builds leadership and then sends others
54:51 out to disciple yet more people,
54:53 to increase the size of a church
54:55 and grow the church exponentially.
54:57 You know, the John 15 aspect of this whole matrix
55:00 if I can use that phrase is the first part,
55:05 it's important to put some support to these,
55:08 each of these steps.
55:10 Connect, Jesus, in the connection of John 15,
55:14 he says, "I'm the vine
55:16 and my father is the vine dresser."
55:18 He also says, "I'm the vine, verse 5,
55:21 you're the branches."
55:22 So the vine, we connect to the vine and we branches,
55:27 branches don't, the branches don't hug the tree.
55:31 Branches reach out from the tree.
55:34 So we are the reach out or the outreach of the church.
55:37 We are the branches, the vine is Christ,
55:41 He's the vine where the branch is.
55:43 But then He says, the reason why the connect
55:45 is so vitally important is because without Me,
55:47 you can do nothing.
55:48 So there are those of us who joined the church
55:51 and let's put this all together.
55:52 The pieces are very important.
55:54 Each component is very important.
55:56 The component of connecting
56:00 and reaching out are inseparable.
56:05 The branch cannot separate itself from the vine
56:08 and still reach out.
56:10 It look like it's sticking out,
56:11 but there is no life flowing through it.
56:13 So you have to have a daily connection with Christ
56:16 in order to even, in order to even be
56:19 capable of reaching out,
56:20 and I would say if you go down to the seed of this,
56:23 yes, equipping is a very important part of it,
56:26 but so many people don't maintain
56:28 a daily connection to Christ in a living thriving study.
56:33 You see Jesus has His roots down
56:35 into the work of the kingdom.
56:37 He has grown up as the Bible, as Peter points out
56:41 that we've all grown, you know, we're growing in the Lord.
56:46 We are all growing. We're growing in grace.
56:49 We're not growing into grace. We're growing in grace.
56:52 That's right.
56:53 That's the day by day 2 Peter 3:18.
56:55 We're growing in grace and knowledge.
56:56 But that can't happen if we are not connected.
57:00 Jesus was very intentional about His own disciples
57:02 and He provided an example of what we are
57:04 talking about here, connect, grow, equip, send.
57:08 If you take a look at your next slide here,
57:10 what you'll find there, John, is a description
57:13 of how this thing fits in with the model that Jesus had.
57:17 First of all Jesus called His disciples.
57:21 There is the connect piece.
57:23 Then He taught His disciples, there is the growth piece.
57:27 Then He showed His disciples, there is the equip piece.
57:30 Example. And then He sent His disciples.
57:33 There is the send piece, He sent them out.
57:35 That's right.
57:37 And so Jesus is very methodical about this.
57:38 I call it Jesus Christ's other method.
57:41 You know, how Christ's method of reaching out to people
57:43 and we talk about that from Ministry of Healing 143,
57:46 how He socialized, sympathized
57:48 and when people looked harsh to Christ
57:50 and bid them follow me.
57:51 Well, He has a method of also equipping,
57:54 growing His disciples too.
57:55 Wow.
57:57 Well, that's wonderful, you know,
57:58 discipleship is what the Lord calls you to,
58:00 may you respond to that wonderful call today.
58:03 God bless you.


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Revised 2017-07-06