Am I a Disciple Of Jesus Christ? | Mark Greathouse

((music playing)) Welcome to Bible study. It's that time again. So, I want you to go and invite somebody and tell them to come on to the room with them or pull somebody in the car with you if you're listening so that we can join together and spend this time studying the word of God.

His word is a lamp to our feet, the scriptures say, and a light to our path. His word is our encouragement and it is our nourishment. So, if you're ready, I am ready to dive into the word of God tonight. But before we do that, why don't you go ahead and grab somebody's hand who's in the room with you and we're going to touch together and agree by faith concerning any needs that you may have.

And we're going to ask the Lord Jesus to meet those needs and that you will not suffer lack in any area according to his word and his promises. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your ability. Thank you for your sovereignty. Thank you for loving us the way that you do.

I'm asking right now that as we have assembled that you will be present as your word says. And I'm asking that you would touch my brother, my sister, their family members in the areas that they have need. Father, I'm asking that provision will be made. I pray that restoration will come where it is needed.

Father, we're praying for healing to come and manifest in lives of those who have assembled. Father, we pray for favor to surround them, Father, and uplift them and open up doors for them in areas that they couldn't have even imagined. Father, we're asking for deliverance to take place, freedom from oppress oppression and possession tonight in the name of Jesus.

Father, we're asking now that as your word goes forth that it will be a blessed word, that it will be a right now word. And Father, that this word will set us free and reveal Jesus unto us in a fresh capacity. We thank you for it and we believe you for it in Jesus's mighty name.

Amen. Amen. Somebody say, "It is so." It is so. It is done. All right. We're continuing uh the series this week on what does this mean or uh what does this mean? What does that mean? So, we're going to focus today particularly on disciplehip. Disciplehip. What does it mean?

Disciplehip. Parenthetically, we can ask the question, am I a disciple of Jesus? H am I a disciple of Jesus? And I pray that by the time we have our time together at the end of this, you will be able to define what the term disciple is historically and biblically, that you'll be able to articulate Jesus's mission and purpose in coming to the earth. that you'll fully understand the true character and quality of being a disciple and that you'll be able to explain the significance of repentance in true disciplehip.

So Jesus, he entered the world and I'm going to invite each and every one of you to download the outline so that you'll have it as a study guide for your own times of study. Uh there are some notes in here. Some of them we will get to and some of them we won't.

But we pray that these notes will serve as a blessing to just guide you further into the word of God. So Jesus entered this world, this earth here with a purpose, mission. What was that mission? We can find that in a a variety of scriptures that are there.

But basically, it was to destroy the works of the devil, to satisfy God's penalty for sin, to seek and save that which was lost, and to reconcile mankind to God, and then develop these individuals that he would restore to God into leaders who would in turn carry out this mission after his departure from the earth physically.

So Jesus knew his time was short on the earth. So he sought to maximize his time each day in alignment with fulfilling the works of him as the scriptures say who sent me and to be busy with his business while it is day because the night is coming when no one no man can work.

That's found in John's gospel chapter 9:4. Jesus also said and being in my father's house when he was asked why are you causing us some trouble by his earthly parents by Mary and Joseph when they couldn't find him he said didn't you know that I must be be about or being in my father's house and occupied about my father's business so early on he knew that he only had a certain amount of time to fulfill the will of God and that's true about you and me too you and I we only have a certain certain amount of time while we are in time because we're not yet in eternity.

We only have a certain amount of time. Some people call that the dash in our lives. You know, the date that you were born and then there's a dash. Well, we're in the dash right now. We're in that hyphen. And we don't know how long that line is going to be extended or how brief or short it may be.

But meanwhile, we must spend our time being occupied with our father's business. So Jesus sought to duplicate and re replicate his works in and through the lives of other men. He says, "I got to make a big impact. I got a short time to do it." So in other words, what did he do?

Day and night he imparted his life to those that he has selected to learn and adhere to his teachings as a master. Jesus was a rabbi, a master teacher. In other words, to become his disciples. So as the father had done initially with Adam and Eve, what did he do?

He commissioned them after he created them, he commissioned them to be obedient first. You know, you can do anything. You can eat anything here, but this tree is mine. So, don't touch that which is mine. But I want you to go ahead and be fruitful and to multiply in like fashion.

Jesus did that with these individuals that we would come to know as disciples, his followers. He says uh he commanded them come and follow and then afterwards to go and make other disciples or make others who would do likewise to reproduce. So what did he call what what did Jesus command his disciples to one to become and secondly to reproduce in like fashion the father did with Adam and Eve.

So let's dive into our study tonight. Our primary text tonight is going to be from the book of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew chap 28 18-20. Matthew 28 18-20. And we're going to start there with the new uh the NE the new English translation. Then Jesus came up and said to them, "All authority," how much authority?

Some authority. A little bit of authority. A little bit more authority. No. He says, "All authority in heaven and and on earth has been given to me." Let's just pause right there. He says, "At this point in time, he came and he says this is after he's died, after he was buried, after he was resurrected, now he's uh showing and revealing himself to his disciples again.

And he's saying all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." So in your own time, I want you as your own study to just look into that a little little bit a little bit more and see uh if he's saying all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him now, who had it before, who had that authority?

That's your homework. [laughter] That's part of your homework. All right. But then he says, "Therefore, verse 19, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to do to obey." Teaching them to obey. The King James I grew up on said to observe, but this word says, "Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Not Jesus didn't just give suggestions. Everything that I have commanded you, you are to teach others to obey these things after you have identified your life in me. Okay. So, what is the command? The command here is to go. That's the first command. Go. And then the second, make disciples.

And how are we making disciples? We're proclaiming and telling them about the kingdom of God. We're baptizing them. A baptism is an outward sign of an inward work. That it's an outward manifestation, an outward witness of what has already taken place on the inside that I have given my life over to Jesus Christ.

And my spirit man has been born again. He has been born from above and made new. So that's why I identify with Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection by my getting baptized, getting in water. I'm being immersed and being raised again to show that I'm identifying with Jesus and that my life now is brand new in him.

And then Jesus told them to do what? Remember, I am with you always to the end of the age. So remember that I am with you always. And I like to pause in there when I'm reading that. It says, "Remember that I am with you always. I am.

I am." When Moses was uh commissioned to go and go to Egypt, um he said, "Who shall I say sent me?" And God the father said, what did he say? He said, "Tell them I am that I am." Well, we have Jesus right here saying, "Remember that I am with you always."

Always. All right. So, what is disciplehip? We're going to move along here and again get the outline. We're going to move along and really examine some of this. They're talking about uh disciplehip. Am I a disciple of Jesus? We're looking at Christ in disciplehip tonight. Well, that work the word disciple.

What is it? What is that word? Well, if we look at the Greek, that word is mathet. And that is someone the word disciple someone who learns from a teacher. It describes a follower of Jesus Christ who is committed to learning from his teachings and emulating his life.

Okay? So it's not just one part of me coming to learn about what Jesus taught. The other part of disciplehip right here is emulating his life. This implies a relationship. Somebody shout relationship. Relationship. I heard you back there. [laughter] This implies a relationship of learning and adherence to the teachings of a master.

This is not something that coming to Jesus and saying, "Okay, I'm going to be a disciple is not done haphazardly." No, it you we we make a conscious thought, a conscious decision that not only am I going to ask him or to forgive me of my sins, but I am going to go beyond that and commit to learning his teachings and emulating his life.

So historically and culturally the word disciple or methtes it is it it refers to those who attached somebody say attached they attached themselves to a teacher or philosopher also to learn their teaching and way of life. So you know uh disciplehip wasn't just isolated to Jesus. There were even before Jesus we can look in the Old Testament even some of the prophets we didn't call them having uh disciples we would call them the company of the prophets.

But Elijah when he hand selected Elisha what did he do? He just threw his cloak upon him and then he started following him. He started to uh learn the ways of God through Elijah and then emulate his life. And he was there when Elijah was taken to heaven.

And what did he do? He took his mantle and he he threw the water. Where is the God of Elijah and saw the waters part and saw the God of miracles begin to work in his life. So it's attaching themselves to that teacher or that master teacher to learn their way of life.

In the New Testament, a disciples this word mathet involves not only intellectual learning. Somebody say it's not just my intellect. It's not just my intellect, but also a transformative way of living. It goes beyond the head. gets into the heart and it manifests in the body. Somebody say that again.

It goes beyond the head, gets into the heart and manifests in my body. So a transformative way of living that reflected the values and mission of Christ. This is from the Strong's lexicon. All right. And then it also that word ma mathet comes from the word math. And when we look at that word math, that word it's a mental effort needed to think something through.

One who learns the doctrines of scripture and the lifestyle they require. We're talking about disciplehip. We're talking about being a true disciple of Jesus Christ. And it says what a mental effort needed to think something through from that root word math. And then one who learns the doctrines.

The doctrines. Doctrine is another word for teaching. One who learns the doctrines of scripture. Sometimes we don't we hear these days and people don't like the word doctrine and they they think sometimes it is a bad word. But no. In order to be a true disciple, we must learn the doctrines of scriptures.

What do the scriptures teach and the lifestyle that they require? Oh boy. There's a lifestyle that's included in disciplehip. There's a lifestyle that accompanies the learning. [laughter] That's a testimony that comes with the teaching. And that's what uh true disciplehip is all about. So here's the thing. We can't get stuck in any one of these stages.

I'm going to go through these stages of disciplehip that the Holy Spirit just kind of brought to me and I want to share with you uh so that we can get a look a little more closely at disciplehip. Disciplehip. What does it mean to be a disciple? All right.

So stage one, if we talk about stage one of disciplehip, we see that in Matthew the verse we read Matthew 28. And Jesus came unto them and he said go. But before that, there was a point where Jesus called each of the disciples. So the first stage, stage one is the call or the command to follow Jesus.

Stage one of disciplehip. Stage one, the call or command to follow Jesus. Let's look at Matthew. We're going to look at a lot of scriptures tonight. Matthew chapter 4 18 and 19 in the NE. Matthew 4 18-19. It reads like this. As he Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

He said to them, "Follow me." This is what Jesus said, "Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people. So Jesus comes on the scene. He sees these brothers and then he just begins to speak into their lives. What did he say? He called out to them and he didn't give a suggestion.

You notice Jesus Jesus did not ask them. But what did Jesus do? He issued a command. He saidf follow me and I will turn you into fishers of people. So follow me was not a suggestion but it was a command there. So that's stage one is the call.

So at some point God is going to call those who are to be disciples. Those who are going to be his disciples a stage one is the call or the command to what? Follow Jesus. And when we're following Jesus we're listening to uh his teachings and we adhering to the lifestyle that goes along with it.

Stage two is hearing. Hearing. So the individuals even with uh Simon and Simon Peter and Andrew his brother here the individual has to hear. The individuals heard what Jesus was saying. It is it is imperative for us to be able to hear when he is calling. Hebrews chapter 3.

Let's look at it really quick. Hebrews chapter 3 14-16. The New Living Translation reads it like this. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, oh, that's good. We will share in all that belongs to Christ. Verse 15.

Remember what it says today when you hear his voice. Don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled. And who was it who rebelled against God even though they heard his voice? Wasn't it the people Moses led out of Egypt? So he's saying when you hear Jesus calling, when you hear God calling you to disciplehip, make sure your heart is open to receive so that you can hear and so you won't miss it when he's calling you.

Verses uh uh Matthew 11:15 in the NE says this, "The one who has ears had better listen." The one who has ears had better listen. Do you have ears to hear tonight? Do you have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to you? Some of you, you may have been hearing him, but may not been paying attention to what Jesus is saying.

But he only has good for you. So he said, "Open your ears. Open your ears and get ready to respond because the call to disciplehip is upon you tonight in Jesus' name." Hallelujah. Stage three deals with respond. So we have a C. The C is the call. The H is here.

Stage three is respond. Now that you heard the call to come, there must be a response to the call. There has to be a response when Jesus is calling because he is not to be ignored. There must be a full adherence to the life and teaching. That's what the response is.

A full adhering to the life and teachings of the disciplers. So, Matthew 4 verse 17 and verses 20- 22. Let's look at that. And let's look at the word of God. We're going to turn some pages tonight. From that time, Jesus began to preach this message. What did he say?

This is after Jesus had been baptized by John. Jesus had gone through the wilderness to be tempted. And now he's there. He's saying from that time on, he says what? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. Verse 20. Then they left their nets immediately and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers. Is this is after he lost uh he left uh Simon, Peter, and Andrew. It says, "Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets."

Then look what happens. Then he called them, stage one. All right. They immediate left. They immediately underline that. They immediately left the boat and their father and followed him. So the call went out. They heard the call. Then there was a response. The response was they immediately left the boat and their father and followed Jesus.

So we look at the first verse the verse 17 and it talked about repent. Repent. When Jesus he said that that wasn't a suggestion that too was a command Jesus said repent that's the Greek word metanino metanino it means change in my change my mind or to change the inner man particularly with reference to acceptance to the will of God.

It also indicates a commitment to change one's behavior and align with God's will. So for the early Christians, repentance was not merely an emotional response but a decisive turning point in one's life. It was a call to abandon. Listen to this. a call to abandon former ways and embrace a new life in Christ.

This was particularly significant in the context of the early church where converts often came from pagan backgrounds and needed to renounce their previous beliefs and practices and embrace Jesus and confess publicly Jesus and also to let there be an outward sign of that which was the baptism. So notice here Jesus said in verse 17, repent.

You need to change. This is the command. Change. The kingdom of heaven is near you. The extension of God's rule is near you. But right now, you can't even see it because the kingdom is spiritually discerned. So I'm issuing a call to you to come unto me. And then when you come to me, you're going to learn of me.

The eyes of your understanding are going to be open and then you will be able to perceive the kingdom of God. And notice what happened when they heard. They immediately, the Bible says, left their nets. They didn't they didn't sit around and think about it. Uh they didn't ponder and say, "Should I?

Should I not?" No, they recognized they heard the word. They recognized their word for what it was and they immediately left theirh their nets uh Simon Peter and Andrew did that. And then it also says gi James and John who are who believe to be Jesus's cousins. They immediately left the boat and their father and then what did they do after they left repentance?

You're turning away from and you're turning towards what did they do in this action? They're leaving their old way of life, even their occupation at that moment. They turned away from their occupation because there was a new way and something higher and a new order that was there before them.

So, they chose to instead follow Jesus. They turned away from what they were doing to embrace the new thing that God had for them. But then we see sometimes that some individuals find themselves too attached to this world to truly become a disciple. Hm. Matthew chapter 19 20- 22 in NE it says this the young man said to him after Jesus he come to Jesus what's the greatest commandment what do I have to do and Jesus told him love the Lord your God uh love your neighbor oh I've done all these things uh from my youth then Jesus told him what you need to do he says the young man said to him I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws What do I still lack?

He knew there was a void on the inside. He knew there was something that he was not connected to that he needed to have in his life. Some of you tonight, you're in that position. You realize that there's just something missing. You may be succeeding in business. You may have a wonderful uh marriage, a wonderful family.

Your children are growing, but you recognize that something is missing. So, what did Jesus do? Jesus issued the call to disciplehip to be a disciple. Jesus said to him in verse 21 he said if you wish to be perfect and that word perfect can also be synonymous to the word mature if you want to grow up if you want to reach that level and fill that space that you're that void that's on the inside.

What does he say? Go. This is a word. Go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. [laughter] ((applause)) What do I need to do? Jesus, I'm empty. What do I need to do? He said, okay, give up that which you have.

Just like the other disciples, they abandoned their their occupation and went to follow Jesus. Oh, what do I need to do, Jesus? Oh, I've done all these. I've kept the commandments. I've been living a good life. Uh, but I somehow realize I'm still not in right relationship with God.

Jesus said, "Sell your possessions. Give the money to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me." Look what verse 22 said. But when the young man heard this, he went away. He didn't follow Jesus. He went away sorrowful. I could see him talking to Jesus in my mind's eye and say, "Man, there's something about him is causing me to hope.

There's something about him that's waking waking something up on the inside of me." And then when Jesus gave him the word from heaven, when Jesus said, "Go sell all your possessions. Give that money to the poor, then come follow me. You're going to have treasure in heaven." He went away sorrowful.

Why? Why? That last phrase there in verse 22, for he was very rich. His identity, everything about him was tied up and connected to his riches, money, the god of mammon. He was so connected to that that he could not come and follow Jesus. He could not answer the call to disciplehip.

Then Jesus went on in that chapter you can read on your own and said it's hard for rich people to come. He didn't say it was impossible. Why? Why? And we talked about this in a previous study. Because their identity, their source, everything is wrapped up in their own resources instead of being wrapped up in God.

So in other words, they've made mammon those things their god instead of looking to the creator, the one who is God as God. They've abandoned him as God and chose to follow something else. They become a disciple of mammon. Woo! You hear that tonight? All right. All right.

We're going to keep moving on. Stage four. Stage four is invest. Invest. Not only do you have the call, not only do you hear the call, not only do you uh respond to the call, then you invest. What am I investing in? I'm investing uh in his life and in his teaching.

I'm investing all that I am into him so that I can become all that he is and all that he has for me. Matthew 11:27-30 says this, "All things have been handed over to me by my father." Jesus said, "No one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son decides to reveal him."

Then he said this in verse 28. Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me because I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear and my load is not hard to carry.

So Jesus is saying come to me. Come invest in me and what I have for you. I want you to come and just learn from me. The yoke that I have. What are we talking about when we say a yoke? A yoke was a you a wooden bar bar or frame that joined two animals like oxen or horses so that they could pull a wagon or a plow or something like that.

And here in this passage is used figurative figuratively of the restrictions that a teacher or rabbi would place on his followers. Again, not just the teachings but assuming the lifestyle that they have. Also these are the expectations that the teacher will have upon the those being discipled. He says mine is easy.

Mine is easy for you to bear. So come, come to me. Come to me. Invest in that. Also, we see in 2 Timothy chapter 2:15, it says, "Study." We're going to invest now. We're investing to learn of him. Paul is writing Timothy in the Amplified Translation translation. Study and do your best to present yourself to God.

Approved a workman tested by trial who has no reason to be ashamed. Accurately, see that word? accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of God. So, we're coming to invest invest in the resource who is Jesus himself who will in turn make us more like him to do his other work here in the world in in the earth.

Matthew chapter 19 27 says this. Then Peter answered him, saying,"Look, we have given up everything and followed you, becoming your disciples and accepting you as teacher and lord. What then will there be for us?" Peter is saying, "We've invested our entire lives in you." And that's what disciplehip is all about.

It's us continuing to decrease so that he can increase. We continue to die to ourselves so the life of God can be seen in and through us and experienced through us each and every day. All right, let's keep going. Luke 18, we're getting there. Luke 18:29-30. Then Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, there is no one, come on here, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of God's kingdom who will not receive many times more in this age and in the age to come, eternal life.

So we're investing, we're not losing when we're investing in him. Oh, Jesus said, "If you give it all up, I've got so much more for you." Hallelujah. When you give me your all, when you truly become my disciple, your eyes haven't seen, your ears haven't heard, it hasn't even entered into your heart what I have prepared for you because you love me.

Hallelujah. Somebody shout hallelujah on that. God's got good things in store for us. His plans that he has for us are to prosper us and to bring us into a promised end. That's the God that we serve today. Hallelujah. Let's get back to this text. This is We're getting warmed up here.

Warmed up. Well, it's time to wrap it up. Hallelujah. James 4:6. James 4 is 4:6. As we come to submit, submit. This is stage five where we submit. We submit or humble ourselves to be taught, to be trained, and to be mentored. James 4 says this, "But he gives greater grace."

Therefore, it says God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So, submit to God, but resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded.

Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. So we submit ourselves unto him so that we can be taught. Then we count the cost. Here's a good scripture. Luke chapter nine. And he was saying to them all, if anyone wishes to follow me, let's get this one.

As my disciple, Amplified Translation, he must deny himself. This is counting the cost. As we submit to him, deny yourself. set aside selfish interests. Woo! Take up his cross, expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come and follow me, believing in me, conforming to my example in living and if need be suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in me.

Come on, this is a word tonight for somebody. We We're realizing what it really means to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. We die to ourselves and come alive unto him. Verse 24, for whoever wishes to save his life in this world, wanting what I want, that's my that's my parenthetical comment, [laughter] will eventually lose it through death.

But whoever loses his life in this world for my sake, he is the one who will save it from the consequences of sin and separation from God. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world wealth, fame, success, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed here and now of me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and the glory of the heavenly father and the holy angels.

All right, there's another scripture in Matthew chapter 10. I'm just going to read a part of that. Verse 37 says, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." Some of you, it's the first time you're hearing this about what true disciplehip is. Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Jesus said, "Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." Luke 14 says, "Hey, if any," Jesus said, "If anyone come to me, you got to hate his own father and mother, brother and sister in the sense of indifference to them, relative to relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude towards God."

In other words, he's saying God has to be first. Jesus has to be first in order to be Lord of your life. We're going to move on to Luke chapter nine. You can read the these full passages once you get the outline. Lukeapter 9 61. Another also said, "I will follow you, Lord, as your disciple, but first let me say goodbye to those at my home."

But Jesus said to him, "No one puts his hand to the plow and looks back to the things left behind. No one who does that is fit for the kingdom of God." Jesus is hitting and telling upfront what it means to be disciples. And we have to communicate that same message effectively.

It costs you your life. Hello, somebody. Being a disciple costs you your life. Come on, say that out in the room where you are. You might be in the car and might turn over to somebody in the car next to you. Just tell them being a disciple of Jesus will cost you your life.

Hallelujah. But you know he's got much more life once you give it to him. Yay. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So the last part of stage six is teach and training and we're going to be done. We're carrying carrying on the legacy of the imparted life to us. We teach others.

Jesus said what I have commanded you. John 15 11-13. And he says, "I've told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. My commandment is this. Love one another just as I have loved you." So this is what we're teaching.

What are we teaching others? Whatever Jesus has commanded us, love one another as I have com I have loved you. No one has greater love than this than one lays down his life for his friends. We also teach them that the commit the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven is here now for you.

And so what I'm going to challenge you to do is read through the gospels and see the things that Jesus taught so that you can know what he taught and you can in turn teach and train somebody else. Hallelujah. That's what being a disciple is all about. We're talking about the Christ in disciple.

True disciplehip is a continuum. So tonight, we're going to ask you the question as we wrap this up. In what stage are you? What stage do you find yourself? Really, really, I want you to really, really ask yourself, are you making progress? The first stage, C was the call.

Is Jesus calling you tonight? Has he already called you? Here my sheep know my voice. Can you hear Jesus? Have you heard Jesus? Response. What is your response to his call? I invest. Are you ready to give him all to give him everything? S submit. Is your heart's posture open and humble before him?

T Have you been taught and trained? And are you now ready to be a discipler? C H R I S T. Christ in disciplehip. So, do you find it a struggle? Those of you who are here tonight, do you find it a struggle to ask Jesus to be Lord of your life, in control, calling the shots?

Are you more comfortable with just positioning him as savior? Oh, I'm saved from my sins. He has saved me. He saved me by grace. I've been saved. But if you notice the verse in Romans 10 that we use when we're presenting the gospel, it says that if you confess with your mouth what?

Jesus is Lord. So part of coming to him and becoming a disciple. The first part you hear the call. We respond to him. Then we recognize what it is he's done. We believe it in our hearts and we confess with our mouth. Jesus is Lord. We believe that Jesus paid the price.

That Jesus took on our sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us in order that we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus took on the penalty for your sin. Even the sins that you committed just a few minutes ago. Jesus took that on. He says, "I've got you.

I've got you. But all I ask, come learn of me. Be my disciple. And the life I have for you is far beyond what you can imagine." Jesus wants you to be whole. So true disciplehip flows from you and I being disciplined. You recognize that word discipline and disciple? disciplined to to us overflowing with his person character and nature and to also share that into somebody else's life impart that he expects you and me you and I to make other disciples that is an expectation he expects us to make disciples in the earth so maturity is evidenced in fruitfulness It begins with your decision right now.

If you haven't responded to the call, you've heard it tonight. I want you to open your heart and say, "Jesus, here I am. I believe what what Brother Mark was just talking about. I believe that you you have life for me, and I want it. So, I surrender my life.

I make you my Lord and Savior, Jesus. Come in now. I surrender. I yield. Make me a disciple." If you prayed that prayer, let us know. We're celebrating you. Other believers are se celebrating right now. The angels in heaven are rejoicing and we're praying for each and every one of you.

If you found yourself stuck, let's get moving forward in the word. That word is going to propel you into who God called you to be. Come back next week. God bless you.