The Making of a True Disciple of Christ

2 (3s): Hello. Hello, welcome. Welcome. Good to have you all here. Wow. This is kind of surreal our last Sunday of, of being doing churches. We've done it for a long time. And so next Sunday, we will be in the worship center, just down the road. Yeah. So we got our permitting to assemble and everything this last week. So we are all good to go. So very exciting stuff just for the parents. So zero through 23 months, we have kids classes over at the worship center and then all the kids up from that next, this is next week. All the kids up from that are going to be still in their same classes here. 2 (47s): So, but today is family Sunday. So kids first grade and up will be in service with their families. And then, yeah, so first grade and up, we'll be in service with your families. And we've also got donuts out on the, by the patio there. So definitely go check those out and that's all I got for you. So we got a video here and we'll get that going. 4 (1m 40s): God brought me to this school and this school brought me to gun. 5 (1m 43s): I like her school because it's a lot easier to connect and grow closer to God. 6 (1m 46s): I have teachers and Christian friends at this school that I can talk to 7 (1m 49s): For once. I feel like I belong. 8 (2m 9s): I like CCS because I feel accepted as myself. 9 (2m 12s): I'm here because I get to see other people connect 10 (2m 15s): With God. I like how the school gives me good influences. 11 (2m 18s): This school has shown me how to love God and not follow the world. 12 (2m 22s): The teachers are always open to talk about God and problems. He with 7 (2m 25s): You can feel his presence all over this place. Jesus picked me, chose me and loved me for a reason. And being here has made that reason more clear. 10 (2m 40s): I'm excited to build a better relationship with God. He's like my best friend. 13 (2m 45s): He's going to love me no matter what I've done, he does 14 (2m 47s): Keep his promises, any promises, good things. 13 (2m 50s): I want to show others the way he moved to me so they can see that he's real and he's there and he can change your life just as much as she's changed mine. 15 (3m 4s): Well, good morning. My name is Tom . I'm the head of school here for coastal Christian school. And I just appreciate so much that your church has been a great supporter of our school and a partner with us. And many of your people here have been a part of the work that God does at coastal Christian school. And that video that was just made how was filmed during COVID, which means kids can still have fun out there in this world. And even during that time of the craziness, but it shows you that our school just isn't a kind of a normal Christian school is more of a Christian experience. There's other ministries that kind of feed into what we do. There's a church influence. Obviously we have chapels and Bible classes. 15 (3m 45s): We have a camp kind of influence when we go to spiritual emphasis. And, and so it's, it's a Christian experience. And so during these, these years here, it coastal Christian, we're celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. Yes. And it's really a celebration of God's faithfulness to that work. And I define Christian education this way. It's I define it as having truth and wisdom, saturating their knowledge and truth is obviously Jesus. He is the way the truth and the life. And so we want God's word to just permeate. What, what they're hearing in, help them develop a biblical worldview, where they're actually taking the word of God and creating that as the lens to see the world, because you guys know education's not neutral anymore. 15 (4m 33s): There's an agenda at everything. I have an agenda. I want these kids to know Jesus and be able to have a personal relationship with him and be able to go forth into this world, knowing their mission and, and be able to think well and everything. So we're kind of like a think of our school is like a five legged stool. There's there's we have our mission, our philosophy. We have really our, our academic program. We have our kind of business model that we operate out of there. We have our strategic planning and then we also have a, a kind of a community that we want to nurture. And so we've grown, we've added another campus. We're actually renting from new life. 15 (5m 14s): We have a trail that goes up the hill for us that connects the two campuses. We've seen performing arts grow. We're using the Clark center to do some performances there. Sports have grown because the Lord has just blessed the school during this time, in this last year to illuminate what we're doing in a lot of families have said, you know what? I want to have my kids be a part of that. And so if you're interested to learn more about our school, I'll have a little table out back and just connect with you. Be able to share with you some more information about our school. Cause I'd love to be able to have you guys come on campus to see this goal for yourself and experienced coastal Christian. So thank you so much for the time. 2 (5m 56s): Thank you, Tom. Awesome. All right. Well, I'm just going to go ahead and pray and we'll get into worship. So if you'll stand with me, that'd be great, Lord, Jesus. We just want to come before you this morning and we just want to open ourselves up to you. We want to worship you this morning. Jesus. And so you're the reason we're here. We just pray that, that you would fill this whole place that you'd fill every venue where people are meeting and the people who are meeting online. Jesus, we, we are here. We avail ourselves to you. And we just ask that you would fill us that you would minister our minds, hearts, souls, body, spirit, every part of us. Jesus. And we just come before you Jesus name. 2 (6m 38s): Amen. 17 (7m 7s): We worship the God. We worship the God. We worship the God who ever ball. He open the prison doors. 17 (7m 21s): We see the God. 17 (8m 8s): We see the God On that cross that he rose up from that gray And we were the bag. 17 (8m 56s): Now we were the press. Now we all forget, except his friends, that the house of the We are forgiven by his grace, the house There's joy in the house, just in the house. 17 (9m 45s): We won't be quiet In the house. God is shot. We won't be quiet. You worship you this morning. 17 (10m 55s): Jesus. There's a name that metal smell Comes out high. We used to see, I've seen it's powered Rob of bad. I've seen his praise and rabid right off the giant falling strongholds. 17 (12m 11s): Greg DASA palate. she Oh, Oh Nothing else. 17 (20m 8s): 21 (20m 28s): Or we're so humbled by your presence today. And we thank you that we've had the opportunity that we've got the opportunity to gather in this place that has been our church home for the last 17 years and will continue to be our church home, but it's bitter and sweet that we're gonna be moving next week into new worship center and solar. We just want to say thank you for the many miracles that we've seen over these last 19 years, but especially here the last 17 that we've been just on this campus. And now Lord, as we expand, we pray Lord that our ability to be salted lights is the only reason for expansion as kingdom people is that we might have a broader reach, a greater reach, deeper reach in the kingdom and in the world that you've called us to bring your kingdom to. 21 (21m 23s): So Lord God, we, we realize Lord that if you've given us more space, Lord, it is the expansion of your kingdom and all for your glory and for your purposes and God, you get all the credits. And we say, thank you, Lord, God, you've been so faithful. As we've been working on that project for these last 55 weeks, Lord, you have been so good to us. And Lord, we just, as we get ready to launch that next week, we pray God that all of the little details we get wrapped up and all of the little things we get finished and that as we move into that space or that our ability to disciple people, to see people come into the kingdom and see people baptized and see whole family lives and families and generations be impacted with the gospel or we pray. 21 (22m 16s): That would be the case. Lord, we thank you for the, the growth that coastal Christian school has experienced in these last couple of years, Lord, you've taken this crazy COVID thing and you've made it a blessing in so many ways, Lord to that school. And it's been hard and yet good. And it's just all of the above Lord. So we just pray blessing upon CCS Lord upon their, their effort to partner with families, to see their people, their young people discipled, and to become strong leaders and followers of followers of you first and strong leaders within the kingdom, within the community. Lord God. 21 (22m 56s): So strengthen their work. We pray where Jesus, God, I'm so grateful for the young people who are going out to think about Eva. Kessler is going to be on mission this summer. And I think if Jacob Erdman who will be on mission this summer, he's already gone. And so we bless those young people or God, we bless them as they, as they sacrifice in a sense, air quotes sacrifice their summer so that they can be equipped and to release into the culture, to make a difference, Lord God, to be salt and light. So bless, bless them. I pray that this experience would transform their thinking and their understanding about you and about their role in the culture and that they would have new found purpose Lord as a result. 21 (23m 43s): So bless Jacob and Eva and others. She would be traveling this summer to do missions work, bless them. Lord God. We pray blessing upon our dear friend, Darlene Buchanan, who has been with us for these last 10 years or 12 years or so, whatever it's been, it's been so glorious. Lord God, she gets ready to move to Washington states to be closer to family and friends. Lord bless her. Lord, bless her. We are so thankful for her. We love her so much, Lord God. And we've walked through a lot of hard seasons as she's lost her husband. 21 (24m 28s): And we've just as a church have done our best to come alongside her. So bless Darlene Lord. As she transitions, we will see her again. You're there or in the air. We will see her again, Lauren, and think about Andrew and Stephanie who were moving to Idaho and the Martins, Lord blessed the Martins or God and so many people in transition. Lord God, I just, we just pray blessing upon your family here at harvest church, whether we're here or somewhere else in the world, Lord, we just pray that we would take the kingdom with us, the gospel with us, and that we'd be salt and light wherever we go or Jesus, thank you, Lord. For who you are. Lord, we pray for the health of People like David Rue. 21 (25m 10s): She was just battling cancer. People like candy welt shoes, just recovering from heart surgery and Shaun bath. My cousin who's recovering from surgery and is in a deal, did great deal of pain. We pray blessing and grace upon these people, Lord, for all, I know that we could spend an hour just naming people or God. And so we just pray God for the health Of our people here at harvest church, your grace upon our lives or God that you would bless families. Lord God, especially those who are struggling right now that you would strengthen them and bless them and help them and encourage them more. 21 (25m 52s): God got to remind us that prayer is so powerful. Lord, it's not a last resort. It's a first resort. It's what we have the privilege to do and the opportunity to do, to enter into times of prayer for the people in our lives for our loved ones. Lord God. So thank you Lord, for this time, pray God that you would be ministering to every soul in this place. And every buddy gathered on this campus and everybody tuned in online, Lord God, we pray that just a release of healing power know so many people deal with chronic pain and sickness and we just pray God for your divine grace, upon our bodies, Lord, that healing would be just experienced and enjoyed. 21 (26m 35s): And there be a blessing of healing, physical, physical healing, Lord God, upon our bodies that mental and emotional and spiritual in every way, Lord, that we'd be experiencing your grace in a fresh new way. So Lord do wonderful and supernatural things. As we gather, Lord God, give us grace and faith for the seasons that we enjoy and endures both or it. And so Lord help us. We pray bless this time. As we open up the word as we've worshiped, as we've fellowshipped, as we prayed, Lord, continue to move powerfully in our midst Lord, we ask Jesus name Jesus name, amen, turn and greet someone. That's you have never ever greeted before. 21 (27m 17s): And we will come on right back. 21 (28m 34s): Good morning. There it is. Hey, did everybody receive communion elements as you came in, we're going to be taking community's family Sunday. So for Sunday, the month donuts and communion, all of these things to enjoy and as well as kids jokes, we've got some kids jokes today. Look at this. I came into my office Monday, I think. And I had these two little envelopes in my stackable there where I received my mail and I said, well, what are these to receive some jokes from Tessa? And she said, dear, pastor Steve, my name is Tessa. 21 (29m 17s): I go to church with my grandma, Tracy. Here's some, here's some jokes for, for Sunday sermon. So I'm going to be using some of Tess's jokes. And if Tesla's here as promised, I do have a $5 bill for her. Sometimes you just gotta pay for resource. You know, you've got to pay for resources. So I'm willing to do that. If you're, you know, you know, under 18, if you're over 18, then you just got to get them to me free. And, and that that's all right too. So we're taking, we're done with Hebrews. And so we were going to start a new series today in James, but it seemed more, more appropriate to start that James series in our new worship center. 21 (30m 2s): So interesting story in 2002, before we planted this church, we were in prayer about what to do with our lives as a family. Cause we just wrapped up a tenure stint at another church. And so we were just prayerful about what Lord wanted us to do. So we, we were just having a small Bible study in a friend's home and, and as a precursor to planning this church, I was teaching through the book of James. And so it's really interesting that, and I've taught through James since then as well, but it'll be really interesting to and fund as we kind of experienced maybe a little bit of a rebirth in our new space to teach through James again. 21 (30m 44s): So I'll touch on it a little bit today, but mostly we'll get going on that in the next week or two. And so it'll be really, really fun, but they were in Matthew chapter seven and we'll be looking at some passages. They're just kind of a topical message we're teaching through the scripture there, but title of the message today, the making of a true disciple of Christ, kind of on the heels of what we learned last week and really all through our Hebrews study and really kind of in preparation for James, James is going to get our attention and it will challenge us in ways that maybe we've not been challenged in a long way. 21 (31m 29s): So get ready for that. I would encourage you is five chapters. I would encourage you to read ahead. And you just, as a primer for the study, just read through all the five chapters. It won't take you very long. You can get it done and you know, 30 or 40 minutes, but read through that. And, but before we go there, let's say this, let's do this. What did the horse, why did the horse cross to the cross? The street? I'm trying to remember. I'm trying to read the writing, pour a little test. Your, what did, why did the CRA horse cross the street To visit his neighbor? 21 (32m 12s): Here we go. Jim said, I want to build a gigantic boat, but I'll need some help. Bob said, well, I just happened to know a guy. I love kids jokes. I've got more. I'm going to save them for next family Sunday. And if I use them again, if I use her jokes against you, you get five bucks next family, Sunday as well. So the making of a true disciple of Christ, what does a disciple? What, before we kind of get into this topic, it's helpful for us to understand what a disciple is. It's kind of old language. 21 (32m 52s): We don't use it in our culture per se. We're not Jewish. So we don't fully understand some of us are Jewish, but we don't fully understand discipleship and what that terminology is and what that means for us as Gentiles. But Jesus said, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit. So what is he asking us to do? What is a disciple of Christ? A disciple is literally a learner. Someone who follows the teachings of another saved or unsaved, we are all disciples of someone. 21 (33m 33s): So we're all learning. And in that respect, emulating, copying the behavior of others around us, whether it's celebrities or, or sports stars or teachers, or just people that we admire or respect, we're emulating, we're copying the behavior. We're learning from others and then imitating their lives. When we give our lives to Jesus, we become Christians term really is little Christs. We often talk about being Jesus with skin on meaning we're to represent him in the flesh in this world, in our culture and our lives were to represent Jesus, the Christ. 21 (34m 16s): We, this is the transition that takes place when it would be when we become born again, we literally are born a new we've got new purpose, new life, new focus, and a new power to do what God has called us to do. So when we give our lives to Jesus, we become Christians, little Christs to denounce the teachings of this fallen world system and adhere to the instructions found in the Bible. So it's a total transition that takes place. That's meant to take place. When we give our lives to Jesus, our, our lives are meant to be focused completely on something different disciples or followers of Jesus who learned from him, how to live and love and lead others to him. 21 (35m 3s): So when we're called to be disciples, we're actually called to go out and help others to follow Jesus. They are imitators of their teacher, mimickers of their master, the Lord Jesus Christ, Easton, Bible dictionary, Easton's Bible dictionary defines a disciple of Christ as one who believes his doctrine. So as we come to faith in Jesus, we declare that we actually believe what he taught. We believe his doctrine. We rest on his sacrifice. We fully trust that the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross at Calvary is it was, it is. 21 (35m 48s): And it will always be absolutely sufficient. So we, we rest on his sacrifice. Eastern goes on to say that person imbibes his spirit. We don't use that word. Imbibes very much, but it means to drink or to absorb. So we're to drink in or absorb the spirits of the living. God, we're promised that when we come to faith, that we are filled with the spirit of the living God. And then that spirit is in us to convict us of righteousness, to teach us, to instruct us, to comfort us. The spirit is the comforter and the convictor. 21 (36m 29s): He's the one who is within us, constantly in us. And we're to drink him into soak, absorb the spirit of the living. God, Ephesians five talks about continually being filled with the holy spirit of God. So we have this responsibility to continually invite God in. So we're saying spirit filming, overwhelming. I want to drink you in. I want to absorb you and your life. And then we're to imitate his example. So as, as disciples, we're to imitate Christ's example in John 8 31, the king James version, it's not on the screen, but it says, this then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on him. 21 (37m 12s): If you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples in deed. So there's a way to determine whether or not we are disciples. If we continue in his word and understanding and applying and obedience to his word, then indeed we are his disciples. So we need to examine our lives and evaluate our lives all the time. And I love to do that. As I open up the scripture every day, I say, okay, Lord is my life in alignment with your word? And what I'm reading is it, does it reflect who I am? I want to be a proper disciple, a follower. 21 (37m 52s): And once you mimic who you are and what your word says, the disciple of Christ is not simply a believer in Jesus, but one who actually obeys what Jesus says, disciples embody the message. James can Fe conveys to the elders of the, of the church there. He said, be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves, sorta be hearers and doers, be doers of the word. So we hear it. And we could argue that we're not actually hearing if we're not actually doing so, we can hear something go in one ear and out the other. 21 (38m 38s): But we demonstrate that we've heard when we do what God has asked us to do. So be doers of the word, not hearers, only deceiving your own selves, James 1 22. So let's get into our text here in Matthew, chapter seven, verses 21 through 29, Jesus said in the sermon on the Mount here, he said, not everyone who calls out to me, Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do. And here it is, again, only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter that. Interesting. Let me read it again. Not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord will actually enter the kingdom of heaven. 21 (39m 19s): Only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter. So number one, in your notes, true disciples of Christ. Do the will of the father. It's it's it's in the definition of what a disciple is that we are actually to do the will of the father, Matthew 7 22 on judgment day. And we talk about this a lot. When we will stand before the Lord and give an account for our lives. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 7 22 on judgment day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name, but I will reply. 21 (40m 8s): I never knew you get away from me. You who break God's laws. None of us want to be in that position. We want to hear well done, enter into your rest. This is what we want to hear when we stand before Jesus, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest. We will do that as we've trusted Jesus for our salvation. And as we become genuine disciples of the Lord, Jesus Christ. So it's separates in a sense, the sheep from the goats, from those who declare but live differently from those who are lukewarm or just playing the Christian game. 21 (40m 54s): I played that for a number of years, got saved, I guess, in junior high school. But then I kind of, I've shared this story before, but I I've asked slated and I didn't really know what to do with my faith. And so by junior year of high school, I was still doing the same thing. And one day I felt like the Lord drew a line in the sand and said, you have to choose, will you choose me or the world? And it was like, the Lord was saying, you can no longer live your life this way. You have to choose. And by God's grace, I chose to follow him. Not perfectly, none of us do it perfectly, but that was the decision. And so maybe you're here today and you're at that same crossroads where you're saying, I just, I am done teetering and having a foot in the church and a foot in the world I'm done with being confused about who I am and about what God has called me to do. 21 (41m 50s): And I just know that I need to follow Jesus. How would encourage you to choose Jesus today? You become a disciple. Maybe you're struggling and vacillating and feeling lukewarm because you've given your life to Jesus, but you haven't understood what God is actually calling you into. He's calling you into a new life of servitude. I've following him. Jesus said to his disciples, come follow me. I'll make you fishers of men. Leave, leave all of that previous life behind and come and focus on something completely different. I never knew you. It speaks to the desire that Jesus has to have an intimate connection, knowledge and knowledge of his followers in an intimate relationship with us in all of our brokenness, his grace is sufficient and he calls us into intimacy with him. 21 (42m 44s): I never knew you get away from me. You who break God's slob, breaking God's law is actually the opposite of true discipleship. If we follow Jesus example, we will do what the father calls us to do. We will obey the laws of God and John five 19. So Jesus explained, I tell you the truth. The son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the father doing whatever the father does. The son also does. So he's establishing who he is. 21 (43m 26s): I am the son of the father, and I will only do what I see the father doing. I will only say what I hear the father saying. I'm so intimately connected to God's plan and purpose for my life. I will emulate and follow him. And I will only do those things that I see him doing. George Mueller wrote. There was a day when I died, died to self my opinions, preferences tastes and will died to the world it's approval, or since your died to the approval or blame even of my brethren or friends. 21 (44m 21s): And since then, I have studied only to show myself approved unto God. Mueller's speaks of living his life before an audience of one, not disregarding others' opinions, his own desires, his own plans, whatever, what others thought of him. And he said, I will do the will of the father. I have studied only to show myself approved unto God. So he's looked at the scripture and said, I'm going to do that. I he's filled with the spirit of God. And he's determined by God's grace to do the will of the father back to Matthew seven, verse 24. 21 (45m 6s): It says anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise. Jesus said like a person who builds a house on a solid rock. So the person who listens to what Jesus is speaking and communicating and his word and follows it, that person is wise like a person who's building their house on solid rock. So we're all building our house on something. We're all establishing our lives on something. Jesus said the only way that you're actually going to build your lives, your house on solid rock is by listening and obeying everything else is like building your house on the sand. 21 (45m 49s): You know what happens when the St you build your house on the sand, the waters come and erodes the sand. There's no solid or permanence about that. There's nothing solid or permanent about them. The foundation of sand is shifting constantly. And so it's constantly moving. You can't build your life on something that is that unstable. Anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise like a person who builds a house on solid rock. So what's the foundation of your life and of your spiritual house. What is the foundation of your spiritual life? What are you building your life upon? God calls us to build. 21 (46m 29s): And we obviously play a part in this. We build on a solid foundation by listening and obeying by hearing what Jesus has called us to do, and then just doing it. I tell you, it makes life a lot simpler. If we're not wrestling all of the time with what God says, if we're not constantly evaluating and deciding, am I going to do, am I going to do the will of the Lord in this area of my life or in this area of my life or in this area of my life? If the answer is always yes, Lord, that it just simplifies life. And it, it clarifies the life and it, and it makes life so much easier to live because we know that we're just going to do the will of the father. 21 (47m 11s): And so when we are confused about the will of the father, God's been so gracious to give us these 66 books of the Bible, 39 old Testament books, 27 new Testament books, books that communicate the heart and the mind of God so that we know what we are to anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Number one, true disciples of Christ. Do the will of the father. Number two, true disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. Well, their foundation is solid rock, right? 21 (47m 55s): Solid rock. They're able to endure storms because their foundation is firm. It's not shifting. It's not questionable. It's, it's filled with integrity because God's word is filled with integrity. And it strengthens the, and builds into the foundation of our life. Something of strengthened and something that will not shift. Sure. Disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. I've watched it over and over again in the church. People who are solid in their faith, things come difficult, things come, and they just endure year after year, decade after decade, a friend of mine, Benny Katz, who I've known for a better part of 30, 40 years, he's home taking care of his wife. 21 (48m 42s): They've been coming to this church for years and Ethel's got hip issues and she can't walk very well. And so, but they're watching, they're probably tuned in right now watching, Hey, Benny, Hey Ethel. So we, we go back decades. And when Benny came to church to visit, I don't know, probably six weeks ago, man, there was just something about his countenance and his character. I just w I had to pray with him. You know, I just wanted some of that to rub off on me. And so we do the parking lot by his car, and we just prayed together. And man, I tell you the anointing of God, the power of God on that guy's life, the presence of God on that guy's life had carried me the rest of the day. 21 (49m 31s): I was just, I came into the office. I'm like, I just pray with Benny man. It was just the greatest thing. It was just the most powerful thing. And so there's something about godly people who carry godly character and intentionality, they're determined to do the will of the father. And they endure storms, physical storms, financial storms, relational storms, whatever they may be. They just endure. And they continue. We a year after year, decade after decade to stay focused on Jesus. I, I think about men like that, women like that who have invested their whole lives to follow Jesus and they carry something. They may, they carry something that's, that's attractive and contagious and strong and wonderful and something that we all absolutely can learn from. 21 (50m 22s): True disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. Why, why do they endure again? Because they build their lives on a solid foundation of hearing God and responding with obedience to God. So it's not like I'm reading the word and I'm deciding, am I going to do this? Now you read the word and you say, oh, I'm not doing this. I'm going to do this. It's not optional. Right? It's like, I'm just going to align my life with Jesus and his word. They have built their lives on a solid foundation of hearing God and responding in first, John two, three through six says this, and we can be sure that we know him. 21 (51m 5s): If we obey his commandments, if someone claims, I know God, but doesn't obey. God's commandments. That person is a liar. It is not living in the truth. But those who obey God's word surely show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. So John, the apostle wrote this brief book first, John second, John third, John revelation. 21 (51m 47s): So they tried to kill John because they didn't like his message. He didn't like what he stood for. So they try to kill him. What do they do? They boil him in oil. Hm. He survives. If God's not done with you, they cannot kill you. And so they can't, they don't know what to do with John. So they exile him to an island and he endures hardship as a faithful faithful man of God. And while he's on that island and angel, the Lord appears to him and speaks to him, gives him the book of the revelation. 21 (52m 34s): So he's exiled, but he's a man of integrity. He's able to endure hardship. And in the midst of hardship, do incredible and wonderful things for God, because he's just figured out how to endure because he's a disciple, a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Those who say they live in God shall live their lives. As Jesus did, Jesus was faithful and was able to endure the storms of life. And his 33 years of life endured, obviously the last three years, especially he endured some hardship. 21 (53m 18s): If he was faithful and enabled and able to endure the storm storms of rejection, maybe you can identify with some of these storms, storms of rejection storms of Tim Taishan says he was tempted in every way, but without sin, he endured the storm of temptation storms of ridicule, storms of false accusations, storms of abandonment, storms of pain and humiliation. 21 (54m 0s): Finally, the storm of death, he went to death as a faithful, as a faithful servant of God. He on the cross, he's told one of the thieves hanging next to him today, you will be with me in paradise. He was always about the father's business because no matter what was thrown at him, he was able to endure because his life was built on a solid foundation. So no matter what is being thrown at us, we have a responsibility and opportunity, a even an obligation to make sure that God is glorified in the midst of the storm. 21 (54m 42s): If we can only glorify God when things are good, are we really his disciples that we really built on a solid foundation? If, if our good works are the fruit of our life is only dependent on the good things that are happening in our lives. And we're, we're not really demonstrating a solid foundation. We're demonstrating that anybody can do good when things are good. What do we do when things are bad? When really things are really bad, we endure because of the solid foundation. If we haven't been able to endure, we need to go back and look at our foundation. What is the foundation of our lives? Is it Jesus, his word? Is it obedience to Jesus? 21 (55m 22s): And to his word, Jesus was faithful and was able to endure the storms because he was here to do the will of his father. He was here to do the will of his father. Maybe we're not here to do the will of our father. And so our ability to endure during the storms is questionable. But if we understand what our purpose in life is, as believers in Jesus Christ, then we are here to do the will of the father. And to only do the will of the father. Now God blesses us with the ability to do other wonderful things, but foundationally speaking, our role as believers in the Lord, Jesus Christ as disciples, is to make disciples, to make sure that our lives reflect that priority in every arena of our lives, that we are building a solid foundation of understanding that we are here as God's kids with God's purpose, with God's understanding and power to do the things that he's called us to do. 21 (56m 30s): So we have to figure out how to endure. The only way we can endure is by having a solid foundation. The only way we can have a solid foundation is by just constantly being in the word of God, by constantly praying. So we pray without ceasing. I don't know if you've tried that lately, but it's really powerful. It's like, really? Life-giving, it's really good. It's just, you're just walking around whatever you're doing, you're driving your work. And you're just praying, always inviting God in always asking for the power of the holy spirit in your lives, always seeking the wisdom of God, availing yourself to the word of God so that you can do the will of God. This is just what God has called us to. He's called us to be in constant communion, intimacy with him, availing ourselves to his plans and his purposes. 21 (57m 12s): No matter what, if we do that, we will endure the storms back to Matthew seven, verse 25, though, the rain comes and the rain always comes. If you're not in a rain storm right now, you will be soon. It just always comes as part of the fallen nature of the sin sick world that we live in, though, the rain comes and torrents and the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house. It won't collapse because it is built on bedrock. It's built on bedrock, Matthew 7, 26, but anyone who hears my teachings and doesn't obeyed is foolish. 21 (57m 57s): Like a person who builds a house on sand. We watched these old repair shows. And last night we were watching shows about these old a hundred year old houses that you know, all over the country and people are wanting to restore these old houses. You know, these houses have survived the, the, the decades and even more than a century because they built, been built on a solid foundation. There there's something of stability and strength in the foundation of these houses that allow them to stand after a hundred or 200 years. And these people are able to come through and refurbish and rebuild and fix so that they last another hundred or 200 years. 21 (58m 44s): There's something about the stability of a good foundation that each of us need. And when we don't have it, we're always vacillating. We're always confused. We're always lukewarm or always half in and half out. We're always just marginal in what we believe in. And our convictions are marginal and our obedience is marginal and it's dependent on what's going on externally instead of the decision that says, no matter what's going on externally, I'm just going to make Jesus my priority. I'm going to be obedient to his word. This is what Jesus has called us to when the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, the house built on Santa will collapse with a mighty crash. 21 (59m 26s): We don't want that because storms are promised in this Christian life storms are promise. We will experience storms. And so we might as well get ready by building our foundation on bedrock on solid stone. When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowd were amazed at his teachings. People were always amazed at what Jesus said, because he spoke. He spoke with such wisdom when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teachings for, he taught with real authority, quite unlike their teachers of religious law. 21 (1h 0m 11s): Why did Jesus speak with authority? Because he knew what his purpose in the earth was, what he was called to do. His mission was to make disciples to die for the sins of the world. Go to be with the father and forever, make intercession for the saints. Number one, shoe disciples of Christ. Do the will of the father. Number two, true disciples of Christ are able to endure storms and number three, true disciples of Christ submit to God's authority. We cannot be true disciples of Christ. If we're not willing to submit our lives to God's authority, what does submitting to someone's authority look like? 21 (1h 0m 59s): Let's take a look at Roman Matthew eight, the faith of a Roman officer. You probably read this story before Matthew eight, five through 10, when Jesus returned to Capernaum, may Roman officer came and pleaded with him. Lord, my, my young servant lies in bed paralyzed and in terrible pain, Jesus said, I will come and heal him. But the officers said, Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are. And my servant will be healed. I know this because I under the authority of my superior officers and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need you say, go. And they go or come. 21 (1h 1m 40s): And they come in. If I say to my slaves, do this, they do it. This Roman soldier understood something of about authority. And Jesus said, Matthew, eight, 10. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him. He said, I tell you the truth. I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel and all Israel. When, when God is our authority, when God is your authority, he oversees every arena and area of our, he is our authority. 21 (1h 2m 23s): His plan is what we follow is just he's our authority. So we follow his plan. His purpose is now our chief purpose. The word slave do loss in the Greek is the, in this verse is the word the apostles use for themselves that the apostles understood that they were slaves of God. They were bond servants of God. They were do loss. They were slaves. And so, because they understood their place, they had no problem doing the will of God. Sometimes we forget who we are. We are sons and daughters, but we're also bond servants. 21 (1h 3m 4s): We have decided to come under the authority of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We have that responsibility, that calling to be not just sons and daughters, but slaves of God to do loss is a slave of God. If you don't want to be God's slave, you have signed up for the wrong God, because old Testament, new Testament, this is the message that we are called to be servants. I do loss of God, Romans one, one. This letter is from Paul, a slave. 21 (1h 3m 47s): I do loss, a slave of the Lord, Jesus Christ, James. One, one. This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord, Jesus Christ, Paul and James. They understood their role, their purpose. And it wasn't a, it wasn't even like a demeaning thing. It was like a life giving thing. Like I've got purpose. I'm here to serve the king. I know what my life is about. I'm not confused about my purpose and my calling. I know who I am and to whom I belong. And so I will serve Jesus with joy and with peace and with gratitude and appreciation. There's nothing oppressive about it. It's life-giving and good. What's oppressive is when we're trying to balance our affairs with God's affairs. 21 (1h 4m 32s): And we're trying to figure out who it is that we're serving Paul and James and Peter. Second Peter, one, one, this letter is from Simon Peter's slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, Jude Jude. One, one. This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James and revelation. One, one, John writes, this is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants. His do loss, the, the events that must soon take place. So John understood. 21 (1h 5m 13s): He was writing to the church, the people of God who are the servants of God, the do loss of God. We are bond servants. We have decided. And if we haven't decided to be the bond servants, the due loss of God, then we haven't decided to follow Jesus. That's the reality. If we haven't decided to be a servant of God, then we haven't decided to serve Jesus where to do what Jesus did. You just said, I didn't come to serve or to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. So do we understand the authority of Jesus in our lives? Do we submit to his authority in our lives? 21 (1h 5m 55s): And if not, where in our lives are we not submitted to the authority of God? And what are we going to do about that? We will constantly be made aware of the areas where we're not submitted to his authority. And the answer is, yes, Lord. I want to submit, I want to align. I want to fix repent of and follow you Lord. There was a blind spot in my life, in my understanding, in my experience and Lord, I am seeing clearly now that you would have me to be a servant, and that means every arena of my life. It's all under your authority. Lord, I submit to you in all things, whereas Jesus authority not recognized in our lives. 21 (1h 6m 40s): What are we doing about that? We can't really see clearly on this. We just open up the word all the time and avail ourselves to the truth of God's word. Be students of the Bible and that you can't call yourself a student. If you're just showing up here and listening to me, teach or going to a Bible study where somebody else is teaching or where you're tuned into a podcast or to a radio station or to a TV station to let somebody else teach you. You're a student of God's word. When you open up the word yourself, when you decide I'm going to learn the Bible, I'm going to figure out what God has communicated through the pages of scripture. 21 (1h 7m 24s): And I'm going to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. So you just have to open up the scripture and just see what God will say. Maybe you're not a very good reader. I tell you you'll become a great reader. If you just commit yourself to reading the scripture, maybe you don't know how to read it all, just get Bible on tape or whatever it is. There's plenty of that. Just figure out how to get that word in your soul and your heart. And in your mind, are we disciples of Christ or do we just go to church? Are we disciples of Christ or would he just kind of keep Christ marginalized in our lives? 21 (1h 8m 6s): The making of a true disciple of Christ, true disciples of Christ, do the will of the father. So we ask ourselves this question, am I a disciple? We all need to ask ourselves this question. Am I disciple? Do I follow? Do I do the will of the father? Am I able to endure storms? Because my life is built on a solid foundation or my wishy-washy and lukewarm and tossed to and fro constantly confused, disappointed, frustrated in sin, doing the wrong stuff because my life is built on sand. Only. You can answer that question. Sure. Disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. Number three, true disciples of Christ submit to God's authority are we submitted? 21 (1h 8m 51s): And if not, let's get submitted, we're gonna take communion. And so hopefully everybody received their elements. I'm going to be reading out of first Corinthians 11. So listen, communion is a celebration of the cross and what Jesus accomplished on the cross 2000 years ago, Jesus died on the cross for your sins and for my sin. So we celebrate communion. We break bread as it were. We drink juice. We do this in remembrance of Jesus. So if you are a disciple of the Lord, Jesus Christ take communion today. 21 (1h 9m 33s): If you are not, please don't take communion today. Communion is for believers, disciples of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And so maybe it's a moment for people in the room who have figured out. I'm not really a disciple, but Lord, I want it to be a disciple. So maybe this is your prayer. As we bow our heads, Lord, I, I haven't been a very good disciple. I, your, your word, the teaching this morning is, has helped me to see that I've been about my own agenda. 21 (1h 10m 15s): Fill with my own desires, following my own lead and doing the stuff that I shouldn't be doing. I, I haven't been submitted to your authority. I have I'm wishy-washy I, I, the storms blow me around. I'm not really doing what you've asked me to do Lord. So God, I repent. I I'm changing my mind about how I'm living. God. I give my life to you. I want to do this. I want it to be a disciple, a true disciple of yours, Lord God. So if that's your prayer today, maybe you've prayed that prayer for the first time. Maybe you've prayed for a thousands of time. God hears the humble, broken and contracts. 21 (1h 10m 58s): Prayers of people. He, he hears in his heart is to help you to do what you're created to do and belonging to do as a result of his, this understanding of what it means to be a disciple. So have you here today and you are a disciple of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Let's go ahead and take communion. Paul wrote in first Corinthians for I pass onto you. What I received from the Lord himself on the night, when he was betrayed the Lord, Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, this is my body, which has given for you. 21 (1h 11m 39s): Do this to remember me. Let's take the wafer. Thank you though. You allowed yourself to be beaten, crucified pierced, Because I am a sinner in need of redemption. Thank you for the redemptive work on the cross. 21 (1h 12m 21s): Thank you Lord. In the same way, verse 25, he took the cup of wine after supper saying this cup is the new covenant between God and his people and agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me. As often as you drink it for every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. Let's take the cup. 21 (1h 13m 1s): Thank you, Lord. For the juice that represents the blood, that was spilled because I'm a sinner because I need your forgiveness. Yeah, we are centers. We have missed the mark. The Bible says there's none righteous. No, not one. So Lord, thank you that on the cross, Because of the cross, because Of your body and blood, God, you've imputed righteousness to us. 21 (1h 13m 46s): Our sin was imputed to you and your righteousness has been imputed to us. That means we have become the righteousness of God and Christ Jesus. When we are covered by your blood and filled with your spirit and adopted into your family and called servants of the living. God. So thank you, Lord God, that you've imputed your righteousness to me and to those who have come under your authority and Lordship and leadership. So Lord we say, thank you. We honor you today. We bless you today. We're so humbled by your presence and your grace and your love. Florida's we get ready to worship, pray God that you would just be glorified by our hearts. 21 (1h 14m 27s): Lord, let us worship in spirit and in truth. And then as we go over to the open house, the new worship center, I pray that it would be a time of celebration and just thankfulness Lord. So thank you for who you are. We love you in Jesus name. Amen. Let's go ahead and stand and we will worship some more. 25 (1h 15m 10s): Speed. speed. To speak the name of Jesus, Dark addictions Declaring there is hope and there is free speech. 17 (1h 16m 2s): Your name is Your name is your name. 17 (1h 17m 30s): shine through this Jesus. Jesus for my family. High speed the whole day. 25 (1h 19m 30s): In the name of Jesus. We have hope we have peace. We have love, we have power. We have authority. And I just pray that we would just go this week with the name of Jesus. Ready on our lips. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Holy spirit for your sweet presence here this morning In Jesus name. Amen.