A Disciple of Jesus Christ

All right. Good morning.

Turn, if you will, to Luke, Chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

That's where we're going to start.

We got lots of passages I'm going to have you turn to this

morning. But Luke, chapter 10 is where

Luke 10 · chapter mention

we're going to start. Does anybody need a Bible?

We got some extra Bibles. You on the Bible, Kevin?

Can you get a couple of those Bibles of the green and Brother

Fleming here, if you don't mind. Thank you.

Luke. Chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

Somebody tell me what we've been talking about here in this

series. What in the Bible?

Not allegories. Metaphors, metaphors.

In the Bible, we've been talking about metaphors.

And today I'm going to skip review just so I can get right

into this. But today we're going to talk

about one that may not seem like it's necessarily a metaphor, but

as we get into it, you'll you'll see we're going to talk about

being a disciple of Christ. Now there's a whole sect, a

whole religion called the disciples of Christ, but we are

called to be disciples of Christ.

And how is how is that a metaphor?

Do you remember what a metaphor is?

What's the? I'll give you the definition

because it's kind of involved. But the definition of a

metaphor, listen to this is a word or phrase applied to an

object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

So are we literally disciples of Christ on this earth?

We can't be right? Because that That's my next

question. What is a disciple?

What is that? It's a follower, or it's the

real definition. Is a learner or a pupil, not

necessarily just a follower. So if we are learners or

students of Christ, we are his disciples.

And so it is a metaphor because we can't actually follow Christ

on this earth. So there were only how many

disciples. It's a double trip.

Question 13. But there's lots there's not.

They were not only 12 or 13. Anybody that followed Christ

while he was on this earth was called a disciple.

And we see that in John chapter 8, verse 31, then said Jesus to

John 8:31

those Jews which believed on him.

If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples?

Indeed. So it wasn't just the 12, even

though we tend to call the 12 the 12 disciples, They were

actually the apostles, but the Bible does refer to them as

disciples. So that's where we get that

from. So like I said it was a trick

question. John chapter 13, verse 35 all

John 13:35

says by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye

have loved one to another, which then that means us.

If we have loved one to another even we can be his disciples.

But it was it was anybody that followed Christ was his

disciple. Which leads to the next

question. We're still in in introduction

here, but how? Well, it's not necessarily a

question. How rhetorical?

How is a disciple of Christ? I think it's probably the most

important of all the metaphors we've looked at so far.

Reason being is why are we trying to be a soldier?

Why are we trying to be a student of God's word?

Why are we trying to be salt and light?

Why are we trying to be a farmer and spread the gospel?

What are we doing that for? To make disciples and to be a

better disciple of Christ. And we'll see that as we go in

to this lesson, because of what a disciple is supposed to do.

So it's very important metaphor. It's a very familiar topic.

But I'm going to, I'm going to get into this here in in a

little bit. And I want to say this too.

We don't necessarily have disciples today like they used

to have back then. Remember Paul?

Anybody know who he was? Who he sat under?

Gamalia. He said I was I was a disciple

of Gamalia. Well, a disciple wasn't just a

student that came to classes for a few hours a day.

They followed this guy around, which is why was not weird for

Jesus to have 12 men following him around everywhere he went.

It was that was normal. John the Baptist said the same

thing. Remember he sent some of his

disciples to Christ to see if this is the Messiah.

So it was not weird at all for these disciples to be following

him around. For the for the 12 apostles.

Gamalio had it and and it was very common.

Now we today we still have that to a degree that we have mentors

and we have pastors, we have professors, but we don't follow

them around like like they would have back then.

So I already said this, but a disciple simply means a learner

or a pupil. So if you are underneath a

teacher, you are a disciple of that teacher.

And it's also important to know you'll see with the disciples

they often questioned Christ. There's nothing wrong with

questioning God to get a better understanding, and that's not

necessarily a a point in our lesson today, but you'll just

you'll see the disciples questioned him often.

What does that mean? That's not bad.

That's a good thing. They were learners.

They were trying to learn and understand, and Christ was

trying to teach them because he knew better than they did.

He was getting ready to leave. So y'all better.

Get everything you can while I'm here because I'm going to leave.

And what did he leave for them to be their guide?

Or who did he leave for them? The Holy Ghost.

And he told them that I'm going to leave the Holy Spirit here,

but it's a little different. He's going to lead you.

He's going to teach you all things and bring all things to

your remembrance, but he's not going to be a teacher like

Christ was to them. And so we're going to look at

that this morning. Let's pray.

And then we're going to get into Luke, chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

I want to look at a passage there real quick.

Father, I thank you for this day you've given us.

Thank you for the opportunity we have to be followers of you, to

be students of not just your word, but of of yours, God.

And thank you for the Holy Spirit that leads us.

I pray that we would listen and that we would obey, that we

would never grieve or quench your your spirit in our lives.

God, I pray that you would help us to be as as good of followers

of you as we can be as we look at this lesson this morning and

we would understand how best that we can do that.

In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Luke Chapter 10 if you're familiar.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

No, this is the story or there This in here is the story of

Mary and Martha and these were two different types of disciples

of Christ. Remember we didn't just have the

12 disciples. These two were disciples of

Jesus Christ and Luke chapter 10 verse 41.

Luke 10:41

I don't you to look at this real quick, but Martha well 39 And

she had a sister called Mary. So Martha had a sister called

Mary which also sat at Jesus feet and heard his word.

But Martha was cumbered about much serving and came to him and

said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to

serve alone? Bid her therefore that she

helped me. Verse 41 Jesus answered and said

unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about

many things, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen

that good part which shall not be taken away from her.

I don't think he was necessarily rebuking Martha here.

Martha was a disciple of Jesus Christ and and what I'm what I'm

looking at here is two different kinds of disciples or two

different ways that we can be disciple.

Martha was busy. She was serving and we're called

to do that. But I think sometimes we get

caught up so much at times in service that we forget to just

sit at Jesus feet and learn. He tells Martha that he says I

weren't careful and troubled. He wasn't saying you're

distracted or you're too busy. He said, you're careful.

You're in trouble, you're you're busy with good things.

But she chose the one thing that's needful.

Mary hath chosen that good part which will not be taken away

from her. She's sitting at Jesus feet and

she's learning. And so we want we want to make

sure that we're doing that. We want to be busy.

But the Bible also still says be still and know that I'm God.

So there's a balance. Me and my wife talk about this

all the time. Everything we do there is a

balance. There's a balance And how busy

you should be at church and I don't think any of us are

hitting that limit. So I'm not not giving you an

excuse, but I think there's a balance.

How busy we, a person, should be at church.

We have our families, we have our our jobs.

But I think there's also there's there's just a balance in life.

And when it comes to being a disciple of Jesus Christ we

should be busy about his work. But we should also take time,

preferably in the morning or whenever your your job schedule

allows you to sit at Jesus feet and learn what he has for us.

So first thing, go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 4.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

We're going to get there in just a second.

The first thing I want to talk about is a disciple is called

and I think it's a disciple is not.

It's not that a disciple is called.

This is where. This is where we get into some

Calvinism and you have to be very, very careful with that.

But predestinated, if you look at that passage, it's saying

there these, there were people that are predestinated to what

we'll get there. It's not predestinated to

salvation. And I know that's a really,

really popular thing right now. God knew who would be saved.

I think we can all agree on that.

But he did not predestinate some to be saved and some not to,

because there's so many verses in the Bible that talk about

everyone whosoever. I mean the most common verse in

the Bible, John 316, is whosoever.

That doesn't mean only a select few can be saved, but a disciple

now is called specifically by Jesus Christ to be that Matthew

Matthew 4:18

chapter 4, verse 18. Let's look at that.

Matthew chapter 4, verse 18. And Jesus, walking by the sea of

Matthew 4:18

Galilee, saw two Brethrens, Simon called Peter and Andrew

his brother, casting a net into the sea.

For they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow

me, and I will make you fishers of men.

And what did they do in verse 20?

And they straightway left their Nets, and followed him.

And going on from thence he saw other two brethren, James, the

son of Zebede, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebede,

their father, mending their Nets.

And he called them. And they immediately left the

ship and their father, and followed him.

He's specifically calling these men to come be his followers, to

be his disciples, to be his students.

And may I ask you this, do you think they had a choice in

following him? Absolutely.

I shook my head to tricky He they absolutely had a choice.

They could have said Nah, because you see, Peter, after

Christ dies, he goes back to fishing.

And what did all the other disciples do we go for?

We're going with you. They all went back to fishing.

Why? They had a choice and whether or

not they were going to follow Christ, but but Jesus called

them to be his disciples, but he didn't force them.

They were not pre. They were not ordained from the

beginning of time that they had to do that.

He gives us a free will and I don't want to get bogged down in

that. But he calls his disciples and

what does he call us to do to be with him?

Look at Romans chapter 8. And we talked a little bit about

Romans 8 · chapter mention

this last week, with the Holy Spirit being our guide.

But Romans chapter 8 and verse 9 says this.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.

If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of

his verse. 11. But if the Spirit of him that

raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up

Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by

his Spirit that dwelleth in you. So we are not necessarily with

Christ any longer, but Christ left the third person of the

Trinity to be with us. So we are followers of the Lord

Jesus Christ and and and this is not.

I'm not trying to confuse you. I hope it's not.

I'm just trying to show you that we are called to be with him.

Think about the disciples when he called them here in Matthew

chapter four, he was calling them to witness some pretty

amazing things. Think about the miracles that

they got to see. Nobody else.

I shouldn't say nobody else. Others got to see it, but very

few. He, he.

They got to see him heal the sick.

They got to see him feed the multis, not just see him feed.

They got to be a part of breaking that bread and passing

it out. They got to see him calm the the

seat. Nobody else saw that except his

disciples. That was one thing nobody else

saw. He saw them restore the dead to

life. Think of Lazarus.

He's they got to see him do these things.

Very few got to see these things.

And if, well, I'll, I'll give you an example and it's

somewhere later in my notes but I'm going to jump to it right

now. When Jesus rose from the dead

and and showed himself back to his disciples, right.

Remember he came through the upper room, literally came

through. It didn't open the door, but he

came into the upper room. Who was not there.

Thomas. Thomas was said he's dead, I'm

gone. And by not being with Christ

where he was supposed to be, he missed out on that first.

That the the first time that the disciples got to see him after

his death and later he got to see Jesus again and and but

think about that one act. We what else did Thomas do in

the Bible there? There's other recorded stories

of Thomas being there. There's things that Thomas did.

But what what do we know him as doubting Thomas And I'm going to

get to that later. But the the actions, the things

that we do as disciples of Christ, it it, it definitely

builds A reputation for us that's going to follow us.

But doubting Thomas, that's all we know about him, or that's the

first thing that comes to mind when we hear his name because of

his lack of being with Jesus. We're called to be with him.

Go to Matthew chapter 26, and we're going to, we're going to

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

look at this passage for a little while because I think

often we have no problem following Christ.

It's a good thing to do. And I think even the world would

say, yeah, yeah, religion's good.

But what happens when it starts to get tough?

This is what we're going to see in Matthew chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

We literally had the disciples. We had Peter telling him, I

don't care what happens, I'll follow you to the death.

And as soon as that it came time to prove that Peter Bales, he

was not with Christ, but Matthew Chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

And let's start in verse 21. I have the chapter 6, verse 21.

And as they did eat, he said, verily, I say unto you, that one

of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding

sorrowful. And began every one of them to

say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He

that dip his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me,

which is very interesting that Jesus tells them whoever dips

their hand in there with me is going to be the one that betrays

me. Certainly they would have seen

Judas do that, so I don't know why they were still so confused.

But anyways, And then verse 25 Judas, which betrayed him,

answered and said, Master, is it I?

And he said unto him, Thou hast said, And as they were eating,

Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and break it, and and so on.

But they Jesus says you're going to betray me.

All of them are saying it's not going to be me.

There's no way it can't be me. And I don't think at this time

even Judas was going, it's going to be me.

I don't think his heart was there at this time because he

even asks Jesus, is it is it me? Which is interesting that they

were all asking him that I think they had at this time.

Maybe still some doubt as to whether they were capable of

what Jesus was asking them to do or capable of of of following

him to the to the full extent. But anyways, so Jesus goes to

the garden of Yosemite, he has his three disciples with him

there verse let's see 37 And he took with him Peter and the two

sons of Zebity and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto

death. Terry, he Terry hee here and

watch with me. And he went a little further and

fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh my father, if it be

possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will,

but as thou wilt. Verse 40 He comes to the

disciples and finds them asleep, and say it then to Peter, What

could you not watch with me? One hour, Jesus, I believe right

here is testing their faith. Just seeing.

I don't think they understood what was, what was getting ready

to happen. Which is why Peter was so

surprised when the when the soldiers show up and he whips

his sword out and and goes to swinging.

But all he was asking them to do is pray with me.

And I read this this little quote that I don't know who it's

from so I can't give credit, but it says a faith that cannot be

tested cannot be trusted. It's not a faith that isn't

tested, can't be trusted, even though I think that's kind of

kind of accurate as well. We do that with tools at work.

They'll they'll pilot them for months and months and months to

make sure that this tool that they are wanting to bring into

the to the workforce is going to be what we need before they buy

a hundred of them, you know. But I think that's what God does

for us. Jesus Christ does this for us.

He tests our faith and tests our faith and tests our faith

because if we don't pass these tests he cannot put the big

things on us that he that he needs us to do.

A faith that can't be tested, can't be trusted.

And in the in the disciples lives here this test was about

to come. I mean think about what the

disciples had been through at this point.

Not a whole lot. I mean they had, they had, they

had some pushback on on spreading the gospel, but they

really hadn't been through a whole lot.

I mean they're with Jesus. Jesus is performing miracles.

The people love him for the most part.

He's feeding 5000 men with their wives and children.

The people love that. Nobody's complaining about that

except the Pharisees, but everybody else loves it.

So the disciples, at this point, I don't think they did

understand when Jesus is saying that I'm going to die, they're

going, I'm going to be crucified and raised three days later.

I they didn't understand that because how can that happen to

somebody who's so popular? But their test, their faith, is

about to be tested so that when Christ was gone, they could be

entrusted with the church that was going to need to be built.

And so we see that in verse 41 you couldn't even watch and pray

with me three times. That happens.

But then in verse 56, Look at verse 56.

But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might

be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook

him and fled. And we're still under the point

to be with him, right? A disciple is called to be with

Christ. This, this was probably the the

most trying hour so far in Christ's ministry.

Well, I should say probably it was.

He's about to be crucified, and he knows that He's in the garden

begging his Father to let this cup pass from him.

This is where he sweats drops of blood.

He's in such distress and in in such heavy prayer He needs his

disciples to be with him, and they all forsook him and fled.

And they that had laid hold on Jesus let him away to Caiaphas

the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were

assembled. What's Peter do?

Verse 58. Peter followed him far off onto

the high priest palace and went in and sat with the servants to

see the end. He doesn't just call us to be to

be following him, God Jesus calls us to be with him and and

I think that if Peter had stayed with Christ they they probably

it's very likely they would have killed him or at least thrown

him in prison or something else. But he follows a far off of

verse 58 to see what the end of Christ is going to be anyways.

And then in verse 69 of Matthew, chapter 26, Peter follows at a

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

safe distance. And this is, this is my point.

I think a lot of Christians are fine with following Christ as

long as everything's going good. But as soon as it gets tough and

this is what pastor talks about persecution is good for the

church because we get to see. And it's not just, oh, he was

fake. It's a we get to see who is

actually a follower of Christ and who is not.

When the time when it gets tough and they start saying, OK, who's

a Christian because you're going to prison or whatever else.

And we'll see that in in verse 69.

Oh no, no, no, no, no. I mean I went to church, but

I'm, I don't, I don't identify with Christ, I don't follow him.

That's what Peter does here, verse 69.

Now Peter sat without in the palace, and a damsel came unto

him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.

But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou

says. When he was going out into the

porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were with

him. This fellow was also with Jesus

of Nazareth, And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the

man. For 73 And after a while came

unto him, They that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou

are also art one of them, For thy speech bereath or betrayeth

thee. Then began he took curse, and to

swear, saying, I know not the man, and immediately the cock

crew. And we know what that means.

But think about what Peter does not just as follow it up at a

distance. Now he curses to prove, oh, my

speech betrays me that I've been with Christ.

Then I'm going to curse to show I I I'm not with Christ.

But I think the lesson here is when Peter Peter's denial of

Christ did not, did not happen. Just starting in verse 69

Peter's denial of Christ happened when he's he backed up

and started following a far off. He was not with Christ.

And I think the the I I don't think we understand or we are

aware of how low we can go when we start to backslide tons and

tons and tons of examples of of people that I know or whatever

else. I won't even, I won't even give

any examples. But when we backslide from being

with Christ, when we backslide from spending time in His word

and in prayer to him and with him and that fellowship, there's

no telling how far back we can go.

And you know, people in your life that how could they, how

could they have done that? They stopped following Christ.

They, they got away from him and started looking at a distance to

see what's the end going to be like for for that church man.

They took a stand. I'm going to back up a little

bit and see what happens. And sometimes God blesses that

and with growth and then those people come back.

Well, I'm going to jump in now. But when they when we back up

and just see what's it going to be like, that's when we start to

backslide. So we're called to be with him,

but we're also called to be like him.

Moving on very quickly, we're called to be like him.

First Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 49.

1 Corinthians 15:49

As we have borne the image of the earthy.

And if you look at this passage, it's several verses long.

But this is this is the point. As we have borne the image of

the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

What is that talking about? It's it's literally talking

about we have fathers that we were born to, and we bear the

image of those earthly fathers. This is very this is not

something we have to explain. We know that you can see a

father and his son standing next to each other, especially once

they get a little bit older and go man, they're related.

We're called to be like Christ as his disciples.

Does somebody see you standing there and go, they got to be a

Christian because they resemble their Heavenly Father so well.

They're they're the image of the Heavenly Father.

That's all I'm going to say about that, except there is a

hymn that we sing oh, to be like the blessed Redeemer.

This is my constant longing and prayer to be like the.

Not just to be a follower. To be like the This is my

constant longing and prayer. Gladly I'll forfeit all of her

treasures. Treasures.

Jesus, thy perfect likeness to wear.

Is that a prayer that we have? I'll forfeit everything I have

to be like thee, oh, to be like thee.

Oh, to be like thee. Blessed Redeemer, pure as thou

art. Come in thy sweetness, come in

thy fullness. And the last line says stamp

thine own image. Deep on my heart, we're called

to be like Christ. And that's there's so much more

to that than just claiming the name of Christian.

Be a disciple, be like him. Second thing is a disciple is

criticized. And so we're called and we're

also we're criticized. And Christ was criticized

constantly by the Pharisees. Every time he turned around, he

was getting attacked by the Pharisees, and he always had an

answer for them, but they never stopped criticizing him.

So it shouldn't be a surprise to us that even religious people

will criticize us. But disciples of Christ are are

criticized often corporately. I'll give you an example of that

corporately meaning as a group right.

We get a name. Oh he's a fundamentalist right.

And pastor did a whole lesson on this fundamental is just

somebody who follows the fundamentals, the basics of what

the Bible tells us to do. But have you.

And I'm not saying there never has been, but it's very popular

for somebody running for office to say there are what, I'm a

Christian? Yeah, I'm a Christian.

Yeah, My faith is very important to me, you know.

But when it comes down to attending church regularly,

reading your Bible regularly, praying and not being, not being

ashamed of that tithing, doing the, the actual practices that

the Bible commands us to do, is that happening?

No, I'm going to, I'm going to claim that Christian because

it's popular. But when it comes down to

actually following Christ, Christians are are corporately

criticized. We're actually, you know, we're

called fanatics and crazy and everything else when we actually

adhere to what the Bible says, perfect example, abortion.

You have people in office claiming to be Christian.

I'm a Christian, but I'm for abortion because that's popular

too. What does the Bible say?

You're a friend of the world. You're an enemy of God.

You're a friend of the world. You're an enemy of God.

But I got some examples of this. I I remember knocking on doors

when I was in Indiana and when you said, hey, my name is Brian.

I'm from Fair Haven. Nope.

No thanks. It was nothing I did.

I didn't do anything. But corporately our church was

criticized and and that's common.

Don't be discouraged by that. I think.

I think I I because I am. I'm discouraged by that.

You say the name of your church and they shut the door in your

face. I I get mad why you can't even

stand there and talk to me. Plan on that, on that criticism,

on that, just because of who you associate with.

But we also get individual criticism.

Second Timothy, Chapter 3, verse 12.

2 Timothy 3:12

Yay. And all that will live godly in

Christ shall suffer persecution. We're going to be individually

persecuted, criticized. And I think it's important that

we to not try to blend in with the world.

And and I won't say any names, but I have, there's a couple

guys at work that I mean, they they find out you go to church.

Oh, man, I go to church. Yeah.

I'm a Christian too. Yeah, that's great.

Yeah. And then you hear them talking.

I thought you were a Christian. It's to blend in because I don't

want the criticism of being a Christian what I want to claim

to be a Christian. We cannot be like the world to

avoid that criticism all. What does the Second Timothy

say? All that will live godly in

Christ shall suffer persecution. Plan on it coming If you're

living godly and then moving on to our last point, disciple is

called, a disciple is criticized, but a disciple is

commissioned. And we know this.

They probably know where I'm going with this, but not We're

not just commissioned to tell others.

We're commissioned to learn. Go to Mark chapter 4.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

You shouldn't be too far from there.

Mark chapter 4, verse 33. And this is where the disciples

Mark 4:33

had a huge advantage, man. They were with Christ and Christ

is speaking in parables and and all the rest and and he did it

on purpose. The Bible says so that the

Pharisees wouldn't understand what he was trying to say.

You remember that he the disciples asked him why you

always speaking parables. And he said so that they can't

understand what I'm trying to say because the lost sheep they

will. But these guys are are too, I

don't know deep or too full of themselves.

They're not going to understand. But Mark chapter 33, four, verse

33 says, And with many such parables spake he the word unto

them as they were able to hear it.

But without a parable spake he not unto them.

So you're talking about the 12 disciples.

He spoke everything in parables to them.

In verse 34 it says without a parable spake he not unto them.

And when they were alone he expounded all things to his

disciples. The disciples wanted to learn.

They craved it. If you remember who was it that

asked who was it? I was talking to Jesus right

before we have the model prayer. He was talking to his disciples.

They said, can you teach us to pray?

They wanted to learn and mark Chapter 9, verse 31 and 32 says,

Mark 9:31

For he taught his disciples and said unto them them, the Son of

man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him,

and after that he is killed he shall arise the third day.

But they understood not that saying.

And the last phrase says, And they were afraid to ask him, I

don't know. I don't think they were afraid

because he would be mad. I think they were afraid to ask.

He'll be delivered into the hands of men and they shall

kill, kill him. I don't even want to know what

that means. But the disciples for the most

part were eager to learn, and I hope that we are that.

We already talked about that when we talked about the

metaphor of the student. But I hope we're lifelong

learners of not just the Bible but but what God has for us in

our lives. Because you can learn the Bible

and be less spiritual than than the children in in a Sunday

school. You really can't.

Think about the Pharisees. They knew the law back and forth

and they were lost because they didn't want to learn what Jesus

had for them. So we're commissioned to learn.

And then secondly, and and probably knew this was coming,

we're commissioned to tell others Luke Chapter 9, and I

Luke 9 · chapter mention

want to read this passage. So Luke, Chapter 9 versus one

Luke 9 · chapter mention

through 6, And we're almost done.

But it says this. Then he called his 12 disciples

together, and gave them power and authority over all the

devils to and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the

Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.

And he said unto them, Take nothing up for your journey,

neither staves nor script, neither bread, neither money,

neither to have two coats apiece whatsoever house you enter in

there, abide and thence depart, and whosoever will not receive

you when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust

from your feet for a testimony against them.

And they departed and went through the towns preaching the

gospel and healing everywhere. They were commissioned to go

tell and that's what they did. And and that is that is our job.

And we see that in Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

We see that in the Mark chapter 16 verse 15.

Mark 16:15

We're we are commissioned to go and tell others.

And this in case you misunderstand that was only for

the 12 disciples. It wasn't because we see in John

John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, the woman at the Well, what did Jesus tell her to

do? He tells her everything about

herself, right? And then he says, Yep, go tell

him, go tell the go tell them all what I told you and what I

did for you. The maniac of Gudara Mark

Mark 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5, what did Jesus tell him to do?

There were times when Jesus told people don't say anything but

but for the most part the maniac of Gudara wanted to follow

Jesus. He said, Can I come with you?

And what did Jesus tell him? So stay here and you tell

everybody you know what I did for you.

The men on the road to Emmaus or the disciples on the road to

Emmaus. Luke chapter 24.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

He told them to go tell people what I did for you.

Tell them that you saw me. Tell them I'm alive.

So we're commissioned to tell the word confess.

Matthew chapter 10. Whosoever therefore shall

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

confess me before men. This is a very interesting verse

if you want to write this passage down.

Matthew chapter 10, verse 32 and 33 Whosoever therefore shall

Matthew 10:32

confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father

which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me

before men, him will I deny before my Father which is in

heaven. Confess means to declare openly.

That's what the Greek word means.

And it Jesus tells us, if we are willing to confess, to declare

openly before men, he will declare openly us before his

Father in heaven. Pretty interesting passage but

we're going to bring this to a close.

Never. There's never a time where

Jesus, Jesus never turned people away.

Think about think about it And and naturally.

But the disciples did in in March, chapter 10, verse 13 and

they brought the young children to him that he should touch

them. And the disciples rebuke those

that brought them take them away.

We we got too much going on. Take the take these kids away.

It's too much. And what did Jesus say?

He told no, no, no, no, no stuff for the little children to come

to me and he brought them to him.

But there should never be. And I know sometimes different

circumstances we get into. We just don't have time to run

certain ministries and things like that.

But we should never view people as an inconvenience to our

church. We are bringing people to

Christ. We are telling them about

Christ. That is our job as disciples.

So review. We're called, we're criticized,

and we're commissioned. But the Bible tells us that if

we're disciple of Christ, it brings much rejoicing, it brings

much fruit to our account. So I I hope that as disciples,

we're not. Just.

That does not just mean study or claim the name of Christ.

It means to no matter how tough it gets think about Peter

following a far off man. These guys they're going to kill

him following a far off be with him and and sit at his feet like

like Mary did. That's what he calls us to do.

So disciples of Christ that's that's the metaphor for this

morning. But it's very very applicable

not it's not just a oh that's a neat story.

We are to be disciples. God calls us to be disciples of

his. Let's pray and we'll get ready

for the next service. Father, I thank you for the stay

you've given us, and I thank you for your word, God, I pray that

everything that we learn here in in this Sunday School class, in

this series, God, I pray that we would take it to heart.

There's so much here that we can go back and look on for

ourselves and study out. But God, I pray that we would

just make sure that we're doing everything we can to sit and to

learn and to understand what you have for us to do in our lives.

And God, That we'd be as useful as as we can be for you.

That we would be busy about your work, but always ready to sit

and listen to what you have for us.

Pray that you'll be with this next hour, that you'd feed us,

give us exactly what we need. In Jesus name, I pray.

Amen.