Conviction 4: Who Makes Disciples?

When you're a preacher and you're writing sermons,

you end up leaving a lot of your material on the editing floor, so to speak.

And some of the material you leave on the editing floor,

God intended just for you.

Yesterday when I was preparing,

Ephesians 4 has this quote from Psalm 68.

So I was in Psalm 68,

and later on in verse 19, there's these words,

Blessed be the Lord, for He daily bears us up.

God is our salvation.

That was just the word I needed yesterday and today.

So let me just pray one more time.

God in heaven, we're so grateful that Your grace,

Your spirit is sufficient for the cause, for the challenge.

And You daily bear us up.

That is no labor on Your part.

We gladly receive Your grace and strength.

And now, Father, would You pour Your spirit about on us as we look to Your word.

Would You compel us unto Jesus.

Amen.

I spent a couple summers in Ocean City, New Jersey when I was a college student.

And I had the opportunity to watch the building of boardwalks.

Ocean City is right on the Atlantic coast.

And Ocean City is known for its boardwalk.

Well, what would happen is you bring these big steam-driven pile drivers in,

and they would take this huge pylon, which is basically a giant tree that's been stripped of all its branches,

dipped in tar, and they drive that thing down through layers of sand, layers of soil,

all the way down to the bedrock.

And then when that pylon hits bedrock, they're able to build on it, build a boardwalk on it.

This morning, we're not building boardwalks.

What we're talking about is building a church culture of disciple-making.

In an order for us to build a disciple-making church culture,

certain biblical truths must be driven down in us.

These biblical truths must be driven down past just hearing, past agreement,

past saying, yeah, that sounds really good,

down to the bedrock of conviction,

where we say things like, I've got to do that.

That's God speaking, and I must respond in faith, in action.

That's when it hits bedrock.

We must act together by faith.

This whole revision series is seeking to drive five biblical truths

down to the bedrocks of our beings

so that we could build a culture of disciple-making.

And so, the first...

Where did my thing go?

The first...

The first conviction that I have shared with you is...

I've got to find my pen.

No, this is a different thing.

I just had it.

This is phenomenal.

Hey, thank you, buddy.

It's not going to work.

Well, give it a shot.

Hey, I found it.

Thank you, Jacob.

All right.

So, conviction number one, we talked about weeks ago.

And the conviction one, or these convictions are posed as questions.

Why make disciples?

Do you remember how we answered that?

We make disciples because God has a big plan.

So, the first thing we've got to remember is that there is a triune God,

and He is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and He is reigning over everything.

Remember that?

Ephesians 1, 3 through 14.

And God has this plan for the fullness of time.

We depicted it as a big arrow.

It includes all people, all time.

The triune God is moving everyone to a particular ending point,

and we've depicted that as a big throne.

Matthew 25, where Jesus sits on the throne,

and He separates all nations, all people, the sheep from the goats.

He is the one who is the judge who sits upon the throne,

and let's just put a crown on Him.

Not only is He the judge to come,

but the game changer in salvation history was the cross of Jesus Christ.

God's central to God's plan is the cross of Jesus Christ.

It is where God poured out His grace.

Grace to change people from those who are worshiping anything but God,

and do this radical work in their heart to orient us to God,

to make us worshipers of God.

And so this plan for the fullness of time,

where Jesus is, the cross is at the center of it,

we've talked about this as a people-moving plan,

as a disciple-making plan.

So this is where my technical drawing skills come in really helpful for you all.

So we know of people, we depicted like this,

who were running away from God.

I can't tell you how many hours I've put into practicing that.

And they're running away from God,

and this is the DOD,

not the Department of Defense,

but the domain of darkness.

And those God has created in His image,

corrupted by sin,

are running away from Him.

I used to be in that pack.

Many of you used to be in that pack.

But God did something,

all by His grace,

through the power of the gospel.

He called us to Himself.

He delivered us out of the domain of darkness,

and He made us alive in Jesus.

And so now,

that's kind of scary.

So now we are running together in a pack to Jesus.

And what I've been telling you all along here is that,

according to Revelation chapter 7,

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

this is what John was praying for just moments ago.

God is gathering Himself,

people from every tribe, tongue, and nation,

surrounding Him on the throne.

And they are singing His praises.

These are arms raised.

Praising God.

God.

Lifting up their praise to Him.

Salvation belongs to our God.

To the one who sits on the throne.

And to the Lamb.

Salvation and glory,

power and might,

be to our God forever and ever.

And so this right now is happening,

as we speak,

in glory around the throne.

And so,

this big plan,

is a glory plan.

He's flipping people living in the domain of darkness

and making them His disciples.

And what we've been talking about,

disciples are anyone who has experienced God's grace,

and as a result,

they lay down their lives for Jesus.

There's five L's.

Lay down their lives for Jesus

in order to learn from Jesus,

live for Jesus,

become like Jesus,

all because we love Jesus.

That's what disciples are.

Those who are living for Jesus now.

And then,

that's conviction two.

What is a disciple?

And then conviction three is simply the question,

how do you make disciples?

How are disciples made?

And last week,

I told you the four Ps.

Now, I'm not going to quiz you on this.

Just take it in.

The four Ps are this.

How do we make disciples?

Well, we make disciples by

the proclamation of God's Word,

prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit,

people are God's fellow workers,

and the last P is persevering step by step.

And I told you last week that this week,

I was going to expand on that third P.

People are God's fellow workers.

Which brings me in your bulletin,

if you're following along,

we've just done the review of

convictions one through three.

The claim,

the conviction number four claim is this.

Let me just first ask the question.

How,

who makes disciples?

Disciples?

Here's the claim.

Every Christian must be making disciples.

God has this plan,

where

He is moving people who are under His wrath

to moving people to under His grace.

He's doing it right now,

and we get to join Him in doing that.

He's doing that work right now in our city,

in our state,

country,

and world,

and we get to join Jesus

in what He's doing.

So,

who makes disciples?

We do.

Every Christian must be making disciples,

because every Christian is a disciple.

And if you are a disciple of Jesus,

you're going to be joining Him

and making more disciples of Jesus.

So what this means is,

we are moving people together

towards Jesus.

Both non-Christians and Christians

were always moving people towards Jesus,

either coming into a relationship with Him

or deepening their relationship with Him.

Every member of this church

is a minister.

This is the biblical truth

that was recovered back in the Reformation,

and it's known as the priesthood of all believers.

We're all,

every member,

is a minister in this church.

I had an illustration last week

where we're all members

of the Christ the King Church

ministry staff team.

Every one of us.

So this morning,

I've got six observations for you

from Ephesians 4,

and let me read that for you.

Now, don't fret.

This is not going to be a 90-minute sermon.

I'm going to move through

these six observations pretty quick.

But let me read this passage for you.

Ephesians 4,

11 through 16.

Robin, would you put it up?

If it's not up, thank you.

And He gave the apostles,

the prophets,

the evangelists,

the He, by the way,

is the risen and ascended Christ.

And He gave the apostles,

the prophets,

the evangelists,

the shepherds,

and teachers

to equip the saints

for the work of ministry,

for building up the body of Christ,

until we all attain

to the unity of the faith

and of the knowledge

of the Son of God,

to mature manhood,

to the measure of the stature

of the fullness of Christ,

so that we may no longer be children

tossed to and fro by the waves

and carried about

by every wound of doctrine,

by human cunning,

by craftiness

and deceitful schemes.

Rather,

speaking the truth in love,

we are to grow up

in every way

into Him

who is the head,

into Christ,

from whom the whole body,

joined and held together,

by every joint

with which it's equipped,

when each part

is working properly,

makes the body grow

so that it builds itself up

in love.

First observation,

each of us called.

Each of us called.

In verse 12,

we read this,

to equip the saints

for the work of ministry.

Saints

is another way

of just describing

Christians,

all Christians.

Every Christian is a saint.

And every Christian

is a disciple of Jesus,

someone who has

responded to God's grace

by laying down their life,

learning from Jesus,

living for Jesus,

becoming like Jesus,

all because we love Jesus.

So saints are Christians,

a.k.a.

disciples of Jesus,

speaking to all of us.

Now,

also in verse 12,

we see,

to equip the saints

for the work of ministry.

What is that?

Well,

you see in the verse,

for building up

of the body of Christ.

So whatever this work

of ministry is,

it builds up

the body of Christ.

And that's Paul's way

of talking about

making disciples.

Don't make

a contradiction

in your mind.

Paul's not talking

about something

other than making disciples.

When he talks about

building up the body,

he's not talking

something other

than making disciples

of Jesus.

What he's doing is,

he's speaking of

making disciples

in terms

of a unified body,

of distinct parts

working together

to move people

towards the head,

Jesus.

And that phrase,

the work of ministry,

is not just

one particular ministry.

ministry.

It's not only saying

this is what ministry

looks like

very narrowly defined.

This is a very broad

category.

It's actually referring

to a variety of ways

individual Christians

use their gifts

to grow together

into Christ.

This is,

what you need to see

here is,

the saints,

all Christians,

are being equipped

for doing

gospel ministry.

ministry.

But there are

a variety of ways

to do gospel ministry.

What I want you

to see here

is that each

and every Christian

is called

to be a minister

in and through

the church.

Last week,

I used this

illustration.

Imagine going to

the Christ the King

Church website.

You go to the menu,

and in the menu,

there is this tab

that says

ministry staff.

You click on that,

and before you,

our page after page

of every member

and regular attender

of Christ the King

Church,

because we are

the ministry staff

of this church.

We're the ones.

You're the ones

who do the ministry.

So,

here's the application.

Do you see yourself

as primarily

a recipient

of the ministry

of this church,

or primarily

as a participant

in the ministry

of this church?

Do you take

primarily,

or do you give

primarily?

Biblically speaking,

it's actually both.

Every member

in this church

receives grace

from other brothers

and sisters,

and gives grace

to other brothers

and sisters.

That's the way

it's designed.

But are you,

do you pull one way

or the other?

The call is to do both.

Remember the ad campaign

for milk,

milk it does,

milk it does,

the body good.

Grace it does,

grace does

Christ's body good.

And every member

of this church

has grace to give

and grace to benefit from.

Each of us called.

The second observation

I want you to see

is that each of us

is gifted.

If you're in Ephesians 4,

look at verse 7.

But grace was given

to each one of us

according to the measure

of Christ's gift.

In 1 Corinthians 12

and in Romans chapter 12,

Romans 12 · chapter mention

the one who gives

particular gifts

to individual Christians

is actually the Holy Spirit.

Here,

it is the risen,

ascended Jesus.

Which means

the triune God

is involved

with giving gifts

to individual Christians.

Grace was given

to each one of us

according to the measure

of Christ's gift.

Which means this,

our risen,

and ascended Lord Jesus

decided what gift

and how much

of that,

what measure

of that gift

He would give you

and He would give me.

Which means

there's no need

for gift envy

in the church.

If you're envying

somebody else's gift,

you actually have

an issue

with Jesus'

decision making.

but what is clear

from all of these passages

is that

a grace gift

is given to

each and every Christian

and each gift

is intended

to build the church.

Imagine with me

a business woman

who returns

from an international

business trip

from Zurich,

Switzerland.

And she arrives

and gives boxes

of Swiss chocolates

to each of her

children and husband.

To one of

her family members,

it's Swiss chocolate

caramels.

To another,

it's Swiss chocolate

nut clusters.

To another,

it's another kind

of Swiss chocolate

truffle.

And her intention

in giving these boxes

of chocolate

to each of her

family members

is not that

each member

would hoard

the box,

but to enjoy

what's in the box

and share it

with the rest

of her family.

The gifts

she gives

tended to share

with everybody else.

The gifts

our risen Christ

gives to each

of us,

we're not to

hoard them,

we're to share them,

we're to put them

in play.

And so what happens

is,

if you were in that

business woman's

family,

you'd be,

oh,

thank you,

and Swiss chocolate

is great.

for us,

it's,

Jesus,

thank you for this

gift you've given

me and given her

and given him.

All glory to your

name.

Which raises the

question,

I'm guessing,

how has God

gifted you?

What is the gift

he's given you?

Well,

let me just give you,

there's a few spots

in your Bibles

in which the

Apostle Paul

or the Apostle Peter

gives us some

lists of gifts.

They're not exhaustive,

but helpful to know.

Let me read you a

couple.

This is Romans 12

Romans 12:4–8

verses 4 through

8.

For as in one body

we have many gifts

and the members

do not all have

the same function.

Did I just get

lost?

Is this on now?

Is anything on?

Thank you.

I'm very aware

that there are

certain powers

that don't want

you to hear

what I'm saying.

I'm not kidding.

For as in one body

we have many members

and the members

do not all

have the same function.

So we,

though many,

are one body

in Christ

and individually

members one of another.

Having gifts

that differ

according to the grace

given to us,

let us use them

if prophecy

in proportion

to our faith.

If service

in our serving,

the one who teaches

in his teaching,

the one who exhorts

in his exhortation,

the one who contributes

in generosity,

the one who leads

with zeal,

the one who does

acts of mercy

with cheerfulness.

There's a similar list

in 1 Corinthians 12.

There's a similar list

in 1 Peter 4

1 Peter 4:10

verses 10 through,

I believe it's 10 and 11.

I'm not going to read that.

Go there.

Check it out.

The point is

there's a variety

of gifts

that the risen Christ

gives us

for the building up

of the body

and he has given

you one.

How do you figure it out?

I'll ask a couple questions.

Where do you gravitate?

What do you gravitate to

in the church,

in the ministry

of the church

that just,

that gives you juice

that you like doing it?

What is it?

Is it logistics?

Organizing?

Administrating?

Is it sharing the gospel

with non-Christians?

Teaching?

Leading?

Pay attention

to those burdens.

Or,

you can be listening

to what other people

are saying.

Wow,

you are really good

at that.

Man,

when you're

in that zone

serving that way,

I'm encouraged

by that.

That has an effect.

The sweet spot

of your ministry

is when there is

a need in the church

and it intersects

your gift.

That intersection

is the sweet spot

of your ministry

and you want to find it.

Ask God to direct you.

Ask others for help.

The point is

that each one of us

has been given

an individual gift

not to hoard

but to put into play

so that everybody benefits.

Each of us gifted.

The third observation

is each of us speaking.

we see this in verse 15.

Is it enough

to be using your gifts?

Let's say you have

a gift of service.

Is it enough

to serve

or is there more?

Well,

verse 15

seems to be pointing

to more.

Verse 15 says,

rather,

speaking the truth

in love,

we are to grow up

in every way

into Him

who is the head

into Christ.

He's still speaking

to every Christian

in the church.

Here's how I know that.

Look down at verse 25.

Therefore,

having put away falsehood,

let each one of you

speak the truth

with his neighbor.

We were members

one of another.

This is intended

for every member

of the church

that you're to be

speaking the truth

in love

to one another.

So in addition

to using your gift,

you speak the truth

in love

to one another.

The truth

is a reference

to the Bible.

The content

of this book.

The truth

of how God

has revealed Himself

in the person

of Jesus Christ.

And notice,

it's speaking

the truth.

It is communication

of this.

You can text it.

You can put it

on Twitter.

You can use it

on Facebook.

You can call people,

FaceTime people,

but there's no substitute

to speaking

the truth in love

in someone else's presence.

That's where the money,

that's the gold

right there.

Speaking the truth

in love

captures that first P

of how we make disciples.

The proclamation

of God's Word.

That this book

is every word

originated in the mind

of God

and it is profitable.

It equips people

to follow Jesus.

And we're to speak

the truth in love.

Did you see that?

We don't pull the pin

on a truth grenade

and lob it in

and run.

We speak the truth

in love,

which means

we speak truth

to people

for their greatest good.

Now we've got to

ask the question,

what is that greatest good?

Is it for people's comfort?

It's right there

in the text.

Look at verse 15 again.

Rather speaking

the truth in love,

we are to grow up

in every way

into Him

who is the head

into Christ.

We speak the truth

in love to one another

unto Jesus.

Moving people

towards Jesus our head.

That's the goal.

That's how we love people.

So here's what this means.

Whether you're serving

as a King's Kids

teacher or helper,

or a life group leader,

or a life group member,

a vocalist,

an instrumentalist,

a slide tech,

a sound tech,

whether you are

a King's Place mentor,

you're a spouse,

you're a Christian parent,

your gift gives you

an opportunity

to speak the truth

in love,

to move people

towards Jesus.

Imagine two guys

with the gift of service

running cable

in this building

to expand

our Wi-Fi network.

They're laboring

next to each other

and one of them

starts to complain.

One of them

starts to express

frustration

about someone else

in the church.

It's turning to gossip.

So the other brother says,

hey, have you spoken

your frustration

to that person?

Because the other brother

who's asking that question

is wanting to live

in Ephesians 4,

let's just put our

finger on it,

verse 3,

eager to maintain

the unity of the Spirit

and the bond of peace.

Or,

Matthew 18,

15,

where Jesus says

to all of us,

if you have

an issue

with another brother,

you go to him.

Make your offense

known.

Work it out.

That,

here we are,

two guys

using their gift,

but speaking

the truth

in love

to one another.

Do you see

how this is working?

Imagine

King's Place team,

Wednesday afternoon

mentoring program.

I don't have anybody

in particular mind

with this example.

A sister texts

one of the other people

on the team.

I don't want to come,

I'm so discouraged.

That other person

on the team says,

you come.

This sister shows up.

She's very honest.

They've got to be

mentoring these

wonderful children

in just minutes,

right?

This,

this sister

who's so discouraged

said,

I should not be here.

I just yelled

at my seven-year-old

for one minute

straight.

I have no business

being here.

to which her team

then says to her,

well,

if that's

the standard,

none of us

should be here.

Grace freely given,

sister.

You're in the spot

you need to be.

Jesus has forgiven

that too.

We serve

out of fullness

of grace.

So whether that's

on a ministry team,

do you see,

you're going to be

mentoring people,

you're going to be

doing different

ministries with your

gift,

but it affords you

a certain kind

of opportunity

to speak the truth

in love.

Life groups,

dinners together,

in addition to

using your gifts,

we are all

to be speaking

the truth

in love

to one another

unto Jesus.

That's the third

observation.

Here's the fourth.

Each of us

equipped

this raises

an interesting

question.

You might be

saying,

okay,

I buy it.

I'm supposed

to be speaking

the truth

in love,

okay,

but what do I

say?

What do I say

when someone's

freaking out?

I don't want

to mislead them.

Well,

in verses 11

and 12,

we see this

very important

relationship.

He gave the

apostles,

the prophets,

the evangelists,

the shepherds,

and teachers

to equip the

saints for the

work of ministry.

It's a relationship.

God gives

leadership gifts

to equip the

saints for the

works of ministry.

So here's what

this means.

This morning,

I am seeking

to equip you

with God's

Word for

works of

ministry.

How,

you may ask,

well,

I haven't given

you a ministry

skill set.

I'm trying to

form in your

minds a

ministry

mindset.

Equip you

in the way

you think

about yourself.

That you,

Christian,

are a minister

of Jesus Christ

in this church.

And I'm calling

you to believe

it.

Because God

says it.

And to live

that,

you are a

gifted and

called minister

of the

ascended Christ

to make

disciples as

part of this

church.

And my job

is to equip

you to

faithfully

minister out

of that.

This word

equip is

part of a

family of

words in the

New Testament.

And basically

it means to

outfit.

It was used

to describe

outfitting

boats that

in the

first century

would travel

rivers.

You give

everything that

boat team

needs in

order to

survive going

down the

river or

up river.

Equipping

means giving

you what you

need to be

faithful to

Jesus.

So in

light of that,

I just want

to help you

think about

Sunday mornings

for a second.

imagine Sunday

morning as

the flagship

disciple making

event of the

week.

The moment we

all come

together to

worship God,

to hear from

his words,

and to be

spurred on to

follow Jesus and

make disciples of

all nations.

There's a lot of

equipping with

God's word that

happens on a

Sunday morning.

Imagine the

informal conversations

before the service

and after the

service and how

those are ripe

opportunities to

move people towards

Jesus with his

word.

What happens with

King's kids,

right now we

have a bunch of

children being

taught a lesson.

Yes, that is

speaking the truth

in love.

But also, when

those kids get

squirrely, those

teachers and

helpers have an

opportunity to

speak the truth

in love and

help these

children.

Love one

another.

Grow in

self-control.

Of course, our

singing, it's a

kind of speaking

the truth and

love to one

another.

Colossians 3.16

talks about the

word of Christ

dwelling richly

among us through

the hymns and

spiritual songs that

we sing.

It forms us.

It will be in

your mind on

your deathbed

someday.

It equips you.

preaching, it

equips you with

sound doctrine so

you don't go the

way of Ephesians

4.14.

So you're not

tossed to and

fro by the

waves of false

doctrine.

Ministry mindset,

ministry skill set.

I don't have

enough time this

morning, but I

want to invite you

to something

immediately after

the service.

There's this

passage in 1

Thessalonians 5.14.

It is a crash

course in how to

wisely apply God's

word to someone's

life.

Just one verse.

So after the

service we dismiss,

come on down, I'll

give you a crash

course in it.

It'll be five

minutes.

You'll walk away

with a sense of,

oh, that's helpful.

our job as

pastors and

elders is to

equip the saints

for works of

service and to

do that well.

Because each of

you has been

called to be a

minister of the

gospel.

Okay, so called,

gifted, speaking,

equipped, fifth

observation, each

of us positioned.

It's right there

in the text,

verse 16.

From whom the

whole body,

joined and held

together by every

joint with which

it is equipped,

when each part is

working properly,

makes the body

grow so that it

builds itself up

in love.

Have you ever

had a body part

dislocate?

Oh, it's not

fun.

It's painful.

It calls for all

your attention.

You're unable to

do what you

normally do.

Paul is painting

this picture of

the church as a

healthy, functioning

body with all of

its members united

together, working

together.

When someone's

dislocated, it

affects the supply

of grace running

through the body.

That phrase, from

whom the whole body

joined and held

together, with which

it is equipped, every

joint with which it

is equipped, it's a

picture of this

connectivity between

Christians in which

God uses that

connectivity, that

positioning and

proximity to pour out

His grace on

people.

Some scholars think

that's talking about

leaders.

Other scholars think

that's a reference to

all the saints.

Whatever the case may

be, it's about God's

grace flowing through

the body.

And we all need to be

in right position with

one another.

Not disjointed, not

dislocated, but

unified.

What holds together a

body of Christ?

What does that?

In verse 15, we see

it.

Rather, speaking the

truth in love, we're

to grow up in every

way into Him who is

the head.

Look at the end of

verse 16.

Makes the body grow so

that it builds itself

up in love.

That's the whole point

of Ephesians 4, 1

through 6.

United in love unto

Jesus.

Have you ever seen

someone dislocate a

shoulder and then

watched the process of

it being set back in?

It's kind of painful

to watch.

But for that person

who has a

dislocated shoulder,

whatever pain it takes

to get it reset,

the result is

eventual healing and

full function of the

body.

Here's the question.

Are you somehow

disjointed from the

body?

In general, or from

another Christian in

particular, are you

disconnected?

And what needs to

happen for you to be

set back into place

so that the grace of

our Lord Jesus, our

head, flows down

through us to all

body parts?

What is it going to

take?

Maybe it means

re-engaging in our

life together as a

church in person.

Maybe it means getting

involved with a life

group finally.

Maybe it means getting

onto a ministry team.

Maybe it means taking

some steps of faith

and courage and

raising topics with

other brothers and

sisters.

That may not be easy

to talk about.

If you are disjointed

from the body, not

only does it affect

the body, we're

missing God using

your gift grace in

our life.

It's affecting you.

You're lacking God's

grace.

You don't need to

remain disconnected

and distant.

Get connected.

Get close.

It's necessary to

your calling to be

part of building up

this particular body.

That's the fifth

observation.

Here's the sixth, and

this is brief.

All of us growing.

It's the result.

It's the result of

knowing that you're

called.

It's the result of

knowing that you're

gifted.

It's the result of

speaking the truth in

love, of being equipped

to do that.

It's the result of

being rightly, humbly

positioned to one

another in this

church.

The result is the

body builds itself up

in love.

You have a particular

gift, brother and

sister, that Jesus

himself has given

you, and while you

are using that gift

in close proximity to

other Christians, you

get to speak the truth

in love, moving people

towards Jesus.

And when we are

rightly connected to

each other in our

head, Jesus, the grace

falls down.

It fills us with the

fullness of God.

It grows us.

We learn from him.

We live for him.

We become like him

because we love him.

Grace it does.

Grace it does the body

good.

Grace it does.

Grace it does this body

good.

And that includes

moving non-Christians

into our body when they

believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ.

We add members.

It's all about moving

people towards Jesus, our

head.

We grow.

He gets the glory.

So let me conclude.

Who makes disciples,

brothers and sisters?

Every Christian, all of

us, must be making

disciples.

In order for our church

culture to become a

disciple-making church

culture, this biblical

truth that we're talking

about from Ephesians

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 must be driven

down to the bedrock of

your being.

You must be thoroughly

convinced of this.

And when we are all

convinced of this, the

grace flows in greater

fullness into greater

effect.

You've been called into

ministry, brother and

sister.

You're an essential member

of the Christ the King

Church ministry staff.

And when we act on this

in faith, every member

becomes a disciple-maker.

The body builds itself in

love.

Grace it does the body

good.

Next week, where are

disciples made?

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we're so

grateful that you would

call each of us out of

the domain of darkness

and transfer us into the

kingdom of light, the

kingdom of the beloved

Son.

You made us alive with

Christ, Father.

You've called us to be

disciples.

God, would you convince us

of what you say to be

true of us so that we

can live in fullness and

that we can see this body

grow and that we do that

together.

Lord, would you bring peace

and unity?

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.