School House - Week 5

Amen, Amen, and amen, somebody give the Lord a handclap.

We're we're finishing up our series today, our schoolhouse series,

the academic side of discipleship, and I want to dig

into that just a little bit more. And at the

very end of service, we have something else that that

we're gonna want you to do. So if you shut

down your cell phone when you came in, thank you

so much. But I want you to go ahead and

get it out and turn it back on because we're

gonna need you to use it at the end of

the worship experience today. We want to you to help

us get better at some things.

Amen.

Let me say that again. We need you to help

us get better at some things. Contrary to popular belief,

I don't know everything, so we need your help. Hebrews

chapter five, starting in verse twelve. Hebrews Chapter five, starting

in verse Well, that says, for though by this time

you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach

you again the first principles of the oracles of God.

And you've come to need milk and not solid food.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in

the word of righteousness, for he is a babe but

solid food belongs to those who are of full age,

that is, those who, by reason of use, have their

senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Father, thank you for your word.

It's the only change agent that we have here on

the face of the planet. So I pray right now

that your word takes root at the very fabric of

our beat and brings a harvest.

Of life that takes us unexpectedly in Jesus's name. Amen.

So the writer is writing, and he says, listen, here's

the thing you should be able to teach now. Uh,

but you're not teaching. As a matter of fact, not

only you're not teaching, you're having to learn the very

basic things again. In other words, you're not being discipled.

You're not you're not taking the next steps in your

walk with Christ.

How many of you know that.

When we get saved, that's only the beginning of our

journey with Jesus.

Amen, that's not the end of the journey.

We we we belong to a denomination called the Assemblies

of God, and we teach this this whole thing about discipleship.

Some people call it it's a big spiritual word sanctification,

which just simply means to be set apart. And we

believe that the sanctification is an ongoing daily process that

every single day we look a little more.

Like Jesus and a little less like the world.

We look, we look a little more about uh, look

a little more towards the Kingdom, and a little less

towards the things that that chain us to this world.

And discipleship is an ongoing, ever moving process. And there

are ebbs and flows. Come on, somebody, you know, I mean,

we think the spiritual growth is but it's not. It's

not like chronological growth. It's not like weight. It's not

like my weight gain. It's not a steady incline.

Amen. You know it ebbs and flows.

And there's seasons we go through where you know, maybe

we're not living up to the expectations that the Lord

has for us. But then there's other times where we're

really on fire for Jesus and we're chasing after him

and we feel like we get so close sometimes that

we might be able to reach out and grab him.

Because we're so close. And that is discipleship.

And it's in those times where maybe we're not exactly

where we are that Paul would say, hey, you're backing up.

You should be able to teach these principles, but you're not.

Not only you're not able to teach these principles, you're

not even really eating solid foods. You're not eating meat,

You're still drinking milk. Who survives on milk? Yeah, okay, yeah,

I'm sorry. I know I ask a lot of rhetorical questions. Yeah, babies, Baby,

babies survive on milk.

That's that's a baby thing. And uh.

And babies struggle with pretty much everything that they can't

clean themselves, they can't walk, they can't feed themselves, they

can't protect themselves, that they can't do a lot of things.

As a matter of fact, you know what a baby's

good at is sleeping and crying. Sleeping and crying, being

oblivious to the things that are going on around them

and needing help. And say that again, being oblivious to

everything going on around them because they're asleep and yelling

and always needing help. And Paul says in our discipleship

journeys that we return to the place sometimes where those

things that we should be able to teach, those principles

that we should have already mastered, we're like a baby again.

We're having to learn to walk through those things. We're

having to learn to pay attention to those things. We're

having to learn all of that stuff again because we

haven't progressed on to the meat of God's word and

God's plan. And my desire as a pastor is that

everybody is eating steak, come on, somebody, that everybody is

ready to go. And here's the thing. It's not about

the level that you're taught. Here's the mistake about discipleship.

It's not about the level that you're taught at. It's

about the level you put into application what you're taught.

They say that again, it's about the level of application.

So here's the reality of what we're talking about it

and what we're doing is that you know, when God

speaks to us, and we hear God speak, we hear

God say something to us, and we go and we

now know that information, but we don't do anything with

that information. We're still milk based in that area of

our discipleship, in that area.

Of our life. But when we go away.

And we put it in action, we we start moving

on that principle of God speak to the mountain, say

to the mountain, it'll be uprooted and cast into the sea.

And uh. And we move from worrying about things to

speaking to things.

Come on, somebody, we we we take another step and

it may be like this.

Mountain move. I need you to just get out of

the way mountain, because I just just.

It doesn't say what volume, right, I mean, I mean

it doesn't say what volume I mean. But that's like,

you know, now, I'm not drinking milk. Maybe I'm just

I'm on some su periodic, some pured carrots.

Right, I'm on my way. I'm journeying.

And then suddenly we take another step in that spiritual

principle and it's like, hey, mountain, get out of the way,

because God's got a plan. And then the next step

of that say hey, Ernie, watch this mountain, get out

the way because I'm coming through.

Amen. Now I want everybody to say it with me.

When everybody say, on the count of Thory, go say

mountain move, okay, one, two, three, mountain.

Move another level of face.

Now we're teaching people to speak to the mountain and

the mountain moves.

And Paul says, once you get to that place where you're.

Teaching, then you have ascended the wrong and you're moving

in the right direction in discipleship because he doesn't talk

about those other steps, although they're there. He says, baby

and mature. Paul says, there's a whole lot of stuff.

I mean, Paul infers that there's a lot of steps

in between, but he only talks about the two because

he was about new Christians and about those that are

creating new Christians. Say that again, Paul was concerned with

new Christians and those that are creating new Christians.

And then he had other.

People on his team, like Timothy and some.

Of those other guys that are come along and.

Doing some of the other work and teaching some of

the steps in between. But he always is looking saying, hey, up, up, up, higher, higher,

more more ahead ahead.

Fight fight, run, run race race.

But somehow in the modern church, we say get saved, attend, attend, Attend, attend, attend, vacation, attend, attend,

sick day, attend, and we think we're being disciples because

we've done the Lord of Faith and shown up. But

discipleship is about doing. It's about moving beyond where we're

at right now and embracing the new things in the

Kingdom In First Corinthians, chapter three, he talks about this

same concept. He says, and I, brethren, could not speak

to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal.

And we got a he's.

Given us a clue as to how we know we're

moving towards being discipled. The same concept of milk and

meat and solid food, and he's given us a clue here,

and he says, hey, and I could not speak to

you as spiritual people, but as to carnal as to

babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not

with solid food. For until now you were not able

to receive it. Listen the way these letters worked. Paul

would write these letters, he would send them to these churches,

and then somebody would read them to the church. And

I bet when they got right there, everybody was like, hey, yeah,

we did it.

I meant listen to it. It says, for.

Until now you were not able to receive it, and

they're like, and now we can. And then Paul follows

that comma and he says, and even now you still

are not able. He's like, gotcha, And even now you're

still not able. And here's why. For you are still carnal.

He didn't say you haven't learned enough. He didn't say

you hadn't read enough. He said, here's why you can't receive.

At another level, it's because you're still carnal. For where

there are envy, strife and divisions among you, you are

not carnal. And are you not carnal and behaving like

mere men? Paul says the key to discipleship is that

we no longer behave like mere men, We no longer

behave like everybody else. And then this teaching goes all

through Paul's writings. He says, you're a peculiar people, you're different,

You're a holy nation, you're a chosen people. You once

were not a people. Now you're the people of God.

And this whole ideology that we're different and we're set apart,

and that we should look different, that we should act

different and fight against carnality. Do you realize that everything

in our society appeals to us on a carnal level?

You know you live in a carnal society When people.

Will try to sell blue.

Jeans with somebody that ain't wearing no clothes, or to

to sensualize a hamburger, come on somebody.

It's a carnal society.

There's nothing sensual about eating a big mac, except maybe

Pastor Clay.

He loves big macs.

I mean like, as a matter of fact, Amber don't

know this, but he tried to marry a big mac

and I just refuse to do the wedding. Amen. I

mean it was just it was crazy. Uh but uh,

but everything appeals to our flesh. So once we move

towards being mature in Christ, we become less carnal, less

driven by the flesh, and more spiritual and kingdom minded.

Discipleship is not about checking off the last box in

our one year reading plan. It's about looking more like Jesus,

and my desires are more set towards the Kingdom than

towards the world.

That's discipleship.

Discipleship is where, you know, the things I used to

want to fight over now just not that big of

a deal. You know, My plan today was to come

in in every Alabama fam.

Listen, y'all beat me last year.

If you were part of Cornerstone last year, you knew

Florida State football had a bad year.

And every Sunday I would come in and y'all would.

Be oh boy, they didn't look good. Say he didn't

looked good yesterday? Did Why happen? The y'all's team?

Why happen? They all players? Why happen? The all's coach?

I don't know. I wanted to call in six so

bad after that.

But anyway, listen, and my plan was I'm gonna come.

Roll died.

I just couldn't bring myself to do it. You know,

I love watching football. It's just not that.

As important to me as it used to be.

And I used to think maybe it's age, or maybe

it was because we only won two games last year.

And that just beat it out on me. Here was

my chance, right, But you know, I was more concerned

with than that.

Because I'm still in the process of being disciple too.

I'm still in the process of letting God's word wash

that cardinality out of me and refocus me on the kingdom,

because the kingdom is the.

Most important thing. As a matter of fact.

Matthew chapter six, verse thirty three says, but seek ye

first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all

these things shall be added to you.

Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry.

About its own things. Sufficient is the day. Sufficient for

the day is its own trouble. He says here, if

you'll look at the kingdom, the things that frustrate you

won't frustrate you anymore, because, yeah, your.

Boss may be a bum, but that's only a means

to an end. And if I'm kingdom.

Minded and understanding that he is or she is or

they are someone that's desperately in need of the grace

of Jesus Christ, the frustrations I used to feel, I

don't feel anymore because now it's about the kingdom, and

it's about me praying, and it's about me receiving what

I need in order to accomplish the purpose that God

has called me to. Because most of us are not

as fortunate as I am, and their occupation is not

also their purpose. I'm one of those fortunate people because

I can't do two things at one time. So God

had to call me to preach because that's all I

can do, and if I had to do something else,

I would get so sidetracked and so distracted that I

wouldn't be able to do those things. So God gave

me this path, And God has given you the path

your own and As we grow and become more kingdom focused,

more discipled, the frustrations go down, the worries go down,

the anxiety goes down, the anger goes down, and we

become less current on which means we're becoming more discipled.

How many of you know people that know more Bible

than you, but they're just mean, the meanest people you

could ever think of. I want to tay something. They're

not discipled. They learned a book. They learned I thought

they learned a book, because discipleship is not about the book.

It's about the person. Discipleship is about Jesus Christ and

his desire for us to be made in his image.

And it is an information manual. It is a direction manual,

but it is not the end all you could. You

could quote it from beginning to end. But if the

Holy Spirit is not allowed to let it to bring

change into your life, you are not being discipled. Because

discipleship transforms us. It works from the inside out. It's

an inner action that has an outward manifestation.

And if you're still.

Riding home with your wife and cussing her out after

every church service, you're not being discipled. Because Jesus has

more he has more than what the world looks like.

He has life, and life more abundant. That's above worry

and anxiety and anger and fear and low self esteem

and all of those things that come.

Along with carnality.

Where I'm comparing my house to everybody else's, in my

car to everybody else's.

And it's just about the fact that he called.

Me, and it's set me apart. And here's the issue

for somebody like me. I got saved, and I came

along much later in life. I didn't get saved until

I was twenty years old. And once I got saved,

I already had some things. I already had some stuff.

Come on, now have some stuff I had to get over.

I brought some things into my experience, into my walk

with Jesus that I had to overcome. But here's the

thing about the discipleship. Discipleship works best. I'm not if

you're If you're eighty and you're just getting saved, there's

still hope.

There was hope for me, there's hope for you. Amen.

But if discipleship begins in the formative years, if it

begins in the early years of life, it becomes an

easier process for our children to walk out and to

live out if we introduce them to their faith at

an early age. I know good people who say, oh, no,

I'm not gonna I'm not gonna do anything. I'm not

gonna make them do this. I'm not gonna make them

go there. I'm not gonna make them read this. I'm

not gonna make them read that. I'm gonna let them

decide for themselves when they get old enough.

Wrong. Wrong, because the.

Flesh is telling them what they need. The flesh is

telling them what they want, and the flesh is contrary

to everything we know about.

Jesus and the Kingdom. So to get our.

Children in the process of learning the Gospel and learning

the principles of God at an early age, we are

boosting their launching path. They're launching from a higher level,

even if they're not saved yet, learning the principles of

God before they get saved, they have memories that allows

them to launch at a much steeper spiritual growth angle

because they're starting from a higher level.

Come on, somebody, and.

That's why we do the things that we do. That's

why we have nursery where we teach spiritual principles. We're

not just keeping them alive, We're teaching them spiritual principles.

One of the coolest things, one of my coolest moments

in ministry. I was working at a big church and

I was we all got invited to come and work

in the nursery just to see the experience. So I

went down there and we were sitting under these kids

were just knocking stuff down. I mean, I'm like, we're

about to meet, like the deductible on the insurance policy.

Something's got to happen. So I just I set the

kids down and I got a Bible and I said,

it's a Bible. Like three years I said's a Bible.

They said Bible. Said yes, Bible, Bible. I said, say

it Bible, Bible, Bible, Bible.

But I can do this. I took the Bible and

I said, I hug it. I hugged it. I said,

love the Bible. I gave it to each kid and

they hugged us out. I love the Bible, Love the Bible.

Loved the Bible, Love the Bible.

I said, love Jesus, love Jesus, Love Jesus, love Jesus.

So I stood at the door and when parents came

to pick up their kids. I took the kid and

I said, let's show you, mama what you learn. I

handed the bile said I love the Bible. I love

Jesus in every parent's face with light up, and I thought,

you know what, I may accomplish more in forty five

minutes in a nursery class than I have in my

entire ministry up until this point, because those kids left

with at least the thought process of I love Jesus

and he loves me, and the Bible is how I

find him.

Those formative years are important.

Age appropriate discipleship is vital to the development of the

next generation. In Mark, chapter ten, verse thirteen, Clay, you

guys can come and get ready, it says, then they

brought little children to him, to Jesus. Now, let me

tell you what was happening. Jesus up until this point,

he was teaching very very mature adult concepts. He was

teaching about adultery, he was teaching about marriage. He was

teaching things that a kid couldn't understand. They weren't there

and their development and their cognition. Yet they couldn't understand

at that level. And then they start bringing kids to him.

Then they brought the little children to him, that he

might touch them. But the disciples rebuke those who brought them.

But when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased, and

he said to them, let the little children come to me,

and do not forbid them, for of such as the

Kingdom of God. Assuredly, assuredly, I say to you, whoever

does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little

child will by no means enterant. And he took them

up in his arms, and he laid his hands on them,

and he blessed them. Jesus took the son of God,

creator of the heavens and the earth.

In my mind, got down on his knees. He said,

come here, little Johnny. Want you to know I love you, buddy.

What you do what your mama ask you to do, because.

That's the first commandment, with promise that you'll live a

long time and you'll prosper.

Say, Bobby, come here.

Come here, Bobby, Hey, buddy, listen, you know my daddy's God,

and he saw you be a mean to your sister,

and you need to.

Stop that junk right now. I love you. Go tell

you mamma, you're not gonna do it. Anymore, and Jesus

took time with these kids, and he loved these kids.

We say that, you know, a children's ministry didn't really

start until the fifties, but it started in scripture with Jesus.

And that's why we do it, so that there's an

opportunity for age appropriate discipleship, so that they learn concepts

on their level, because sitting in here, they're not gonna

understand what I say.

I'm not I do tea. I try to.

I try to gear everything so a twelve year old

can understand it, but anybody younger than that's probably not

gonna Maybe you don't.

Get very much from my teaching either, that's okay.

I mean, there's lots of good TV programs, but that's

why we have nursery, that's why we have kids on.

So if you're here and you have a kid that's

fifth grade or under fifth grade or under uh, put

that QR code up for me. I want you to

take out your phone and I want you to launch

the camera. Look, look, take your phone, Well, launch the camera.

That's me.

Oh, that's y'all, that's me, okay, pointed at the screen.

When you point it at the screen, of course, my

phone's not doing it. Never mind, I know why.

Set it to photo not video. Pointed at the screen.

There's a little thing that's gonna pop up.

Click it. It's gonna carry you to a form right now.

This is the alter call right now. I want you

to fill that form out. Want you to fill that

form out for me.

I don't see a lot of people looking down, so

that means you allred ignored me.

I want you to fill that formaut. We don't know

who you are.

We're not gonna try to figure out who you are,

but we need to know that we're doing as good

as we can in serving your family. That's what this

is about. It's about making sure that we can.

Help disciple your family better than we are right now.

Because we have saying around here in this church one

percent better every single week, our goal is to get

one percent better, one percent better, one percent better, one

percent better. This is going to help us get one percent,

five percent, ten percent. Maybe we're doing everything wrong one

hundred percent better, but we need we need to know

some information so that we can better serve your family.

Because my family, I mean, when my kids were born,

we just threw them in the nursery. We didn't think

about it. We just put them over there. When they

were kid We just threw them in kids shirts. We

didn't think about it.

We just did it.

Youth, just just threw them in there.

Hope they lived.

Send them on white water rafting trips. Couldn't swim, It's okay.

Well, just it's what we do.

Maybe they're gonna learn about Jesus on the way down

to the bottom. I don't know, but well, just but

you're not like that, So we want to know how

we can serve you better.

Amen.

And you know, for for the rest of you. Maybe

you're here today and you're you're not sure about the

whole Jesus thing. You're not you're you're you're you're you know,

you're you're not sure about this whole discipleship thing. You're

you're not even sure about spirituality at all. In John

chapter three, verse sixteen, it says, for God so loved

the world that he gave his only begotten son, that

whoever believes in him should not perish but have ever

lasting life. For God didn't send his son into the

world to conduct the world, but that the world through

him might be saved. This is what I found about

most people that are stand offish with Jesus. They think

that Jesus thinks there's something wrong with them. But Jesus

doesn't think anything's wrong with you. He created you, He

sets you in space and time, in words, You put

you here now because he wants the best for you.

He doesn't think there's anything wrong with you and that

you're disgusting.

He didn't come in the world to tell you how

bad you were.

He came in the world to save you from your

sin because he loves you and he wants to spend

eternity with you.

His choice is to live.

Forever with you, and the the only thing you have

to do just allow him to be the lord of

your life.

Everybody's standing with me all over the building.

If you're here today and you've never accepted Jesus as

your lord, you've never asked him to forgive you of

your sins, never ask him to to guide and direct

your life. But today, somehow the Holy Spirit is just

moved in you, and today you want to make that

decision with every head bowed and every eye closed. If

you're here today and you want to ask Jesus to

save you, you want to ask him to to make

you a brand new creation, to forgive you of all

the junk, give you a clean slate. If that's you today,

slip up your hand and say, that's Pastor, I want

to give my life to Jesus.

Just put your hand up and put it right back down.

If that's you, just slip it up. Amen. Anybody else,

put your hand up, put it right back down.