Making Disciples for Global Impact - Week 3: Called to Grow | Pastor Pablo Morales

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. about who God is and who

we are in him, everything becomes clearer once

we're in that place. We are in this month of

September, what we call our vision month, spending

time learning about our ministry, learning about

who we are, what we're doing, why we're doing

it this way. And the goal is to create clarity,

create alignment, more integration in the ministries.

hoping that the Lord will bless us with a season

of greater impact for his glory. But before we

do this study this morning, would you please

join me as I pray? Lord, the phrase that resonates

in my mind right now is, you overcame. You overcame.

Thank you. Because it is for that truth that

we can be here in your presence today. Forgiven,

transformed, but there's a new calling. And there's

a power that goes before us into the future that

is unknown to us but not to you because you have

overcome. And Lord, as we reflect on the calling

that you have given us, we know that as long

as you are in it, It's something that we'll be

able to build by your grace, by your power. So

guide us. And even today as we open your word,

I'm asking you, Lord, would you use me in your

power, in your strength, in your grace. In Jesus'

name, amen. Since the beginning of September,

we started this series called Making Disciples

for Global Impact because this is the mission

that we have as a church. This is what we are

here for. We say to make disciples for global

impact because Jesus called us to make disciples

of all nations. But what is unique about ECB

is that the nations come here and therefore we

are impacting the nations by being here. But

then God sends us. Back to other places and therefore

there's that influx of coming and going where

God is using us to make disciples for global

impact. And that is a beautiful opportunity that

we have. We learned last week from Pastor Phil

about the community life aspect of our ministry.

But did you know that when the Bible talks about

being called to grow, is that the calling to

follow Jesus or being a disciple of Jesus, is

a calling to follow Jesus in this journey of

transformation that is marked by seasons of growth

constantly, constantly, constantly until the

end of our lives. It's a journey that never ends.

And that's why when we think of discipleship,

we think of discipleship as a lifelong journey.

A call to follow Jesus and be transformed in

this way. And we learned the first Sunday of

September that when the Bible describes this

calling, it's almost like a seed that is planted

and then it grows and then it becomes fruitful.

That's why today we're going to be reflecting

on this aspect of following Jesus that is this

call to grow. Before I tell you anything else,

I want to tell you a story. A while ago I was

eating an avocado and I liked it and as I cut

it and I opened it and I saw this seed I was

going to throw it away and I thought, I should

plant this seed. See what happens. So I did.

I planted it. Put it in the pot, started watering

it, excited about the potential of something

happening. And a month later, nothing happened.

And then that poor seed was as dead as it could

be. And I realized, oh, I guess it's more complex

than just putting the thing in the ground and

watering it as much as you want. So I stopped

for a while. I didn't think about it until one

day I had a very deep encounter with Chad GPT.

And I thought, let me ask Chad GPT, how do I

do this? I said, I want to grow an avocado seed.

What do I do? So he told me. He said, you need

to take it, wash it very well. Then you're going

to put these toothpicks on the sides. So you're

going to... You know, in a glass of water or

something. Make sure there's enough water just

to touch the bottom. Put it close to enough light,

not too direct light. And just wait for a month

or so until you see a root start coming down.

And then you will see the sprouting and all the

things. And it's like, okay, you know, Chachipitica

has spoken. So you follow the wisdom of it. And

I took that little thing and I put it in there.

And I have something to show you today. So I'm

holding in my hand an avocado tree. And it was

so exciting after the first experience that it

was like, okay, this is the way to do it. Wow,

look, a little root started coming down from

the bottom. That was the first thing that I noticed.

And it was just a little white thing, but I was

so excited you would think I was having a baby,

you know? It's like, and then, a few days later,

a little sprout coming from the top. And it was

like, wow, this thing is alive. And then the

roots started growing more and more. And now

it's like it's filling the space. Really exciting.

The only thing that Chachi Petit says is that

after it grows so many inches, about this much,

you need to cut it so that the roots will grow

stronger and it will grow again. But it's like,

it's like my baby, you know, I don't want to

hurt it. Not sure I want to like grow, you know.

But this is what it came up. And you may say,

well, Pastor Pablo, you are not really holding.

An avocado tree is just a seed that sprouted.

But isn't it right that this is no longer just

a seed, but this is an avocado tree in the making?

Yeah. It is going that direction. It was designed

for that. As long as the conditions for life

happen, then it will take off. Yeah, the concern

now that this thing is growing is how long is

it going to grow and how big it becomes. What

am I going to do when it becomes bigger? I haven't

thought that far yet. Chagipiti will be another

question. But I know that you want to see it.

You want to take a picture of it, I know. So

I'm going to put it here in front. So you can

see it later, my little avocado baby. Okay. But

the Bible says that we are like that avocado

tree. It describes our following Jesus as a journey

of being planted and then watered and then growing.

That is the direction that God has for us. That's

what discipleship is about. And the problem is

that if we have wrong ideas, you might just become

like the seed. It's seed and it's planted, but

there's nothing happening with it. And there

are three misconceptions that keep people from

growing into this journey of becoming a mature,

fruitful tree. The first thing is that people

have their own perspective. They think, oh, following

Jesus is, I believe in Jesus, so I'll die and

go to heaven. So I'm waiting. for the rest of

my life to die so I can go to heaven. And they

don't realize, no, no, no. Going to heaven is

a destination. It's part of the journey. But

salvation is not a destination. Salvation is

a journey that leads you there. But it's the

here and now, this relationship with Jesus and

the Holy Spirit that he has given us that is

calling us to experience this transformation.

So the wrong perspective can hold you back from

engaging. The other wrong perspective is the

wrong attitude that people have, thinking that

this growth will happen by default. No, it is

very intentional. You don't become mature one

day when you wake up and it's like, I'm more

mature today. No, this spiritual growth happens

intentionally, the right conditions, the right

investment of your time and your effort in growing.

So the wrong attitude about it can hold you back.

And some people also have the wrong focus. They

make growth all about self -improvement. And

they don't realize that, no, this growth that

is happening in me is for actually to become

a fruitful tree that can give fruit so that it

can impact. This little tree becomes a tree and

a fruitful tree that will give more avocados

that will have seeds in them that can plant more

avocados and become more trees. And so the cycle

continues. Discipleship and this call to growth

is not really about me. It's about creating the

space for God's grace and power to flow through

me for fruitful impact. That's why when we talk

about this journey, It's a journey towards spiritual

maturity. The Apostle Paul put it very clearly.

He said to the people, look, guys, imitate me

like I'm imitating Jesus. So it's like, oh, you're

becoming more Christ -like, and therefore, if

you're more Christ -like, I can imitate you because

you, imitating you is imitating Jesus. It's the

same thing. We're growing in that Christ -likeness.

And that's why we can simply say that spiritual

maturity is basically learning to think, knowledge,

understanding, and live, act like Jesus. The

more I think and act like Jesus, the more mature

I am. I'm no longer just a little plant. Now

I'm growing. And before you know it, you're a

fruitful tree. That is that journey. And therefore

when we say that God has called us to make disciples

for global impact. We are saying that God has

called our community, all of us, to engage in

a personal relationship with Jesus and the Holy

Spirit to pursue this calling for growth so that

we can engage in that calling and experience

it. Therefore, we have to create the systems

in place to make sure that we have the right

conditions for this life to happen. And for that,

we do not need Chad GPT. For that, we need the

Bible. Because the Bible tells us what the right

conditions are for all of this. I would like

to take a look at what the Bible says about this

growth. What does it look like? What are those

traits that are in mind when we are talking about

growing in spiritual maturity? And for that we

have to understand a couple of things. First,

remember that the Apostle Paul during his second

missionary journey. He went all the way to Greece

in Corinth, and he planted a church there, and

he wrote two letters to them later, 1 and 2 Corinthians.

And in fact, today you can still go and visit

the city of Corinth, and you can go and visit

the ruins of the ancient Corinth where the Apostle

Paul was. And even when you go to Athens, you

can see some areas where the Apostle Paul went.

And there's even a big sign in Greek and in English

there that has a quotation from the book of Acts

of the speech that the Apostle Paul gave during

that trip. So what is exciting about all of those

things is that they are historical. They really

happened. So as we are reading this text, we

are engaging with history. How the apostles engaged

with the first Christians to remind them about

this journey. I want to know what that is. But

then the second thing is that the Christians

that were in Jerusalem, that first generation

of Christians ever, they were there in Jerusalem,

but their persecution started happening, so they

had to flee Jerusalem, and they spread out all

throughout the Roman Empire. So you have... Two

types of Christians now in the first generation

of the first century. The Christians that heard

the message through the Apostle Paul and the

churches that were planted. And the Christians

from Jerusalem that were primarily Jew Christians,

Messianic Christians, Messianic Jews, who left

there and they started joining some of these

other churches throughout the empire. So therefore,

both the Apostle Paul and people like the Apostle

Peter, they write these letters to all of them.

About this journey. So we are going to look at

some of them. But before reading it. I remember

something. You know when you have a baby now.

And you are in the era of Wi -Fi technology.

You know one of the things that people do. They

want to have a baby monitor. Because they want

to see and they want to hear that baby. By the

way, you don't need to. Enjoy the quietness while

you have it. But, yeah, no, no. We want to see,

we want to hear, and we can put that thing there,

and I can get my phone, I can look at the app,

I can be in another country and see my baby through

it. But a side effect of that is that anybody

that walks into the room and starts talking,

I can eardrop. I can hear all these conversations

that are happening. Without them even knowing.

And sometimes they're interesting conversations

and sometimes you don't want to know anything.

Wouldn't it be cool if we can give the Apostle

Paul a baby monitor, the Apostle Peter a baby

monitor to help us see what's happening in their

journeys and their conversations? Well, that's

what we're going to do today. We're going to

give them one because I want to listen to some

of those conversations. See what is going on.

And what do we learn from it? The first conversation,

the Apostle Paul with the Christians in Corinth,

is very personal and actually a little bit kind

of direct. And this is what I start hearing when

I listen to that conversation. Brothers and sisters,

I could not address you as people who live by

the Spirit, but as people who are still worldly.

Just infants in Christ. Little babies. Childish.

I gave you milk, not solid food. Oh, no. You

couldn't handle it because you were not ready

for it yet. You were still these immature little

babies. Indeed, even until now, you're still

not ready because you are still worldly. For

since there is jealousy and quarreling among

you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting

like mere humans? It's like, now he really got

my attention. What is he talking about? What's

going on? I want to know more. Well, for one

says, I follow Paul. And another says, well,

I follow Apollos. Are you not acting like mere

human beings when you are just talking like that?

Are you really that childish? And it's like,

okay, now I'm a little bit uncomfortable. I shouldn't

be listening to this conversation because it's

too personal, so I'll stop there. But now I'm

thinking, wow, am I an infant? Am I childish?

Am I worldly? He gave us these categories. On

the one hand, he says, look. You're either an

infant, worldly, you can only manage milk, or

you are a mature follower of Jesus who is led

by the Holy Spirit, who can manage solid food.

Which one are you? Ah. In other words, are you

just a little seed? Just need a little bit of

light, a little bit, because otherwise you cannot

handle it. Or are you now a mature tree? What

are you? And one of the things that he mentions

about a sign of immaturity is that you smell,

you think, you act like the world. It's hard

to tell you apart. I didn't realize you were

a Christian because I couldn't tell. The way

you sound, you sound like the world. And therefore,

if I want to engage with you and tell you more

about the word of God and living with eternal

perspective and all of that, that's too much.

I'm just happy to go on Sunday morning and that's

it. Because you cannot handle more. But that

is not where we are supposed to stay. We are

supposed to move from there into growth. And

I remember as a parent the experience of seeing

our children grow. We still have videos from

them when they were little. And we always loved

those. I remember my oldest son couldn't say

the word music. He would say mjukik. It was so

cute. And whenever it's cute, you want to say

it many times. So say it again. Mjukik. Oh, so

cute. What is it again? Mjukik. Oh, that's so

nice. But then they grow. And then 13, 15. And

if we are eating at the table and they say, you

know, I like to listen to mukek. You're not going

to go and say, oh, that's so cute. Can you say

it again? No, at 15 you're going to say, that's

not how you pronounce it. It's music. Say it

again. Music, you know. Because there are certain

things that you expect at a certain age. There's

a certain level of maturity that we expect. It's

okay to be wrestling with this here, but really

now here? Are you still a baby? Really? You are

not laid by the Holy Spirit yet? You do not know

your Bible yet? That's what the Apostle Paul

is telling. So there is this spectrum of growth

that we need to start realizing that as God is

calling us to follow him, we need to become mature.

We know God. And we love God. Simple as that.

I'm being led by the Holy Spirit now. That matters

to me. And that is my priority. And I start thinking

and acting less and less and less like the world.

And more and more and more like Jesus. Wow. I

already feel convicted. And there's two more

conversations we want to listen to? Yes. Let's

go to the second one. The second conversation

now is the Apostle Peter writing to these Christians

that left Jerusalem and now are joining the churches

that the Apostle Paul had planted. And he tells

them, look, I know that now you are reading the

letters that the Apostle Paul sent. But I have

to remind you that his letters contain some things

that are hard to understand. Did you ever read

some of the New Testament letters to the Apostle

Paul and you go like, what? What is that supposed

to mean? Well, that's not just your experience.

That was from the very beginning. There are things

that are hard to understand, which ignorant and

unstable people distort as they do the other

scriptures to their own destruction. Therefore,

dear friends, you who are not just a little seed

anymore, you are maturing. You are becoming a

tree. Since you have been forewarned, be on your

guard so that you may not be carried away by

the error of the lawless and fall from your secure

position. Stay solid in your little pot. Don't

fall from that. Don't let deception move you

in the wrong direction. Instead, grow In what?

Will you read it aloud with me? By grow in the

grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus

Christ. To him be glory both now and forever.

Amen. And now, as the Apostle Paul is talking

to these Christians, I mean the Apostle Peter

talking to these Christians, he also puts them

on the spectrum. And he says, look, on the one

hand, You can be someone who is ignorant and

stable, or you can grow in knowledge and the

grace of Jesus. Where are you? Because a person

who is ignorant and stable, you know where they

develop their theology from? YouTube. That's

it. And Facebook posts. And maybe a podcast somewhere.

They don't know their Bible. They're not studying

it. They do not engage with it. But if it's in

YouTube, you know, it must be true. And all of

these different distortions that the person starts

believing go unfiltered. And therefore, this

person can get deceived so easily. And the Apostle

Peter says, don't fall for that. You'll be different.

You need to grow in knowledge and also in experiencing

God's grace. You remember the book of Colossians

that we just finished last month. Growing grace.

Let the grace of God and the peace of God flow

through you. And move in that direction. Head.

Heart. I remember that during the time of COVID.

I got a friend that sent me a video. And I'm

not sure we were that close friends. But the

video was about this guy that was. preaching

and talking about how this is really the end

of times. And we know that if you get the vaccine,

it's going to be the mark of the beast. So whatever

you thought of the vaccine is your own opinion.

But in his case, it was like solid. This is the

mark of the beast and this is the end of times.

He didn't say who the Antichrist was then. But

anyway, he says, how do we know? It's because

if you take the word COVID, And you assign them

the Hebrew letters. And then every Hebrew letter

has a number. And then you add the number to

each letter. And then you sum up the whole thing.

It's going to give you 666. That's called exegetical

gymnastics. If you do this, if you do that, if

you do that, then it's like, really? Is that

true? No, it doesn't work that way. But how many

people believe it and they were preparing for

the end of the world and here we are in 2025

and COVID was not the end. Growing the knowledge

and the grace of Jesus, Peter says, so that you

will not be so easily deceived by a video that

a friend sends you. Wow, I can see now. Therefore,

this call to grow is also a grow to become solid.

I know the word, I live the word. Do I know the

word? Do I live the word? Or I am someone that

is more, instead of being word D, I'm world E.

Wow. Is there one more conversation to listen

to? Because this will be a great time to end

because I'm already very convicted. But there's

one more. And Peter, as he's talking to these

Christians, he tells them, look, you already

received the Holy Spirit. You're already following

Jesus. You already have the word. You have everything

you need to now grow into that fruitful tree.

Everything. So keep growing into that tree. His

divine power has given us everything we need

for a godly life through our knowledge of him

who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Through this, he has given us his very great

and precious promises so that through them, you

may participate in the divine nature, the Holy

Spirit we have in us now. Having escaped the

corruption in the world. caused by evil desires,

right? Because we're growing on Christlikeness.

We're not as worldly anymore. For this very reason,

because we're in this journey towards this mature

tree, fruitful tree, for this very reason, make

every effort to add to your faith goodness. And

to goodness, what else? Knowledge. Yeah. It's

like, look, it's okay that now you have a very

genuine faith in Jesus and you are following

him. And now you are seeing the transformation

in your life. That's great. But you have to add

to that knowledge. Keep growing in the knowledge

of God and the word. But add to that knowledge

self -control. And to self -control, perseverance.

And to perseverance, Godliness. And to godliness,

mutual affection. And to mutual affection, love.

He's giving us the path of what that maturity

looks like. And he says at the end, for guys,

if you possess these qualities in increasing

measure, it's not complete, but it's increasing

by the day, they will keep you from being ineffective

and unproductive. In your knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ. What? Peter, you are sounding like

a CEO of my company. You're talking about ineffective

and unproductive. It's like this is a performance

meeting with our production team here. It's like,

why are you using these words for spiritual topics

of following Jesus? Being unproductive? Being

ineffective? What does that have to do with anything?

Everything. Because, again, the call to follow

Jesus is the call to grow from a seed all the

way into a fruitful tree that is giving fruit.

And therefore, what he tells them here is the

spectrum. You're either going to be an ineffective

and unproductive follower of Jesus, That your

life is irrelevant. You are not impacting anybody.

You are disengaged. The idea of being ineffective

means being lazy, being disengaged. I don't do

anything. And therefore, I'm productive. Or,

if you make every effort to grow in your relationship

with Christ, you will become helpful and fruitful.

So which one are you? ineffective, unproductive,

helpful, or fruitful. Now I really feel convicted.

I thought that following Jesus was all about

dying and going to heaven. I was very happy.

Now I feel responsible. I feel like I need to

be more disciplined in my relationship with God

and I need to start pursuing my calling and to

start serving God with my life. Great! That's

exactly why the apostles wrote these things.

So that I would start feeling that and start

moving into that space of fruitfulness. I know

my calling and now I'm living my calling. Because

it's in that place now, complete alignment with

the Lord, that this thing starts flowing. I remember

that a few years ago, we were able to... meet

a dear couple here from Brazil, here in ECB,

and we happened to be walking outside here one

Saturday, and my wife and kids were in Texas

that time, and they were going out for lunch,

and I said to them, are you going, where are

you going? So we're going for lunch, you want

to join us? And I thought, sure, I don't. Have

anybody at home now? I have no lunch plans. So

that's how we met and we spent the whole afternoon.

It was like maybe five hours that we spent there

at the restaurant eating and talking, catching

up. And from that opportunity, the opportunity

came up to start mentoring them in their discipleship.

And we'll meet every week in an evening in their

home and train them. And we went through that

discipleship mentorship process. And it was so

beautiful to see that little plant grow. More

exciting than seeing my avocado plant. It was

like every time I left, I was so encouraged.

But then God called them back to Brazil. But

what was beautiful is that before they left,

they said, Pastor Pablo, we arrived here to Thailand

one way, and we're leaving completely different

people. We're not the same. Right, because when

they came, they were like a little avocado seed.

But now they're already becoming a tree. And

that is what we desire. That is what we mean.

That we are serious about making disciples for

global impact. So that you will grow in intimacy

with God. You will start understanding your calling

more and more and pursue your calling more and

more because God has planted you here for global

impact. For that reason, if we were to have all

these three things that we are becoming mature,

solid, and fruitful, wow, this will be an amazing

opportunity for increased global impact. And

that excites me. That's why we are here. It's

because of the potential of what God can do through

us. Because the mission that Jesus gave us at

the very beginning has not yet been completed.

And we will continue investing our lives until

the very end. Let's pray before the Lord. Father,

as we come in your presence, we know what it

is like to be a little seed. Nothing happening

until something starts sprouting. And before

we know it, something is happening within us

and it's your Holy Spirit transforming us and

leading us into this future that we never imagined.

That it will be part of our community serving

you for greater purposes than just us. Lord,

We acknowledge what you have already said, that

we are these trees in the making. And thank you

for the fruit and the impact that you have envisioned

for us. Everything that you have in mind, Lord,

we want to be part of. Provide everything that

we need so that we can be faithful to your calling.

And every fruit that is ever produced is because

of you. And all the glory be to you and to you

alone, now and forever. And Lord, I pray for

our people in Jesus' name. That anything that

is holding back the pursuit of your calling.

That anything that has been implemented by the

enemy to distract, to distort, to hold back.

Lord, in Jesus' name, let that be broken. And

let that power be broken by your presence. Let

your calling become clear. Let your provision

flow so that everything that you have called

your people to be and do will be accomplished

because of your doing. Lord, I sense a broken

calling. And I'm asking you for restoration.

There is someone here that has been clearly called

by you. But disobedience hurts. There's brokenness

that has happened. But the calling has not changed.

Let your grace restore. That which was broken.

Let your grace restore. And Lord, let the calling

be like a new sprout, fresh and new. Even if

the previous one died, this is a new sprout.

And let it become the tree you envision. Thank

you for the restoration you bring. And thank

you for inviting us to grow in your knowledge

of you and the experience of your grace. We love

you and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I would

love to leave you with the encouraging words

of the Apostle Peter, which were the very last

words that we read today in the end of his letter.

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and

Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be glory now and

forever. Amen. May the Lord bless you, empower

you. Become the tree that the Lord has called

you to be. Thank you for tuning in to the ECB

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