Disciples Making Disciples - Made New (Week 1)

Good morning church.

How are we doing?

Good to see you guys.

Glad you're here.

You already won.

If you're here this morning, you've already won.

You you won the better than Ohio State, you won the.

You uh won the Battle of the Blankets.

That means you got out of bed and you made it to church.

Uh we are starting this new series today, and we are excited about it, and we hope that uh in a way that you guys will fully engage everything that we're doing in this series.

We're gonna be really walking through key pillars to a strong foundation.

Uh as the video uh so eloquently said, things like salvation, lordship, repentance, baptism, devotion, church, discipleship.

And um, it's gonna be really a great opportunity for all of us.

I know when you hear these things, you think, well, I've been following Jesus for a long time, but uh man, uh, we have to consistently uh investigate, evaluate our foundations, and then really ultimately we're looking, am I able to help someone else establish uh those foundations?

So uh really, you know, whether you're exploring your faith for the first time and you're like, man, I've got a lot of questions.

Great series for you.

Some of us have said yes to Jesus, and it's like we were given our new Christian bike, and you get on it and you're like wobbling, and we need someone to walk beside us.

Uh, that's what this series is all about.

And other of you guys have been following uh Jesus for years, and it's been a while since you like really examined the key pillars to the foundation of your faith.

I know when I moved uh here from Tennessee, um we had to sell our house, praise God.

And that's always an adventure.

You know, we were living in the house, and the house was fine.

Uh until you have to have an inspection.

That little thing called an inspection, and that's where they look in every nook and cranny uh to see, hey, is this house as you say it is?

And I was like, this is a great house, it's great.

You need to buy it, pay full price.

Uh and then during the inspection, they look at the foundation.

How many know we come in and out of the house and live in a house, but we don't really look at our foundation.

It's kind of the same in our Christian walk, isn't it?

It's like, man, we kind of start stacking days and start following things and start growing, and then you're like, hey, uh, that foundation, we laid that was 20 years ago, or for some in this room 50 years ago, or it was five years ago, or whatever, and just like you can move on from it.

Well, this uh series is gonna serve a little bit like that house inspection where we evaluate the foundation.

So don't check out on me.

You know, don't be saying, hey, I've been following Jesus for years.

Uh I don't need salvation 101.

It'll be a little different than that for you.

Um we're gonna ask, is my foundation strong?

You know, we're gonna examine, is there any cracks in my foundation that I need to address?

Literally, my foundation, the one corner of my house was was dropping.

And they were like, hey, you got to fix this.

And they literally had to dig around the house, go underneath the house, and jack that found that foundation back up where it belonged.

And so this might be a series where uh in our own lives there's an area or two where we have to sort of jack up the foundation in the life we're building and the way we're following Jesus.

And so that's what it's all about.

Um but today the message has got a little bit different focus.

As we talk about the series, that's going to be one of the found uh focuses or objectives of the series.

The other one is, you know, the once you establish a foundation and once you start following Jesus, it doesn't stop with you.

You are then called, as Jesus tells us, to go and make disciples.

And making disciples is about laying foundations in other people's lives.

So this in a lot of ways sort of has, you know, two major objectives, like how am I doing, and then how am I doing and helping other people follow Jesus?

So it is a discipleship series, and that's really where I want to begin today.

If you have your Bible or you have an app or you want to look on the biggest Bible in the world uh on the screen, I just have two verses for you today.

2 Timothy is where we'll be.

2 Timothy is Paul's last letter written from a Roman prison under Nero.

I mean, it was literally, he wrote it for sure, like just months before he was executed.

And Paul is writing to Timothy, who is a young pastor who was personally discipled by Paul.

So Paul modeled discipleship as he is personally involved in the life of Timothy.

Timothy isn't a beginner anymore.

Timothy, uh, he's been trained, he's been tested, but even a tested, qualified leader still needs this reminder.

So this is good for us today.

Here's the reminder in 2 Timothy 2, verse 1.

2 Timothy 2:1

It says, You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

And what you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses.

I mean, like every word matters today.

And what you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

And this is where we're gonna anchor in for today's message.

Let me pray for us.

Father, thank you so much, God, that we get to examine your word freshly today.

Thank you today, uh, God, that you are gonna be inspecting foundations and you're gonna challenge us not only to be followers of Jesus, but help others follow Jesus.

So as we do this, Lord, help us as we study in Jesus' name.

Amen.

If you look at this scripture, uh, Zeke, if you don't mind putting it back up there for us, what's amazing about this is you will see this incredible movement of the gospel that essentially is like dot, dot, dot, still going today.

Because Paul clearly lays out what we see here, even in these couple of verses, are four generations of discipleship.

And this is how the gospel moves, and this is how the gospel expands.

Do you see the four generations?

He says, and what you you have heard from me, entrust to faithful men and women, right, who are able, who are able to teach others also.

Are you tracking with me?

Four generations, four generations here of discipleship in one sentence.

So as Paul's own life runs out, the gospel's future doesn't solely rest on the life of Paul.

And oftentimes we come in and out of church and we develop, and the church helps us, we develop what I call the man of God syndrome, where it isn't really much different than the Catholic Church, where they, you know, oftentimes you you're not even really encouraged to read the Bible for yourself.

You're called, you know, you're you go to uh you have to have someone between you and God, a mediator, so to speak.

And we kind of settle in, even in the Christian church, into this model where I'll just hear from the man of God and he'll tell me what to do.

That's not what we see here.

Paul's saying, hey, I'm gonna die.

But the gospel isn't.

And it isn't because Timothy, you're faithful, and I've entrusted the gospel to you.

And then I want you to take what's been entrusted to you and pass on to someone else who's able to teach others also.

Four amazing generations.

This is Paul's succession plan.

We call it relational discipleship.

Because truly, as you see today, this so just for sake of terms, a disciple is someone who follows Jesus.

Hopefully, today you've made that decision to say, hey, I'm gonna follow Jesus.

When we are water baptized, you're literally saying, hey, I'm a disciple, I'm gonna follow Jesus the rest of my life.

If that's not you, if you hadn't made that decision, today is your day.

If that's not you, you haven't gone public with your faith.

Hey, today's your day.

Let us know you want to be baptized.

That's a public declaration saying, I am a disciple.

And really, Jesus doesn't call us to be better Christians, he calls us to be disciples, followers of Jesus.

Then we have this big term uh discipleship.

What is discipleship?

It's helping someone else follow Jesus.

We can't really make it any plainer than that.

And so Paul's successions plan is relational discipleship.

He doesn't tell Timothy, hey, write this down and follow, you know, like file it away.

What is he doing?

Is he writing this letter, his last letter before he dies?

What is he saying?

He's literally saying, go find someone else and tell them the story.

Go find someone else and entrust this gospel to them.

It's amazing the trust Paul had.

He didn't like say, hey, make sure, you know, they've been through cemetery.

I mean seminary and uh, you know, make sure they're this and make sure they're that.

He literally says, find a faithful person that'll tell somebody else.

It's like a cosmic game of tag.

Where, man, you've been tagged, now who is it in your life that you are tagging?

See, this is the big idea I want you to stick with today.

The gospel that saved you was never meant to stop with you.

That seems simple, but it's profound.

Let me ask it in a more confrontational way.

Has the gospel that saved you stopped with you?

Another question.

Who have you told the good news to?

Who have you shared your testimony to?

Who have you talked to about the cross and what Christ did for you?

So that's a challenging question for us today.

And in the scripture, Paul gives us a couple things I'll highlight.

I picked three because pastors love three.

One is I love that he starts with receive grace in Christ Jesus.

What does he say?

He says, Timothy, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Now, Timothy had already been touched by the amazing grace.

A lot of what we were singing and worshiping and receiving communion today about the grace of God that impacted our life.

No longer are we the same.

We've been made new.

That's the name of the series, right?

By his grace.

But Paul now is saying, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Notice Paul doesn't say, Timothy, Timothy, strengthen yourself.

Right?

Paul says, he doesn't even say, hey, Timothy, go and make disciples.

He says, be strengthened.

The literal translation there is, keep being strengthened.

How many know that's important?

We need to know that it's not just by our own merit or by our own works that we go to do the things Jesus tells us to do.

Literally, Paul's telling Timothy, stay anchored in the grace of God.

Be strengthened by it on an ongoing basis.

Keep drawing from a grace that doesn't come from you.

But the grace that is where?

Where's that grace?

That grace has an address, doesn't it?

Grace has an address, doesn't it?

What's the address?

Christ.

It says, look what it says.

Can we put that scripture back up there?

Sorry, Zeke.

It says, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

I love that.

And he's what kind of grace is he talking about?

He's talking about the undeserved help, a free gift from God, something that you earn, something that you can't earn or you don't earn by your own good works.

It is the grace that is active fuel in our lives.

Grace doesn't just cover your past, it's basically supplies the strength you need day by day.

It comes from an external source.

The streak doesn't come from inside you to do anything for Jesus.

In fact, what did what did what did John say?

Apart from Jesus, you can do nothing, right?

It's an external source.

That strength doesn't come from inside you, it comes from Christ.

And that's important, you know why?

Because we're sinners.

And disciple making can quickly become just another Christian responsibility.

Just add it to the list of the things I have to do to call myself a Christian.

And this idea of being strengthened and continuing to be strengthened by grace keeps us from sort of developing this try harder, do more mentality, right?

And that's not the gospel.

The gospel is continue to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

The Christian life doesn't begin with what you do for Jesus, it begins for what Jesus has already done for you.

So when he's saying be strengthened by this grace, it's like just what we did this morning when we held that bread and we held that juice, it's like, let's not have gospel amnesia.

Let's not forget what Christ has done for us.

Let the motivating factor be love, that you've been touched by love, and now love motivates you to go do the things we're saying.

I pause on this because if I just start plowing through the idea of relational discipleship and give you more things to do, then seriously, I'm just heaping more moralism on your life, and I'm not really like we're not, we're not really preaching the gospel.

The gospel literally says, apart from Christ, we're dead in our sin, but in Christ, remember the address?

But in Christ, we've been made alive.

The gospel literally says, apart from Christ, we were guilty, but in Christ, we're forgiven.

Can we say in Christ?

Apart from Christ, we were separated from God, but we've been reconciled.

Come on.

We love it.

Participation better than observation this morning.

Let's get it.

Apart from Christ, we live for ourselves, but we've been given a new identity, a new family, and a new mission.

We might need a B3 up here.

Some of y'all don't know what a B3 is, but uh you need to know what a B3 is.

Isn't that right, Jamal?

Come on.

Come on, somebody.

You've been made new, and that's where discipleship or disciple making begins.

You don't uh disciple people because you finally become impressive enough.

I just gotta say this.

It's like, I know it's so basic, but sometimes we think in our head, well, one day when I achieve this level, then I might could impart something to someone else.

You don't disciple because you finally become impressive enough to help somebody else.

You disciple because you received something you didn't create and can never earn.

Grace comes to you.

This is what Paul's telling Timothy, grace comes to you before it can ever flow through you.

And he's saying, be strengthened by the grace that's in Christ Jesus.

When you taste God's grace, you can't help but give it away.

I mean, I am a restaurant evangelist.

You can talk to me for five minutes, and I'll tell you seven places to eat, even in Midland.

And you'll be like, I've lived in Midland my whole life, I've never tried those.

I'm like, yeah, I know.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Come on, somebody.

When you understand grace at this level, you can't help but give it away.

Maybe in some ways we've grown a little numb to it.

It's like we've developed a cowlous.

That's what I love about coming together, gathering, I think that's why the the command is to gather together, because when we gather like this on Sunday morning, which is commanded, it's not really optional.

I am reminded when I hear you sing, and some of y'all can really sing.

Others of you are more like me, but that's okay.

When you're singing these words, I'm reminded that I am saved by grace.

I'm reminded of his amazing grace.

When we're singing there's power in the blood, I'm reminded of that.

I'm not going to get that anywhere else, but the gathered, the gathering of the believers.

And I thank you for making that commitment to do that.

But sometimes we could grow numb to it, and that's why this helps us, because essentially it's like starts filing off what we could be calloused in our hearts or our motives.

And that's exactly what Paul's first word to Timothy isn't isn't go disciple somebody.

What was it?

It's continue to be strengthened by the same grace that saved you.

So what keeps discipleship from becoming works of obedience is when it's fueled by grace.

Amen.

So this is step one.

Receive his grace and keep receiving his grace for all of life and ministry.

Whatever you're doing, we need to abide in divine, constantly feeding on the grace and goodness of God.

Amen.

He then says, Entrust what you've received to others.

Paul continues, What you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust a faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Notice Paul's language here.

And we have to kind of kick against this a little bit in modern culture.

Paul's language is what you have heard from me.

Do you hear the sort of personal nature?

Not what you read about me, not what you know about me, but what you have heard from me.

Paul was in Timothy's life.

That's significant, isn't it?

That's significant, isn't it?

Yes, that's significant.

Timothy didn't simply consume Paul's content.

He experienced Paul's life.

This is why, again, we need we it's why we need even more than this gathering.

It's why we need more than classes.

Disciples aren't necessarily made in those uh environments.

Paul is stressing relational discipleship.

You're like, Pastor Mike, what do you mean by relational discipleship?

I mean one-on-one, nose-to-nose, life on life.

You need to ask yourself, who do I have like this in my life?

Like, who is my Paul?

If Paul is only in your earbuds, then you could be in trouble.

And then likewise, because this we have two objectives, you might need to ask not only who is my Paul, but then who is my Timothy?

God's challenging all of us this morning.

We live in a world where we can be more spiritually informed than any generation in history and still be personally unknown.

Many times we try to outsource discipleship.

You know what it is.

Like maybe you work in a company and you need some marketing and arts, and you don't have your own marketing department, so you outsource it.

You go outside of yourself to get that thing done.

That's the way we relate in discipleship often.

We outsource it to some other source and we're and to other platforms and personalities and You know, podcasts and apps and sermons.

And while all of those are a gift, we can have dozens of voices, again, in our in our earbuds who don't even know our name.

Paul and Timothy are intimately connected.

They're in relationships.

So when we're talking about discipleship, we're talking about relational, one-on-one, nose-to-nose life on life.

I want you to remember this.

You can attend church anonymously, but you can't be discipled anonymously.

Yeah, I'll say that again, Will.

Thank you, Pastor Will.

You can attend church anonymously.

Some are easier than others.

This isn't the easiest place to be anonymous.

We will find you out.

Why?

Because we want you to grow to everything God called you to be.

But you can attend church anonymously, but you can't be discipled anonymously.

Somebody has to know you.

Paul is saying discipleship happens in relationship.

Someone helps you follow Jesus, and then eventually you become that person for someone else.

This is how it works.

Paul's in prison.

He's about to die.

The gospel could die with him.

His only play, plan A, is relational discipleship.

That's powerful to think about, isn't it?

I'll let that lay there.

You don't have to answer me.

Come on.

Paul also gives us, he identifies who we should disciple.

He says, and trust the faithful men and women.

I just want to make a note here sometimes.

We can get discouraged by chasing the wrong people.

Now, everyone matters to God, but if they're not hungry and if they're just running, at some point you just got to become an oasis.

You know what I mean by that?

You need to be the person they know, like, has the goods.

And when they get thirsty, they'll come to you and get a drink.

But sometimes we get discouraged because we're chasing knuckleheads when there's actually faithful men and women all around us who are hungry.

So he says here, and trust of faithful men and women.

Here's the truth faithful people pursue you and are hungry to grow.

Paul also gives us the only thing needed to make disciples.

It isn't talent or credentials, not perfect people.

His only requirement is faithful people.

Why?

Because the gospel that saved you was never meant to stop with you.

And faithful people understand that.

A, they receive the gospel and they receive it and they give it away.

That's what faithful people do.

Oftentimes we overthink this, we overcomplicate it.

We think to ourselves, God is not ready to use me yet.

While God says, I'm ready to use you now.

Whatever part you have, whatever you know, I mean, you may not know a whole lot.

I mean, if you've read one page of the Bible, you've read more than probably somebody at your work.

So you see the qualifications, he simplifies it down to this idea of faithfulness.

Paul's saying the same thing here.

He's saying, not asking Timothy to find something with it all figured out.

He's asking for faithfulness.

At Neely, we've kind of tried to unpack the word faithful into this acronym we called faith.

And this is who we want to disciple, this is who we want to make disciples, this is who we're going to train as leaders, this is the qualification.

Faithfulness.

We call it faith, which is simply faithful, available, involved, teachable, and hungry.

Think about that.

Those are all attitudes we can control, desires of our heart.

This isn't about how much you know, how many books you read, what classes you've gone to, this is about a disposition of the heart.

So here's what I want to do today.

I need to ask, am I a man of faith?

Am I a woman of faith?

And who do I look for to pour my life to entrust the gospel to?

I look for people with faith.

Literally, that's all we're saying.

Who should you invest in and help follow Jesus?

People with faith.

And who should make disciples?

People with faith.

Are you tracking with me?

You don't have to be a pastor to disciple somebody.

You don't need a seminary degree.

You don't have to know everything.

You simply need to be willing to take what Jesus is teaching you and walk it out with someone else.

Because discipleship isn't follow me, I've arrived.

It's come with me, let's follow Jesus together.

The third thing is multiplication is the mission.

Paul doesn't stop with Timothy and faithful people.

He says these faithful people will be able to teach others also.

Remember the four generations.

It's multiplication.

Paul to Timothy, Timothy to faithful people, faithful people to others.

The gospel keeps moving.

That's what Jesus commanded us in Matthew 28.

Thinking about Paul's last words, what about Jesus' last words?

How many know last words are important?

What was Jesus' last words?

You go therefore and make disciples.

He literally said the same thing that Paul is saying to Timothy.

There is no plan B.

He didn't say, you know, uh, go and attend church, although attending church is good.

He didn't say go and sing songs, although singing songs is good.

He said, go and make disciples.

This is the Great Commission.

Or as some scholars call it, the great omission.

I guess I'll just let that go right over your head.

I didn't get an ooh or an ah or oh my or nothing.

Meaning the church is omitting the one thing that Jesus told us to do.

Jesus didn't simply call us to make converts, he called us to make disciples.

People who learn to follow Jesus, people who learn to obey Jesus.

And what I love is that you don't have to personally manage the four generations.

You just have to be faithful.

You're part of the link.

Are you tracking with me?

Like if it's Paul, Timothy, faithful, others, I don't have to manage all that.

I just need to be faithful with where I'm at and what God's called me to do.

Someone invested you, now invest in somebody else.

So that's why I want to challenge some of us today.

Maybe you've been following Jesus for years, but you've never intentionally discipled another person.

This is your moment.

Maybe you want to do what Jesus commanded, but you've never, you know, never made a disciple.

This is your moment.

Maybe you want to grow spiritually, but you've never invited someone to grow with you.

This is your moment.

Maybe you thought discipleship is something that pastors do.

This is your moment.

And so as I begin to wrap this up, Paul wasn't just confronting Timothy in this letter, facing execution.

He was making sure the gospel didn't die with him.

Paul doesn't tell Timothy to keep it going, he models it.

In fact, the whole letter is Paul literally entrusting the gospel to Timothy.

And again, that's why we're walking through this series to settle these foundations and to activate relational discipleship in your life.

We're going to revisit these foundations together because you're not, you know, not because you're a beginner, maybe you are, and this is your first time, but because what I said in the beginning, even strong foundations need to be examined.

My house did, that's for sure.

And it was costly.

We're also going to do something else.

We're going to learn how to take those foundations and help you build them in someone else.

I want to introduce a tool to you.

You've probably seen it around.

We call this the one-to-one.

And it literally says a personal discipleship guide.

Meaning, not personal as in this is your personal discipleship guide.

Go home and read it.

No, this is what you can use to do effectively do what we're telling you to do today.

What we're encouraging you to do, what we're reminding you that the Bible told you to do.

This is just a systematic way.

I wrote it like this.

I wrote it, this is a low-tech answer to a high-tech problem.

And it's an awesome tool.

And literally all you have to do is read it to someone as far as using the tool.

It's simple, it's relational, it's reproducible.

There's seven lessons in there.

Also, not only do we have these books, which we will give you on the way out today, these little booklets, there is an app.

So if you prefer the digital way, there's a one-to-one app.

Don't download it right now.

I'm almost finished.

But one, the one-to-one isn't the disciple maker.

It's a tool.

You're the disciple maker.

The tool doesn't replace relationship, it gives you a pathway for having the right conversations, opening the scriptures, and helping to lay foundations in someone's life.

Does that make sense?

So maybe you're asking, how do I start?

I just want to give you a couple ways how you could start.

Say, you know what?

This is the moment I'm going to make a disciple.

Here's how you start: you pray and ask God, who's my one?

I mean, that's not too much.

Don't begin by asking who needs to be fixed.

They're probably in your house and they probably think the same thing about you.

Ask, who am I being called to love?

Maybe it's a coworker, a neighbor, a friend, someone in your life group.

Ding, ding, ding.

There's a chance you're in a group with someone who needs someone to walk with them individually.

It's a great fishing pool, fishing pond.

Someone who's been following Jesus for years but has never been really discipled.

They're a candidate.

And then pray and ask, and the next thing is invest.

Be a good friend.

This isn't just about a program.

I'm not just giving you stars.

It's not like we're tracking your discipleship in this.

Right?

And you just, every disciple you make who goes and makes another disciple, we give you a gold star.

Although the Bible does talk about jewels in your crown.

I don't know about that, but that sounds pretty good.

So before you try to be a disciple, or just be a good friend.

Grab coffee, listen to their story, ask questions, walk with them.

It's just a relationship you already have.

Invite them at the right time.

Just make it simple.

Say, hey, I've been wanting to grow deeper in my faith, and I'd love to do this with you.

Would you like to meet with me for a few weeks?

I got a simple guide we can walk through together.

You don't have to say, I got all the answers.

You just get to say, hey, let's follow Jesus together.

Pretty easy so far, right?

And then walk with them.

Use the one-to-one, but don't just complete the lessons.

Like this is again a guide, steps to take, but it's not like we're checking off boxes and we're mechanical.

We're relational.

And so we walk with them.

We do life together.

When they have questions, walk with them.

When they struggle, walk with them.

Well, what if they ask me something I don't know?

Here's the golden great answer.

I don't know.

What if they ask me something I don't know the answer to?

Here's the answer.

I don't know.

But let's find it together.

Let's go talk to someone who may.

Are you with me?

Are you tracking with me on it?

And then multiply.

Don't stop with your one.

Paul invested in Timothy.

Timothy invested in faithful people, and then those people invested in others.

That's the picture we're after.

Not I discipled someone, but I helped somebody become a disciple who can help someone else follow Jesus.

And so what I love about this tool is that obviously it's the Holy Spirit that does the transformation, but this is systematic in a way where anyone can do it.

Meaning, I have a new believer who I walk through in the last eight weeks, I walk through the one-to-one with them.

They're already able to walk this through with someone else.

Will they do it as good as me, the professional?

Probably, but maybe not.

But they'll do it.

That's the point.

To give them something simple that they can do.

And that's what we're offering to you today.

So when we're talking about pray, invest, invite, walk, multiply, that's a made-new church.

This is the made new series.

And this is what we're talking about.

Before we conclude, I really want to go back to just one last thing.

That very first scripture I haven't been able to get off of.

Because all of them, again, like you could listen to this and you start to think in your mind, who's your one and all that stuff, and do the one-to-one and make these steps and almost fall off the stage.

Should open my eyes before I get that close.

It's the grace of God that keeps you from stumbling.

Be strengthened.

Be continually strengthened in the grace that is found in Christ.

You can't do this from your own power.

Grace doesn't just save you, grace strengthens us to give away what we've received.

Remember that.

The gospel didn't start with you, right?

It started on a cross on a hill in Galgotha.

And the gospel that saved you was never meant to stop with you.

It didn't start with you and it doesn't stop with you.

So you've been made new.

Now go help somebody else discover what it means to be made new in Christ.

Let's be a church where we have decided I'm going to be a disciple.

And I'm going to be a disciple that makes disciples.

That's what this whole series is about.

It's going to be powerful.

Next week we're going to we're just going to kind of flow through these topically, but obviously preach them a little differently.

The cool thing about this, I forgot to say this, is that we actually, the kids are doing this.

We're using this for groups curriculum.

It's like permeating every area of the church.

So like honestly, when you go home, if you have kids, there's a kid version of the one-to-one.

So we can start right in right around the kitchen table, walking our kids through this.

And you know what?

It is literally so simple that your kids can make disciples.

If they can read, they can make disciples.

We can do it, church.

Amen.

We stand your feet.

I'll pray for you.

If you're part of the ministry team, you can come down.

On the way out, on the way in, I love this.

This is a beautiful picture.

On the way in, you were given communion.

On the way out, you're given a tool to go and make disciples.

That sounds great.

You were given the communion elements.

We didn't express give you communion on the way in.

You were given the elements.

You're a beautiful people.

God has called us to gather together to change our city.

According to Paul, the only way we're going to change it is to be anchored in this grace and to entrust this gospel with faithful people to teach others also.

Amen.

Father, we thank you for this awesome day.

God bless my friends today.

God, I pray if anyone has a heavy heart today, they don't leave here heavy.

God, but they walk down front and we stand with them and pray.

God, we're a family and we stand in the gap for one another.

God, if anyone's sick here today, God, I pray you touch them, heal them.

God, I pray that if they need someone to uh anoint them with oil and pray for them, they'll make their way down front.

If there's someone here today that realized, you know what, I can't go and make a disciple because I'm not a disciple.

And they want to give their life to Christ, they would make their way down front and say, I'm ready to give my life to Christ.

Jesus, we love you.

We thank you that you're so good to us.

Bless us today.

Give us a great week.

And let this, as we go, let this one-to-one God not just collect dust on our truck dash.

But God, let us become a tool we implement day in and day out with the people we walk with and we love.

Help us to be a church made new.

Disciples that make disciples that make disciples.

We love you, Lord.

Bless our friends today.

In Jesus' name, amen.

You're dismissed.

God bless you guys.