Discipleship (9 of 10 Non-Negotiable Elements of a Healthy Church)

Well, good morning Let's try. Oh, there we go. There it is. There it is. Well, I just want to thank you all for being here

It's an honor to be with you and to continue our preaching series that we've called 10

Non -negotiable elements of a healthy church. And so this morning we're gonna be talking about Discipleship and so we've wanted to recommend you resources that we've been utilizing

This book by Mark Dever part of the nine mark series on discipling has been wonderful So practical about getting plugged in to the local church becoming members and living life together to the glory of God And so this is discipling how to help others follow

Jesus another really good book. I absolutely love this I've read this twice now, but deep discipleship by JT English This talks about how the whole church can make holistic disciples of Jesus So if you get a chance,

I would love if you could check out those resources But if you would please join me and turn in your copy of God's Word to Acts chapter 14

We're gonna be looking at verses 19 through 23 This is a really neat passage of scripture that highlights

Paul's missionary journey and along the way We're gonna learn many principles of what deep discipleship looks like And so if you would please join me for the reading of God's Holy Word if you would please stand

So Acts chapter 14 starting in verse 19

We read but Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and having persuaded the crowds

They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing that he was dead

But when the disciples gathered about him He rose up and entered the city and on the next day

He went with Barnabas to Derby and when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples

They returned to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch Strengthening the souls of the disciples encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many

Tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God and when they had appointed elders from them in every church

With prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Let's pray this morning

Heavenly Father we thank you for this gathering together of a local church

Which is a manifestation of the Universal Church God in just a small portion Lord we pray for your blessing that by your spirit

You would give us wisdom and insight to your word God not just head knowledge But God knowledge that would penetrate the heart to help us live our lives to the glory of you

Lord, please help us to understand these these principles about discipleship. We pray these things in your name

Jesus. Amen Maybe see them So a little bit of context here in Acts chapter 14 is

Paul's first missionary journey where he's been traveling from city to city And he's been going to the synagogues he's going there and preaching the gospel and there's been a response from many

Jews and Gentiles, but if you can imagine this Infuriated many of the

Jews that heard Paul's preaching and so just a chapter earlier in Acts chapter 13

Paul went into a synagogue at Antioch and he preached a masterful sermon He actually took them down a road of their own history

He began the time of Exodus and how they then moved into the promised land He talked about the time of the judges and how

God used mighty men like King David And so I'm sure these Jews at first are like man this guy

Paul knows exactly what he's talking about Then he transitioned to John the

Baptist and how he prepared the way for King Jesus and so Paul quoted many

Hebrew scriptures showing that Jesus of Nazareth Fulfilled these prophecies as the long -awaited

Messiah Okay, and then like pastors that we're used to at the end of a sermon

He really tagged that gospel line at the end of his sermon So this is what Paul said in the midst of a bunch of Jews He says let it be known to you therefore brothers that through this man

Jesus Forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and by him everyone who believes is freed

From everything from which you could not be freed from the law of Moses, right?

We're used to that kind of preaching but Paul takes it one step further He actually gives a warning that if you do not respond to this good news and repentant faith

There's consequences why because God is holy God is just he says beware

Therefore lest you what is said by the prophets should come about you scoffers you who are will

Perish and for doing the work in your days at work that you would not believe even if someone were to tell you

So Paul ends with a warning to reject this gospel of grace But many did respond to the preaching of the gospel with the call of repentance

But this lit a fire under many of the Jews that were listening to Paul So this brings us to chapter 14 starting in verse 19

We read but Jews came from Iconium and from Antioch guess what their rage would have traveled

Made them travel over a hundred miles to persecute Paul and Barnabas and it says having persuaded the crowds these

Jews They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing that he was dead This was such a brutal beating so much so that the people thought that Paul was dead

They just we're gonna leave him there and I believe this is a vivid picture of how the world hates the truth

And so this is nothing short of a war a battle for truth James 4 4 says do you not know that friendship with the world is the enmity with God?

therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God and It makes sense because the world first crucified

Jesus the Son of God on a Roman cross and our society would do the same thing to us if they were given that Opportunity and so here in our text the

Apostle Paul He counted the cost and let me assure you he counted it as a as joy to suffer so verse 20 then says

But when the disciples gathered about him he rose up and entered the city and on the next day

He went on with Barnabas to Derby. I believe this is nothing short of Miracle, he probably this probably would have killed anybody else

But God was gracious preserved Paul's life and the disciples are probably getting ready for a burial

But he rose up and he was ready to continue on his missionary journey with Barnabas to Derby And so now we move to verses 21 and 23.

This is where we're gonna really glean Key principles of what deep discipleship looks like and this is going to be the heart of the sermon this morning

So verse 21 says when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples

They returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch Okay, so what we observe here is that Paul and Barnabas were evangelizing in making disciples

They were being obedient to the Great Commission For which our Lord commanded us in the gospel of Matthew and I'd like to invite you to turn there with me if you would

Please let's turn over in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 28 starting in verse 16

I want us to look at this Great Commission that in principle is for all disciples that follow after Jesus Christ So there the

Great Commission begins in verse 16 Essentially now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which

Jesus had directed them and when they saw him They worshiped him But some doubted and Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations Baptizing them in the name of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold.

I am with you always to the end of the age So this is a very famous passage of Scripture, right?

A lot of times called the Great Commission and there is one central command here that Jesus gives and it is to make

Disciples so that word disciple and its broadest sense means that someone is a learner

Someone is a follower someone who follows another person's teaching and way of life.

And so all throughout Scripture Context determines what kind of disciple a person can be this could actually refer to a lost person, right?

Jesus taught in John chapter 6 many hard truths But then after this many of his disciples turned back and walked with him no longer

So this is telling us someone can identify as a disciple of Jesus with no real heart change

But there are other passages that refer to disciples of Christ that have a heart change that love him and desire to be obedient Jesus says later in John's gospel if you abide in my word

You are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free

So here in this context Jesus is talking about genuine disciples that want to make more disciples

Look with me again at verse 19 Jesus says go therefore and make disciples of all nations

Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit Teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you

So I want to begin by telling you a few things that this passage does not Teach and this might be a little bit of that apologetic dog coming out of me, but we'll do this together

So number one, this is not a passage not a proof text that we should baptize babies

And you may be like people make that argument from this verse about going to the world and baptizing

Yes, the argument goes a little bit like well we're to make disciples of all nations and all nations would include infants, right and so we need to baptize babies and That's not what

Jesus is saying here when he talks about nations. This is the same Greek word for Gentiles So Jesus is commanding his disciples who are

Jewish to evangelize in the power of the Spirit to be witnesses First in Jerusalem to Judea Samaria And here's the key all the way to the ends of the earth the

Gentile world So this is not a proof text for baptizing infants, but this is a text telling us to evangelize the world

Also number two This is not a proof text that tells us that we should be baptized in order to be born again or to be declared righteous before God Jesus is commanding disciples to baptize an individual who confesses

Jesus as Lord And so this would be simply a demonstration of faith by the one being baptized

This would also be someone desiring to be obedient to carry out that baptism to care to baptize someone else

There is nothing magical here. Nothing about the water somehow washing away

So verse 19 begins with a verb go Jesus is commanding disciples to be evangelistic to proclaim the gospel

Into all the world and this is exactly what we see happening in the book of Acts with the

Apostle Paul with Barnabas They are being faithful to this great Commission And so verse 19 has one primary command with three verbs

The command is to make disciples and we see that being expressed in these three verbs They are going right as they go as they live their lives

They preach the gospel and they go about making more disciples baptizing them

That's the second verb and then lastly is teaching and so I think there are a lot of well -meaning

Evangelical churches that look at the teaching here to be okay We're gonna share the gospel that may manifest itself and going door -to -door knocking right praying with people and getting them to come to church

So they may be baptized. Okay, a lot of times that's everyone's Understanding of what the teaching is and I've been a part of churches that have

EE classes Has anybody heard of evangelism explosion? Right been in classes about that or classes on teaching you about the

Roman Road And you know what? A lot of these principles are good Helping us understand ways to be able to share our faith with other people and I'm in favor

I love Ray Comfort in the way of the master. He teaches a lot of these same principles as well however, what

I want you to understand the Great Commission is not only talking about evangelism and Baptism that is only half of the

Great Commission Jesus says teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you that would include

Evangelism baptism and so much more and so here's the key to deep discipleship

We must learn to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ That means understand sound doctrine from the whole

Council of God not just being here's only But learning how to live lives to the glory of God in the fellowship of the

Saints Deep discipleship is being equipped to be holistic disciples and to carry out the good work of evangelism

Can I get an amen? So if you would please turn back with me to Acts chapter 14 well,

I want us to continue to look at more details of Discipleship and Paul and Barnabas here.

They're being faithful. They are being obedient to the Great Commission given to us by our Lord Verse 21 says when they had preached the gospel to that city.

Remember that first verb go This is what we see them doing They're going and sharing the the gospel and here's a big part of this morning's sermon and they had made many

Disciples right? This is the central command that Jesus gave make disciples and then we know the other three verbs will be present here

They are going to preach the gospel They are baptizing in the name of the triune God and they are teaching the disciples

To observe all that Christ has commanded and so this will lead to deep discipleship holistic disciples that desire to know the sovereign triune

God to magnify his beauty to worship him to Increase our love for him to live to the praise of his glorious grace

And so verses 22 and 23 I want us to explore four major points that give us the primary context for deep

Discipleship number one that is place number two That is people number three that is purpose and number four presence

Okay, so look back with me at our text this morning Paul and Barnabas They returned to Lystra Iconium and Antioch verse 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples

Encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations We must enter the kingdom of God and when they had appointed elders

For them in every church with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed

So major point number one deep discipleship takes place in the particular place of the local church a couple weeks ago pastor

Nathan did a really good job distinguishing between the Universal Church and The local church the

Universal Church is made up of all believers of all time that have been called out by faith

Right there is a special connection that we have with Abraham who lived many thousand years ago

And it's because he trusted in the promises of God That's why we can look at so many for one wonderful teachings and books of saints of all because we are part of this

Universal body, but the the local church is something different This is made up of members who have demonstrated their faith in baptism and desire to fellowship with one another this is the place where the

Saints gathered together and must be equipped for the good work of Evangelism and also cultivating an environment of fellowship

So notice in verse 21 Paul and Barnabas were returning back to local churches that were located in Lystra Iconium and Antioch verse 23 says they had appointed elders for them in Every church the

Christian life is not meant to be lived in isolation But in fellowship with other believers, and so they knew this

Paul and Barnabas They returned back to the particular places where the Saints were gathering together

This is so vital for our spiritual growth The writer of Hebrews says this and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and to good works not

Neglecting to meet together as the habit of some but encouraging one another

Writer of Hebrews is Commanding that all believers meet together in corporate worship.

What was the pattern established in Acts? Well, this was on the Lord's Day the first day of the week This would have been a

Sunday gathering and it is so important to our discipleship and our spiritual growth

It's to benefit one another we need that love and encouragement that comes from the local body

First John reminds us to participate in this fellowship so that your joy may be complete

And so once we understand just how important this local gathering is

To our spiritual growth and discipleship we can now dispel a few myths things that I have been guilty of thanking myself

So if I step on your toes, I'm also stepping on my toes and things that I've experienced in the past I've heard some people say

Well, the church is not a building. I can have church wherever I go

So I hear this a lot and I noticed that when people say that they're gone for many months out of the year in Summertime maybe for sports maybe for hunting season

I've talked to one hunter said I can have church in my deer stand That's where me and God get alone and we just have church with me and him

And so I want to agree the the universal church is not a building, right?

It's believers of all time. The local church is not a building either But here is the key the local church is a gathered people

And so I'm not talking about legalism Right that somehow if you you're in sin if you miss going to church once or twice

No This is exposing a pattern of one's life or exposes the deeper issue of the heart where your heart's at That's where you're gonna be, right?

But we're not talking about legalism if somehow you don't make it to church one Sunday here or there But where is your heart at?

And so here's another myth that I have been guilty of thinking of I can just go to a big church to meet people

Even though there is not much depth of teaching there. I can get discipleship through ministries online

And please hear me a virtual discipleship cannot create deep disciples

That's not to say that online ministries can't aid us in our study of Scripture But the point

I'm making is where discipleship happens Matters greatly deep discipleship is intensely meant to be a local gathering of Saints Why why does the context of discipleship matter because our whole person matters to God?

Discipleship is not just a transfer of ideas But the transformation of the whole person watching a preacher on YouTube or doing zoom calls with a group of people

Cannot replace how God has prescribed the holistic shaping of discipleship by the gathering of Saints with one another so place

Matters for discipleship and this brings me to the second major point talking about people

Okay, we've already been touching on this point and so many people are quick to say well

I have people in my life that disciple me. I have a friend from college that lives all the way in California We talk about the

Bible every week I have other people say well I get on FaceTime with my parents that live outside of town and we talk about our walk with Christ Every day and that is so great to have friends and family that are a part of the universal

Church But deep discipleship is meant to happen at the local church And so we see this principle here in verse 21 again with Paul and Barnabas We read when they had preached the gospel to that city and had made disciples they returned to Lystra and Iconium and to any on Now what were they doing?

They're in person person to person in a local gathering. They were strengthening the

Saints They were encouraging them. They were speaking the truth of God's Word to them Now think about how dangerous it would have been for Paul and Barnabas to go back to these towns where they were heavily persecuted

It would have been very dangerous right Paul almost died But they knew that was far more dangerous not to disciple and nurture new believers to maturity in the faith first Timothy 3 15 talks about the local church and portrays it as a

Family it says that it is the household of God This happens through the regenerating work of the

Holy Spirit We become members of God's family which is manifested in these local congregations this

This family consists of spiritual fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters who care for and shape

One another and so please hear me on this point the danger of D emphasizing the role of local church families in our

Discipleship in our formation. We are communicating this discipleship is pursued through spiritual orphanhood

Spiritual orphans can only look out for themselves because they do not have a family to consider

Often spiritual orphans are interested in growing in the knowledge of God, but not love for one another

Just the opposite is true in the early church in the book of Acts. They functioned as a spiritual family

They were being together having all things in common. They devoted themselves to the

Apostles teaching and to the fellowship In fact something that was beautifully said by our

Lord in one of the gospel accounts Someone said your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you and Jesus answered them who are my mother who are my brothers?

And so looking about those who sat around him He said here are my mother and my brothers for whoever does the will of God is my brother and my mother

I think that is so powerful because God's people live as a spiritual family

We live life together right when a when a church member cries and hurts and goes through pain and suffering

We all feel that right? That's what should happen, right? But when there is rejoicing when somebody has a new baby boy, right?

We all feel the joy of that together So we are a family The local church is a family of sons and daughters who are growing into spiritual adults

That is key for holistic disciples And so back to our four major points number one place is important the people number two are important and number three is

Purpose the purpose of discipleship look with me at verse 22 Paul and Barnabas were strengthening the souls of the disciples

Encouraging them to continue in the faith So if we tie all this together so far the local church is visible and located in a particular place

We are the adopted family of God as his people and now our purpose is to continue in the faith

To be equipped for our mission of becoming more and more like Christ So I know

I'm having you turn in your Bibles a lot this morning But if you would for one last time, please turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4

I want us to look at verses 11 through 16 where we get to see Paul's hope in the local church, right?

And then there we're going to see that Christ has a purpose for the local gathering together of believers

And so we're talking about the purpose of discipleship here Ephesians chapter 4 starting in verse 11

Says and Jesus 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 the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the

Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we would no longer be children

Tossed to and fro by the waves and carried out by every wind 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 is we are to be equipped when each part is working properly Makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love

And so all that can be summarized with Jesus Distributing gifts to the church body to bring us into unity right to unite us in the mission and to build us up in Maturity, so this is crucial for healthy churches

We have been given the means of having pastors gifted by the Spirit to rightly handle the word of truth

This is passed down from the prophets and apostles and verse 12 tells us that these pastors primary task is to equip the

Saints for the good work of Ministry, this is for the building up of the body of Christ until we attain this unity of faith together, right?

This is exactly what Paul and Barnabas did right? They encouraged the disciples to continue in the faith

Paul says in verse 13 of Ephesians 4 until we attain the unity of the faith so dear saint there is not to be this great divide between pastors as the spiritual elite and the rest of the

Congregation as amateurs right there should be no such barrier, right?

We are unified as a body together We have different Unities we come together and love on one another right good teachers will make sure that there's not that gap

Right, we care about one another and so our prayer here at twelve five church is that by God's grace

We would grow us into unity with one another In fact, our name twelve five is a constant reminder of that prayer twelve five comes from Romans 12 verse 5

That says so we though many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

I Believe truly great teachers do not create distance between themselves and the rest of the body

But we are set on Removing that distance to help each other learn and grow in the faith right

Paul says it best here until we obtain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the

Son of God into mature Manhood and so if you're a note -taker, please make note of this biblical knowledge is foundational to Discipleship you cannot live your life to the glory of God if you do not know what how he has commanded us to live

You cannot grow into mature manhood if you do not have sound doctrine and teaching of who

Christ is Knowledge sound doctrine is so crucial.

He goes on to say in verse 14 So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and and carried out by every wind of doctrine by human cunning and craftiness and deceitful schemes

Paul says here that the truth matters and if we do not know it then we are susceptible to false

Teachers who will damage our walk with the Lord and lead us astray Ephesians chapter 6 uses the same terminology to describe the devil that he uses

Deceitful schemes and Paul commands us to put on the whole body armor of God That means that we must renew our hearts and our minds with the truth

This will allow us to stand victorious in Christ even in the midst of spiritual warfare

This will allow us to contend for the faith once delivered against false teachers when we know what

God's truth is in our life And so one of my favorite verses in all Ephesians here comes out in verse 15 rather speaking the truth in love

We are grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ Learning the truth

Through sound doctrine through studying theology is so important, but it must be carried out in love

Churches that only focus on forming the mind will not be successful in shaping holistic disciples knowledge is foundational along with Fellowship that fellowship of the

Saints means living life together, but it's grounded in doctrine This will also model how to practically

Excuse me How to practically live out our faith right as we see an older Saint loving one another

Showing how to forgive how to encourage how to honor how to show hospitality how showing how to bear one another's burdens

There's a difference in understanding the theology and concepts over here. It's something else to see that practically played out

That's the importance of the local church And so many churches will focus

Only on fellowship to the neglect of the second part of the Great Commission where Jesus says to observe all that I've commanded you

Once again, many of these churches are Evangelical they preach the right gospel. They're super kind and loving to one another.

They may have great Hospitality these grand events and create a fun environment I want to say a lot of those things are important for fellowship, but please hear me

Something is missing and that's only what it's about Many of these gospel proclaiming churches have almost no depth of knowledge

They are about an inch deep and a mile wide No doctrinal training for how we must contend for the faith that is once delivered to the

Saints Once again, they may have all the the classes about evangelism explosion teaching the road

The Roman road how to preach the gospel how to get someone to make a profession of faith get in church and be baptized

But that's where it stops a lot of times these these types of churches Usually do not practice

Expositional preaching because that would require depth of study that would require Examining all of the context and dealing with hard truths that the scriptures teach

That kind of preaching would also create the potential of getting people mad and leaving

These churches do not value teaching the whole Council of God to equip you for the good work

This is the extreme of orthopraxy to the exclusion of orthodoxy

Right. Remember orthopraxy is talking about right living how we are to practice and live out the faith

Orthodoxy is talking about the doctrine the deep truths of why we should be doing those things and please hear me

We can talk about these extremes, right? it's an extreme to focus solely on theological knowledge and sound doctrine to the neglect of cultivating opportunities for fellowship

Paul said to the Christians at Corinth be imitators of me as I imitate Christ That is only possible when we are in joint participation with the gathering together of the

Saints right leadership is so Important to to see how they live their lives to model our lives after them as they follow

Christ Hebrews 13 verse 7 says remember your leaders those who spoke to you the

Word of God Consider the outcome of their lives and imitate their faith a lot of these big churches

You see the preacher on stage, but do you know him right? Is he with the congregation is he with the body because that's a holistic disciple is living life together with the

Saints We see this in our main passage too, that's why Paul and Bartimaeus They had went to the churches there and they had appointed elders in each one of them

Which last week brother Keith spoke on another non -negotiable of a healthy church.

He talked about biblical leadership These are to be qualified men that are called out by God to serve the church body

They are under shepherds to oversee and take care of the flock This is a plurality of elders being examples of living lives above reproach to the glory of God And it's not just them, but it's our entire church family

And so a few weeks ago pastor Nathan preached on the essential mark of a healthy church

Possessing gospel culture. I loved it because he talked about that proper balance of orthodoxy and orthopraxy

This happens when a healthy church values both Knowledge and fellowship this will produce holistic disciples and will cultivate spiritual disciplines in your life

The Apostle Paul beautifully sums this up in verse 16 here He says 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 And so one last time turn back with me to Acts chapter 14

And where this is our main pass this is our anchor passage where we're talking about the primary context for deep

Discipleship number one place matters number two the people number three

We just got done talking about the purpose of discipleship and lastly number four is presence

Okay, verse 22 Paul and Barnabas were strengthening the souls of the disciples Encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations

We must enter the kingdom of God the primary context of Discipleship is in the presence of God working in and through his people and as Christians our walk will be met with many

Hardships as we encountered this world Paul of all people knows exactly what this was like right earlier in the context

He was stoned to the point that they thought he was dead He was persecuted mightily right, but when we are being persecuted for following Christ It actually caused us great joy

Jesus actually in his last beatitude promised blessing He said blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and so these tribulations hardships and trials are

Necessary for us to count the cost of entering the kingdom of God by faith

And it's also meant to grow us in the faith against the grain of this fallen world

So please make note of this the kingdom of God is referring to salvation This is the realm in which we are in the relational presence of God Romans 14 17 says for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit So let's tie all this together the local church is is a visible place where the adopted people of God gathered together as a family and we are being equipped for the purpose of becoming more and more like Christ and all this is

Accomplished through the indwelling and the empowering ministry and presence of the Holy Spirit in us

And so Jeremiah, you've told us a lot of things you have, you know This this four points of alliteration which pastor

Nathan should be proud of me But that's not original. I got this from JT English. So hopefully he'll be happy with that But now what we've talked about making holistic disciples.

We have all this information. What do we do now? Well number one, I hope it is clear that if you love

Jesus Christ Then you should desire what he said the second half of the Great Commission To observe all that he has commanded you

This means becoming a part of a local church to tether yourself become a member say hey

I want this koinonia this fellowship to equip me to make me a holistic disciple that is number one a place that will train you in sound doctrine and provide opportunities of fellowships to help cultivate spiritual habits in your life and so number two

Choose someone What do I mean choose someone choose someone that you can pour your life into and disciple and let me be clear

This first starts with your family First Timothy 5 8 we we learn a valuable principle here

If anyone does not provide for his relatives or especially the members of his household He has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Okay now you provide for your family Physically you provide a home clothing food all those things

But if we are in Christ, all things are spiritual right as a man You are called to provide for your house.

You are to raise them up in the things of the Lord This means husbands love your spouses like Christ loves the church live with them in an understanding way and show them wives

Submit to your husband's as unto the Lord. Guess what? We're gonna make mistakes, but God is sovereign

He's gonna grow us together through those mistakes And so together we train up children in the way that they should go

Right. So when I say choose someone that that already assumes that you are focusing on your family, right?

Continuing to carry out the spiritual habits of prayer Studying the word together and leading your family to the local church the local gathering where all this can take place and flourish

Also choose someone to disciple at church This is a beautiful thing that when you go to a local church and you pick out one person

It just has itself has a way of multiplying into more people, right? Sharpening each other in the

Word of God and living that out Choose someone to disciple and choose someone that can disciple you

Titus chapter 2 speaks about how young men and women in the faith are to be poured into by older men and women in the faith

And so discipleship is twofold someone that you can disciple and someone else can pour discipleship into you

That's one of our many aims here at twelve five church. We have what we call soul care groups

These are discipleship groups that are gender specific older men and women in the faith teaching younger people principles of how to study the scripture and so if you're not plugged into a soul care group and you would like to Please reach out to me or pastor

Nathan. We'd love to get you plugged into deep discipleship And so as you're getting equipped by a local church with sound doctrine and fellowship for these spiritual habits

Choose someone outside of the church to go and share the gospel with and you may say

Jeremiah These are all hard things to do. You're asking me to choose a lot of things. Yes. These are hard things

All right That's why we are called to pursue these things in prayer asking for wisdom for the

Spirit to give us discernment this was brought out in the last verse of our major our main passage

Paul and Barnabas went back to disciple the Saints with prayer and Fasting they committed them to the

Lord in whom they had believed prayer is Especially especially prayer is an invaluable spiritual habit in our daily walk with the

Lord But a healthy church is a praying church. That's not just you praying in your personal walk, which is awesome

But it's also praying together with the body And so pastor Nathan will continue to preach on prayer next week as our sermon series comes to an end.

Let's pray Heavenly Father We thank you so much for this time of worship through the preaching of your word

God. I pray that this would just not be mere facts Penetrating our mind but God that it would penetrate our hearts that we would understand that we were called to gather together

God not to just get lost in the sea with a number of people and just casually go about life

But God to tether ourselves in a covenant Membership with other Saints so we can hold one another accountable and that we can flourish in our discipleship all to your glory