Discipleship Class

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 7:36-50

How to start a discipleship class?

Did Jesus ever not have a discipleship class?

Invitation and Opportunity

~Invitation is someone knocking on your door asking you to open it.

~Opportunity is you facing an open door.

Luke 7:  ~Centurion’s servant healed

~Widow of Nain’s son raised from the dead

~Answers John’s disciples then teaches the crowd

~The home of Simon the Pharisee

If following the will of God is   boring to you, you’re not doing it right!

Are you holding back?

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 7:29-35

The will of God as it is, not always as you wish it would be. Jesus as He is, not always as you wish He would be.

Water baptism and Spirit baptism.

Do you remember your baptism?

Rejecting: no hope

Neglecting: Jesus being Lord of your life is the Great Exchange — He gave His life for you, you give your life to Him.

Holding back, parceling out,   pacing yourself too much...all in

The doubt of John the Baptist.

Not so much what Jesus is doing, but what He’s not doing?

When the answer is NO, when the answer is not what you want to hear. When Jesus does not and will not act as you wish for Him to.

Doubt is accepted here.             

If faith were kept in a large room, the only way into the room is thru a door called doubt.

What is one way your faith is increased/strengthened? Thru testing. How is your faith tested? By working thru doubt. If you’re not having to work thru doubt, then this is not a real test of faith.

Thousands of years later we’re still talking about John the Baptist. No one can be a hero of faith if their faith has not been tested. The  greater the test, the greater the   hero.

Who is the most important person for you to reach?

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 7:18-28

Ministry to people the way Jesus did it and the doubt of John the Baptist.

This is not so much about what Jesus is doing as what He is not doing.

In the beginning of the General Baptist denomination, what made us distinctive? Heb 2:9

Two important parts of the ministry culture/personality of First General Baptist:

1) The posture of ministry

2) The vision of ministry

Who is the most important person for you to reach? ___________

In the story of the Good Samaritan, which character are you?

You Won't Believe What Happened At A Funeral Today!

Message: A widow’s only son meets God’s only Son...or...You won’t believe what happened at a funeral today!

Text: Luke 7:11-17

While on earth, Jesus will raise 3    people back to this life: the widow’s son, Jairus’ daughter, Lazarus.

Vs 11  The only son of a widow, which in that culture probably left her destitute beyond what we are used to.

Vs 13 So Jesus felt sorry for her, not her son. Every time Jesus raised someone back to this life, He did it for the family’s sake, not the person brought back.

Vs 14-15 When Jesus speaks to the person who has died, they hear Him immediately. (Jesus called Lazarus by name so the whole cemetery wouldn’t come to life!)

Vs 16 God truly has visited His   people, and still is.

Vs 17  So the report about Jesus is still being spread

Notes:

The dead are not further from Jesus, but closer. So the dead are not really dead as we tend to think, but are more alive than before!  Lk 20:37-38,

1 Thess 4:13-18, 1 Cor 15

Restored Part 3

Message: Restore my soul

Text: Psalm 23:3

“He makes me whole again; refreshes my soul; renews my strength.”

John Bunyan’s, “Pilgrim’s Progress”

Not a soul that’s lost, but a soul that’s tired.

G. Campbell Morgan, “It is an  unruffled song of rest.”

I’m tired of it:

Some things you may need to quit and give it to Jesus.

Some things you may want to quit but should keep going.  You may need to try a different        approach?

Matthew 11:28-29

Restored Part 2

Message: Restore my joy

Text: Psalm 51:10-12

Restore because it was taken back or stolen or given away.

Westminster Catechism

Q: What is the chief end of man?

A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

Dennis Swanberg, “Choose Joy!”

Phil 4:4

Ps 51 is a psalm of repentance, a change of mind, a change of    attitude. This is not about    changing it or him or her or them...this is about changing you!

Is 26:3

When you concentrate on the problem you are giving away your joy. Concentrate on Jesus!

Restored Part 1

Message: Restore what I have wasted

Text: Joel 2:21-27

Restore because it was taken back or stolen. Ps 24:1

Parable of the talents-taken back Mt 25:14-28

This parable is about the end...but this isn’t the end yet. There’s still time...there’s still    today...right now is another chance.

Parable of the soils-stolen

Lk 8:11-12, Jn 10:10

Mother Teresa,  "God has blessed me with good health.  It was a sign that He wanted me to be of service to Him."

Where does true authority come from?

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 7:1-10

The center of this story is not the one needing healing, but the one interceding to Jesus for help for someone needing healing.

A life that changes other lives

3 opinions of this centurion:

1. 7:4 He is worthy

2. 7:6-7 I am not worthy

3. 7:9 Jesus marveled at him

(Mark 6)

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

7:7-8 The centurion had a clear/true understanding of who he was and who Jesus was.

Authority: under authority therefore having authority (under authority and in authority) Being led, therefore fit to lead.

Position/title is not the same as influence.

Your relationship with Jesus affects all other relationships...and everything else.

Do you truly see yourself?

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 7:1-10

The center of this story is not the one needing healing, but the one interceding to Jesus for help for someone needing healing.

A life that changes other lives

3 opinions of this centurion:

1. 7:4 He is worthy

2. 7:6-7 I am not worthy

3. 7:9 Jesus marveled at him

(Mark 6)

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

7:7-8 The centurion had a clear/true understanding of who he was and who Jesus was.

Authority: under authority therefore having authority (under authority and in authority) Being led, therefore fit to lead.

Position/title is not the same as influence.

Your relationship with Jesus affects all other relationships...and everything else.

Come, See, Do

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 6:46-49

Come: need, want, interest

Hear: deeper interest, will sit and listen, belief bordering on faith (wanting to believe)

Do: obedience, your belief/faith in action

1 — Recognize yourself in a   mirror, James 1:22-25

2 — Study God’s Word, don’t just read it

3 — Holy Spirit guidance. Self determination is not enough

4 — How do you eat an elephant? Stay focused

5 — 3 steps forward, 2 steps back

Going beyond Salvation

A Saving Faith

Fathers truly love your children.

Message: Terah, Abraham, Isaac

Text: Genesis 22:1-18

~Terah, Gen 11:31-12:4

Ur to Haran

~Abraham, Gen 18:17-19

Haran to Canaan

~Isaac, Gen 22:1-18

The test revolves around love

Theodore M. Hesburgh,  "The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother."

Dr. James Dobson,  "Is dad thought of as a hero or a bum in his home?  The answer probably depends on what mom thinks."

There is something wrong with all of us!

Message: The gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 6:41-42

There’s something wrong with all of us; we’re all recovering from something...in varying stages of recovery. We should remind ourselves who we have been, who we are and what Jesus has done for us.

Pointing or taking (going with)?

Changing me to change you

Psalm 51:12-13

Elspeth Huxley,  "When other people commit sins, you are startled, but when you commit them yourself, they seem absolutely natural."

George MacDonald,  "It is strange that the man who most keenly feels that wrong done him should so often be the most insensible to the wrong he does."

When disciples meet with Jesus

Message: When disciples meet with Jesus

Text: Matthew 18:20

~”There” So it’s not the building that determines the meeting place, it’s the people who determine the meeting place.

~Receive. You have some truth but not all the truth; You have some spiritual gifts, but not all the gifts; You are a part of the body, but not the body alone.

~Giving. Someone else needs what you have been given. You have been blessed to be a blessing.

~When you feel the unction of the Holy Spirit to do something for someone else...do it.                 When someone wants to do something for you...receive it.

Getting our eyes back on Jesus.

Message: The Gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 6:37-40
 
You Go First!
~No longer judgmental
~No longer condemning. Satan condemns, the Holy Spirit      convicts.
~Forgiving of others
~Giving. Being a giver instead of a taker.
 
A transformation from the natural to the supernatural. To be like  Jesus is now the goal.

R.G. LeTourneau,  "If you give      because it pays, then it won't pay.  That is trading, not giving, and God does not do business on that basis."
 
A.W. Tozer, "Remember, my giving will be rewarded not by how much I give but by how much I had left."

Jesus' "Golden Rule"

Message: The Gospel according to Luke

Text: Luke 6:27-36

Politically and Culturally Incorrect

~The Golden Rule—the do’s and the don’ts

~How has Jesus treated you?

Romans 5:8

How have you treated others?

Matthew 25

Getting started:

~When a good thought comes to mind, sometimes we need to stop thinking and start doing. We can overthink things.

~Saying the thing we don’t want to say, doing the thing we don’t want to do, for the person we don’t want to. There’s power in that.

All we need is Jesus.

Message: Under His Wings
Text: Matthew 23:37-38
(Luke 13:34)
 
The difference in growing physically and spiritually.
Luke 18:16-17 Childlike Faith
 
Why do we push away the very things that can help us most?
Matthew 11:28 Come unto Me...
 
 
Ravi Zacharias,  "Jesus saved His strongest words for those who thought themselves strong and His gentlest words for those who saw themselves as weak."
 
Thomas Merton,  "It seems to me the most absurd thing in the world to be upset because I am weak and distracted and blind and constantly make mistakes!  What else do I expect!"

What are you willing to give up for Jesus?

Message: The gospel according to Luke
Text: Luke 6:17-26
 
Crowd
Disciples
Apostles (your calling)
 
It’s not that the crowd is left out, it’s that they wouldn’t want to be included anyway.
 
Poor
Hungry
Weeping
Hated
Left out
Talked about behind your back
—for Jesus’ sake
 
At some point for the crowd to become disciples to become  apostles, choices will have to be made.
It’s not Jesus and _____.  In the end, it’s just Jesus...literally!