Sermon Tone Analysis

The gospels shows us Jesus

His kingship

his rule

his love

his power

his mission

The gospels also show us how to follow Jesus (disciples)

This morning we are going to be look at and we are going to focus on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

At Exodus

Two of the main goals set before us as a church is to be a healthy church, and to be a mature church.

Healthy

Spiritual health,

walk with God,

singles - are you

marriage,

how do we handle conflict and pain,

families -

singles,

financial

leadership

Mature

Growing in our love for Christ

Growing in our love for each other

Growing in our love for the Scriptures

Learn from mistakes

Humble yet bold leaders

Faithful followers

And God has called us to something that when taken seriously and applied biblically to our lives will assure both a health and maturity in our lives and in our church.

And that is discipleship.

I could say, for us to be a healthy and mature church we must be about discipleship - and that would be true

As a church we must take discipleship seriously.

And at five months old we have

established community groups where discipleship happens

We have the woman’s prayer table that happens monthly where woman come together and talk and pray together - this is also a form of discipleship

We have been had one mens night and are working on ramping that up to happen once a month as well.

We are launching Exodus Institutes in August where we will have classes where you will be able to dig deeper into God’s word, and theology, and history, so that we might be formed more into the image of Christ

As a church we want to be about discipleship as it will produce health and maturity.

However, as a church we will only succeed in discipleship as long as each of you take your call to discipleship seriously.

As a church we will never shy away from proclaiming the fact that every Christian, every partner, every man, woman, and child, must be involved in discipleship.

This is not only necessary for individual and corporate health and maturity

Matthew 28:18

But it is also an imperative given to us by Jesus himself - He has commanded us to be involved in discipleship

Jesus in the great commission says,

He declares that he is king, that he has all authority on heaven and earth!

And his first command after this declaration is,

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”

This not a call for programs or events at a church, this is a call to the Church, the people of God, all of us!

This is the call on the life of Exodus Church and this is the call to me as a pastor, and this is the call to you as single woman or man, to you as a mother or father, to you a child or as a wife or husband.

This is command for each of us and all of us.

Therefore, we must follow our king and obey his commands and be involved in making disciples

And for some of you it is you who needs to be made a disciple -

You are young in your faith

You haven’t been taught how to read the bible

You haven’t had anyone keeping you accountable or pointing you back to Jesus and his word

You haven’t been shown how to observe all that Jesus has commanded you

If that is you, come talk to me after service, and lets begin this process!

For others of you, you need to be the ones who are both being taught and teaching others.

For others of you, you need to be the ones who are both being taught and teaching others.

For some of you, you need to take the years of learning and growing you have received and pour it into the many young believers in the church.

My prayer is that the people of Exodus Church will be so committed to Christ, so confident in who he is and what he has called us to that there will not be a single individual, from the youngest baby in the back to the oldest person in the room that is not actively involved in discipleship.

To learn, to be taught the scriptures and the rhythms of grace is so important

To learn, to be taught the scriptures and the rhythms of grace is so important

And I pray that nothing will keep you from pursuing that which Christ has called you

You see we have a great example of what discipleship means in our passage this morning.

For the first time in Marks gospel to be a disciple to be following Christ, learning from Christ, being identified with Christ, pledging allegiance to Christ really means something.

So as we begin I want to lay out three characteristics of a disciple.

Disciples pledge their allegiance to Jesus

Disciples follow Jesus

Disciples proclaim Jesus

Disciples Pledge Their Allegiance to Jesus

Up to this point the disciple’s have been the Jesus’ posse, his sidekicks, they have been the focus of a lot of attention and a lot of praise!

I would imagine that they have even begun to have a bit of confidence in Jesus as he has out done the pharisees in theological debates and battles of wit.

Yet now things are getting real - The religious leaders and authorities are no longer playing this game.

They want Jesus dead.

We saw this in 3:6 last week how the Pharisee’s went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

In our first verse this morning 3:7 we see that,

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At first glans we see that this as not much more than a transitional verse leading us into the next section.

However the fact that Jesus “withdrew” with his disciples to the sea gives us some context

This word for “withdrew” is the same word used when Marry and Joseph had to escape from Herod when Jesus was a baby

Its also the same word used in

Paul was jealous of David’s fame and in a fit of rage and demonic influence tried to kill David by throwing a spear at him, but David fled (or “withdrew”) and escaped that night.

So when Jesus and his disciples withdrew it was not that the service ended n the synagogue and they decided to move on, it wasn’t a casual stroll to the sea.

Rather they fled for their lives because the authorities were planning on killing him.

So now being a disciple means something that it didn't mean before.

To be a disciple was to now be in the crosshairs of the authorities and potentially be put to death with Jesus.

Yet they stayed with him, they pledged their allegiance to him.

The disciples realized now more than ever that to follow Jesus is not a casual pursuit.

It is not like following someone on Facebook or twitter or Instagram.

To follow Jesus is not a casual pursuit.

It is not like following someone on Facebook or twitter or Instagram.

To follow Jesus is to pledge allegiance to him, even when its difficult.

To follow Jesus is to commit yourself to Jesus, even when its not popular, even when it means personal, social, or financial trouble.

To follow Jesus means you follow him no matter the circumstances, no matter the direction, no matter the cost.

To follow Jesus means that we constantly fail at following Jesus, yet, it also mean that when we do fail we repent and embrace the grace of his forgiveness, we get up and continue to follow him.

Jesus talks about what the cost of discipleship is in Luke 9:23-25

1 Sam

Following Jesus is truly a paradox in so many ways

luke 9:23-

To follow Jesus is to die