Basic Training - Equip The saints WK 1.
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Giving:
Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.
Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share,
Announcements:
Bible Study - July 9th
Our purpose as a church, as we understand it - is to Glorify God first and foremost, to equip the saints, and to share the gospel.
Glorifying God is the center of everything we do as a church. It is our primary objective, our main mission. Over the next three weeks we are going to be working through the second part of that objective - equipping the saints. Before we begin, lets pray.
PRAY.
As americans, as we celebrate being today, we have a special understanding of training soldiers, of equipping people. We have been training soldiers for almost 250 years.
Between my junior and senior year in highschool - I joined the Army as a reserve soldier. I never accomplished anything really exciting, it isn’t something that I talk about very often, because there really isn’t all that much to talk about, I had an opportunity to get out early and I did. They had a program that allowed 17 year olds to join, with permission from their parents. The summer between Junior and senior years of highschool I spent most of at Army basic training. I looked through the army website as I was preparing for this, and not much has changed in the last 12 years since I went through that program.
Basic training : Registration, Reception
Culture shock - Hair cut, Uniform, Paperwork, Shots
the next 9 weeks are broken up into three phases - called red white and blue, each phase having a different training focus -
Red phase - focuses on the basics, disciplines and values
White Phase - focuses on basic soldiering skills, marksmanship, situational awareness
Blue phase - Advanced soldiering skills, land navigation, first aid
Over the next few weeks, we are going to take a similar approach to becoming saints - who are equipped for the ministry of the gospel. Today - we are going to take a look at what it even means to be a disciple, to be a saint.
The reality is, there are a great number of people who call themselves christian, and yet refuse to follow Jesus.
Inigo Montoya
We are going to take time this morning and go through what would be the equivalent of Reception in basic training. We have to do the paperwork, get the shots, the uniform, the culture shock. A lot of the scripture that we are going to focus on today will be in the gospels, the first few books of the new testament. We will hear from Jesus exactly what he means to be his follower.
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
We must be born again - We can’t hold on to the world.
It is more than just the sinners prayer. The sinners prayer is not ever mentioned in scripture as an evangelical method.
As evangelists, we took cues from Bible - scriptures that say if you confess with your mouth and believe with your heart you will be saved - and we create emotional experiences around that.
There have been true conversions - many of us in this room, including myself, were brought to Christ with this method. And the hope is that people would follow the pattern that I followed and many of you have followed, and through that experience have become disciples - but how many more of those “decisions for christ” were simply lip service.
We often lie to ourselves - to comfort ourselves, to make ourselves okay with the way that we are living our lives…
The reality is, being a disciple of christ means that we are a new creation. That the old me has fallen away, and that we are now a new person.
We cant be that new person, while laying down in the grave with the old person.
Following Jesus is radical. Think about the apostles and the things that they stepped away from.
Now great crowds were traveling with him. So he turned and said to them,
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
“For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him,
saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
“Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?
If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.
The cost of building materials has skyrocketed over the last year. It has multiplied, over and over. This description of a builder laying foundation - and not being able to finish the project, has been made real for many many contractors in the last few months. The cost, suddenly became to much. Companies have failed.
There is an incredible cost to following Christ the way that he describes. The bible describes a separation between family, the closest earthly relationships we have.. Jesus says we have to hate, in comparison to our love for him.
And he wants you to know that. It isn’t supposed to be a secret.
Following Jesus means you might be alone, aside from the Lord.
Following Jesus might make you broke. Following Jesus might make you tired.
And in all of that Jesus promises to provide. To provide comfort, sustenance, peace and rest. He says if you will forgo all of these things in an earthly way - that he will provide it in ways that you can’t comprehend.
To follow Jesus, we should know the cost is ourselves. We must be born again.
2. We love Jesus, submit to Jesus
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples.
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus had a simple instruction for those who wished to follow him - that they would dwell in his words, and live them out.
This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands.
The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:
The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.
Remember what I said a few minutes ago? That we lie to ourselves?
3. Eventually we will look like Jesus
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
As pastor, my job is to equip you for the ministry of the gospel… These are the first steps. this is just the beginning. The first thing to do, is to make sure that you can count yourself among the saints. That your name is written in the lambs book of life.
For some of us, this is just a reminder of what we have already been through. Reminders are good.
For some of us, this is a call back to a life that we know we should be living. A life of following Jesus.
For some of you, that may be the first time you have heard it presented that way.
Jesus is calling all of us into his arms. Into his flock. Under his care. We have to respond to that with our lives.
We are going to conclude our service today with communion. Worship team would you come.
Communion:
Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you in this matter!
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread,
and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord.
Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.
Pray.
This is a time to examine ourselves. When you are ready, receive communion.
“May the Lord bless you and protect you;
may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’