At Home as it is in Heaven April 19, 2026

Well, good morning, Fellowship. I wanna say good morning to those who are in the chapel and those who are joining us online from around Central Arkansas, around the state, around the country, somewhere around the world. We're glad that you're here with us this morning and just so thankful for the ways that God is working and moving in this place called Fellowship. If we haven't had a chance to meet yet, my name is Brandon Bernard, one of the teaching pastors here at Fellowship. We're one church in multiple locations around Central Arkansas, and God is working in this place. We exist to make disciples who live by God's grace and for his glory at home and across the world. And so as a guest today, whether you're online or here with us in person, we're glad that you're joining in with us. And we pray that God will strengthen and encourage your heart in many ways this morning. If you have your Bibles, you can go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We've got several passages of scripture. So 1 Corinthians 15 is one of them. 2 Timothy chapter two is another one of those. So if you're really talented, maybe get to both of those. But 1 Corinthians 15 is kind of where the first one we're gonna dive into here in just a few moments.

We'll have it on the screen as well. And I do want to just take a brief moment and say as well, I love this church. I love our church. By God's grace, I've been here for almost 19 years, and I love just seeing the way God's moved and worked in so many different ways. And thank you. Thank you. Few people happy. That's good, all right. That's good, good. God give us 19 more. I love our church family. And this past weekend, I mean, we've already talked about it, but under the stars, you know, and just the opportunity to encourage and be with our special needs friends and community. And I just love that. I love it so much. I'm reminded that the scripture says this, right? That each one of us, each one of us, we're knit together in our mother's womb. And the scripture says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And then it says this, and it says that, may my soul know it very well. And I'm just telling you, Friday night, out there on the dance floor with some people,

watching them come down the red carpet, hugging their neck, getting a chance to interact with them and seeing that they are fearfully and wonderfully made. And all night, in my heart, just praying, Lord, let their souls know it very, very well. Just such a beautiful picture. And by the way, I just need to make it real clear that we're loving, we're helping, we're serving. That community and those dear people, they teach me about the love of God. They teach me. It's not just me helping them. It's not just us helping them. They help us see God. They help us see God more clearly. It's a powerful thing. And I'm thankful for this church and I'm thankful for our community and friends and just the people who serve and work so hard to make that happen. I love what God's doing in this place called fellowship. I love the fact that this coming Saturday night, we're gonna have a marriage night, a date night, to encourage our couples, to encourage married couples to grow together, to laugh together, to fellowship together, to be encouraged in their marriages together. And so if you hadn't had a chance to sign up for that, come do that.

This isn't about announcements. This is about living on mission. And I pray that we will continue to do that as a church family. Let me pray for us as we dive into God's word. His word dives into us this morning. So glad that you're here. Father God, thank you so much. And what an amazing creative God you are. That even from the very beginning, you formed us from dust. And then you took a rib and you formed woman from the rib of Adam and you made us. You're a creative God. And your word says that we were knit together in our mother's womb and we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And we pray that our souls know it very, very well today. Lord, there's not a person in this room, not a person listening online, not a person on this planet who doesn't need that truth in their heart and mind today. So I just pray that you would burn it into our hearts and our minds and you would help us to praise you, God, for the wonderful God that you are. We do pray for our special need friends and community. We pray for our kids who are being served right now in our fellowship kids area. We pray that they would learn about you, Jesus,

learn how much you love them. Lord, that you would give them a heart to know you and follow you. We just pray, Lord, that that would happen. We pray for this community, for Central Arkansas and beyond, people that need the gospel. They need the good news of you, Jesus. because we're all sinners in need of a savior. And so I just pray that today, you would stir our hearts and our affections for you, stir our hearts and our affections for your word, stir our hearts and our affections for people who are lost and need to know you. Stir our hearts and our affections for people who are believers, but they've grown kind of distant in their faith and they need to be renewed in that. Lord, would you stir our hearts and our affections for you more deeply this morning by the power of your Holy Spirit, through the power of your word. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, you know, last week we talked about, we kind of kicked this series off. We're talking about at home as it is in heaven, right? That we want to be able to live out the gospel, to make disciples in the places that we live. And when we say at home, we're not even just talking specifically at home. I mean, it is that, it is our family unit. It is a roommate that you live with.

And it is the people who are in our circles of influence because it is really about relationships around us. And so we wanna be the kind of people who are making disciples at home, in the places where God has given us to live and work and play and all the places that God is our circle of influence. We wanna be able to make disciples in that way. And so as a bridge, even from last week, I wanna show you a really cool story of someone who's in our church family. It's the Matthews family. And so I want you to see their story and be encouraged by how God's been working in their heart and life. I think discipling our kids is one of the hardest things I've ever done. Spiritual things aren't going to interest most kids. They want to play and have fun and learn and explore. And that's all good. We want them to do those things. But we also want to make sure that they know that that's not what life is ultimately about. God has given Harper, Max and Jack to us. And it's our responsibility to teach them and to share the truth of the gospel and share what we know and what we've experienced and what we know to be true. I try to have my time with the boys almost daily. We've gone through different books,

but more than that, I think weaving in our own witness when we're talking to them, it's not just reading the page and then we're done. It's applying what we're talking about personally to them and asking them, okay, what does this say about God? What does it say about us? What is so glorious about Jesus Christ? And then how are we showing them that we actually love God? We actually know God and how big and awesome He is. With Harper, I think we are kind of still figuring it out. You know, the way that I might talk to Harper is not the way that I'm gonna talk to Max and Jack about things. She's had a lot of difficult and heavy things go on in her life at such a young age. Her father died when she was four. And just like she wasn't, and so there was not very much discipling going on at all. That's a rhythm she and I are still trying to figure out, especially as she's gotten older. She asks a lot more questions and she wants to talk to me about more important things. I like to read. So my thinking on it is, well, we'll just read a book together. Well, that fell flat on its face. She hates to read. So that was over before it began. With her, it's been mostly long talks in the car on the way back from cross-country meets.

It's quiet. It's just the two of us. And we can talk about what's going on with her and how our faith relates to what she's going through right now. Our kids will do or say something where we think that we failed as parents. We'll come in here in the morning and I'll tell them that we're gonna do a Bible story. They will start fighting and arguing over everything, what book we're gonna read, who's gonna look up the scripture on my phone. One of them will hit the other one. They'll start throwing things at each other. And then I get mad and everybody is mad and in a bad mood. And then it's just like, all right, let's talk about the love of God. Let's open up our Bible and in God's providence, he's helped me see that even in the worst situation, I can get them in front of me and I can say, I want you to look at how you're behaving and it's all over absolutely nothing. And I can point to that and I can say, there is something wrong with your heart and you need the mercy of God. And that is why Jesus died on the cross. That is why he died for sinners. Things like that just give me a glimmer of hope because we don't feel qualified for this job. Harper being a teenager these days means.

that she's confronted with a lot. I want her to know what she believes and know what her faith is so that when she is not living in this house anymore, which is coming up very soon, she's graduating this year, she knows what the Bible says and can apply that to any situation that she's faced with. I'm aware of my weaknesses and my inabilities, but that leads me to rely more on God and intercede for my kids more. We pray and we may not see answers for a long, long time, but God tells us, don't stop. Man, what a great story. I wanna thank the Matthews for sharing part of their world with us. And you know, it's interesting because as we think about making disciples, where truth grows and it overflows kind of out of our lives, I mean, that's where we find ourselves. And I wanna remind you, okay, because we know that we have many people in our church body who find themselves in this season of life. But we also have quite a few other people in our church family that aren't quite in this season of life. So maybe you're an empty nester. Maybe you're in the grandparenting phase. Maybe you're single and you've not ever been married and you don't have kids. Or maybe you're a young adult

and you're kind of just starting out in this phase. Or maybe you're a student, right? And so we know that not everyone's in this exact season of life. But what we know is this, is that we all have an opportunity as believers to make disciples. So whether you're a teacher and you have students, or whether you're that aunt or uncle that gets a chance to spend time with your niece and nephews, I've met several people throughout the years here at Fellowship that have been unbelievable aunts and uncles who have been pouring into their nieces and nephews and showing them the gospel. Grandparents have been doing that. People who've been discipling their roommate or someone that they work with or someone they've met in other contexts. So we want you to understand that making disciples is not just, when we say at home, it's not just mom and dad with kids. It's like people within our circles of influence. And so every believer who's listening to this message today, you were created to be a disciple maker, to make disciples. And understand this, you can see this in your notes, making disciples is two things, really, it's both things. It's relational and it's truthful. Okay, so it's context and it's content.

So when you think about making disciples being relational and truthful, so it's the people who are around us that God brings along our paths, that he wants us to pour out the gospel to, that he wants us to encourage. And by the way, that's why we're emphasizing today, the study, I'll get to that in just a moment. Like we talk about rooms in the house, today's room is on the study. And I'll mention that in just a minute. But relationship is important, but discipleship is not meant to be like a supper club where we just hang out and spend time with each other intentionally. Because sometimes people are like, well, we want to eat together, lap together, play together, those kinds of things. And that's super important. But make no mistake about this, making disciples is not just relational, it's also truthful. Because discipleship isn't truly disciple making without the gospel, okay? Like if you're just trying to teach your kids or you're trying to teach other people around you to have good manners or to live a good life or to be a good person, I hear that sometimes, man, I just want to be a good person. Now that's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about being godly people, we're talking about the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. How the fact that Jesus Christ came and died for our sins, he was buried and he was raised to life on the third day, that the resurrection changes everything for us, it changes the way that we live, the way that we spend our time, the way we spend our money, the way that we treat other people around us, it impacts every part of our lives. And discipleship isn't truly disciple making without the gospel. So if you're just communing with one another and having a good time with one another, but you're not being transformed by the good news of Christ and his word, then that's not discipleship. That's not discipleship. Not in its fullest context. First Corinthians 15, one through five says this, because Paul's reminding us of the gospel. He says, now I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you're being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you unless you believed in vain. I love it, he says in which you stand, the gospel in which you stand, that you're rooted, you're grounded,

it's a firm foundation for you. He goes on to say this, for I delivered you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12, right? He appeared to other people. We know that it's true that God and Jesus, he conquered sin and death, and because he's alive, we can have life in him. This is the good news. And this is what we wanna base our lives on, and as we make disciples, this is the foundational truth we want to be teaching. He goes on to say in 2 Timothy 2, one through two, Paul says, you then, my child, he's talking to Timothy, you then be straight. strengthened by the grace that's in Christ Jesus. And what you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, in trust of faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Now he's saying men because Paul is speaking to Timothy in that context, and he's talking about being a pastor and spreading the word in those moments. But the scriptural truth and the scriptural principle is this, is that for all of us who are believers in Jesus Christ, that we are to be strengthened by grace. That's gonna happen in a lot of ways in this study.

We're gonna be strengthened by God's grace, and then we are called to pass that truth on to others. That the discipleship process is about being formed as a disciple in Christ, having our minds transformed, having our hearts transformed, that we're conformed to Christ, not to this world. And so as God's truth pours into us, then it overflows out of us to other people. That's disciple making. It's not just information coming. We don't just pull our chair up to the buffet of discipleship and eat and eat and eat until we just can't stand it no more. We have to button our belt or whatever, and we're like, oh man, I've just had so much Bible study. It's been so, so good, so, so good. No, it's not meant to just stay with us. It's meant to flow through us to other people that we actually exercise our faith, and we share the gospel with others. So as we look at this room, the study, let me just say this, the study represents the place where disciples grow in truth so they can share the truth. The study is the place where we grow in truth, the truth of the gospel, so that we can share the truth with others. Now, I feel like I need to say this because when I, the house I grew up in, some of you know my story, but my dad was a pastor for many years, and I grew up primarily

in a house called a parsonage, okay? That's a, I don't know if that's just a Baptist term. I grew up in the Baptist world, Baptist church, so thankful for that, and it was, God used that in my life in so many ways, but we had a parsonage, which basically meant the house next to the church. Hey, it was glorious. And so, but in this parsonage that I lived in, I'm thankful that God provided that housing and shelter for me, but we didn't have a study, surprise, surprise, in the parsonage. Like the study, if you said, where was your study? I'd be like, the bookshelf in my room, like, is that my study? So we know that not every house growing up has a study, but the reason we're using this room is because there are plenty of houses that did have that growing up, and it's an analogy for the place where you learn truth, okay? And so when we think about a home that would have a room like that with a library, with some books in there, and it might be messy, and it might be hopefully warm and inviting, and a place where you feel comfortable, and a place where you feel like you can learn and you can grow and be encouraged and be challenged, that's the idea behind this study. And the scripture reminds us in 2 Peter 3.18, grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity, amen. Do you see what it says? Grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus. And by the way, that doesn't mean a one-time thing, that you complete a course that six weeks later, or six months later, or a year later, you say, man, I've graduated, I've grown in grace and knowledge of Jesus. We say it around fellowship all the time, we're gonna keep saying it until the day that we just don't exist anymore until Jesus comes back. We're gonna say it, that you don't graduate from the gospel of Jesus Christ. You don't graduate from His grace, you grow deeper into it. He transforms us more and more by His grace and by the power of the gospel. And so the scripture says, grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And that happens in the study, so to speak, that God stirs our affections for His truth and for His word, and that as disciples of Jesus Christ, we want to be in His word, and we want His word to be in us, transforming us, changing us, shaping the way that we live and shaping how we help others to know Him. 1 Timothy 4, six through eight, this is in the New Living Translation,

but it says this, if you explain these things to the brothers and sisters, Timothy, you'll be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus, one who's nourished by the message of faith and the good teaching you follow. Do not waste your time arguing over godless ideas and old wives' tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. By the way, he didn't say train yourself to be a good person. He says train yourself to be godly. Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. He's saying that you and I need to train ourselves to be godly, that growing in grace and knowledge is not something that you drift into. It's not something that you accidentally come upon or stumble upon, that for us as followers of Jesus Christ, if we're going to share the gospel with others, if we're going to be disciples who are making disciples, then we can't just drift into this. We can't accidentally bump into it. We actually have to be intentional in training for godliness, which, by the way, I don't have time. go into this, but Titus 2 talks about how the grace of God trains us. The grace of God actually trains us to say no to pride and greed and lust and envy and resentment,

and I can keep going down all the sins. The grace of God actually trains us. The grace of God is so amazing and so powerful that it trains us when we're so overwhelmed by His grace, it trains us to say no to worldliness, to no to ungodly desires, and actually to say yes to godly desires and following God's commandments and His ways and His truth. So if you're struggling with sin, which many of you are right now, and all of us do to a certain degree, but if you're struggling with sin in your life, it has a hold on you, has a grip on you, is bringing you down, covering you with guilt and shame, the reality is we need to grow in grace. You need to understand God's grace for you more, because the more you understand God's grace, the more you wanna say no to worldly desires and yes to godly desires. Do you see how that works? It's a beautiful thing. But he says train yourself to be godly. You don't just drift into this truth. And by the way, it's rooted in the gospel. There's lots of information out there today, AI with all the chat GBT and all the grok and all the things out there that you can kinda put in and get all the information out. There's all kinds of podcasts, resources, sermons that you can listen to.

And I just wanna encourage you to be very, very careful. It's one of the reasons that we love our church family. We're not perfect here. You know that. We've never claimed to be perfect leaders. But we're a church that's led by 50 something elders. We have four teaching pastors. We have a wonderful staff here. We wanna help you grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. We want you to come under the authority of the elders here. That's why being a member at fellowship actually means something. Not that you're more favored, not that you're better than anybody else, but that you come alongside as a member and say, man, we wanna submit to the authority of the elders. We wanna come under their leadership. We wanna follow Christ as they follow Christ, even though we're not perfect in that. There's a lot of information out there today, and some of you are listening to things and hearing sermons and following certain people and listening to certain podcasts, and they're only giving you half the truth or part of the truth, and they're not taking you into the true gospel of who Jesus Christ really is. And you need to be careful. You need to be careful in the midst of that.

Because we want to follow Christ and we want to be in his word, his word in us. And you need to see that what you're listening to lines up with scripture. First Timothy four, nine through 11 goes on to say this, again, in the New Living Translation, this is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. This is why we work hard and continue to struggle. Hey, listen, part of the study, I mean, how many times have some of you growing up going, I don't wanna study? You're in high school and you tried the trick of laying the book over your head, hoping it would sink in by osmosis, right? And some of you go, I just don't wanna read, I don't like to read. Well, that's great news for you. We got a bunch of audio, the Bible's on audio. Man, we got so many resources today. The Bible Project, I mean, things that kind of help you visually see some things, hear some things. There's so many resources available from that standpoint that are so good. But the study does take work, and sometimes we don't wanna give that effort. But it says this, this is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God,

who is the Savior of all people, in particular of all people in the world. The Savior of all people, in particular of all believers. And look what he says, teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. I'm gonna come back to that here in just a few moments. Let's keep moving on this, because the study is to know truth and to share truth, right? So here's a few things I wanna encourage you with. First, you need a teachable heart to know the truth of the gospel. Look, we all need to be teachable. When it comes to us as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to be teachable. I would even say that for the non-believers who are here today. If you're not a believer in Jesus Christ and you're joining us today online or in person, thanks for being here. Thank you. We're really glad you're here. And maybe you thought it was an accident that you're here, but it's not an accident. We don't believe that at all. We believe that you're here on purpose. We believe that God's working in your life. Maybe you came with a friend. Maybe you came with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe you came because a parent invited you

or a coworker invited you. Maybe you came because you found us on Google. I'm not really sure how you got here this morning. But if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, we're really, really glad you're here. And we believe that God wants to teach you something. And we pray that you'll have a teachable spirit, that you'll understand that you're a sinner and that you need a savior. You need Jesus Christ and you cannot save yourself. No one can. And as believers here, we don't sit here judging you because we're no better than you. The only difference right now between you and me is that fact that God's grace has come to us in a very real way. And we've put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. And he saved us by his grace. And the same can happen for you this morning as well. But for those of us who are believers, we need a teachable heart. You can't draw water from an empty well. And if we're gonna pass along what we have, we have to have it ourselves. There has to be a love for God's word. There has to be a love for following his commands and his truth. If you go and read the Psalms, read the Psalms over and over again, read Psalm 119, look at King David,

look at David the man who was a sinner by all stretches. He was a sinner, but he loved Jesus and he loved God, he loved the Messiah, he loved the word. And you look at him, he wanted to have God's word in his heart, the joy that came from that. And so we need a teachable heart to know the truth of the gospel. I was speaking to our women's Bible study here on the West Little Rock campus this past Wednesday night it was a wonderful time, they were such a gracious audience, I was so thankful for them. And one of the things I shared with them was a Paul Tripp quote. And here's what Paul Tripp said, he said, no one talks to you more than you do. Sometimes we do it out loud and it feels crazy. No one talks to you more than you do. And by the way, for that reason, that's why it's important for you and I to preach the gospel to ourselves every day. We gotta preach the gospel to ourselves every day. Well, what is that? Well, the good news that Jesus Christ died for me, a sinner, he was raised from death and he conquered the grave so that I could have life in him. That's the most beautiful truth that changes everything. And his word is filled with truths and teachings to follow his commandments. And we've gotta be able to preach the gospel to ourselves every day, that we are somebody in Christ,

that we have our identity in Christ. That's why it's so important. So many people are making poor, sinful decisions because they don't know who they are. Because they don't know who they are. They're trying to still find their identity. But preaching the gospel to yourself every day reminds you of your identity. It reminds you of who you are in Christ. It reminds you of how God loves you. Romans chapter five, God demonstrated his love for us and that while we're sinners, Christ died for us. The gospel reminds us of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus, that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. He's the one who has saved us. He reminds us of God's presence and his promises. Romans chapter eight, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Nothing can separate those who know Christ. Nothing can separate us from his love. Nothing, nothing in this life can separate us from the love of Christ. Preaching the gospel reminds you of his presence and his promises, that Jesus Christ is coming one day and he's gonna make all things new. And for those who trust in him, they will spend all eternity in a place with no pain and no sorrow and no tears.

We'll sit down to eat at the marriage supper of the lamb and we'll feast on the goodness and the grace of God for all eternity. And preaching the gospel to yourself every day reminds you of that future grace, that future grace. It's ours now and it's coming. Psalm 86 11 says, teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. Teach me your way, O Lord. Listen, the study is a place where you come and say, teach me your way, Lord, teach me your way. You humble yourself and you ask God to give you an appetite for his word. Second thing is this, we need a fervent desire to walk in the truth of the gospel. So teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. We need a fervent desire to walk in the truth of the gospel. If we're going to pass on our faith, if we're going to be making disciples who live by God's grace and for his glory, then we have to know the truth, but we also have to live out the truth. You can't just have a bunch of information. Let me tell you something, my worst parenting moments are when I tell my kids to do something that I'm not willing to do. Really, Dad, make your bed? Yours looks kind of unmade. Really, Dad, clean the bathroom?

Your bathroom doesn't look too, hey, you know what, go do what you, so you don't like it when they kind of bring up your own stuff. And if we're going to make disciples, we have to know the truth, but we also have to live it out. We can't just say the gospel. We can't just say that we're some kind of intellectual juggernauts that we can kind of just quote scripture and say the scripture. You know, listen, it doesn't matter if you can quote the scripture if you're not living it. We gotta live out the gospel. And this is a picture of walking in the truth. It means living in the truth, that we're grounded in the gospel. This isn't on the screen, but Ephesians 4, Paul says, man, do not walk any longer as the Gentiles, the pagans, the people who don't know God. Don't walk like they walk. Don't live like they live in the darkness of their hearts and their minds, the ignorance. He says, that's not the way you learned Christ, that you heard about him and you were taught in him as truth is in Jesus. So walk in that truth. Third John 1.4 says, I have no greater joy

than to hear my children are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear my children are walking in the truth. We've got to know the truth, but we also have to live it out. Here's the third thing I want to spend the rest of my time on. We need a courageous commitment to pass on the truth of the gospel. Look, we were not designed to just receive the good news and the grace of Jesus Christ and for it to stop with us. We were designed for God's grace. and love and forgiveness and His truth to come to us and flow through us to other people. We were meant to be a channel of blessing in that way. Again, when I share this with the women on Wednesday night, we talked about the difference between the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. We talked about the difference between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee because the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee, it's like one passes the water on and it's full of life and health and the other collects and doesn't pass on the water and it's full of minerals, but it's dead. I'll let you guess which one it is, okay? The Dead Sea. It has plenty of minerals in it, but it has no outlets. And because it has no outlets, it's dead.

And yet the Sea of Galilee is healthy. It has this water, it has outlets. And you and I were designed to let God's truth come to us and flow through us to others. As we're growing in grace and being matured by Christ, we're passing along what we have. Some of you have been stifled by the fact that you're like, I just can't teach anybody. Some of you have been stifled by, man, I just don't know enough. I don't know enough, I gotta stay in the study. Listen, it's not meant to stay in the study. It's meant to be in the study for a little while and then practice it. It's meant to come back and back and back. It's an ongoing thing. It's not that you kinda fill yourself up almost like a gas tank and be like, hey man, when I finally get to this level, then ding, I can go do this. I can finally now share my faith or help grow people in the gospel. No, no, no. When it comes to making disciples, just a couple of steps ahead is good. Couple steps ahead is good. If you're a believer, then you always can share your faith, right? Introduce somebody to Jesus. That's the design.

And then as they come to know Christ, now let's help them follow Christ. And man, listen, if you wanna lead somebody, you don't have to be way far in advance. You just need to be a few steps ahead. Humbly. But as we're growing in grace and being mature, we wanna pass along what we have. I'm not growing the way I need to if I'm not passing it on, and neither are you. When we're actually obeying Jesus and making disciples that I don't learn what I just keep to myself, I grow so that others can benefit around me. You know, when you're making disciples, you want to help people learn how to love and follow Jesus. Matthew 28, 19 through 20, a very famous verse, the great commission, "'Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.'" This is not a suggestion. This is not for the super ninja, unbelievable Christians. This is for every believer in Christ. He says, "'Go, make disciples, "'baptizing them in the name of the Father, "'the Son, and the Holy Spirit, "'teaching them,' what? "'To observe all I've commanded you. "'And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age.'" It's such a familiar verse, and I pray that your eyes just don't glaze over when you hear it.

It's so powerful, that as you're going in life, that you're making disciples, that you're sharing the truth, that you're helping people learn the commandments of God and obey His Word. But in order for us to do that, we've got to know His Word. So how do we pass this on? Because in that verse I just read you a few moments ago, from Timothy 4, 9 through 11, it was, you know, 1 Timothy in there, it was saying, teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. Like, teach these things. If you're a student, you can teach another student. If you're a young adult, you can teach another student or a young adult. You can even teach someone that's older than you, if they don't know Christ, you can disciple them. If you're an empty nester, if you're in your 70s, in your 80s, you can pass this on. I didn't ask his permission, but man, we have a guy in our body, Ron Carter, man. He disciples young men. And I've literally sat down with a young man he's been pouring into. Discipling them in the scriptures, discipling them in life. Listen, it's not about age, right? At any age, you can make disciples.

You say, well, I'm really, really busy. Hey, if that's your excuse, let me just tell you this as lovingly as I can. Take a number. We're all busy. I'll roll up in here and say you're busy. You're not alone. You don't carry that banner by yourself. I'm not saying it's not true. I'm just not saying, I'm just saying you're not the only one. It's just we gotta maximize our time. And maybe there's some things we have to say no to so that we can say yes to making disciples and what that looks like. So how do we pass it on? Well, let me just show you. We're gonna wrap this up with clarity, with consistency, with conviction, with compassion. I put all four of those up at the same time. They said, do you wanna do it one at a time? I was like, no, take away the mystery. They're all there, right? Take a picture, however you wanna do it. Look, we gotta make disciples with clarity. Don't be confusing. Give people the gospel. Know the gospel, be able to share the gospel. It doesn't mean that you know everything. Clarity does not mean that you have the answer for everything.

I talked with someone this past week who's sharing. in the gospel who's trying to encourage someone who's an atheist, who doesn't believe in God. And he said, you know what, I just, I feel like I don't always know the answers. I'm like, hey man, I'm not really sure I can answer that. I don't know how to answer that. I was like, good for you that you're humble enough to kind of go, not sure I know the answer to that. I'm gonna do some research. We'll keep having the conversation. It's relationship, but it's also content that I wanna give you the gospel of Jesus Christ. Clarity doesn't mean we're perfect or that we know everything, but we pursue clarity. Don't be confusing, which by the way, is why you need to live your life in such a way that it matches up so that you're not saying one thing, doing another thing, and you're really confusing people. You do it with clarity. You do it with consistency. Long obedience in the same direction is a powerful witness. So you want a disciple with consistency, that it's not just up and down, roller coaster, hot and cold, like you wanna be consistent. You wanna be faithful. So if you're with a group for a year, if you're with a group for two years, if you're pouring into people for a season of life, if they're gonna be with you for all your life,

like you want to be consistent. Again, not perfect, but consistent. You wanna do it with conviction. Hey, do you really believe what you're passing on? Look, we've all sat through talks of people who are going, I don't think you believe in the product. I don't believe you believe in what you're selling. You're just kind of like putting something on autopilot and pressing play. Are you convicted by the word of God? Has Jesus really changed your life in such a way that when you're making disciples, people see that conviction in you, that you really believe what you're teaching? Is there that conviction when you're passing it on? Compassion. Look, making disciples is hard. You gotta be patient. You gotta be not judgmental. You've gotta be enduring and loving. It's not saying you don't have hard conversations sometimes when you're making disciples, but listen, you gotta be gentle and patient and loving. You gotta keep going. But you gotta do it with compassion. Gotta do it with compassion. All right, I wanna get real practical here and just show you some recommended resources. I don't do this often, but I just wanna show you a few books

that have encouraged me. I mean, the scriptures are where you need to go always. I love the scriptures. And sometimes people will say, well, some people don't believe the scriptures. And you're right. But guess what? The word of God is forever and it's not going away. And the word of God is more powerful than a two-edged sword. And sometimes when you, let me just say this as loving as I can too, do not underestimate the power of the word of God. They say, well, they're not gonna buy it. Well, guess what? The maker of heaven and earth knows their heart better than they know themselves. And he can move in their heart in a way that's powerful. He can do that. He can open their eyes to the beauty of his word, even when they weren't expecting it. He can show them the truth of his word, even when they're not expecting it, even when they're rallying against it, even when you don't have proof of it. Let me tell you something. I'm not saying we need to be dumb. We can talk about the superiority of the scriptures or the credibility of the scriptures. Like we can talk about that, but understand this, God can open their eyes, okay?

He can do that. So the word's important. But let me show you these recommended resources real quick. We've got The Reason for God by Tim Keller, which is a great book. The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Mere Christianity. I would say that if you are talking with someone who's not a believer in Jesus Christ, I'm not saying you have to give them that book. I'm not saying you have to read that book to them. I'm saying you can use it as a resource to help you know how to have conversations. Either write these down, take a picture of them, okay? But these are great resources if you're talking with people who are non-believers or maybe very, very young in their faith. These are resources that can help you kind of move them down the field a little bit, all right? So these three books are really, really good. I like to encourage those. Here's another, I have a few more resources. Can we go to the next one? Stay Salt by Rebecca Pippard. It kind of falls in that same line. We actually went through that book as dGroups several years ago. It's a great resource about relationships and being able to share the gospel with people. And so I'd encourage you to maybe look at that.

The last two are really important if you are making a disciple of someone who's already a believer in Jesus Christ. If you are meeting with a young man, young woman, if you're meeting with a couple, if you're meeting with a group that live in your apartment complex or whatever, like if you're making disciples of some people, these two are really, I think, very great resources. Following Jesus is actually something that we developed as a team here at Fellowship. Many dGroups have actually gone through this. We do have some of these. So if you're in a relationship right now with somebody, you're like, man, I just wanna teach them the basics about what it looks like to follow Jesus, we do have some copies. We do have some copies. We normally sell them for cost, so like 10 bucks, because that's what it costs us to print these. But we have them available even this morning at the Connection Center. If you're in a relationship with somebody, and you're like, man, I've been looking for a resource, we encourage you to stop by, right? Stop by and pick one of these up. It's gonna tell you about the basics of faith, about being in the Word, about spiritual community, about the Holy Spirit, about God's grace and his glory.

It's a great resource, okay? I encourage you to do that. The other one is this, a book by Paul Tripp called Do You Believe? Now, when you pick it up, you're gonna be like, oh, man, I feel like I'm going to seminary. But I'm just gonna encourage you, don't be scared about how big it is, okay? Just embrace it, okay? Don't be like, oh, I can't do that. Yes, you can. I'm telling you right now, it's one of those. the best books I've ever read, do you believe? And what he does is he takes a doctrine, the doctrine of Scripture, in the very next chapter it says the doctrine of Scripture in everyday life. And if you're discipling someone, especially if they're hungry for the word, if they're really wanting to grow, it's a great tool to take you deeper and to take them deeper. Now again, I wanna make clear, this is the ultimate tool. Are we clear on this? This is the ultimate, and it's powerful. And God can use it, he has used it, and he is using it to change people's life. And the more you love him, and the more you love his word, right, the stronger you'll be. And that happens in the study. It happens in the study.

Taking time to sit down and be with the Lord and letting him share the truth with you of the gospel so that you can share it with others. Walk out of here today knowing it's not meant just for you to become some kind of intellectual spiritual stalwart, because you're really not a true disciple maker if you're not passing on what Christ is teaching you. That's the kind of people we wanna be. And this morning, as we close out, let's pray together. And I do wanna encourage you, if you don't know Christ, at the bottom of your bulletin, there's a tear off tab. And this morning, if you want us to pray for you, if you'd like us to reach out to you, if you don't have the courage, or maybe you don't have the time this morning to stop by our Connection Center, man, just fill this out, fold it like this, and put it in the giving box as you leave today. This can be your gift to us today. Just slip it in there, and one of our pastors will follow up with you, we'd love to be able to do that. For the rest of you who are believers, would you just kind of bow your heads right now as our worship team gets ready to come up? What's it look like for you right now? I mean, is the study, are you studying the word of God? Are you diving into the scriptures? Is the gospel transforming your heart in such a way that you wanna teach others?

Who is the person in your life that you're discipling right now? Who is it? As a believer, who are you discipling right now? And if you say, man, I don't know, I don't really have anybody in my life. Well, let's do this. Let's pray for that person. Let's pray for God to open your eyes and maybe open their eyes. Let's pray for a doorway for you to walk through that you can start making disciples. Let's pray that God will give you the courage, that God will overwhelm you with his grace in such a way that you can't help but share it with somebody. This is not a morning to sit around and feel guilt. This is a morning to repent of that and say, Lord, I'm sorry that I haven't been passing this on. Would you help me? Would you help me do that? Lord, thank you for this morning. Thank you for the truth of your word. Thank you for your gospel that truly does change lives. Jesus, thank you that you died for our sins. You died for my sins on the cross. And that God raised you from the dead. And because you came back to life, there is life in you and there is hope in you. There is a future in you. And so, Lord, we thank you for that.

And I pray that you would have your way in us, that we truly would be a people who are in your word and your word is in us. We love you. It's in your name, Jesus, we pray, amen. Amen.