Session 8 / Sharing your Faith

Hey, everybody, welcome to the final session, the conclusion of this following Jesus series, and it's going to be called, It's Your Turn. Now, one of the things about our relationship with Jesus, it's not just a consumer. It's not just a, what is Jesus going to do for me? But this relationship with God, this community of faith, faith needs to turn into not just what are you kind of doing for me, but now, how am I contributing? How am I a part of what God is wanting to do here on earth? And we talk about terms like following Jesus or being a disciple of Jesus, and a disciple isn't just somebody who only follows Jesus, a real full disciple, as you read in the scriptures, is somebody who loves, follows Jesus, all this stuff we've been talking about, but then actually understands that it's our bigger opportunity and privilege and responsibility now to say, okay, if God got the gospel to me and has discipled me, now it's my turn to kind of go tag, you're it. It's time for me to go and make disciples. In an earlier chapter, we were talking about sharing your faith, and that's a part of the process of leading people to Jesus, helping them discover and encounter Christ for themselves. But once somebody, either you lead them to Christ and they say yes, or maybe they come to church with you and they give their life to Christ, or maybe it's just somebody that you meet that has made a decision to follow Christ, what happens next? That process after they come into a relationship with Jesus, that process beginning there is called discipleship. Discipleship is simply you showing somebody how to follow Jesus. That's basically what it is. Just like evangelism is you telling your story of how Jesus has impacted your life, discipleship is you showing somebody how to follow Jesus in their own life. It's not really that complicated, but there are some of these practical things that we can walk it out. Here in Romans 10, verse 14, it says this, So we see that God is calling upon you and me to be a voice, to bring the good news to people, but also then to disciple somebody, bring somebody into our world, show them how

to follow Christ, and then the full cycle of discipleship and really a mature believer is somebody that not only shares their faith, but leads somebody to Christ, then shows them how to follow Jesus, and ultimately then releases that new believer to go and do the same. That really is how the gospel has spread since a little over 2,000 years when Jesus first died on the cross, rose from the dead, and commissioned us to go and make disciples. The reason why I'm sitting here today, you're sitting there today, is because literally this is what the believers have done for thousands of years, is they have gone into every part of the world, shared the gospel, and then helped people personally follow Jesus in their own world. That's what the Great Commission talks about, going into all the world and make disciples. Then it says, teaching them to obey everything that God has commanded them, everything that Jesus showed us, we now have the privilege and the opportunity to go and make disciples. Here's why discipleship, I think, is so important, because discipleship, especially in these beginning phases, when somebody just is kind of new to Christ and new to following Jesus, discipleship is so important because it really kind of becomes like a protective layer to help guard a new believer in those beginning phases as their life is maturing and developing, and to protect them from the attack of the enemy. Jesus tells a story where he is sowing seed, or this farmer is throwing out seed on different ground, and depending on the soil, determine the seed being able to grow, take root, and actually produce. These different soils that it would fall on would determine the success of the seed. One of them falls on the ground, and the birds come and eat it before it can take root. Really what I felt like God showed me about discipleship is, discipleship is sort of like this kind of bird-net protective layer that as it... Seed hits the ground and the enemy's gonna wanna come and steal it. The enemy's gonna wanna come and rob the word of God from this new believer's life. And when you're discipling, so when you're with somebody and you're showing them how to follow Christ

and you're available and you're in their corner and you're teaching them and training them and walking through this journey with them, you become this unbelievable protective guardian lair that allows them to mature and grow and allows the seeds of God's word to dig down deep and into their heart and into their life. And that way, as they grow and mature, they won't be a target for the attack of the enemy on their life. Some Watson's might right now be a little bit nervous, like, wait, again, I didn't go to Bible college yet. I'm just maybe newer to my faith or I'm just kind of feel like I'm elementary and some of these things, I don't know if I'm ready to disciple somebody. Maybe that's somebody who's been a Christian for years or a pastor or somebody like that. But I wanna encourage you, you don't have to wait to begin to disciple somebody. Yeah, you don't know all the answers yet. You may not have everything figured out. That's okay. But you're a step ahead of somebody else right now who needs to know how to follow Jesus and you can begin to show them. You can begin to lead them down that track. You can begin to disciple them. And I love the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, verse one, kind of speaks to this reality for every single one of us.

He says this, follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. You know, in your life, how do you begin to make disciples? It's first by the simplicity of saying, hey, follow me. Hey, walk with me. Hey, I'm with you. I got your back. I'm gonna help you in this journey with Christ. Yeah, you may not have all the answers, but you can help somebody. You can show them by example, what you're learning, how you're following Christ, how you're walking this thing out. So when we're making disciples, we begin by saying, hey, follow me. Because discipleship is not just in a classroom only or just in a group setting only. Discipleship is a life that people follow. They see your life. They watch how you do life, how you interact in relationship, how you interact with money, how you interact with highs and lows in life. They watch that. They watch your faith. They watch your life. And then they begin to emulate it. This is what Jesus did when he called the follower,

the disciples to himself. He said, come and follow me. Come and follow. I want you to walk with me. I want you to see what I do. So first of all, when it comes to discipleship, if you know somebody who's new to their faith and you're walking them through it, make sure that you're investing time and then bring them in your world, bring them around you, and just make that personal commitment that, hey, I'm gonna choose to inconvenience myself enough to get in somebody's world and get into somebody's airspace to help show them what does it really mean to know and follow Jesus. So how do we do that? In the end of the book, I give kind of a step-by-step of different things, of meeting outlines and some of that process of making disciples. But first of all, your church, maybe people are getting saved consistently and you've got new believers, and you can just say to your pastors and leaders, hey, put me in, I wanna be a part of it. How can I help disciple people? Or maybe you've got a friend that you led to Christ and you need to know, okay, what do I do? How do I really disciple somebody in my world?

Or maybe there's somebody in your world that you go, hey, I'm gonna take the time, I'm gonna invest. So you start by saying, hey, who am I gonna disciple? Could be one, could be maybe a few at a time where you kind of got a group together, maybe even like a group just like this that you're a part of, you're getting discipleship. And now one of the biggest things that you can do is you can make that decision to say, hey, I've decided who I'm gonna disciple, who I wanna invest into, who I wanna help lead and show how to follow Jesus. And now the next thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna begin to lead them, okay? I'm gonna begin to lead them by inviting them into my world so they can see where I'm at, but then I'm gonna get intentional. And what I wanna encourage you is just like you're gone through this book and you've gone through this video series, maybe you're gonna host one of these following Jesus groups and you're gonna invite them into your world and you're gonna watch it together, discuss it together. Or maybe you're gonna grab the book and have some coffees with them, you're gonna walk through this process together with them. There's different ways that you can do that, but what I would encourage you to do is commit to several weeks in a row,

at least four to seven, where you're walking through each of these essentials, going through the book, watching these videos together, and you'll... what you'll begin to see is that you can, step by step, help see somebody get discipled, walk them through things, and you know what, you may not have all the answers, that's okay, I don't have all the answers, and I've been following God for over two decades, right? We're all in a journey, we're all in a process together, we're all working this thing out, but as you've been taught, and as you've been developed and discipled, now it's your turn, your privilege, your opportunity to begin to take somebody else sort of under your wing, and in that process, you're beginning to show them how to follow Jesus, and teach them, what does it really mean to know and follow Jesus? And you'll begin to see their lives transformed, and one of the greatest ways that I get to grow, you know, any skill that you have, one of the best ways to develop your skill is to teach somebody else that skill as well. And as you teach somebody else the concepts that are in this book, you'll actually find it growing deeper and stronger on the inside of you, and your relationship with God is gonna flourish, it's gonna thrive, it's gonna extend. So, like I said, in the book as well as in the app, you're gonna find great resources

to help you disciple your friends, show your friends how to follow Jesus, and I can't wait to hear the stories of transformation as you've decided, hey, not only am I gonna follow him, but I'm gonna teach people in my world to do the same, you're gonna see your life absolutely flourish. Here's what I wanna just end with, and in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse one, yeah, the apostles of the church, they're leading the church, they're developing, they're extending the gospel, they're expanding things, and they're writing letters, and they're visiting different churches. One of the final things he says, he says, we instructed you on how to live in order to please God, that's that discipleship part of it. And then he says this, as in fact you are living, now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do so more and more. So I think my final encouragement and reminder is that, well, you've gone through this course, you've gone through this book, you're committing to say, hey, put me in, I'm gonna choose to follow Jesus. Don't get discouraged with the journey. He says, listen, we instructed you how to live, you're doing that, you're going for it, now just do it more and more. There's gonna be things that you're battling right now that in a year from now, in six months from now,

in five years from now, you're gonna have overcome, you're gonna win at it because you've applied God's word, you're living for him more and more. And I just wanna just challenge you, keep getting into the word of God, keep getting in on a daily basis, get that reading plan going, keep staying connected to church, keep asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you and fill you up and empower you, pray in the spirit every single day and watch how God slowly transforms your life as you live for him, as you choose to follow him, as you choose to follow Jesus more and more. Man, I'm praying for you, I know your pastors and leaders and your churches surrounding you praying for you, but you just know I'm praying, I'm believing God that as you follow him, he's gonna speak to you, you're gonna see freedom come, you're gonna see breakthrough come in your life, you're gonna fulfill the mandate, you're gonna fulfill the great commission, you're gonna be a part of God's great church, God's great family that's extending and expanding the kingdom of God from corner to corner of this great earth. I love you guys, I'm praying for you, believing for an unbelievable season ahead.

God bless you guys.