Community Groups: Becoming Disciple Makers and Multiplying

Devotional

Day 1: Alone with the Twelve

The crowd dispersed, leaving Jesus with twelve confused men. They’d heard the parable of the soils but didn’t grasp its meaning. Pulling Jesus aside, they risked looking foolish to ask, “What does this story have to do with our lives?” He didn’t scold their confusion. Instead, He unpacked truth where trust had been built. [40:59]

Small groups forge spaces where questions become doorways, not dead ends. Jesus prioritized intimate settings because transformation thrives where masks fall. The Twelve could voice doubts here that would’ve paralyzed them before the multitude.

Where do you default to silence for fear of sounding ignorant? Name one spiritual question you’ve buried because “everyone else seems to get it.” What if your courage to ask could unlock understanding for others too?

“When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.”
(Mark 4:10, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to reveal one buried question about His Word, then commit to voice it this week.
Challenge: Text a community group leader or trusted believer today to schedule a coffee chat about your question.

Day 2: Who Calms Your Storm?

Waves swamped the disciples’ boat while Jesus slept. Panicked, they shook Him awake, shouting, “Don’t You care if we drown?” He stood, rebuked the wind, then turned to them: “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Their terror shifted from storm to Savior. [36:54]

Storms reveal where we take our crises. The disciples debated each other before addressing the One holding their breath in His hands. Jesus didn’t condemn their fear but redirected their focus to His authority over every chaos.

When crisis hits, do you first text friends or kneel before the Storm-Stiller? Identify one current struggle you’ve discussed with everyone except Christ. What would change if you brought it directly to Him today?

“He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.”
(Mark 4:39, ESV)

Prayer: Confess one situation where you’ve sought human solutions over Christ’s intervention.
Challenge: Write your storm in a journal, then physically lay hands on the page as you pray for Jesus’ rebuke.

Day 3: A Child on His Lap

The disciples jostled for status, asking Jesus, “Who’s greatest in God’s kingdom?” He called a child—likely grubby-kneed and ignored—to stand among them. “Be like this,” He said, lifting the boy. “The humble lead here.” [44:56]

Jesus used small groups to dismantle worldly values. The disciples’ prideful question became a teachable moment when a child’s presence exposed their hunger for human approval. Kingdom culture grows where we welcome unlikely teachers.

What hierarchies have you imported into your faith—measuring Bible knowledge, service hours, or spiritual accolades? Who might Jesus place before you this week to reset your metrics of greatness?

“He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’”
(Matthew 18:2-3, ESV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for someone “unlikely” who models childlike faith in your life.
Challenge: Serve someone younger in faith this week—buy coffee, share your Bible notes, or ask their perspective.

Day 4: Selling What You Clutch

The rich man kept all the commandments but clung to wealth. “Sell everything,” Jesus said, exposing his idol. As the man walked away grieving, the disciples whispered, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus answered, “With man, impossible. With God, all things.” [49:14]

Wealth wasn’t the issue—the man’s inability to release it was. Jesus’ direct challenge in their small group revealed both the seeker’s heart and the disciples’ flawed assumptions about earning salvation.

What do you clutch tighter than Christ—security, relationships, reputation? Name one thing Jesus might ask you to release to fully follow Him. What first step could you take this week?

“Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”
(Mark 10:21, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to reveal what you value above His “follow me” invitation.
Challenge: Identify one possession, habit, or relationship to fast from for 24 hours to create space for Christ.

Day 5: Called Christians at Antioch

Barnabas sought Saul—the persecutor turned preacher—and brought him to Antioch. For a year, they gathered believers, teaching until observers coined a new term: “Christians.” Not “Barnabas followers” or “Saulites,” but Christ-reflectors. [58:42]

Discipleship multiplies when we invest in others’ growth. As Barnabas poured into Saul, their collaboration birthed a community so saturated with Jesus that their very identity shifted. Small groups become greenhouses for collective Christlikeness.

Who sees Jesus when they observe your life? Name one person you could intentionally walk with this month—not to lecture, but to live out faith alongside.

“So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.”
(Acts 11:26, ESV)

Prayer: Ask God to show you one person to encourage in their faith journey this week.
Challenge: Share a specific answer to prayer or Bible insight with someone via call/text before sunset today.

Sermon Summary

Jesus sets the agenda by calling a church to multiply through disciples who make disciples, not spectators who attend events. The name of Jesus, not celebrity or spectacle, carries power to make people new, so the mission leans into him alone, not churchy habits. A run of “imagine if” stories exposes hollow versions of identity: the doctor who only read books, the baseball fan with season tickets, the chef who never cooks. The image turns and asks whether a self-identified disciple sounds the same when discipleship is reduced to reading, streaming, or showing up, instead of apprenticing life to Jesus.

Mark 4 puts the problem in bright light. After Jesus stills the storm, the disciples ask each other, “Who is this?” Good question, wrong audience. The text exposes a tendency to process spiritual crises with the nearest peer rather than the Lord who commands wind and waves. The same chapter shows the fix. Jesus teaches the crowd, but when “he was alone,” the twelve ask about the parable, and he opens it up. The small circle becomes the place where honest questions land, confusion is welcomed, and truth is personalized without shame. That pattern repeats: in Matthew 18, a pride-tinged question about greatness gets answered with a child on Jesus’ lap; Peter’s math on forgiveness gets blown open by a story of mercy. Even the shock of the rich young ruler drives a small-group debrief, “Who then can be saved?” The culture of the kingdom is learned there, not by osmosis, but by asking, listening, and repenting together.

Community groups become the culture carriers where the “how we do things around here” of the kingdom is actually lived. They create space for the real questions that rarely fit a Sunday time slot: marriage and parenting, work and time, suffering and assurance. They also become on-ramps to service, just as Jesus sent disciples ahead for the colt and the Passover; there is always something to prepare, someone to lift, a gift to exercise. In Antioch, time together with Barnabas turned Saul into Paul and taught many so thoroughly that outsiders named them “Christians.” That is the aim: not lifelong huddles, but multiplying disciple makers who are discipled to disciple others who will disciple others still. The call lands concretely: identify where answers are being sought, name what keeps participation at arm’s length, and take a simple step into a group where the Spirit can speak through trusted people about real life.

Key Takeaways

1. Discipleship demands more than attendance [30:12] Reading, streaming, and showing up are good starts, but apprenticeship to Jesus requires practiced obedience with people who know the real story. Identity without formation plays like a fan who never takes the field. A disciple is shaped by rhythms, correction, and service that cannot be outsourced. Formation happens where truth meets life, not just where content is consumed. [30:12]
2. Ask Jesus-sized questions in community [40:59] The storm story shows a great question asked to the wrong audience. Proximity to peers cannot replace proximity to Jesus, and small circles create room to turn questions Godward together. In that space, confusion is not punished, it is pastored, and revelation lands where it can be obeyed. The right room redirects panic into faith and turns riddles into repentance. [40:59]
3. Groups carry and form kingdom culture [44:56] Questions about status and scorekeeping get re-scripted up close, where Jesus can put a child in the middle and reframe greatness as lowliness and mercy. Culture is not taught by slogans; it is caught in patterns of humility, forgiveness, and mutual harassment that signals real love. Over time, the group normalizes servanthood and stretches imaginations for grace. That shared “how we do things” becomes the church’s heartbeat. [44:56]
4. Community multiplies servants and disciple-makers [01:00:08] Jesus sends disciples to prepare colts and Passover tables because serving grows souls and advances mission. Antioch shows how shared time under the Spirit turns learners into leaders and makes Christ’s likeness visible to the city. The target is not a forever huddle but generational multiplication, where being discipled trains hands to disciple others who will do the same. Multiplication is the proof that formation has taken. [60:08]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[16:26] - Magnifying Jesus above every name
[26:06] - Only Jesus makes people new
[26:59] - Imagine-if portraits of hollow identity
[30:12] - What does disciple really mean
[31:50] - Why community groups matter
[32:23] - Next: relocating and readiness
[35:16] - Gospel received, life lived
[36:27] - Mark 4: storm, fear, and the question
[40:10] - From crowd to small circle with Jesus
[44:00] - Greatness redefined with a child
[45:19] - Peter’s forgiveness question expanded
[48:18] - Rich young ruler and salvation shock
[55:48] - Groups as launchpads for serving
[58:42] - Antioch: time together shapes Christians
[60:08] - The Great Commission and multiplication
[63:15] - Three next-step questions
[64:18] - How to join a group
[65:30] - Why this step is worth it
[66:27] - Prayer for obedient next steps

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Mark 4:35-41 (ESV)
35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Observation Questions

In Mark 4:41, the disciples ask each other, “Who then is this?” What does their reaction reveal about their understanding of Jesus at this point?
The sermon compared a “disciple” to a doctor who only reads books or a chef who never cooks. What do these examples illustrate about the difference between passive and active discipleship? [30:12]
How did Jesus’ teaching style shift when moving from the crowd to a smaller group of disciples in Mark 4:10-11?

Interpretation Questions

Why might the disciples have turned to each other with their question about Jesus’ identity (Mark 4:41) instead of asking Him directly? What does this suggest about human tendencies in spiritual crises?
Jesus redefined greatness by placing a child among His disciples (Matthew 18:1-5). How does this act challenge cultural assumptions about status and success, both in Jesus’ time and today? [44:56]
The sermon described community groups as “culture carriers” of the kingdom. What specific behaviors or values do these groups cultivate that Sunday gatherings alone might not?

Application Questions

Where do you currently turn first with your big spiritual questions (e.g., friends, Google, podcasts)? How could intentionally bringing these questions to a trusted small group or directly to Jesus change your next steps? [38:27]
The sermon asked, “What keeps you from joining a community group?” Identify one practical barrier (time, fear of vulnerability, past experiences) and brainstorm one action to address it this week.
Jesus sent His disciples to prepare practical tasks like securing a colt (Luke 19:30). What simple act of service could you take on in your current relationships or community to grow in obedience?
The goal of discipleship is multiplication, not “lifelong huddles.” Who in your life could you intentionally invest in this month—not just teaching, but modeling apprenticeship to Jesus? [01:00:08]
Reflect on a time when you reduced discipleship to “attendance” (e.g., church events, podcasts). What specific habit could you adopt to shift from consuming content to practicing obedience?

Sermon Clips

I mean, if this guy who followed all the commandments and all this kind of stuff, like if if and and and he's got all this money he could have brought with him. I mean, Jesus wasn't very good at fundraising at all. At all. Right? Who then can be who can be like, if that's what's required, you gotta sell it. Like, who can be saved? This is a really, really good question the disciples had to ask, and it's really good. They had a small group to process that with, of which had the best small group leader ever in Jesus. Right? [00:49:37] (37 seconds)

So many times, we show up to services like this, and we we either never ask these questions or we just find a way to sweep them under the rug because they're just too big or too difficult Yes. To wrestle with. And then we wonder why our anger is out of control, or we wonder why we feel depressed all the time or we wonder why our relationships aren't healthy or or why it seems like you just don't really care about anything. Right? Maybe maybe there's a reason why. Maybe it's because there's just you just don't yet have a place to be able to process these huge questions you have, which are good questions, by the way, and deserve a place to be answered. [00:51:23] (44 seconds)

Because let's be honest, that's one of the main reasons we don't ask our questions. It's not because we don't wanna know. It's not because we don't wanna grow closer to Jesus. It's not because we don't wanna know more about God's word. We're just terrified we're gonna look like an idiot. Wouldn't it be great if there was, like, a just a small group of people that you loved and that you knew they loved you, that even when you sound like an idiot, they're still gonna love you, and they're actually gonna help lead you to the truth. Yes. And, oh, by the way, in that environment, probably 90% of the other people there also had the same question. [00:41:33] (42 seconds)

After that happens, we we read in Mark chapter four verse 31. It says, they, the disciples, they they were terrified and they asked each other, who is this? That even the wind and the waves obey him. Now, here's what I want us to recognize. The question they had was an awesome question. Great, great question. Who in the world is this guy? We've never seen anybody do this before. The the question was great. Who is this guy? The problem was who they were talking to. [00:37:20] (40 seconds)

Ask a question about this sermon

Chatbot

How do community groups cultivate discipleship and multiplication?

What practical barriers keep believers out of groups?

Where should I take deep theological or life questions?