Embracing the Cross: Discipleship and God's Invitation
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"We're glad that you're here this morning. It's good to always be in the house of God. I welcome and greet every one of you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. And this month, as we move into March, getting all the way up to Christmas, it's right there. How many of you realize that we're in the third month of the year already? Can you believe that? Can you believe that? Yes, yes, yeah, yeah. Start putting up the Christmas trees because Christmas is right around the, I'm sorry, Christmas is right around the corner. And you know, it's really, it always amazes me. And I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, that's why time seems like it's fleeting, but I don't think it is. I think it has something to do with God's presence and God's willingness to bring everything to a close. I believe that when we look at all that's happening in the world today, who knows? Maybe this is, this is the season when Jesus is going to come. You know, you better don't, better make sure that you don't miss that, right? Amen. So we're in the month of March and as we have said, March is our focus on discipleship and evangelism." [00:25:16] (62 seconds)
"So maybe you could use that. We can March to Church in March and you get, and it's good to see some of you that we have not seen for quite a while. It's great to have you all in church this morning. And, you know, the Bible tells us that we ought to go, therefore, and make disciples. That is the command of the church. The church is not to make church attendants or church members, but it's to make disciples of Jesus Christ. And I think there are three levels of people in the church. You have church attendants, you have church members, and then you have disciples. And I think that's the, the goal is to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple is defined as a follower. And we will be doing some discipleship classes starting this Tuesday night in our life group. And this is a book that we're going to be studying. We have copies for you as well. We have some online copies as well that we can send to you in a PDF form that you can have. And it's called Multiply, and it's by Francis Chan and Mark Buving." [00:26:25] (51 seconds)
"And I think this book is a good book that we can use. It's called Multiply because we want to see multiplication within the church. So some of you have signed up for the Zoom classes that we're going to start on Tuesday night in our regular life group. We're going to have another life group. And then some of you have signed up for doing an in-person class here. And on the 16th of March, that Sunday morning, we're going to start around 8.30 to 8.45. We're going to start in the morning. We ask you to come in a little bit early. And nothing is wrong with that. We can get up a little bit earlier and come to church a little bit earlier. We're going to have that. We're going to have coffee out there for you so you don't have to rush to get breakfast and so on. And we're going to have this discipleship class starting on the 16th. So keep those two dates in mind. Can you put a slide up for me please? It's on the 16th. So this Tuesday night, we're going to start the life group in our Zoom. And on Sunday, 16th of March, about 8.30. We still have to just tweak that time frame whether it's 8.30, 8.45, but it's going to be around that time frame. We're going to start here in person, right? Just keep that in mind. So this Tuesday night, it's going to be in Zoom. And then it's going to be the same class, going to be on the 16th of March. And this is the book that we will be studying. And we have a lot of other resources that we can direct you to as well. But we want everyone to say, I want to be a disciple of Jesus." [00:27:15] (75 seconds)
"You know, that is the goal to become a disciple. Not just to say, I'm a Christian. Christian. Because how many of you know there are many, many Christians who will not go to heaven? How many of you know that? Yes, that's right. Don't think the title Christian gives you your passport. No. Right? And so anyway, that's another story. So we have to keep that in mind. We want to all become disciples of Jesus. The word disciple means a student, an apprentice, somebody follows the leader, follows the master. And Jesus, of course, is the master. And the other side of discipleship is that we make disciples. A disciple makes disciples. So you get a chance, you get a chance afterwards to meet with people if you can, be a friend, family member, share your stories, share what God has done for you. You know, the thing is, I can preach here all day long, but you know, when I tell people, and I can talk about healing, but when I tell people that I had prostate cancer and God healed me, that hits home. How many of you don't understand that? Because that's my story. And if God can do that for me, he can do that for you as well. So, so let's tell our stories, amen?" [00:28:29] (68 seconds)
"Now, let's, I want to ask a, you know, a question here as we go into our service this morning. And, you know, when we, when we think about the idea of following Jesus and following Jesus and being a disciple of Jesus and becoming a believer and coming to church, what's the point of all of this? Why do we do all of this? Why do we, why do we come and gather in this place? And why do I have you as a captive audience on a Sunday morning to hear and to sing these songs? Why do we do all of that? And we know, of course, theologically, the Bible tells us that before the foundation of the earth, God had a plan for redemption. And I think, and I asked questions myself, and I said, you know, if God is all powerful and God is all knowing and God is everywhere, why did we have to go through all of these things? Why, why, why do we have, did he put Adam and Eve in the garden, put the tree out there? Why did they fall from God's grace? And then we have everything that we have today, because how many of you know that everything that we face today in the world, every sickness, every disease, every death, every, every, every disaster, every trial that you go through, every struggle that you go through is because of that." [00:28:49] (71 seconds)
"Why did all that go through? God is all powerful and all knowing. And again, keep in mind that I ask this question because it's important for us to know. There are some people who say, well, God said it. I believe it. That settles it. And that's fine. We can have that perspective. But there are some people outside who don't understand who this God is. And they don't understand your perspective. When Moses went to Pharaoh for the first time, and he said, God says that you should let my people go so that they could go into the wilderness and sacrifice to me. And Moses was all gung-ho, he thought, because God said that when you do that, they're going to let it. And he goes and Pharaoh looks at him and says, who is this God that I should listen to him? I don't even know who this God is. And that's a wall outside. When you say, God said it, I believe it. And that settles it. The man on the outside said, well, who is this God that you're talking about? What are you talking about? So it's important for us to ask question and be able to answer those questions. So if God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and he's everywhere at the same time, why didn't he circumvent what happened in the garden? Now, of course, we can say that, you know, this question went to my mind this week. And I said, what if you plant a garden in the backyard and a snake slithers through your garden? What do you do?" [00:30:49] (80 seconds)
"Most of us would say, I would know what I would do. I would kill the snake right away. We'd kill the snake. Why didn't God kill the snake? If he had killed the snake, all of this would not have happened. No more wars, no more tragedies, no more sickness, death, pain, none of that. Why didn't God kill the snake? He left the snake alone so that it could bite them. And then later on in the gospel, the snake bites Jesus as well. Have you noticed that? Well, there's a greater plan to it, and we need to understand. So we'll get to the reason for that in a little while. I'm going to share that with you for a little bit, but I want to go to our text today because I want to talk about the heart of heaven. And we heard a song just a little while ago saying, lead me to your heart. And most of us believe that when we die, we will go to heaven. How many of you want to go to heaven when you die? We all want to go to heaven when we die. But what if heaven is not necessarily a destination, a place that we go to? We want to, we want, the idea of heaven is really an escape, right? It's an escape. We want to get out from this. We want to go to where the streets are paved with gold. There's no more pain, no more suffering. Yes, the Bible does say that. But is that our eventual goal, to go to a place? Is that what it is? And theologically, yes, it is. But I believe more than anything else, what God wants is for you to be in His presence. Somebody say presence." [00:32:08] (82 seconds)
"And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said to him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down for today I must stay at your house. So he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all complained. That's a people in the crowd now. He has gone to be the guest with a man who's a sinner. Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, look Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore it fourfold." [00:35:08] (31 seconds)
"And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house because he also is the son of Abraham. For the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Amen. So Jesus has come to seek and to save that which was lost. That which was lost in the garden. The loss of innocence. The loss of home. The loss of family. The loss of that intimate relationship with God. That was lost in the family. So when Jesus speaks, Zacchaeus said the son of man has come to seek and to save or to reclaim that which was lost. So when we think about the whole story of redemption, we realize that you and I, we were lost. And God has come. He has sent his son to come to save us and to retrieve us or to bring us back or to redeem us back unto himself." [00:35:46] (49 seconds)
"So today we're beginning a new series on following Jesus. And what does it mean to follow Jesus? Because you want to follow him. How many of you understand that? Amen. You want to follow Jesus. We have to follow him with everything that we have. Now, God has a plan. And like I said a while ago, I said that God has a plan. And we could think that Jesus, God, knowing everything that he knows, could have circumvented a garden. But I think he didn't because he had a plan. And that is plan, to put it very simply, is to create a people who love him." [00:36:28] (34 seconds)
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"So maybe you could use that. We can March to Church in March and you get, and it's good to see some of you that we have not seen for quite a while. It's great to have you all in church this morning. And, you know, the Bible tells us that we ought to go, therefore, and make disciples. That is the command of the church. The church is not to make church attendants or church members, but it's to make disciples of Jesus Christ. And I think there are three levels of people in the church. You have church attendants, you have church members, and then you have disciples. And I think that's the, the goal is to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple is defined as a follower. And we will be doing some discipleship classes starting this Tuesday night in our life group. And this is a book that we're going to be studying. We have copies for you as well. We have some online copies as well that we can send to you in a PDF form that you can have. And it's called Multiply, and it's by Francis Chan and Mark Buving." [00:26:25] (51 seconds)
"And I think this book is a good book that we can use. It's called Multiply because we want to see multiplication within the church. So some of you have signed up for the Zoom classes that we're going to start on Tuesday night in our regular life group. We're going to have another life group. And then some of you have signed up for doing an in-person class here. And on the 16th of March, that Sunday morning, we're going to start around 8.30 to 8.45. We're going to start in the morning. We ask you to come in a little bit early. And nothing is wrong with that. We can get up a little bit earlier and come to church a little bit earlier. We're going to have that. We're going to have coffee out there for you so you don't have to rush to get breakfast and so on. And we're going to have this discipleship class starting on the 16th. So keep those two dates in mind. Can you put a slide up for me please? It's on the 16th. So this Tuesday night, we're going to start the life group in our Zoom. And on Sunday, 16th of March, about 8.30. We still have to just tweak that time frame whether it's 8.30, 8.45, but it's going to be around that time frame. We're going to start here in person, right? Just keep that in mind. So this Tuesday night, it's going to be in Zoom. And then it's going to be the same class, going to be on the 16th of March. And this is the book that we will be studying. And we have a lot of other resources that we can direct you to as well. But we want everyone to say, I want to be a disciple of Jesus." [00:27:15] (75 seconds)
"You know, that is the goal to become a disciple. Not just to say, I'm a Christian. Christian. Because how many of you know there are many, many Christians who will not go to heaven? How many of you know that? Yes, that's right. Don't think the title Christian gives you your passport. No. Right? And so anyway, that's another story. So we have to keep that in mind. We want to all become disciples of Jesus. The word disciple means a student, an apprentice, somebody follows the leader, follows the master. And Jesus, of course, is the master. And the other side of discipleship is that we make disciples. A disciple makes disciples. So you get a chance, you get a chance afterwards to meet with people if you can, be a friend, family member, share your stories, share what God has done for you. You know, the thing is, I can preach here all day long, but you know, when I tell people, and I can talk about healing, but when I tell people that I had prostate cancer and God healed me, that hits home. How many of you don't understand that? Because that's my story. And if God can do that for me, he can do that for you as well. So, so let's tell our stories, amen?" [00:28:29] (68 seconds)
"Now, let's, I want to ask a, you know, a question here as we go into our service this morning. And, you know, when we, when we think about the idea of following Jesus and following Jesus and being a disciple of Jesus and becoming a believer and coming to church, what's the point of all of this? Why do we do all of this? Why do we, why do we come and gather in this place? And why do I have you as a captive audience on a Sunday morning to hear and to sing these songs? Why do we do all of that? And we know, of course, theologically, the Bible tells us that before the foundation of the earth, God had a plan for redemption. And I think, and I asked questions myself, and I said, you know, if God is all powerful and God is all knowing and God is everywhere, why did we have to go through all of these things? Why, why, why do we have, did he put Adam and Eve in the garden, put the tree out there? Why did they fall from God's grace? And then we have everything that we have today, because how many of you know that everything that we face today in the world, every sickness, every disease, every death, every, every, every disaster, every trial that you go through, every struggle that you go through is because of that." [00:28:49] (71 seconds)
"Why did all that go through? God is all powerful and all knowing. And again, keep in mind that I ask this question because it's important for us to know. There are some people who say, well, God said it. I believe it. That settles it. And that's fine. We can have that perspective. But there are some people outside who don't understand who this God is. And they don't understand your perspective. When Moses went to Pharaoh for the first time, and he said, God says that you should let my people go so that they could go into the wilderness and sacrifice to me. And Moses was all gung-ho, he thought, because God said that when you do that, they're going to let it. And he goes and Pharaoh looks at him and says, who is this God that I should listen to him? I don't even know who this God is. And that's a wall outside. When you say, God said it, I believe it. And that settles it. The man on the outside said, well, who is this God that you're talking about? What are you talking about? So it's important for us to ask question and be able to answer those questions. So if God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and he's everywhere at the same time, why didn't he circumvent what happened in the garden? Now, of course, we can say that, you know, this question went to my mind this week. And I said, what if you plant a garden in the backyard and a snake slithers through your garden? What do you do?" [00:30:49] (80 seconds)
"Most of us would say, I would know what I would do. I would kill the snake right away. We'd kill the snake. Why didn't God kill the snake? If he had killed the snake, all of this would not have happened. No more wars, no more tragedies, no more sickness, death, pain, none of that. Why didn't God kill the snake? He left the snake alone so that it could bite them. And then later on in the gospel, the snake bites Jesus as well. Have you noticed that? Well, there's a greater plan to it, and we need to understand. So we'll get to the reason for that in a little while. I'm going to share that with you for a little bit, but I want to go to our text today because I want to talk about the heart of heaven. And we heard a song just a little while ago saying, lead me to your heart. And most of us believe that when we die, we will go to heaven. How many of you want to go to heaven when you die? We all want to go to heaven when we die. But what if heaven is not necessarily a destination, a place that we go to? We want to, we want, the idea of heaven is really an escape, right? It's an escape. We want to get out from this. We want to go to where the streets are paved with gold. There's no more pain, no more suffering. Yes, the Bible does say that. But is that our eventual goal, to go to a place? Is that what it is? And theologically, yes, it is. But I believe more than anything else, what God wants is for you to be in His presence. Somebody say presence." [00:32:08] (82 seconds)
"And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said to him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down for today I must stay at your house. So he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all complained. That's a people in the crowd now. He has gone to be the guest with a man who's a sinner. Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, look Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore it fourfold." [00:35:08] (31 seconds)
"And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house because he also is the son of Abraham. For the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Amen. So Jesus has come to seek and to save that which was lost. That which was lost in the garden. The loss of innocence. The loss of home. The loss of family. The loss of that intimate relationship with God. That was lost in the family. So when Jesus speaks, Zacchaeus said the son of man has come to seek and to save or to reclaim that which was lost. So when we think about the whole story of redemption, we realize that you and I, we were lost. And God has come. He has sent his son to come to save us and to retrieve us or to bring us back or to redeem us back unto himself." [00:35:46] (49 seconds)
"So today we're beginning a new series on following Jesus. And what does it mean to follow Jesus? Because you want to follow him. How many of you understand that? Amen. You want to follow Jesus. We have to follow him with everything that we have. Now, God has a plan. And like I said a while ago, I said that God has a plan. And we could think that Jesus, God, knowing everything that he knows, could have circumvented a garden. But I think he didn't because he had a plan. And that is plan, to put it very simply, is to create a people who love him." [00:36:28] (34 seconds)
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