Faithfull Presence-Engaging culture with truth and love

``And in our lives, as long as we're alive, we're still running. Right? We we don't get to the end of our race until we get to the end of our life. So the important thing to ask, the important question to ask is not have I made it to the end of the race? The important question to ask is what direction am I running in? Am I running in a direction that makes me become more like Christ? Are the choices that I make, the actions I take, the decisions I make, the way that I do things, are those things helping me become more like Christ and take me towards his goal for my life? Or are those things taking me away from that? So when it comes to discipleship, the question we wanna ask is not have I arrived at my destination. It's am I running in the right direction? [00:42:13] (37 seconds)  #RunningInRightDirection

So the very first thing that I always wanna say when I talk about discipleship is we have to remember that discipleship is about direction. It is not about a destination. Right? Discipleship is about the direction God is helping us move in, not about a destination that we arrive at. So what do I mean by that? So when it comes to following Jesus and allowing the holy spirit to help us be shaped into people who live Jesus kinds of lives, that's a process that we never get to the end of. We never fully arrive. It's not like for all of us, like there's this target level of discipleship and maturity, and, you know, we all start over here. But, like, if we can just make it to this level of maturity, spiritual maturity, that we're like, oh, I nailed it. I'm done. Don't have to work anymore. I can just kick my feet up and just relax a coast from here on out. No. That's not how it works. It's not about a particular destination that we're trying to arrive at. [00:40:43] (52 seconds)  #DiscipleshipIsDirection

So for example, a study came out not too long ago. I think about the phones that you have in your pockets and your smart TVs and your laptops, all of that. Is would it surprise you to know that the study said the average American between six and seven hours per day engaging with resources and things online. Right? So that's social media, YouTube, things that are are curated for them by the algorithms that are there that are feeding them the thing. Right? So you watch a Netflix show and it ends and it says, hey, in five seconds, we're gonna start this next show because we're sure you'll love it. Right? You're on Instagram reels and it just keeps coming. It keeps coming. So if you think about that, six or seven hours a day, it's almost fifty hours a week that some algorithm is deciding here's what you need to see, here's what you need to see. [00:48:17] (43 seconds)  #CurateYourFeed

So the word disciple, if you read that in the New Testament, you know, as you look at the story of Jesus and his disciples, it it actually comes from a Greek word that means a learner. Or another way you can maybe translate it that, you think about it as like an apprentice. And discipleship is one of those words that's a little bit hard to define sometimes. It's like kind of a churchy word. What does that mean? But a stab at it. If you've ever wondered a way to define the word discipleship, here it is. So discipleship really is a lifetime apprenticeship to Jesus. Right? It's learning from him. It's becoming like him as the power of God's holy spirit helps transform our characters and our action. [00:39:43] (37 seconds)  #LifetimeApprenticeship

But what I wanna encourage you with is just remembering, like, man, God can do so so much. He can make such a profound change in us if we keep in mind this idea that slow and steady wins the race. Right? The tortoise won because he had the discipline to just keep doing the right things consistently over time. And I think that's a really helpful way for us to think about discipleship. [00:53:37] (22 seconds)  #SlowSteadyFaith

Because this apprenticeship that we have to Jesus, it's never complete. There's always more to learn. So one of the things that we try to do as a church is just encourage you to to think about discipleship, to think about growth this way, and not think of it as like I gotta come do a couple of things. I can check growth off my box. I'm done. You know? But instead to think, okay, how do we continue to encourage you to keep moving forward, to keep leaning into the spirit as he leads you? Because all of us in this race, like, it's all about the direction we're moving in. So that's a really key idea when it comes to discipleship. It is about the direction we're moving, not about getting to a particular destination. [00:42:51] (34 seconds)  #KeepMovingTowardChrist

That's why we consistently encourage people to develop their own rhythm of spiritual practices and relationships and activities that help them stay connected to God's power so that it's his wisdom that is shaping us and helping us grow. In that sense, this is way I always talk about it. The church is exactly like Home Depot or at least how Home Depot used to be before they changed their slogan. So the old slogan for Home Depot, if you remember it, was you can do it, [00:49:41] (24 seconds)  #BuildYourFaithToolkit

Because this apprenticeship that we have to Jesus, it's never complete. There's always more to learn. So one of the things that we try to do as a church is just encourage you to to think about discipleship, to think about growth this way, and not think of it as like I gotta come do a couple of things. I can check growth off my box. I'm done. You know? But instead to think, okay, how do we continue to encourage you to keep moving forward, to keep leaning into the spirit as he leads you? Because all of us in this race, like, it's all about the direction we're moving in. So that's a really key idea when it comes to discipleship. It is about the direction we're moving, not about getting to a particular destination. [00:42:51] (34 seconds)  #OngoingGrowthJourney