Discipleship is growing in Jesus, and knowing Jesus, embodying Jesus, and living Jesus out. Today as God's people, we stand at the crossroads. We as God's people stand at the crossroads of our time and culture. Christ followers of all time have stood at the crossroads, and this is our time. This is our time. This is the life that God has given you, and to me. The place in history in which we live, and move, and have our being. What will we do with it? Every day, we stand at the crossroads, and we choose a path. It's a daily kind of thing. Discipleship is all about choosing God's path, and then walking in it.
God has revealed to us the greatest story ever told. It's the story of our existence, the why, the how, the what. It's the story of our calling and purpose, a story revealing our sin and separation from God, the tragedy of it, our need for God's salvation in things like redemption, reconciliation, atonement, justification. All of this, this greatest story has come about to be in Jesus Christ. And now here we are at this time in history called to be salt and light in a world of darkness, to be agents in whom and through whom God's redemptive power is made known and is experienced. This is discipleship, to follow Jesus.
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To meditate. What's the word? What's the Hebrew word? Oh no, no. What's the word? Thank you. Day and night. When you see a phrase like that, in fact, when you see it in the creation story, right, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day, this is how it goes. What it is is it's a Hebrew literary device. It's a merismus, they call it. What that means is it's a totality of time, a complete thing.
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We, as followers of Jesus, when it comes to discipleship, are called to meditate, ha-gah, and I'm going to show you what ha-gah looks like in just a moment. We're going to have a video play, but I want to describe it, the different definitions. To murmur, to murmur over, to ponder, to reflect. In fact, that sounds great, doesn't it? It's like very mellow and very nice. But there's much more voracious definition to it, and I've taught you how to say it, but I want to show you where it comes from. It's the same word that describes, all right, a lion devouring its prey.
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It's passionate, it's savoring, it's like mulling over complete enjoyment and fulfillment. That's the picture of ha-gah. Let's watch it again. Man, people of God, how is your discipleship going? Words of life. Jeremiah actually uses the metaphor of eating Scripture. You know, I've actually seen people, I've told you this, right, one of my mentors in my life, right, he ripped a page out when he was teaching this, and he ate it. He swallowed it. To give the image that it's about devouring God's Word.
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I have times where I'm reading through Scripture, and sometimes I'm like, oh, I'm not really getting anything out of it, but you want to know what happens? It's the regular practice of it where all of a sudden God's Scripture starts to light up or it hits at the right time with the right Word. That's how God's Word works. Or how about reading a passage you've known for your whole life like Psalm 23, and then all of a sudden you read it for the 20th time, and all of a sudden something brand new comes out as the Spirit of God works that word into your heart and your mind, leading you into deeper and deeper discipleship.
[00:45:10]
Blessed is the one who delights and devours, growls over God's word. That one is blessed, the psalmist says. What does it look like? Well, it looks like roots that grow deep into God's truth and grace. It looks like drinking continually from God's word. It's a trunk becoming sturdy and growing stronger with age. It's branches growing and reaching, ever opening up to God's sunshine. It's a growing in maturity where leaves don't wither when challenges come. There's a production of fruit in its time, in season, as it should. It's this idea of a tree actually just simply doing what it was created to do.
[00:45:50]
That's how it is with us, with the life in Christ and the Spirit. Providing shade, not throwing shade, providing shade and shelter, food and beauty, becoming what we were created to be. And let's not forget the producing and planting of seeds that are produced by a tree that is flourishing, thus leading to the planting and the producing and the growth of other trees, other saplings, if you will, as they grow by a stream of water. And we could easily put in the person of Jesus, the Spirit of God, God, our loving Creator, Heavenly Father. Whatever it is, it's water that is living. And our roots grow and get ever stronger and deeper in God's current. This is a picture of discipleship.
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So to delight in the Word of God, like a lion devouring its prey, grows in me deeper roots, a sturdy trunk, branches reaching to God. My leaves are always green. I'll experience prosperity in producing a fruit in season, meaning I will understand and experience blessing? No way. Hey, that went across the internet, I know. Seeds. Needs. Multiplication. Jesus chose 12. And look where we are today. Jesus is choosing you to grow in discipleship. No way.
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Did Jesus, the Son of God, die for my sin and cover all my sins, taking the penalty for my sins, the wrath of God from me, and just punishment for my sin upon Himself in my place? Totally. Totally. And decent. Right? No way. Okay? So my sins are forgiven in Jesus? Decent. God gives me the Holy Spirit to be with me always, filling me and leading me? Decent. So with God's Word ever in me, both written Scripture and the living Holy Spirit in Jesus, I'm a new creature in Christ? No way.
[00:51:28]
When you look down, you start to notice, you know, maybe with binoculars or whatever, because it's like crazy how high it is. You're looking down at ants and things moving on, even the cars on the highway, it's small. But you can see all these canals. It's like a, you know, fingers, right? That branch off the Colorado River. And wherever that water flows, things live. That's a great image of what it means for someone who's following Jesus to always be in the Word, to delight in it, to devour it, to take it in, to live it out, to walk in it, is to be near this stream of life.
[00:52:48]
We have these decisions basically on a daily basis. And when it comes to temptation, it was in one of our songs, right? Lord, right, we even prayed in the Lord's Prayer, Lord, keep me from temptation. Keep me from the evil one. These choices are before us every day because we stand at the crossroads as a witness for Christ in a world of darkness. We have choices every day. How do we know which way to go, which direction to choose? This is tough. We love to take shortcuts, by the way. I do. I am like someone who loves that. Sometimes it's good, it can work out, but most of the time it gets you in trouble. Take the easier path, right? Being in God's Word, yeah, it takes some discipline, it takes some work. But I tell you, God's truth is ever true. The faithfulness of sticking to it, the faithfulness of devouring it, of walking it out, leads to blessing.
[00:53:50]
Leaving the path seems like the plight of many stories, doesn't it? Well, how about the greatest story ever told? You have reign and rule to steward and to caretake of everything I have created. Just do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was it. A wandering from the path, taking a path of forbidden fruit, so to speak. It looks good, but leads to brokenness. Humanity just has a hard time learning this. So do I. And if we're vulnerable and honest with each other, so do you. God gives us a path of blessing with Scripture and Jesus, and we have the path to blessing. Jesus says it clearly, I am the way and the truth and the life. Follow me. God's written word is a lamp that lights our feet, a light to our path, a text that most of us have heard.
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So delighting and devouring God's word in a life of discipleship, of following Jesus, brings about blessing, prosperity, and fruitfulness. And decent. This all sounds too good to be true. It can't be no way. The psalmist is telling us the key to flourishing and being, growing, thriving, stronger trees that produce fruit and seeds that multiply and grow other trees to be planted by streams of living water. Or, this is the way.
[00:59:54]
You mean that meditating on the word of God day and night like a lion devours its prey? I know I'm being repetitive here. Is the way to spiritual growth and health and somehow, someway, I become more spiritually mature and fruitful to God? Totally. Totally.
[01:00:32]
So, if I'm surrendered to God's working, like clay in the potter's hands, if I'm planted like a tree by a stream of living water, and I'm in God's word daily and daily working out, walking in God's ways, I will find blessing, I will flourish, I will grow into maturity, I will produce fruit, I will become what God has created me to be? Totally. Decent? No way. Okay, I know. I overdid it with it today.
[01:00:51]
The most important thing and the most central thing to Crestview right now is discipleship. How can I engage in discipleship? This is what Dionne and I would call, we do this at our house. our house every once in a while we'll have a little whiteboard and we'll put up what's called a rallying cry it's kind of the thing that we're just going to invest some intentional energy in and it reminds us to get back to it right so we don't let it slide this is the rallying cry for Crestview through Easter and certainly beyond it'll help formulate some stuff but why well this is exactly why the church of Jesus Christ exists to make disciples this is the most important thing to get right in our lives this is the plan plan a it's not just going to be an interesting sermon series filled with 80s slang this is the groundwork for what comes next for Crestview and it can happen individually it can happen as corporate formation among us but becoming who God is calling us to be.
[01:01:55]
But the most important thing is just being with someone in a relationship one-on-one where you share your prayer requests, you share your struggles, you grow in the Lord together. If that's something you want, let the owner I know, and we will try to make that happen in whatever way that could be. That's good. Good?
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