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A PATHWAY FOR THE NEXT 60 YEARS: DISCIPLESHIP
January 14, 2007 Jay Davis Robison LUKE 6:46-49
We are in midst of series of sermons pathway for next 60 yrs
Dealing with 5 dream teams of our Long Range Planning
Last week talked about loving God. That’s called what?…Worship.
This week an important pathway for next 60 yrs
Bonnano Pisano’s big job . . In 1174 Italian architect Bonnano Pisano
began work on what would become his most famous project:
A separately standing bell tower for the Cathedral of the city of Pisa.
Tower was to be 8-stories & 185-foot-tall tall. One "little" problem:
builders quickly discovered the soil was much softer than they
anticipated, & foundation was far too shallow to hold the structure!
Sure enough, before long tower began to tilt continued to tilt
Finally architect & builders realized nothing could be done to make
Leaning Tower of Pisa straight again. Took 176 yrs to build Tower
many things were done to try and compensate for the "tilt."
Foundation was shored up; upper levels were even built at an angle
to try to make the top of the tower look straight. Nothing worked. Tower has stood for over 800 years, but it leans 18 feet away from
where it should be. 1995-2001 attempts to straighten it disastrous
caused a greater shift despite freezing the ground and injecting lead
One day, experts say, because it wasn’t built on right foundation.
Do you know about anyone’s life not on right foundation?
Now God’s plan has always been, to make you like Jesus Christ.
Plan from very beginning has been to make human beings like self.
Now, don’t get me wrong, let me be clear, He’s not saying you’re
going to be a god. You will never be a god.
Word we use for that is Discipleship =BECOMING LIKE CHRIST
God doesn’t want you to become a god; wants you to become godly.
God wants you to develop his character, way He thinks, way He acts,
the way He feels, His values, His moral character.
God wants to make you like him that’s God’s plan you on this planet
There’s a process to it. Doesn’t happen overnight. Not like one day
all of a sudden – ZAP – you’re just like Jesus.
Process is called “discipleship” & it takes an entire lifetime.
Going to take the rest of your life for God to build character in you,
A little boy constantly fell out of bed. No matter what his parents did,
boy couldn’t sleep without rolling out of bed. When asked why he rolled out boy said “I don’t know, unless its because
I stay too close to the place where I get in.”
Leading assumption in world today is that you can be Christian
without being a disciple settled for marginal commitment
People who will give God only the leftovers $$ time etc.
But their best efforts are going elsewhere
10% of church members cannot be found?
20% of church members never attend church
25% admit that they never pray
35% admit that they do not read their Bibles
40% admit that they never contribute to the church Tithe or offering
70% never assume responsibility within the church
85% never invite anyone to church
95 % have never won anyone to Christ
BUT! 100% expect to go to heaven
(The Choice, Thomas Trask, Zondervan Grand Rapids, MI, 1999)
How does God do that? Make us like Jesus What part do we play in it? Jesus talked about that in Luke 6
Matching your CREED and your DEEDS
George Gallup said, "We find there is very little difference in ethical
behavior between churchgoers & those not active religiously...
Levels of lying cheating\stealing remarkably similar in both groups
8 out of 10 Americans consider themselves Christians, yet only
about 1/2 of them could identify who gave Sermon on Mount, and
fewer still could recall five of the Ten Commandments.
Only 2 in 10 in ten said they would be willing to suffer for their faith.
Why do you call me, Lord Lord and do not do what I say? Vs 46 NIV
Some people are not a very good advertisement for God
They don’t encourage you to be like them
How can we be different?
1. Spend TIME WITH GOD
Allow God to shape our opinions ideas approaches relationships
Read Bible. It takes truth to transform us. To grow up spiritually,
you’ve got to get into this Book. More you do more you’ll grow.
You need to read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it. Think about
it and apply it in your life, because it takes truth to transform us.
It is not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong;
Not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich;
Not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned;
Not what we preach but what we practice that makes us Christians.
CS Lewis Neither the belief in Christ nor any other will automatically
remain alive in our mind. It must be fed. If you examine 100 people
who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them
would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument.
Do not most people simply drift away?" C. S. Lewis on Faith.
Time with God a reminder acknowledging God
Devotional books, but they are like Pizza, can’t live on them
Read some bible study fill in the blank, Bible books through feast,
2. Deepen YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER BELIEVERS
Something else God uses is He uses people.
When we learn from each other, we grow and we develop.
More you get w\other Christians, the more spiritually mature you’re
going to become as you grow because you’re spending time w\them.
Why have small groups.
You’re never going to be a lone ranger Christian.
Who do you lean on? God doing wonderful work amongst our men
Yesterday morning 13 of us were together for breakfast & prayer
Holding your FORM in a STORM
DC Talk song “What if I stumble” lyrics: “The greatest single cause of
atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus
w\their lips then walk out the door & deny him by their life.
Unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
Our lives are LIKE A MIST
This life isn’t going to last long. It’s just a vapor.”
Spray an aerosol can That friends, is spiritual maturity.
It’s realizing we’re living not for here & now, but living for eternity.
Yes, are tough times in everyone’s life God works through those
Remember the reward (2 Cor. 4:17). the Message paraphrase.
“These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good
times and the lavish celebration prepared for us.”
How do we hold our form in the storm? Jesus’ words Vs 47 Msg.
They are foundation words, words to build a life on.
Foundation is substructure, underpinning, what holds you together
There is no question STORMS WILL COME
Bible is so realistic tells us the truth
Thankful that God does not want us to be destroyed in them
Question is will we continue to trust God in the storm
God uses trouble to TEACH US TO TRUST
When things are great in your life doesn’t take any faith, it doesn’t
take character to trust God then. But sometimes God allows things
in our life to stretch us, to cause us to grow, called troubles or trials.
Rick Warren God is far more interested in your life, in what you are,
than in what you do. God is always more interested in your character,
than He is in what you do, your career. Why? you’re not taking
your career to heaven w\you, but you are taking your character.
Now, until you understand this, life isn’t going to make sense.
In troubles, trials, difficulties – and you’re going go, “Why me Lord?
The goal of life is not comfort. This is not heaven. On day to heaven
going to spend millions & billions of years there, going to be great.
Jesus went through troubles & trials in life, night before crucified.
Intensity of turmoil in heart was enormous. Taking on sin of world
“Would He trust God?” Asked disciples to stay w\Him while prayed. Now notice, even Jesus needed friends when went through troubles.
That’s why you need a small group. Jesus had one
The real test of your faith is, how do you hang out with God
when you don’t feel good? When everything is going wrong
and going bad and you don’t have feelings?
Will our eternal faith be more powerful than our feelings of today
God uses trouble to teach us to trust How do we mark that
Keep a SPIRITUAL JOURNAL
Not just a diary this happened then this did etc
But a journal where we list thoughts God shares with us
Ideas that God sends, struggles God helps us deal with
Peter Martin told of keeping a spiritual journal for over 20 years.
He noticed how valuable his journal was been in times of difficulty.
Twice as a result of recession, I’ve been laid off from a job.
One time no work for almost a year strong blow to my self-worth. Journal entries were filled w\anger, confusion & doubt told God
exactly how I felt. In one journal entry committed career to God wrote that I would trust Him no matter what happened.
Also committed to continue tithing even from unemployment checks.
Now, that didn’t make sense, but we trusted and obeyed God
When Peter was laid off again. At first I panicked but then prayed
Then went back & read my journal entries of first layoff
Reviewed the faith lessons that I had learned five years earlier.
Great sense of peace and strength filled me able to handle that layoff.
It’s a tool God uses to help clarify thoughts, reflect on prayers
draw closer to God and remember the lessons He’s taught me.
Having a journal helps you see your progress. How you growing
God uses temptation TO TEACH US TO OBEY
Think it’s important to be real clear about the definition of temptation,
Temptations are situations designed by Satan intended to harm us.
God never tempts us to do evil. The Bible is very clear about that.
God never tempts us, but God is able, to use Satan’s temptations for
good in our lives because temptation always provides a choice. And when I choose for God rather than choosing for Satan,
Satan’s plan is ruined and I start to grow in my life.
And choices are needed to develop character in our lives.
Remember that everyone is tempted in the same ways, all of us.
WT Richardson The mark of a saint is not perfection,
but consecration. A saint is not a man without faults, but a man who
has given himself without reserve to God.
We all are tempted throughout all our lives. Every temptation is an
opportunity to do good, to make the right choice.
It’s a stepping stone toward being more like Jesus Christ
How do I deal with temptation that comes
Keep focused ON GOOD THOUGHTS
Phil. 4:8 “Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right”.
Temptation starts w\getting your attention, when it gets attention,
it gets you. If you focus on the temptation, inevitably you’re going
to go down the road, you’re going to get caught up in temptation.
You cannot keep the thought of succumbing to a temptation
and the thought of obeying God at the same time in your mind.
When you’re tempted, don’t resist it. If you resist you’re thinking
about the temptation! You’re getting in a spiritual tug-of-war wSatan, and he always wins! You don’t resist it, you just drop the
rope walk a different direction think about something different. You refocus on something else. You keep focused on good thoughts.
A lesson from the Wexner Art Center?
Ravi Zacharias “I did a lectureship at Ohio State University.
As was being driven to lecture, we passed new Wexner Art Center.
Driver, "This is a new art building for university. It is a fascinating
building designed in the post-modernist view of reality."
Building has no pattern. Staircases go nowhere. Pillars support
nothing. Architect designed the building to reflect life.
It went nowhere and was mindless and senseless.
Zacharias asked, "Did they do the same thing with the foundation?"
He laughed. You can’t do that with a foundation!
Foundations are that important, are you becoming like Christ?
There is only one relationship that matters, & that is your personal
R-ship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go,
but maintain that at all cost, Oswald Chambers
Let’s bow our heads. Dear Father, life makes so much more sense when we realize that it’s not about our career, it’s not about our comfort, it’s all about character and becoming like Jesus. Help us to use life for the reason You gave it to us.
A PATHWAY FOR THE NEXT 60 YEARS: DISCIPLESHIP
January 14, 2007 Jay Davis Robison LUKE 6:46-49
Bonnano Pisano’s big job
Discipleship =
Matching your and your
Why do you call me, Lord Lord and do not do what I say? Vs 46 NIV
1. Spend
It is not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong;
Not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich;
Not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned;
Not what we preach but what we practice that makes us Christians.
2. Deepen
Who do you lean on?
Holding your in a
Our lives are
They are foundation words, words to build a life on Vs 47 Msg.
There is no question
God uses trouble to
Keep a
God uses temptation
Keep focused
A lesson from the Wexner Art Center?
