For Further Study
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Growing at Grace
LOVE
LEARN
LIVE
LEADGeneral Definition: One who learns
Cultural Definition: A student of a particular teacherAs he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter), and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. “Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, preparing their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. - Matthew 4:18-22
The Journey of Discipleship
1. An Ordinary Life
2. An Invitation (from Jesus)
3. A Decision to follow
4. A Transfiguration
DISCIPLESHIP IS TRANSFIGURATION
Transformation: Change in form, appearance or characterTransfiguration: An inside out process into something more beautiful or elevated
Then Jesus said to his disciples,“If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. - Matthew 16:24-25
DISCIPLESHIP IS DESIGN
Tekton:
An artist who creates beauty and wonder out of raw materials who crafts useful artifacts out of stone, wood, and metal. - Leonard SweetGo, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:19-20
DISCIPLESHIP IS BEAUTIFUL“There is nothing more beautiful than a truly Christian person.”- E. Stanley Jones
Growing at Grace
LOVE
LEARN
LIVE
LEADThe Journey of Discipleship
1. An Ordinary Life
2. An Invitation (from Jesus)
3. A Decision to follow
4. A Transfiguration
Disciple Response
1. Do you accept His invitation?
2. What do you need to leave behind?
3. What would you like for Him to change in you?
4. What do you want to change in the world? -
Growing at Grace
LOVE
LEARN
LIVE
LEAD
I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. - John 13:34-35
4 Loves in the Bible
1. Eros - Romantic Love (Passion)
2. Storge -Family Love (Empathetic)
3. Philia - Brotherly Love (Deep Bond)
4. Agape - Sacrificial Love (Actionable)
Agape Love - Self-giving love is primarily concerned with the good of someone else. Agape love is much more than a feeling, although feelings are certainly part of it. Agape love is demonstrated through actions.LOVE is from God
Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.- 1 John 4:9-10
LOVE is sacrificial
This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. - 1 John 3:16
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16
But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8
“Love is fighting for the highest possible good of all people.” - Jeremie Kubicek
LOVE is holistic
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. - Matthew 22:37
The Shema
Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. - Deuteronomy 6:4-6
LOVE is the greatest
Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends...When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love — but the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-13
Love Inventory
1. Is anything keeping you from receiving God’s love for you?
2. What’s an appropriate response to Jesus’ sacrifice for you?
3. Where are you holding love back?
4. In what practical love area do you need transfiguration?
Listen to Sermon
Sermon Slides -
Growing at Grace
LOVE
LEARN
LIVE
LEADI give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. - John 13:34-35
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. - Matthew 22:37-39
“Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself. It’s thinking of yourself less.” -C.S. Lewis
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” - Matthew 22:37-40What is the church known for today?
(From: Chat GPT)
1. Spiritual Guidance and Worship
2. Charitable Work and Social Services
3. Educational and Healthcare Institutions
4. Advocacy for Social Justice
5. Moral and Ethical Leadership
6. Interfaith Dialogue
7. Political Influence
8. Controversies and Scandals
9. Cultural and Community Events
What would your Chat GPT say?
2 Greatest Questions:
1. How am I daily growing in my love for the Lord (with my all)
2. How am I daily loving my neighbor as myself?
Love one anotherAnd we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister. -1 John 4:21
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. - Acts 2:42-43
KOINONIA: CommunityNow all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. - Acts 2:44-45
Love your neighbor
Two Book Resources:
The Art of Neighboring
The Tangible Kingdom
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do what is good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to be repaid in full. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. -Luke 6:32-36"Your enemy is anybody who resists you, who contradicts you, who crosses you, who antagonizes you, who makes life hard for you." - John Piper
“Love is fighting for the highest possible good of all people.” - Jeremie Kubicek
Disciple Response:
1. What needs to be demoted from First & Second to obey God’s First & Second?
2. How well are you loving Yourself?
3. How well are you Loving One Another?
4. How well are you Loving Your Neighbors?
5. How well are you Loving Your Enemies? -
“There is no problem in human life that apprenticeship to Jesus cannot solve.” - Dallas Willard
Learn the WordBut as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. - 1 Timothy 3:14-17
PROMISES...“The sword of the Spirit–the Bible–is the weapon God has provided for us to use in this battle between truth and deception. Make it a priority to wield that sword skillfully.” - Billy Graham
Resources:1 Year Bible Plan - Life Journal
www.lifejournal.ccF260 Bible Reading Plan
www.replicateministries.orgBible Plans/Devotionals
YouVersion.comFollow Grace on the Bible App
Learn the Way
PRACTICES...But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works — this person will be blessed in what he does. - James 1:22-25
I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. - Ephesians 3:16-19
“I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you. - John 14:25-26
Learn the WorldI am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. - John 17:15-18
PEOPLE & PLACES...
“One way to deal with change at such scale is keeping up a steady pace of learning. This can reduce anxiety and help one to adapt.” - Giles Crouch
Disciple Response
1. Are you prioritizing learning God’s Word?
2. How can you improve your study?
3. How can you better learn THE WAY and live in THE WAY?
4. What practices need to increase? (and what needs to decrease?)
5. What/Who in the world do you need to learn more about? -
Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. - Colossians 3:12-17
Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits. - 1 Peter 2:11-12
MARKED BY:
OBEDIENCE“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn’t shake it, because it was well-built. But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river crashed against it, and immediately it collapsed. And the destruction of that house was great.” - Luke 6:46-49
MARKED BY:
OBEDIENCE
SPIRITUAL FORMATION
“I practice as if I’m playing in a game. So that when the moment comes in the game, it’s not new to me...I played hard every day in practice, so playing hard in a game was just a habit.” - Michael Jordan“Now growth in grace is something we must plan for by regular engagement in activities that enable us to receive God’s grace in all areas of our spirit (will), thoughts, feelings, body, social relations, and the deepest depths of our soul. Our intention as apprentices of Jesus is to become the kind of person who lives in the character and power of Christ. We must, then, do those things that will enable us to become that kind of person, from the inside out—through appropriate actions and practices.” - Dallas Willard
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” - Romans 12:1-2
Spiritual Disciplines
INWARD
Prayer
Bible Study
Meditation
Memorization
Fasting
OUTWARD
Submission
Solitude
Simplicity
Servitude
CORPORATE
Worship
Communion
Celebration
Community“To be a disciple is to be a follower of the Way, which is the way of salvation through self-denial.” - Lexham Bible Dictionary
SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES (Resources)
Celebration of Disciplineby Richard J. Foster
The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard
Practiicng the Wayby John Mark Comer
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
MARKED BY:
OBEDIENCE
SPIRITUAL FORMATION
ACCOUNTABILITY
And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.- Hebrews 10:24-25
MARKED BY:
OBEDIENCE
SPIRITUAL FORMATION
ACCOUNTABILITY
GRACE
“Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness…” - John 1:16
Disciple Response
1. What’s your next step of obedience?
2. What Spiritual Discipline(s) are you being called to practice?
3. Who holds you accountable?
4. What evidence of grace do you need to give thanks for?
5. How is the Lord leading you to live more faithfully? -
“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” - Matthew 6:19-21
TITHING…
GOSPEL GENEROSITY…“Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” - Matthew 5:17
You’ve heard it said...
Murder - Angry
Adultery - Lust
One Mile - Extra Mile
Neighbor - Enemy
Tithe - Generous
Grace requires MORE not LESS!
“Generosity is a reflection of a generous God.”“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” - John 3:16-17
“What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?” - Romans 8:31-32
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” - 2 Corinthians 8:9
Biblical Generosity is an act of…WORSHIP
“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” - Matthew 6:24
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” - 1 Timothy 6:10
FAITH
“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me! ” “How do we rob you? ” you ask.“By not making the payments of the tenth and the contributions.” - Malachi 3:8-9
OBEDIENCE
> STEWARDSHIP“The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord.” - Psalm 24:1
“The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.” - Genesis 2:15
INTENTIONALITY
“The point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously. Each person should do as he has decided in his heart — not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.” - 2 Corinthians 9:6-8Responding to…
GENEROSITY
“I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” - 2 Samuel 24:24
Website: www.givingwhatwecan.org/how-rich-am-iResponding…
GENEROUSLY
A Disciple’s Response:
1. As you think about Generosity- what time, talents, possessions and/or financial giving do you feel compelled to surrender to God?
2. What gives you the most joy about being generous?
3. What need in the world has captured your heart? How can you be more generous?
4. What is keeping you from being as generous as you want to be? What is He speaking to you about that? -
Abundantly: περισσός - Perissos: beyond measure, vehemently, superfluously, exceedingly above, excessive, remarkable, super-added to
“Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” - John 10:1-18
“Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name? ’ what should I tell them? ” God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” - Exodus 3:13-14
I AM…
The bread of life
The light of the world
The gate (of the sheep)
The Good Shepherd
The Resurrection and the life
The way, the truth, and the life
The true vine
Let’s Talk About…Thieves & Robbers (John 10:1-6)
Let’s Talk About…The Gate (John 10:7-10)
Let’s Talk About…The Good Shepherd (John 10:11-15)
Let’s Talk About…The Other Sheep (John 10:16-18)
A Disciple’s Response:
1. When was the last time you were overwhelmed by God?
2. What’s been stolen from you?
3. What abundance word is speaking to you?
4. What voices are you being influenced by?
5. Are you ready to welcome new sheep?
6. What Shepherd command do you need to respond to?Listen to the Sermon
Sermon Slides
