Preacher: Josh White
Well everyone knows that Tuesday is right.
You think you do. How lean is Tuesday of course and all the kids are excited about that but how we know it has become something different for me since I moved here to Phoenix you know growing up in Washington State in moving to Michigan on Halloween always meant dark and dreary and leaves on the ground in cold and sometimes snowy and growing up in Spokane you know if you went out trick or treating you had to put on ice snow pants you know because it’s going to be really cold but now that I’m an adult and I don’t do trick or treating and I live down here how we in has now become the official irrefutable guaranteed end of summer right that we can now we can say it’s over you see the forecast this year for this coming week we’re going from the ninety’s right through the eighty’s straight to the seventy’s and I’m not complaining that’s great but actually how we mean we use that phrase to describe October thirty first but I hope all of you realize there’s a more significant meaning to to October thirty first it was actually this is pretty neat this Tuesday October thirty first it’s now five hundred years exactly sense Martin Luther nailed the ninety five species on the door of his church. Martin Luther was in August Indian monk and he was upset with his church not his local church but the church at that time there was essentially one denomination the Catholic Church in Catholic just means universal and he was upset for a few reasons and not only Martin Luther but a lot of people there was kind of this groundswell of.
Anxious and some distrust of what was going on but there are a couple things that were going on that he was very upset and he was upset that the Catholic Church said that the pope was on equal footing with God and they could issue these decrees and they would be on equal footing with God and also the church at that time the Catholic Church that at that time was selling these things called indulgences. An indulgence they believe is something that you could buy and it could buy your way out of Purgatory sooner or completely altogether and so Martin Luther and some other people there say no no wait a second that’s not in the Bible there’s nowhere in the Bible where it says that and so he ninety five different reasons why he was upset and so on this day Tuesday five hundred years ago it officially began or as historians say it officially began the Protestant Reformation it’s five hundred years ago this Tuesday there’s a passage of Scripture that really inspired Martin Luther I’ll read this for you but you can turn there if you’d like it’s found and Romans chapter one.
Chapter one Verse sixteen seventeen and there are these two saying is that really kind of come out of the Reformation that are attributed to Martin Luther although I’m sure he’s not the first person to think these things or to say these things but he’s kind of getting the credit for this but he’s the one who kind of quoting the phrase Sola Scriptura and so Lafayette a meaning only scripture no other source of authority and only faith works cannot get you into heaven and that’s what we can to get from the Protestant Reformation those two thoughts and he gets that from Romans Chapter one Verse sixteen seventeen Romans one sixteen and seventeen says for I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek for it is the righteousness for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written the righteous shall live by faith no works in there at all righteous will live by faith and that’s the power of God for those who believe in so this Tuesday before all of you get into your sugar induced coma or maybe some of you will do that just remember how five hundred years ago God used this man and there were obviously other people but then he’s kind of like. The one that struck the match is the one that kind of gets created and used to me and to get his church back on track the true body of Christ church and so that’s something that we can kind of celebrate this coming Tuesday and if your friends and family members don’t know about that now you can share that with them well we are now two thousand years into this movement called Christianity and there is one thing that has not changed at all in those two thousand years and that is what God desires to see happen in the life of every human being and what God wants to see is someone come to a knowledge of their sinfulness and their need for salvation and forgiveness and the place their faith in His Son and then for them to grow and to become mature that’s what God wants for us and there is a process that we kind of attribute to that that there are a word or a phrase that we use to describe that process and we use the word discipleship to describe that process of a person becoming saved and growing and maturing in their faith you know we’re finishing up our series now on our mission and our values as a church and I’m going to spend a few weeks talking about discipleship because when we say that we want someone to become a follower of Christ get to realize that there is a beginning and then there is a goal to that process and that goal is for us to bear fruit and to do that for God Well fortunately What’s neat is you can Lakshmi read the life of Christ in the Gospels and not only did Jesus come and provide for our sins but he actually is this making a lot of noise he is going to bothering me to a better yeah OK So Jesus is not only providing for our salvation but what he also did this is the neat thing he actually left for us a model to follow and there’s some specific steps that we can take with people to bring them through this process of discipleship So what I’m going to do is I’m back at the pastors conference this last spring there was a guest speakers name was Dan Spader and he’s kind of the guru on disciple making. And he shared with us from his book for a chair disciple now the kind of answers why there’s four chairs up on the stage some of you are probably wondering why are there four chairs up there there’s no one sitting in these chairs and so during the conference he talked about how God has this plan to move us from one chair to the next chair and God desires us to be in the fourth chair and in just a few minutes I’m going to describe what each of these chairs mean and then we’re going to spend the rest of today talking about share number one but before that we every now and then we have some missionaries a kind of give video updates and so we’re going to see one from frosting Kathy Hanson. Kathy Anson are now in Bolivia they were here back in January and so here’s a here’s an update but I’m and I’m showing this in the middle of the sermon instead of before because as I watched this video this last weekend and I’m thinking about my sermon series here and say again this is this is the epitome of a description of someone who is in the fourth chair and you know the force here is get but frosting Kathy Hanson have devoted their lives to training people so that they can go out and be involved in the disciple making process and so it’s only about three and a half minutes so let’s just watch that update and then we’ll kind of get into the rest of the the message here were or.
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And young men and women who are interested in action should accept them for us because one of our goals here this was for Trade Center to train then and women who work in churches as well as missionaries in other countries around the WM When.
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And perforation for them to become what they want to reach your profession of systematic You know if you look at the British scientists in their press the Jews of scripture one of these pastors is teaching the same thing we are teaching.
It is trash the next morning and so you want it there and.
You would like to start doing that for the first three years after my wife so you can use those two.
We have the technology to be able to do that you can hear from them I appreciate them so much they really meant a lot to me and my life you know that building that they talked about. Actually adding on to back in two thousand quite a few years ago a group from my church back in Michigan went there and we helped build that building and so I remember putting the bricks one hundred the great putting all the cement on there so that was a lot of hard work but did you notice how they were talking they were talking about investing in the lives of other people who are investing in the lives of other people and that’s.
All about so here’s here’s these four chairs the four chairs that represent the four stages of development in a believer’s life and they’re based around four different challenges that Jesus said to his followers and so what I’m going to do is I’m going to give you these four challenges that Jesus gave to his followers and then look at this method the first one chair number one. Is when Jesus said this is based on John one thirty nine he said to those in the crowd he said.
Come and see it is kind of an invitation to find out who Jesus is and this is an issue or a challenge given to those who do not yet know Jesus Christ and so there’s a difference between those that are in chair one and chairs two three and four chair one person is someone who has not yet a relationship with Christ and invites them to come take a look at him and say Come and see who I am the next thing he says this is for someone to.
Follow me not just come decide who I am but follow me pattern your life after me and this is to describe someone who is new in the face kind of a new believer the third thing Jesus said and this is.
Jesus said to His disciples follow me and I will make you fishers of men and so that’s the next chair that’s the. Step someone who is not only a follower of Christ but they realize that there is work to do and so they want to become a worker or a servant to help build up the body of Christ and the fourth chair is based on Jesus is statement to his disciples and we’re going to look at this passage in just a minute but in John fifteen sixteen he says to his disciples Now I want you to go and bear much fruit and so the person who is in chair for is someone who is interested in investing in those who are going to invest in others and so this is the method that Jesus used and this is a timeless method and it’s a highly relational method in fact if you look at this Jesus said this to people that he knew very well he wasn’t just walking up to strangers for chair two three and four and talking to them that’s for chair one but this is a highly relational method and this is kind of the discipleship process or method that we could be you should be using and as we go through these four chairs what I want everyone to kind of do over these next through today in these next three weeks is I want everyone here to do or seriously consider which share you are in you know where are you at in this process and consider what it might take to move to the next step or move to the next chair I want you all to go to John Chapter fifteen right now what I wants to do is kind of look at what the fourth chair looks like John fifteen beginning in verse fourteen.
And I have to kind of paint the context here because that’s extremely important and so this is said during the last week of Christ’s life on Earth this is before his crucifixion this is during his last week and he’s saying this to the disciples who have followed him and whom he has trained to be fishers of men he’s saying this to them right before his death resurrection and ultimately his ascension and so this is what he’s saying and this is the challenge for them to move from chair three up to cheer for you says this John fifteen beginning in verse fourteen. He says you are my friends if you do what I command I no longer call you servants because that’s chair three because a servant does not know his master’s business instead I have called you friends for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you. You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit fruit that will last and so this is the last thing one of the last things that Jesus says to his disciples to move them from chairs three to chair four Well let’s start of the beginning though when someone is born they are born sitting in a chair or number one everyone who has ever lived on earth has started off in chair one a chair one represents the person without Christ you’re here today whether you’re in that chair or not hopefully you’ve already moved on but you were born sitting in that chair and here’s the thing that we have to understand everyone who dies still sitting in chair one will spend eternity apart from Christ and that’s something that we have to understand and that’s kind of a passion that we need to develop and so the best way for us to help someone move from chair number one to cheer Number two is by responding to their needs and those needs of the say. Aim for every single human being for all time and so I’m going to give you three things that the person in chair one needs and some of the things that we can do to help them so the first need of a person in chair one is this they need to understand their condition without Christ. For someone to move from chair one to church you don’t have a relationship with Jesus they need to fully understand who they are apart from Christ want you turn your bible straight fusions chapter two.
Chapter Two beginning in verse one.
Fusions Chapter Two beginning in verse one and this is a description of someone who you know according to our example is sitting in chair one to one it says.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body in the mind and were by nature children of RAS like the rest of mankind so this passage is a description of someone who does not yet have Christ I mean think of all they think the things that it says in it like a verse when it says that they are dead a person is in chair one they are dead they have no spiritual sensitivities they are not aware of God It says that they follow the ways of this world they don’t have their own goal they don’t have an eternal perspective they just want to find out what they can get from this life they follow the graving there the cravings of their flesh they follow their own desires and thoughts ultimately this is someone who is in bondage to the flesh in the things of this world and also in verse three it says something this kind of shocking it says they were by nature the interview says object of God’s wrath that’s a description of someone who is in chair one and this is not good but there is a solution you know there’s another couple descriptions of people that are in chair one in Second Corinthians I want you to turn there in this is a good one I think all of this should be aware of what the Bible is saying in this passage second Corinthians four four.
Second Corinthians four verse four.
It says this is a description of a some people that are unsure one the description is that they are blind they are blind Sangar the INS for force as the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the law. Of the Gospel that displays the glory of Christ who is the image of God And so the Bible says that a person in chair one without Christ their blind faith in the god of this world the they are the ruler of this world has blinded their minds so that they cannot see another description of someone and share one is that they are lost in Luke Chapter nineteen verse ten it says For the Son of Man came to seek and save the last and so here are some descriptions talking about a person that’s in chair one in in this book advance Peter wrote about a person and sure one and I can’t say better sorry when I just read his quotation It says the people who sit in chair one are not simply nice people who need a little bit more life they are spiritually dead people who are incapable of knowing God through their own efforts and so the bottom line is until a persons knows where they are they will have no idea of how to get where they’re supposed to be and so that is a description of someone who is in chair one and so that’s their need they have to understand that they need to know that they are a sinner and lost so here’s a second need that’s the first thing the second need and this kind of puts some responsibility on our shoulders a person in chair one needs for us to remember our condition apart from Christ they need someone in their life in the you and me who remembers that we two without Christ are not at all any different than them once you go over to your bible says Titus chapter three.
Titus Chapter Three beginning verse three.
Titus Chapter Three beginning in verse three it says it’s kind of a good reminder for us. For we ourselves were once foolish disobedient led astray slaves to various passions and pleasures passing our days in malice and envy hated. By others and hating one another.
If you are no longer in share one remember you are absolutely no better than anyone in anyone else in this world the only difference is that we have accepted the reality of who we are we’ve taken hold of the grace of God is given to us and thankfully by the grace of God we can put our hope in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the only difference is they haven’t done that you know just in talking about someone who’s in chair one if you’ve been in chair two or three or four wherever you’re out in the process if you have a relationship with Christ over time there seems to kind of be like maybe a separation between us and them we start using those kinds of phrases and so how do you feel about someone who is in a chair one what is what is your I mean honestly I don’t want you to actually say it right now but I want you to consider this how do you really feel about someone and share one there’s some options do you view a person and share one as people who we should avoid. In other words they might be a bad example they might kind of lead you astray so people that we need to avoid or do you see people in chair one as enemies who need to be destroyed and I’m talking specifically of maybe other religions. Like I don’t know how many of you know Muslims I know we’re live in America we live in Phoenix Arizona we don’t rub shoulders with people of different phase but how many of you think of Muslims and think that there are enemies that need to be destroyed. Or do you see them as someone who needs to know the truth there’s a huge difference remember when Ben Anderson was here this past spring we were two are actually the summer we were talking and he said you know in Singapore he comes across Muslims all the time and he was saying you know Joshua they’re just like us they’re concerned about their marriage their concern about their kids what kind of education they’re going to get their concern about retirement they’re concerned about all these things they just have a different perspective on what truth is and they need that truth just like us. The way that we should view a someone who is in chair One is they are a person who still held captive and they need to be found that’s how we should really consider them. Because of as an example along those lines how many of you here have more than one credit card most of you are probably going to raise your hand well we in our household we have three we have our Costco card so you probably have that we have an Amazon card for all of our purchases on Amazon Prime and we have another card but those are imagining your you have four or five or six credit cards or however many it is and you open up your purse your wallet one day and you realize that one’s missing. How do you respond do you say oh no big deal I’ve got a few more I don’t need that one it’s OK if that’s lost or universe find their way absolutely not you’re going to tear the house apart you’re going to pin your kids up against the wall and say did you take my credit card you’re going to go in your car you going to look under the chairs of your your get you have to find a credit card you go to Def-Con five if you lose a credit card right because you don’t want your credit to be you know once people spending your own money you know that’s the kind of passion an urgency we should have for people who don’t yet have Christ that’s the passion and urgency God has for those people want you to go in your Bibles to first Timothy Chapter two.
Verse Timothy Chapter Two beginning in verse one.
We see the love that God has for all people first Timothy Chapter Two beginning in verse one it says. First of all then I urge that supplications prayers intercessions and thanksgiving be for all people for kings and all who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life godly and dignified in every way this is good and it is pleasing in the side of God our Savior who desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth for the. As one God and there is one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all so this is God’s heart he wants all of us to come to our knowledge and so for those of us who have moved on from chair one we need are they need for us to remember what our condition was like without Christ as well so that’s the second Eden the third need is a person in chair one needs us to invite them to come and see they need someone to invite them to come and see who Jesus is go back to that passage in Titus Titus chapter three
I want to go on we stopped in verse three.
But will just keep reading this time Titus three starting in verse three again. It says For we ourselves were once foolish disobedient led astray slaves to various passions and pleasures passing our days in malice and then the hated by others and hated one another but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared he saved us not because of works done by us and righteousness but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration or a new will of the Holy Spirit whom we poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior So that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life people in share one need someone to invite them to come and see who Jesus is and look at the description of Jesus says but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared Jesus is a good and loving God They need to come and see who Jesus is they need someone to say Come and see what mercy is like if you have a relationship with God you know what mercy is Mercy is when you don’t get what you deserve and what we deserve is exactly the same as what they deserve and so they need to see what it’s like to have mercy and what it’s like to have forgiveness it says in this passage that we are justified justified means your debts are wiped clean and God actually gives you the righteousness of Christ.
Come and see what grace is like come and see what hope is like listen if you are not in share one in your own chair two or three or four you have a relationship with God You and I we have hope there is no hope none in share one they need to know what hope is like you know just this year we’ve had a lot of people pass away in our church this year and it’s been hard it’s been hard to see that and you know this last Friday. Something that’s not supposed to happen app and I don’t child died. But Jason in Janine they have hope for the rest of this world without Christ they don’t have a hope but they haue hope they have hope that they can see and spend eternity with their baby boy and if your spouse has died this year you have hope you get that hope in the world needs that hope and they can’t have it if they’re in share one and so they need us to say Come and see the hope that you can have in Jesus in the good news is we can make that invitation and the responsibility is not on our shoulders to make someone accept and believe that’s between them and God and the greatest thing is the Holy Spirit is bald in this process of the Holy Spirit’s job is to drop people to Himself Let me read a couple verses for you John six forty four it says Jesus says no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last days that kind of takes the pressure off us we can make the introductions and then it’s between them and the Holy Spirit also the Holy Spirit’s job is to convict the world of sin in John sixteen eight in following Jesus said and when he comes talking about the Holy Spirit he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment concerning sin because they do not believe in me concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.
You know the thing about Chair One is it’s the most popular chair.
There are more people in chair one than the rest of the chairs it’s the most comfortable chair but there is no life in chair one and people need to see who Jesus is come and see who Jesus is and go to the next chair so what should we do with this you know if you are here today and you have moved on from chair one to chair two. What part of the discipleship process thinking of people in your life that are sitting in still in chair one what’s the most um intimidating part of that process you think you know I know that I have some friends and family members and they need to know Christ and I know I should be talking to them and you’re probably really intimidated and I think the process involves kind of this continuum you know in John it says that Jesus came into the world full of grace and truth and I think all of us based on our personalities in our the way that we’ve been our makeup is we kind of tend to gravitate towards either grace or truth generally speaking and so you might say you know what when it comes to disciple ing the people who do not yet have a relationship with Christ I can love them and I can come alongside them and I can show the mercy and grace I can do that but don’t tell me to share any Bible verses with them because that just terrifies me and you might be the opposite you might say I don’t like the touchy feely stuff you know but I know scripture and I can share with them truth we’re probably also more in that on that continuum wherever you are go with the hot go with your strength understand that GOD will put you in the life of someone who will have that need and you can speak to that need trust God in this process but make yourself available for this process and if you’re here today that’s something that all of us should be doing but if you’re here today and you’re realising. You’re still unsure one.
You don’t have a relationship with God What are you going to do about that you realize that you don’t have hope because you have been trying to do this on your own Well today might be the day when you accept the call that Jesus is giving to you right in this moment to come and see who he is come and see the mercy and the forgiveness and the grace that can be yours and if you’re unsure one and you don’t have hope but you want it you can’t right now so I invite you to pray this prayer but like everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes.
And if you want to become a child of God and how this whole just simply. Pray this prayer to God and He will hear you say dear God I know I’m a sinner.
And I believe you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. Right now I place my faith and his Does Death and Resurrection alone as the source of my hope
if you prayed that prayer for the first time today or if you’ve ever done that you are now a child of God and there is so much more to learn and experience. And will spend the next three weeks looking at just that let’s pray Dear Father I thank you so much for revealing to all of us the truth about our sinful condition apart from you and Lord your desire is so much more than just us accepting your son his death and resurrection as are the means for our salvation you don’t want us to just go from spiritually dead to spiritually alive there’s so much more and so lord over these next three weeks I pray that as we talk about what it looks like to be a child of God and to be a servant of God and someone who might potentially bear great fruit for you I pray that you will really inspire us and encourage us and realize that there is a method and a process that goes along with us maturing in our relationship with you and so Lord I I pray that you’ll bless me as the one who’s I’m sharing these words in these these concepts I pray that you’ll bless our church that we will be very committed to practicing this value for all the people that you bring into our midst Lord we love you and we want to carry on this process that you modeled to us in your perfect Son Jesus Christ and it’s in his name we pray Amen.