LifeFlow: Making Disciples

LifeFlow: Making Disciples
Matthew 28:18-20
Pastor Miles
June 22, 2014

Trinity Church Purpose Statement:
Trinity Church exists to be a community that makes disciples of Jesus Christ who love God, serve others, and represent Christ in their world.

The final result of all ministry is to make disciples.
The primary reason that we exist is to make disciples.

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)

1. We make disciples together, as a community.
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Corinthians 12:21-26 ESV)

2. We describe the kind of disciple that we are trying to make.
- we want to make disciples of Jesus
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:10-13 ESV)

3. We have a process for making disciples.
- unchurched person comes to Trinity
- comes regularly to worship
- comes to faith in Jesus Christ and is baptized
- joins small group or Bible class -- place to grow
- finds a place to serve in the ministry team
- invites someone to Trinity
- disciples someone else

What's your next step?

4. How are we doing in the process of making disciples?

LifeFlow: 4 Relationship Skills

LifeFlow: 4 Relationship Skills
Pastor Miles
June 15, 2014

1. Learn to ask.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7, 8 NIV)

You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. (James 4:2 NIV)

- this Kingdom principle also applies to relationships
- one of the reasons we don't ask is that we don't think we need help
- another reason is fear of rejection
- other reasons: we don't want to admit that we have a need
- instead we drop hints, make demands, threats, bribe, manipulate...
- out of mutual respect for one another, we should ask permission when making a request
- by not asking we may be depriving others of the opportunity to serve, grow, learn...

2. Learn to say no.
"What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' " 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. "Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go. "Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered. Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. (Matthew 21:28-31 NIV)

- we don't have to give a reason to say no. It's our choice.
- we say no to protect ourselves
- learn to say no to the good to be the protector of the best

3. Learn to hear no.
At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." (Luke 4:42, 43 NIV)

- you will show respect for the person and their choice
- ultimately the person is responsible for their choice, not you
- even God respects our "no" (see parable for the father of he prodigal son)
- ultimately, that will enable the person to say yes out of choice

4. Learn to say yes out of choice.
"What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' " 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. "Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go. "Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered. Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. (Matthew 21:28-31 NIV)

- you see the need around you, and you make the choice to give to meet the need

God loves us and asks us to love and obey Him. But we said no. He heard us but waited patiently. Have we made the choice to accept God's love and grace through His son?

LifeFlow: Ambassadors for Christ

LifeFlow: Ambassadors for Christ

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

Pastor Miles

June 8, 2014

What is the most valuable thing that God has entrusted you with?

This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. (1 Corinthians 4:1 NIV)

If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. (1 Corinthians 9:17 NIV)

1. Paul understood his ministry as a stewardship of the Gospel.

So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. (2 Corinthians 5:9-11a NIV)

- we need to be persuading others about the truth of he Gospel.

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:14-17 NIV)

- what matters most is whether they are a new creation or not.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19 NIV)

2. God has entrusted you with the message of reconciliation.
- to share it with others: family, friends, neighbors

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV)

- God Himself is speaking through us

3. God has made you an ambassador for Christ.

God made him [Jesus Christ] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV)