Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the NUMA Church Podcast. Wherever you are in the world. We are so glad you've joined us. Our prayer is that this message will reveal more of who our Heavenly Father is as we grow deeper in intimacy with Jesus. Enjoy the message.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: The title of the message this morning is make it or Take It.
Make it or Take It. This title is there to help me focus, to give me focus to the message that. That I feel the Lord has for us today. So make it or take it.
Matthew 4. 18, 21. 22. Let's read in our Bibles. While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers. This is Jesus calling his first disciples. While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. And he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. I'm just going to read that again.
Let's go back to verse 18.
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea. For they were fishermen.
They were fishing. They were men who fish.
Fishermen. They were fishing for themselves, for their families, for their livelihood. This was their profession. But then Jesus says to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. I love how he separated that word. They were fishermen, but now he's going to make them fishers of men. They were just fishing for themselves, men who fish. But now he's saying, actually, you're going to fish for men. For me, for him, fishing for people, for God.
And what did they say? It says immediately they left their nets and followed him. Verse 21.
I need you, Tim. I'm not looking at my Bible. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their net. And he called them. Once again, we hear, immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Make it or take it. Anyone play basketball here? Street ball. Street basketball, half court, if you like a bit of basketball. My sons. We've got two sons, one's nine and one's six. For the last six months, they've been loving basketball We've got a basketball hoop that was sitting in front of our garage for probably nine months. They were not using it. But then something clicked and all of a sudden they were just like, day and night, night and day. Let the hoop get, get in. I don't know what are they saying, but day and night they are literally playing basketball. Candice. Like guys, you can't start bouncing the ball before 8 o'clock in the morning because you're going to wake up the neighbor. Literally our neighbor's window is right next to where they're bouncing and bang, bang, bang. Anyway, one of the things my sons and I, as we're playing, we say all the time is, hey, you make it, you take it, you make it, you take it. So what that means is when you're playing basketball, when you start like a one on one game, first of all you have to shoot for who's going to start. So you shoot for game. Whoever gets the ball in first, they start. So you check the ball to them, you pass the ball to them, you check. So then you start playing. And then whoever gets the ball in first, the first basket, they've made it. So it's called you make it, you take. So if you make it then you, you're going to get the ball again, you're going to check the ball back to them.
So it's like winners ball all the time. So whoever gets the ball in is the one that's going to get to start again. That feels a little bit unfair to me, but you're probably like, no, that's not fair, you're working hard for it. But the other way you can play is that you make it, you give it. So if you get the ball in, then you're going to give other person who didn't get it in a chance. So you give them the ball each time. And this got me thinking about make it or take it. Because in life we all receive so much.
But we can easily live our lives just wanting the advantage, just wanting to make it, just wanting to fulfill our ambitions, just going for our goals, but not actually giving to others.
We want it made. Someone used to say, man, you've got it made. What does it mean to have it made?
What does that mean? People want to be self made. And then we read this passage where Jesus is talking about making.
What does Jesus actually say in this passage about what we're to make of ourselves?
What does he say about what we are to make of ourselves?
I believe that your response and my response to his call follow Me. He says, come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. I believe your response and my response to that call, follow me is what makes us.
Your response to his call to follow me. To follow him is what will make you. He never said you need to make anything off yourself.
He's the one that makes. He goes, come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
See, as Jesus is here, he's talking to his first disciples when he says, I will make you. This is about him making us into the people that God has created us to be.
So your response to follow me is actually what will impact whether you're walking in what God has called you to be.
He's the one that makes us.
He makes us to become fishers of men. What does a fisher of men do?
A fisher of men actually reaches out to the lost.
A fisher of men also reaches out to fellow believers. It's not just about the person who doesn't know God.
It's about people that believe already and people that do not believe. That's the fishing that God is talking about through Jesus Christ. He's the one who makes us so that we become fishers of men. But for that to happen, it actually takes walking with Jesus. Jesus was inviting these guys to walk with him for you and I to become a fisher of people.
Who's asking us to do that? Jesus, he knows how to do that. So we actually need to walk closely with Jesus. That's what he was inviting these guys to. Andrew and Peter, John and James. He was inviting them to walk with him. To become a fisher of people, a fisher of men, you actually have to walk with Jesus.
But when you think about these guys, it sounds here like Jesus is just walking. And then he sees these two guys doing their fishing. And then he goes, come with me, follow me. It says, immediately they leave their nets, immediately they leave their boats.
You know, Jesus is so powerful that that could happen. And it happened with some of the other disciples. They would just say, come, follow me, and they'll just go. But with these guys here, that wasn't their first experience of Jesus.
If you go to John, let's go to John, chapter one, verse 35 to 42. These guys had actually been walking with Jesus for about a year.
John 1.
You got your Bibles open up to John 1, because this one's not on the screen. This is to get your fingers working, keep them engaged in the service, okay? So verse 35 says, this is just after Jesus has been baptized. John's pointing everyone he's preparing the way. John the Baptist pointing people to Jesus, it says in verse 35. The next day, again, John was standing with two of his disciples. And he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, behold the Lamb of God.
The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus.
Two disciples of who?
They were disciples of John. One of them was Andrew. They were disciples of Jesus.
But then they hear about Jesus. And then Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, what are you seeking? And they said to him, rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? He said to them, come and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. For it was about the 10th hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which means Christ. He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas, which means Peter. It goes on from there.
He meets Philip, but then Philip goes and gets Nathanael.
But these guys, especially Andrew, Peter, John, James, they'd known Jesus already. But then they come to this point which we were hearing of in Matthew. You got to look at the Bible in the full context, because we could easily think, man, if God just appeared to me and go, follow me, would I do what they did?
We need to be challenged by that. But in this situation, that's not what was happening. They had been seeing Jesus. They had been following him around. But a moment comes now where he goes, it's time for business. I want you to really follow me. I know you've got your profession. I know you're fishing for fish. But now it is time for you to come with me. Jesus is calling them to personal commitment to himself.
So when we read this, we can't just think of, oh, that was like the first time they got saved. That's the first time they got to Jesus. This applies to us. Come, follow me. Your response. And my response to come, follow me is actually what will make you. It makes us into these fishes of men. This is where discipleship starts. This is part of discipleship. Discipleship even starts before you're saved. It's a journey, you know. These brothers were asked to leave their nets, to leave their boats.
Are there some things that God's asking you to leave?
Doesn't matter how long you've been walking with the Lord for? Maybe then he asks you to leave something He Asked you to cut something out, to drop something, to get out of a relationship, maybe to stop a certain job.
Is there something that he's asking you?
Leave your boat.
Leave man boat. Leave the safety. Leave the comfort. What is he asking? This is part of discipleship, becoming more like Jesus.
Your response to the call, come, follow me, is what will make you.
What is he asking you to leave so that you can do what he wills? He was asking them to leave their jobs, those guys, to leave their nets so that they could actually walk in his will for them. But more than that, so they could walk in God's call for the world, God's mission of restoration and reconciliation. When he's asking you and I to leave something, it's not just to make you uncomfortable, to make you miss out on something, but he's actually doing that so that you can walk in all that he has for you, for his glory.
You guys still with me?
And you see him here asking them to put their professions what they did. He was asking them to put it in the right perspective. Perspective, Proper perspective in light of his mission.
Fishes of men.
If we're not growing into Fishes of men, Church, Fishes of people, are we true disciples?
If you and I, no matter how much we've walked with Jesus, if we're actually not growing as people that seek out the lost, as people that are not just receiving from the Lord always, but not giving it out to fellow believers, whether it's knowledge you've received, revelation you received, the gifts you've received in the spirit, if you're actually not growing, if I'm not growing in fishing for people, are we true disciples?
Are we making it or are we taking it?
When I think about making, what is making it? Taking it is just when. And there's seasons for all of us as believers. You might have only been a Christian for two weeks. You might have only been a Christian for a year or 10. There's seasons where it's just a good time to just receive. I'm not saying you should never just be receiving. But the way the Lord works is it doesn't matter how much you've received. Maybe you got saved last week. Giving out of that is telling people about it, telling people at work, telling your family. The way God works is he gives so that we can give.
So it's not just make or take it. It's actually about receiving it and giving it. But making it is making disciples. It's not making it for yourself, but it's actually. Jesus talks about making disciples. We've talked about the call, come, follow me. Those same disciples he talks, talks to at the end of his ministry or his time here on earth. In Matthew 28, the Great Commission, these guys, the 12 disciples and many other disciples, they had walked with him, they had slept around him, being in places with him, done everything with him.
But then he calls them, he gives them the Great Commission.
And he says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. This is Jesus. He doesn't keep it to himself, does he? He says, now go therefore, and make disciples.
See? He says, come, follow me and I'll make you. He goes, go, therefore, and make disciples. So he makes us into disciples, into fishes of men. But then he says, I want you to go and make disciples. He wasn't just talking to those guys, only the 12, the 72, the 500. He wasn't just talking to them. He was talking to you and I today. And we'll talk about that in a minute.
Your response to Jesus, command to go is what makes others.
My response to Jesus, command to go is what makes others.
So it makes them into disciples. It makes them into fishes of men. But what it does for you and I when we go, is that we grow to become more like Jesus. You know that word Christian, Christian, Christlike.
We're all Christians. But do you know that word only comes up in the Bible three times?
The first time the Christians get called disciples is in Acts 11, and they start being called disciples, even though you see the word disciple before that. But the word disciple is in the New Testament, or maybe just the whole Bible, more than 250 times.
That's what we're to be, disciples.
He makes us into disciples, but he wants us to make disciples. So your response to Jesus, command to go is what will make others and grow you to become more like Jesus.
Why would Jesus tell them to go?
He says, go.
Jesus knew that the harvest was plentiful. The harvest is plentiful. There's so many lost people.
We were lost at one point, but someone went. Someone took that call to go. And we sit here today knowing him as Lord and Savior. But have we just kept that to ourselves?
Do we keep that to ourselves? That. Well, he's our Lord and Savior. We wake up every morning. We thank him. We have a family. We have whatever we have. But what are we actually doing with what we carry? The Holy Spirit that is in us, the fire, the refiner, the comforter. It's not just for my comfort or your comfort. It's for the comfort of others.
Your Response to his command to go is what will make others.
And also what will grow you to become more like Jesus.
See, Jesus wasn't just talking to the disciples only. He was talking to you and I.
Let's go to John 17, 18, 21. In John 17, 18, 21, the high priestly prayer, I think it's called, Jesus is praying. He's praying to his Father. He hasn't been crucified yet.
Some would like to call this one the Lord's Prayer. Because this is Jesus, Lord, praying to his Father. And some of the verses in there. Can we have that up on the screen? John 17, 18, 21.
Jesus is praying to the Lord. And he says, as you sent me into the world, so have I sent them into the world.
God sent his one only Son. But he says, lord, as you have sent me, so I send these guys. I send these, my disciples into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified. In truth, he's saying he sets himself apart.
He's consecrating himself. But he's saying he's doing it so that these disciples, he's praying for, that they could also become more like him. They could be purified on their journey with the Lord. He says, I do not ask for these only. But who else does he ask for? But also for those who will believe in me through their word. Who believes in Jesus through the word of the apostles, through the word of the disciples. Anyone in this room. See, we believe in God in His Word because of the word that the disciples. Matthew, John, Luke, people like Paul. Pen to paper. So it says, I do not ask for these only. But also for those who believe in me through their word. That they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you. That they also may be in us. So that the world may believe that you have sent me.
See, Jesus wasn't just talking to the 12.
He was talking to you and me. He was praying for you and I. And this does not stop there with us.
Your response to Jesus command to go is what will make others and grow you to become more like Jesus.
Make it or take it.
What Jesus is asking us to make is disciples making disciples that make disciples.
But we can't do it without him. We can't make disciples without him. What is the Great Commission?
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, Baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And it says, and behold, I am with you always.
So we don't have to make disciples by ourselves.
You don't have to make disciples. You can't. I can't.
But the question is, will we go? Will we say yes, or do we just hear the Word and then we go back and apply some of the word to certain areas of our lives, but then we don't actually seek out Lord, who's the person that you want me to go and say? Hey, Jesus is saying, come and follow me. He wants you to follow him. Who's the person, Lord, in my neighborhood, at the cafe, at the school, wherever I am, that you might be wanting me to speak to about you or just show your love?
Where are you guys in this journey? It's a journey, man. We've been talking about discipleship for I don't know how long.
I got saved in 96 and I've been hearing about discipleship since then.
But I tell you, it can still be a struggle. If I sat here and said, tell me who you're discipling, tell me who you've discipled, people will be like, bro, this is not the time. Hey, that's a bit too personal.
Because we all can struggle with it. But once you get it and you let the Lord work through you, he will do it and there'll be seasons up and down. The enemy doesn't want us to be making disciples. But we've been hearing about, especially in the last six years, one of our kingdom culture values has been based on Matthew 28, 18, 20, that making disciples is not optional.
That's one of our kingdom culture values. But man, I'll put my hand up. I make it optional sometimes.
But I'm thankful for me it can be easy because this is my full time job. But it took for me to do what I do now. It took me having to leave the nets, leave the boat. That's what God had for me. So you can be like, oh, Pastor Steve, that's easy for you to disciple. You get paid for that. But I still have to be so intentional about it. I still have to be so prayerful about it. And I can still just get caught up doing other things and not actually have meaningful relationships with people. So this is so real to me just as is it is for you. Where are you on this journey of making disciples? Are you just receiving from God and keeping it for yourself?
Where are you on this journey?
Your response to Jesus command to go is what will make others and grow you to become more like Jesus.
See to actually grow as disciples of Jesus. For us to grow, because this is a journey, like those guys were told, hey, come, follow me.
They didn't just become the greatest disciples straight away. It was a journey. They had to hang out with him, spend time with him. For us to grow as disciples of Jesus, we need to be receiving it and we need to be taking it. It's not make it or take it or you make it. You take it or you make it, you give it. It's actually we to be receiving it and giving it all the time. Receiving what? Just being a vessel to the Lord. A vessel has to receive. Is the Lord speaking to you? Are you getting into the Word? Do you have people in your life that will speak into your life, that will share the Word, that will encourage you? Are you reading books? What are you taking in? If you're just receiving junk? You know how they say junk in, chunk out. You guys have got it. I love it. We all go through that. But we actually need to be people that receive it and give it. The things you hear on a Sunday, don't just keep that to yourself.
Whatever you receive in life, whatever gift you get, whatever thing you get, if you don't use it, you haven't really fully received it.
I don't think you fully received it. If I receive something and I don't actually use it, I haven't understood its purpose. I haven't fully received it. But if I receive it, if I come and I receive the Word, then I go during the week, I'm like, what were they talking about? And I just meditate on it and think, how am I going to apply this to my life?
And I give Alan a call, bro, I got this from that Word.
I don't know about making disciples, man. Can you help me out?
Just talking to someone else about it, you're actually giving it. You're challenging the other person.
Where are you receiving it and where are you giving it? This is what making it is all about.
This is just my kind of language. Make it or take it. You're like, what are you talking about? Making it? Make what? Make disciples. That's what he calls us to do. But to do that and to grow as disciples, we actually need to be receiving it and giving it. Pastor Steve, what are you talking about?
2nd Timothy 2. 2. Paul talks about this. Can we go to 2nd Timothy, chapter 2? Can you guys open your Bibles again to this? I know it's on the screen, but if you've got a highlighter, highlight. If you've Got a pen?
This is so important. This is such a key for the church. It's there in the Word. The Word is living. The Word is active.
Sharper than a double edged sword.
So Paul is talking to Timothy and he says to Timothy, you then my child.
Just him saying that he calls him his child. But did he hook up with his mum? No, he didn't.
He didn't. But this was his spiritual child. It means he was discipling him.
Do you have a spiritual parent?
And yes, I'm up to be your spiritual parent, but I'm just one man.
Look at the sea of people in here we're taking away from one another when we don't actually walk together and say, hey, can you speak into my life? Hey, let's go out for a coffee. Hey, I want to encourage you. Can you look at someone and actually think of them as your child in the things of the kingdom? And it's not just about them being children. As iron sharpens iron, man sharpens man. As iron sharpens iron sharpens iron, one person sharpens another.
It doesn't always have to be father to son, mother to daughter, parent to child. It can also be brother to brother, sister to sister. But what this shows me is this guy who's talking Paul to Timothy, it means he was discipling young Timothy. So he says to him, you then my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
He's not saying be strengthened by me. Sometimes like, oh man, do you know who I'm discipling, bro? You should see the people I've discipled. You should see the people that got saved through me. Oh, hallelujah. No, God saved them, not you. But yes, he did it through you.
But actually it says be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus and what you heard from me. So he's still confident in what he's given to his spiritual son. He says, what you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. This is about receiving it and giving it.
What has the Lord given you in his word, in how he's guiding you, in how he's protected you, in how he's brought you from wherever he's brought you from. Who are you sharing that with? He's saying, timothy, what I've shared with you, what you've seen God do through me, I want you to entrust that to other people. But not just other people.
He says these people are supposed to be faithful.
Not only should they be faithful, but they should also be able to teach others.
Now, how are you going to know if someone is faithful? How are you going to know if someone is able?
You've actually got to walk with them, you've actually got to initiate relationship with them. But then you might actually, in walking with them, actually need to feed them and help them and show them things so that they can come to a place where they've been faithful. It's not like, oh, I'm not going to disciple him. He's not faithful, he's not able, he's not qualified.
It's just seeing God's call on someone and there's a call on every one of us, but we need to do this together. So he says, what you've received from me, teach to others who will also teach others. This is how the kingdom of God spreads. This is how the kingdom of God grows. If we get this new myself, I'm telling you, we will not have enough room in this church. If we get this.
Other churches will be benefiting from you because you'll be discipling people in your workplace and they say, oh, where do you live? Oh wow, you live in Wandana Heights in Geelong. Well, I know that there's a church over there because I know you take the train, but I'm going to connect you with another pastor. They don't have to come to New my South.
It's not about filling this place. It's about the Great Commission about the whole earth being filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.
As the earth covers the what the seas.
So receiving it and giving it.
Timothy was clearly being discipled by Paul.
God calls us to make disciples that make disciples, make disciples that make disciples. For some it's all right. Well, I just need to work on just making disciples. That's fine, it's all part of the journey. But really the key that we're being taught in the word that the disciples were to make, they're also to do the same and the same and the same and the same. That's how we ended up here. For us, as Newman south, you're going to be hearing this year a lot more about discipleship. We're going to break it down. Team advance. Not this Wednesday. Next Wednesday we're going to get really practical about what discipleship means.
One guy talked about what is a disciple and this is what he called a disciple.
A disciple of Jesus is a spirit filled believer.
Now we can be spirit filled.
That's how we get to say we believe in Jesus is by being spirit filled. But we can be filled with the Spirit more and more and more every day.
So you can't be a disciple of Jesus, you can't follow Jesus. He talks about it in First Corinthians 12 with the gift. You can't say you believe in Jesus without the Spirit. So a disciple of Jesus is a spirit filled believer who lives in obedience to Jesus teaching while being transformed into the likeness of Jesus, serving in ministry, reaching the lost and making disciples of Jesus.
That's just like a little succinct kind of long description of a disciple, spirit filled believer who lives in obedience to Jesus teaching while being transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Serving in ministry. Oh, but I'm not serving in church. Serving in ministry is not just serving in church. Your ministry is at work, your ministry is at home. We would love for you to serve in church, but that's not where it ends or where it even starts.
Reaching the lost and making disciples of Jesus. So receiving it and giving it.
Receiving it and giving it. Everything we have, everything you have, everything I have, it's all from God.
Everything you have, Michael, is all from God.
It says every good and perfect gift in James comes from above, from the Father of Light, with whom there is no shadow or variation. Every good and perfect gift comes from him, but he wants us to actually use it for him, use it for his glory, use it for the kingdom. So what are you receiving? What have you accumulated and experience in knowledge, in life experience, in spiritual things? It's not just for you. And what I have is not just for me. Because if we keep all that we have, if we keep all that we're learning to ourselves, all that we're hearing from God to ourselves, we get what we get fat. I'm not talking P H A T fat, I'm talking we get overweight. In the things of the Spirit.
If you're just taking in things of God, but you're not doing anything with it.
Like the best application of the things of God is sharing it with others, walking with others closely. So they're seeing how you live, they see what you say, they see how you struggle, they see how you suffer, but they see how you react in those times.
Sometimes they see that you don't react so great and they encourage that you're just real. Sometimes they can't believe how you're so faithful and they're so encouraged and they grow in God. This is receiving it and giving it. Because otherwise if we accumulate all these things, knowledge, experience, we just get puffed up.
And what happens when you just keep things like food in the fridge if you're not going to eat it or give it away? Oh, it's going to go off.
That stinks. It starts to stink.
The things that God like. It happens with the manna and the quail. In Exodus, people were trying to accumulate things for themselves for tomorrow when God said, don't and the things would rot. So God gives us what we have for his purposes, to receive it and to give it. But in all of that, the focus is to be on Jesus.
The focus is always on Jesus because he's who we receive from and what we give is out of him. Being a disciple is, you're still human. You have the spirit alive in you. You're still human. We're all still human, but we have the spirit alive in us. But we are in union with Jesus and we grow every day to become more and more like him.
But you know, these guys, Peter, Andrew, James and John, they left the nets. They even left like John and James. They left their dad. See, they left their father.
Not everyone has to leave their profession.
Not everyone has to leave their family. That's not what God is necessarily calling all of us to. That has to be a specific call. And God will reveal that. So don't discount yourself going, I'm not going to leave my family. This is about priorities.
What is your priority when it comes to the kingdom of God?
You think about the disciples in the Bible. Jesus is going to the cross.
There was a rich disciple. He wasn't one of the 12. His name was Joseph of Arimathea.
He was rich. He didn't go, oh, now I love Jesus. I'm going to stop, you know, accumulating wealth and using the skills that God's given me. He walked with Jesus, he followed Jesus. And then a time came where Jesus was in a moment of need.
And Joseph goes to Pilate and says, hey, when Jesus has been crucified, I'll take his body.
I've got a tomb that I had for myself. That tomb would have not been cheap.
He was one of the richest guys around and God used him to bury our Saviour in a tomb.
See, that guy didn't leave his profession. He still walked with God. And God used him. So it doesn't matter what your profession is. You might be a teacher, a preacher, an IT person, a baker, a nurse, a cleaner, a business owner. God places you strategically where you are to make fishes of men.
Not just to just take, take, take, but to actually make disciples. Wherever he's placed you.
You see, there's no way I could effectively and efficiently disciple a police officer because I'm not in the police, I'm not part of the force.
But if one of you was a policeman, and you're walking with Jesus closely, man, you can disciple fellow police officers like no one else.
I can't disciple someone in corporate finance as well as a businessman in this room could, because that's the world that you're in.
So it's your response to come, follow me that will make you. It's your response to go and make disciples. That will actually make other people disciples and grow you to become more like Jesus.
Discipleship means we place Jesus as the priority of our lives, in joining him in whatever he's doing. That's what those guys were doing. They left the nets because Jesus was up to something and he was inviting them to come and join in what he was doing. He's always at work around us.
But are we, as we're walking around in our day today, actually just saying, lord, what are you doing? What are you doing in this room? I want to join in what you're doing. What are you doing in that person over there? He'll show you. You will see people looking a certain way, looking down, or maybe they're excited. Whatever it is, if he has something he wants you to do, he will show you what to do. It might not even be approaching them. It might just be praying whilst you're there. But he's always at work.
Agree or stand.
Are you receiving regularly from the Lord and through others? Are you receiving regularly, frequently from the Lord because He's so generous, he's always giving. Are you receiving from the Lord? Are you receiving through others?
But the question is, what are you doing with it? If you are receiving regularly from the Lord, he's so generous, what are you doing with it? Eva, if you could come and start playing, that would be great.
I want to leave you with this question today.
Who is discipling you?
Don't say Jesus, because there's no doubt Jesus. Jesus is discipling you.
And that's a whole other question.
But if you've said yes to Jesus already and you've been walking with him, who is discipling you?
Think about Paul and Timothy. Who's your Paul in your life?
Who is discipling you?
The other question is, who are you discipling? Who am I discipling? They're simple questions, aren't they?
But there's so much power and impact that comes out of what can come out of our responses to God and the journey we go on with God on that? Who is discipling you? Who are you discipling? Where are you receiving it from?
When every time I'm saying receive, I'm talking about the things of God.
Where are you receiving it from?
Yes, you'd be receiving things of God, from God, from the Word, but God works through people. Who are the people that you're receiving from?
And then who are you giving it to?
This is what making it is. Making it is about receiving it and giving it, listening to his invitation. Come, follow me. And actually he invites us to this every day in so many different things. Come, follow me.
And all he wants from us is obedience, immediate obedience.
How big's the gap between the invitation daily to follow him to you? Actually obeying my prayer? Is that for myself?
Because I struggle in doing all the things God asks me to do. It's not like he just goes, do that. I'm like, yep, let's do it. I try and reason with the Lord and make excuses, but he's so patient with all of us. But the more you say yes and you do it quicker, you realize that the bigger the gap. Sometimes you're just wasting time. And you're not only you missing out, but others are missing out.
See, he wants to pour it in.
He wants to pour it in his spirit and he wants to pour himself. He. He's poured himself out for the world, into the world. So he pours it in and we're to pour it out. It's supposed to be a constant thing. God's always pouring, always giving, but as he does that, we're surrendered. He's pouring it in. And our lives are to just pour it out in what we say, in what we do, in how we live. We see Timothy, talk about it, what I have taught you, entrusted, faithful people who will in turn teach others also.
We have to walk with people to actually entrust them with what the Lord has given us.
We have to put in time and effort. That's something. We all have time. We all have effort.
And this is not having to go at anyone. This is an invitation to do what the Lord's called us to do, to follow Him. We actually have to put in the time. And you can't do this with everyone. Jesus had his three. He spent so much time with them.
Those three were part of those four guys I talked about at the start. They were his three.
And then he would taste the others to also have the. Their close ones.
So you have to be prayerful. Lord, who do you want me to have so close that I input into? And like I said, we're going to get more practical with things like this in team advance on a Wednesday night in this place.
When's the last time you prayed?
Not just you prayed, but when's the last time you prayed for God to show show you who to disciple?
For some it's like, oh, I've never actually thought about that.
For some, I know I need to do that, but I don't want to deal with what comes with the answer because it does take time and work. But man, this is where we will as believers of God. Children of God, you will not be fulfilled if you're not walking in this.
The winning as disciples is in winning souls for Jesus. That's when everything makes sense. You see someone come to the Lord or you see someone who's already believer just grow on their journey. So when's the last time that you prayed for God to show you who to disciple? Or when's the last time you prayed?
Lord, who should I ask to disciple Me?
Are you making it or are you taking it?
Are you making it or are you taking it? Let's all commit to receiving it and giving it.
[00:47:02] Speaker C: Thank you for joining us. We hope that you enjoyed today's podcast and we realized that not everyone has had the opportunity to respond to the good news of the gospel. And for this reason, in all of our services and platforms, we want to extend to you the opportunity to follow Jesus. The Bible teaches us that we have been created for a relationship with God. However, sin, which is essentially disobedience, independence and disbelief, or us simply missing the mark, entered the world and separated us from God. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death and a debt was owed. And the Bible tells us that he demonstrated his love for us, that while we were still sinners, he died for us. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus that whoever believes in him will be saved. All that is required of anyone is that they believe in Jesus. The Son of God who came, lived, died and rose again so that we could be forgiven, made right and given the right to become children of God and to have life forevermore with him.
Today you can begin a relationship with Jesus. To believe in him is to simply to respond with faith in our hearts and confess with our mouths that he is Lord, and we do that through a simple prayer.
Follow along with Me Dear Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God. I thank you that you love me and came to forgive me of my sin. I repent from my old way of life and I turn to follow you. I receive the free gift of eternal life and I ask that you fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I can live a life of following after you. I thank you that I am born again as a child of God and that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Amen. If you prayed this prayer for the first time, we would love to connect with you and connect you to your next step and the local church in your area. You can contact us on our website at Numa Church. Thanks for listening.
