Sermon Tone Analysis

Where do we go next?

Today is what Christians have long recognized as Christ the King Sunday.

Christ the King Sunday is the last Sunday of the christian calendar.

Everything built to the reality that Jesus isn’t just our saviour and guide, he is our Lord.

Jesus was born, he was baptized, he was filled with the HS, he taught and modeled holiness, he was crucified and resurrected, then he sent the Holy Spirit to fill his people, and they went out and made disciples who then made disciples.

That’s the flow of scripture, and that’s the flow of the christian year.

Today we recognize we have a saving king, not a ruling king.

Our king guides us to holiness and forgives our shortcomings.

Our king is a shepherd who searches us out until he finds us.

The question is, what kind of sheep are we?

Are we sheep who follow the voice of our king, or are we the kind of sheep who have to be driven?

Are we the sort of sheep who just want to be part of the herd, or are we the sort of sheep who want to help our shepherd King?

I pray that over this year we have grown in our relationship with Jesus.

I hope you could say you have grown in your relationship with Jesus.

But to what end? that’s what I want us to consider today.

What’s next?

What’s ahead?

IF you are a guest today…let me explain where we have been.

Today marks the first day of the last week of our New Testament Challenge, to consider the challenge and to look forward to the changed life that many of us have found.

read

gather

listen

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WE were challenged over 9 weeks as we considered 9 of the major themes of the New Testament

Radical Love

We talked about how Jesus loves us with a sacrificial love.

Then he has the audacity to challenge us to love each other with that same radical, sacrificial love.

Generosity

Then Cap Pickering came to tell us talk to us about how Jesus had been generous with his words, his grace, and his miracles and because of that, he asked us to be generous in response.

Perseverance

Bill Gowdy talked to us about how the NT challenges us to persevere in our circumstances as we rely on God’s power, just as Jesus did.

Servant-hood

Godliness at the biblical call to servanthood, to be servants, not just servers.

As disciples of Jesus we ask God to USE US as a means to His ends.

Forgiveness

Then we looked at the NT challenge to Forgive.

This is probably one of the most difficult teachings of the NT because we all have a past.

WE can’t change the past, but when we forgive, we change the future.

Godliness

We looked at scriptures call to godliness to be the way we live rather than a destination we arrive.

Godliness is the way of salvation.

Obedience

Obedience.

As disciples, we are called to obey Jesus, not just know about Jesus.

That our goal is to love Jesus so much that we develop 2nd mile obedience - moving toward 14 mile obedience.

Eternity

Then last week we talked about how developing an eternal perspective has an effect on everything we have an do.

We’ve covered a lot of big topics.

I think for many people, we get the sense that we HAVE to make these real in our lives.

There is a sense that WE HAVE TO GET THIS DONE.

Like Christmas shopping.

Or Thanksgiving dinner.

This is where I think Being a Christian can be overwhelming

Being a Christian can be overwhelming.

It’s like being a perpetual freshman in high school.

Do you remember how overwhelming that was?

WE often try to look like something we aren’t.

First day in the cafeteria as a youth pastor.

Want to look like you fit in.

But in reality you don’t really know the lay of the land and often times we need some help.

It’s the same with being a disciple, thinking of all the things we have to do, we should be able to handle it, everyone else does, and we want it all done RIGHT NOW.

But the life of a disciple is a marathon and not a sprint.

We need to be ok with where we are.

IF you are new in your faith, maybe you are in the “Come and see” mode.

That might be you here today.

Come and see

At first, we “come and see” how other believers live out their relationship with Jesus.

At some point many of us begin to follow Jesus.

Even if we don’t completely trust him at first.

Follow me

Relationships are key to being a follower too.

Eventually, we enter into a relationship with Jesus, and with other disciples as we follow.

But we weren’t meant to just follow.

We were called to make disciples.

Fish for men

Many Christians stagnate at following.

But we were called to fish.

To make disciples.

For a church to be deficient in discipleship is to be deficient in the church’s fundamental reason for existence.

If any organization is shoddy in its core reason for existence, it matters nothing if the organization excels at other things.

If Apple is deficient in designing computers, it matters nothing if they excel in outfitting and decorating their stores.

If Starbucks is deficient in coffee, mastering the art of creating loyal employees means nothing.

To be deficient in your core reason for existence is always unacceptable.

We build buildings.

We design programs.

We challenge donors.

We staff our churches.

We put on events.

But are we making disciples?

It seems that we have become proficient in many things while simultaneously becoming deficient in the one thing that matters most.

This is going to be out focus moving forwards, becoming disciples who make disciples.

_____ UMC from today is going to be about being disciples who make disciples.

Go and bear fruit

And we will see these new disciples bear fruit.

This fruit appears most often in changed lives.

Restored marriages.

Defeated addictions.

New careers.

Healthier families.

Jesus doesn't’ want to change our eternity, to save us spiritually, he wants to change us physically, he wants us to bear fruit in our relationships.