Before We Make Disciples | Roman Trachuk

[00:00:07] Speaker A: Today I'm going to talk about something that I'm going to reveal in just a moment. But I. I know that we can kind of, like, go to church especially. This is going to be more challenging for people that have been going to church for a long time. I think it's a. It's a lot easier for people that are in this room that committed their life to Christ a year ago or just six months ago. It's harder for people that have been in church for a long time and sort of drifted. And so I believe that the Holy Spirit will gently realign us to the heart of the mission that he's invited us to. And by the way, I wanted to honor a father in the house. He has served this region for over 50 years. A spiritual father that, that is, that is here with us. I'm just so, so thankful for you. We call him Papa George. Can you stand with your wife? We're so glad that you're here. Let's honor him. Let's just honor the work that he's done. He's committed his life to serve the body of Christ now and lead people to the revelation of God as father. And so, so thankful for you and our relationship and friendship. Glad that you're here. You know, we could be attending church for a long time, but are we spiritually growing? How long have you been a Christian? That's a common, common question, right? Oh, five years, 10 years, 15. Some people are like, my whole life. It's like, that's great. But I think that might be the wrong, like, measurable, or, how long have you been attending church? And the interesting thing is Jesus never called us to grow our church attendance in this house. We have never made it our aim to grow in attendance. Jesus never actually called us to do any of that. Jesus called us to grow in disciples. And, you know, am I spiritually growing? Is a good question to ask yourself. And if you want to grow, what's really cool is Wednesday nights that are happening here. You can turn to the person next to and tell them you want to grow. Come to Wednesday nights. We. We are doing this very, very intentionally because we believe God is inviting us higher. He wants to enlarge our capacity. He wants us to be equipped so that we can align with what he wants to do. So there's like three or four things happening at the same time here on Wednesday nights. And the reason why Wednesday nights? Well, because we have our own building. We can do whatever we want. Praise God. But secondly, we have youth service happening on Wednesday nights. And, and it would just be convenient for parents that are dropping off their kids to just come get equipped, whether it's marriage courses where it's revival history or theology or whatever things we're gonna roll out to just equip the body of Christ to spiritually grow. We wanna spiritually grow. We don't just wanna attend, we wanna spiritually grow. Amen. We wanna become disciples of Jesus. So because I'm aware and I've been a Christian for a while now, that I can just kind of get used to the Christian knees, you know, the hearing a sermon, thinking about where we're going to go eat right after this, and the friends we want to connect with and sometimes even scroll on social media or Fact check on ChatGPT while the person's preaching. And so I want to refocus. I want to refocus us today because a lot of this growth that we're going to talk about is not connected to what kind of sermon you get to listen to. It's never connected to even the power and the purity of the seed. Because his Word is true, it's powerful, it's alive, it's the soil. In other words, I have a responsibility for the way I hear this and the way I yield and the way I obey. And that will determine what result it produces in my life. So because of that, I want you to close your eyes for a moment, remove all the distractions and just approach the Scriptures and align your heart with what God wants to speak to us today. So Lord, we just come to you in humility with a desire to be transformed by your words. You said that faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of God. So Holy Spirit, we trust that you will speak to us individually as we're listening to this message, as we're looking at these Scriptures. So we just thank you for what you want to do in our hearts and we yield to it in Jesus name. Amen. All right, can you open with me to Matthew 28? Matthew 28. I want to maybe phrase it like this. Spiritual maturity equals to this definition. I believe it's loving God deeply, wholeheartedly and loving people. Would you agree? Like, if you want to have a measurable, are you growing in love? And I know that's very general and maybe needs more clarity and definition, but I would say that that is one of the measurables that Jesus left us with. He said that they will know that you are my disciples when they see the way you love one another. Because loving goes beyond words. Loving assumes a specific Lifestyle, Right? Because that's something you can see. It's not just public affection. And he says, when they observe and see the way you love one another, that will be immeasurable. That will be a point of definition for the world. And so I think spiritually growing is growing deeply in love with the Father, knowing him, following him, being obsessed with him, worshiping him, sitting at his feet, following him at all cost. And the result of that ability to receive that transformative love is to love people. And you. You know, you might say that's. Honestly, that's easy. I think I'm doing pretty good. Like, I really love. Like, I love people. I just love people everywhere. And, you know, it's interesting that there's a passage in Mark. I'm not going to read it, but it's in Mark 10, 17, 22. And this is where a young man, a wealthy young man, successful young man, approaches Jesus and says, hey, like, what else can I do to follow you? And he says, oh, you know, obey the commandments. You remember what they said, right? Like, oh, he's like, oh, I've kept these since I was young. Like, I grew up in church. You know, I tithe. I do all this stuff. Like, I. Like, I'm good. What else can I do? I want more. And he said, oh, that's easy. Just sell everything you have. Give it to the porn. Follow me. Follow me. And he walked away, sad and couldn't respond to the invitation to become a disciple. And I realized that there's many of us, because I'm warning you, it's more challenging for people that have been Christian for a long time because we've drifted and we don't even know. We think we're doing it all right, but we haven't noticed that we're now following Jesus at a distance. And so here's this young man who wanted more and walked away with less. And the only thing Jesus challenged was the first of the Ten Commandments. Do you think he really followed the Ten Commandments? No, because he just challenged the first one. He's like, all right, let's start with the first one. Give everything away. Follow me. Oh, I can't. So discipleship, becoming a disciple of Jesus has to do with receiving him as our Savior, but then yielding to him as our Lord. There's many people that are like, yeah, I know Jesus. I know God. You know, people that go evangelize. Oh, yeah, I believe in. I believe in Jesus. That's not a disciple. Demons believe in Jesus, too. Hell believes in Jesus. And Trembles when He comes. It's not about believing that there is a God. It's about receiving him and knowing him in a way where you yield your life to him as king. And actually one of the passages we'll get to, he's saying, you want to follow me? Deny yourself. That's not self hatred. That's the way to life. Deny yourself. It's not who you originally are. It's the flesh part. It's the carnal part of us that actually stands in the way. Like for this young man who loved Jesus and was passionate for more, as sincere as he was, what stood in the way of him following? Divided affection, divided loyalty, like, you know, serving God and some other stuff. And so the invitation of Jesus, he's not lying to you, he's making it clear. He says, deny yourself. Pick up your cross. Follow me to what? Yes, to death. Yeah, like, that's part of it. No one talk about that. Right? But like, that's part of it. Death to self, but unto what? Resurrection life. Resurrection life that is found in Him. And so there's an invitation to follow. But many follow at a distance. And then the question is like, oh, how many, how many years? Oh, yeah, 15 years. 15 years. But am I spiritually growing? And so it's to yield to him as Lord. And the third thing that needs to happen is as a disciple, God will begin to. It's not just a transformation that happens in us, but he will begin to reproduce through us. Transformation and other people. So I'm the type of person that kind of goes from the end back to the beginning. So the beauty here is I get a part two. So I'm okay with like landing wherever we stop. But I want to start this from sort of the end, looking back, the last words of Jesus and then looking back. And the title of the message today is, before we make disciples. Because they think a lot of times we're like, make disciples. Make disciples before we make disciples. Okay, and let's read Matthew 28. These are, you know, the final words of Jesus before ascension. And he says here, go therefore. And this is following him, saying, all authority has been given to me. In other words, I'm giving you authority, sending you. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow, say with me, follow. Teaching them to follow all that I commanded you. In other words, this assumes that I'm following everything he commanded. Right? Like, think about Sermon on the Mount and all of the teachings. And of course, Jesus preached the kingdom. But if I'm walking around and saying, follow the words of Jesus, follow the words of Jesus, but I'm not following. Discipleship doesn't work. There is no transfer there. So he says, teach them this is now, assuming they're already doing this, they're already living this way. Teach them to follow everything that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of age. We might be growing in churches, especially in America, but are we growing in disciples? John 13:34. He says, I'm giving you a new command, a commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. So it's not again, it's not go first, it's follow first, right? Same thing here. It's not, you know, go love everybody. It's be loved as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another, then in Mark 3:13, and he went up to the mountain and summoned those who he himself wanted, and they came to him, and he appointed 12 so that they would be with him. Do you see that? That's where. That's where some of this started. But follow me. Be with me. Learn from me. Walk with me. You know, Jesus is the rabbi, and they are like the apprentice, the students that are observing, watching all of his reactions, all the ways he responds to tough situations, family moments, finances, whatever he says, learn from me. Follow me. So he. He invited them to be with him and that he could send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons. So, yes, there is a going, and I'm really excited to talk about the going next Sunday. But the more I thought about this, I realized we talk so much more about authority and going and all the, you know, all the other stuff. But it's like, what happens before we ask God to multiply who we've become? Because maybe some of us, we don't want to reproduce what. What's happening. And if our discipleship, you know, is all focused on going, we can. We can kind of engage this, like these. This striving and these works and. And lose the purity of this mission and mandate to make disciples. And I love the passion of our house. And some of our young people hit the streets till 2am preaching the gospel, praying for prostitutes in Portland, casting out demons. Isn't that amazing that people are bold, courageous, passionate? Like, people are sending me videos every week going out, and I love that. But even within that, we can love evangelism more than Jesus? We can love the stuff more than loving him. Being with him, following him. There's a squeak. Bearing witness with everything I say. In other words, can I make disciples without being one? Can I ask people to follow Jesus without following Jesus? I think a lot of evangelism looks that way today. There's an invitation. This is kind of a sober invitation. In Matthew 16:24, again, we're working our way back. Then Jesus said to his disciples, it doesn't say, by the way, in most of these, he's not saying to his followers. He actually never measured his impact by followers to his disciples. He said to his disciples, if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up the cross and follow me first. This Christian life, the idea of becoming a disciple and making disciples is not optional. And I think that's where we drifted. We think it's like, oh, maybe this is for, like, some people that are, like, called. You know, maybe the staff, like, they got. They staff, maybe they know, do mailers or something, or pray for people. This. This wasn't. This wasn't. This is not the way this is presented, actually. Becoming a disciple Christian. The word Christian was not even used at that time. Becoming a disciple was. Was the very purity of receiving Jesus. It was, you're going to become a disciple. And you see the early church, you even see the apostles who he's speaking to here. All but John die as martyrs for the cause of Christ. In other words, they followed him. And you know, when Jesus was saying this, he was on the way to betrayal and crucifixion. And here's the thing. There's a lot of people that follow Jesus when he's multiplying bread, you know, healing the sick, laying hands. You want to see a resurrection. I want to see a resurrection. Where's the revival happening? Let's go watch. Let's go see resurrection. Did you see that leg grow out? [00:19:01] Speaker B: Wow. [00:19:01] Speaker A: God is real. God is real. But miracles don't change people. His presence does. And you have to submit to him and yield to him as a rabbi. Commit your life to him. Deny yourself, deny your desires, your wants, your dreams, and submit to him. My whole life is built around my proximity with this man who invited me to follow him. That's why Jesus said, you know, where I am, my servant will also be. So it's like we chase miracles and impact and influence. We're like, oh, kingdom of God. Looks like, you know, miracles and signs and wonders. And I'm 100% for it. I'm contending to see more of it, but you could have that and not be a disciple. And I think the sobering part is like, wow, where have we drifted? Where did we allow this not to become a big deal? Where did we lose the measurables of what it looks like to follow Jesus? Where did we become okay and content with. With just being, you know, churchgoers, attenders, whatever. And I'm not speaking, I'm just talking to Live Stream because I know you guys, you know, I know you guys are doing the stuff. And honestly, so proud of this house because the stories I hear every day where people's lives were transformed because someone prayed for them in the lobby and they have no idea who their name was. Someone prophesied to them in the parking lot. They were standing in line for kids check in and someone came up to them, gave them a hug when they wanted to commit suicide. You know how many stories like that I hear? So I know that we as a community are growing and yielding to the. To the leadership of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit. But I think there's an invitation for more. There's an invitation for more. And so he says in Matthew 4:18, he says this as well. He says, follow me. And I want you to notice the invitation is not go, it's follow, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people. Right away, he's connecting the two. And so it's not to some people, it's to all people. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Can I propose this to us in the Western world, the life of comfort, convenience, that following Jesus will disrupt your life. And some of you, you've built walls, a fortress that you hide in where it's like, you know, no one can interrupt your convenience and your comfort. But being a disciple will disrupt all of that. And that's where I think denying yourself falls. It's to yield to him as Lord Jesus, you are king. I've pre decided. I've made my yes solid. Before I started walking, I've pre decided to surrender, to obey, and to yield, even if I don't feel like it. Because that points to the revelation of I'm trusting that he's leading me somewhere that's better than what I've prepared for myself. In second timothy, The apostle Paul, here in chapter two, verse two, he says, the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful, to faithful people who will be able to teach others. Also, there's another passage In Corinthians where he says, imitate me or follow me as I follow him, Imitate me as I imitate him. And I think a lot of us would say, like that's a bit, like, that's a bit prideful, that could be a little bit arrogant. Like you're not perfect. Only Jesus is perfect. But look, being a disciple assumes this result where actually your life becomes the message. Where what you say and what you do are the same thing. There's so many people are like, man, church is fake. I don't disagree. There's so many people saying stuff that they're not living and it feels fake. At least the world like learned how to be real. This shouldn't be that way like we should. We should actually be transformed from the inside. And that transformation is, is in some measures a prerequisite to the making of disciples. In other words, there comes a time in the following where Jesus is like, now I'm going to send you. Now go. No, then follow, stay close, watch me, obey me, I'll entrust things to you. But there comes a time, now go. When is that? Now. I think that now assumes a certain level of maturity or progression where God sends us out of that maturity for our spiritual inheritance, for our kingdom assignments. And you know, a lot of times we wait, we wait for God, but in reality God is waiting on us. Your inheritance is waiting for your maturity. God already pre decided. God already pre decided what he wants for you, what he wants you to do. And like we heard John Bevere last Sunday that you know what, if, if, if you're not gonna choose, he'll find someone else. What he's building will continue with or without you. That's so sobering. That's so real. Luke chapter six, verse 40. We're going to pray in just a few moments. Jesus says to his disciples, he says, a student is not above the teacher, but everyone. Everyone when he has been fully trained will be like his teacher. Everyone when he's fully trained. That's the sanctification, that's the perfection. Another word there is when is matured will be like Jesus. In other words, they will reach this place of the sending where, where the Lord will continue to send. Send. Remember when Jesus said to pray, he said the harvest is plentiful, but pray for the laborers that the Father would send the laborers. You know how many people are going that are not sent? Because you know people that go to church. For a long time we've learned how to use scriptures, put them in our pocket and do our Thing, thing without him, it doesn't end well for anybody. It doesn't end well for the person, and it doesn't end well for most people. Obviously, God, out of his mercy, compassion, sovereignty, uses us. Yes. Like none of us are qualified. I know when God called us to go to Africa, I was 20 years old. I had no idea, like, how to cast out demons. We were just casting out demons. And someone told me, did you ever go to school? Did you ever, like, were you ever taught on demonology? I'm like, I don't even, I've never even heard of that word. And so I realized that God will call us to things that we don't feel like we're qualified for, we don't feel like we're ready for. But, but he'll go with us. He'll trust us. He'll trust the power of the Holy Spirit in us if we're surrendered and yielded to him. And, and we're committed to Him. But there will come a time where some of us will mature to kingdom assignments where God actually wants you to establish something, to impart something to regions. And I think some of the progression that the earth and the world is groaning for, like in Romans it says that for the revealing of the sons of God. I think some of the pain and the suffering and the great groaning that that is happening is connected to the fact that we're not tapping in to the actual assignments. We're just busy doing activity, like lower level activity, if I can even use that language. But, but, but not stepping in, not rising up to our authority as kings and priests, as royalty, as ambassadors, as people that represent, represent heaven itself. You remember when some of the disciples in the early days were trying to cast out demons, and they're like, hey, Paul, I know Jesus, I know, but who the are you? Wait, what? The spiritual world understands authority. Absolutely. And I think that the desire, the jealousy I feel in my heart, the. If I can be honest that the scary feeling I have is how do we not drift like God's entrusting growth to us. And as excited as I am for more people to come, I am also a little bit scared. How do we not drift from, from the mission, from the heart of what Jesus is inviting us into. Can you stand to your feet with me? You know how Jesus ends these words back where we started in Matthew 28? He ends the same paragraph with this. I am with you always. Which means this idea of going never assumes leaving. I think some of you missed it. This idea of going never assumed leaving, it Says, as you go, I'm with you always. In other words, I never graduate from being a disciple. I never graduate from being a follower of Christ. I never graduate from allowing him to interrupt my life, allowing him to disturb my comfort. I keep my heart tender as a disciple yielded as a discipline disciple, following him, committed to that, not allowing success, not allowing experience, not allowing failure to determine where I'm going. He decides where I'm going. I have one mission, I have one affection, I have one obsession to be where you are. Isn't that simple? Isn't the invitation simple? Isn't it clear? Jesus didn't deceive anybody. He invited us into a life of full potential, a life more abundantly. And that life comes after death. Not physical death, death to self. Because flesh stands in the way of us becoming disciples. So some of us were so wrapped up in a our flesh that we have passion, we have desire for more. But when Jesus comes into rooms like this and says, hey, come follow me. And you're like, ah, that's a little too much. Like, it's touching my stuff. Like, that's my favorite. Like, no, like, not the golf clubs. Sorry, guys. No, we should play. I'm gonna. I'm gonna learn how to play golf. But, like, the point is, I'm just jealous of golfers. That's why, like, it's. I actually didn't mean that. Take it back. The point is, you know what Jesus will. You know what you can. He's faithful to do this. You know what he's always going to do? He's always going to check you. He's going to test you. And you're like, oh, God knows my heart. He'll test you for you to know your heart. He has no problem knowing your heart. But you got. You got some issues sometimes, you know, speaking to myself. But what I'm saying is he'll check you. And you know how he's gonna check you? Isaac, give him. Bring him to me. I want him. Oh, you. You followed. You want to follow me? Oh, yeah. Sell everything. Check. You think God's broke? He's trying to raise funds. He needs something. Absolutely not. But he's like, check. I'm longing for more. Something standing in the way. You're following me at a distance. Check. And now you know what you do? You decide. Because the question Jesus started with is not, I have predestined you to follow. Follow me. He says, if you want, you actually decide. Some of you don't even believe that. Some of you believe that someone decides for you, if you want to follow me, Deny self. And some of you, like, that's scary. That's the best thing that can happen to you. More joy, more peace, more life, more creativity. Waking up with a smile on your face. That's the best thing that can happen to you. As scary as that is. Deny self. Pick up your cross and keep going. Keep going, keep going. Going to share this next service. Can you remind me the old and the new? I need to share this thought, but I. I think it's going to take too much time. The old and the new. I'm going to share that next service that really relates to what we're talking about. Or next week. Sorry, we don't have two services anymore. Praise God. Not yet. Yeah, not yet. What happens before we make disciples? How we got so busy to do the thing without becoming who he called us to be. I know I was repenting while preparing. I know, I know that we, we drifted. It's easy to drift. It's easy to focus on other measurables, but it's actually really, really simple. And so as we go into this time of worship, I'm going to invite the ministry team forward and I'm going to ask you to just ask the Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me, God? And maybe some of you, you want to commit your life to become a disciple. Maybe you've been a churchgoer. Maybe you were just born in a Christian family and there's an invitation. Jesus is making an invitation. If you want, come follow me. And that is a lifelong journey. So if that's you in the room during this time of worship, I'm going to ask you to just come forward and respond. You can come up to any of these leaders here. They will pray with you. Or you can just stand in the front as well as people in this room. Maybe you need healing in your body. Maybe you need a breakthrough in your life or you're just hungry for more and you want a fresh touch from the Lord. I'm going to open this up during this time of worship to just come and receive. I believe God wants to meet us today in Jesus name. [00:37:16] Speaker B: Thank you for joining Kingdom Movement online. I pray and hope that that sermon impacted you deeply. I would love if you shared this with a few friends and family. And before you go, don't forget to subscribe. See you next week.