Right now we are reminding ourselves of who we are at First Baptist Church. We exist to make disciples of Jesus and grow as disciples of Jesus. We have seen that discipleship is not a destination. It is the lifelong process by which believers are always deepening in their relationship with Christ and moving closer to Christlikedness in their walk. We saw from Acts chapter 2 that the early church in Jerusalem discipled thousands of new believers by worshiping, connecting in discipling relationships, and serving one another as they served Jesus in evangelism and disciple-making. Worship, Connect, Serve is much more than a pithy slogan. It is the means by which believers grow in Christ. Over the last two weeks, Dave and Cameron preached on corporate worship and personal worship. They showed us from the Scripture how important worship is for the growing disciple. Ultimately, we become like what we worship. This Sunday, we will examine the importance of connecting in discipling relationships. Growing in Christ cannot be done in isolation. Jesus’ model of disciplemaking involved an intentionally small group of disciples who were relationally bound together under His teaching. They followed and learned as they daily walked with Him through His earthly ministry. In this same pattern, the early church continued the practice of smaller groups (Acts 2:46-49.) To illustrate the urgent and essential nature of being in accountable discipling relationships with one another, we will examine Hebrews 3:7-15. The Hebrew Christians were being tempted to leave from following Jesus and go back to the old ways of Judaism. They were suffering persecution, being treated as outcasts by their own family and friends, and enduring hardship because they had professed faith in Christ. The temptation was great to just go back to the old religion they had always known. The book of Hebrews is written to encourage them to remain faithful to Christ. Again and again, Hebrews shows us that Jesus is better than the old sacrifices, temple, priests, and even Moses. Jesus is the fulfillment of all these things. As the writer exhorts them not to turn away from Christ, he shows us the importance of being in discipling relationships with one another. Hebrews 3:13 says, “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” We were never intended to fight alone. We were never intended to battle the world, the flesh, and the devil in isolation.
Subscribe to the Sermon podcast on itunes or search for "jason velotta" in your podcasting app
Visit http://www.jasonvelotta.com/for more audio, video, books, and teaching materials https://www.fbcmulvane.com
https://www.facebook.com/jason.velotta.1
https://twitter.com/jrv773
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonvelotta
