Light of the World
Easter is not just a one-day event; It is the event that changed the world.
Throughout the Easter Season, we’ll be teaching through John 20 and 21 to explore John’s account of the Resurrected Jesus.
What is Discipleship?
Some have defined it as Christian trivia, just a synonym for Christian, or a wellness strategy.
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” – Luke 9:23
“...being with another person, under appropriate conditions, in order to become capable of doing what that person does or to become like that what that person is. An “apprentice” of Jesus is learning from him how to lead their life as he would lead their life if he were they” –Dallas Willard
Jesus’ simplest definition, which he says 20 times in the gospel of John, is ‘follow me.’
For those who commit their life to the ways of Jesus, the future becomes the present; they live a life Jesus calls eternal.
Abide with the Father.
Become like the Son
Collaborate with the Spirit.
Abide in the Father.
“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”–John 20:19–20
“If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.'“ – John 14:7
“God is like Jesus. God has always been like Jesus. There has never been a time when God was not like Jesus. We have not always known what God is like— But now we do.” – Brian Zahnd
“…If we can’t trust our parents, who we can see, to provide emotional support and security, how can we trust God, who we can’t see? Patterns of interactions with our attachment figures get stored in our memory as gut-level expectations of how close relationships work. These expectations get placed on our relationship with God, often without realizing it. This doesn’t mean that our experiences and expectations of God can’t change, but it does mean that the social context in which we are raised profoundly shapes the “God of our gut.” And this—not the God of our head—is the God we experience most of the time.” – Todd Hall
“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” –Psalm 103:8
Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus invites us to discover the love of God through experience.
If you really know me, you will know my Father as well (John 14:7)
But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you (John 14:17–18)
“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23)
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” (John 14:27)
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (John 14:27)
“I purposely emphasize the word ‘experience,’ and will seek to show from the scripture the importance of experience. A non-experiential religion is suspect, for it fails to deal with the totality of our being.” – Simon Ponsonby
Become like the Son.
“Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” –John 20:21 (ESV)
Just as the Father sent Jesus into the world to save it, Jesus is sending us into the world to declare that Good News.
The Activities of Jesus.
Preaching the Gospel.
Teaching the Way
Healing the sick
Casting out demons
Eating and drinking with those far from God
Doing justice
Peacemaking
Prayer
Standing up to religious and political corruption.
The Character of Jesus.
“…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…” – Galatians 5:22-23
“whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:19.
“[Becoming like Christ] is training, not trying.” – Richard Foster
Collaborate with the Spirit.
“And with that, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” –John 20:22–23 (ESV)
“God’s Empowering Presence.” – Gordon Fee
The Spirit will lead.
The Spirit will dwell.
The Spirit will glorify Jesus.
“[the Spirit] will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:13)
“the Spirit, above all else, carries on Jesus’ mission and mediates his presence… The personal functions of the Spirit are also the functions of Jesus in the rest of the book, and the sensitive reader cannot miss the connection.” – Craig Keener
The Spirit is at work, pointing to Jesus and redeeming our fractured world, which will include a wide variety of ordinary and extraordinary acts.
Into the World
“The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.”― Dallas Willard
Follow Jesus
Commit (and recommit) your mind, your body, your emotions, and your life to pursuing his Way.
Get Baptized.
Join a microchurch.
Serve
Read the scriptures
Learn the rhythms of prayer
