Loving God! Loving People! Loving Life! Message Notes Dive In - Discipleship Part Two Life Church Smyrna Wednesday, June 14, 2017 7pm Pastor Christian Salzillo I. How do we follow Jesus in this modern age? John 13:13, 15 You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that s what I am!...i have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. A. Jesus must become our ever present TEACHER [The Disciples] learned to do everything they said and did in cooperative action with Jesus, their always present teacher. -Dallas Willard We can t make the mistake of allowing Jesus to be our teacher and guide for spiritual matters and leaving him out of everything else! John 16:13-14 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Jesus as our ever present teacher means to recognize him in the day to day, moment to moment occasions of life through the Holy Spirit. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of his presence. On our part, there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for his work is to show us the Father and the Son. If we cooperate with him in loving obedience, God will manifest himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of his face. -A.W. Tozer Acts 17:28 For in him we live and move and have our being John 14:23 23 Jesus answered, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. B. Jesus initiates the RELATIONSHIP with us We have to understand that anything we do to foster that relationship is a response to what he s already done. Prevenient Grace - Before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man. -AW Tozer John 6:44 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him C. Jesus then invites us to FOLLOW him into his PRACTICES There is nothing in the teachings of Jesus or his apostles that suggest that we can enjoy forgiveness at Jesus expense and have nothing more to do with him 2 Peter 1:3-9 5 make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of accepting Christ and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him, we need no more seek him. -AW Tozer Willard includes Solitude, Silence, Study, Service, Worship and Community as some of the practices/spiritual disciplines.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017 I. How do we follow Jesus in this modern age? 1
John 13:13, 15 NIV You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that s what I am!...i have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. A. Jesus Must Become our Ever Present Teacher 2
-Dallas Willard- [The Disciples] learned to do everything they said and did in cooperative action with Jesus, their always present teacher. John 16:13-14 CSB 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. - 3
-A.W. Tozer- The Pursuit of God God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of his presence. On our part, there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for his work is to show us the Father and the Son. If we cooperate with him in loving obedience, God will manifest himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of his face. Acts 17:28 CSB For in him we live and move and have our being 4
John 14:23 CSB Jesus answered, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. B. Jesus Initiates the Relationship with Us 5
-AW Tozer- The Pursuit of God Before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man. John 6:44 CSB No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him 6
C. Jesus Then Invites us to Follow him into his Practices 2 Peter 1:3-9 CSB 3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 7
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. -AW Tozer- The Pursuit of God Everything is made to center upon the initial act of accepting Christ and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him, we need no more seek him. 8