{"id":3592,"date":"2020-05-09T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/?p=3592"},"modified":"2020-05-09T04:33:56","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T09:33:56","slug":"making-disciples-the-process-teaching-obedience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/making-disciples-the-process-teaching-obedience\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Disciples &#8211; The Process &#8211; Teaching Obedience"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"\">\n<div class=\"\"><span class=\"\">Matthew 28:16-20<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><span class=\"\">16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, &#8220;All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.\u00a0 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.&#8221;<\/span><\/div>\n<p>This week, we are reminding ourselves of the overarching purpose of our church. This passage has come to be known as the \u201cGreat Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We looked at the\u2026<\/p>\n<p>I. \u00a0 The Power (Authority) of the Great Commission<\/p>\n<p>II. \u00a0 The Activity of the Great Commission<\/p>\n<p>III.\u00a0 The Process of Making Disciples<\/p>\n<p>Since making disciples is the activity of the Great Commission, Jesus uses three participles to explain the process of making disciples. They are \u201cGo,\u201d \u201cBaptizing\u201d and \u201cTeaching.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We have looked at the first two steps in making disciples which are\u2026<\/p>\n<p>A. As you \u201cGO,\u201d look for opportunities to make disciples.<\/p>\n<p>B. Baptizing as a first step in obedience in confessing faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.<\/p>\n<p>The third step in discipleship is<\/p>\n<p>C. Teaching Obedience<\/p>\n<div class=\"\"><span class=\"\">First, we need to understand that..<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><span class=\"\">\u2014\u20141.\u00a0 The goal is not head knowledge, although that is necessary.<\/span><\/div>\n<p>2 Tim 3:7 speaks of \u201cever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While understanding many things about our life in Christ are essential to our spiritual growth, they are to be seen as a means to a desired end.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u2014 2.\u00a0 We are to teach people to obey everything Christ commands us to do.<\/p>\n<div class=\"\"><span class=\"\">Verse 20 \u201cand teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><span class=\"\">**** \u201cTo observe all things\u201d KJV<\/span><\/div>\n<p>So, the purpose in teaching head knowledge is so they will know what Jesus expects.\u00a0 But, then comes the learning process of working out Jesus\u2019 expectation in obedience.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u20143.\u00a0 The difference between our level of knowledge and our level of obedience we call hypocrisy<\/p>\n<p>Most of us have been in church for years. Most of us know a whole lot more than we are doing.<\/p>\n<div class=\"\"><span class=\"\">It\u2019s like when a pastor changed his preaching strategy and began preaching the same sermon every week. The members began to complain and said, \u201cDon\u2019t you know any other messages?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><span class=\"\">The pastor responding, \u201cSure I do.\u00a0 And when our church starts practicing this sermon, I\u2019ll go on to another.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<p>You see, the congregation just wanted more head knowledge, but the pastor understood that obedience was the key to healthy Christian living.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at some\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u20144. Verses on Obedience:<\/p>\n<p>Titus 2:11-12\u00a0 \u201cFor the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say &#8220;No&#8221; to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>***Did you see that?\u00a0 God\u2019s grace teaches us obedience. Obedience is a learning process.<\/p>\n<p>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<\/p>\n<p>1 Peter 1:14-16 \u00a0 \u201cAs obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: \u2018Be holy, because I am holy.\u2019&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>*** God is our heavenly Father and we are to be obedient children.<\/p>\n<p>OBEDIENCE is to be our focus, NOT VICTORY &#8211; victory is a by-product of obedience.<\/p>\n<p>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<\/p>\n<p>Romans 1:5\u00a0 \u201cThrough him and for his name&#8217;s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>*** Faith is to be the driving motivation for our obedience.\u00a0 Out of our faith comes our obedience: as the old hymn goes, \u201cTrust and obey for there\u2019s no other way.\u201d\u00a0 Too many people have a rigid legalistic view of obedience.<\/p>\n<p>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<\/p>\n<p>To Jesus, the hallmark of a disciple is a life of FAITH-FILLED OBEDIENCE with complete abandonment to Him as Lord and Savior.<\/p>\n<p>Luke 14:26 (ESV). \u201cIf anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Luke 14:27 (ESV) \u201cWhoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Luke 14:33 (ESV) \u201cSo therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s be honest: the concept of obedience is almost foreign to we Americans. So, today I remind us all that we are to be obedient Kingdom citizens first and foremost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew 28:16-20 16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, &#8220;All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.\u00a0 19 Therefore go and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3592"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3592"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3603,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3592\/revisions\/3603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}