 How about that? Glad to have all of you here with us tonight. Would you stand with us? And let's go to the Lord in prayer. All of you that are watching online, we're glad to have you as well. If you are watching online and you'd like to get your prayer request included in this prayer, the call to prayer, you know, all you need to do is just put that on the email at info at paceassembly.org or you can include it on your comments. There's someone standing by to be able to take you, your needs, and we will put them together with the many others that are in front of us here tonight and believe God for miracles to take place. There is no doubt that people have been touched this past week. I received a phone call just today this afternoon. We've been praying for someone who had gotten a diagnosis of a extremely large mass inside of their body, touching three different organs. And the report came back today that there is no cancer all as well. Amen. So the Lord still does miracles. Do you need one tonight? Well, then let's believe here's what takes place. The Bible says what you make happen for other people. God turns it around for you. You give mercy, you receive mercy. You give grace, you get grace. If you'll give faith for someone else who's in need, then I believe that God will turn around and answer your prayer in a supernatural way. We've had folks in recent days that have had all kinds of things that are transpired. The Lord has touched their life. And I give God all the glory and so did they because they know that it could not have happened without the Lord. So all we need to do is ask in faith believing and the Lord will do the work. Amen. Let's believe God together tonight. Amen. Father, in the name of Jesus we thank you for the privilege we have to bring all of our needs before you in prayer. And Lord, not just to bring our needs to you, but to thank you for being the great God that you are. We recognize, Lord, tonight that we're a desperate people in need of the only true and living God. And so we come before you to bring all of these needs before you because there's not one that we can answer in ourself. But you said, Lord, if that if we pray the prayer of faith you would save the sick and raise them up. And if there be any sin, it shall be forgiven them. So wherever people are hurting tonight, wherever people are sick, wherever people are needing a healing in their body, a miracle, we believe right now that you'll send your word to wherever people are watching and people in this congregation. To heal and to minister as only you know how. Breathe upon your people tonight. I pray the very life-giving presence of God. And we thank you right now because you hear us when we pray. Lord, we just expect it and we believe it that we will declare it in the name that is above every other name, in the name of Jesus Christ and for your glory. And everybody believes it, say a good amen. Did you find about 25 people to shake hands with? Let them know how glad you are to see them. And I wanna be able to communicate with you that are watching online tonight. We are delighted that you have joined us from around the world. And wherever you may be watching from, you're a part of this great family right here at Pace of Sam. This Bible class is for you to be able to find the edification and strengthen the word of God. And I just wanna encourage you right now to take time to download the study or you can do that on your smart device and then be ready to be a giver in just a few moments in your tithe, your offering, whatever it may be to your local church or right here. And we praise God for you taking the time to be able to be a part of this service here tonight. Would you take time also to share this out on your social media device and let other people be able to join in on this Bible class? Thank you so much for being a part and we love to be able to hear from you. So you can type right in there on the comments location. There's someone that's standing by to communicate with you right now and let you know, we appreciate you watching. God bless you for being a part of it. Amen, what a wonderful group of people here tonight. Glad to have all of you. And I pray that God has blessed your life since Sunday. Amen, anybody blessed in the house? Okay, so you've got an opportunity to be a blessing to other people. And so I wanna just encourage you right now to be a giver and while you're doing that you can do it on your smart device, on your phone. You can do that online at pacesimley.org. You can do it by the envelopes that are provided for you on the way out the door, the buckets that are provided for you there. You can do that and may God bless you for your faithfulness in giving. I can assure you that there's always a great need and we're working on some things even now that we hope to be able to bring to you in the next few weeks. One of which I'll share with you now because the need is becoming so great and we have been working to put our pantry back into motion and a lot of that has been farmed out in times past but we are preparing to be able to do that to minister to the lives of people that are needing it. And so I want you to pray about that because we're gonna bring those needs to you so that you can be able to help especially and listen carefully, especially over the time of Thanksgiving and Christmas. So if you'll set something aside for those times, there are families in our community as well as the missions that we're doing, the missions, opportunities that we're doing that's gonna touch a lot of people. And so I just thank you. I'm thankful to Pastor Church that's not stingy. You're a giving church. You're people that see the need, you see the harvest and you respond to it and I promise you whatever you cast on the water it will come back to you. And the Bible says, and I just encourage you to be that kind of a person, be that kind of a giver and the Lord will bless your life, amen. Father, thank you for the privilege we have to give to you. We recognize, Lord, that there's not one thing that we have, not one thing that we claim to be our own that you didn't provide it for us. The clothes on our back, the very food on our table, everything that we have comes down from the father of lights. And we give you praise for that tonight. And so Lord, we bring it back to you as an offering, as a tithe to be able to say, Lord, you own it all. And we thank you for giving us the opportunity to manage it for this period of time. Let this be sown into the kingdom we pray and bring forth much fruit. And we give you praise for it now in Jesus' name, amen. God bless you tonight as you are giving. While you're doing that, let me remind all of you, especially all of you that are brand new to Pace Assembly, if you are a brand new individual who has not been through the starting point class, we wanna encourage you to start that this coming weekend. It will start this weekend. It's a four week class. Each one of these classes is so important for you to be able to understand what we believe, where we're going, and what Pace Assembly is all about. And so we encourage you to enroll in that. That will happen at nine o'clock this coming Sunday morning in the room 6107, when you're coming in the door of the ushers and greeters can guide you to that location or you can follow some of the signage that will take you to that room. I will tell you that that's one of the most important things that you can do as a newcomer to Pace Assembly because it will give you that introduction. It will help you to see what's taking place and you don't ever need to be somewhere and call yourself in a church that you don't know what they believe. You need to understand the doctrinal background behind that church because there's so much that's going on today. Well, once you sit in those classes, you'll be able to be a part of that. And if you want to become a member, that's a requirement for you to become a member. And once you've completed those classes on the last Sunday of September, we will be thrilled to bring in another class of graduates from the starting point class into membership and we'll look forward for you to being able to do that. So don't forget that you can register online or just show up this coming Sunday morning at nine o'clock in room 6107. Mark that down and make sure you're a part of it. And then of course, don't forget, September the 11th at 6 p.m. for prophecy files. There is so much that's taking place in our world today that I'm having to really parse things into a real concise way. There's a lot of things that are happening and I don't want you to miss it. I want you to invite your friends and once you see it out there on social media, grab it and share it and get that information out. Typically, there's quite a few folks that will show up on that Sunday night for prophecy files. No matter who's here, you're gonna get information that you're probably not gonna get in other locations. And the most important part is, is that I'm not just reading headlines, but we're bringing the Word of God to you, helping you to understand how it ties in to Bible prophecy and lets you know without a doubt how close we are to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So you make sure that you're a part of it and I believe it will be a blessing to you. All right, you've got your study out tonight. This is the fifth and final installment of this lesson series in discipleship on following the Lord. This series of follow me, I believe, I hope it's been a blessing to you. And tonight, before this class is over with, you're gonna be able to understand whether or not you're a true disciple, a spirit-filled disciple or not. Because there is really a lot of things that qualify you to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. I'm not a disciple because I come to a church. I'm not a disciple because I just believe in Jesus. There are certain things that I'm gonna show you in just a few moments that will help you to understand whether or not you are truly a disciple of the Lord. So we'll get into that in just a few moments. You can open your Bibles up to the book of Matthew chapter number five. I'm sorry, chapter number four, verse 18 through 20. And we may read a little bit further than verse 20 here this evening. Now, Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your presence. It's been around us all day. And we thank you, Lord Jesus, that you've brought into this sanctuary. People here and those that are watching online who are desiring to draw nearer to you. And so I pray that the words that I speak will be those seasoned of the Holy Spirit and that our ears will hear and our hearts will conceive what the Word of God has to say tonight and we give you glory for it in Jesus' name and everybody said a good amen. In the book of Matthew chapter number four, here is Jesus once again, actually stepping onto the role now of beginning to call his disciples. And in verse number 18, Jesus has come just up out of the river Jordan after being baptized. And now he's calling a select group of individuals to come alongside and be the inner circle. There was, there's different levels that you'll see in the scripture of those that are following the Lord. Jesus had crowds, but that wasn't the close followers of the Lord. And then there was the 70 that he sent out. But that wasn't the closest following of the Lord. Then there was the 12. And that wasn't the immediate disciples that followed him, but even that wasn't the closest circle. There was Peter, James and John who was the inner circle. So I'm saying to you tonight that your level of desire, your level of drawing near to God can determine where you desire and your hunger for God to know him in a most intimate and powerful way. So I want to encourage you to look there in verse number 18 as we check out what Jesus is saying, because he has just come up out of the river, Jordan being baptized. And the next thing you know, the first message that he starts speaking about is repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So Jesus arrival here has now caused him to begin his ministry. After all these years of preparation, he now begins his ministry at 30, 30 years old. And his first message and his only message about has been repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus, verse 18, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brother and Simon called Peter and Andrew, his brother casting a net into the sea for they were fishers. This was their occupation. This was their literal business. And he said unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men, not just fishers of fish, but fishers of men. And they noticed this, and then this is an amazing thing because Jesus apparently has come this way before, but there was not that call that came upon him. There was the, or upon them that they experienced Jesus perhaps in the neighborhood, so to speak. But now there is a direct call to them to get up and leave what they're doing and follow the Lord. Now, while they're going to leave their business alone and a little bit later on after these 33 and a half years and he's crucified or the three and a half years and Jesus is crucified, Peter actually says, hey, I'm going back fishing. I'm going to open the business back up again. But I'm going to tell you, as you've heard before when we've been teaching on this subject that the gifts and the callings of God are without repentance. So no matter what Peter thought he wanted to do, he never forgot the call that God made to him personally and to get up and leave what he was doing and have a full life commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. We continue in verse 20, and they straightway, they straightway left their nets. And what did they do? They followed him. Did Jesus follow them? They followed him. They got up and left and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets and he called to them. And they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him. It's a powerful calling here and there's not even a breath before Jesus begins to do mighty miracles right there in Capernaum. Now it's so important that we get a hold of this information because tonight what you need to understand is that we were created in the image of God but sin marred the image of God's creation. And why that's so important for us to get a hold of is is that God is working on our lives on a daily basis if you are a believer, if you're a Christian. So Jesus came to do what? According to Romans 8 and 29, he came to restore the image of God through salvation. Now we might not think about our image being marred. We might not think about how that sin has taken hold of our lives, but we were born. Every one of us were born in sin with the exception of Jesus Christ. He was born sinless and we were born into sin and we immediately stepped and began to act out the role of what we were born into sin. But when Jesus Christ came into our heart and life and changed us, it's not just a one time change, but he is continually lifetime changing us from glory to glory. So to be born again is actually a miracle of the moment so to speak. But the making of a disciple is a lifetime. It's so important for you to understand. I don't think anybody in here does this and when you look at the Apostle Paul, he says this to us, he said, I have not yet attained, I am still attaining. I am still reaching for more of God and more to be more like him, okay? Now this is so important because people run after God today and I want you to know that if you'll seek him, the Bible says you'll find him. So you're not in a continual seeking, but that entering into that relationship with him as a disciple means that you're gonna yield yourself to him to the degree that you're gonna allow the master potter to put his hands upon the clay and mold it into what he wants it to be. Now if you're not up for that molding or you wanna resist that, he will continually work with you, but after a while, if you don't, there's gonna be a remaking of that. Now, I don't know what the terminology that potters, master potters use for this, but so I'm just having to pick my own term here. If you've ever seen anybody working on the wheel with pottery before and it doesn't wanna comply or it gets an imperfection so that it has to be reworked, they'll take it and then they'll, this is, I don't know what this term is, but this is my term, wop, they will wop it. Now I don't know if you've ever been wopped by God before. Anybody ever been wopped by God before? Okay, 16 of us. We've been wopped by God before because why? Because there was something going on that we did not yield ourself. And so the Lord, bring me down just a little bit, Steve, if you will please. The Lord put his hands on us and this is what Jeremiah looks at in Jeremiah 18 when he's instructed by God to go down to the potter's house and perceive, look, see what the master potter is doing on the wheel. He's making a vessel and it becomes marred in the hands of the potter. Are you with me? It becomes marred in the hands of the potter. We'll say that again. It becomes marred in the hands of the potter. Now, the good part for you and for me is that, even though it may be marred, it's in the hands of the potter. As a disciple, we are yielding ourself to the Lord to allow the master potter to make us what he wants us to be. So the new birth are becoming born again or becoming saved, all of these terms synonymous is the beginning point of that. And then from there, it is a lifestyle of following a life of growth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you're not growing, I don't care how old you are or how young you are, it is a process of growing. Now, you're gonna grow up to be something. You understand what I'm saying? I mean, the tree left alone will grow up to be something. The child left alone will grow up to be something. But if you don't intentionally work with that child and mold that child and train that child, then their base nature or the nature of sin, the sin nature will take hold and direct their life in the opposite of this book. You don't have to do anything to go to hell. But you do have to come to Jesus to go to heaven. So when I come to Jesus, I am willingly laying my life on the wheel and saying, Lord, you do what you wanna do for all of my life. Now, I'm gonna ask this and it's a rhetorical question. So don't raise your hand. I wanna say that again. This question is not for to poll you. Do not raise your hand. How many of you have ever resisted the work of the Lord inside of your life? Don't raise your hand. I told y'all don't raise your hand because there's not a person in here, those that are watching, who hasn't? At some point or another, there was a resistance. Some point or another, there was a stop. Now what I know is, what I know is, because the Lord loves you and he cares about us, he will not leave us to our own selves. Thank you for those two, amen. So if we're gonna grow in Christ's likeness, which is a restoration of God's image inside of us, making us and molding us, then it becomes a work in progress. That's the reason why you can't compare yourself with someone else and their spirituality. Because everybody in here is on a different level. Now the worst thing you could do is have to keep repeating the kindergarten class. Anybody have ever repeat the God class before? Don't raise your hand. I'm trying to tell y'all. Yeah, you've had to repeat a class or two. Sometimes, now I know this is not for you. This is for all those people who watch online that you've never not had complete self-control. So I said, well, I've always had self-control until that carton of ice cream comes around and then you just lose it. Well Pastor, that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about spiritual things, nope. It's a total life commitment. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying? What good is a disciple who is in such bad health that they can't be what they need to be for God? Come on, somebody. It's the Lord's will that we are healed. Am I right about it? So the discipline or discipleship happens as a total life commitment, a total work of God inside of our life and it never stops. So I mean, this is the good part about it. You don't have to go, oh, okay. Sometimes people look at the fruit or they say it like this, the fruits of the spirit. As separate entities or separate things going on that the Lord's working on love, love, love, love, love, love, love in my life and he's leaving everything else, but understand that it is a cluster. And he's working at all things at the same time. So the fruit of the spirit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, he's working into our life as character. Now you can't have the operation of gifts as a disciple if you don't have the character to keep you there. A lot of people have gifts, but if those gifts are elevated to the degree that your character doesn't come alongside, then your gift will take you to places that your character, as someone said, won't keep you. You understand what I'm saying? If you're not faithful, then I don't care how well gifted you are. At some point, it will not work. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying? So this is, we're talking about discipleship here. We're talking about a process. And that process is continual. The word Christian appears three times in this particular, in the New Testament, but the word disciple actually appears some 300 times in the New Testament. So remember this, that we're not called to make converts. Jesus did not call us to make converts, though that's the first step for someone to be converted saved. We are called to make disciples. As believers, our calling is to make disciples. Once they get saved, somebody, somehow that will not, listen, if you have a baby and it's birthed in the hospital and you're so excited, and then you bring the baby home, and you take the baby to another house and you go, wow, it's so incredible. This is great, we had a baby, baby's there at, okay, we'll see ya. And you never feed the baby, you never care, come on somebody, you never change the baby, the babies mess up, old Christian babies mess up. If you neglect the baby, then the baby can't be discipled, the baby can't grow, the baby is stunted, their care is stunted, who would do that? Then why would we have converts and not have someone to take them and mentor them and disciple them like the Lord would have us to do? Now somebody said before, somebody says, well that's not my calling, well yes it is. As a matter of fact, it's all of our callings. There should be someone that you are mentoring to Christ in your life. If you don't, you need to find who that is that God's directing you to. Now most certainly should be your children, people in your own house, but who outside of that is the Lord directing you to? Are you too busy? It's very easy to get too busy and we neglect taking care of the baby. But if we're going to see everybody loves the birth of a baby, well some people do, some people want to abort it, come on somebody. So everything spiritual is happening physical. Are you hearing me? So the last thing we wanna do is have a whole bunch of converts, but nobody gets discipled. Now let me just tell you it's more difficult now than it's ever been, but it's even more easy now than it's ever been. Because as I was growing up and discipleship, discipleship was not something we went, all right, we're gonna have a discipleship class, no, it was Sunday school. An hour before the main service, there was a Sunday school class that everybody went to and that was discipleship time. The teacher would take the curriculum or whatever and start teaching that and you were growing in that. And then you came, everybody came to sanctuary, there wasn't anything called children's church when I was growing up. Children's church was sitting beside my mother. Praise the Lord. I didn't have no popsicles and I didn't have no color crayon or nothing like that. I actually had to sit here and listen to the Word of God. Whoa, that was big. So this is a process and you should have somebody you're mentoring. I'm asking you this, don't raise your hand, who is it that you're mentoring towards the Lord now? And please don't think it has to be somebody that's lesser age or whatever than you because people are coming into the kingdom, but they need someone who is mature enough who will take time to be able to say, hey, how you doing? Let me share this passage of scripture with you. Hey, let me pray with you. Many people think we got to sit down, I got to open the Bible up and they go, and they're sitting there wall-eyed and they don't know what. No, it's a, listen, Jesus spoke to his disciples while he was walking with them. He told them parables as he was just walking along the road, right? He just spoke to them. He said, the kingdom of heaven is like, and then he would rip off into a story. And the disciples are just walking behind him, listening, trying to figure out what he's saying. Let me throw this on you. Jesus was asked by the disciples one day, I'm gonna give you something right here in a second. Jesus was asked to his disciples one day, Jesus, and I am paraphrasing this, Jesus, why don't you just tell us like in playing language instead of telling us all these parable stories, things? Why don't you just tell us? And Jesus' response was, only those, and again, I'm paraphrasing this, only those who are true seekers are going to hear this word and understand it. Isn't it amazing how you can talk to some people and it's like right over their head? You know why? Because they're not engaged with that. Jesus said, I'm telling this, and there's a whole bunch of people out here that are gonna hear it, but they're not gonna conceive it and receive it. But the ones who do, those are my disciples indeed. Think about it. It literally separates the crowd from the individual who's following after the Lord. Now, because your pins are getting so dry, help me out of here in the back. I don't know if this is working. Did I turn it off? What happened? There we go. All right, so write this down. One of the basic laws of spiritual growth is, and it's very simple, we follow Jesus and Jesus does the making. Look what he said to them. He said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. In other words, in other words, you are not fishers of men. You have no concept of what I'm talking about except you fish for fish. And look at Jesus tie their occupation in to what their calling is. You're fishing for fish, but I'm gonna teach you how to fish for men. Isn't that awesome? So Jesus is saying right here, he says, if you follow me, just follow me. So let me stop and say this right here. For those of you who go, man, the Bible's so hard to understand and I don't know really what I'm doing, what's my calling, all that kind of, you just keep on coming to Jesus. Keep on coming to church, keep on coming to church. Well, I'm struggling, I fell down, just keep on coming, just keep on coming. Don't let nothing stop you, don't let nothing distract you, don't let nothing detour you because I'm gonna tell you, the more you hunger and follow after the Lord, the more he's gonna make you. Are you hear me? He's gonna make you into what he wants you to be. He sees what you can be, but he realizes that you've been marred. The image has been marred, but he's gonna mold you and make you. Follow me and I will make you. Now, what is the difference in that and someone who is called an apprentice with an electrician? Now, he's not a journeyman. Dad was a journeyman, but they would put new guys on the job and they'd have to pay close attention and follow what he was doing and after a while they learned and they took the classes and they'd become it, they became a journeyman. And what did that journeyman do? He turned around and started training somebody else and bringing them along, come on, somebody. That's the reason why preachers don't retire. It's a, that is a fallacy that's not biblical. When the high priest stopped being able to function in the area and the calling that he was designed and called to be, then he would step into a mentorship role for the incoming high priest and the Levites that were there. He never went away. He became a consultant if you wanna call it that today. Are you following what I'm saying? It's so important for us to be able to follow the Lord and allow him to make us. Now, I don't care how old you are in the Lord, the Lord is still making you. And let me say, you don't make yourself. If you follow Jesus, he's gonna make you into what you need to be. You would have chosen something else, am I right? How many of you got some things on your mind right now? You know, no, no, no, no. If you ever find the purpose and the call of God like you should and you start walking in it, I'm not saying everything's gonna be rosy and yellow brick roads. What I am telling you is there'll be something that will be drawing you constantly towards the Lord and you'll see fulfillment and fruit come into your life. There's four things right here that a disciple needs as qualities inside of their life and here they are. Number one, there's faithfulness that needs to be there. Faithfulness, somebody shout faithful. So let me just ask you, if you're married and if you only go home to your spouse once a month, is that faithful? It's not a trick question, just go ahead and say it right out loud. I'm gonna try it on again because some of you have mumbled, fallen asleep, are you a rebellious people? If you only go home one time, this is not a trick question, listen carefully. If you only go home to your spouse once a month for fellowship, is that faithful? Come on, you can say it out loud, just say it out loud. So if you only go to the house of God one time a month, is that faithful? Let me ask you, if you showed up a day and a half on your job, but the rest of the week you were absent, is that faithful? If your car only cranked three times a week, is that faithful? You get the point? Faithfulness is what you're gonna be rewarded for. Watch this, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Lord, help me to be faithful. I may not always get it, I might mess up along the way and all that stumbling, all that kind, but Lord, whatever you do, help me to be faithful. He says, not only faithful, but how about available? Are you available or you got too much on your schedule? Cause God can clear it. He's cleared my schedule before. Anybody ever had God clear your schedule? Don't raise your hand, what are y'all doing? I'm just trying to tell you. Oh, he'll clear your schedule. He will clear your schedule. He will bring you to a place where you hit the wall everywhere you turn. Has anybody ever been there before? You had all this planned out and boom, here's this wall and you go, oh, well, I'll just do it, boom, all the way around. Next thing you know, you're in a hall of mirrors, you don't know where you're at. Oh, God, oh, now you got time to pray. Come on, somebody. Now, why does God do that stuff? Because He's looking for people that are available and He's got to train us in that. Because if we fill up our schedule with every activity known to man, and there's no time left for God, then discipleship is not gonna happen. Let's go to the third one. Are you able, not just able, available and able, but able to teach? Do you know something? I'm sure you do. Paul was trained in the highest of levels with Glamiel, who was the highest of the teachers of his day. He trained underneath him. And yet, every time you ever hear Paul, he tells his same story. I was blind, but now I see. Do you know what? You've got a story to tell. And listen to me very quickly. I'm gonna help you right here. So that you can be prepared for people that come who need to know Jesus Christ. You need to already have an ABC of what your story is. So you can be able to capsulize that and tell them what the Lord has done for you. Not how many blessings you've received, not look at my great big house and my huge car and all that kind of stuff. What did the Lord do for, what was the transformation moment for you? ABC, right? ABC, as simple as ABC. Admit you're a sinner. Here's the plan of salvation. Admit you're a sinner. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Confess and you shall be saved. There's the plan of salvation in the ABC. Now when you put that together in your head, here's what's gonna happen. And this is where some of you are afraid. You're afraid to be able to talk to somebody about the Lord Jesus Christ because you get stumbling over your words or you know, I'm shy and all that kind of stuff. And I'm amazed at people that are extremely shy but boy, if you ever get them on their team, they know every player, they know every situation, they know all the stats and okay, fine and dandy. But I wanna know, do you know enough to be able to help somebody for eternity? Y'all with me? Are you able to teach? If I'm not, I need to get there. And I'm not talking about a platform. I'm talking about that one-on-one relationship. I'm talking about going and saying hey, meet me for coffee down here at the Hardys. Let's talk the word. Let's talk about Jesus. Let's talk about what's going on in your life. Listen, people want you to be able to be interested in them. Now it's not all about them because if all it is is a conversation about them and then you get up and leave, you've not accomplished anything. Now I'm just telling you, I had none of this in my notes but this is where I'm going. Cause the Holy Spirit is downloading stuff for me. What you've got to do, if we're gonna win this world, I'm just telling you, my dear friends, 70% of millennials have no interest in God whatsoever. Only 34% of pastors believe the word of God is completely in error in the United States of America. Now, I'm not a betting man, but I bet you if we put them over in North Korea, they would start believing it from cover to cover. You follow me? It depends on where you are, right? So why is that so important? Because there's a generation that now is very spiritual but don't know anything about God and certainly don't want any controversy with Jesus. That's the reason why you must be able to take rightly divide the word of truth, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, but rightly dividing the word of God, okay? We have so much false doctrine and false prophecies and false prophets and prophesiers and prophylires and all that kind of stuff going on. You better know what the word of God has to say and help disciple somebody. Number four is be teachable. Now, if you're gonna be reachable, you have to be teachable. And that goes for everybody. I try to learn something new every day. I don't care what it is, it's not just in the word of God, I wanna know. I wanna know, I might not be totally engaged in that, but I wanna know, tell me, how does this work? What is this? I wanna know something. As it relates to discipleship, we must have the ability to be teachable. If we're not teachable, then we're stuck right where we are and it makes no difference because here's the deal. A double minded man is unstable in all of his ways, right? A double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. So if he's not teachable, he's always wishy-washy. Never can make up his mind. Are you hearing me? I don't know about you, how many of you made up your mind to serve the Lord? Let me see your hand, now raise your hand. All right, look at all that right there. All the people that have made up their mind to serve the Lord, there's no turning back, right? So now if I just keep myself teachable, okay? I wanna be 90 years old, plus and teachable, right? Teach me something, show me how to work my phone. It makes no difference, you're a third grader, show me how to get this app downloaded, right? For some of you right now, you need to pray, Lord, help me to be teachable and send my youngest grandchild over to get this 12 o'clock from flashing on a VCR. That's been doing that for 20 years, right? Teachable, remain teachable. Luke tells us, Luke in chapter six, and he came to pass in those days that went out into the mountain to pray and continued all night prayer. When it was day he called, Jesus called to his disciples and of them that he chose, 12 whom he named apostles. And the things that thou has heard, I'm sorry, he called them apostles, he taught them how to pray, all right, teachable, taught them how to pray. Second Timothy two and two, and the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others. So for every disciple, there is always the initial act of surrender for your salvation, but there is the continual act of surrender for following the Lord Jesus Christ every day. Ask yourself the question when you get up out of the bed and you get your coffee and you're about your wits or whatever, ask yourself the question, Lord, where are you gonna lead me today? Teach, show me, give me wisdom for today. That's my prayer. Show me, give me understanding before I get into something or arrive there, show me the wisdom that I need to have before I get there. Because you're gonna take me somewhere today. You're gonna, I'm gonna encounter somebody today. I need to be prepared and ready. Because if I'm not, for me, within the past two days, I've taken one hat off every day and put another one on. Just happens that way, and so do you. You know what I'm talking about? One moment you're doing this, next moment you gotta do this. Lord, show me what I'm supposed to do and what I'm not supposed to do. Are y'all with me out there? So what does it mean to follow Jesus? Let me run these down quickly for you. Number one, it means to believe on Jesus. If thou confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in that heart that God's raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved. Believe him. Oh, I believe you. Okay, do you trust him? Do you trust him? You better. In the time we're living in right now, the worst thing in the world that could happen is you call yourself a Christian and you don't trust the one who is the Christ. What good is coming to church and being a disciple and all that if you don't trust the one who's leading you? If I could just see you. No, that's the reason why he sent the Holy Spirit to us. To teach us, to lead us, to follow him and our steps be ordered to the Lord. It's not an accident where you go and what you do every day. God sets you up. That's my prayer. My prayer for you is that God sets you up. You ever known to be set up before by God? You were going to do this and all of a sudden somebody came up to you and started talking to you and the next thing you know, your spirit went off like an alarm bell. Right? Let me make this and I'm almost still your thunder. So Brother Neff went in the other day for a procedure on his knee. And when he was coming up, he shared this with me. I hope you don't mind me sharing. I don't think you will. If he does, then it's too late now. He's coming out of anesthesia and he catches himself, he can hear himself talking about the goodness of God and the things that he's been through and how God is being so good and so forth and just talking about the love of God and all that kind of thing going on. And when he comes up out of the anesthesia enough, the nurse that is sitting next to him in the recovery room is weeping. Am I right? Am I telling it right? She's sitting there weeping her eyes out and he comes up enough and she responds to him. You were saying this, this and this and it's exactly what I needed to hear. Now friends, I'm just telling you as a believer, your way every day is not some accident waiting for something for God to do. It is an intentional path that God has put you on as a disciple to lead you in the direction. I don't know how many times I've been rolled into surgery before and somebody be there and hey, Pastor Rogers, can you pray for me? How about praying for me? I'm going in, right? So believe on Jesus. Everybody say believe on Jesus. You can't be a disciple if you're not believing on Jesus and you can't be a disciple if you're not going in the same direction. Luke 9 and 23 says, it tells us very clearly that if we're not going in the same direction as the Lord, we're missing the call, the plan, the discipleship that he's calling us to be. What does he say? He said, if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. I can either give you directions. Yeah, let me say it like this. A good disciple will know which direction to go. And one of the things I love about one of the local businesses and it's a big supply chain store, but if you go in there and say, hey, I need to find this, they've been trained to not go, it's down there, I think, oh, something or other. No, they do this. Come on. And they lead you right down to where you need to go and here it is right here. Is there anything else I can do for you right here? Do you need me to help you? That's a true disciple. That's somebody who's learned it so well that they're not just telling them, hey, go do this. They're showing them what they're supposed to do. Come on, somebody. Are you going in the same direction as the Lord? Are you resisting it? That's something you just need to ask yourself. And that's not a hard question because if you're living pleasing to God, it's gonna be evident. Am I right about it? The next thing he says is stay close to me. Now I'm gonna tell you, I need to emphasize this point. If you're a disciple, you're not running around finding other Jesuses. Can you see these guys after he's called 12 of them? And you know, hey, Jesus, we've been walking with you for a little while, but there's this guy over here named Jesus too. Because you need to know during the time that Jesus was walking around on earth, he wasn't the only one called Jesus. There was a bunch of different people called Jesus. And it was a bunch of false prophets and all that kind of stuff. And today, because as fickle as we are as a community of Christians, people are over here and they're following the Lord and they're following, and somehow it gets boring. Are y'all with me here? Somehow it gets boring. Well, first of all, a life with Jesus Christ is anything but boring if you're walking with him the way you should. And let me say to all of you here and all of you that are watching online, if church and walking with the Lord is boring to you, go back and watch last Sunday morning where God took the whole place over, right? How many of you know that wasn't boring? Now, if you were bored during that, you were not engaged and you might wanna get born again. Cause I'm just gonna tell you when the Lord begins to move in your life, it's anything but boring. But sometimes the way it is today, people are over here and then they're over here and oh, you know, I'm bored, whatever. Listen, walking with the Lord, I've been to Israel. I've walked in areas, there's mountains and there's valleys and there's mountains and there's hills and then there's a boat ride across the Galilee and you're going in all these different directions. Anything that's happening with Jesus is never boring. You have to be sensitive and stay close to the Lord. Now I'm gonna say to you right now, with a world that has completely lost its mind. And I'm gonna bring some of this stuff to you in prophecy files, but let me just drop this on you. We started shutting the country down for COVID when 300 people died. Today, fentanyl is killing 300 people a day. And I'm gonna tell you something, you better make sure you got an open conversation with your kids right now and your grandkids. Because they're sending all kinds of little, listen, the candy-looking fentanyl that is being pushed out there today looks just like the little smarty pack I used to have as a small child. This is the same kind of colors and all that in there. It looks just like candy. But it's killing 300 people a day and mostly kids. I wanna say to you, my friends, staying close to God is not cliche. And it's not something, oh, I just wanna get in the presence of God so I can have this woo-woo moment. No, my dear friends, I'm gonna tell you something. If I would have been on the earth and Jesus walking around and I was one of his disciples, he'd probably have to tell me, Rogers, would you get off of my back? You can walk for yourself. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Get me up close to the Lord, right? Cause there's vipers and Pharisees and all kinds of stuff going on. I'm saying to you today, staying close to the Lord is not something that you should take for granted. Here's what the book of John tells us in John 6 and 68. Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, the question is asked, Jesus has just shut down fish and chips over here and 3,000 people got up left and Jesus flips around to his disciples and says, you gonna leave me too? And Peter says, where can we go? Are y'all with me here tonight? Where else can we go? Are we gonna go to Sun, Young Moon? Are we gonna go to Buddha? Are we gonna go to Krishna? We're gonna go atheists. What are we gonna do? No, Peter said, where else can we go? Thou hast the words of life. Now my dear friends, I'm telling you right now, if you speak those words into the life of other people and you bring the life of Jesus Christ to them, I'm gonna tell you what it's gonna do, it's gonna attract them for more and more and more and they may not even know the Lord. They may not know the Lord for a while, but that's okay. The more you're feeding them life, the more they're coming. Just invite them to church. Pastor, what happens if the spirit breaks out? These are the same people that are watching the Walking Dead and every other supernatural program and the real Holy Ghost is freaking them out. Come on, somebody, let's invite them into the power of God. Come on, right? And it's like I told you, we don't break the snakes out till 11. I told them to these guys that were the PBR riders last year. They were all standing down there. They're all these guys down here, they hadn't been in a church like this now and we were getting it, right? On that Sunday morning, we were getting it and there they were, placed his pack and I went over to the head guy and I said, listen, we don't break the snakes out till a little bit later. I was joking, but the brother was serious. And then he started whispering to his other guys. Now these are guys who are riding 2,500 pound bulls, but they said, ain't gonna be no steak up in here, that snake, I'm gone. Look at your neighbor tell them to stay close to Jesus. How many of you know, there's plenty of things, plenty of things to get you distracted, plenty of things to get you distracted. Don't get distracted from the Lord. Don't let something try to take his place. Take his place. You need a persevering faith. You need a daily prayer life. Do you have a certain time that you pray? Maybe it's in your car on the way. Well pastor, I got to get in the right mood and all that kind of stuff. Just get on highway 90 and drive, you'll pray. Am I right about it? In fact, in the business, you spirit feel people will pray in the Holy Ghost if you're driving down highway 90, right? Let the word, is there a time that you're studying the word, do you have this? And there's devotions on the back table back there. And I've had people in this congregation say, whatever you do, don't ever get rid of them, because that's my bread every day. Remember, it's not how much you eat that does you good, it's what you digest. So if you can just get one verse of scripture and meditate to that all day long, a lot of times, most every morning, the Lord wakes me up with some kind of song. I don't know why, that just happens to be the way it is. And then it's accompanied by my own devotion and reading the Word of God, getting the Word of God in me, and then I just meditate it on it. Sometimes sermons come out of it, sometimes they don't, most of the time they don't, because I'm not looking for a sermon when I go in here. I'm looking for something to eat. Yeah. Come on, somebody. I'm not looking for the answer, ooh, they need the answer. I'm not even looking for that. The more you study this and stay in prayer, the Bible says when you hide this word inside of your heart, he is the divine reminder. He will remind you of what you've already studied. Suddenly, at that very moment that you need it because you're a disciple of the Lord, it comes out of your mouth for them, just like he's sitting there, you know, out of his mind on anesthesia. He don't know what all he was saying, but if you put it in your heart, it'll come out of your mouth. If you put it in your heart, it'll come out of your mouth. If you put it in your heart, it'll come out of your mouth from the abundance of the heart. Whatever's abundant in the heart, the mouth will speak. Anybody getting this word tonight? I think this is good, I think. You have to be intentional about your relationship with Christ. That's the reason why I say you stay close to the Lord. You have to be intentional because if there's distractions that can take you away, detours, it will. And you gotta set a priority for that. You hear what I'm saying? If you don't set a priority for your spiritual life and for your walk with the Lord and your church life and all of that, believe me. In that vacuum will come something that will be, oh, it's so important. You hear what I'm saying? And it will seem important to you, but how do you explain the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from this past weekend inside of this auditorium to someone? You can't, what? You gotta be here. Now the world explains it like this, you must be present to win. Come on, all of you lottery ticket buyers, come on out there. Let's look at number four, we need to trust the Lord. Trust the Lord because I'm gonna tell you when God speaks to you, He won't tell you the whole story as a disciple. He's gonna say, follow me, well, where are we going? Just follow me. Well, what time are we gonna get there, just follow me. Come on, your kids are in the back seat. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Can you imagine Abraham right here in Hebrews 11 and 8, the Bible says, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called out to go to that place which he would receive an inheritance and went out not knowing where he was going, can you imagine Abraham every 15 minutes going, hey, God, are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? God said, Abraham, I want you to go to a place and I'll tell you when you get there. How many of us would strike out like that? This is the reason why God could trust him because he trusted the Lord. If you're following somebody in a car, they say, come on, follow me, I'll take you somewhere. You gotta trust them. Now I'm gonna tell you something. When I first used GPS, and I've only recently found that you can change it from a woman's voice to a man's voice, and they told me the other day you can actually change it to a British accent or some other accent, but when I first, when I first, how many of you remember the day that you actually used a fold out map to get there? Look at all these hands, I'm among friends. Okay, Granny and Papa had, my grandparents had the road atlas because they were on the road all the time, they had that road atlas, massive piece of equipment, the equivalent of war and peace. All right, showed everything, right? When I first used GPS and we put the map to the side, how many of you trusted GPS? Turn here, turn here now, re-calculating, right? And I'm gonna tell you, not long ago we drove, I forget where it was, we were going out, it was Texas and listen, there's a couple of places perpetually when Jesus comes and the Millennium, this is gonna be the best place for the Lord to do the work because in Beaumont, Texas, and in Dallas, Texas, there's construction on the road all the time, all right? So if you're not listening really, really close because they make these temporary exits, you can blow by that thing and be 30 miles down the road and it's re-calculating, re-calculating. I didn't really trust that, just I like to know, don't you? So I went to this truck stop a few weeks ago and we were going somewhere and bought a great, big road Atlas about that day, 2022, it is. Trusting the Lord is a development process over time. And I love you, but I may or may not trust you until you prove you're trustworthy. And as a disciple, remember, let's go back to Matthew 4 here, Jesus walks past these guys and they're over there doing what they've been doing all of their life, fishing, that's all they've ever known. And they're mending their nets and he walks by and there's no commentary, there's no lead up to it or anything, he just walks up to him and says, follow me and I'll make you fishers and men, follow me and I'll make you. And he keeps right on walking. And they drop their nets, give up their business. What was it that the Lord said? What was the emphasis that caused them to lay down everything they knew? And the Bible, look at the word straight way. That's a very powerful word in the scripture, straight way. That means there was no delay. They got up right then and started following the Lord. Do you remember when you got saved? You remember how that you were mending your nets and doing your own thing and nothing seemed to be working and all of a sudden, the Lord said, follow me. Do you remember when you straight way? Do you remember when you straight way just said, yes, Lord, I do. And I'm just gonna tell you, I've never regretted a day. I'm not gonna ask you if you've ever had any regrets. I've had some hard places. I failed the Lord multiple times. I'm not among friends here, I can see that. You're gonna leave me out here to dry. I've failed him multiple times. I've messed up over and over again. And you know, the Lord is so gracious and so tender-hearted and kind and loving and compassionate and knows that I am but a man, a frame, a fraction of what I'm supposed to be. But you know what, the one thing he's never done. Oh man, I feel something crawling up my leg. He has never denied me running after and following after him. You hear me? He's never told me, just forget it. You messed up so bad, just go back and live your old simple life. As long as I just got up and kept right on following him, when you trust him, when you trust him, and that's gonna be proven over and over again. And I don't care how long you've known the Lord, the trust factor is gonna be proven over and over and over again. You should get used to that. He's gonna put things in your path that's gonna have to prove that you are my disciples, right? So let's look at this, and I'm gonna move quickly right here. What happened in the lives of people? What's gonna happen in your life? Maybe you can identify with these folks right here. I'm gonna move quickly. Here we go. Cause Jesus said, I'm gonna make you. You remember a lot of people quoted like this, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. That's not what the scripture said. The scripture said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. So I'm just gonna tell you, because the Lord knows who we are and knows our, forget y'all, knows my attitude and how bad I can, and how staunch and a two by four I can be and all that kind of stuff. He said, Rodgers, I'm not gonna be able to trust you to just come to me, I'm gonna have to make you. Now I'm not gonna ask you how many times the Lord had to make you. But I just want you to see if you identify with this because if the Lord will do this in the lives of these people, if you'll keep following him, there'll be a transformation in your life. One question before I go to this. Have you ever, when you're raising your children, whatever, have you ever wondered, Lord, I put this in him, I think, I did my best, and you're waiting around to see, did it take? And then all of a sudden, years later, they're all grown up, all that kind of stuff, and all of a sudden that principle you put inside of them. Suddenly, they make that decision that they don't even know you said it, but you're over here watching them, and you go, it took. I worked so hard to try to get that principle in them, and it took. I'm gonna tell you something. The Lord is watching you tonight. And every time you read His Word, every time you get down to prayer, He's filling you up with principles and with the life-changing, lifestyle-changing character, all of that, and then He puts this thing in your path, and He's waiting to see, did it take? So see if you don't see yourself in some of these right here. Number one, here comes Peter, who was changed from a reed to a rock. His name in Hebrew has a dual meaning. It's water and it's a reed, a reed, a reed that can move with the wind, moves with the currents, whatever it may be. Water, Simon, Simon, you're water. But I'm gonna transform you into Peter, the rock. Are you hearing me? Who do men say I am? And he says, well, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, right? Thou art the Christ, well flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, but my Father, which is in heaven, and Peter, I'm seeing that it took, right? What does Peter do? He stands up at Pentecost and preaches that incredible message and 3,000 people get saved. I'm just gonna tell you, before you write that down, I'm just gonna tell you the rest of the folks around Simon Peter who Peter cursed Jesus and complimented him in the same verse. Now I know that's none of y'all and you've never had any of those occasions, but I'm just gonna tell you Peter was a rough dude. And God started making him. Now because God knows, oh, come on now, the Lord's pushing me a little bit right here, huh? Because the Lord knows everything about us, he knew everything about Simon Peter. He knew he was gonna be water on one side and a rock on the other. And because God knows everything, he knew I'm gonna use this guy to preach the message at Pentecost, the very first message. To this day, preachers study that as a sermon because it is a perfect outline of a message brought and 3,000 people get saved. Now, back up a little bit. This is the same guy that Jesus called a devil. Get behind me Satan. You're trying to keep me from going to the cross. Lord, I'll never leave you. Yes, you will Peter, before the rooster crows three times, you're gonna deny me three times. And yet the Lord transformed him. And when we read it, it's like overnight, but this is three and a half years he'd been working on OP. And right down to the end, he said, I'll never leave you. And he was the first one out, right? Now, nobody dies for a dead man, but Peter was crucified upside down in Rome as a martyr for the cause of Christ. Look at the dedication. He went from a guy who has had a fishing business who could have done whatever he wanted to and many times did. The Bible calls him ignorant and unlearned fishermen and flips it around and makes him Peter the Rock. Look at the transformation. James and John, they were called the sons of thunder. Why were they called the sons of thunder? Well, if the prophets got ahold of it today, they'd say because they were so powerful. Actually, they were just loud, passionate and wanted to kill people, read this Bible. At one point, they were nicknamed the sons of thunder. They were hotheaded brothers who when it came right down to it started requesting of their mama, mama go talk to Jesus, we wanna find out. And they went over there and asked Jesus, Jesus, listen, we got this question for you. He said, go ahead. Can we sit on the right hand and the left hand? And see, now you gotta read between the lines. Jesus said, you ego tripping, sons of thunder. Now it's not in the holy rip, but I'm just telling you somewhere in there. Actually what Jesus said in Mark chapter 10 verse 38, he said, he said, really? He said, are you gonna drink of the cup that I'm gonna drink of? And these clowns said, oh yes, right. Now, what did God do? First of all, here's these sons of thunders. We're the powerful men of God. Nobody else supposed to do this. So they rebuke a guy for casting the devil out of somebody. And Jesus said, what are you doing? That's not up to you. Then they got to a Samaritan village and they said, let's call fire down and kill them all. Sounds like apostles and prophets and disciples, don't it? Then here comes Pentecost and they're both filled with the spirit of God and James becomes the head of the church of Jerusalem and dies at 94 John. He's over here getting exiled to the Isle of Patmos and gives to us the revelation. I'm just telling you, my dear friends, God can take your life from thunder to tenderness if you'll let him make you. I'm moving quickly. Here's Mary Magdalene, who's possessed with all kinds of devils, demonic possession, turns into dynamic power. What takes place? This is the woman who arrives at the grave first because to whom much is given, much is required. Look at this woman. She's had seven devils cast out of her by Jesus Christ and I'm not just gonna tell you, in recent years they've made all kinds of movies and tried to mock this woman and tried to marry her off to Jesus and all that kind of stuff going on. No, no, no, no. This woman had seven demons cast out of her. People saw her before and they saw her after. Has anybody seen you before and seen you after? Come on, I'm gonna tell you one of the hardest things to do is to try to live for Jesus in your own hometown. Jesus couldn't do any miracles in Nazareth because nobody believed that He was the son of God. They just called Him Joseph the carpenter's son. You know why? Because they all know about you, don't they? But I've had some of my old high school friends that looked me up on Facebook and just the other day I had somebody hit me up to be a friend, marched into band with them and all that kind of stuff. I said, okay, go ahead, right here. Come on in. Come on in. Come on in. I'm fishing for souls, come on in. Get you some of this holy ghost. Wait a minute, wait a minute. You were my friend playing tuba in the band and you know, cutting up like you were and we took you to Crystal Beach, you never get drunk, you never take any drugs but you were just as nutty and crazy and we just brought you along for the ride and you're up here preaching? Come on in, come on in. If you're watching tonight, come on over to pay. The Lord ain't done with me, I can assure you but I'm not what it was. Come on and say amen to somebody. Look at Thomas. Thomas has changed from skepticism to faith. Maybe you can identify with old Thomas. Thomas said, I ain't believe until Jesus shows up his own self and I put my hands in his hands and in his side. And the next thing you know, whoop, there he is. He walks right through the wall and says where, look at here, he says, walks through the wall and says, where's Thomas? You know what, if the Lord said that to you, you would fall on the floor. So, so, so proud. I'm not gonna believe until, now this is me, I'm not gonna believe until Jesus shows up, shows me his side in his hands. And Jesus said, oh really? Okay, there I am. Come on over here, where's Thomas? Lord, Lord, I don't know. Come over here and put your finger in this side of mine. And then he says, blessed are thou, who having not seen yet believe. You know who he's talking to? Holy y'all, you haven't seen him, but you believe him. Hallelujah. Come on, has anybody had a transformation in your life? You were a skeptic and now the Lord has placed you in such a wonderful place of faith. Look at this, I'm going to the next one quickly. Paul's changed from legalism to grace. Legalism to grace, he was killing Christians on his way to kill some more and Jesus said, I'm gonna take you out. Blinds him, sets him down there at the house. A miracle takes place, his eyes are open and everything he talks about, which is two thirds of the New Testament written by the apostle Paul. And most of the doctrine that we have today comes from the pen of the apostle Paul. And you know what he talks about? Grace, mercy, come on somebody. It's not of works, lest any man should boast. But by the grace of God, I am what I am and his grace is bestowed upon me was not in vain but I labored more abundantly. Come on somebody. He said those things that I count, I count it all for nothing to win Christ. This is the guy who was so smart that he could have stood toe to toe with anybody. But if you read in the book of Second Corinthians you're gonna find the resume of Paul and they beat him up and left him for dead. He was beaten, he was in fears with his own countrymen, he was in fears over here, he was in fears in the city and in the country, everywhere he went. He was the guy who was the Jewish guy who knew all that was going on, knew all the law, all of that kind of stuff and the Jews didn't want him. And then he got saved and he went over to the Gentile churches and they said wait a minute we can't have a murderer for a pastor. You gotta get out of here, we don't trust you, you might come to kill. Are you CIA, what are you, FBI? Oh, I'm sorry and I give you this last section right here but before I do that I added this in and if you got it hopefully, there it is. I know it may be a little bit hard for you to see but that is a statue that was one of many that was carved by Michelangelo. And while you're taking a look at it that's actually a statue of Matthew carved out. And when Michelangelo described sculpting, he said it is the, he called it the making of men. He called it freeing men from the prison of stone. Instead of trying to fashion a person from the stone he chiseled away the excess stone around the existing image within. So he could see the raw stone of the likeness of Moses of which he sculpted and David and many others. But sometimes this great sculptor, artist, all of that would quit in frustration while he was sculpting such as the case with Matthew that's not completed. He left it half finished. He said the reason why it's not completed and finished is because the stone refused to release the prisoner. In fact, there are four what he calls the captive giants that are in Florence, Italy that have not been completed by Michelangelo because he quit in frustration. But I'm just gonna tell you when the Holy Ghost starts sculpting on your life, he will finish what he started. No matter how difficult things may be. Whatever you do, my friends, don't give up with what Jesus is doing inside of your life. Pastor, I'm a disciple and I've blown it, I've done this, I've done that, I feel unworthy, all of those kind of things. Let me just tell you, the Lord is still working and he tells us that he will finish what he started. Jesus is a finisher. Don't worry about comparing yourself with somebody else. The Lord finished what he starts. He that has began a good work in you, not a bad work, a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. So no matter where you're at, just stay with the Lord and let him keep doing his thing because by the time it's over with, he's gonna take all of the stuff of what you're not and chisel it away to become what you are supposed to be. Now I put on the last thing here for you and I gotta hurry. I put the last thing on here, how to know that I'm a spirit-filled disciple. I'm not gonna comment on these. I'm just gonna show you what the Bible, what these are because if you want to know whether or not you're truly a disciple, these essentials are necessary, absolutely necessary if you call yourself a disciple. First of all, a love for the Word of God and a knowledge of the Word of God and the desire to apply the Word of God. Secondly, being filled with the Holy Spirit. Now I'm not talking about your salvation, I'm talking about your discipleship because if you're gonna live for the Lord, you need all the power of God that you can have and a refilling all the time. How many of you know what I'm talking about? You don't know what I'm talking about. Let me ask you this question. How many are you gonna eat when you get home? Oh Lord, please do not kill all the liars in here. A cracker, come on. There has to be refilling. The Holy Spirit is still working in us and he is our comforter, our guide, the one who empowers us to do what we do. Holy Spirit, mission. What does that mean? Disciples are on a mission with God in every area of your life. Listen, you might be an electrician during the day, but you're a Christian all the time. You're a disciple all the time. You're on mission all the time, okay? Prayer has to be a part of this. If you're not praying, then discipleship is not happening in your life. And prayer is not to get God to see it your way. Lord, if you'll just do it this way, no, no. Prayer aligns you with the way God wants it done. And more than that, I mean, there's so many different things, intercession, intimacy with the Lord. When you cry out to God, when your heart is pure before God in prayer, when you're casting your cares upon the Lord, you don't have to take all that stuff. You cast your cares upon the Lord and He cares for you. That takes the stress and the pressure right out of it. Number five, worship. If you're a disciple, you love to worship. You love to be around God's people. Pastor, I'll tell you what, I come to church if it wasn't for people. I'd be a better pastor if it wasn't for people. But how many of you know peoples are peoples? And people's got problems? I've had people tell me other preachers and all that. I could pastor that church. I said, well, hook it on up. You got a large church. Listen, more problems, right? People have problems and situations that are going on. But I don't know how many people I had tell me after the service Sunday morning pastor, I needed this. It was the refilling and the recharging of a soul. Somebody told me, somebody walked up and said, you know what, anybody could give me anything they wanted to from our birthday. But this right here was everything I needed. How many of you know one touch from the Lord in the time of worship can make all of the difference? Suddenly the argument don't even matter anymore. Suddenly whatever it is you're thinking and preoccupied with, suddenly you just turn it over God and you just say, Lord, just take me right on up, right here, just put me on another level. Number six, service. If you're a disciple, you're gonna serve other people. If you're not serving other people and you're always looking for service yourself, then you're not truly a disciple. You cannot be my disciple, Jesus said. And the last one is generosity. That is to say, I'm just a manager. The Lord has given me everything I have. And if he requires all of it, some of it, 10% of it, 25% of it, whatever that it is, it's not the amount, it's where my heart is at. If my heart's right, you can have it all. Right? Come on, thank you for those three amens. Pastor, look at the time. I know. If your heart's right, you can have it all. Discipleship. I hope you've enjoyed this study. I hope it spoke to your heart. Give it to the Lord, give it to the Lord. I'm a disciple myself. I am not an expert. I'm a disciple myself. But as we draw near to God and we allow God to work in our lives, God is gonna do something that we only dreamed could take place. I see things up ahead that God has in store for this church. And some of it's happening right around this altar, right here. Why wouldn't I want to draw near to the Lord? Let's do that right now. Would you just lift your hands towards heaven and just draw near to the Lord right now? Father, I thank you right now for what you've been teaching us in this lesson. And I pray that you just turn the light on in my life. Lord, it's not about me trying to figure out what somebody else's problem is. I'm asking you right now, just search me down right now. And anything, Lord, that's not like you, just pull it out of my life. Just take it out of my life. But I wanna be more like you. I want you to mold me and I want you to make me. Would you make me, Lord? Would you make me what I need to be? If you'll make me what I need to be, Lord, then I will be pleased with whatever it is that you make me. I surrender myself to you right now. I offer myself up to you right now, Lord Jesus. And I believe that no matter what's taking place in my life right now, that you're ordering my steps, direct me, Lord God. Disciple me and help me to disciple someone else. Lord, whoever that it may be, it might be a word, it might be a seed, it might be a little bit of water. But don't let me go one day without mentoring and helping someone else in the name of Jesus Christ. I'm believing you for it right now. Would you stretch your hand towards this soul or this altar right now? Father, in the name of Jesus, don't know all that's taking place, but you do. And you're able to save and you're able to deliver and you're able to heal. And you're able, Lord Jesus, to restore and you're able to put things in the right place. Just like you've done from my life and thousands and millions of others. Lord, it is your will that we're healed, that we're made whole. I praise you for it right now. God, right now in this atmosphere of prayer, we come against every device that's trying to kill our kids through fentanyl and every other device of drugs and all the things that are trying to take them down. We ask you right now, Holy Spirit, that you just guard and protect, put your arms of mercy around every soul. Lord, out of all the people that are here and those that are watching online tonight, may the presence of God go with us from this place. Keep us, Lord, until the next time that we get to come back together. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for what you're doing right now in the mighty name of Jesus. We give you glory for it. Amen. And amen. You love the Lord tonight, church? Would you just greet someone around you? They'll know we're disciples because we have love, one for another. Would you greet somebody? And we'll look to see you Sunday morning, right back here, the Lord willing, at 10 o'clock. Amen.