Thank you for listening to our Emanuel Baptist Church podcast sermon series by Pastor Sean Cole. Emanuel exists to display God's glory, declare God's gospel, and to disciple for God's great commission. If you have any questions about this message or would like more information about our church, you can visit our website at www.ebc-online.org. Now here's Pastor Sean. So to kids worship time, the rest of you, I want to invite you to open your Bibles to the book of Acts, Acts chapter two. We're gonna start there in verse 41, Acts chapter two. So right before I graduated from high school, a group of us went camping. There's probably about 10 of us. We went camping in a wilderness area that's over by Wolf Creek Pass on the western side of Colorado. And I had gone there many times before. There's this really cool hot springs. And so as we trekked there, we got to the campsite at about 5 o'clock. So it's already starting to get a little bit dark. I round everybody up and said, hey, let's go hike up to the hot springs. And so everybody starts going and we start hiking. And I realized that on a good day, it's about a four hour hike. We started like five in the afternoon. So we start getting higher and higher. Come on, Sean. How much further are we there? We're almost there. We're almost there. Well, needless to say, everybody kind of abandoned me and said, we're not going to do this. They went back down the mountain. But I was bound to turn, like, we've got to be close. So I kept running further and further to see how close we were to the hot springs. Then I realized it was dark. And I'm all by myself. And I have no flashlight. And I'm wearing shorts. And it's still in late May, early June. So there's still some snow on the ground. So I start sheepishly walking back down the path. hearing scary noises in the woods behind me and wondering what's going on and then I got off the path because I couldn't see and literally I walked into a snow drift waist deep. It's like one of those scenes on Gilligan's Island when you're stuck in quicksand and you can't get out. Some of you know what I'm talking about. So I felt like I was stuck in quicksand. So after wiggling for about 30 minutes to get myself out and thinking how stupid I was, I finally got out. I walked down the path, got down about a couple hours later, and everybody was laughing at me like, Sean, what are you doing? You're kind of stupid. You're crazy. And I realized, yes, I am stupid. And I was crazy in that moment to go off the path without a flashlight, not prepared. What happens when you're not prepared for contingencies when you're hiking and things like that? What happens when you're unprepared? You get off the path. You don't have a clear plan. What happens? Well, you get frustrated. Nothing ever gets accomplished. You get impatient. Now, let me ask you a question. What pops into your mind when you hear the word pathway? Pathway. Or having a definite plan to get you from point A to point B. So let me begin this morning by just asking a very simple question. As one connected to Emmanuel Baptist Church, do you think you're equipped to go deeper in your faith? Do you know what it looks like? Do you know how to grow? Do you know what you're supposed to do to grow to be more like Christ? Is it clearly laid out for you week for week, a process, a pathway that explains how you're supposed to grow? Well, last year at Emmanuel, we as the elders and leaders of the church, we launched or implemented the discipleship pathway as God's plan for us, a biblical plan, a strategy for us as a church that gives us a primary way or strategy for you to grow in your faith, to be closer, to be more like Jesus, the discipleship pathway. And so with so many new people coming to Emmanuel, and we're so glad that you are coming, and kind of the launching of the fall and taking a break from the summer, we thought it would be good over the next two weeks to just reemphasize, reintroduce the discipleship pathway as our strategy as a church. But before we do that, we've got to kind of back up and ask the fundamental question, what is the mission of our church? We don't make up the mission, Jesus tells us what the mission is. It's actually the Great Commission. Matthew 28, 19, and 20, Jesus says, Go, therefore, and make disciples. That's the primary verb in that passage of Scripture. Go, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. So it's non-negotiable that we make disciples as a church. Jesus gave us this mandate. He said it's all authority's been given to me in heaven and earth. And so we are to make disciples, but however, there's a lot of confusion over this term disciple-making or discipleship. If you've been in church long enough, you've probably heard discipleship, disciple-making. Brings up a lot of questions. Okay, what is a disciple of Jesus? What is discipleship? What are we actually supposed to be doing? How do we make disciples? And how do we know if we're doing it effectively? How do we know if we're doing it correctly? Well, we don't have to guess because we can look at the practice of the early church to see how they obeyed the Great Commission and how they put into practice Jesus' words. So over the next two weeks, we're gonna be looking at this passage in Acts chapter two as our primary text, and so I want to invite you to look at it with me this morning. Acts chapter two, starting in verse 41. This is the conclusion of Peter's sermon at Pentecost. He preached a message from the Old Testament Scriptures proving that Jesus is the Christ. They were cut to the quick. They asked, what must we do to be saved? What must we do? And Peter says, repent. And so here's the response, starting in verse 41 of Acts chapter two. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. So 3,000 people got saved and baptized that day. And here's what they did. And, verse 42, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." You see several practices here that the early church did in obedience to the Great Commission of making disciples. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, which is the ministry of the word, preaching and teaching. There was corporate worship. They were gathering in the temple together. They were meeting in smaller homes and smaller groups. They were celebrating the ordinances of baptism and Lord's Supper. They were fellowshipping. They were praying. They were sharing life together. They were meeting needs. They were doing evangelism. And so this is a blueprint or a priority of what the early church did that shows us what we are to do. And so Paul says in Colossians 128, Him we proclaim, that's Jesus. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. That's really the goal of disciple making, is that every single person connected to Emmanuel, you would be mature in Christ. You would grow to maturity in Christ. Peter puts it this way in 2 Peter 3, 18. He says, but grow. Another way of saying it, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. So Jesus calls us to make disciples. The early church practiced these things together. Paul tells us that we need to present everyone mature. Peter tells us we need to grow. And so if we take all these things together, we have to ask a question. We know what we're supposed to do. make disciples, grow. But here's the question, how? How do we foster, facilitate, encourage, whatever words you want to use, how do we do this process of disciple making at Emmanuel Baptist Church? And the answer that we launched last year and that we continue to emphasize and that we're re-emphasizing this morning is the discipleship pathway. The discipleship pathway. Now, this is a model that we believe as leaders is biblical, it's faithful to what the Bible teaches us to do, and it's really a process to help you move to taking the next step in your spiritual growth. And this involves everything from participating on Sunday morning, to being involved in a smaller group, to discipleship groups, to sharing your faith, to being involved in serving. And so what are the four components of the discipleship pathway? So I'd like you to open your bulletin, and inside the bulletin you've got a picture. This is the picture, the map, the process, the circle, and there's four components, and over the next few weeks, we'll be looking at these. Today, we're gonna be looking at the first two. So what are the components? The first is worship biblically. Worship biblically, it's the one that starts at the top. We're gonna talk about that this morning. Then the next phase is connect relationally. We're gonna talk about that this morning. The third process is grow intentionally. And then the last process is serve generously. Now, I want you to notice it's not linear, it's a progression. You can jump in the pathway at any step. For most people, it's probably the Sunday morning worship service as your first step or entry onto the pathway, but some of you may be part of a growth group, some of you may be part of a small group, some of you may be in different areas. So really the question to ask is where am I right now on the pathway, and what's the next step I need to take to grow? And so today we're going to focus on the first two aspects of the discipleship pathway, worship biblically and connect relationally. Worship biblically and connect relationally. So what does it mean to worship biblically? Well, it means we gather, what we're doing this morning, okay, we gather together on Sundays under the authority of the Bible for expository preaching, observing baptism in the Lord's Supper, singing confession of sin, and prayer. So what we do every Sunday, we hope that we're worshiping biblically, we're gathering together to do these practices. And we're supposed to gather together. Hebrews chapter 10, 24 through 25. This meant a lot to us during COVID and I think it's so important. Hebrews 10, 24 through 25. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. not neglecting to meet together. We need to meet together every Sunday to worship biblically. You know why? Because your faith is either birthed through being in a worship service or your faith is strengthened. Paul says it this way in Romans 10-17, so faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ. So on Sunday mornings, When the word of Christ is sung through psalms, when the word of Christ is prayed, when the word of Christ is read, and most importantly, when the word of Christ is preached with authority from this pulpit, God strengthens our faith. And so we need to make sure that we're worshiping biblically, and the central aspect of worshiping biblically is really coming under the authority of God's word for the preaching moment. And so 2 Timothy 4, 1-4 says this. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach your opinions. Is that what the Bible says? What does it say? Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. Why should we be preaching the word from this pulpit every week? Well, Paul tells us, for the time is coming, and we think it's here already, when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and they will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. preach the word. So here's what happens every Sunday, and you know this intuitively, here's what happens every Sunday. We read the Bible, we sing the Bible, we pray the Bible, we preach the Bible, and when we do baptism and Lord's Supper, we see the Bible. So everything about, I worship biblically, worship services, the Bible is central to everything that we do. We are sanctified, we are strengthened by the truth of the scriptures. Jesus said in John 17, 17, sanctify them in the truth, your word is the truth. So when you come to this place every Sunday to worship biblically, you need to be saturated in God's word, but you also need to be reminded of the gospel and your need for Jesus. The gospel is not just for non-Christians, the gospel is for Christians. We need it every Sunday. So the gospel is central to all we do here at Emmanuel. It's repeated in our songs, in our prayers, in our sermons when we do the Lord's Supper, the gospel. So what is the gospel? Well, the word means good news. Well, the good news of what? What's the good news of the historic reality of the death, burial, and resurrection of King Jesus and his command for all people everywhere to repent and believe in him for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. The gospel is the most important message we can declare. God's gospel. And Paul tells us this in 1 Corinthians 15, three through four. He says, for I delivered to you as of first importance Okay, Paul, what's the first importance? I also delivered what I also received. All right, what's the first importance, Paul? That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus should be central to everything that we do every Sunday. If you walk out of this place and do not hear about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we've failed in a Sunday morning worship service because we need to be reminded of this. Listen to what Martin Luther said. He said, I must take counsel of the gospel. I must listen to the gospel. which teaches me not what I ought to do, but what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has done for me. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know the gospel well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually. That's our job, to beat the gospel into your heads continually. That every Sunday when you come here, you're reminded of your need for Jesus in the gospel. Now, the Heidelberg Catechism was a teaching tool used during the Protestant Reformation to help believers understand the truths of the gospel, to help them understand and be reminded of the gospel. Here's question number two of the Heidelberg Catechism. What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort of salvation in Christ? What do you need to know about your salvation? And it gives three answers. First, how great my sin and misery are, second, how I'm delivered from all my sin and misery, and third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance. So here's the point. The message of Christianity could be summarized in three words that start with the letter G. Guilt, grace, and gratitude. That's the sum of the Christian message. Guilt, grace, and gratitude. Okay, what does guilt mean? Guilt. Well, guilt means that I am a sinner, dead in my sins. I stand before a holy God, and if I were to die in my sins, I'd spend eternity without Christ. I'm an enemy of God. I'm separated from Him. I am guilty. I am under condemnation. I need salvation. Every Sunday when we come here, we need to be reminded that I am a sinner in need of salvation. I'm guilty before a holy God. But then number two, you're not left there. Number two, grace. What is grace? Jesus Christ died on the cross, rose again. He gives us his salvation as a free gift of grace. And by the way, if you're here today and you've never received the free gift of salvation from Jesus Christ by repenting of your sins and trusting in him as Lord of lords, would you do that today? Fall on your face and realize you are guilty and you need grace. But it doesn't just stop there. Yes, we're guilty. And yes, we need grace, but number three is gratitude. Gratitude is how you live the rest of your life. You live the rest of your life as one big thank you to Jesus for saving you. You live a life of gratitude. So every Sunday when we come here to worship biblically, we need to be reminded of these three things. Through our singing, through our praying, through our sermon, through everything, I'm guilty before a holy God, but praise the Lord, there's grace. in Jesus Christ, and because of that grace, I can go out and live a life of gratitude, not so that God will love me, but because he does love me, and I do it out of the overflow of the spirit living in me as an act of gratitude. Guilt, grace, gratitude. We're guilty before holy God. We need sovereign grace, and Jesus gives us that through his blood and resurrection, and we live a life of gratitude. So every Sunday we need to be pointed to our need for Jesus in the gospel. So why is worship biblically first on the pathway? Why is it kind of towards the top? Well, because two things. It's the one time where the most people in Emmanuel are involved. but it's the most important for your spiritual growth. Being involved in a worship service with other believers for mutual encouragement, for strength, for teaching, for preaching, for singing, just being together, it's the primary way God strengthens your faith and grows you by worshiping biblically. So here's the question. Do you make Sunday morning worship one of the highest priorities of your week? Do you honor the Lord with your Sundays? By the way, do you know it's not really called Sunday in the Bible? What's it called? The Lord's Day. It's the Lord's Day all day. So is one of your core values as an individual, as a family, that you would make it a priority every Sunday to worship biblically, to be with God's people, to not neglect meeting together, to be a part of worshiping the Lord every Sunday. So you can sing the Bible, you can pray the Bible, you can read the Bible, you can hear the preaching of the Bible, and then when we do the Lord's Supper and baptism, you can see the Bible in action through the ordinances. So that's the first, and I think that's probably the most understandable because that's where most of you are on the pathway, is worshiping biblically. That's because you're here. But let's talk about the next step. Let's talk about the next phase. Connect relationally. Now you can only do so much in a big worship service like this. You can only connect with maybe the people that are around you. And most of the time, it's more of a monologue. I'm talking to you, you're not talking back, unless maybe you're talking under your breath to your spouse about stuff. For the most part, it's not a dialogue, it's not a small group. So what you see in Acts 2, I want you to go back, let's go back to Acts 2. So if you look at verse 46, day by day, attending the temple together, okay, that's large corporate worship, attending the temple. They met in Solomon's portico, which was a large area, a patio, a portico, right outside the temple area where they could gather in a large group setting, but I want you to notice what else they did. And breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts. They also met in smaller groups. They also met in homes. Now, you can call these whatever you want. Here at Emmanuel, we call them growth groups, being involved in a growth group. It's a place for you to grow in your faith, to grow with others. So what's a growth group? What are growth groups designed to do? It's a group of about 12 to 15, give or take the number, but they're designed to help you connect relationally in Bible study, prayer, fellowship, mutual encouragement, and care. So we would ask you to pray about, if you're not connected to a growth group, would you pray about taking the next step on the pathway from worshiping biblically to getting connected to a growth group? 1 Thessalonians 2.8, Paul has some wonderful words that he writes back to the church in Thessalonica. He says, so being affectionately desirous of you, that's a strong language, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel, of God, but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. That word affectionately desirous is really the only time it's used in the New Testament. It really speaks to the way a parent has a love for a child. It's this strong language that Paul says, listen, in the life of the church, you became so dear to us. Now here's what Paul says. If you read that passage, he says, listen, I shared the gospel with you. I wanted to share the gospel with you. That message we talked about earlier. I shared with you the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I shared with you the historical truth of the good news of the gospel. But I didn't want to just stop there. I wanted to share the gospel, but I also wanted to take it a step deeper. I wanted to share my life. And literally in that passage, I wanted to share my soul. So the gospel does something to us as a church family. When the gospel is central, when Jesus and his message is central, it creates something that the world does not understand. It creates community, it creates connection, it creates language like you've become so affectionately desirous, you've become so dear to us. There's this community. And so one of the goals of connecting relationally and being involved in a growth group is that you can practice what I call the gospel one another's. What's a one another? Well, one another's are commands that Jesus or Paul or the Bible gives where we are to Relate to one another. Now why are they called the one and others? You'll hear in just a moment, I'm gonna give you a few of them. And you'll notice why they're called one and others. And so this level of relational connection cannot happen, it can happen to some extent in a large corporate worship service like this, but really this connection relationally happens in smaller groups. And let me explain what these one and others are. You can more easily practice the biblical one and others in a smaller group. And the first one is the most important. First John 411, beloved if God so loved us, we ought also to what? Love one another. That's really the root or the foundation of all of the one anothers. Loving one another. Pouring our hearts out to one another. Now what are some of these other one anothers that we are to practice? Well Romans 15, 17, here's one. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. Other translations, I think, use the word accept. The word means to accept, to draw into fellowship, to come alongside. It really kind of means to pull someone alongside for a deeper conversation, to welcome, to accept one another. Now, notice what it says there. Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you How did Christ welcome you? Did He wait for you to get your act together before He saved you? Did Jesus say, I will only go to the cross if you clean your lives up? Get your act together, try to be a little bit better, and then you may be good enough for me to go to the cross. No, that's not how Christ welcomed us. If Christ waited for us to get our act together before He died for us, He would never have died for us. Romans 5.8, but God shows his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So here's the reality of living life together as a church family. We all have issues, we all have backage, we all have sin, we all have problems, we all have warts and all. And if we're gonna be accepting and welcoming of one another the way Christ accepted us, then we cannot say, I will accept you if you measure up to my standard. or I will welcome you if you're nice to me, or I'll welcome you if you're not a jerk, or whatever, you fill in the blank. We cannot put conditions on how we're going to welcome one another. If Christ adopted that attitude, we would never be saved. So what does that mean, to welcome one another? Well, it means you take risks. You may need to become vulnerable. You may need to pull a person aside for conversation, get them to know better. Welcoming one another is more than just the welcome time in the worship service where you cross aisles and shake hands. That's fun to see. It's neat to have the welcome time. It's from this perspective, seeing everybody shake hands, but it's more than just welcoming one another during a welcome time. And think about a growth group, a group of 12 to 15 or so people. It gives you the context to do this. You see, in a worship service, you can be anonymous. In a growth group, you can't. You have to be accepting, you have to be welcoming. You know, it's very interesting. The world talks about diversity, tolerance, acceptance, everybody getting along, but they really don't understand the way the gospel creates true community. The gospel takes people from different socioeconomic, different races, different ethnicities, different genders, and we all come together as one family and accept one another in a way that the world can never mimic. So welcome one another. This can be lived out in a growth group where you can actually do that practically. All right, what's another one another? Galatians 6, one through three. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourselves lest you too be tempted. Here it is, bear one another's burdens. Bear one another's burdens. and so fulfill the law of Christ. For anyone thinks he's something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. Burdens. Don't raise your hand please, but how many of you have walked into this place with a burden? You're carrying something and it's going through a difficult time, it's a burden. And maybe nobody knows about it. And sometimes in northeastern Colorado, maybe it's our ranching and farming culture, I don't know, but I've just noticed that we kind of have this mentality of, a tough guy, I don't want to ask for help. I'm going to be this kind of lone ranger, Christian, very self-sufficient. I don't want to ask anybody for help. And I'm the first one there. Some of you have called me out on that and said, Pastor Sean, sometimes you don't, you don't receive help when we try to give it. And I have to ask for forgiveness for that because sometimes I am pretty self-sufficient. And when you try to give me help, I'm like, I don't need your help. I can handle it. And that's sinful. we are to bear the burdens of one another, which means that we need to have a culture here at Emmanuel where we're free to ask for help, to say, I need help. And a growth group is a wonderful place for that to take place, because in a growth group, you can share your burdens with others. You know, in a worship service like this, you can keep things pretty private and not really share. But in a growth group, you can share the burdens and people can come alongside you and carry those burdens with you. They can walk through tough, difficult things in life with you. You know, here's the problem that happens one time. When there's a crisis or where you need help and nobody shows up and helps you, you can kind of get bitter or you can kind of get angry, but you never let anybody know. You can sit there and get mad about it, but if you don't let anybody know, then people can't come and meet those needs and help bear your burdens. All right, here's a couple of other one another's. 1 Thessalonians 5.11, therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you're doing. Hebrews 3.13, but exhort, another word for encourage, exhort one another every day as long as it's called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Okay, exhort, encourage one another every day as long as it's called today. Okay, let me ask you a question. Did you receive encouragement today from somebody, not your spouse or your child or your parent, did you receive encouragement today from another believer, another brother or sister in Christ? The Bible says you should not let a day go by without receiving encouragement. Every day, as long as it's, when is it not called today? when it's called tomorrow. And what happens when you get to tomorrow? It's what? Today. So every day, we are to be encouraging one another, building one another up, lifting one another up. And so that's why a growth group is so important, because in a growth group, you can be known and know others on that smaller level. You can know others' burdens. You can know how to encourage. You can know how to walk alongside. You can know how to more consistently encourage one another. Now there's one other, one another, that's vitally important. And if this one, there's a bunch of other one anothers, but there's one other, if it's not there, everything else is just gonna be shallow. There's gonna be no power. There's gonna be no real fruit. And it's from James 5, 16. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Confessing sins and praying for one another. Is there a culture in your life where you're free to confess sin to others? And then do you pray for others? You know, I was taught a long time ago by the pastor that mentored me. Don't ever tell somebody you're gonna pray for them and then walk off and not do it. You pray for them right then and there. That's been my practice for over 20 years. And oftentimes you'll say, Pastor Sean will say, hey, is it okay if I pray with you on the phone? Is it okay if I pray with you right now? I will pray with you. What we often just say, I'll pray for you, then what do we do? We walk off and we don't pray for them. So I encourage you, pray for the person right then and there. And in a growth group, you guys share prayer requests. You can let each other know what's going on in each other's lives so that you can be praying for one another. So being part of a growth group is the best context for you to connect relationally to practice these one another's. Now you may say, well, how do I get involved in a growth group? Well, I'm glad you asked. turn the other side of your bulletin insert over. And there's a list by day of all of the growth groups I could think of. There may be more. If yours is not on there, I apologize. But there are many that meet on Sunday mornings at 9 o'clock. We also have stuff for your children. So parents, if you're thinking, man, I don't know what I'm going to do with my kids. Hey, we've got children's growth groups. We've got children's Sunday school. We've got youth. We've got my Monday morning Bible study. We've got a Tuesday night group of 20-somethings that meet in our home. Our home was full this past week. The group over there, like 20 of you guys were all in our, yeah, you guys were invaded our home. It's fun. Every other Tuesday, we've got women's Bible studies. And so there's a lot of different places. So my encouragement for you is pray about getting involved in a growth group. And then find the, like, maybe one of these topics interests you, and you can just jump in at any time. So you don't have to, like, wait for a study to start. You can jump into a growth group at any time. You don't have to say, you know, is it okay if I join your growth group? Yes, jump in. Each week, they'd love to have you jump in and just be a part of a growth group. So the first two steps on the discipleship pathway, worship biblically. We desire to have a worship service, a worship experience here at Emmanuel that is biblical, where every Sunday we are singing God's word, praying God's word, reading God's word, preaching God's word, baptizing Lord's Supper, seeing God's word, and we're reminded of the gospel that every week we were guilty, but we have grace, and then we live our lives in gratitude. And then we also want everyone to connect relationally. to be involved in a growth group for Bible study, for prayer, for mutual care and encouragement so that you can practice these one another's. So again, where are you currently on the pathway? That's the first question, where am I on the pathway? And then pray about what next step do I need to take? Where may God be leading me to take the next step on the pathway? Because here's the ultimate question. Regardless of whether there's a pathway or not, the pathway's just a strategy. The ultimate question is this. Are you growing the way God has called you to grow? Are you content with where you are in your spiritual maturity? Do you want to mature in your faith? Do you want to live as an obedient follower of Christ? Do you want to be a part of a church that takes this seriously to make disciples? So I'm asking you to pray over the next few weeks about your participation in the discipleship pathway. that God would give you an open heart and an open mind so that you could figure out where you want to participate. Again, I can't force you to do this. This is a tool, it's a strategy, but you have to be moved by the Spirit to get involved. And so here's my prayer for you. It's actually a prayer from Romans. Romans chapter 16, verse 25. This is how Paul ends the book of Romans. Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. That's my prayer for you. That week in and week out, you would be strengthened by the preaching of Jesus Christ in the gospel. and that you would be strengthened by being connected to a growth group where you can put into practice these biblical one another's. Because here's the point. The key word there is strengthened. I don't know about you, but the devil's too tricky, and my flesh is too unpredictable, and the world's too chaotic. I need strength. I need strength. I cannot get the strength from myself. I get the strength from Christ alone, but ultimately through his ministry to me through the body of Christ. That's how you're strengthened, is by being together as the body of Christ. So may God strengthen you according to the gospel and the preaching of Christ. And may we take seriously our involvement in the discipleship pathway together as we seek to glorify God and grow deeper in Him. So let me ask you to bow your heads this morning and just spend a few moments praying about where you are spiritually, where you are in your growth, where you are in your maturity and how God may be leading you. and just be open to how God may be leading you to be involved in these steps of growth. Would you spend just a few moments in prayer? Father, thank you for your mercy and your grace. Thank you that you've given us a model from the early church of what it looks like to be a healthy church, to devote ourselves to worshiping biblically, the apostles teaching, to fellowship, to prayer, to breaking of bread, to generosity, to sharing life together. sharing the gospel. Lord, help us to be a church that's faithful every Sunday to worship biblically, to glorify you. And Lord, help us to be a church that takes seriously building relationships where we can connect relationally with others, Lord. And there's many different ways to connect. It doesn't necessarily have to be in a growth group, but a growth group is a great context to really put these things into practice. And so, Lord, would you strengthen us according to the gospel Remember that we are guilty. Help us to remember that we receive grace upon grace and that we live a life of gratitude because of what you've done, Jesus. Help us to be strengthened this day by being together as your people. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. And I will be here at the front after the service as well as Pastor Dustin.