James Merritt - Disciple Made Disciple Maker
Let me begin and set my message up from the end to the beginning. Jesus spent three years of his life—only three years—in ministry. And in those three years, he spent the vast majority of his time in a small group with 12 men. Now, he could have been the lone ranger; he could have flown solo, but he didn’t do that. He chose a small group. Now, I want to ask you a simple question: If you had been living 2,000 years ago, like Matthew, James, Peter, John, Thaddius, or Bartholomew, and if Jesus had said, «Hey, I’d like you to join my group,» you would have jumped at the chance to be a part of that group. You ought to be just as excited to be a part of a small group in our church.
You say, «Well, that was when Jesus was here.» Well, Jesus is still here. He said, «Where two or more are gathered together in my name, I’m in the midst of you.» So that’s what we’re going to be talking about today. Along those lines, I want to ask you two questions. They seem very broad, but they really have very narrow answers, and they are very important because both of them actually have eternal consequences. I’m going to throw them up on the screen, but I want you to take just a second or two and really think through how you would answer that question.
Here’s the first question: Are you who you are supposed to be? I’m not asking who you are; I’m asking, are you who you are supposed to be? Now, you may answer that question correctly. We’ll find out in a moment. But that leads to another question: Are you what you’re supposed to be? Now, you cannot be what you’re supposed to be, as you will see in a moment, if you’re not who you’re supposed to be. But those are two big questions, and they sound similar, but they’re actually very different because the answer to the first question affects your eternal destiny, while the answer to the second question affects your earthly identity.
So, let’s take the first question: Who are you supposed to be? Well, assuming that the gospel is true—which I’ve staked my life on; I believe it is—that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, raised from the dead so that we might be saved. Assuming that is true, then we are all supposed to be sinners saved purely by grace through faith. That’s who you ought to be. That ought to be primarily who you are: I’m a sinner; I’m saved by grace. But that doesn’t really get to the heart of the second question. That is, what are you supposed to be? Because once you become a believer in Jesus, you are then to be a disciple devoted totally to Jesus.
Now, the «who» is always supposed to lead to the «what,» but unfortunately, I’ve found in 48 years of ministry that more often than not, it really doesn’t. The «who’s» don’t always become the «what.» So I’m going to give you something to really chew on. This is a news flash: There is a difference between becoming a believer in Jesus and being a disciple of Jesus. There’s a difference. We’ve got churches filled with people who believe in Jesus. If I were to ask you this morning, «Do you believe in Jesus?"—even if you’re not saved, even if you’ve never been born again—you might at least say in your head, «Oh yes, I believe in Jesus.» But are you a disciple of Jesus?
There’s a difference between being a saved sinner and being a devoted disciple. Let me tell you what I mean by that. By far and away, the most common term used around the world and in our nation to describe a believer is the word «Christian.» We tend to ask people that question: «Are you a Christian?» I’m sure many times, at some point or another, you may have been asked the question, «Are you a believer?» But let me ask you this question: How many times has someone ever asked you, «Are you a disciple?» I’ve never been asked that question, and I bet you’ve never been asked that question. We don’t ask it. We ask, «Are you a Christian?» but not, «Are you a disciple?» And I’ll tell you why I find that interesting.
Do you know how many times the word «Christian» is found in the New Testament? Three times. That’s all. Three times the word «Christian» is used. The term «disciple» appears 269 times, and the root term «disciple» appears 281 times. Now, just simple math tells me something: I wasn’t put on this earth just to become a Christian. I was put on this earth to be a disciple. You say, «What is the difference?» Salvation is a moment in time. You’re either saved or lost, and salvation comes in an instant. You may come to salvation progressively, but there has to be a moment in time when you go from darkness to light, from death to life, from being lost to being saved. There’s that one magic moment when you realize you’re a sinner. You realize you need a Savior. Jesus is that Savior. You trust Jesus, you surrender your life to Him, and you become a Christian.
That’s a moment in time. Discipleship’s not a moment in time; it’s a movement over time. You grow in your faith, you mature in your faith, and you really are living the life of discipleship. Now, if you’re a guest of ours today, we are in a series we started last week that we’re calling «Who We Are.» I’m talking about who we are as a church, who we are as Cross Point Church. If you don’t know our mission statement, let me just share it with you. This is what we are; this is what we’re about. We believe we’re here pointing people to Jesus and inspiring them to live the cross-shaped life. You’ve heard that many, many times before, but I want you to hear what that statement says.
Here’s what that means: The primary job of our church and the primary goal of our church is not to make converts. The primary role of our church and the primary job of our church is to produce committed disciples. That’s our job. Our job is to turn sinners into Christians and Christians into committed disciples. That’s what it’s all about. What we’re saying is we believe that the discipleship process involves four activities. Now, we talked about the first one last week. We discussed worship. That’s the first part of being a disciple. The first part of living the cross-shaped life is worship. We said that’s the foundation; that’s the top of the pyramid. Everything begins with worship. But now, today we’re going to talk about the second activity, which is discipleship or discipling.
Now, I want you to think about something. If you know the what we call the Great Commission, Matthew 28, Jesus said, «Go into all the world and make disciples.» However, you cannot make a disciple until you’ve been made a disciple. It’s not disciple makers; they have to be first disciple-made. Disciple-made disciple makers. So, that raises the question: How in the world does that happen? Well, you don’t have to wonder. I want you to take God’s Word and turn to a book in the Bible called Luke. There are four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, at the beginning of the New Testament.
I want you to turn to Luke chapter 14, and Jesus clearly lays out what it means to be one of His disciples. Here’s what I love about Jesus: This is one of the things that attracts me to Him. Jesus never puts any fine print in the contract. There’s no little footnote at the bottom of the page. He doesn’t bait and switch; He doesn’t pull any punches. He wants you to know upfront that if you want to be one of His disciples, He wants you to understand exactly what you’re signing up for. He wants you to understand exactly what you are getting into. In fact, He even says three times in this passage, «Unless you’re willing to do certain things, you cannot be My disciple.»
There are conditions; there are lines you have to cross; there are things that you have to leave. Now, I want you to hear the next statement: It doesn’t cost anything to become a believer. It doesn’t cost me a thing. When I got saved in that theater 30 miles from where I was, as a nine-year-old boy, when I gave my life to Christ, it didn’t cost me one thing. I didn’t even have to buy my ticket; my mom bought it. It doesn’t cost anything to become a believer, but it costs everything to be a disciple.
Now, some say everything because salvation is free, but it’s not cheap. So, the theme of our message is this: Here’s what I want to tell you this morning: Once you give your life to Christ, you are to live the life of Christ. That’s the bottom line. Once you give your life to Christ, you are to live the life of Christ. What does that mean? Well, it means four things. We’re going to go super fast, so pay attention. Number one: That means we must be supremely dedicated to Jesus. If you’re going to be a disciple, you’ve got to be supremely dedicated to Jesus.
Now again, Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat anything. Here’s what he says in Luke 14:26: «If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even their own life, such a person cannot be my disciple.» That sounds pretty harsh. As a matter of fact, that’s one thing that keeps a lot of people from saying, «Yeah, I don’t think I want to follow Jesus.» Many people have a problem with that verse because it seems like Jesus is saying something he’s really not saying. It seems like Jesus is telling us we need to hate the ones we love the most. The one person in this world I love more than anyone else on this planet is that lady right there in the front row. But Jesus says to me, «Now if you’re going to follow me, you have to hate her.»
Well, here’s what he was really saying. I mean, think about this: The same Jesus who tells you to love your enemies wouldn’t tell you to hate your family. What that word «hate» really means is to love less. As a matter of fact, Jesus went on to say in Matthew 10:37, «Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.» In other words, what Jesus was saying is that your love for me ought to be so great, so powerful, so preeminent, that your love for your spouse, your parents, your children, and your grandchildren pales in comparison.
Now, let me tell you why Jesus said that. You have to remember the crowd he’s talking to: 2,000 years ago, if you gave your life to Jesus, you were most likely Jewish. And if you gave your life to Jesus, you risked losing your family. As a matter of fact, we know today that’s true in many Muslim countries. I’ve seen Muslims come to faith in my own ministry, and I’ve talked to Muslims who became believers and were immediately disowned by their parents. But the truth is, if you’re going to be a follower of Jesus, he says, «Look, I’ve got to be the first love in your life. I will not take second place to anybody— not your wife, not your mom, not your dad, not your kids, not your grandkids. I won’t take second place to anybody.»
I mean, can you imagine, almost five decades ago, when I proposed to Teresa? Can you imagine if I had said something like this: «Will you marry me under this one condition: if down the road I find another woman that I love more, you’ll have to leave»? Not only would she have said no, but knowing her as I do today, I would not have lived to make an apology. But let me tell you what I did tell her, and she’ll tell you this: When I proposed to her, I said, «Here’s the deal: I will love you more than anybody has ever loved you, but I will love Jesus far more than I love you, and I want you to love Jesus far more than you love me.» Now some of you are lost; you say, «Man, you’re crazy.» You all know that’s the best thing I did. You know why? Because I knew the more she loved Jesus, the better she’d love me, and the more I love Jesus, the better I would love her.
You know why that’s true? Because the person who loves others most is the person who loves Jesus best. So if you’re going to be a disciple of Jesus, number one, you must be supremely dedicated to Jesus. That’s step one. Step two, if you want to be a disciple, means we must be solely concentrated on Jesus. Not just supremely dedicated, we must be solely concentrated. Now again, Jesus doesn’t back off; he doesn’t take his foot off the gas. He just keeps raising the bar. Here’s what he says in verse 27: «And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.» I mean, he just keeps ratcheting it up. He just keeps putting the pressure on. «Hey, if compared to me you don’t hate your family, you can’t follow me.» Then he says, «And if you don’t carry your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.»
Now I understand that it’s really difficult to comprehend in a 21st-century culture because we don’t crucify people anymore, and I get that. But let me just go back 2,000 years ago. The cross 2,000 years ago was not a piece of jewelry that hung around somebody’s neck; it was actually a cross that got their neck hung. As a matter of fact, it was the most despised, feared, grotesque object in that culture. Nobody wanted to see a cross. Nobody wanted to ever get near the cross because it didn’t symbolize just torture or agony; it symbolized certain death. Think about today, like the electric chair. Nobody wears an electric chair around their neck, or a hangman’s noose. You better not wear that around your neck. Nobody does that.
John Henry, this is very interesting—John Henry George Babacome Lee. Bet you never heard of him. He’s a famous criminal. You know why? You ready for this? He survived three attempts to hang him for murder. They tried to hang the guy three times but couldn’t do it. What a pain in the neck that must have been! And then I thought you’d get that. Wait a minute, not done. In 1946, Willie Francis became the first person ever known to survive the electric chair. They tried to kill the guy; tried to burn him to a crisp. Didn’t work. In fact, they asked him how he felt when it was over. He said, «Man, I was completely shocked.»
Now here’s the difference: No one ever survived crucifixion. Nobody. The Romans understood how horrible it was to die by crucifixion because those they would crucify were only non-citizens, the most egregious criminals. If you committed the most horrible crime, you would be crucified. But it was even worse. In most cases, it was a public crucifixion where everybody could watch, and you had to carry your own crossbeam. You had to carry your own crossbeam to the place of your death. Imagine, imagine this: You’re about to go to the electric chair, and they strap you in and make you plug it in. That’s exactly what would happen. Yet Jesus said, «If you want to be my disciple, you have got to carry a cross.»
Now, what was he saying? Here’s what he’s saying. You ready for this? Because this is where a lot of us draw the line. Jesus said, «If you want to be my disciple, if you want to follow me, you have got to die to your biggest problem.» And what do you think your biggest problem is? You. I’m my biggest problem. You are your biggest problem. A man once came to Socrates, the Greek philosopher. He said, «You know, I noticed one of your friends is unhappy. He never smiles. He’s always fighting. He’s always complaining. He is so unhappy. Why is he so unhappy?» Socrates wisely said, «The trouble with that man is he takes himself with him wherever he goes.» Jesus said, «Every day when you get out of bed, the first thing you better pick up is not a cup of coffee. The thing you better pick up is your cross.»
Jesus said, «The way you ought to start every day is with a funeral. You better die to you. You better die to what you want. Die to what pleases you. Die to your desires.» Now here’s the problem: That goes against the grain. It goes against our flesh. It goes against our minds. It goes against our nature. Because what we’ve done is this: We have kind of sanitized and deodorized our desire to follow Jesus. There’s a great philosophy teacher at Moody Bible. His name is Christopher Yuan. He’s a hero to me for a lot of reasons. But Christopher Yuan said this. I want you to listen to what he said; it’s so powerful. He said, «We want Instagram Jesus: a nice me-centered app that is really not about following Jesus but about following my friends and getting more to follow me.»
Jesus should cost us everything. If it doesn’t, we’re following the wrong Jesus. Now, I’m just going to give you one super easy example. You ready? Our sexuality. So when it comes to fornication, sex before marriage, or adultery, sex outside of marriage, or homosexuality, sleeping with someone of the opposite sex, we don’t deny self. We don’t die to self. We delight self. We just say, «Okay, God’s okay. I’m okay. We’re all okay.»
Dr. Billy Graham said something I completely agree with. Here’s what he said: «I think the main reason people do not come to Christ is that they do not want to pay the price.» But Christ will not compromise, and Christ will not negotiate. If you’re not willing—here’s what Jesus was saying—if you’re not willing to take up your cross, if you’re not willing to die to yourself, die to your ambition, die to your desire, die to what you want, and surrender your life totally to Jesus Christ in every area of your life, you cannot be my disciple. If there are any pastors out there listening to me, any preachers of the Word of God listening to me…
Let me just say this to you: In today’s world, culture, and country, in our city, if you want to win a popularity contest, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus. If you want to go along to get along, you’ll never be a disciple of Jesus. If you’re too afraid the world will mock you, reject you, or criticize you, you cannot be His disciple. Here’s the point: To be saved, you have to come to the cross. But to be a disciple, you have to carry one. We must be solely concentrated on Jesus. I’m having a funeral every day when I get up. Lord, I’m dying to be; I’m dying to what I want; I’m dying to what I desire. My life totally belongs to You. That’s where a lot of people draw the line. But let’s say you’re willing to say, «Okay, I’ll take that step.» Well, let’s just go deeper. Number three, we must be steadfastly motivated by Jesus. We must be steadfastly motivated by Jesus.
Now, here’s what Jesus does. This is another reason I love Jesus. The way Jesus loved to illustrate things was He told stories. He told what we call parables. That was His favorite way to teach because there’s always a point in a good story. Well, Jesus tells a story beginning in verse 28. He says, «Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?» So Jesus is simply reminding us that if you want to follow Him, let’s understand that I’m not going to bait and switch; there’s no fine print in the contract here. If you want to follow me, there is a cost to be counted. If you want to follow me, there is a price to be paid. And you see, here’s our big problem, and we all do it. And by the way, this is one of the reasons why a lot of us don’t know how to manage money. Too often we worry about the price of something, but we don’t worry about the cost of something. And there’s a big difference between the price of something and the cost of something.
Let me give you an example. Let’s take a house and say it is one of the most beautiful houses in the world. It’s right on a private island. Let’s say it has a beautiful beach; it’s all very private. And let’s say that house is a $25 million house. The price is the same whether I want to buy it or Elon Musk wants to buy it, but the cost is vastly different. It doesn’t cost him pennies; there’s no way I could afford it. The price is the same for both of us, but the cost is far different. Jesus said, «The Christian life is like a strong tower.» If you think about it, the Christian life is like you’re building a tower. It’s a tower of work. It’s a tower of worship. It’s a tower of witness. It’s a tower of warfare. But Jesus says, «Listen, there’s a great cost in building the tower. Before you start to build the tower, before you pick up a hammer and a nail, you better count the cost.»
What does that mean? What was He saying? Well, this is a sad part of the message to me. I pastored five churches. No, I never got fired from one; I just went from one to another. But I pastored five churches. I have pastored literally thousands and thousands of people. And let me tell you, one of the saddest things I’ve seen in my entire ministry is that I have seen so many Christians who are living in half-finished towers. I’ve seen it by the thousands. So what do you mean? They used to serve, but they don’t serve anymore. They used to come to church regularly, but hardly ever show up. They used to give; now they’re too concerned with getting. They used to come to church, but they have better things to do. They just quit building the tower. They didn’t count the cost. They weren’t willing to pay the price.
And I’ve seen unfinished towers everywhere I look. I’ve known Christians who ran one lap of the Christian race and then quit. They fought one round of the Christian fight and gave up. They played one quarter of the Christian contest and went back to doing something else. And here’s the point: Listen to the point Jesus makes. He tells another story in case you don’t get the first one. He says, «Let me tell you another story.» He says, «Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he’s able, with 10,000 men, to oppose the one coming against him with 20,000?»
Now, why does Jesus go from building a tower to fighting a war? What Jesus is saying is, «Hey, if you want to be one of my disciples, I have news for you.» You don’t just come to build; you come to battle. Because in Jesus’s army, there are no cowards. The odds are too great. So, if you’re not a believer right now, let me be honest. If you’re not a Christian, let me tell you something: it’s not for the faint of heart. If your Christianity is always easy, it’s probably a poor, weak brand of Christianity. If your Christianity never costs you anything, it’s probably not the right brand of Christianity. Because every day you get up, know that some of you got up this morning, and I bet you thought to yourself, «I don’t have an enemy in the world.»
First of all, the world is your enemy. As a matter of fact, every morning you get up, you have three foes facing you right in the face: the world, the flesh, and the devil. And they’re all ready for war. Jesus said, «There’s no room for compromise.» But evidently, this king says, «I don’t want to fight that battle. I don’t want to spill any blood. I don’t want to take the chance of getting hurt. I don’t want to be isolated.» He doesn’t have the will to win. So what does he say in verse 32? Watch this: «And if not, I’m not willing to fight. I don’t want to go to war. I want to take off the uniform.» While others are yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. And what was Jesus saying?
Now, watch this; this is so relevant for the 21st century and the current state of the church. This is what many churches now want to do. This is what a lot of preachers want to do: they want to make peace. «Let’s just go along to get along. Let’s not upset anybody’s apple cart.» Gay marriage? They want to do that; that’s their business. If a man wants to sleep with a woman he’s not married to, what does it matter? It doesn’t hurt you. «Let’s not talk about these kinds of things. Let’s not offend anybody. Let’s make sure that people want to come to our church and won’t leave or not come back because we might say something they don’t like.»
Here’s the problem, ladies and gentlemen: we have not been called to be diplomats; we’ve been called to be soldiers. There’s a war going on out there. And here’s the problem. Can I just be honest? I’m going to make a statement, and I ask you to do the same thing I’m asking you to do right now. I want you to be honest with yourself and ask, are there times you’re guilty of this? Because there have been times I have been. So buckle up. We want to be just godly enough to be accepted by the Lord and just worldly enough to be accepted by the world. Just godly enough to be accepted by the Lord, just worldly enough to be accepted by the world. We want to minimize the cost and negotiate the price. If you’re going to follow Jesus, you don’t negotiate.
If you’re going to follow Jesus, you’re in a war, and you fight to win. And the only way you’ll keep battling and the only way you’ll keep building is if you remember who you’re building for and who you’re battling for. May I just say this? Jesus deserves a building that’s finished. Jesus deserves a building, a war that ought to be fought. Jesus is, listen, he’s building with you, and he’s battling for you. And so here’s what I’m exhorting you to do: don’t you quit building until the building is done, and don’t you quit battling until the war is won. He deserves nothing less, nothing else, nothing but this. So, you want to be his disciple? Well, he’s laid down three principles, three rules. And let me just stop right here; I’m going to be honest. More than maybe any message I’ll preach this entire year, there are some of you, if you’re going to get serious about being a disciple, you have to change your life. You have to change your priorities. You have to change your schedule. You have to change your calendar. You have to change the way you spend your money. You’re going to have to change your checkbook.
This is one message you can’t just blow off and say, «It wasn’t that great.» No, I don’t know what you are going to do because you’ll leave here one of two ways: you’ll either leave here saying, «Well, I became a Christian, but I’m not a disciple,» or you’re going to leave here saying, «I didn’t just become a Christian; I am a disciple.» Last thing—we’re done. We must be spiritually committed to Jesus. So, Jesus is making His appeal; He’s making His point, and then He closes with this summary statement that kind of wraps it up. It’s almost like Jesus said, «If you didn’t understand what I’m trying to say, let me take one more stab at it.» Are you ready for this?
In the same way, those of you who do not give up—would you all say that word out loud, now real loud—"Everything you have cannot be My disciple.» By the way, notice Jesus didn’t say you’re to give away everything; He said you are to give up everything. What does that mean? It means you have to be willing to sign the title deed of everything you have and everything you are over to Him. It doesn’t matter where it takes you; you have to be all in and sold out. Then Jesus gives another analogy that’s so beautiful, and boy, today it’s really great; you’ll see why in a moment. He kind of shifts gears and changes the subject to something you can’t believe He even thought about. Listen to what He said: «Salt.» Salt? What about salt? We’ve been talking about it.
«Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.» Why in the world does Jesus end up talking about salt of all things? Well, if you go back 2,000 years, you’ll learn something: salt was a very valuable item in the days of Jesus. As a matter of fact, it was as good as money. Many times, a soldier’s pay was given in salt. In fact, the words «salt» and «salary» are very closely related. Now you’ll understand why we say, «He’s not worth his salt.»
Where do you get that idea? Back then, salt was like money; he’s not worth his salt, meaning he’s not worth the salary he’s being paid. Salt is so valuable. Salt purifies, salt penetrates, salt preserves. For example, they were out there today; you know what they were putting down on that slick pavement a while ago? They were putting salt. I walked across it to test it—glad I made it because I asked Tom, «Tom, is this safe?» He said, «Well, it looks slick, Pastor, but we got salt on it.» He’s right; he puts the salt on it, and then you can walk on it. That’s what salt does. It’s what it does to food; you know this. You put salt on something, and it makes it taste totally, completely different. It gives food a flavor it otherwise doesn’t have. Someone asked a little boy one time, «What is salt?» He said, «Salt is what makes food taste bad if you don’t put it on there.»
Now think about it. That’s pretty good. Salt is what makes food taste good; if you don’t put it on, it doesn’t taste right. And then you go back to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:13. He said, «You are the salt of the earth.» Now let me just stop right there. Based on what I just told you, that ought to take your breath away; that ought to get your undivided attention. Jesus said, «You"—but I–I don’t have a college degree. You—I don’t have a seminary degree. You—I’m shy. You—I’m reserved. You—I just got saved. You are the salt of the earth.
So let me just say this: if what Jesus said is true… If I were to ask you today—in fact, if you were to ask Americans today, they do this in every survey during presidential elections—what are our greatest problems? If I were to ask you what the greatest problems are in America, here’s what we would say: we could give you the list: crime, criminals, illegal immigrants, the border, the deficit, inflation, rising interest rates, and on and on. If what Jesus said is true, that we are the salt of the earth, I beg to differ. The biggest problem we have in America—and the reason why we have so many problems—is not illegal immigrants, it’s not the border, it’s not crime, it’s not drug dealers, it’s not pornographers, it’s not deficits, it’s not high interest rates, and it’s not even crooked politicians.
The biggest problem we have in America today is that we don’t have enough salt. We have too few salty saints. We have too few disciples. Overwhelming data compiled by many researchers has found that, on average, an evangelical Christian—listen to this—is just as likely to embrace lifestyles that are every bit as materialistic, every bit self-centered, and every bit sexually immoral as the world in general.
In other words, the average Christian doesn’t live much differently than the average non-Christian. They have lost their salt because they became a Christian but they’re not a disciple. This brings us to the application. We learn something from Jesus. If He felt that the best way and the biggest tool to help people be salty saints and to help people be the disciples they ought to be was through groups, He came up with this brilliant idea: why don’t we have groups? Why don’t we get in groups where we can disciple one another? The biggest tool we have as a church to help you be a salty saint is our groups ministry. Being part of a small group— I get it.
Let me just stop right there. I know what you’re saying right now: «Man, I’m busy.» If you’re too busy to be part of a small group, some way or somehow, you’re too busy. «Well, I’ll have to get out of my comfort zone.» Yes, you will. But when you become part of a small group, you connect with others. You encourage others; they encourage you. You learn the Bible; you’re held accountable. And frankly, I’ve never met a believer yet—if you know one or you think you’re one, come see me and I’ll disabuse you of this notion. I have never met a believer in my life who didn’t need a small group. You’re not James. You’re not John. You’re not Peter. You’re not Paul. If you are a Christian, you need to be in a small group. And we’ve already said, «Well, if Jesus invited me, I’d be in one.» Well, He’s inviting you. Would you be willing right now to just pray a simple prayer:
Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner; I need a Savior. I realize I wasn’t put on this earth just to live this life. I was put on this earth to receive eternal life, and then, because of that eternal life, to live the life You want me to live as a disciple. So, Lord Jesus, today I confess my sins; I repent of my sins; I turn away from my sins. I ask You to become my Savior. I surrender to You as the Lord of my life, and beginning today, help me to spend the rest of my life being a disciple.