This sermon delves into the essence of true discipleship and the transformation that should accompany genuine belief in Christ. It emphasizes the need for visible life change when the Holy Spirit dwells in a person, contrasting it with mere religious activities. The speaker highlights the importance of surrendering to Jesus, following Him wholeheartedly, and becoming disciple-makers as a natural outcome of being a disciple. The message also addresses the critical distinction between claiming to be a Christian and truly living a surrendered life to Christ, urging believers to examine their commitment and lifestyle in light of Scripture.

Now, a community of guys, folks who are gathering together in the morning, praying together, sharing the gospel, and not everybody, I mean, there's other folks, I mean, I know you guys gather together once a week, like, when you talk about re-looking at what it means to be the church, or I don't know what the best word is, like, what are the things that are really forefront on your heart and mind when you think about what the church should look like? Well, you know why I love that gathering in the mornings is I have a confidence of these people that they really are believers, that they really are followers, and I think a lot of times when we gather for what we call church, I don't know that I have that same confidence because when I read scripture, I see, gosh, when the Holy Spirit enters into a person, there should be some pretty serious life change, like, there should be a difference between a person who's dead in their trespasses and sins, and a person who now has the spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwelling in them, like, there should be a marked difference, and I believe I see that, I mean, we've seen it where you go, wow, that's not normal, that person has been turned around, that person is filled with the spirit, but then there's also such a big number of people that come to these Sunday gatherings where you wouldn't be able to tell the difference by their lifestyle, actions, even words, and so now you're trying to get everyone in this gathering to do something together, and I'm concerned that a lot of them have not really made a commitment to follow Jesus, like the other day, I just was reading through the book of Mark, and I thought, wow, I mean, Jesus just goes to these people, follow me, and that just means whatever I'm asking you to do, you just do it, and you know, those who try to make excuses, well, let me just, and they seem legitimate, like, let me say goodbye to my family, you know, yeah, of course, of course, you get your family to you, and Jesus is like, well, if you're going to do that, then don't even bother, I'm like, wow, you know, what it means to follow Jesus, to surrender, I mean, that's what we're saying today of walking in the spirit is, holy spirit, what would you like me to say, what would you like me to do, I've surrendered to you, I've died to myself, and I want to follow you, I mean, is that mindset, are those, you know, the people that show up on a Sunday morning, is that what they're thinking, or is it something else that's been created of, you know, repeat after me, pray this prayer, you know, you're not going to hell anymore, I just don't see that in scripture, I see a follow me, and so for me, gathering with people, where I go, and I see it in their life, it's just a lot different. So, I mean, that hits something really important, like, to call people to make disciples who are not disciples, that's pretty much a dead end, I mean, I think about one guy in the church that I pastor, who came to the church a few years ago, he'd grown up in the church, he'd done the deal, prayed the prayer, been baptized, and had been involved in church leadership, like, the church that he came from called us, the pastor of that church called us and said, hey, just want you to know, you're getting a great guy, like, this guy is going to serve your church well, he's going to be a great church member, so he comes, and about a year later, he gets saved, like, he was not a follower of Jesus, he'd been on every committee, team, he'd done all this stuff in the church, but he'd never become a follower of Jesus, and then as soon as he did, like, this supernatural compulsion was in him, I mean, he started looking around at his life and his workplace, he's a really successful businessman, he says, how can I use this business to leverage for the gospel, to make disciples, him and his wife started taking couples into their homes, they started intentionally making disciples, I mean, his wife came out the other day and said, pastor, making disciples is better than having grandkids, like, they are just going at it, and the fundamental change was he became a follower of Jesus. Now, I don't want to say that everybody who struggles with making disciples is clearly not a disciple, but when you look at this book, from the very beginning of Christianity, like, follow me, I will make you a fisher of men, like, every follower, a fisher, every disciple, disciple maker, so if we're not making disciples, somewhere along the way, we may have missed what it means to be a disciple. Yeah, yeah, my concern is, okay, let me put it this way, like, there was one time there was, you know, this guy who was struggling, you know, sexually, he was actually even on our staff, and, you know, just decided to go the other direction, walk away from things, and, you know, but still was saying he's still a Christian, he's still a follower, and it was just that whole thing of, I don't want to judge anyone, I don't know, but at the end of the day, I said, you know, here's my concern, is if Jesus said to him, hey, drop these relationships and follow me, he would say no, I'm going to leave that, and just do whatever you ask me to do, like, he would say no to that, but yet we would still call him a Christian, and that's such a weird disconnect to me, and yet many people would say, well, yeah, I'm not ready to drop everything, but I consider myself a Christian, I'm not ready to, you know, I'll grow in that, I'll get there one day, but I'm not there, like, I just get concerned, I mean, I sometimes look at my own life and go, man, this is inconsistent, this is inconsistent, and I'm not saying I didn't have this figured out, I just really wrestle with that, and there are times in my life when I feel total peace, like, I was surrendered today, I really did, and so I don't even know what I'm saying right now, I'm just saying I wrestle with this, with what I read in Scripture, and I wrestle with other people, not just out of concern, like, I love these people, and I wanna believe that we're gonna spend eternity together.