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The River ChurchSermons

REACH, GATHER, GROW

Process of Growth

Josh Yates · Sunday, 21 September 2025 · Romans 8:29 · 58:20 · 10,512 words

Romans S22 · 8:29 Lake Orion

Listen to this message

Growing in Christ is the focus, as the speaker unpacks Romans 5:1‑8 and 8:28‑30, showing that suffering produces endurance, character, and a confident hope in God’s love. The message introduces a four‑chair discipling model that helps each listener evaluate where they are spiritually and recognize the next step toward deeper faith. Listeners are challenged to be honest about their current place, to join a growth community, and to trust that God will complete the good work He began in them.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

chair 75 learn 48 grow 43 process 17 step 22 disciple 18 abide 9 growth 17 jesus 101 worker 10 community 19 next 23

Topics

Prayer 4 Salvation 4 Hope 3 Faith 3 Sin 2 Election & Predestination 2 The Gospel 1 Baptism 1 The Holy Spirit 1 Righteousness 1 Suffering 1 Justification 1 Atonement & Sacrifice 1

Scripture referenced 17

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 8 5:47 Romans 9 5:48 Romans 5:1-8 7:40 Romans 5:1-8 7:47 Romans 5:1-8 8:09 Romans 5:3-5 10:16 Romans 8:28-30 11:31 Philippians 1:6 12:25 Ephesians 2:10 13:06 John 10:10 13:20 1 John 2 15:20 Luke 19 19:32 Ephesians 2 20:59 Ephesians 2:5 26:39 1 John 1:9 32:51 John 15:5 43:39 John 15:15 46:19

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 20 lines, 1:45. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey, everyone. My name is Mitchell Holmes, and I want to thank you for checking out this message

today. We're so glad that you're here with us, and we want to connect with you and your family.

The easiest way to do that is to text the word RIVERCONNECT to 97000. There we can answer any

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please head to our website and click the Give tab at the top of the page,

or you can text the amount that you want to give to 84321.

Thank you again for joining us, and we hope you're blessed by today's message.

If you have any questions or other problems, feel free to reach out to us at

theriverchurch.cc. We'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

If you have any questions or other problems, feel free to reach out to us at

theriverchurch.cc. If you have any questions or other problems, feel free to reach out to us at

theriverchurch.cc. We'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

If you have any questions or other problems, feel free to reach out to us at

theriverchurch.cc. We'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

If you have any questions or other problems, feel free to reach out to us at

theriverchurch.cc.

If you have any questions or other problems, feel free to reach out to us at

theriverchurch.cc. We'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Of course, we need to pray for the Kirk family with the funeral today and all

kinds of things happening. I know that some of us were probably shaken by what

happened. Remember, our hope is sure. Our hope is sure in Christ. So let's pray

this morning, and then we'll dig into God's Word. Heavenly Father, we just thank

you so much for who you are and how you move and how much you love us and that

nothing that comes to us is ever by surprise. And so God, we do pray for the

Kirk family today. God, as they remember the life of Charlie, and we thank you for

how he loved you and how he desired for others to know the gospel of Jesus

Christ. We also pray for so many people that have been shaken up by this in one

way or the other on all sides of a political aisle. God, I pray that we as

followers of yours would not be caught up on sides of an aisle, but caught up in

the cross of Christ. And Jesus, I just pray that we would keep our eyes on you,

the author and the finisher of our faith, every step of the way. We would mourn

with those who mourn.

We would rejoice with those who rejoice. And then God, we would remember that our

goal in life is not to be a side of an aisle, but to point people to you, to point

people to the cross of Christ where we'd find forgiveness, grace, and hope, and the

only hope we really have in this world. And so God, as we dig into your Word and

learn more about what it means to grow in you, God, I pray that you would challenge

us, that you'd encourage us, that we would be able to see maybe where we currently

are with you and know, at least have a good idea of what our next step with you

might be. God, I thank you so much for allowing us to be here today. And I pray,

Lord, I would honor you with what we say and do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Well, first of all, I want to say thank you to Elijah for preaching last Sunday.

The Yates family had a great time out in Petoskey for a soccer tournament where

Sidney's team, my daughter, took second. And so it was a pretty great weekend.

And so we had a lot of fun, but do be praying for her. Unfortunately, she also

walked out of that weekend with a concussion. So, you know, that's, it's the

perils of being a goalkeeper. She made a great save.

Paid for it on that one. So, so yeah, she's down for a little bit, but I

appreciate your prayers on that. So that's, that's, that's what happened with

the Yates family last weekend. But thank you so much to Elijah and for the great

job that he did. And since I wasn't here last Sunday and it was their first

Sunday, I want to officially welcome Jules and Casey Schieferstein to our

church here. So, and your, and their son, Lewis. So happy to have them here as our

gathering director. That's our definition for our worship leader, just in case you

know, you know, he's, he's, he's, he's in charge of all worship leaders. And so

he's been leading in tech and production and all that, all that stuff. So just

so, so blessed to have you guys here. Thank you for, for being here and looking

forward to how God's going to use you. So praise the Lord for that. Well, every

year we talk about our vision here at the River Church, and this is a time that

we do that in September. We do it in September and in January, and we do it so

often because it's way too easy for vision to leak. You know, when we don't

hear about it, it's easy for us to go, what do we, why do we do what we do? Why

do we have events? Why do we gather on a Sunday? Why do we have growth

communities? Why do we do these things? It's important for us to know that we

all understand why we do what we do. And so we always talk about it in

September and in January.

And our vision here at the River Church is what you see all around our buildings.

It's to reach the lost, glorifying God by reaching the world,

to gather together in worship by glorifying God by gathering the saints,

and then growing together in Christ, glorifying God by growing in his word

and growing more into the image of Jesus himself.

We want to make much of Jesus here.

Every time we get together, we want to make much of him

and glorify him every chance we get.

And today we've talked about reach and gather the last couple of weeks,

and today we're finishing up this little mini-series in the middle of Romans

talking about what it means to grow in the Lord.

And we've learned a ton in Romans as we've been through it through,

I think it's about 17 weeks of the summer.

We're through Romans 8.

We're going to start Romans 9 next Sunday.

I'm looking forward to continuing the book of Romans.

I'm still talking about Romans today too

because we see growth of God's people in the book of Romans,

and we see Paul encouraging people.

We see Paul encouraging people to grow in their faith in Christ.

And I really thought about why we grow and how we grow

and what we're called to grow into.

And so we're going to talk about a few different things today.

It's going to be some preaching,

but we're also going to learn about how you can practically grow in the Lord.

Because I feel like in the church, sometimes we come in on a Sunday,

and it's like it's this relationship with Jesus that is spiritual in nature,

and it's just kind of there.

And I just kind of come to church, and that's really what it's all about.

And there's so much more.

There's so much more depth to our relationship with God that we all can have.

But so often we just kind of sit in a chair or a pew, whatever church you end up in,

and you're not quite sure what your next step is.

You hear a guy talk.

I'm either encouraged, challenged, or frustrated.

One of the three things.

Maybe angry every once in a while.

I don't know.

And then you leave, and you go, what's for lunch?

And that turns into our relationship with God as we come to church on Sundays,

and that can be it.

Maybe if you're really spiritual, you come to a midweek growth community,

and you kind of dig in there, but not.

You don't know what you're doing.

You don't know what you're doing.

You don't know what your next step is.

And again, I go back to like the health club.

One of the first things you go to a health club, they have you meet with a trainer,

mainly so they can grab you.

No, so that they can get your money.

No, so you know how to use the machines.

Otherwise, you become like that YouTube dude doing something really stupid on a machine

that's never meant to do, right?

Unfortunately, that's sometimes what happens in our walks with the Lord,

is we sit there doing things that we think are spiritual

because that's just kind of what we fell into rather than actually knowing it.

So I'm hoping to be able to give you a type of,

to help you kind of see where you're at and where your next step is.

But first of all, Romans chapter 5, verses 1 to 8,

is super, super important as we continue in our study of Romans.

Romans 5, 1 to 8, it'll be on the screen behind me.

If you have your Bibles or devices, I always encourage you to pull them out

because just because I say it doesn't mean it's right.

You got to see it in God's word, all right?

Don't take my word for it.

Make sure you're going to God with anything that's said.

I'm doing the best I believe, and I believe God's led me to this,

but I'm still a human being.

I can make mistakes.

So we all want to see it in God's word.

Romans chapter 5, verses 1 to 8, says this.

See, Paul's really talking about growing here.

It's not easy.

That's why they're called growing pains, right?

Because when we grow, sometimes we have to learn the hard way.

In fact, let's be honest.

The majority of us,

we learn the hard way.

How did you learn to not touch a hot stove?

You touched a hot stove, right?

And that, yeah, sometimes we still do.

I probably touched a hot stove in my life yesterday

when we made some stupid decision, right?

And that's how we learn, right?

But Paul says in the middle of this process,

we have access to God.

My friends, if you know Christ as Savior,

you have access to the creator of the universe

who loves you, who died for you,

who gave his son for you.

How amazing is that?

I heard it said,

or there's a quote that I quoted recently,

that if we could hear Jesus praying for us

in the other room as he is,

we would live a lot more bold in our lives.

Jesus' purpose in heaven right now

is to intercede for those of us that are his children.

It's an amazing thing.

to know. But God grows us. He loves us where we are, but he doesn't want us to stay where we are.

And so in the middle of suffering, of hardship, of trial, and this suffering, Paul says,

leads to endurance. This endurance leads to character, and character produces hope. I really

like how the New Living Translation translates verses three to five. It'll be on the screen.

It says, we can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help

us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens

our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment, for we know how

dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. And

when we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now most

people would not be willing to die for an upright person, although someone might perhaps be willing

to die for a person who's especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to

die for us while we were still sinners.

That's why I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, I can stand up here every Sunday and tell you that

you are loved, because the cross is the demonstration of his love for you. He died for you. And I've said

it before, I'll say it again today, there's not one of you in this room that I would give the life

of one of my daughters for. But God did it for us. God did it for us. You are loved, and he wants you

to grow in your relationship with him. Over a couple pages to Romans chapter 8, verses 28 to 30,

it says this,

For those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to

his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be, what? Conformed to the image

of his Son. We are called to grow into who Jesus is, in order that he might be the firstborn among

many believers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also

justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. All things work together for good.

What's the good?

Becoming like Jesus. It's the good. All things work together for the good of those who are called

according to his purpose, to be predestined, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

That is what we're called to. And here's an awesome promise in God's word, Philippians 1.6.

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of

Jesus Christ. If God's begun a good work in you, he's going to complete it. You can take that to

the bank. He will complete it in you. Why?

Because he loves you, and he wants so much more for you every single day. But the reality is,

sometimes we come to the Lord, and we're like, okay, I'm good. You know, I've got, now I've got

a relationship with the Lord. But the truth is, we haven't been just saved from something.

We've been saved to live for God. Ephesians 2.10 says this, for we are his workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk

in them. And then Jesus says in John 10.10, the thief or the enemy comes to steal only to

steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. See,

God has put, if you know him as Lord and Savior, and if you're here this morning, and you haven't

yet known him, if you haven't yet given your life to him, the reality is you're here this morning,

whether in person or online, it's not an accident. God does not, there is no coincidences in life.

God's in control. You're here for a reason. And there's a growth process that we're all going

through, and we're all in different stages of growth. Every single one of us in the room,

we're at different stages in our journey.

And so if you've been around at all and heard me say this, some of you have heard this for the

first time today. Others of you have heard this a few times from me. It's a process called four

chair discipling. And I don't have the chairs up with me today, but we will have illustrations on

the screen and you'll see them this morning. But when we think about growth, the only way to grow

in the Lord is if you're honest with yourself, right? If we dig into like the religious side

of everything and we just want to be religious, we can feel like we've accomplished something

because we have a little piety. We know the reality is that we're not going to grow in the

right words to say. We do some of the right things. You know, man, I even let, I even grabbed

a shopping cart that was in the parking spot and I put it away. I'm a real good follower of Christ,

right? I mean, we can feel really good about stuff like that. I'm not saying you should do that all

the time. Let me tell you, right? But we kind of, I did a good deed for today. So, right? But the

reality is is we have to be honest with ourselves where we are and honest with what ourselves with

the next step may may be it's true of any pattern any any any way of life but the reality is is

jesus gave us a pattern for helping people take their next step in him there's a verse that's in

the new living translation that's so pointed and we have to realize this as followers of jesus it

says this in first john 2 6 those who say they live in god should live their lives as jesus did

that is the bar that's who we're becoming so how well are we doing at living like jesus did

i don't know about you maybe you're further along i'm horrible at it i have a bad attitude i get

ticked at people i mean when i drive i that's my that's my thing i talk about it a lot people cut

me off i'm like right we all get there or we have relationships or we have situations or

i'm selfish or you feel in the blank right we're all being conformed to the image of his son as

followers of his

but this idea of four chair discipling is that it's not mine it was dan spader who started sun

life ministry it's it's it's his but it's something i've really incorporated into my

ministry and continually talk about because i think it's so effective in helping people

understand where you currently are and what your next step could or should be in your walk with

jesus and so we know god wants us to grow in him but that starts at a certain point and that starts

by coming to know christ and so first of all i want you to know the first four chairs i'm going

to define them and then we're briefly our

to give you give you the the titles of them and then we're going to go in and define each one this

morning all right so hang on lots of information coming your way in the first chair and we'll have

that on the screen behind me is the chair of the lost person the chair of the person that does not

yet believe in jesus christ and the what a lost person needs the most is they need to come and

see who jesus is and for a person that's in this chair this is it's kind of an infant stage but

it's also a stage i mean this is going to sound harsh and stick with me i'm going to talk about

it here and then i'm going to talk about it here and then i'm going to talk about it here and then

a minute the if you don't know jesus the bible tells us that we are dead and our sins and our

trespasses we're literally dead spiritually and so that's the first chair the second chair is the

chair of the believer when you're in this chair you're kind of like a child you're learning more

and what a person in chair two needs to know is you need to learn how to follow jesus

jesus said follow me and again we're going to dig into this here in a minute chair number three is

the worker and this is a spiritual young adult beginning to take some responsibility and what

they're learning is how to fish for the Lord and they're learning how to fish for the Lord and

how to fish for people how to tell others who jesus is and then finally in chair four it's the

disciple maker this is a parent who's now reproducing more disciples and they need to

begin to bear much fruit and keep bearing much fruit as god's word says now let's leave this

on the screen i do want you to look at it though and i want you to know something off the bat this

isn't a bad to better process this isn't like i'm it's not great to be in chair one it's better to

be in chair four this is just a process it's not a competition it's this isn't a

race paul says we're running a race they are each our own race but this isn't it this is just to help

us understand where we are and what our next steps might be now in our world organizations create

certain things right they make things what does taco bell produce indigestion what does mcdonald's

produce hamburgers right what does apple computer produce the best phones out there

there's always an android person um i debated on this one but i'm gonna go for it what are the 49ers

produce championships all right um i love y'all all right um what does the church produce it should

be disciples and discipleship starts at a certain point but never ends until we die it's a continual

process it's a continual process and so i want to define these for us this morning in the next

few minutes that we have today the first is a chair of the lost person the seeker what exactly

are we saying here well jesus said in luke 19 10 he said for the son of man came to seek

and save the lost and i get it sometimes we saw well people how dare you call somebody lost

how why is your way right nobody else right again i i say that i've used this before but if you lose

your phone or something that's really really important to you you lose your wallet let's say

you lose your wallet what are you gonna do you're gonna tear apart your house because it's lost

And you need to find that thing.

Why?

Because there's value in it.

When we say that somebody's lost, it's because there is value.

And Jesus himself places value in every single person.

And he desires that every single person would come to repentance.

And that's why we seek to say, we seek to give people the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To say, come and know that your sins can be forgiven.

Come to the cross.

Believe that Jesus is who he says he is.

That he's the son of God.

Believe that he died and he rose from the dead.

He did what he said he did.

And ask him for forgiveness and make him Lord of your life.

And you'll be saved right when you call on his name.

That is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And that is our declaration.

That is what Jesus came and did for us.

Person in chair one has some things that they've got to learn.

And once they're saved, they're an infant.

But before they know Jesus Christ, before they've given their life to Christ,

every person is dead in their sins and transgressions.

Ephesians chapter two.

Dead people don't talk.

Dead people don't walk.

Dead people have no hope.

That's the reality.

Once you die.

It's over, right?

You're not getting back up.

There's only two people that got back up.

One was Lazarus because Jesus said, come out.

And the other one was Jesus himself.

The only way we come to life is through Jesus Christ.

And that's the message that we have to proclaim to a lost person.

Somebody who's in chair one who hasn't quite come to know the Lord.

They're going to have beliefs that are contrary to God's word.

That are contrary to what God has told us in his word.

They might have disbelief in supernatural or in many forms of the supernatural.

A disbelief in God.

Atheism or belief in the possibility of God.

Or that there's a God that we've formed in our own making.

I hear people or I hear it said a lot.

I can't serve a God that.

Well, but if God's God, we don't get to define who he is.

He defines who he is.

And the God that's actually there is so much better than anything we can ask, think, or imagine.

People in chair one may have a belief in one God, but that there are many ways to get to know him.

The truth is, there are many ways to get to know him.

The truth is, there are many ways to get to know him.

The truth is, there are many ways to get to know him.

The truth is, there are many ways to get to know him.

The truth is, there are many ways to get to know him.

The truth of the matter is, there is one name under heaven by which people must be saved.

And his name is Jesus Christ.

It's all about Jesus.

And people in chair one are really looking for answers.

Truly, so much of our world is looking for answers today.

Everyone is looking for answers.

Especially in the times we're in right now.

People are looking for answers.

What's going on?

But we're all going to find them somewhere.

Even if it's as far as saying, I am God, or I don't need a God, or I'm complete.

It's still an answer.

Everyone's still looking for truth.

People in chair one often believe that.

They're either too good, or too bad for a savior.

Or they don't need one.

A lot of people in chair one would say that I'm good enough to get into heaven.

I can do enough good works.

The Bible says that's not true.

People in chair one are also very, very pragmatic.

It's all about relative truth.

What's true for you is true for you.

What's true for me is true for me.

And that's it.

But here's the thing.

What happens if the truth that I have contradicts your truth?

How does that work?

And truth by characteristic has to always be true.

We don't get to define a personal truth.

Truth is objective, not subjective.

Truth is either always true, or it's a complete lie.

We have to understand that.

We have a world that's trying to redefine truth.

Truth is always truth, or it ceases to be true.

And people in this chair often say things like this.

I don't believe there's a God.

The Bible is just a bunch of myths.

Evolution explains the way I need for God.

There's many ways to get to God.

I don't need to be saved because I'm as good as anybody else.

There is no hell because God is a God of love.

There is no absolute right and wrong.

So what someone needs in this stage the most is that they need to

hear the gospel.

They need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the

power unto God and salvation.

It is the power unto salvation for the gospel.

And so in their head, they need to understand that God loves

them and Jesus died for them.

God loves them and Jesus died for them.

In their hearts, they need to understand that they need to

give God their life.

They need to give God their life and let him come into their

life and take it.

And then their hands, what they do, they've got to get it

involved in what we do on Sunday mornings and learn how to serve

and what that looks like.

These are real practical steps, but the depth of it is they need

to know Jesus as their savior.

That's what takes you into chair two is acceptance.

in Christ as Lord and Savior. And if you're here this morning and you don't know him, this might

sound kind of weird to you. Why are we defining different things of spirituality? Again, the

reality is we come in a church and we think it's just about singing a few cool songs, feeling good

about ourselves, and then we leave. But at The River, we want to make sure that we help you

understand what it really means to follow Jesus Christ, not just act like it. And that's true of

many churches. I don't want to say that like we're some exclusive church that we're the only ones

doing it. That's not the case. There's plenty of other good churches in our community that are

doing the same thing, all right? But I just want to say as the pastor here at Lake Orient, we want

to make sure that you know what your next step is as best we can. Are we excellent at it? We're

trying to be. We don't want you to stay where you are. We don't want you to flounder. We don't want

you to not know what the next step is. We want to help you define it. And if you're here this

morning and you don't know Jesus, the first thing you need is to call on him. Call on the name of

the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. Your sins will be forgiven and your eternal destiny

I guarantee that. I know it because God preaches it. God's told us that in his word. It's the most

important decision you'll make in your life. More important than any other decision you'll ever make.

Do you know Jesus today? If not, come to him. Talk to me. Talk to guest services. We would love to

pray with you today. And chair number two is the chair of the believer. And this is a chair that

has a lot of people in it. It's the chair where Jesus' call to you is to follow me. And oftentimes

when you accept Christ, you're a new believer in chair two. A radical transformation,

is taking place. And we're going to spend the most time in this chair because this is where a lot

of people are. Ephesians 2.5 says, even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive

together with Christ because it's by grace you've been saved. See, Jesus' righteousness has been

credited to a person when they come to him and ask him to be their savior. It's not about your

righteousness. It's about his because you can't be good enough. He is. And it's credited to you

as righteousness. And as great as this is, the new believer really needs to nurture and needs to learn

what it means to be a believer. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to do it. We're going to

to follow Christ. This is the baby stage of development of an individual. See if you track

a baby's development here as well. A new believer has an ignorance of spiritual needs. They don't

know the first thing about what it takes to follow Jesus. They don't know what it will take to grow.

Reading the Bible's a little bit of a struggle, if not a big struggle to read. No idea about the

importance of getting involved in community and the body of Christ and the church. Ultimately,

when you first come to Jesus, you still have a real worldly perspective about life.

They just simply know what they know, live what they know. They may have some spiritual truth,

but they have a lot to learn still. There's a lack of knowledge about God's word. And oftentimes,

you can get into this mix of Christianity and other world religions that sound good,

right? Pragmatism, evolution versus creationism. What's actual truth? The difference between one

true God and other gods. Some of us here may still be in that time. Childlike thought processes.

They usually only think of themselves most of the time. It ends in long-term thinking that it's okay

to stay in chair two, that it's just about God. I just have to believe in him and then I can go live

my life however I want. I briefly tuned into the Goodrich live stream this morning and Pastor

Josh Combs, who talked to us this morning, was preaching. And he said something this morning

that I think is super important to hear. He said, ultimately, for those of us that are here and you

claim Christ and you live however you want, you go and do whatever you want and it really doesn't

matter. You don't think there's anything wrong. I'm just going to go sin. It doesn't matter. God

doesn't care. I don't ever have this feeling that God might convict me. I just kind of go do whatever

I want. It doesn't matter anymore. And there's never, ever any conviction. My friend, you don't

have the Holy Spirit living in your life. You don't know Jesus. It's not about being perfect,

but the thing is, is sometimes we have this idea of religiosity and we think we're a believer

because we prayed a prayer one time a long time ago, or we went to church as a kid and some church

decided to confirm us or something and say that, yeah, you have faith because you recited some

things out of a book, whatever that looks like. But the reality is if the role of the Holy Spirit

in our lives is to convict us when we mess up lovingly, because God loves us and wants us to

grow. And if there's never conviction in your life, if you, if you never ever feel that twinge

of, oh gosh, I probably shouldn't have done that or said that or whatever, or man, God,

I want to be more like you. If you don't have that conviction, there is a great possibility

that you do not know Jesus. What you have is religion. And I can't stand up here this morning

and not say something like that. I can't stand up here this morning and not say something like that.

Because ultimately...

We've got to be looking at that because there's way too many people sitting in churches today

that are religious, that don't know Jesus. And it's all about what you do with Jesus Christ.

See, there's some of what you say and share too often as a new believer. I believe in Jesus,

but my church is when I'm in the woods. I don't have to go to church to be a Christian.

That's not necessarily a false statement, but you're definitely not going to grow as a Christian.

Going to church doesn't save you, but being a part of the church is what God intends for every

single person so that we can grow together because we need each other. And God knew we would.

My spouse is my accountability partner. I don't need anybody else. I pray and read my Bible.

That's good enough for me. My ministry is my secular work. I don't have time for church.

And everyone is a child of God. On the surface, that sounds really, really good.

My friends, everyone is not a child of God. They're not. You become a child of God when

you are adopted into his family through the cross of Jesus Christ.

And the offer is to...

Every single person freely given, but everyone is not a child of God.

We're all made in the image of God, but we become a child of God when we

acknowledge Christ and ask him to be our Lord and Savior.

The needs of new believers, they have to learn in their head. They got to learn their identity in

Jesus. What is your identity? Who do you belong to? They know, I mean, a child, who do they know

first? Their parents, right? They know who cares for them. They know the difference.

A new believer needs this as well, to learn that their identity is in Christ.

There's one book I read.

It says there's 33 things that happen at salvation. I don't know if that's exhaustive or not,

but it's a pretty good list. You're forgiven, a child of God, have access to God, reconciled,

justified. I'm not going to read them all, all right? But in their heart, they need to learn

how to live a cleansed life. I'll tell you, when a child becomes potty trained, everybody rejoices,

right? Our girls were five years apart, all right? So Kylie, our oldest, was born. We had five years

and she was potty trained. And just when she was getting out of diapers for a year or two, boom,

Sydney came along.

We're like, what just happened? Right? We're back into potty training, right? And it is a great day

when that kid is finally potty trained. It's like, right? It's not much different when a new believer

learns how to cleanse their own life, right? When they're like, wait a minute, I just read this

today in God's word. I got to figure out how to give that to God. That's a beautiful day.

When a new believer learns what it means to follow Jesus with their life. It's hard to apply though.

First John 1.9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us from

righteousness. If we confess it to him, they've got to learn the basic skills of what it means to

confess sin and recognizing what sin is and living and walking in God's forgiveness and grace. With

their hands, they got to learn how to walk on their own, right? Children learn by walking how?

By watching other people do it. That's what a new believer needs. They need to learn how to talk.

Children have to learn how to speak the language that their family speaks. That's the same thing.

We got to learn what the Bible is actually saying. They need to learn how to feed themselves.

A child's goal is for independence. That's another great thing. When they can finally feed

themselves, that's a great day. Of course, then you got to hide all the food eventually, but

you know, but that's great when a new believer learns how to feed themselves.

But here's the thing about chair too, because there's another side of chair too, because

spiritual children grow and develop. And if there's a child who at the age of 10 still acts

like a two-year-old, we're going to do what? We know there's something wrong in development,

right? We're going to get him to the doctor probably long before that.

Here's what happens in our spiritual lives. We go on and we live for the Lord and live for the Lord

and we live for the Lord and we never grow. And 10 years down the road, we still look like a new

believer because we never actually learned anything. I call chair too, this side, the

Barker lounger chair of the process, the recliner, because we can get really comfortable just

sitting here and just staying in it. And we can become spiritual children that are only focused

on ourselves. And these are some of the things that we find ourselves saying. I love my small

group. Don't add any more people to it. Don't split it up. Who are all these new people coming

to my church? I like my church small. My small group is not taking care of my needs. I don't

have anyone who's spending time with me. No one is discipling me. I want to do things my way.

I didn't like the music today. They need to sing this song. I'm not being fed at my church,

so I'm going to a church that meets my needs better.

what's the theme of all of that? Me. And I'm telling you, so many of us find ourselves in

the recliner chair of the believer, and we become scoffers, and we complain because we didn't grow.

We've got to stop being kids and grow up on our walk with the Lord. Until we pick up a mop,

stack chairs, or clean toilets without praise and for the glory of God and the good of others,

we haven't learned what it means to live for Jesus. The reality is those in chair two are

sophomores. It's not a knock. It's reality. They're wise fools. They have some knowledge about how to

live for God, but they don't know how to apply it yet, right? That's what sophomore means. And you

know what keeps us in chair two? Our stuff. Our stuff. What we want. How we want to live keeps us

in chair two. The things in the world get in the way of us moving anywhere. It's too easy to get

too busy to move. How you move out of chair two is we need to be pruned. Pruning is necessary to move

out of chair two because God has some things that in every one of our lives that he wants to take

his spiritual scalpel and say, this isn't for you anymore. How do we learn that? We do that through

leading into growth communities here and letting our lives be open to other people because we can't

do this on our own. We can't do this on our own. God loves us too much to let us stay where we are.

And there's some things on each and every one of our lives that needs to be cut out so that we can

move forward. Pruning is not easy. Growing processes are not easy, but it is for our good. It is for our

good. In chair three, this is the worker. A worker isn't fully trained, but they're moving in that

direction. A worker is learning to fish for people. It's a spiritual young adult learning and growing

and starting to take some responsibility.

Sorry, Luke 640, Jesus says this, a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is

fully trained will be like his teacher. Who's our teacher? Jesus Christ. When we're fully trained,

who are we going to look like? Jesus. Which means, again, also speak for myself, I got a long way to

go and God's continually growing me in different areas of life. And sometimes I go, can we pause

this for a little while? Because it's not always the easiest thing, but I got to trust his heart in

the process. And so what a worker needs, they have to trust his heart in the process. And so what a

worker needs, they have to trust his heart in the process. And so what a worker needs, they have to

learn how to grow and develop. What does that look like? Well, in their head, they got to learn

how to lead others to Jesus. It's a growing desire to have others come to Christ and be talking about

the gospel, learning what it means to sell others. Look, Jesus saves. Not being a jerk for Jesus,

that's not a slogan. Jerks for Jesus needs to go away. There's too many of those. We need to love

people. We need to love them well. But we don't just sit there and say, if I love people enough,

they'll figure I know Jesus. That's not how it works. We have to act like we know Jesus.

Actually talk about it. Be intentional. The idea of a worker, you're beginning to get

intentional. And in chair four, you've learned intentionality. So in your head, you got to learn

how to lead others to Jesus. In your heart, now you're allowing God to prune you. You know it's

not easy, but you're like, God, whatever is not of you, I don't want it. Take it out of me. Help me.

Teach me. Help me grow. And then finally, your hands, you follow after Jesus, which is an

acrostic. You become available to the Lord. You make yourself available. You're like, God,

what do you have for me in this day? You make yourself, you have become faithful. You desire

to continue to follow the Lord. And you have processes in your life that are going to continue

to draw you close to him. You're teachable. This is one of the things that's so difficult for so

many of us, because we have a way we do things. I've been doing this a long time, or I've been

doing this, or I've experienced this, and this is, and we are not teachable. Teachability is so

important, because our hearts have to be soft to what the Holy Spirit wants to do. And God reveals

that in our lives in so many different ways, through people, through circumstances, through

desires that we go, oh, I shouldn't have that one, right? We've got to be teachable. Enthusiastic,

man, getting together and going, man, I love following the Lord. And there's times I'm just,

I got to tell other people. And then finally, you're responsive. You respond when God calls you.

You respond when God calls you. They've responded to the call to fish for people.

And we get people that talk, the things they say in this stage is, I love my group,

but there's others who need a group like this. I think I could lead a group with a little help.

I have three friends I've been witnessing to, and this group would be too big for them.

I want to start another one because I want to invite them into this.

See, there's a willingness to sacrifice.

Look how many are at church today.

I had to walk two blocks from the parking spot I had.

See, it's a shift.

In my devotions, I came across something I have a question about.

I noticed we don't have an old folks visitation team.

Do you think I could be involved in starting one?

You want to know what typically happens, and this comes from chair two believers.

Hey, we're not really reaching out to our old folks.

Will you do that?

And that's to me or some other people.

And I'll say, well, wait a minute.

It sounds like you have a passion for that.

Well, you want to, oh, no, no, no.

I'm not going to do that, right?

When God gives you passion for something, it's your call, not necessarily somebody else's.

It's one of the things we've got to understand here as the body of Christ.

Man, I want to resource you.

If God's laid something on your heart and we can make it happen, I want to resource you as your pastor.

But here's the deal.

Just because it's your call doesn't mean it's mine.

We all have different reasons to minister.

I had some people come to me recently and say, man,

we've got to start.

We've got to start this new group.

And I said, okay, what does this look like?

And we figured it out, and they were doing great.

I'm so proud of them for doing it.

But they took it.

They didn't come to me and say, you need to start this group.

Because, again, God gives you in specific ways and has you reaching to people that I'll never reach.

We all have specific calls.

But this is what happens for a young adult.

And this is played out in deeper relationship with God and others and giving others the opportunity to speak into your life,

being held accountable to growth, and desiring to see it in others as well.

That we want to open our lives to other people to say, hey, help me.

And finally, chair four.

Now it's time to bear much fruit in chair four.

The major barrier of transition from chair three to chair four is being satisfied with where you are.

Because we can begin to go, oh, a few things are happening.

I'm good with that.

I'm good with a little bit.

No.

Jesus said it's time for us to bear much fruit.

Not just bear a little bit of fruit, but to bear a lot of fruit.

That's his goal for every single one of us, is that we bear much fruit.

Because, see, in chair three, you begin to see a little bit of fruit.

You're liking the taste of it.

And the temptation is, I'm good with that.

And when God calls you to work, you're like, ah, I'm a little bit too busy for that.

Right?

But satisfaction in the fruit is not the goal of being a disciple.

The gospel is awesome.

It's got to be shared.

And the idea of much fruit is abandoned, and our churches become full of baby or childlike Christians.

When we stop at chair three, and we don't have anybody in chair four that we're going to talk about,

chair two piles up, and the church stagnates.

And the church stays where it is.

Any church, anywhere.

So what does a chair four person need?

Okay.

In order to break through to chair four and really be a disciple who makes other disciples,

who are growing in this process too, you have to abide in Christ.

Abiding means to continually live in him, and to drink from him, and to learn from him,

and desire him above all things.

It's not that you're perfect at it, but you want Jesus.

You're abiding in him.

It's where it gets exciting.

Jesus says in John 15, 5,

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him,

he it is that bears much fruit.

For apart from me, you can do nothing.

In fact, eight times in this passage that Jesus is talking,

he mentions abiding in him to bear much fruit.

It's to remain in him, to dwell, to live in him,

continue to tarry, to linger with Jesus,

to make Jesus your dwelling place.

Let me ask you a question.

For those of us that hope to be in chair four,

when's the last time you wasted?

Wasted time with Jesus, just to be in his presence.

It's not a waste of time, but learning to just be with him.

For so many of us, we're way too busy for that.

See, as a chair four person dwells in Jesus,

chair two and three followers learn how to live,

learn how to grow,

because you're being intentional with your life.

And the characteristics of this disciple maker,

it's an amazing place to be,

because you've moved from being dead to Jesus,

to being alive in Jesus,

to a believer, to a worker.

you see other people growing as disciples because of how God is working in your life. You're used

by God to see people change, not because you have any talent or any ability or anything of yourself,

but because you become available to the use and the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

This isn't about talent. This isn't about ability. This is something every single believer can do

when your life is abiding in him. This isn't about being a good public speaker and going,

well, I could never do what you do, John. You're not called to do what I do. You're called to do

what you do. Stop looking at people that can talk well and go, I can't talk. You can have

a conversation. I'm not good at that. Neither would it was Moses. And yet he gave Moses the

words at the right times and even provided his brother. See, we have all kinds of excuses why

God can't use us. Guess what? Our God is bigger than every single one of your excuses. When we

abide in him, when we abide in him. See this idea of a chair for a person, you're a spiritual parent.

What's the biggest?

Mark of maturity, of full maturity of a human being's process. It's the ability to reproduce.

Maturity here is the ability to see other people that are now disciples of Jesus. John 15, 15,

this is amazing because when we abide in him and we've become a follower of his and he's using us

to help other people, Jesus now calls us his friends. No longer do I call you servants,

Jesus says, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends

for all that I have heard from my father. I have made known to you. See a disciple maker in their

head. They're mission minded. They've caught the mission of Jesus and they want to live on mission

for Jesus. And that means to go and let people know who he is. They set their lives on fire for

him and they're helping other people take next steps to Jesus and their heart. They're submitted

to Christ. And so they're also team minded. They understand they're not the only ones living for

Jesus. And they also won't see every step lived out in every person that God brings them to,

but they want to build up the body of Christ and also in their, not just their own lives.

They make church a priority because they know they can't live for Jesus on their own. They love

the church. They make disciples and they understand the power of me, but they also understand the

power of we doing it together. They have learned to feed and bathe themselves. They don't rely on

a pastor or a Bible teacher to feed them once a week. It's simply adding to what they're already

doing in their own life. They're in God's word.

They're learning from other people. They're learning from other speakers. They want to know

more about God. They understand how to go to God for forgiveness. Sometimes it hurts to be cleansed

by God's word, but they desire that and they feed themselves daily. They invited themselves into

accountability and they always want to invite people in to know who Jesus is. And they're

growing and letting God work through them and growing by having God reveal sin and then forgiving

it or asking God for forgiveness. And in their hands, they're intentional. They want to spend

time with their friends. They want to spend time with their family. They want to spend time with

their friend, Jesus. And they're sure to make time for it. They also want to let their lives impact

those around them. And so they make time to be able to impact those. They put themselves in

situations so they can impact other people. A person in this stage sounds like this. This guy

at work asked me to explain the Bible to him. Pray for me. Someone from our growth community wants to

get baptized. When's the next baptism? I want to get them plugged into the church, take their next

step. Our growth community wants to serve the community by doing this thing. Everyone in the

church wants to serve the community by doing this thing. Everyone in the church wants to serve the

community by doing this thing. Everyone in the church wants to serve the community by doing this thing.

We hold me accountable to spend time discipling my kids. That's what it sounds like for a person

who's a disciple maker. Moving to the next chair, it's not really out of chair four. You're actually

going back to chair one to help people know Jesus. That's what the process is. We're back to helping

people know Jesus. We're back to helping believers learn what it means to follow Christ. We're going

with workers trying to help them become disciple makers. That's what a person in chair four does.

So to wrap it all up this morning, I want you to walk away with one question today, and this is it.

What is your next step toward Jesus? Every time I present this, and I do it probably once every

couple of years in this amount of depth, people always come to me and go, man, I thought I was

in this chair, but I actually think I'm in that chair. I didn't really even realize it. That's

why I do this every once in a while, because we all have to take stock.

in our lives. Maybe there's some of you here today that thought you were in chair two, but you're

actually in chair one. Don't think that's a bad thing because if you realize it, praise God. Come

to Jesus, the Jesus who actually loves you, not the religious dude you thought you knew. Come to

know Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you. This isn't a contest. It's just recognizing where we

actually are and where our next step can be. This is the Holy Spirit reaching out to you in love

saying, I want to take you deeper because I have so much for you and I love you. So what chair are

you in and what is keeping you there? If you're not in a growth community right now, why are you

not in a growth community? I get that we are in seasons of busyness, whatever. My friends, we've

got to get out of this idea that we're too busy to do things. You do what you want to do. Every

single one of us are doing what we want to do. Remember what I said at the beginning of the

message? In order to grow, you have to be honest with yourself. You are doing what you want to do

with your time. We have to be honest with ourselves.

You cannot grow outside of community. You can't do it. Yes, we have seasons of life that are busy.

I'm not telling you that we don't have those. But my friends, if your season's been longer than about

six months, it's not a season. It's your life. You got to know that. You're living it. And I do it

too. I play a great victim. We all do. We don't have to be victims of our schedules. But it does

take some time. It does take some sacrifice sometimes. Jesus did sacrifice his life for us.

But let me tell you, anything sacrificed for Christ is worth it, my friends. When you grow in him,

when you begin to grow deeper into him,

my goodness, it is so life-changing. I do not deserve his love. Not once has he failed me.

And I forget it. I get frustrated. Things aren't the way I wish they were. But every time I hear

his loving voice, it's not a voice that comes in and says, man, you should be here. You suck,

whatever it is. You know, that's my voice. Or it's the voice of the enemy. Jesus comes to me and

says, I love you. And I want more for you. Oftentimes, I want more for you than you want

for yourself. I'm not going to leave you. I'm going to forsake you. And he'll come to you and

he'll say, and the Holy Spirit, I believe, is saying to every single one of us this morning,

it's okay to be where you are. It's not okay to stay there because he has more for you. He wants

you to know him more and deeper. He has people in your life and in your workplace, at your play

place, at your neighborhood, whatever it is, at your school that need Jesus. He's put you there

for a reason because you can reach people that others in the room never will because he died

for them too. Even the people we're mad with, even the people that are on the other side of the aisle.

I just want to say this one thing. If the people we disagree,

become people to conquer, we've lost the gospel. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus,

no matter what happens. And if we're not growing in our faith, we're going to listen to people that

sound like they don't know Jesus, but 99% truth is 100% lie. God's calling us to so much,

calling us to him. Nothing worth doing is easy. Jesus is worth it. I want to remind you what Paul

said to the Philippians. I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful

and will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. He's calling you. He will strengthen

you. He will help you. You don't do it alone. You can be free. You can take your next step.

The question is, will you trust Jesus enough to take it? What is your next step toward Jesus?

If you don't know what it is, reach out, talk to guest services. Better yet, if you're in a

growth community, talk to your growth community leader. That would tickle their gizzard. That's

why they do growth communities. In fact, most of your growth community leaders that are small

group leaders look at me and go, I have no idea what I'm doing, but they're faithful and they

want to. They're trying. That's beautiful. Yeah. Let me let you in on a secret. At least half the

time, I have no idea what I'm doing either. It's the Holy Spirit. It's God. What's your next step

in Jesus? Take it together. Gosh, I don't know why, but every single time when you show up,

it blows my mind. Thank you for your presence with us this morning. Just thank you for using

a broken person to preach your word. A person needs to be forgiven of sin and it's far from

perfect. I thank you for that. Thank you for all the people that are in similar positions,

even at our location in growth community leaders or as deacons or in serving coffee or in back

with kids or insecure. All of us, you know, we're all broken and yet you choose to use us and you

create a beautiful mosaic of the body of Christ as we determine to understand.

Nothing among one another except you and you crucified. So God help us to learn what it means

to take our next step in you. Whatever that looks like. I pray for those that might not yet have

given their heart to you as their Lord and Savior. God, I pray that if there's anybody here this

morning that does not yet know you, Lord, they would call on the name of the Lord and be saved

today. They would ask for forgiveness. They would believe you're the son of God. They would believe

you died and rose from the dead to forgive them of their sin, but ask for forgiveness of that sin

and ask you to be their Lord and Savior. God, if we've realized we're in a chair that maybe we

didn't think we were in, we're in a chair that we didn't think we were in, we're in a chair that we

didn't think we were in, I pray we wouldn't be discouraged, but that God would be encouraged

that you revealed it to us and now we can move forward in you and really move forward, not just

play a game, but for your grace and your love and your gentleness toward us. Show us where we are.

Show us where you want to take us. Next step. In Jesus' name we pray.

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