This past Sunday we learned how discipleship cannot happen without relationship. God has designed us to be in relationship with Him, but we were also created to be in relationship with one another. We saw how Rules - Relationship = Rebellion, while Rules + Relationship = Obedience. We are called to Grow in our walk, or another way of describing this is that we are to become like Jesus. Becoming like Jesus means we have to live out (obey) His commands (rules). Without relationship we will merely rebel. I also shared our vision for creating Connect groups that are centered around relationship. These groups will meet in homes and will not exceed 12-14 people. Once a small group grows beyond those numbers, it is no longer a small group. When a group grows to that size, people can't be known relationally in a way that encourages them to grow into mature disciples of Christ.
This coming Sunday will be the final sermon about discipleship. We will talk about the role of shepherding. This is the idea of us taking care of the needs of one another. This was modeled by the early church in Acts 2:42-47. In fact, lost people were attracted to them because of how they loved one another. We will look in Ezekiel 34:2-5 and understand the failure of the religious leaders because they weren't good shepherds. Then, we will study 1 John 3:16-19 and see that we all have a responsibility to shepherd (take care of) one another. This is rarely effective in a large group. Shepherding (taking care of each other) happens best in small groups where through relationship we grow to love one another.
In Christ,
Mark Smith, Pastor of FBC Jacksonville, AR
