06/10/2026
Here is the adult study for tonight, June 10. Come join us as we continue talking about discipleship and what it means for us. We begin at 6:30 PM along with the teens and children.
Power to Proclaim 2
Luke 14:15-24
June 10, 2026
Scripture is full of examples of God's desire for His people to proclaim His message. From the very beginning, God has desired that His people inform those who may not know, who He is and what He is about. This involved people opening their mouths and sharing the message He gave them to share. In other words, He has invited His people to disciple others, and that has been done in many different ways, in many different settings.
The call to discipleship in Christ is the call to a different way of life. The message of God is spread by the people who have had an encounter with Him and have allowed Him to change them from what they were to who He needed them to be. This does not just happen; there has to be intentionality to discipleship. There must be an intentional shifting from what we once were to what He wants us to be. And it all begins with an invitation.
So, what does this look like? I would like us to look at a couple of Old Testament passages first. Exodus 33:11 and Numbers 27:12-23. What do you see in these passages?
Look now to 2 Kings 2:1-15. What do you see in these verses?
And the last one from the Old Testament. Read Genesis 22:7-14. This passage shows us that discipleship begins in the home. It is very important that parents, grandparents, and even great grandparents teach those under them the things of God. Because if you don't, who will?
Discipleship requires a reorientation of priorities. I do not know that I ever heard this growing up. I don't think there was ever the push that we are seeing today. Some of that, I think, is because the world has shifted away from a relationship with Christ to a partnership mentality. We are almost seeing people treat their relationship with Christ as transactional more than personal. It is almost like they are saying, "I throw your name around and act like you mean something to me in exchange for a free trip to heaven." I do not think I have ever seen a more vocal time with less depth. So, how do we get to the place where Jesus needs us to be? We have to be discipled and we have to disciple.
Discipleship begins with us. These next few verses pertain to what it takes and how we respond to the call to be a disciple. Read Luke 14:25-33
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Based on these verses, what does it take to be a disciple?
John 8:31–32 - So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
What is the abiding principle in these verses?
Matt 16:24–26 - Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Here is a passage that some struggle with. What is Jesus saying to the disciples?
John 15:8 - By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
What is the expectation in this verse? What does that look like?
Paul gives an example in 2 Timothy 2:2 - and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
In Colossians 1:28–29 Paul makes this statement: Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
What do these two passages have to do with our response to being a disciple of Jesus?
Very often parents base whether they are successful parents on how their children turn out. That is not a good barometer. When you follow biblical guidelines in raising your children, you have done all you can. The rest is up to them. I feel the same way when it comes to how people who attend the services I lead respond. I can only proclaim what God gives me; the response is up to the hearer. Just because a child goes off and does their own thing, or a parishioner goes off and does their own thing, is not a reflection on you or me, it is a reflection on the choices they make. So, keep teaching, don't give up. Expect the best.
Here is another example of what it means to be a disciple: John 13:34–35 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Who are we to love and how do we show that?
According to Acts 14:21–22, What is our role as a disciple and what is God's response? When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
When we have chosen to be a disciple of Christ, something interesting happens; we begin to find our "voice" or our calling. Based on Ephesians 4:11-13, how have you seen these work together to show Christ to the world? And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
The tension between these dimensions—costly personal surrender, missional expansion, knowledge, and fruitfulness—defines the disciple’s path. Discipleship is neither purely internal spirituality nor merely external activity, but rather a comprehensive reorientation where self-denial fuels mission, truth produces freedom, and visible fruit authenticates the entire commitment. This journey occurs within the assurance of Christ’s continuous presence (Matt 28:19–20). Are you willing to commit to this kind of calling?
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