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Riverside Jan. 4, 2026
Back to Basics #1
The Call to Discipleship and Disciple Making
Happy New Year
feliz año nuevo(fa-lease` ann`o new way` bo)Spanish
bonne année(Bon ann ee`)French
Xīnnián kuàilè (keen` ya wha` lu)Chinese
Shana Tova(Sha na` two` va)Hebrew
In any language 2026 is now, the past is gone -the future has arrived.
Do you have any plans for 2026? Like, go to the gym, eat better / eat less, save more, spend more, travel / don’t travel, laugh more, de-stress, or be more loving. What about this one -follow God more closely (aka grow spiritually).
Now there’s a New Years resolution, to grow spiritual in the New year, --God frowns on that type of resolution. I’m sure God smiles on that too, but I don’t think God likes the 2 words ‘New Year’s’. A resolution starts now, not just on January 1st.
Can I say that we should start everyday with God, every relationship you have start it with God, every task -resolve to start it with God, everything we do start it WITH GOD
1st 4 words of the Bible -in the beginning God -everything should start with God -at the start WITH GOD
In our Call to Worship we read from Psalm 139
-right from the start we read that God is always with us, even in our future moments of 2026 God is with us wherever we go -He was with us in our mother’s womb, in the valleys of life and even in our dark days.
- we just can’t get away from God - so start each moment with God in the picture, acknowledge His presence, acknowledge His protection and His help
-wherever you go and whenever it is - in 2026 He is there with you
-so start with God and live with that blessing.
I have been contemplating & praying before the Lord what the future holds in 2026, what God wants me to do and what God wants me to be but also what Riverside should be and what Riverside should be doing.
Then I read the last words of Jesus spoken, His final instructions from Matthew 28: 19-20
… go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
Well, it struck me that we should be concentrating on making disciples and teaching what Jesus commanded us. As we make disciples we will be baptizing and the teaching part, I believe, is teaching the basics of the faith emphasizing obedience to what we are taught.
I want to do my part for Jesus; I want to obey what Jesus said. Don’t you? So, for the next 7 months we want to teach the Basics of our faith with an emphasis on obedience to the truth of Jesus’s commands. From the pulpit we will endeavor to make disciples through teaching/preaching but we as a church need to develop discipleship more fully than just from the pulpit. And we will. Hang on and join in as we develop this, please join in.
Back to Basics it is! Let me give an example of Basics beside ‘discipleship’ -what did Jesus say was the most important law (command)?LOVE GOD
-what did Jesus saw was the 2nd most important law?
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR -LOVE OTHERS
There you have our next 3 weeks Back to Basics topics
Discipleship
Love God
Love others(Eric)
Herein is the Case for discipleship
Definition: a follower or pupil of a teacher or leader
We follow Jesus therefore we are His disciples
We believe in Jesus as our Savior, the Son of God, He is our example and our teacher and our leader. We are disciples.
Matthew 4:19 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said,
-as Jesus walks by you, He looks at you and calls -come follow me
Are you following Jesus? If not, do so right now and you’ll be His disciple.
Illus.
I’ve loaded many cattle on livestock trailers, and we employed 1 trucker, Rob, to help load the cattle onto the trailer attached to his truck. He always had a cattle prod devise and would bark out orders at the cattle when loading them. He used this line with the cattle –‘ok ladies get on the bus’. He meant for every cow to get on the bus/trailer.
-well, if you are a Christian then we all need to get on the disciple bus.
-not only that but we are to make all the other Christians get on the discipleship bus -that’s what Jesus told us to do -go make disciples.
Matthew 28: 19-20 … go and make disciples of all nations -everyone
Is there any doubt that we are to be disciples, following Jesus, and that we are called to go and make disciples? I think not.
Q Are you or are you not a disciple? It is a choice -your choice.
Saying you’re a disciple is one thing but actually doing and being a disciple is not a bed of roses or a life of ease NAY NAY -it is a costly affair.
Herein is the Cost of discipleship
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
-a disciple denies themselves; they give up control of their lives to Jesus, Jesus must be the king sitting on the throne of our heart. If you are following Jesus then He leads, you follow.
-it’s hard to half follow Jesus, to select your will and not Jesus’s will part of the time -again, NAY, NAY, disciples abandon themselves to follow OUR Lord
-the other part of the cost of discipleship is that Jesus told us to pick up OUR cross and follow Him.
-what’s your cross? Is it a weakness, a weight you carry, worry, anxiety, stubbornness, selfishness, anger, a shame, a habit -what is YOUR cross.
Our teacher and friend tells us -deny yourself (rely on and follow only Jesus) and pick up your cross and keep following.
In other words: keep following, don’t back up or step back -be a disciple
It is a simple sentence recorded in Matthew that shows us what disciples do.
‘The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them’. (21:6)
-I call this simple obedience, the discipline of being a disciple.
-it takes discipline to follow Jesus, to keep following every year, every month, every week, every day, every moment.
-we’re weak at times, prone to become undisciplined or careless
And Herein lies the Concern of discipleship.
A sad, sad verse in Matthew is written about the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane at Jesus arrest:
… Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
This verse bothers me so much because disciples can desert. I don’t want to desert, abandon, forsake, slip away from Jesus like the first disciples did. When the tough situation comes upon me I don’t want to fall away -I would rather die but I fear my weakness at times.
Have you slipped away from Jesus?
Know for sure that Jesus didn’t move -YOU DID by choice and you can return and follow by choice -you choose, please choose yes.
-I thank God that my salvation and my heavenly home is held fast by Jesus through His atoning blood, and it is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit residing in me. Praise the Lord. This is my assurance as I follow my Lord.
How about YOU. Are you on the BUS of discipleship.
Now discipleship, following Jesus -being taught, hearing Him & obeying Him -being Christlike -whole heart growing in that, -discipleship is difficult 🡪 it runs against your nature as a human
BUT
Discipleship, is the most beautiful, wonderful, fulfilling thing you can do.
-because you’re walking with Jesus, & He’s leading & strengthening you
THEREFORE
There’s peace in every dark storm
There’s help for every problem
There’s hope for every broken dream
There’s strength for every crisis
There’s rest in the contrary winds of life
There’s direction in the fog and at eventide
Brothers and Sisters who follow Jesus
I ‘ll trust Him, I’ll follow Him to the end. -this is my heart, YOURS?
Through all my trials and around every road bend.
When I can’t see tomorrow or around any of life’s curve.
I’m going to trust Him and follow Him to the end. -is this your heart.
How do I follow Jesus, be a disciple of His, how do I grow in this?
1stto be a disciple you have to be a Christian
Believe in, trust in, repent of, commit to obeying Jesus
2ndlisten to His teaching -read / study /believe /do
3rdtalk more to Jesus -praying /have a conversation.
4thwhat ever He teaches / tells you 🡪 do (obey)
-some of you may be hung up right now on obeying what Jesus has already told you
Stand up today, obey, take the hit, you’ll rejoice later.
5thask God what He wants you to do
In service to Him, at church, with others
God make me a blessing to someone today, everyday.
Being a disciple is an everyday decision, you choose everyday.
(my personal pocket nail is my reminder -I am a Christian -a disciple -live like one today)
Do you choose today to follow Jesus?
(song) I have decided to follow Jesus.
