Grace City Portland

Discipleship looks like making radical sacrifices for the sake of being on mission in a very messy world that God SO loves.

How do we suffer well? The journey of discipleship looks like enduring many tribulations as we enter into the coming kingdom of God.

So Saul stepped out of the limelight, and... the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the church was multiplying! (v.31)

WHAT DOES THAT TELL US ABOUT DISCIPLESHIP???

What does that tell us about what it takes to follow Christ? To grow in our faith?

To mature in our lives, our relationships, our families, our habits, our struggles?

What does it tell us about blessing and influencing the people around us?

As we invite them to meet the One who’s changed our lives? 

Faithfulness in obscurity... What does that have to do with discipleship?

With following Jesus and inviting others to come along?

MAKING DISCIPLES DOESN’T HINGE UPON THE PRESENCE OF ULTRA-GIFTED INDIVIDUALS AND EXTRA-SPECTACULAR MOMENTS.

Faithfulness in obscurity… This is a huge part of our discipleship journey. 

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and in Portland, and to the end of the earth. [...] So don’t just stand there gazing up into heaven. There’s a whole world out there that’s looking for hope and healing and a chance to start over, so let’s go! Go and tell your friends and family and co-workers and classmates that Jesus is who they’re looking for! The mission hasn’t changed: Go and make disciples. And so they did. And the movement hasn’t stopped since!

What does it look to be a disciple of Jesus and to make disciples in everyday life?

The Tales of Discipleship series is all about answering that question.

This is the beginning our Fall sermon series: TALES OF DISCIPLESHIP

The purpose of the series: to help us get a clearer picture of what it might look like to go and make disciples in our lives – our respective relational spheres - by looking at the everyday, normal examples of discipleship that have been given to us throughout the book of Acts.

Our hope is to inspire faith and action, as well as dispel any notion that discipleship is something reserved for only the most advanced believers, or those who have some extra special gifting or desire. Everyone who desires to follow Jesus is called to be a disciple and to make disciples.

This is Christian mission 101. This is Jesus’ commission to church – then and now. 

JESUS SATISFIES. 

He invites us to live lives that are full of rich, lasting, increasing contentment; lives that are abundant and overflowing with peace and joy and goodness and everything that would cause us to exclaim,

I have more than enough!

My life’s not problem-free. 

It’s not always easy.

It’s certainly not effortless.

But my life is marked by long, lasting, rich seasons of deep satisfaction.

I have eaten all that I want, and I still have leftovers. 

Could you imagine?!

Satisfaction in Jesus...

HOW does it work?

Pastor Casey Olsen, from Grace City Eugene, talks about the preeminence of Jesus, and the freedom that comes from a life centered around God.