Mechanicsville Church of Christ Audio

**We had some technical difficulties this week. We apologize for the audio quality and have fixed the issue for next week.**

We are so excited to start a brand new series this week on discipleship. Dann Spader does a fantastic job of framing discipleship in 4 sections, or chairs. We will be using the basic framework for understanding this cricial piece of faith. Join us as we seek to be better disciples ourselves and make more disciples of Christ. 

There is no question we've been fed this lie by our culture to just be you. And we have taken that in the church and many of us believe it also. We put a Biblical spin on it, we believe we were created perfect in the image of God. But sin has such a grip of us and in this world, that God certainly did make us in his image, but have we ever been perfect? Was there even a moment we could say we were perfect? Or is that a lie we have believed for far too long? 

We have believed a lot of lies about forgiveness over the years. We've believed a lot of half truths and fancy sayings, but not Biblical truth about forgiveness and it's time we correct that. Forgivness and healing from whatever hurt you've experienced is found only in the death and resurrection of Jesus. If you hear about forgiveness and walls start going up rather than healing and hope, you've misunderstood forgiveness. Join us as we set the record straight! 

This week we look at how we've watered down our gatherings to minimalistic shadow of what God has called us to. The early church devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, fellowship, the breaking of break, and prayer. And we show up and observe rather than being active participants in what God has called us to. 

There are a lot of things we believe that Jesus, or Scripture never says. Follow your heart is a popular suggest especially for graduates. But Scripture actually says the opposite. The heart is decietful and we are to guard our heart!!

Too often we fall into traps of believing Jesus said things he never actually said. Most of the time it's a simple misunderstanding or taking scripture out of context. But it leads to developing beliefs, doctrines, and theologies that aren't true or accurate. Through this series we look at a few of them. Beginning is this thought that Jesus just wants us to be happy. 

This week we practice some generosity by talking about money. More specifically we talk about tithing and giving back to God a portion of what he's given us first before anything else. This practice and habit of tithing is foundational for making sure God stays a priority in our lives. It's not about the money. God doesn't need our money. We need to give in order to keep God a priority in our lives. 

As we strive for generosity in our lives, a key aspect is remembering God's generosity. Israel found themselves in tough places because they forgot the Lord and what He had done for them. May we not forget the Lord's goodness and may we pass along the stories of what God has done in our lives. 

When we talk about generosity, most of us think money. Generosity though describes the extent to which we do a lot of things. We can have generous kindness, generous forgiveness, generous compassion, generous with our time, and be generous with out giving. We are called as disciples to be people of generosity. So let's be generous! 

Regardless of where you go to church, there is an expectation we have as Christians. This expectation hasn't changed since the beginning of the church and will not till Christ returns. The same expectations Jesus had of his disciples then is the same expectation he has of us today. We have a hard time in America really understanding and living this out. Join us today as we dive into what Jesus expects of his followers.