Why Discipleship Doesn't "Stick" - and what to do about it

Philippians 3 is the place where Paul says "I count it all as loss." What did he mean? In this short sermon on confidence in Christ we look at the biblical rasons for confidence and why we can be bold in our faith. Learn more at 12Church.net Take the Personal Evangelism Crash Course Here:https://www.twelvechurch.net/evangelism-crash-courseDiscover the Missional Living Map: https://missionalmap.comLearn more about 12Church: https://12church.netGet access to any tools and resources mentioned in this video here:https://www.12church.net/toolsThe 8 Essential Traits of a Disciple: https://www.twelvechurch.net/dnahttps://12church.net is about structuring your life around the call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ who makes disciples. It's about learning HOW to make disciples in this time and place.

Living on mission begins when a person is fully grounded in the gospel- resting in grace, not guilt or performance, so that identity, thinking, speech, and life flow from Christ’s finished work, naturally compelling them toward mission.Download the self-assessment here: https://www.12church.net/toolsThis video is from the Gospel Saturated module of the Missional Living Map.Learn More Here: https://missionalmap.comThe Missional Living Map shares a pathway to moving from passive believer to active disciple maker. Learn more at 12Church.net Take the Personal Evangelism Crash Course Here:https://www.twelvechurch.net/evangelism-crash-courseDiscover the Missional Living Map: https://missionalmap.comLearn more about 12Church: https://12church.netGet access to any tools and resources mentioned in this video here:https://www.12church.net/toolsThe 8 Essential Traits of a Disciple: https://www.twelvechurch.net/dnahttps://12church.net is about structuring your life around the call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ who makes disciples. It's about learning HOW to make disciples in this time and place.

What do you actually say when it’s finally time to share the Gospel with someone?For a lot of Christians, the biggest barrier to evangelism isn’t that they don’t care. It’s that they don’t know what to say.Here's a simple framework you can actually use in a real conversation:• Start with your story  • Put the Gospel inside your story  • Use Romans 6:23 to explain the Gospel clearly  • Ask questions and listen  • Don’t feel like you have to say everything at once  You don’t need to memorize a complicated presentation. You need to understand the Gospel, care about the person in front of you, and be willing to speak.Romans 6:23 gives us a remarkably simple way to explain the good news:“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”Share your story. Share the Gospel. Trust the Holy Spirit to work through the Word of God and your faithful witness.Learn more at 12Church.net Take the Personal Evangelism Crash Course Here:https://www.twelvechurch.net/evangelism-crash-courseDiscover the Missional Living Map: https://missionalmap.comLearn more about 12Church: https://12church.netGet access to any tools and resources mentioned in this video here:https://www.12church.net/toolsThe 8 Essential Traits of a Disciple: https://www.twelvechurch.net/dnahttps://12church.net is about structuring your life around the call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ who makes disciples. It's about learning HOW to make disciples in this time and place.

Why does so much Christian discipleship seem to produce people who know more, but are not necessarily becoming more like Jesus?We have more Bible studies, sermons, courses, podcasts, books, and Christian content than any generation in history. But information alone does not produce transformation.In this episode I look at why so much of what we call “discipleship” doesn’t seem to stick, and why I prefer to talk about disciple-making.We’ll look at the difference between teaching and equipping, why obedience matters, the role of surrender in Romans 12, why people need practice and relationships, and why mission cannot be separated from following Jesus.The goal is not simply to get Christians through more material. It is to help people become increasingly faithful followers of Jesus who can help other people follow him too.Some key points: • Information versus transformation• Teaching versus equipping• Why obedience changes everything• Surrender and Romans 12• Why disciples need practice, not just principles• The importance of relationships and accountability• Why mission is essential to disciple-making• Defining what a mature disciple actually looks likeLearn more at 12Church.net Take the Personal Evangelism Crash Course Here:https://www.twelvechurch.net/evangelism-crash-courseDiscover the Missional Living Map: https://missionalmap.comLearn more about 12Church: https://12church.netGet access to any tools and resources mentioned in this video here:https://www.12church.net/toolsThe 8 Essential Traits of a Disciple: https://www.twelvechurch.net/dnahttps://12church.net is about structuring your life around the call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ who makes disciples. It's about learning HOW to make disciples in this time and place.

Most of the Christian life isn't lived on the mountaintop. It's lived down in what Oswald Chambers called “the demon-possessed valley.”In Luke 9, Peter, James and John experience the Mount of Transfiguration. They see the glory of Jesus, hear the voice of God and witness something extraordinary. But then they have to come down the mountain, and almost immediately they're confronted with a desperate father, a demon-possessed boy and a situation the disciples haven't been able to fix.That's often what following Jesus looks like.God makes something clear. We encounter Him. We become convinced of something from His Word. We sense His direction and step out in faith.And then reality seems to contradict everything we thought God had made clear.The financial provision doesn't come when expected. The person we've been praying for seems to move further from Jesus. Circumstances change. Emotions fade. Common sense starts shouting that maybe we got it all wrong.So what do we do when the realities of life seem to contradict our faith?Drawing from Luke 9 and Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest, we'll look at what it means to come down from the mountaintop and continue following Jesus with persevering faith in the real world.Hold on to what God has made clear.Live as if Jesus Christ really is Lord, because He is. Continue doing what He has called you to do, even when circumstances seem to argue otherwise.The Christian life isn't lived primarily on the mountaintop.We've got to learn to follow Jesus in the valley.Learn more at 12Church.net Take the Personal Evangelism Crash Course Here:https://www.twelvechurch.net/evangelism-crash-courseDiscover the Missional Living Map: https://missionalmap.comLearn more about 12Church: https://12church.netGet access to any tools and resources mentioned in this video here:https://www.12church.net/toolsThe 8 Essential Traits of a Disciple: https://www.twelvechurch.net/dnahttps://12church.net is about structuring your life around the call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ who makes disciples. It's about learning HOW to make disciples in this time and place.

You want your unbelieving friend to know Jesus.But you don't want every coffee, meal, or conversation to suddenly feel like a sales pitch.So how do you share the Gospel with your friend without making the relationship weird?Here's  a simple, relational approach to personal evangelism that doesn't depend on canned presentations, forced conversations, or treating people like projects.We'll look at four practical principles:-Stop thinking about evangelism as an event. For most Christians, evangelism happens naturally through relationships over time.-Pray and pay attention. At least half of evangelism is prayer. Ask God to work, then watch for the opportunities He provides.-Find out where your friend actually is. Using the CPR framework of cultivating, planting, and reaping can help you recognize the next appropriate step.-Ask good questions and actually listen. Genuine interest in someone else's story can open surprisingly deep spiritual conversations.A key question: "What's the next appropriate Spirit-directed step with this person?"Your friend isn't a project. Love them. Pray for them. Listen to them. Pay attention to what God is doing. And be willing to take the next step when He opens the door.Learn more at 12Church.net Take the Personal Evangelism Crash Course Here:https://www.twelvechurch.net/evangelism-crash-courseDiscover the Missional Living Map: https://missionalmap.comLearn more about 12Church: https://12church.netGet access to any tools and resources mentioned in this video here:https://www.12church.net/toolsThe 8 Essential Traits of a Disciple: https://www.twelvechurch.net/dnahttps://12church.net is about structuring your life around the call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ who makes disciples. It's about learning HOW to make disciples in this time and place.

I couldn't escape from this passage.Mark 8:34-38 is one of those passages that stops you in your tracks because Jesus makes it very difficult to soften, qualify or explain away what He says.Jesus calls the crowd together with His disciples and says:"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."Who does that apply to?Whoever. Anyone.That includes me. And if you want to be an actual follower of Jesus, it includes you.In this video, we work through Jesus' challenging words in Mark 8 and what they mean for Christians today: What does it actually mean to deny yourself? What did Jesus mean by taking up your cross? Why is taking up your cross more than enduring life's ordinary difficulties? What does it mean to lose your life for Jesus and the gospel? Can we follow Jesus while making comfort, safety and security our highest priorities? What does Jesus mean when He warns about being ashamed of Him? What does this passage tell us about living on mission?Denying yourself isn't simply denying yourself something. It's accepting that your life is no longer about you.Taking up your cross means that when following and obeying Jesus becomes costly, our answer is still yes.And losing our lives for Jesus and the gospel means our lives become oriented around Him and His mission.Jesus isn't calling every Christian into vocational ministry. He is calling every Christian to follow Him wholeheartedly wherever He has placed them. There is no retirement from following Jesus and no category of Christian exempt from His call.In some ways this is a hard passage.But if you belong to Jesus, there's something in you that wants to respond:"I will deny myself, take up my cross and follow You, no matter what."Not because it's easy.Because of who Jesus is, what He has done and where history is going, He's worth it.Scripture: Mark 8:27-38Learn more at 12Church.net Take the Personal Evangelism Crash Course Here:https://www.twelvechurch.net/evangelism-crash-courseDiscover the Missional Living Map: https://missionalmap.comLearn more about 12Church: https://12church.netGet access to any tools and resources mentioned in this video here:https://www.12church.net/toolsThe 8 Essential Traits of a Disciple: https://www.twelvechurch.net/dnahttps://12church.net is about structuring your life around the call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ who makes disciples. It's about learning HOW to make disciples in this time and place.

Is your home a spiritual refuge for you, your family and the people who enter it?As followers of Jesus, our homes should be places of physical, emotional and spiritual safety. But sometimes we recognize that something isn't right. There may be ongoing tension, compromise, confusion, unhealthy influences or even what we believe could be spiritual oppression.So what should we do?Drawing on Scripture and teaching I originally encountered through Tom White of Frontline Ministries, this video looks at practical ways to establish your home as a place that honors God.Learn more at 12Church.net Take the Personal Evangelism Crash Course Here:https://www.twelvechurch.net/evangelism-crash-courseDiscover the Missional Living Map: https://missionalmap.comLearn more about 12Church: https://12church.netGet access to any tools and resources mentioned in this video here:https://www.12church.net/toolsThe 8 Essential Traits of a Disciple: https://www.twelvechurch.net/dnahttps://12church.net is about structuring your life around the call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ who makes disciples. It's about learning HOW to make disciples in this time and place.

Are you serious about making disciples? Or are you just assuming it's happening?Many churches say their mission is to make disciples, but very few stop to ask the hard questions that reveal whether they're actually doing it.In this episode, I walk through seven questions that every Christian, church leader, ministry team, and disciple-maker should ask. These questions have shaped my own thinking over many years and continue to challenge the way I evaluate ministry and my own life.We'll explore questions like:* Is disciple-making really driving our decisions?* What does a mature disciple actually look like?* What gospel are we preaching?* What's the biggest bottleneck preventing disciple-making?* What is my church or ministry actually optimized to produce?* What needs to be subtracted before anything new is added?* Are we pursuing simplicity and focus, or drowning in complexity?Whether you're a pastor, ministry leader, small group leader, or simply want to live on mission with Jesus, these questions can help you identify where you're making progress and where change is needed.Jesus didn't simply call us to attend church or build programs.He called us to make disciples.If this episode challenges or encourages you, I'd appreciate it if you'd like, subscribe, and share it with someone else who is passionate about disciple-making.Learn more at 12Church.net Take the Personal Evangelism Crash Course Here:https://www.twelvechurch.net/evangelism-crash-courseDiscover the Missional Living Map: https://missionalmap.comLearn more about 12Church: https://12church.netGet access to any tools and resources mentioned in this video here:https://www.12church.net/toolsThe 8 Essential Traits of a Disciple: https://www.twelvechurch.net/dnahttps://12church.net is about structuring your life around the call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ who makes disciples. It's about learning HOW to make disciples in this time and place.

What do occult books, expensive possessions, and following Jesus have in common?In Acts 19, the new believers in Ephesus did something that seems almost unbelievable. They publicly burned their occult scrolls, even though they were worth a fortune. Why? Because they realized that following Jesus required a clean break with their old way of life.Here we explore one of the most powerful principles in the book of Acts:A clean break establishes a solid foundation for the gospel.We'll look at:-Why the Ephesian believers destroyed their occult practices.-Why obedience often looks impractical.-The difference between legalism and genuine holiness.-Why some Christians never seem to mature in their faith.-How hidden compromise weakens our witness and our spiritual growth.-Practical questions to help you examine your own life.Following Jesus isn't about adding Him to our existing lifestyle. Sometimes it means decisively leaving things behind so we can wholeheartedly follow Him.Scripture: Acts 19:11-20If this episode encourages you, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who wants to follow Jesus wholeheartedly.Discover more disciple-making resources at 12Church.net.#Acts19 #Discipleship #FollowJesus #PersonalEvangelism #Holiness #BibleStudy #DiscipleMakingLearn more at 12Church.net Take the Personal Evangelism Crash Course Here:https://www.twelvechurch.net/evangelism-crash-courseDiscover the Missional Living Map: https://missionalmap.comLearn more about 12Church: https://12church.netGet access to any tools and resources mentioned in this video here:https://www.12church.net/toolsThe 8 Essential Traits of a Disciple: https://www.twelvechurch.net/dnahttps://12church.net is about structuring your life around the call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ who makes disciples. It's about learning HOW to make disciples in this time and place.