Characteristics of a True Disciple

Pastor Mike will be speaking on characteristics of a true disciple. He will be in John 6.

I pray that your faith is a work of God and you believe in Jesus because he truly saves sinners, not just because he can get you a job or he can save your marriage or he can help you do better on your grades, but that you love Jesus because he has done a work in your heart.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders from The Open Door Church and today is hope worth having. We’re excited that today you’re with us and you’ve tuned in and we’re looking forward to a great day as we study the Word of God together.

We’re back in John chapter 6. We’re continuing our study on the characteristics of a true disciple. We are learning more and more what it means to be a Christian so many times. There are people out there who claim to be a Christian, but do not reflect the characteristics of a true Christian and I hope that this is inspiring to you, not only confirming in your heart that your faith is real, but if there’s anything God is speaking to you about changing,

that you would have the humbleness to be willing to do that. So let’s grab our Bible and let’s start studying the Word of God together. Jesus is not impressed that they crossed the Sea of Galilee and labored so diligently and worked so hard to get across that sea to find him only to get more bread, only to get more of what perishes, only to find what is temporal.

And Jesus tells them not only is their motivation wrong, but the direction of their heart is wrong. The direction of their heart is wrong is because their heart is pursuing not God, but their heart is pursuing the world.

The things of the world, their heart is pursuing what satisfies them physically. Their heart is pursuing, in this case, more bread. Jesus says, I don’t want you to labor for that. I don’t want you to work hard for that.

I want you to work hard for the meat which endures unto eternal everlasting life. I want you to work diligently for what will bring eternal life into your heart. Think about that. So many of you, rightly so, you work so hard throughout the week.

Many of you put in so many hours, it’s unbelievable. You work so hard and certainly understand your desire to care for your family, to meet the needs of your family, to make sure that the bills are paid, to make sure that you are providing all that your children and your family needs understandable.

But let me ask you, has it become so consuming in your life that you have forgotten to pursue what brings about eternal life? Jesus is teaching us that genuine faith will provoke a genuine hunger for God.

That we will work diligently, I am amazed, people will say to me, and I’m gonna make you mad. Is that okay? I just wanna tell you up front, okay? What I’m getting ready to say, I’m just gonna make you mad.

Okay? I’m just gonna be honest with you. They work so hard to get their kids to school, get up early, get to their jobs, but to show up for Sunday school, it’s too early in the morning, Pastor. And we don’t wanna overwhelm our kids.

Wow. Can I make you mad even more? Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. You’ll drive your kid all over the state for basketball, baseball, football, softball. You’ll do all these things for your kids to be in a traveling team, to be all these stuff.

And let me tell you something, I’m not against it. I’m not against your kids playing athletics. I don’t misunderstand. I just don’t see the equity of laboring more for those things than for the things of God.

But we can’t get you to come to church. You won’t drive across the street to take your kid to a Bible study. up to youth group and I have to be honest with you, you’re laboring for the wrong things. You are laboring for the wrong things.

Can I make the older people upset? Thank you. I appreciate your permission, it’s just wonderful. The older people say to me, and I know you’re going to quit saying this to me now, people say, don’t tell the pastor, he’ll use you as an illustration.

I know. But it’s too much for us, pastor, to drive to church. But I see you at Walmart, I see you getting your prescriptions. I see you going to doctorate visits, but we’re shut -in, pastor. Sometimes I go visit the shut -ins and they’re never home.

They’re some of the most active people I’ve ever met in my life. But they can’t make church. They can’t serve. And all I’m trying to say is church, we can be guilty of pursuing the wrong things. And this is the warning I’m sending out to you.

Your failure to grasp the need for more of Jesus in your life is only reflecting characteristics of an unbeliever. And I want to challenge you this morning to desire the spiritual nourishment. It is eternal, it is effective, and it is something that is transformational in your life more than anything.

I’d rather my kid grow up to love Jesus than to be the best baseball player in Franklin County. I’d rather, I would rather do without some things in this world and know that when I come to the house of God, I have the nourishment of the grace of God through the Word of God and the nourishment of the fellowship of God’s people to me than to pursue all the things of this world.

We keep schedules and calendars to make sure we make every appointment, every doctor’s appointment. But if our toe aches on Sunday morning, we have no desire to seek God. We have no desire to open our Bible.

We are quick, hear me, I’m going to make you mad. We are quick to run to Facebook and social media in the morning. but never open our Bible and read it and study it. We are fascinated with what was the latest thing posted on Instagram rather than what is the latest proclamation that Jesus has to post in our hearts.

Our failure to grasp the spiritual is manifesting A we are either not a believer or B we are severely backslidden and in a great need of revival in our heart and made the church rise up and say we want to be countercultural we want to be distinct we are more interested in Jesus and the Word of God than we are in Facebook and Snapchat.

Thank you, I got a few amens. I know you’d rather hear me tell you how to manicure your lawn this morning, how to prepare for spring, but the Scriptures speak straight to us. Jesus said this in Matthew 5, 6, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Your feeling spiritually is always in direct proportion of your hunger and thirst for God. And if you are not hungering and thirsting for God, you and I need to get on our knees and cry out to God to birth within us a greater passion for Him that we would be more passionate for His Word and His truth in our life and to know Him in our life more than we are in a hurry to post on social media.

Yes, Christ through His Word dispenses spiritual food for the souls of our heart. What is more important to you? Because whatever your priorities are, determine the direction of your heart. Christ is the fulfillment of the deepest hungers of the human heart.

No one satisfies like Jesus. And if you keep going to social media for your fulfillment, you will keep going back because it will never satisfy. It will never fulfill in your heart. If you keep running to this world for your satisfaction, you will always come up empty.

If you’re trying to find meaning in the relationships of this world, you will always come up short. But if your hope and your meaning and your purpose is rooted in your relationship with Jesus Christ you will be more than satisfied so many people that I meet struggle with insecurity we live in a culture that struggles with their identity people do not know their identity I remind you that in Christ you will find your completeness in Christ you will find your identity in Christ you will find your fulfillment and so I encourage you to yearn and to long in your heart for Jesus Christ it sounds too simplistic it sounds so trite but it is so true in your life so in your heart if you say pastor I hear you I need help how do I hunger and seek Christ more in my life.

Write these things down. Let me give you some practical suggestions. First of all, establish daily prayer in your life. Daily prayer. You need to have a time set aside where you are praying to God. For some of you, it may be on the way to work, and that’s fine.

Just please keep your eyes open, amen. There’s enough of crazy drivers out there without Christians driving with their eyes closed. We don’t need any more of that, amen? I know you’re mad at me, but you can go ahead and laugh because it helps get the sermon done quick.

And so even as you’re praying daily, I also want to challenge you to pray consistently. So throughout my day, I’m not only saying I dedicate this time to pray to God, but I’m also, throughout the day, as I face new challenges, new situations, I’m praying, shooting arrows of prayer to my heavenly Father.

It keeps my perspective, it keeps my focus, it keeps my direction of my heart in the right way, as opposed to leaning on the things of this world or the wisdom of mankind or the flesh. The second thing I would say to you if you want to see Christ more in your life is to establish Bible reading and Bible study in your life.

How many of you would like a blessing today? Just, don’t worry, I’m not gonna call you out, I’m not gonna make you come to the altar, but you, I mean, is that all the people that want a blessing, anybody else want a blessing?

Or is it just Mike? Did you know the Bible promises that if you would read your Bible, you would be blessed? So I would challenge you to read your Bible before you go to bed tonight. If you don’t know where to start, start in the Gospel of John, John’s awesome.

But read your Bible tonight, maybe a chapter, maybe a few verses, maybe one verse, whatever works for you, whatever level, whatever your record, whatever you’re ready for. for. I’m good with it, but I want to say to you, it’s part of seeking God is reading His Word and studying His Word.

I would tell you thirdly to be faithful to the house of God. I would tell you that church attendance is not in significance. It is important to your life. I would say to moms and dads, don’t lie into the argument that parents tell me today and they say, well I let my kids decide if they want to go to church.

You don’t let them decide if they get to take a bath or not. You don’t let them decide if they should brush their teeth or not. Now maybe you do, and that’s why there’s only four left in their mouth.

I’m just telling you, brushing your hair, brushing your teeth, take a bath. It was all forced upon me, but it did me no harm. taking your children to church is one of the greatest blessings you could teach them.

People say, I don’t want to turn their heart. Listen, I know our kids, when they reached a certain age, we said it’s your choice now. Your involvement in church is up to you, okay? And we recognize that.

But when they were little, there was no doubt. There was no doubt where the Sanders would be, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. My kids never woke up and said, I wonder if we’re going to church today.

The tone was set by dad. The tone was set by mom. This is who we are. This is where we are. We love to be with God’s people. Now, sometimes are God’s people unlovely? Oh, yeah. Are they difficult? Yeah.

And do they fuss and fight and want to argue? Yes. Okay. I minimize those people and I focus on people that want to worship, fellowship, and encourage. I recognize that. Part of my church attendance, I want to get plugged into a Bible study group or a Sunday school class, a small group in our church.

I want to get connected because that’s where I build my friendships. That’s where I build my fellowship. And it’s the opportunity for iron to sharpen iron and to make me better for Christ, which leads me to how do I hunger for Christ?

Hang around God’s people. You see, the people that inspired me the most, the people that mentored me the most was the church. As I was growing up, as I became a believer in Christ, it was the people of God that inspired me to want to be more like Jesus.

It was my Sunday school teacher. It was my bus captain. It was the deacons in the church. It was my pastor who continued to motivate me just through their life. I want to be around people that are balcony people you know there are two types of people in this world have you noticed that not just sinners and Christians but I’m talking about there are two types of people there are balcony people and there are basement people basement people are always pulling you down basement people are always finding fault in your life basement people are always critiquing they’re looking at the specs in your life without looking at the beams in their own life but balcony people are always pulling you up they’re always encouraging you find those balcony people hang around those balcony people they are refreshing in your life they are renewing in your life they are inspirational in your life and they will help you to love God more and to want to be more like Jesus in your heart I would encourage you to worship Christ I would encourage you to personally worship Jesus and to corporately worship Jesus.

I would encourage you to sing unto the Lord. And I know worship is more than music and I know worship is more than a song, but I’m telling you there’s power and praise. And when you are praising God personally, I’m telling you, God is transforming you.

That’s why I encourage you to load your car up. And they used to have cassettes and they used to have CDs and now they got hard drives or whatever they call them now. These things you stick in and they got all this crazy.

And you know, we were with Terri’s parents the other day and her dad just turned 70 years old and here he’s got a MP3 player and I’m still punching in CDs. And I’m like, Mike, you gotta get it together.

You are so behind. If you see Pastor Mike driving down the road recklessly, he might be just praising God, singing with some worship praise band, singing unto Jesus. I know some of you, you’re still singing the old Southern gospel songs and as soon as you get out of the ditch, I know you’re gonna do better, but just hang in there, keep praising Jesus.

Whatever works for you, whatever your style is, I’m all in. Let me tell you what else will help you hunger and seek Jesus, serve him. Nothing motivates me like when I’m serving Jesus. I just want more God, more Jesus in my life.

There’s something about it. I just think it’s the grace of God pouring out upon you as you are serving him, as he is energizing you, as he is molding you and shaping you that as you serve him, there’s something in your heart that just wants to worship him, that wants to be closer to him, that wants to be like him.

The Bible says in our text this morning, for him hath God, the Father seals. And what this means is that whenever that word sealed is used, it’s a reminder of an authenticating a document. And so what the Father has done is He has authenticated that Jesus is the Son of God.

He is the Son of Man. And we should pursue Him, and we should want Him more, and He should be the passion of our life. It is not more money that we need. It is not more world that we need. It is not more things that we need.

We need more Jesus in our life. Number three, and I got to hurry. I always forget all my clocks at home, they’re set ahead of time. But the clock up here is right on time. I’m thinking, man, I got another 30 minutes with these people, but I don’t.

So point three, you better hold on tightly, okay? If you listen quickly, I’ll speak quickly, all right? It’s always a great partnership. Number three, continually believes in Christ for true forgiveness.

The third characteristic is continual belief in Christ for true forgiveness. When Jesus told them to work hard or labor for Christ or to labor for the things that are eternal, they misunderstood Him.

And they said, well, what do we got to do? What do we got to do? And Jesus’ response to them in verse 29, this is the work of God that you believe on Him, whom He has sent. We could call the Gospel of John the Gospel of Belief.

It is the resounding theme of the Gospel of John. It is not only that John continually is to reiterate the need for us to believe on Christ, but also on the other side of the coin, he shows us those who do not believe or those who believe within sincerity.

John reminds us throughout his Gospel that faith is essential to being a genuine Christian. And it is interesting that when Jesus says the work of God is that you believe, it is in the Greek, the present tense, which is simply meaning this, that you may keep on believing.

This is the work of God in your heart, that you would keep on believing. It is a distinction that Jesus is making. He is not only appealing to them to believe, but Jesus is reminding them that belief is a work of God and that authentic faith, genuine faith is a work of God and the way that we know that it’s real is because you keep on believing.

Let’s understand this, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says for by grace that you are saved through faith, that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. The summation of this is that we do not work our way to heaven, but by faith we receive grace into our life.

That when we act upon the work of God in our heart, when our hearts have been regenerated and we have been awakened unto new life, and God is granted within us a mighty work and desire for Him, that by faith we trust in what He has done on the cross.

And that that faith is the channel of God’s grace that forgives us, cleanses us, and makes us new before the Lord Jesus Christ and we are a new creation and the Bible says all things become new and behold all things that are new.

old things pass away. So He is not inviting us to work to earn our salvation. The Scriptures are clear in Titus 3 .5, it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the spirits.

But He is reminding us that the work of God in us is faith. The work of God is that He has granted you repentance and faith in your heart. You cannot labor for God and somehow stand before God and say, look at me, look what I did for you.

But the grace of believing is a gift that God has done in our hearts. You may struggle with pastor and his theology. But Paul teaches us in Philippians, for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.

What did He grant? Christ granted faith. Christ grants suffering. Faith is a gift of God that He bursts in our heart as we respond to Him. And this faith that He gives us and grants us is an everlasting faith.

It is a faith that continues. It is a faith that does not cease. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1, 21, who through Him believe in God, meaning you believe in God through Christ, who raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory so that your faith and your hope are in God.

It is through Him because of His good work. He reached out to me. He called me. He drew me. Faith is a gracious work of God in me and only God can give me faith. I do not labor for it. I do not earn or merit, but this great work of faith is effectual in my heart, and He is drawing me to salvation in Him.

And when I believe, I am granted forgiveness in my life. The true characteristic of a believer, of a follower of Christ, is they continually believe in Christ. Here’s what I want you to get. Faith that comes from man, faith that comes from the world, is a demonic faith.

The Bible says that even the demons believe. And what I want you to know, that a faith that is generated by the pressure of man, by the schemes of man, by the methods of man, will not last. But the faith that is the work of God in my heart.

is a faith that lasts, that you may keep on believing is what the text says in the Greek. That’s the work of God. Adrian Rogers, the great preacher in Memphis, Tennessee, before he was promoted to heaven said these words, the faith that fizzles in the end was flawed from the beginning.

True, authentic faith in doers. It may struggle, and it may stumble, and it may have some hardships, and it may walk through some valleys, and it may sometimes have some doubts. I’m not questioning any of that, but I’m just saying the true faith that is the work of God is a faith that keeps on believing.

So many times as a pastor, people have come, responded, and as soon as there’s a hardship in their life, you never see them again. Why? It is a faith that was birthed from man and not from God. It was a work of man.

It was not a work of God, and I pray that your faith is a work of God, that you have been truly convicted by the Spirit of God and the word of God, and that you have truly repented of your sins and believe in Him, and that your motives are sincere, and you believe in Jesus because He truly saves sinners.

Not just because He can get you a job, or He can save your marriage, or He can help you do better on your grades, but that you love Jesus because He has done a work in your heart. Faith is essential to being a genuine Christian.

Without faith, the Bible says, we cannot please God. And as we look in our text today, one of the things that Jesus is telling us is that true believers show faith and they step out on they believe and they trust God Almighty to meet the needs that they have.

So I hope today’s message and this series has been a powerful impact upon your spiritual walk with Jesus Christ. I hope that you will take these truths that you’re learning and that you will apply them to your everyday life.

Now I wanna encourage you to check us out on Facebook. We are on Facebook, Hope Worth Having is on Facebook so just go to Facebook, go to your search button, type in Hope Worth Having, we’ll come up like us on Facebook.

There’s resources, there’s pictures, there’s information. We’re doing constantly hosting and different verses and things that will help you in your spiritual walk. And so I hope you’ll take advantage of it.

It’s gonna be a blessing to your life. Make sure you enjoy and add us to your list of the people and pages that you like so that you can continue to be encouraged in your faith. This is Pastor Mike reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.