Decide: Discipleship Part 1

This sermon is the first in a 4-week discipleship series entitled "Walk the Way". The series features four quadrants of commitment: Decide, Develop, Define and Deploy". DECIDE is about "crossing the line of faith" and making a personal commitment to Jesus. DEVELOP is about growing in your knowledge of God's Word and developing key spiritual disciplines. DEFINE is all about discovering your hard-wiring: the talents that God has given you and the special spiritual gifts that he has given you once you have found salvation in Jesus. And DEPLOY is the process of applying your spiritual gifts to areas of service to the Body of Christ whether in the church or in your community at large. This week we will look at what it means to decide to follow Jesus. We will see that this is a costly commitment. In choosing Jesus we choose to place a higher value on obedience rather than personal comfort. It marks the beginning of a long-term journey in which God's Holy Spirit reshapes our identity and behavior. Deciding to follow Jesus is not something we do alone. God has created us for community. We follow Jesus together, and not alone.