{"id":31942,"date":"2022-09-10T15:50:06","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/4-steps-of-personal-discipleship-for-pastors\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:50:06","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:50:06","slug":"4-steps-of-personal-discipleship-for-pastors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/4-steps-of-personal-discipleship-for-pastors\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Steps of Personal Discipleship for Pastors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Michael Cooper<\/em><\/p>\n

My wife said I needed a hobby to take my mind off the day-to-day grind of being a pastor. So I planted a garden.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been determined to work hard, till the soil, and labor faithfully over this small Eden in my back yard. Every day I\u2019ve gone out to pull weeds, water, and wait for the results.<\/p>\n

To my surprise I\u2019ve begun to see the results of my labors in the form of cucumbers, tomatoes, and jalape\u00f1os. But this experience has taught me some important truths relating to personal discipleship as I read John 15:1-8.<\/p>\n

Jesus Is the Vine<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In John 15:1-8, Jesus says He\u2019s the vine\u2014the source of life. We\u2019re the branches or shoots. Jesus also says repeatedly, \u201cremain in me.\u201d The point is clear: as we remain in Jesus, we\u2019ll experience growth.<\/p>\n

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Jesus is the true vine, meaning He\u2019s the healthy vine. Personal discipleship begins as we remain in Him. We experience fruit, growth, and overwhelming grace as we live in Jesus. This union with Christ is the key to discipleship.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Jesus promises if we abide in Him, we\u2019ll experience this personal growth in discipleship. At no point will the vine rot, wither, or die.<\/p>\n

The Father is the Gardener<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As I work my actual garden, I realize the importance of pruning. Pruning is different than simply ripping out the dead stuff. Pruning involves care, caution, and correction to remove the bad shoots so that the good shoots can grow.<\/p>\n

Recently, I had to remove a cucumber vine that was growing rapidly. I noticed it wasn\u2019t producing anything and was hindering the other vines. So, through careful pruning, I got rid of it.<\/p>\n

The good news is that in personal discipleship in Christ, the Father lovingly prunes us so we can grow. He corrects our direction, leads us to repentance, and graciously cleanses us from sin.<\/p>\n

The truth of the matter is God wants us to grow and flourish. And the only way to achieve that result is through the careful pruning of the Father.<\/p>\n

The Water of the Word<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Jesus makes two direct statements about His Word. First, He says we\u2019re already clean because of the Word, and second, if the Word remains in us, we can ask the Father anything.<\/p>\n

The living water of the Word flows through the vine of Christ to us, the shoots. This Word produces the fruit that grow in us. As we abide in the Vine, His Word abides in us.<\/p>\n

But this Word in us is coupled with prayer. As the Word works within, prayer works it out. These two crucial spiritual disciplines are the bedrock of personal discipleship.<\/p>\n

As we soak in the Word, it saturates our lives. And prayer is how the living water of the Word works it all out in our lives. As we prayerfully read the Word, Jesus is then able to grow us, resulting in fruitfulness.<\/p>\n

The Glorified Growth of Fruitfulness<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Every morning, my five-year-old daughter and I walk through the garden. We see the fruit and vegetables growing after much labor. There\u2019s a sense of joy as we identity the ripe results, to the extent that my daughter\u2019s face lights up as she picks them.<\/p>\n

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In a small way, I think this gives a picture of what Jesus means when He claims, \u201cMy Father is glorified by this: that you produce must fruit.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we live in the vine, soak in water activated through prayer in the Spirit, and experience the loving pruning process, the Father is glorified in the fruit springing forth from His children. It gives the Father pleasure to see His little shoots grow and produce fruit.<\/p>\n

How Does This Relate to the Pastor\u2019s Personal Discipleship?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As pastors, we desire to see the church we serve grow in personal discipleship with Christ. But we must not forget Jesus wants us to grow as well.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s laboring, cultivating, and keeping us as the New Adam. He wants His garden to grow faithfully\u2014He wants you to grow!<\/p>\n

If you desire to see the little shoots of Christ\u2019s garden grow, you must focus on your personal growth. Here are four practical steps for personal discipleship:<\/p>\n

1. Abide in Christ.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We must abide in Christ. Your union with Christ is the source of everything in your life. But an equally important truth must be stated as well.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not the vine for your people. You\u2019re not the fruit-producer\u2013only Jesus is. We must always point people to Christ, the true vine, calling His shoots to abide in Him.<\/p>\n

2. Repent of revealed sin.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As the Father loving prunes you, be quick to repent, knowing it\u2019s part of the discipleship process. As the Father reveals the wild branches, yield to the Spirit. Let Him do His work. The Father is a gracious gardener.<\/p>\n

3. Soak in the Word and pray.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Soak in the Word, which is activated by prayer. If you want to grow more in love with Christ, live in His Word and pray that it takes root in your heart. We must carefully guard personal time with the Lord. We must walk with Him, hear His voice, and talk with Him in prayer.<\/p>\n

4. Bear fruit for God\u2019s glory.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Realize God is glorified when you produce the fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is the intended result of the Father. He desires for you and me to abide in His Son because He wants to grow us. He wants our lives to be fruitful.<\/p>\n

The discipleship process isn\u2019t very complicated. It\u2019s a simple process. But we throw off the process if we try to cultivate the garden of our lives.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll only grow frustrated as we try to circumvent the growing process, make our own decisions apart from the Word, and attempt to produce the fruit on our own.<\/p>\n

Because Jesus really means it when He says, \u201cyou can do nothing without me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Cooper (@M_Coop24)<\/strong> is the husband of Kailie, father of two daughters, pastor of Grace Community Church in Mabank, Texas, and author of Identity Crisis.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n
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Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples<\/h2>\n

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By Michael Cooper My wife said I needed a hobby to take my mind off the day-to-day grind of being a pastor. So I planted a garden. I\u2019ve been determined to work hard, till the soil, and labor faithfully over this small Eden in my back yard. Every day I\u2019ve gone out to pull weeds, … Continue reading “4 Steps of Personal Discipleship for Pastors”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}