As we look at this series – we’ll be looking through the lens of ‘disciple’ – how did Jesus disciple the disciples? How did He go about training them to have his heart, attitudes, actions replicated within them? How is He still wanting to be doing that within us? A disciple is NOT an intern. The life of following after a Rabbi was one of apprenticeship & thus active 'followership'. “May the dust of your rabbi always be upon you” was a famous saying to a disciple…meaning may your proximity to the one you follow be so close that their dust rests upon you. That you would see how they see, act as they act, do as they do.
*If you've missed any of the past weekends, catch up with the sermons via our app.

Have you ever been stuck being a spectator at something you wished you could participate in?

Sometimes we are content to be spectators, but: Being a disciple is NOT for spectators. Christ wants us to jump in with both feet and eagerly participate in his kingdom building, and we are the ones who lose the most, when we don’t.

life lesson: LIFE isn't fair.

5 > 2 > 1

*think about this:
if you’re a parent – picture lining up 3 of your children at Peter Piper Pizza and giving out uneven number of tokens to play the games and tell me how this goes over?

God doesn’t interact with each of us with exact sameness…

The call to the Christian life and following after Jesus has never been about common UNIFORMITY and identical sameness! It’s always been about having uncommon UNITY despite our UNIQUE individuality!

We’ve each been individually entrusted with talents and giftings to use for His Good and His Glory in this world.

Life may not be fair, but it doesn’t mean that God isn’t good.
He searches for each us, can save each of us, has gifted each of us. God sees us individually, cares for each one…is dialed in and gives to us; and he expects us to be active with what we’ve been given.

Jesus’ point is this:
Everybody gets an uneven amount of opportunity, and everybody gets held accountable for what they do with it.

What are you doing with what you've been given?
The tendency is to look at everybody else—at what they have or don’t have—and make excuses for what we will or won’t do. This parable teaches us that we’re to look at our own bag (our own life)…and decide how to leverage it to its fullest to please our Master (God).

We EACH oversee our own “RESPONSE – ABILITY”
…our ability to choose to respond to our Great God and Giver – to use what He’s entrusted us, to move his kingdom forward or to do nothing. It’s our choice.

The most important verse in this parable is verse 19.
*biblically speaking: here’s the truth for us all…One day you and I will have to give account for our life. It can be an awesome thing, as depicted by the first two servants in the parable, or it can be yet another instance of excuses and trying to shift the blame.

We all have some time, but we have uneven amounts of time.
We all have opportunities, but we have uneven amounts of opportunity.

God’s looking at our “Response – Ability”: what are we doing with what He’s given?

The LIFE of a disciple:
-is about PARTICIPATION, more than passively being marked as present.
-A life of ACTIVITY over just attendance.
-A life of ENGAGEMENT more than entertainment.
Being a DISCIPLE is about DOING & BEING like the ONE we follow.
We're to USE what they’ve been entrusted to move His kingdom forward.

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us...” -Romans 12:6a
"God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another." - 1 Peter 4:10

=God gives each of us gifts and entrusts us to use them. It’s our ‘response-ability’ to our Good God and Giver of all things to PARTICIPATE and use what we’ve been given. One day He will ask: what did you do with what I entrusted you?
So, how are you using the time, talents, resources, energy, giftings and more for His Glory and His story? What's He challenging you to do next?

NEED PRAYER? ....we've got some of our prayer team and pastors available following service to pray with you. You can also submit your prayer request via our app. We look forward to partnering with you in prayer.

NEXT WEEK is our AFTER-PARTY! join us for a shortened service, followed by some fun (baptism celebration, food trucks, inflatable games and some hangout time with the Elements family.) Stick around and hangout with us! Invite some friends!
*(you can send an invite text right from the event in the app)

Thanks for coming again. If YOU'RE NEW, please join us in the back of the room for our 10 MINUTE PARTY.
If you're NEW it's just for YOU! and it starts as soon as service is over.