November 5, 2025 • 46 mins
In this message from John 17:13–17, David Platt urges us to rely on God’s Word to bring about spiritual transformation.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly
podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author,
and teacher David Platt.
SPEAKER_01 (00:08):
If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, let
me invite you to open with me toJohn 17 as we continue this
series looking at what it meansto follow Christ and make
disciples of all nations.
Pull out those notes from yourcelebration guide, and we're
going to jump right in to thetop there.
A little review.
So far, we've talked about twocomponents that are involved in
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disciple making.
First component we talked abouttwo weeks ago.
First component of disciplemaking that we've talked about
is to share the word.
The second component that wetalked about last week is to
show the word.
And the third component thatwe're going to talk about this
morning is to teach the word.
Before we dive in to this text,I want to give you a picture in
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your mind.
A few years ago, you've heard metalk about Jim Shattocks, who
I've studied under in NewOrleans.
He and I went to a preachingconference over in Scotland.
And while we're there, we hadthe opportunity to play golf at
the old course at St.
Andrews.
The reason we went was for thepreaching conference, but it
sure was nice to be able to playgolf at St.
Andrews.
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And so uh so we were playing,got there to the first T box
because there were only two ofus, and we got paired up with
two other people.
It was a couple.
And we were just making smalltalk there on the first T and
asking them about their livesand asked the guy.
We said, Well, what do you dofor a living?
And he said, Well, I play golf.
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We said, Are you like on thetour?
He said, No.
I said, Are you a pro, like agolf pro out here?
They were from the United Statesliving in Scotland.
Are you a golf pro out here?
He said, No.
My wife is a uh consultant, shemakes really good money, and so
I just play golf.
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It's one of those moments whereyou're just disgusted with the
person who is sitting in frontof you.
Maybe on two levels, because onone level you're like, man, this
guy is living just permanentvacation playing golf while his
wife takes responsibility foreverything in his home.
And then there's another levelwhere you're like, maybe we
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could learn something from thisguy.
I want you to see in thatpicture of a guy on permanent
vacation what I what I think isa picture of the average
American Christian life when itcomes to this disciple-making
thing.
I think there's a dangeroustendency for us to go on
permanent coasting and vacationin this church culture.
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We go to worship, we weparticipate in the normal
Christian life, we do what thenormal Christian does, all the
while.
The primary responsibility forwhich we have been saved, we
leave over to the side.
You think about it in light ofthose three elements that we
have seen, two, the one thatwe're going to see this morning,
sharing the word, showing theword, teaching the word.
These are elements of theChristian life that somewhere
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along the way we've gotten theidea that they are relegated to
just a few people to do.
They are responsible for that.
Sharing the word, that's thepreacher's job.
He's the one who preaches thegospel, leads them to Christ,
that's his job.
He does that.
Or maybe it's the job of thecouple people in the church that
are really outgoing and who likethat sort of thing, but the rest
of us, that's not for us.
Showing the word, you mean I amsupposed to have the
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responsibility to show theholiness and the majesty and the
greatness and the mercy and thecompassion and the patience and
the kindness of God.
Dave, don't you realize I'm justa work in progress?
I can't do that.
And then teaching the word,well, that's relegated to those
who lead the Bible studies andlead the small groups.
Those are the good teachers.
So we relegate these things tocertain Christians.
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What we're saying in this seriesis that kind of mindset is
self-centered, consumer-driven,vacational Christianity.
And it ignores the very purposefor which we've been saved and
the mission that Christ hasgiven us, the primary
responsibility he's given us.
What we're saying in this seriesis that God has given each of us
in this room as his disciples,he's given each of us people who
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we can share the word with andshow the word to.
And today we're gonna say teachthe word to.
And what we're saying in thisseries is we're gonna stop
farming this responsibility outto the super mega Christian that
really doesn't exist.
And we're gonna stop farmingthis responsibility out even to
the church as an institution.
And we're gonna rise up asindividuals in this faith
family, and we're gonna takeresponsibility for the primary
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commandment Christ has given tous before he left the earth.
And in the process of doingthat, we are going to impact
this community for the glory ofChrist.
And we're gonna impact the cityfor the glory of Christ.
And by his word, based on hisword, we're gonna impact nations
for the glory of Christ when weget serious about giving
ourselves to making disciples.
So that's what this is about,not vacational Christianity.
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This whole series is about usrising up and taking
responsibility for what Christhas given us.
God rid us of vacationalChristianity.
Now, we're gonna talk aboutteaching the word this morning.
And I've got to say from thevery beginning, in our mindset,
whenever you hear me mentionteach the word, whenever we see
teaching the word mentioned herein John 17, we've got to keep
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our minds from thinking ofteaching in just classroom style
settings or lecture formats.
When you think of a teacher, youthink about a setting like this,
or a setting even in a smallerroom with one person standing in
front of the others teaching theword.
But what we're gonna see inJesus' life is that was not his
primary teaching method.
We're talking about the kind ofteaching in the Christian life
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that is for all of us asdisciples of Christ, not just a
few people in the church.
So get the lecture, classroomtype teaching, get that model
kind of out of your mindwhenever you hear the word, the
us talk about teaching the word.
So with that said, let's divein.
John chapter 17.
We'll pick up in verse 13.
We have been studying over thelast couple weeks, verse 6
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through 12.
I want us to pick up in verse 13and see what Jesus prays for his
disciples.
He says, Father, I'm coming toyou now, but I say these things
while I am still in the world,so that they may have the full
measure of my joy within them.
I have given them your word, andthe world has hated them, for
they are not of the world anymore than I am of the world.
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My prayer is not that you takethem out of the world, but that
you protect them from the evilone.
They are not of the world, evenas I am not of it.
Sanctify them by the truth.
Your word is truth.
Now, how do you how do we teachthe word to the people God has
given to us?
I want us to see this on a fewdifferent levels.
I want us to see it overall andthe main thrust that we're
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seeing there as it was reflectedin the ministry of Christ.
Then I want us to narrow it inand see a few things in these
specific verses, and then I wantthat to lead us into okay, how
does this look?
And you and I making disciplesof all nations.
So let's start with the first,kind of a broad overview, but a
picture of what Jesus iscommunicating here.
How do we teach the word thoseto those God has given to us?
First of all, we value the wordas God's gift to us.
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We value the word as God's gift.
Now, this is a theme that wehave seen repeated at different
times in John 17.
It says it there in verse 14, wejust read.
Jesus says, I've given them yourword.
In other words, the word thatyou gave me.
It's the same thing we saw up inverse 8.
He said, I gave them the wordsyou gave me.
We're seeing this thing over andover again that the Father gives
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to Jesus, and Jesus gives to thedisciples.
The focus here is on the factthat he has given them his word.
The Father's word has come toJesus, and he has given it to
his disciples.
And the disciples knew whereJesus' words came from.
They knew with certainty.
It says earlier, they believed,they obeyed your word, they
believed that those words camefrom you.
They knew the author of thosewords, the originator of those
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words.
They knew that these words werea gift from the Father.
Over and over again, these guysand their walks with Jesus on
this earth were saturated withwords from the Father.
There's at least 66 differenttimes in the Gospels alone where
Jesus, these are the only theones we have recorded, where
Jesus directly quotes from theOld Testament and shares the
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Father's Word.
What does this mean for us?
That's in addition, over ahundred allusions to the Old
Testament and conversations withothers.
These guys were saturated withthe word over and over again.
It was a gift that was given tothem.
Now I want us to think aboutthis on a couple of different
levels.
First of all, when they receivedGod's word and valued it, they
knew that this was revelationfrom the Father, God revealing
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Himself.
And so the first thing we needto realize is that God has
revealed His will to us.
That's the picture that we'reseeing all throughout Jesus'
life and ministry with thesedisciples.
That He was revealing theFather's will to them.
That they were in almost likethey were in on a secret.
The revelation is at the heartof this thing.
This is not just some naturalpossession.
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This is just like if you werewearing a mask and you took off
the mask, you would reveal whoyou really are.
The word that Jesus gave, theword we have in front of us, is
God taking off the mask,revealing himself to us.
You want to know how I think,you want to know how I work, you
want to know who I am, you wantto know how I work in your life.
This is my revelation to you.
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And that's a divine thing.
We see that all throughout theGospels because Jesus would
often talk, he would speak, hewould teach, and there were
crowds of people that had noclue what he meant.
Obviously, we know that Jesuswas a master teacher, a master
communicator.
But sometimes we have thisglorified image of how the
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people may have responded.
You know all those parables thathe shares in the Gospels?
That sometimes are kind ofweird, kind of hard to
understand.
We've got this image of peoplejust sitting back hearing a
parable and giving him a nicegolf clap.
Wow, that was that was that wasincredible.
That that's not the picture thatwe see.
You don't have to turn there.
Just imagine, you're in thecrowd.
Listen to this.
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It's a parable from Mark 4.
Listen to this.
You're in the crowd, and Jesussaid, A man scatters seed on the
ground, night and day, whetherhe sleeps or gets up, the seed
sprouts and grows.
Though he does not know how, allby itself the soil produces
grain.
First the stalk, then the head,then the full kernel in the
head.
As soon as the grain is ripe, heputs the sickle to it because
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the harvest has come.
Oh, wow.
Did you hear that?
Wow.
No, they didn't understand that.
These people had had had no cluemany times what Jesus was
saying.
That's why Jesus, what did hedo?
Over and over again in theGospels.
He's he'd look at his disciples.
They've got blank looks on theirfaces.
They're clueless.
He'd pull them aside and he'dsay, Okay, you guys are
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wondering what in the world Ijust said.
Here, here, let me let you in onthis.
Parable of the sower.
He shares the parable.
He spends three months, threetimes as much time explaining
the parable to these guys thathe did give them the parable.
These guys were let in.
And the revelation from theFather, this is the Father's
will for you.
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They were not left to wanderaround in a fog, wondering what
the Father had said, what Jesuswas saying.
He was giving them his words,revealing his will to us.
And I want us to think aboutthat.
In light of fast-forwarding2,000 years to today, one of the
most common questions in thechurch, most common questions
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that people ask in the church,is often, well, how do I know
God's will for my life?
What is God's will for my life?
Almost like we're wanderingaround in a fog thinking, God,
if you just show me your will,I'd do it, but I don't know how
to know your will.
You ever wondered that?
If you have, I want to free youup this morning.
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The majority of God's will forour lives has already been
revealed to us.
It is right here in His Word.
He has given it to us.
We are not in a fog.
We have 66 books that we knoware the revealed will of God.
I'm convinced that 95% of God'swill for our lives has already
been revealed to us, it's righthere.
Now, obviously, this bookdoesn't tell us exactly what
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career decision to make, doesn'ttell us exactly what family
decision to make with this issueor that circumstance.
However, I'm convinced that ifwe would give ourselves to the
95% that God has revealed to us,maybe, just maybe, he'd be
faithful to show us the 5% thatwe don't know yet.
He has revealed his will to us.
We don't have to wander aroundin a fog.
Isn't it ironic?
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That's one of the most commonquestions we ask in the church
today, while all the while weare giving nominal adherence to
the Great Commission to makedisciples of all nations.
He has said, This is my will,and we've ignored that.
And the most common question weask is, What is your will for my
life?
It doesn't add up.
What's his will for our lives?
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Ladies and gentlemen, we live inthe most wealthy county in
Alabama.
His will for our lives is tosacrifice our resources for the
poor and the needy.
That is his will, guaranteed.
We don't have to ask.
It's there.
We have to stop ignoring hiswill.
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And our lives, men, we don'thave to ask.
What his will for our lives is,his will is for us to outserve
our wives, to love them in sucha way, just like Christ loved
the church and gave himself upfor her.
We are supposed to do the samething.
That's his will for our lives.
Give ourselves to it.
The Jiang people group in thenorthern provinces of China.
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595,000 of them, hundreds andhundreds of mosques.
Not one church, not oneChristian, not one missionary,
no gospel, no witness, no Jesus.
And we're sitting over heresaying, What do you want me to
do, God?
Give yourselves to the will thatI have shown to you.
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I have revealed my will to you.
I wonder sometimes, particularlyover the last couple of years,
I've really wrestled with this.
Traveling into underground housechurch settings in Asia, seeing
believers gather together atsmall rooms for literally 12
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hours a day, sitting on littlestools like we have in our
preschool classrooms, sitting onthose little stools.
If you get there early enoughand you get a seat, you get a
stool, and you sit there for 12hours studying the word.
Why are they so hungry, riskingtheir lives to do that?
Why are they so hungry that whenyou go to their worship service,
they look at you and they say,We want you to preach.
No short sermons, we want atleast two hours in the Word
tonight.
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Why is there such a hunger?
As I wrestle with that, I can'thelp but think as I look around
those rooms and I see people whohave been delivered out of an
atheistic philosophy that hasleft them to live their life on
their own.
Many of them animistic witchdoctors in these villages, very
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prevalent because everybody'sconcerned with how we can be
okay before the spirits andbefore the gods, so many
superstitions.
And they come into the knowledgeof the one and only true God who
has revealed his word to them.
They long for it.
It means something to them.
They realize this is therevelation of God to us.
He's revealed his will to us.
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That's good news.
Not only has he revealed hiswill to us, but think about it
this value in God's word is agift, like this, value in God's
word is a gift.
He has entrusted his truth tous.
Now, in this passage, what wesee is Jesus saying, I give him
your word, then he says, Yourword is truth.
And this is a theme we seethroughout the book of John.
Twenty-five different times Johnuses truth, refers to truth, the
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mouth of Jesus and other places.
This is a theme that's over andover again repeated, and his
word is constantly equated withtruth.
Remember John 8.32, you willknow the truth, and the truth
will set you free.
That whole passage is framed inthe fact that his word is truth,
equating his word with truth.
And so what he says to theseguys is I've given them your
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words, Father.
I have given them your truth.
I've entrusted it to them.
The implications for disciplemaking are huge.
Jesus is saying here, don't missit, that all the truth you have
entrusted to me, I haveperfectly and completely passed
on to them.
I've not added to it, I've nottaken away from it.
I haven't said, you know,Father, you should have added a
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few things here.
Let me let me give us more helpto make sure they get it.
No, he said, all the truthyou've given to me, I've given
them your word.
And that's exactly what disciplemaking is about.
It's about us saying, folks, wehave been entrusted with truth,
with the very words of AlmightyGod.
And we're going to rise up andbe a people who preserve that
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truth and multiply that truth tothe generations that come behind
us.
It is not going to stop with us.
And it's not going to be thisperson's job or that person's
job or the institutionalchurch's job.
It's going to be my job to makesure that truth is passed down,
just as Jesus did that inothers' lives.
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I know there's some of you who,if we've been taught, as we've
been talking about disciplemaking, you've been a little
uncomfortable.
What do you mean, I'm supposedto make disciples?
I'm supposed to have disciples,people that God has given to me.
Some of you are, there's a rubthere.
It sounds kind of arrogant, alittle self-centered.
This is where we realize thiswhole disciple-making process,
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ladies and gentlemen, does notrevolve around you passing on
your opinions and yourexperiences and all your
thoughts on a variety of issues.
This whole thing calleddisciple-making revolves around
you passing around, passing onthe word of God, his truth, to
those who come behind you, tothe people that are around you.
And that is not arrogant.
The height of arrogance is tofill our conversations day in
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and day out with talk aboutbusiness and sports and Oprah
and the latest gossip.
That is arrogance, meaninglessconversation, and that will lead
to us making disciples of us.
God help us to put this word atthe center of our community, at
the center of our lives in sucha way that it flows from us.
We don't make disciples based onour experience and our opinions
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and our thoughts and oursoapboxes.
We make disciples based on theword of God.
You've heard us talk about this,even as a faith family here at
Brook Hills.
You hear over and over again theword is at the center of what we
do.
And folks, if we're gonna err onone side, we're gonna err on the
side of faithfully preservingand communicating and
multiplying this truth.
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Because if we don't, where willwe leave the people who come
behind us?
With our thoughts and ouropinions?
The word is the center of ourcommunity, it's the center of
this mission.
We have been given a greattrust.
God make us faithful with it.
So we value God's word as agift.
This is the starting point.
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Now I want us to dive inspecifically these three verses
and see some of the effects ofGod's word.
First of all, we value God'sword as a gift.
Second, we experience theeffects of God's word.
And I want you to see one effectin verse 13, one effect in verse
14, and another effect in verse15 through 17.
Look at verse 13.
It says, I am coming to you now,but I say these things, I give
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you these words, I thinkreferring mainly to what he's
just said ever since John 14,all the way to John 17 here.
I say these things while I amstill in the world, so that they
may have the full measure of myjoy within them.
First effect of God's word isthat it satisfies us in the
world.
We're seeing Jesus talk aboutthe disciples compared with the
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world, and he says, I have saidthese things so that my joy
would be in them, so that mysatisfaction would be theirs.
This is really interesting.
In the verse or two before verse13, it's kind of a bleak picture
talking about how Judas wasdoomed to destruction, talking
about how they were going to bein a world of evil.
Then you get to verse 14, itsays the world's gonna hate
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them.
We'll talk about that in asecond.
But in verse 13, you've got thislight, kind of like a
mountaintop, a tip of theiceberg at the top, with
darkness surrounding on bothsides.
What you've got is a picture.
It's a great picture of theword, of joy.
No matter what the world says,no matter what the world brings,
I say these things that theymight have my joy within them.
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He had emphasized this back inJohn 15.
He said, Remain in me, and letmy words remain in you, and you
will have my joy, and it will becomplete in you, he said.
What we've got is a picture hereof the fact that the disciples'
joy would not have to bedependent on the sinful
pleasures of the world.
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The disciples' joy would bebased completely on the inward
spiritual resources that arefound in God's word.
And that's good news for us.
I was talking with a lady when Iwas flying to Oklahoma this past
week.
And she was she was talkingabout some of the ups and downs
that she has had recently in herlife.
She talks about, she talked toldme about how she had a new job.
She said, I think this is gonnabe the answer.
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I think this is gonna be the jobthat's gonna make everything
right for me and my family.
I looked at her and I said, I'mexcited about your job with you,
and I think that's a greatthing.
But what happens when somethingfalls apart there?
I was able to share with herthere is a rock in Christ who
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supersedes any circumstance orjob that may come her way.
Isn't that good news for us?
Isn't it good to know that thisweek, no matter what happens,
that you and I don't know what'sgonna happen this week.
Isn't it good to know that nomatter what happens, the inward
spiritual resources of God'sword will be our sustenance,
will be our joy.
It's why it says man does notlive on bread alone, but on
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what?
Every word that comes from themouth of God.
This is our feast.
This is better than a dreamlandbarbecue feast.
This is this is our sustenance.
We live on this.
And when confusion hits, whenanxiety hits, when we don't know
what's gonna happen next, theword satisfies us in the world.
It's good.
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The word is good.
So that's one effect.
It satisfies this world, givesus joy.
Second effect, the wordseparates us from the world.
The word separates us from theworld.
Now I want you to see thisunfold in a very interesting
way.
In verse 14, Jesus says, I havegiven them your word, and the
world has hated them, for theyare not of the world any more
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than I am of the world.
Basically, what Jesus is sayinghere, and in the original
language of the New Testament,it's pretty clear.
I gave them your word, thereforethe world has hated them, just
like they hate me.
And he emphasized this in John15.8 all the way to 16.4.
He talked over and over againabout how they would be set
against the world, separatedfrom the world, how the world,
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and that's a strong term, but hesays it pretty clearly, the
world would hate them.
This is another one of thosethemes that we see all
throughout the book of John.
Most often when John refers tothe world, whether it's in the
mouth of Jesus or someone else,it is referring to the world in
rebellion against God, andrebellion against God's truth.
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You say, What do you mean?
I thought John 3.16, we knowthat.
God so loved the world.
Exactly.
That's the beauty of that wholeverse.
This is a picture of the worldin rebellion against God,
rebellion against the Father andHis Word, and the God of the
universe has so poured out hisgrace on the world that he gave
his one and only Son, thatwhoever believes in him would
never perish, but have eternallife.
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The meaning of John 3.16 isheightened there.
That's what the world is.
Picture of deception.
Even way back in the verybeginning to the introduction of
Jesus, John chapter 1, talksabout how he was life, he
brought life and light.
Talked about how the world wouldreject that light.
Obviously, that's the picturethat leads up to the
crucifixion, what's about tohappen in John, or rejection of
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the light.
So what you've got is a picturehere.
Jesus saying, I've given them myword.
And it's almost like if youcould imagine you have a
kingdom, and you've got thekingdom now full of rebels who
are against the king.
And Jesus calls out these men,and they are loyal subjects of
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the king.
Now, if you've got a kingdomfull of rebels against the king,
and you've got some loyalsubjects of the king, you don't
have a lot of parties happeningbetween the two.
In fact, you have the rebelswanting nothing to do with those
loyal subjects, ignoring them,turning off everything they
said.
That's the picture here.
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I'm not trying to paint itbleaker than it is.
That is the picture that we'reseeing here in John chapter 17.
And in the end of the story,don't forget, it is the loyal
subjects of the king who givetheir lives for those who
rebelled against the kingdom.
And I want us to fast forward toour lives today.
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No question that we live in aculture, and it's not new, a
culture that rejects truth.
We live in a culture whererelativism is the cry of our
day.
What is true for you, okay, butit's not true for me.
There is no truth.
If you claim to have truth, thenyou are arrogant, you're
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narrow-minded, you'reclosed-minded.
And I wish I could give you morecomforting words this morning,
but if we're gonna cling to thistruth, it will separate us from
the world.
The disciples took this truthinto their culture, penetrated
the culture with this truth, andturned the world upside down.
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It has power, it will bear fruitwhen when you stand with this
truth, proclaim truth withcompassion, and let the truth do
the work.
That's what he's showing ushere.
Now we'll dive into this in themonths ahead.
This is one of the issues thatis really close to my heart and
studies how we can mosteffectively proclaim truth in
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our culture today.
Suffice to say at this pointthat we cannot shirk back from
this responsibility.
We have the truth of Christentrusted to us, and we will not
be silent with the truth,because the truth gives life,
eternal life.
So just know the word satisfiesus in the world, but it also
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separates us from the world.
Third, the word sanctifies us inthe world.
The word sanctifies us in theworld.
Now that's what we see reallyclearly in verse 17.
Sanctify them by the truth.
Your word is truth.
Some of you are thinking, well,what does sanctify mean?
Well, it basically means to setapart or dedicate to a
particular purpose, consecratemainly to God, to showing his
(26:50):
character, set them apart, makethem holy.
Now we're going to talk nextweek more about what this whole
sanctification thing looks like.
And I hope begin to see our viewof sanctification transformed a
little bit.
But instead of focusing thismorning on the meaning of
sanctification, I want us tocamp out on the means of
sanctification, which is theword.
He said, This whole thing,sanctify, it happens by your
(27:14):
word.
It is the fuel that makes usholy.
It is the fuel that keeps us inthe character of God.
It's exactly what Jesus ispraying for here.
He says, keep them in yourcharacter.
Protect them in your characterby your word.
The word is the fuel that makesbeing a disciple of Christ, it
makes disciple making possible.
In fact, it's what he said backup in verse 15.
(27:34):
He says, My prayer is not thatyou take them out of the world,
but that you protect them fromwho?
From the evil one.
How do you protect them from theevil one?
By your truth.
And your word is truth.
You protect yourself from theadversary through the word.
And the disciples had seen thismodeled.
Remember back in Matthew chapter4, verse 1 to 11?
(27:55):
Jesus was tempted three times,face to face with the evil one,
with the devil.
He's tempted three times.
Every single time he's tempted,he says the exact same thing in
response.
What does he say?
He says, It is written.
And then he quotes from the OldTestament.
It is written.
He quotes from the OldTestament.
Now, here's the question.
Think about it with me.
(28:16):
Jesus is tempted three times.
Each time he says, It iswritten, quotes from the Old
Testament.
Do you think that in thosecircumstances, those
temptations, he had to quoteScripture in order to ward off
that temptation?
Do you think it was necessaryfor him to quote Scripture?
I don't think it was.
(28:37):
I think Jesus was the kind ofguy who could say anything at
that point.
And it would become scripture.
He had that kind of power.
He says anything, and we've gotred letters written in our
Bible, just like that.
He was that good.
He could say anything at thatpoint, it would become
(28:57):
scripture.
Did he have to quote scripture?
No.
I think Jesus is setting anexample there for us.
That in order to be pure, inorder to show the character of
God, in order to do thisdisciple-making thing, the word
must be at the center of yourlife.
It is the tool, the means bywhich you are sanctified.
(29:17):
And it makes sense.
And our struggles, all of us inthis room, that have we all have
struggles with certain sins,certain temptation.
If we try to fight thosestruggles, come face to face
with the evil one, with theadversary, and try to fight
those temptations apart from theword, then we will fall flat on
our face.
Guaranteed.
(29:38):
Try to do this thing on our own,in our flesh.
We need the word to give ussanctification.
Just like Jesus, to be able tohave that word hidden in our
hearts, in our minds, that whenwe face temptation to gossip and
to begin to talk about others inthis community, in this church,
in a way that you know doesn'thonor Christ, to have in your
mind automatically, wait aminute, I'm not supposed to say.
(30:00):
Anything that is not useful forbuilding up others according to
their needs in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 4 29, hidden in yourheart, it will empower you in
that temptation, enable youthere.
You struggle with your with withyour with your tongue, with with
you just kind of say things thatyou always regret, and you find
yourself saying things, thingscome out of your mouth that you
know don't honor Christ.
(30:20):
When you face those temptations,you're gonna be a lot worse off
if you don't know the word thanif you have the word hidden in
your heart, you're able to say,you know, James 3 says the
tongue is a world of evil amongthe parts of the body.
It corrupts the whole person,sets the whole course of his
life on fire, and is itself seton fire by hell.
Kinds of animals, birds,reptiles, and creatures of the
sea are being tamed in heaven,tamed by man.
But no man can tam the tongue asa rest of the seaful, full of
(30:40):
tetanus poison.
With the tongue we praise ourLord and Father, and with it we
curse men who made in God'slikeness out of the same mouth
and praising, cursing mybrothers.
This should not be.
Now, are you gonna be better offif you know that?
No question you would be.
The word is the fuel that Godgives us.
Why did He say in Psalm 119?
How can the young man keep hisway pure by living according to
(31:01):
your word?
Two verses later, I've hiddenyour word in my heart that I
might not do what?
Sin against you.
This is the fuel that we have inbecoming fully devoted followers
of Christ.
And in showing Christ andteaching Christ, if we try to do
it apart from the word, we willfail miserably.
(31:24):
We are foolish to think that wecan live this Christian life and
accomplish this mission apartfrom his word.
His truth sanctifies us in theworld.
We need his word.
You will not get sanctificationfrom TV and DVDs and internet.
You will not get sanctificationfrom all those things.
You will find sanctification inthe word.
(31:44):
We've got how.
So we value his word as gift andwe experience those effects.
Now that mainly deals with howwe follow Christ as disciples of
Christ.
We value his word.
We're seeing the example ofJesus here.
But how does this look now, notjust in my life, but in others'
lives?
That's what disciple making isabout, right?
(32:06):
Not just living my Christianlife for me anymore.
I'm living for the sake ofothers.
So, how do we teach the word?
It's been given to us.
We value it, we experience itseffects, and then third, we
reproduce God's word for thesalvation of others.
We reproduce God's word for thesalvation of others.
Now here's where it gets reallygood.
(32:27):
All throughout this chapter,three times mainly, we have seen
the word referred to asbelonging to God.
It comes from Him.
You look in verse 8, it says, Igave them the words you gave me.
In verse 14, which we just read,I have given them your word.
Verse 17, sanctify them by thetruth, your word is truth.
(32:51):
Over and over again, we'reseeing this picture of the word
coming from God.
But then look what happens.
Check this out in verse 20.
He says, My prayer is not forthem alone, not for the
disciples alone.
I also pray for those who willbelieve in me through your
message?
Your word?
No, it says their word.
(33:13):
Their message.
There's a shift here.
Don't miss it.
Over and over again, Jesus says,I have given your word to them.
And now he says, There's goingto be who people who believe,
who trust in me through theirword that comes from me, that
comes from you.
Are you seeing the succeedinggenerations of disciples that
are being pictured here in John17?
(33:35):
The Father gives the word toJesus.
Jesus imparts the word to thesedisciples exactly as he had been
given it.
And then what do these disciplesdo?
They lead others to accept theword, to believe the word, to
trust the word, to obey theword.
Romans 10, 17, faith comes byhearing and hearing by the word
of God.
This is the most incredibleprivilege we have to take the
(33:58):
words of the living God andbegin to pour them into others.
To begin to take what Christ hasentrusted to us and not just
receive it from Him, but toreproduce it through us.
We listen in order to teach theWord.
These disciples knew that whenthey received these words,
accepted these words, obeyedthese words from Christ, they
(34:19):
had a responsibility to pour itinto others.
They were not just receiving it,they were reproducing it.
So we listen in order to teachthe word.
I want us to think about whatthat looks like.
Let me give you twoillustrations.
Journey with me first to theSudan.
You walk into a mud hut, there'schurch leaders that are sitting
(34:40):
around, automatically they standup out of respect for the one
who's about to teach them theword.
You sing a song and then you sitdown.
We began to teach disciplemaking from the word.
As we're teaching disciplemaking, the whole time I'm
teaching, I hardly ever seetheir faces.
Because they were sleeping, orbecause they had stayed up late
(35:03):
in their mud hut the nightbefore.
Because they were daydreaming.
No.
Never see their faces becausethey're writing down every
single thing you say.
And they come up to youafterwards and they say,
Teacher, we believe that we havea responsibility to take
(35:24):
everything you have taught us,translate it into our tribe's
language, and teach it in ourtribes.
When they listened, they werelistening to reproduce, to teach
the word.
Journey with me to Honduras.
First sermon I preached, Iremember in Honduras, there's
guys sitting on the front row.
(35:45):
They are feverishly writing downevery single thing I said.
Afterwards, they come up to meand they said, David, that was a
great sermon.
We can't wait to reteach that tosomeone else.
I thought, man, it must havebeen good.
Until I realized they said thatto everybody who taught them the
word.
They realized that the wordgiven to them was not for them,
(36:05):
it was for the sake of others.
I want you to think about howthat changes the way we listen.
Because it is very easy for usto come in this room.
Well, we could tune out, or wecould even come in order to
receive.
Okay, I want to learn from theWord today.
I want to walk away saying, I'velearned something new today,
(36:25):
I've got something new today,but I want to remind you that is
a self-centered way to listenthis morning.
Because you're listening foryour sake.
And nowhere in Scripture are youtold to listen and to receive
from Christ for your sake.
Over and over again, we weretold to receive from Christ for
others' sake, to pour his wordsinto them, to show his glory to
(36:46):
others.
Now we're listening in aGod-centered way.
You realize how this flies inthe face of how we listen and
how we operate?
How many times have we said orhave we thought or heard someone
else say, Well, you know, I'mnot at a point right now where I
can I can teach.
(37:07):
So I just need I'm at a pointwhere I need to receive, I need
to grow, I need to learn.
That is ridiculous logic.
It is absurd.
Say, what do you mean?
I said that yesterday.
What do you mean?
Think about it with me.
After our time today in God'sWord, studying this passage of
(37:29):
scripture, who in this roomwould be best equipped to go and
reteach this, reproduce this insomebody else's life?
I would.
Why is that?
Well, because I I know thisstuff better than all you guys.
Because I spent the timestudying this in order to be
(37:50):
able to teach it.
So it's ridiculous to thinkthat, well, I'm just gonna learn
and receive and not teach.
Ladies and gentlemen, those whoteach are those who receive and
learn the most.
Does that make sense?
So could it be that ourknowledge of the word will
stagnate?
We will only go so far in ourknowledge of the word if all
we're gonna do is receive in ourChristian lives.
(38:12):
We are destined to live a lifein the word right here.
However, when we rise up andbegin to take responsibility for
making disciples of all nations,teaching the word, then now
we've got to know the word.
Now we've got to go to newdepths because other people are
now dependent on us to hear theword from us.
And we grow to new heights ashis disciples as we make
disciples.
Does that make sense?
(38:32):
We listen in order to teach theword.
This changes the way we listen.
And it yanks us out ofself-centered Christianity and
thrusts us into God-centered,other-centered Christianity
because we now are not justlistening for us, we're
listening for others.
That is what disciple making isabout.
(38:53):
Think about it.
What if this faith family, the2,000 people represented even in
just this service alone, were totake the word that we study on a
Sunday-by-Sunday basis, and youwere to translate it into your
sphere of influence?
Sure, you don't have a tribe,but you do have a people that I
(39:14):
will never meet.
You do have a people that youcan communicate more effectively
to than I ever could.
What happens when the word, theseeds of the word that are
thrown out all over this roomthis morning, now begin to be
reproduced at other places inthis community?
Now the word is filling thiscommunity.
And it promises Isaiah 55.
It will bear fruit.
(39:35):
It will sprout.
It will grow.
The question is, is it gonnastop with us?
Is it gonna be confined to whatgoes on in this church building?
God, may it not be so.
May the word infiltrate thiscommunity.
We listen in order to teach theword.
Now tie this together what we'vetalked about in the last two
weeks.
We listen in order to teach theword, and then second, we look
for opportunities to share theword.
(39:56):
Some of you are thinking, well,Dave, I'm not gonna go preach a
sermon to somebody this week.
Not going into work and saying,if you have your Bibles, and I
hope you do, and pulling themout this teaching guide, follow
along with it with me.
No, I'm not expecting you to dothat.
Only the Word does.
It wasn't Jesus' primaryteaching method.
(40:16):
Don't miss it.
You don't have to go preach thesermon, or you don't have to
have lead a small group of Biblestudy.
That may be one option.
But what if, what if God reallydoes have this thing rigged?
And what if he is divinely goingto bring people in your path
this week?
(40:38):
Your home, your neighborhood,your workplace, your school.
What if he is going to bringpeople in your path this week
that he wants to hear his word?
That he has been teaching you,whether it's here in this room,
whether it's in a small group,whether it's in your personal
Bible study, that he wants toteach them, not through me, but
(41:00):
ladies and gentlemen, throughyou.
And you start to open your eyesand say, God, how can I share
your word today?
How can I take what you havetaught me and begin to pour it
into others?
You see how the seeds of theword are now multiplying as
opposed to being confined towhat happens in an hour and a
(41:22):
half on a Sunday morning in thisroom?
We look for opportunities toshare the word.
And then third, tied in withwhat we talked about last week,
we live in a way that shows theword.
We live in a way that shows theword.
Don't forget the wholefoundation here is the word
(41:44):
being made flesh, incarnation,the word in action, the word in
a picture in Jesus.
That when he teaches, he says, Iam the way and I am the what?
Truth.
I am the word.
See the word in me.
This is good news.
(42:05):
Isn't it comforting to know thatJesus did all that he did in his
teaching, all the Father's work,and he had no PowerPoint
capabilities whatsoever?
I know we find that hard tobelieve, but he didn't.
He had no fancy graphics, he hadno teaching outlines.
(42:28):
His life was his very method.
His life necessitated histeaching.
All the disciples had, notPowerPoint presentations, fancy
graphics or teaching outlines,all the disciples had was a
teacher with them who modeledbefore them what he wanted them
to learn.
His life was his method.
(42:48):
And the word infused hisrelationships with them, infused
his life with them.
That's the picture we're goingfor.
What happens when instead ofinfusing our relationships at
work, at school, at home, in ourneighborhood, instead of
infusing those relationshipswith our opinions, our thoughts,
talk about business, sports,opera, and the latest gossip,
(43:09):
instead of infusing it withthat, what happens when the word
of life begins to infuse thoseconversations?
What good are we to the peoplearound us this week if we have
the word of life and all we talkabout is the trivial matters
that so infuse all of ourconversations on a week-by-week
basis?
What good are we?
(43:32):
We're not that good.
His word is that good.
So listen to the word.
Here, small groups, on your own.
Listen to the word in order toreteach it, in order to pour it
into others.
Then look for opportunities toshare that with other people.
And then, in the middle of itall, live in such a way that
(43:54):
people see the word being playedout.
This is disciple making at work.
It's not just the responsibilityof the preacher or the Bible
study teacher.
It is the responsibility ofdisciples of Christ to teach the
word of Christ.
So, where does that leave us?
(44:14):
How does that look in our lives?
I want to ask you somequestions, just like we've asked
the last couple of weeks.
First of all, who can you teachthe word to?
Who is God given in your lifethat you can teach the word to?
In your home?
Obviously, where that starts andthe relationships that are
closest to us, but not justthere.
(44:37):
We don't want to confine theword to the homes that are
represented in this building.
I want to take the word into thecommunity.
Who has God given you in yourlife?
Not that you can preach a sermonto, but that you can take what
Christ is doing through his wordand begin to let it flow through
you.
Second question, how can youteach them the word?
(44:58):
Now that's where some of us arestill fuzzy, and I want to draw
your attention to a resourcethat we've had for a little
while.
Um, never made public that Imean in a setting like this that
it was available, but we've madea bunch of copies and put them
on the tables out there.
What it is, it's a reteachingguide.
An effort to say, okay, how canwe best take the word that we
(45:19):
receive and reproduce it?
What we put together was just,okay, whether it's Sunday
sermon, whether it's Bible studythat we're involved in, how can
we not let the word stop withus?
What this is is just aday-by-day, step-by-step guide
of how this word can, the wordthat we study, can infiltrate
our lives and flow out of ourlives so that we begin to be
(45:42):
aware of the fact that whetherit is our kids or our spouse,
whether it's our co-worker,whether it's school classmate,
whether it's the lady at Walmartthat thinks I'm too young to be
a pastor, whoever it is, we'relooking for the fact that God is
maybe working and using us tomultiply his word.
(46:04):
So that's what this is.
These are available in the back.
You don't have to take one, butI would encourage you if you
want to begin to explore thisdeeper, which I hope you do,
then those are available in theback when you leave.
So how can I sh how can I teachthem the word?
Intentionally.
This is not something that justhappens accidentally.
This is intentionally.
Disciple making is not somethingwe're gonna accidentally do,
(46:25):
it's something we're gonnaintentionally give ourselves to.
And really, the ultimatequestion we probably need to ask
is this will the word, will theword stop with me, or will the
word spread through me?
SPEAKER_00 (46:39):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of
David Platt Messages.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
radical.net.
You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly
podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author,
and teacher David Platt.
SPEAKER_01 (00:08):
If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, let
me invite you to open with me toJohn 17 as we continue this
series looking at what it meansto follow Christ and make
disciples of all nations.
Pull out those notes from yourcelebration guide, and we're
going to jump right in to thetop there.
A little review.
So far, we've talked about twocomponents that are involved in
(00:30):
disciple making.
First component we talked abouttwo weeks ago.
First component of disciplemaking that we've talked about
is to share the word.
The second component that wetalked about last week is to
show the word.
And the third component thatwe're going to talk about this
morning is to teach the word.
Before we dive in to this text,I want to give you a picture in
(00:52):
your mind.
A few years ago, you've heard metalk about Jim Shattocks, who
I've studied under in NewOrleans.
He and I went to a preachingconference over in Scotland.
And while we're there, we hadthe opportunity to play golf at
the old course at St.
Andrews.
The reason we went was for thepreaching conference, but it
sure was nice to be able to playgolf at St.
Andrews.
(01:12):
And so uh so we were playing,got there to the first T box
because there were only two ofus, and we got paired up with
two other people.
It was a couple.
And we were just making smalltalk there on the first T and
asking them about their livesand asked the guy.
We said, Well, what do you dofor a living?
And he said, Well, I play golf.
(01:35):
We said, Are you like on thetour?
He said, No.
I said, Are you a pro, like agolf pro out here?
They were from the United Statesliving in Scotland.
Are you a golf pro out here?
He said, No.
My wife is a uh consultant, shemakes really good money, and so
I just play golf.
(01:57):
It's one of those moments whereyou're just disgusted with the
person who is sitting in frontof you.
Maybe on two levels, because onone level you're like, man, this
guy is living just permanentvacation playing golf while his
wife takes responsibility foreverything in his home.
And then there's another levelwhere you're like, maybe we
(02:19):
could learn something from thisguy.
I want you to see in thatpicture of a guy on permanent
vacation what I what I think isa picture of the average
American Christian life when itcomes to this disciple-making
thing.
I think there's a dangeroustendency for us to go on
permanent coasting and vacationin this church culture.
(02:42):
We go to worship, we weparticipate in the normal
Christian life, we do what thenormal Christian does, all the
while.
The primary responsibility forwhich we have been saved, we
leave over to the side.
You think about it in light ofthose three elements that we
have seen, two, the one thatwe're going to see this morning,
sharing the word, showing theword, teaching the word.
These are elements of theChristian life that somewhere
(03:02):
along the way we've gotten theidea that they are relegated to
just a few people to do.
They are responsible for that.
Sharing the word, that's thepreacher's job.
He's the one who preaches thegospel, leads them to Christ,
that's his job.
He does that.
Or maybe it's the job of thecouple people in the church that
are really outgoing and who likethat sort of thing, but the rest
of us, that's not for us.
Showing the word, you mean I amsupposed to have the
(03:25):
responsibility to show theholiness and the majesty and the
greatness and the mercy and thecompassion and the patience and
the kindness of God.
Dave, don't you realize I'm justa work in progress?
I can't do that.
And then teaching the word,well, that's relegated to those
who lead the Bible studies andlead the small groups.
Those are the good teachers.
So we relegate these things tocertain Christians.
(03:47):
What we're saying in this seriesis that kind of mindset is
self-centered, consumer-driven,vacational Christianity.
And it ignores the very purposefor which we've been saved and
the mission that Christ hasgiven us, the primary
responsibility he's given us.
What we're saying in this seriesis that God has given each of us
in this room as his disciples,he's given each of us people who
(04:09):
we can share the word with andshow the word to.
And today we're gonna say teachthe word to.
And what we're saying in thisseries is we're gonna stop
farming this responsibility outto the super mega Christian that
really doesn't exist.
And we're gonna stop farmingthis responsibility out even to
the church as an institution.
And we're gonna rise up asindividuals in this faith
family, and we're gonna takeresponsibility for the primary
(04:30):
commandment Christ has given tous before he left the earth.
And in the process of doingthat, we are going to impact
this community for the glory ofChrist.
And we're gonna impact the cityfor the glory of Christ.
And by his word, based on hisword, we're gonna impact nations
for the glory of Christ when weget serious about giving
ourselves to making disciples.
So that's what this is about,not vacational Christianity.
(04:52):
This whole series is about usrising up and taking
responsibility for what Christhas given us.
God rid us of vacationalChristianity.
Now, we're gonna talk aboutteaching the word this morning.
And I've got to say from thevery beginning, in our mindset,
whenever you hear me mentionteach the word, whenever we see
teaching the word mentioned herein John 17, we've got to keep
(05:13):
our minds from thinking ofteaching in just classroom style
settings or lecture formats.
When you think of a teacher, youthink about a setting like this,
or a setting even in a smallerroom with one person standing in
front of the others teaching theword.
But what we're gonna see inJesus' life is that was not his
primary teaching method.
We're talking about the kind ofteaching in the Christian life
(05:34):
that is for all of us asdisciples of Christ, not just a
few people in the church.
So get the lecture, classroomtype teaching, get that model
kind of out of your mindwhenever you hear the word, the
us talk about teaching the word.
So with that said, let's divein.
John chapter 17.
We'll pick up in verse 13.
We have been studying over thelast couple weeks, verse 6
(05:55):
through 12.
I want us to pick up in verse 13and see what Jesus prays for his
disciples.
He says, Father, I'm coming toyou now, but I say these things
while I am still in the world,so that they may have the full
measure of my joy within them.
I have given them your word, andthe world has hated them, for
they are not of the world anymore than I am of the world.
(06:16):
My prayer is not that you takethem out of the world, but that
you protect them from the evilone.
They are not of the world, evenas I am not of it.
Sanctify them by the truth.
Your word is truth.
Now, how do you how do we teachthe word to the people God has
given to us?
I want us to see this on a fewdifferent levels.
I want us to see it overall andthe main thrust that we're
(06:37):
seeing there as it was reflectedin the ministry of Christ.
Then I want us to narrow it inand see a few things in these
specific verses, and then I wantthat to lead us into okay, how
does this look?
And you and I making disciplesof all nations.
So let's start with the first,kind of a broad overview, but a
picture of what Jesus iscommunicating here.
How do we teach the word thoseto those God has given to us?
First of all, we value the wordas God's gift to us.
(07:02):
We value the word as God's gift.
Now, this is a theme that wehave seen repeated at different
times in John 17.
It says it there in verse 14, wejust read.
Jesus says, I've given them yourword.
In other words, the word thatyou gave me.
It's the same thing we saw up inverse 8.
He said, I gave them the wordsyou gave me.
We're seeing this thing over andover again that the Father gives
(07:26):
to Jesus, and Jesus gives to thedisciples.
The focus here is on the factthat he has given them his word.
The Father's word has come toJesus, and he has given it to
his disciples.
And the disciples knew whereJesus' words came from.
They knew with certainty.
It says earlier, they believed,they obeyed your word, they
believed that those words camefrom you.
They knew the author of thosewords, the originator of those
(07:48):
words.
They knew that these words werea gift from the Father.
Over and over again, these guysand their walks with Jesus on
this earth were saturated withwords from the Father.
There's at least 66 differenttimes in the Gospels alone where
Jesus, these are the only theones we have recorded, where
Jesus directly quotes from theOld Testament and shares the
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Father's Word.
What does this mean for us?
That's in addition, over ahundred allusions to the Old
Testament and conversations withothers.
These guys were saturated withthe word over and over again.
It was a gift that was given tothem.
Now I want us to think aboutthis on a couple of different
levels.
First of all, when they receivedGod's word and valued it, they
knew that this was revelationfrom the Father, God revealing
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Himself.
And so the first thing we needto realize is that God has
revealed His will to us.
That's the picture that we'reseeing all throughout Jesus'
life and ministry with thesedisciples.
That He was revealing theFather's will to them.
That they were in almost likethey were in on a secret.
The revelation is at the heartof this thing.
This is not just some naturalpossession.
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This is just like if you werewearing a mask and you took off
the mask, you would reveal whoyou really are.
The word that Jesus gave, theword we have in front of us, is
God taking off the mask,revealing himself to us.
You want to know how I think,you want to know how I work, you
want to know who I am, you wantto know how I work in your life.
This is my revelation to you.
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And that's a divine thing.
We see that all throughout theGospels because Jesus would
often talk, he would speak, hewould teach, and there were
crowds of people that had noclue what he meant.
Obviously, we know that Jesuswas a master teacher, a master
communicator.
But sometimes we have thisglorified image of how the
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people may have responded.
You know all those parables thathe shares in the Gospels?
That sometimes are kind ofweird, kind of hard to
understand.
We've got this image of peoplejust sitting back hearing a
parable and giving him a nicegolf clap.
Wow, that was that was that wasincredible.
That that's not the picture thatwe see.
You don't have to turn there.
Just imagine, you're in thecrowd.
Listen to this.
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It's a parable from Mark 4.
Listen to this.
You're in the crowd, and Jesussaid, A man scatters seed on the
ground, night and day, whetherhe sleeps or gets up, the seed
sprouts and grows.
Though he does not know how, allby itself the soil produces
grain.
First the stalk, then the head,then the full kernel in the
head.
As soon as the grain is ripe, heputs the sickle to it because
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the harvest has come.
Oh, wow.
Did you hear that?
Wow.
No, they didn't understand that.
These people had had had no cluemany times what Jesus was
saying.
That's why Jesus, what did hedo?
Over and over again in theGospels.
He's he'd look at his disciples.
They've got blank looks on theirfaces.
They're clueless.
He'd pull them aside and he'dsay, Okay, you guys are
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wondering what in the world Ijust said.
Here, here, let me let you in onthis.
Parable of the sower.
He shares the parable.
He spends three months, threetimes as much time explaining
the parable to these guys thathe did give them the parable.
These guys were let in.
And the revelation from theFather, this is the Father's
will for you.
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They were not left to wanderaround in a fog, wondering what
the Father had said, what Jesuswas saying.
He was giving them his words,revealing his will to us.
And I want us to think aboutthat.
In light of fast-forwarding2,000 years to today, one of the
most common questions in thechurch, most common questions
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that people ask in the church,is often, well, how do I know
God's will for my life?
What is God's will for my life?
Almost like we're wanderingaround in a fog thinking, God,
if you just show me your will,I'd do it, but I don't know how
to know your will.
You ever wondered that?
If you have, I want to free youup this morning.
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The majority of God's will forour lives has already been
revealed to us.
It is right here in His Word.
He has given it to us.
We are not in a fog.
We have 66 books that we knoware the revealed will of God.
I'm convinced that 95% of God'swill for our lives has already
been revealed to us, it's righthere.
Now, obviously, this bookdoesn't tell us exactly what
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career decision to make, doesn'ttell us exactly what family
decision to make with this issueor that circumstance.
However, I'm convinced that ifwe would give ourselves to the
95% that God has revealed to us,maybe, just maybe, he'd be
faithful to show us the 5% thatwe don't know yet.
He has revealed his will to us.
We don't have to wander aroundin a fog.
Isn't it ironic?
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That's one of the most commonquestions we ask in the church
today, while all the while weare giving nominal adherence to
the Great Commission to makedisciples of all nations.
He has said, This is my will,and we've ignored that.
And the most common question weask is, What is your will for my
life?
It doesn't add up.
What's his will for our lives?
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Ladies and gentlemen, we live inthe most wealthy county in
Alabama.
His will for our lives is tosacrifice our resources for the
poor and the needy.
That is his will, guaranteed.
We don't have to ask.
It's there.
We have to stop ignoring hiswill.
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And our lives, men, we don'thave to ask.
What his will for our lives is,his will is for us to outserve
our wives, to love them in sucha way, just like Christ loved
the church and gave himself upfor her.
We are supposed to do the samething.
That's his will for our lives.
Give ourselves to it.
The Jiang people group in thenorthern provinces of China.
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595,000 of them, hundreds andhundreds of mosques.
Not one church, not oneChristian, not one missionary,
no gospel, no witness, no Jesus.
And we're sitting over heresaying, What do you want me to
do, God?
Give yourselves to the will thatI have shown to you.
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I have revealed my will to you.
I wonder sometimes, particularlyover the last couple of years,
I've really wrestled with this.
Traveling into underground housechurch settings in Asia, seeing
believers gather together atsmall rooms for literally 12
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hours a day, sitting on littlestools like we have in our
preschool classrooms, sitting onthose little stools.
If you get there early enoughand you get a seat, you get a
stool, and you sit there for 12hours studying the word.
Why are they so hungry, riskingtheir lives to do that?
Why are they so hungry that whenyou go to their worship service,
they look at you and they say,We want you to preach.
No short sermons, we want atleast two hours in the Word
tonight.
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Why is there such a hunger?
As I wrestle with that, I can'thelp but think as I look around
those rooms and I see people whohave been delivered out of an
atheistic philosophy that hasleft them to live their life on
their own.
Many of them animistic witchdoctors in these villages, very
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prevalent because everybody'sconcerned with how we can be
okay before the spirits andbefore the gods, so many
superstitions.
And they come into the knowledgeof the one and only true God who
has revealed his word to them.
They long for it.
It means something to them.
They realize this is therevelation of God to us.
He's revealed his will to us.
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That's good news.
Not only has he revealed hiswill to us, but think about it
this value in God's word is agift, like this, value in God's
word is a gift.
He has entrusted his truth tous.
Now, in this passage, what wesee is Jesus saying, I give him
your word, then he says, Yourword is truth.
And this is a theme we seethroughout the book of John.
Twenty-five different times Johnuses truth, refers to truth, the
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mouth of Jesus and other places.
This is a theme that's over andover again repeated, and his
word is constantly equated withtruth.
Remember John 8.32, you willknow the truth, and the truth
will set you free.
That whole passage is framed inthe fact that his word is truth,
equating his word with truth.
And so what he says to theseguys is I've given them your
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words, Father.
I have given them your truth.
I've entrusted it to them.
The implications for disciplemaking are huge.
Jesus is saying here, don't missit, that all the truth you have
entrusted to me, I haveperfectly and completely passed
on to them.
I've not added to it, I've nottaken away from it.
I haven't said, you know,Father, you should have added a
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few things here.
Let me let me give us more helpto make sure they get it.
No, he said, all the truthyou've given to me, I've given
them your word.
And that's exactly what disciplemaking is about.
It's about us saying, folks, wehave been entrusted with truth,
with the very words of AlmightyGod.
And we're going to rise up andbe a people who preserve that
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truth and multiply that truth tothe generations that come behind
us.
It is not going to stop with us.
And it's not going to be thisperson's job or that person's
job or the institutionalchurch's job.
It's going to be my job to makesure that truth is passed down,
just as Jesus did that inothers' lives.
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I know there's some of you who,if we've been taught, as we've
been talking about disciplemaking, you've been a little
uncomfortable.
What do you mean, I'm supposedto make disciples?
I'm supposed to have disciples,people that God has given to me.
Some of you are, there's a rubthere.
It sounds kind of arrogant, alittle self-centered.
This is where we realize thiswhole disciple-making process,
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ladies and gentlemen, does notrevolve around you passing on
your opinions and yourexperiences and all your
thoughts on a variety of issues.
This whole thing calleddisciple-making revolves around
you passing around, passing onthe word of God, his truth, to
those who come behind you, tothe people that are around you.
And that is not arrogant.
The height of arrogance is tofill our conversations day in
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and day out with talk aboutbusiness and sports and Oprah
and the latest gossip.
That is arrogance, meaninglessconversation, and that will lead
to us making disciples of us.
God help us to put this word atthe center of our community, at
the center of our lives in sucha way that it flows from us.
We don't make disciples based onour experience and our opinions
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and our thoughts and oursoapboxes.
We make disciples based on theword of God.
You've heard us talk about this,even as a faith family here at
Brook Hills.
You hear over and over again theword is at the center of what we
do.
And folks, if we're gonna err onone side, we're gonna err on the
side of faithfully preservingand communicating and
multiplying this truth.
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Because if we don't, where willwe leave the people who come
behind us?
With our thoughts and ouropinions?
The word is the center of ourcommunity, it's the center of
this mission.
We have been given a greattrust.
God make us faithful with it.
So we value God's word as agift.
This is the starting point.
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Now I want us to dive inspecifically these three verses
and see some of the effects ofGod's word.
First of all, we value God'sword as a gift.
Second, we experience theeffects of God's word.
And I want you to see one effectin verse 13, one effect in verse
14, and another effect in verse15 through 17.
Look at verse 13.
It says, I am coming to you now,but I say these things, I give
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you these words, I thinkreferring mainly to what he's
just said ever since John 14,all the way to John 17 here.
I say these things while I amstill in the world, so that they
may have the full measure of myjoy within them.
First effect of God's word isthat it satisfies us in the
world.
We're seeing Jesus talk aboutthe disciples compared with the
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world, and he says, I have saidthese things so that my joy
would be in them, so that mysatisfaction would be theirs.
This is really interesting.
In the verse or two before verse13, it's kind of a bleak picture
talking about how Judas wasdoomed to destruction, talking
about how they were going to bein a world of evil.
Then you get to verse 14, itsays the world's gonna hate
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them.
We'll talk about that in asecond.
But in verse 13, you've got thislight, kind of like a
mountaintop, a tip of theiceberg at the top, with
darkness surrounding on bothsides.
What you've got is a picture.
It's a great picture of theword, of joy.
No matter what the world says,no matter what the world brings,
I say these things that theymight have my joy within them.
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He had emphasized this back inJohn 15.
He said, Remain in me, and letmy words remain in you, and you
will have my joy, and it will becomplete in you, he said.
What we've got is a picture hereof the fact that the disciples'
joy would not have to bedependent on the sinful
pleasures of the world.
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The disciples' joy would bebased completely on the inward
spiritual resources that arefound in God's word.
And that's good news for us.
I was talking with a lady when Iwas flying to Oklahoma this past
week.
And she was she was talkingabout some of the ups and downs
that she has had recently in herlife.
She talks about, she talked toldme about how she had a new job.
She said, I think this is gonnabe the answer.
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I think this is gonna be the jobthat's gonna make everything
right for me and my family.
I looked at her and I said, I'mexcited about your job with you,
and I think that's a greatthing.
But what happens when somethingfalls apart there?
I was able to share with herthere is a rock in Christ who
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supersedes any circumstance orjob that may come her way.
Isn't that good news for us?
Isn't it good to know that thisweek, no matter what happens,
that you and I don't know what'sgonna happen this week.
Isn't it good to know that nomatter what happens, the inward
spiritual resources of God'sword will be our sustenance,
will be our joy.
It's why it says man does notlive on bread alone, but on
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what?
Every word that comes from themouth of God.
This is our feast.
This is better than a dreamlandbarbecue feast.
This is this is our sustenance.
We live on this.
And when confusion hits, whenanxiety hits, when we don't know
what's gonna happen next, theword satisfies us in the world.
It's good.
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The word is good.
So that's one effect.
It satisfies this world, givesus joy.
Second effect, the wordseparates us from the world.
The word separates us from theworld.
Now I want you to see thisunfold in a very interesting
way.
In verse 14, Jesus says, I havegiven them your word, and the
world has hated them, for theyare not of the world any more
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than I am of the world.
Basically, what Jesus is sayinghere, and in the original
language of the New Testament,it's pretty clear.
I gave them your word, thereforethe world has hated them, just
like they hate me.
And he emphasized this in John15.8 all the way to 16.4.
He talked over and over againabout how they would be set
against the world, separatedfrom the world, how the world,
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and that's a strong term, but hesays it pretty clearly, the
world would hate them.
This is another one of thosethemes that we see all
throughout the book of John.
Most often when John refers tothe world, whether it's in the
mouth of Jesus or someone else,it is referring to the world in
rebellion against God, andrebellion against God's truth.
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You say, What do you mean?
I thought John 3.16, we knowthat.
God so loved the world.
Exactly.
That's the beauty of that wholeverse.
This is a picture of the worldin rebellion against God,
rebellion against the Father andHis Word, and the God of the
universe has so poured out hisgrace on the world that he gave
his one and only Son, thatwhoever believes in him would
never perish, but have eternallife.
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The meaning of John 3.16 isheightened there.
That's what the world is.
Picture of deception.
Even way back in the verybeginning to the introduction of
Jesus, John chapter 1, talksabout how he was life, he
brought life and light.
Talked about how the world wouldreject that light.
Obviously, that's the picturethat leads up to the
crucifixion, what's about tohappen in John, or rejection of
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the light.
So what you've got is a picturehere.
Jesus saying, I've given them myword.
And it's almost like if youcould imagine you have a
kingdom, and you've got thekingdom now full of rebels who
are against the king.
And Jesus calls out these men,and they are loyal subjects of
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the king.
Now, if you've got a kingdomfull of rebels against the king,
and you've got some loyalsubjects of the king, you don't
have a lot of parties happeningbetween the two.
In fact, you have the rebelswanting nothing to do with those
loyal subjects, ignoring them,turning off everything they
said.
That's the picture here.
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I'm not trying to paint itbleaker than it is.
That is the picture that we'reseeing here in John chapter 17.
And in the end of the story,don't forget, it is the loyal
subjects of the king who givetheir lives for those who
rebelled against the kingdom.
And I want us to fast forward toour lives today.
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No question that we live in aculture, and it's not new, a
culture that rejects truth.
We live in a culture whererelativism is the cry of our
day.
What is true for you, okay, butit's not true for me.
There is no truth.
If you claim to have truth, thenyou are arrogant, you're
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narrow-minded, you'reclosed-minded.
And I wish I could give you morecomforting words this morning,
but if we're gonna cling to thistruth, it will separate us from
the world.
The disciples took this truthinto their culture, penetrated
the culture with this truth, andturned the world upside down.
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It has power, it will bear fruitwhen when you stand with this
truth, proclaim truth withcompassion, and let the truth do
the work.
That's what he's showing ushere.
Now we'll dive into this in themonths ahead.
This is one of the issues thatis really close to my heart and
studies how we can mosteffectively proclaim truth in
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our culture today.
Suffice to say at this pointthat we cannot shirk back from
this responsibility.
We have the truth of Christentrusted to us, and we will not
be silent with the truth,because the truth gives life,
eternal life.
So just know the word satisfiesus in the world, but it also
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separates us from the world.
Third, the word sanctifies us inthe world.
The word sanctifies us in theworld.
Now that's what we see reallyclearly in verse 17.
Sanctify them by the truth.
Your word is truth.
Some of you are thinking, well,what does sanctify mean?
Well, it basically means to setapart or dedicate to a
particular purpose, consecratemainly to God, to showing his
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character, set them apart, makethem holy.
Now we're going to talk nextweek more about what this whole
sanctification thing looks like.
And I hope begin to see our viewof sanctification transformed a
little bit.
But instead of focusing thismorning on the meaning of
sanctification, I want us tocamp out on the means of
sanctification, which is theword.
He said, This whole thing,sanctify, it happens by your
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word.
It is the fuel that makes usholy.
It is the fuel that keeps us inthe character of God.
It's exactly what Jesus ispraying for here.
He says, keep them in yourcharacter.
Protect them in your characterby your word.
The word is the fuel that makesbeing a disciple of Christ, it
makes disciple making possible.
In fact, it's what he said backup in verse 15.
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He says, My prayer is not thatyou take them out of the world,
but that you protect them fromwho?
From the evil one.
How do you protect them from theevil one?
By your truth.
And your word is truth.
You protect yourself from theadversary through the word.
And the disciples had seen thismodeled.
Remember back in Matthew chapter4, verse 1 to 11?
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Jesus was tempted three times,face to face with the evil one,
with the devil.
He's tempted three times.
Every single time he's tempted,he says the exact same thing in
response.
What does he say?
He says, It is written.
And then he quotes from the OldTestament.
It is written.
He quotes from the OldTestament.
Now, here's the question.
Think about it with me.
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Jesus is tempted three times.
Each time he says, It iswritten, quotes from the Old
Testament.
Do you think that in thosecircumstances, those
temptations, he had to quoteScripture in order to ward off
that temptation?
Do you think it was necessaryfor him to quote Scripture?
I don't think it was.
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I think Jesus was the kind ofguy who could say anything at
that point.
And it would become scripture.
He had that kind of power.
He says anything, and we've gotred letters written in our
Bible, just like that.
He was that good.
He could say anything at thatpoint, it would become
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scripture.
Did he have to quote scripture?
No.
I think Jesus is setting anexample there for us.
That in order to be pure, inorder to show the character of
God, in order to do thisdisciple-making thing, the word
must be at the center of yourlife.
It is the tool, the means bywhich you are sanctified.
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And it makes sense.
And our struggles, all of us inthis room, that have we all have
struggles with certain sins,certain temptation.
If we try to fight thosestruggles, come face to face
with the evil one, with theadversary, and try to fight
those temptations apart from theword, then we will fall flat on
our face.
Guaranteed.
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Try to do this thing on our own,in our flesh.
We need the word to give ussanctification.
Just like Jesus, to be able tohave that word hidden in our
hearts, in our minds, that whenwe face temptation to gossip and
to begin to talk about others inthis community, in this church,
in a way that you know doesn'thonor Christ, to have in your
mind automatically, wait aminute, I'm not supposed to say.
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Anything that is not useful forbuilding up others according to
their needs in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 4 29, hidden in yourheart, it will empower you in
that temptation, enable youthere.
You struggle with your with withyour with your tongue, with with
you just kind of say things thatyou always regret, and you find
yourself saying things, thingscome out of your mouth that you
know don't honor Christ.
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When you face those temptations,you're gonna be a lot worse off
if you don't know the word thanif you have the word hidden in
your heart, you're able to say,you know, James 3 says the
tongue is a world of evil amongthe parts of the body.
It corrupts the whole person,sets the whole course of his
life on fire, and is itself seton fire by hell.
Kinds of animals, birds,reptiles, and creatures of the
sea are being tamed in heaven,tamed by man.
But no man can tam the tongue asa rest of the seaful, full of
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tetanus poison.
With the tongue we praise ourLord and Father, and with it we
curse men who made in God'slikeness out of the same mouth
and praising, cursing mybrothers.
This should not be.
Now, are you gonna be better offif you know that?
No question you would be.
The word is the fuel that Godgives us.
Why did He say in Psalm 119?
How can the young man keep hisway pure by living according to
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your word?
Two verses later, I've hiddenyour word in my heart that I
might not do what?
Sin against you.
This is the fuel that we have inbecoming fully devoted followers
of Christ.
And in showing Christ andteaching Christ, if we try to do
it apart from the word, we willfail miserably.
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We are foolish to think that wecan live this Christian life and
accomplish this mission apartfrom his word.
His truth sanctifies us in theworld.
We need his word.
You will not get sanctificationfrom TV and DVDs and internet.
You will not get sanctificationfrom all those things.
You will find sanctification inthe word.
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We've got how.
So we value his word as gift andwe experience those effects.
Now that mainly deals with howwe follow Christ as disciples of
Christ.
We value his word.
We're seeing the example ofJesus here.
But how does this look now, notjust in my life, but in others'
lives?
That's what disciple making isabout, right?
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Not just living my Christianlife for me anymore.
I'm living for the sake ofothers.
So, how do we teach the word?
It's been given to us.
We value it, we experience itseffects, and then third, we
reproduce God's word for thesalvation of others.
We reproduce God's word for thesalvation of others.
Now here's where it gets reallygood.
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All throughout this chapter,three times mainly, we have seen
the word referred to asbelonging to God.
It comes from Him.
You look in verse 8, it says, Igave them the words you gave me.
In verse 14, which we just read,I have given them your word.
Verse 17, sanctify them by thetruth, your word is truth.
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Over and over again, we'reseeing this picture of the word
coming from God.
But then look what happens.
Check this out in verse 20.
He says, My prayer is not forthem alone, not for the
disciples alone.
I also pray for those who willbelieve in me through your
message?
Your word?
No, it says their word.
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Their message.
There's a shift here.
Don't miss it.
Over and over again, Jesus says,I have given your word to them.
And now he says, There's goingto be who people who believe,
who trust in me through theirword that comes from me, that
comes from you.
Are you seeing the succeedinggenerations of disciples that
are being pictured here in John17?
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The Father gives the word toJesus.
Jesus imparts the word to thesedisciples exactly as he had been
given it.
And then what do these disciplesdo?
They lead others to accept theword, to believe the word, to
trust the word, to obey theword.
Romans 10, 17, faith comes byhearing and hearing by the word
of God.
This is the most incredibleprivilege we have to take the
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words of the living God andbegin to pour them into others.
To begin to take what Christ hasentrusted to us and not just
receive it from Him, but toreproduce it through us.
We listen in order to teach theWord.
These disciples knew that whenthey received these words,
accepted these words, obeyedthese words from Christ, they
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had a responsibility to pour itinto others.
They were not just receiving it,they were reproducing it.
So we listen in order to teachthe word.
I want us to think about whatthat looks like.
Let me give you twoillustrations.
Journey with me first to theSudan.
You walk into a mud hut, there'schurch leaders that are sitting
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around, automatically they standup out of respect for the one
who's about to teach them theword.
You sing a song and then you sitdown.
We began to teach disciplemaking from the word.
As we're teaching disciplemaking, the whole time I'm
teaching, I hardly ever seetheir faces.
Because they were sleeping, orbecause they had stayed up late
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in their mud hut the nightbefore.
Because they were daydreaming.
No.
Never see their faces becausethey're writing down every
single thing you say.
And they come up to youafterwards and they say,
Teacher, we believe that we havea responsibility to take
(35:24):
everything you have taught us,translate it into our tribe's
language, and teach it in ourtribes.
When they listened, they werelistening to reproduce, to teach
the word.
Journey with me to Honduras.
First sermon I preached, Iremember in Honduras, there's
guys sitting on the front row.
(35:45):
They are feverishly writing downevery single thing I said.
Afterwards, they come up to meand they said, David, that was a
great sermon.
We can't wait to reteach that tosomeone else.
I thought, man, it must havebeen good.
Until I realized they said thatto everybody who taught them the
word.
They realized that the wordgiven to them was not for them,
(36:05):
it was for the sake of others.
I want you to think about howthat changes the way we listen.
Because it is very easy for usto come in this room.
Well, we could tune out, or wecould even come in order to
receive.
Okay, I want to learn from theWord today.
I want to walk away saying, I'velearned something new today,
(36:25):
I've got something new today,but I want to remind you that is
a self-centered way to listenthis morning.
Because you're listening foryour sake.
And nowhere in Scripture are youtold to listen and to receive
from Christ for your sake.
Over and over again, we weretold to receive from Christ for
others' sake, to pour his wordsinto them, to show his glory to
(36:46):
others.
Now we're listening in aGod-centered way.
You realize how this flies inthe face of how we listen and
how we operate?
How many times have we said orhave we thought or heard someone
else say, Well, you know, I'mnot at a point right now where I
can I can teach.
(37:07):
So I just need I'm at a pointwhere I need to receive, I need
to grow, I need to learn.
That is ridiculous logic.
It is absurd.
Say, what do you mean?
I said that yesterday.
What do you mean?
Think about it with me.
After our time today in God'sWord, studying this passage of
(37:29):
scripture, who in this roomwould be best equipped to go and
reteach this, reproduce this insomebody else's life?
I would.
Why is that?
Well, because I I know thisstuff better than all you guys.
Because I spent the timestudying this in order to be
(37:50):
able to teach it.
So it's ridiculous to thinkthat, well, I'm just gonna learn
and receive and not teach.
Ladies and gentlemen, those whoteach are those who receive and
learn the most.
Does that make sense?
So could it be that ourknowledge of the word will
stagnate?
We will only go so far in ourknowledge of the word if all
we're gonna do is receive in ourChristian lives.
(38:12):
We are destined to live a lifein the word right here.
However, when we rise up andbegin to take responsibility for
making disciples of all nations,teaching the word, then now
we've got to know the word.
Now we've got to go to newdepths because other people are
now dependent on us to hear theword from us.
And we grow to new heights ashis disciples as we make
disciples.
Does that make sense?
(38:32):
We listen in order to teach theword.
This changes the way we listen.
And it yanks us out ofself-centered Christianity and
thrusts us into God-centered,other-centered Christianity
because we now are not justlistening for us, we're
listening for others.
That is what disciple making isabout.
(38:53):
Think about it.
What if this faith family, the2,000 people represented even in
just this service alone, were totake the word that we study on a
Sunday-by-Sunday basis, and youwere to translate it into your
sphere of influence?
Sure, you don't have a tribe,but you do have a people that I
(39:14):
will never meet.
You do have a people that youcan communicate more effectively
to than I ever could.
What happens when the word, theseeds of the word that are
thrown out all over this roomthis morning, now begin to be
reproduced at other places inthis community?
Now the word is filling thiscommunity.
And it promises Isaiah 55.
It will bear fruit.
(39:35):
It will sprout.
It will grow.
The question is, is it gonnastop with us?
Is it gonna be confined to whatgoes on in this church building?
God, may it not be so.
May the word infiltrate thiscommunity.
We listen in order to teach theword.
Now tie this together what we'vetalked about in the last two
weeks.
We listen in order to teach theword, and then second, we look
for opportunities to share theword.
(39:56):
Some of you are thinking, well,Dave, I'm not gonna go preach a
sermon to somebody this week.
Not going into work and saying,if you have your Bibles, and I
hope you do, and pulling themout this teaching guide, follow
along with it with me.
No, I'm not expecting you to dothat.
Only the Word does.
It wasn't Jesus' primaryteaching method.
(40:16):
Don't miss it.
You don't have to go preach thesermon, or you don't have to
have lead a small group of Biblestudy.
That may be one option.
But what if, what if God reallydoes have this thing rigged?
And what if he is divinely goingto bring people in your path
this week?
(40:38):
Your home, your neighborhood,your workplace, your school.
What if he is going to bringpeople in your path this week
that he wants to hear his word?
That he has been teaching you,whether it's here in this room,
whether it's in a small group,whether it's in your personal
Bible study, that he wants toteach them, not through me, but
(41:00):
ladies and gentlemen, throughyou.
And you start to open your eyesand say, God, how can I share
your word today?
How can I take what you havetaught me and begin to pour it
into others?
You see how the seeds of theword are now multiplying as
opposed to being confined towhat happens in an hour and a
(41:22):
half on a Sunday morning in thisroom?
We look for opportunities toshare the word.
And then third, tied in withwhat we talked about last week,
we live in a way that shows theword.
We live in a way that shows theword.
Don't forget the wholefoundation here is the word
(41:44):
being made flesh, incarnation,the word in action, the word in
a picture in Jesus.
That when he teaches, he says, Iam the way and I am the what?
Truth.
I am the word.
See the word in me.
This is good news.
(42:05):
Isn't it comforting to know thatJesus did all that he did in his
teaching, all the Father's work,and he had no PowerPoint
capabilities whatsoever?
I know we find that hard tobelieve, but he didn't.
He had no fancy graphics, he hadno teaching outlines.
(42:28):
His life was his very method.
His life necessitated histeaching.
All the disciples had, notPowerPoint presentations, fancy
graphics or teaching outlines,all the disciples had was a
teacher with them who modeledbefore them what he wanted them
to learn.
His life was his method.
(42:48):
And the word infused hisrelationships with them, infused
his life with them.
That's the picture we're goingfor.
What happens when instead ofinfusing our relationships at
work, at school, at home, in ourneighborhood, instead of
infusing those relationshipswith our opinions, our thoughts,
talk about business, sports,opera, and the latest gossip,
(43:09):
instead of infusing it withthat, what happens when the word
of life begins to infuse thoseconversations?
What good are we to the peoplearound us this week if we have
the word of life and all we talkabout is the trivial matters
that so infuse all of ourconversations on a week-by-week
basis?
What good are we?
(43:32):
We're not that good.
His word is that good.
So listen to the word.
Here, small groups, on your own.
Listen to the word in order toreteach it, in order to pour it
into others.
Then look for opportunities toshare that with other people.
And then, in the middle of itall, live in such a way that
(43:54):
people see the word being playedout.
This is disciple making at work.
It's not just the responsibilityof the preacher or the Bible
study teacher.
It is the responsibility ofdisciples of Christ to teach the
word of Christ.
So, where does that leave us?
(44:14):
How does that look in our lives?
I want to ask you somequestions, just like we've asked
the last couple of weeks.
First of all, who can you teachthe word to?
Who is God given in your lifethat you can teach the word to?
In your home?
Obviously, where that starts andthe relationships that are
closest to us, but not justthere.
(44:37):
We don't want to confine theword to the homes that are
represented in this building.
I want to take the word into thecommunity.
Who has God given you in yourlife?
Not that you can preach a sermonto, but that you can take what
Christ is doing through his wordand begin to let it flow through
you.
Second question, how can youteach them the word?
(44:58):
Now that's where some of us arestill fuzzy, and I want to draw
your attention to a resourcethat we've had for a little
while.
Um, never made public that Imean in a setting like this that
it was available, but we've madea bunch of copies and put them
on the tables out there.
What it is, it's a reteachingguide.
An effort to say, okay, how canwe best take the word that we
(45:19):
receive and reproduce it?
What we put together was just,okay, whether it's Sunday
sermon, whether it's Bible studythat we're involved in, how can
we not let the word stop withus?
What this is is just aday-by-day, step-by-step guide
of how this word can, the wordthat we study, can infiltrate
our lives and flow out of ourlives so that we begin to be
(45:42):
aware of the fact that whetherit is our kids or our spouse,
whether it's our co-worker,whether it's school classmate,
whether it's the lady at Walmartthat thinks I'm too young to be
a pastor, whoever it is, we'relooking for the fact that God is
maybe working and using us tomultiply his word.
(46:04):
So that's what this is.
These are available in the back.
You don't have to take one, butI would encourage you if you
want to begin to explore thisdeeper, which I hope you do,
then those are available in theback when you leave.
So how can I sh how can I teachthem the word?
Intentionally.
This is not something that justhappens accidentally.
This is intentionally.
Disciple making is not somethingwe're gonna accidentally do,
(46:25):
it's something we're gonnaintentionally give ourselves to.
And really, the ultimatequestion we probably need to ask
is this will the word, will theword stop with me, or will the
word spread through me?
SPEAKER_00 (46:39):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of
David Platt Messages.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
radical.net.
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