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Few topics are as fundamental to the Christian walk as discipleship. The Great Commission is as old as the Gospel itself, yet it’s still as relevant today as it’s ever been.
For pastors, however, crafting sermons on discipleship presents an ongoing challenge. How do we breathe fresh life into this timeless subject so that it resonates with people in today's fast-paced world?
The creative endeavor to inspire, instruct, and ignite your congregation's passion for authentic discipleship requires innovation, wisdom from the Holy Spirit, and biblical insight.
That’s why we have curated 17 inspirational and powerful sermons on discipleship that are meant to help you promote spiritual growth, guide your congregation in living out their faith as modern-day disciples, and strengthen your church.
Let’s dive in!
1. Our Great Mission: Pastor Matt Chandler from the Village Church shares the relationship between Jesus’ Great Commandment (Matthew 22:33-40) and the Great Commission (Matt 28:16–20). Being a true follower of Jesus changes who we are as we grow in our faith. It causes our hearts to transform and become more like Jesus to the point where we naturally feel and share his love with others around us (Ezekiel 36:26–27).
“What are you filling your life with that’s stirring your affections for Jesus? What are you cutting out of your life that’s stealing that from you?” —Pastor Matt Chandler, Village Church
2. Common Omissions in the Great Commission: Pastor Curtis Solomon from Cornerstone Community Church preaches his message based on Matthew 18:16–20, the Great Commission, by focusing on several misconceptions that limit our understanding of what the goal of discipleship really is. Some of these misconceptions include:
“If we have narrowly focused our attention on going (thinking global missions) and baptizing (converting people to Christianity), and those two things have been the primary emphasis of the church, then we've missed the entire point of the Great commission.” —Pastor Curtis Solomon
3. The Heart of Discipleship: Dr. Robert Jeffress from First Baptist Church Dallas shares an important message on the essence of what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. He focuses on what God desires from each of us, what is a disciple, and the essence of discipleship. This is just one sermon in his sermon series entitled 7 Marks of a Disciple.
“The essence of discipleship is a changed life that comes from a transformed heart.” —Dr. Robert Jeffress
4. Discipleship Lifestyle in the Home: As part of their 19-part series entitled “Disciple Making: Everyone Everywhere,” Pastor Alton Schultz from Northview Bible Church describes what an everyday culture of discipleship looks like. The truth is that Christianity needs to be a way of life, not just a Sunday thing—and it’s not only for pastors and missionaries. This sermon focuses on the home and parents specifically.
Incisively, Pastor Schultz highlights 6 ways that parents destroy their children without trying:
5. 6 Practices of Being a Disciple: Pastor Don Cousins from Discovery Church Florida shares important biblical practices that help us and others grow as disciples. These include:
6. Disciple: Conquering Cultural Christianity: Pastor James Merritt from Cross Pointe Church returns to biblical basics with a challenging sermon about the cost of discipleship.
He shares several differences between cultural Christians and true disciples, and asks if we are willing to give up what we think is so important in our lives in order to follow Jesus as disciples.
Pastor Merritt goes on to make four key distinctions between cultural Christnas and true disciples:
“Jesus did not leave Heaven, come to earth, live, die, and come back from the grave to make Christians. He did it to make disciples.” —Pastor James Merritt
7. The Disciple: The Loving Disciple: Olly Knight from The City Church in Canterbury, UK, shares part 6 of their 11 part series on how to use your gifts to bless others out of sacrificial love. He shares Paul’s writings from 1 Corinthians 13:1–8 , explaining that without love as a motivating factor, a disciple’s work has no worth. Discipleship is about leaning harder into God, who is love himself.
Knowing God’s love gives us the ability to share God’s love with others. We can truly love others only as we learn to reflect Jesus’ love for us.
8. Authority from Christ: Pastor Chip Henderson from Pinelake Church challenges believers to re-evaluate their relationship with Jesus and live a Christian life in this last sermon of a four-part series on effective discipleship.
He explains that disciples living a Jesus-centered life should go to church, read the Bible, join a group, pray, get baptized, tithe, serve, and invite others. Pastor Chip also challenges us to rethink, rebuild, redefine what it means to be a disciple.
9. Authentic Disciples: In his 10-part short video series, Dr. Frank Parris from World Map shares several significant movements of God in the Church today. God’s main strategy to reach the world with the good news of Jesus Christ is his disciples. He also answers three crucial questions about what biblical discipleship is and how we as Christ-followers should respond.
10. Go and Make Disciples–Replication is the Mission: In the last sermon of his part of five-part series entitled This is Us: The Path of the Disciples, Dr. Terren L. Dames from North Dallas Community Bible Fellowship teaches that the process of discipleship should result in replication. Replication is the culmination of discipleship as believers help others in spiritual growth and in their development to become more like Jesus.
He shares five principles of discipleship that results in replication:
11. Discipleship & My Decisions: Dave Edwards, pastor of discipleship from Church Project, shares from Colossians 4:3–6 how Paul wrote from prison to the local church and demonstrated how we are supposed to react to difficult or even impossible circumstances.
He shares four mysteries of God that Paul understood and held onto in order to move forward for the gospel despite impossible circumstances:
“It's our connection to the circumstances in our lives that are grounds for our Christ-centered conversations. How you react to the circumstances in your life is what determines the impact that we have as witnesses.” —Dave Edwards, Church Project
12. Calling All Disciples: Pastor Terry Miller from Influencers OC shares a message from John 6:55–56, where Jesus encountered false disciples who only wanted to accept the teachings that made them feel comfortable. They found Jesus’ teachings to be too extreme or too exclusive.
Jesus calls his disciples to accept him on God’s terms rather than the world’s terms. When we follow Jesus, we give up control of what we believe, who gets to identify us, and what we choose to do with our lives.
“Holiness begins with separation—separation from the world in order to follow after the kingdom of heaven.” —Pastor Terry Miller
13. The Great Commission: With Matthew 28:16–20 as a guide, Pastor Jim Thomas from The Village Chapel in Nashville shares about what the Great Commission means to us, how it relates to our roles with God's mission in the world, and how our understanding of God's mission helps define who we are to be as God's people and Christ followers. He also shares his observations on why Christians are timid about sharing their faith.
14. Starting Point Digital Discipleship: Pastor Kevin Kringel from Calvary Orlando delivers a eight-part series on discipleship entitled Starting Point. In his first message, he walks believers through the fundamental concepts every believer should know before they become disciples, including salvation and reconciliation:
“To understand salvation, you must first understand that God loves you and didn't want to lose you. He made this whole world for us and refused to let us go when mankind sinned. Salvation is God's solution for our problem.” —Pastor Kevin Kringel (see John 3:16–17, Romans 10:9–13)
“Reconciliation means you have restored relationship. It's not just about being forgiven, you've been restored to a relationship with God, and now there's all this wonderful access you have to speak with him, for him to be involved in your life, for him to help you and assist you. You have permission to go to his throne of grace.” —Pastor Kevin Kringel (see 2 Corinthians 5:17–21)
15. Making Disciples Who Make Disciples: Pastor Jeremy Einem from Calvary Nexus shares what every believer’s calling is according to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16–20. He defines a Christian disciple as “a follower of Jesus who is growing to love God supremely, love neighbors as themselves, and makes other disciples who do likewise.” He also answers two important questions that believers have about Christian discipleship with practical steps:
1. How do we make disciples?
2. Where do we make disciples?
16. What is Discipling? In part one of an eight-video course on Fulfilling the Great Commission, Pastor Kyle Wetzler from Summit View Church teaches about the Great Commission given in Matthew 28. He explains how our calling to be disciples who make more disciples is not limited to pastors, evangelists, or missionaries. Rather, it’s an action that Jesus has called each Christian to fulfill.
In answer to the important question, “What is a disciple,” he answers:
“A disciple is both a learner and a follower; a disciple takes Jesus as his teacher and learns from him, and a disciple also follows Jesus. The life of a disciple is different because of his attachment to Jesus.” —Pastor Kyle Wetzler
17. Discipleship and Disciplers: Pastor Philip Bassham from Discovery Church shares the key components of true discipleship and how they aid in the development of disciples and disciplers.
God wants us to obey his commands to make disciples, not simply just be disciples. Discipleship is not a program or destination—it’s a lifelong process and it can be messy.
“Your church is only as good as its disciples.” —Pastor Philip Bassham
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