Focus Week 2 | Relational Discipleship

Beau Bradberry | Sunday, August 13th

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works" — Hebrews 10:24

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Host

Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

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Well, good morning.

I hope you have your Bibles with you and if you will join me in Acts chapter two where we're going to continue to look at it's going to be our base level, our foundational passage of Scripture each week as we go through this discipleship series together.

As you guys turn there, if you were not here last week, let me say a few disclaimers kind of heading into this.

Number one, if you are here this morning and you served in children's ministry last week, let me just say I'm sorry, all right?

The band went a little long.

I don't know what happened there.

We had like 20 announcements in the video.

I was brief.

I don't know what happened with everybody else.

It was Dave's fault.

All right, so no, we're grateful for you serving.

Both of my kids were in children's ministry last week, so they struggled well with you in there.

But we are in a series as we look at our discipleship series where we are looking at God's Word and we're kind of doing something.

Twofold, we don't do a lot of this, but we are taking this unique time where our church is positioned to do this.

So our Sunday morning messages are kind of twofold, we're looking at what the Bible teaches us as we do each and every week as we work through a passage of Scripture together.

But then we're also taking that and immediately showing how this connects to our vision of our church and what we're looking to do and kind of expand on that a little bit more as we're going to be doing some new and some different things starting September the 10th.

And so we're taking time each and every week to communicate that out and to share that.

And what I know is that sometimes as we communicate things, there are questions that come up and that arise and we love that.

And if at the end of this, if there's something that is unclear, if there's something that is uncertain for you, please don't think that you must have missed something.

We're going to err on the side that I did not communicate something as effectively as I needed to and it can help me learn some really good lessons.

And so if you have questions, please come and ask me, ask our staff, we would love to be able to answer those as we go forward.

And what we are doing now, what we are looking to build on and taking this shift in our discipleship strategy, in the discipleship process of our church, is we're going to be looking at doing something new with largely how Sunday mornings look in the life of our church.

And so last week I believe I ended with the schedule of what we're going to be starting on September 10.

And so this morning what I want to do is begin with that, okay?

And we'll talk about the schedule each and every week to kind of help implant that into our mind so that we will understand where we need to be, when we need to be, where and what we're going to be doing and accomplishing during that time, okay?

And so on all of this, we're staying normal as we can, as normal as Willow Ridge can be until Sunday, September the 10th.

And then when that day comes, that's where this shift or change is going to happen for us.

And so at 09:00 in the mornings, on Sundays, we're going to start what is called our discipleship hour and it's going to run from nine to 950.

And this is for kids, for youth and for adults, it's going to be a time that we can designate as a church when we realize that most of our church is already on their way.

They've set apart this day, they've set apart this time to gather together as a church family.

And so what we want to seek to accomplish during that is we've already got bodies moving, we've already got people who are ready, we've already got families and individuals who are engaged.

And so let's do the best that we can to maximize that time to do all that God wants us to do still while maintaining all of the other ministries and discipleship that happen on different nights and different days.

And so we want to continue to roll forward with that.

So we'll have our discipleship from nine to 950 that morning for our kids, for our youth and for our adults.

And so here's what this looks like for our youth.

They've taken a space up here to my right and attic space that they've turned into a wonderful room, a wonderful meeting space that they can hang out, that they can play games, that they can fellowship.

And Joel and his team will be meeting with students up there on Sunday mornings to dive further into the previous week's message.

And so we look forward to them continuing on with that.

Our kids ministry will meet in large group discipleship over in building Two.

Well, they'll have an opportunity in a large group setting to walk through the lesson of that day for all of the kids who were there and to build community in that large group setting.

And then what we are going to focus on for our adults during this time scattered in between Building Two and Building One are two different types of discipleship environments that we're looking to provide.

The first will be a relational discipleship environment for adults and we're going to talk about that, those specifically today.

And what do we mean by relational discipleship and theological discipleship environments as well.

And so you're going to have twofold of where you need to go to and what you need to do.

The question has already raised we've got classes and studies and environments before worship.

So we've got Sunday school, right?

And I grew up in the Sunday school model.

I love Sunday school.

Sunday school was used in a powerful way in my life.

And the answer to that question is, no, we're not having Sunday school.

Sunday school is oftentimes and there's nothing wrong with Sunday school, but largely dictated by you must go to this class based off of stage of life, based off of if you're married or not married, based off of your age, based off of life experiences.

And we've decided, no, we're not going to place individuals with where we feel like they need to be based off of set of circumstances.

But instead, we'll look at these toward the end of the message this morning.

We are going to allow you to choose and to decide where you would like to be for a set period of time so that you can walk through where you feel like you need to go in discipleship.

And so we're looking forward to that.

A couple of notes to kind of help us as we transition in this time.

Our classes end at 950, and that's really important that we're ending at 950.

We've communicated this to all of our facilitators, all of our leaders, and here's the reason why at 950, parents, what we need you to do during that time is to go and get your kids and come to what's next, which is our fellowship time.

Okay?

And two reasons.

It's not that we want to cut discipleship short.

It's not because we want to end a discussion.

It's not because we want to ruin your morning.

It's not because of any of those things right here's why we are doing this strategically because we are not a church with a lot of meeting spaces.

We just don't have them.

In fact, every room, once we start this on September 10, every room in our church will be used for at least two different groups to meet in those spaces.

And some of those spaces will be used for three different groups once our Hispanics come back later on in the morning and meet.

And so what we need to do is we need to have time to transition those rooms from our first hour to our second hour.

And it's going to be hard for us to do that with kids in the room.

The other thing that we need to do is we need to be able to transition our kids ministry volunteers from their discipleship time to what's coming next.

And so we need you to do that.

Parents, one other thing that we have for you, and this is my heart as a dad and my heart as a pastor, when they beautifully collide in being able to say things like this.

Parents, here's what I need for you to wrestle with, for you to listen to, and for you to embrace in your life, okay?

You are, for better or for worse, the strongest influencer in your child's life.

They watch you.

They may not obey you, but they're listening to you.

They're seeing is what mom and dad are selling.

Is it real?

Is it legit?

Does it mean something to them or should it just mean something to me?

And so here's what we don't need is you to drop them off at Discipleship at 09:00 A.m.

And then for you just to go, all right?

And logistically, all right, we're not at a spot, and we can't be at a spot where we have that many kids on Sunday morning with parents, not here if there is an emergency, if there was a sickness, if there was something, we need you here.

So that where we can get you and connect you with your kids.

So that's logistically, but spiritually, spiritually, your kids need to be discipled.

Spiritually, you need to be discipled.

And your kids need to see that discipleship and you growing in the relationship, your relationship with the Lord is important to you, so be important to them, all right?

Our staff will be a part of the Discipleship process.

Not just leading, but we'll be a part in our various ministry ways, and we will be engaged in this, and we want to encourage you to do that as well.

All right?

So we'll have discipleship from nine to 950.

Following discipleship, we'll have fellowship from 950 to 1015.

All right, that's that beautiful, wonderful, crazy time where we all get to come into here together, drink coffee, drink juice, drink water.

I just want to say it's just kind of I had my first cup of coffee at four years old.

Explains a lot, right?

All right.

My granddad would bring me over to his house.

I would spend most Friday nights with my grandparents.

And every Saturday morning, my grandfather would wake up, he would fix himself a nice big tall cup of coffee and he would fix one for me and sat it down in front of me.

I remember the first time he did this, I was like, I'm pretty sure this isn't okay, right?

But there is so much sugar and caffeine in this that I'm going to embrace it.

All right?

And so we're seeing kids around here drinking coffee.

I'm not giving them to him.

All right?

But if you as parents are doing that, that's between you and the Lord, right?

And so you all are doing that, but they're here.

We got snacks, just a wonderful, wonderful fellowship time that we can come together as a family.

I was sharing this.

I want to say this is just the number off the top of my head, but I believe we have six, seven, or eight different high schools represented within our student ministry.

So here's what this means for us as a body of believers.

It means that during our Monday through Saturday we are scattered around in a large area of our community.

Which means this for a lot of us, sunday morning is the only time we see each other, have the opportunity to talk to each other and have the opportunity to do what the Bible calls us to do in fellowship with one another.

And so this time from 950 to 915, it is not a buffer time for us.

When we started talking about as a staff of making this shift in our discipleship strategy, this was a non negotiable for us that this must stay here because we see the fruit of it in the life of our church.

All right?

And so we want all of us to be a part of that.

And then from 1015 to 1130, right, we will have our worship time.

And so that's kind of the scheduling change.

Instead of worship starting at ten, worship is going to start at 1015 and go till roughly 1130 ish as long as the band doesn't get long winded.

All right, kids, worship will continue over in building two.

You'll hear the cue from Don's voice at some point in time, right?

That it's now time where you can go and check your kids in.

So kids worship in there.

We'll continue to have our nursery and all the things that we continue to do and then we will gather in building one for our worship service together.

And this is for a point and for a reason.

This isn't because we needed something else to do.

This isn't because we wanted to add something to your schedule.

This isn't because we've bought into a new program that's been sold to us.

It's because we believe in a process and a strategy that we see in scripture.

And I'm going to ask that we throw the little discipleship circle that we have up on the screen and this is what we're working toward in the life of our church.

When you see that middle part of this circle and each week we'll explain a little bit more in what we mean by this.

But what I desire for my life is what I desire for your life.

It's what I desire for my wife, it's what I desire for my kids.

This is not a program.

This is what we see from scripture.

Fully engaged discipleship where you and I look and examine our lives under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and we're desiring to become more and more like Jesus.

And we look and what we see is that we find that there's relational discipleship which is what we're going to talk about today.

There's relational discipleship that is happening, there's theological discipleship that is taking place that'll be next week and there's missional discipleship that's taking place and that will be our last week of what we see.

And that in this, there's this full process that we're walking through and we're doing this together, and we're doing this like family, and we're becoming more and more and more like the followers of Christ that God desires for us to be.

We didn't find this at a seminar.

We didn't find this through a meeting.

We simply looked at God's Word and we began to see God.

What was this work that you have been doing and that you've done?

And what does it look like for us in our church, in our context?

And we're using Acts chapter two as this model for us.

Now, we've got to be careful when we look at things in Scripture and we try to take I'll use a word that'll date me, a carbon copy, right, kids, ask your parents later, right?

We try to take a carbon copy, print of something and draw right out and say, this is how it was done.

So therefore, this is how it must be done.

I think that's a little unfair because what we see is in the first Jerusalem Church that we see in Scripture, there are some things that are different for what they were living through and what they were doing.

I mean, in this context of what we see and we talked about this last week too, even for us, but even more so then, christians were extremely in the minority.

When we look at Acts chapter Two now, what we're finding is that we are even in Lexington County, in the minority, but nowhere near the minority in which the church found themselves.

Christianity was and would continue to be for a long period of time of what we see in Scripture, severely persecuted beyond what you and I can understand.

It doesn't mean that you and I won't face persecution.

It's not that you and I are not called to suffering.

But in our context with where we are, you and I do not have to worry about losing our job, losing our homes, or being thrown in prison because we are gathered here today as followers of Jesus.

Now, that happens and takes place in other parts of this world.

And it definitely happened and took place here in Scripture and also in this in Acts chapter Two.

Christianity was becoming organized, right?

They were building their channels.

They were building their networks.

They were building the structures and things that they would put in place in order to see Christianity spread.

But you and I live in a world of very organized.

You came to a church with an address, with utilities, with systems in place, with accountability, with missional organizations, with staffing.

We function in a little bit different of a context than this first church.

But what we can do is we can draw from the truths that we see.

We can look at how they were applied.

We can look at the fruit that came from them, and then we can examine our model of where we are and desire to seek those same truths implemented so that we can more resemble the church in Acts chapter two than previously.

So let's look at this church.

It says and starting in verse 42 and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers and awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common.

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.

They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Now we're not going to go through and look at all of this.

We did this last week.

And if you weren't here, I want to encourage you to go back and to listen to that last week so that we can understand what is exactly happening here.

I think there's at least twelve different behaviors that we see in this early church that plays out in either relational, theological or missional discipleship of what's there.

And so we're drawing from this.

So let's go back and let's kind of define these a little bit this morning.

So let's talk about relational discipleship.

What do we mean by that?

What do we mean by relational discipleship?

If you search your Bible you will not find these two words linked together.

So where do we draw this from when we see this in scripture?

And so we define relational discipleship as this where believers come together to grow in personal relationship with one another as they grow in their personal relationship with God.

It always has to begin with that it can never be any of these about us becoming just better buddies, about us becoming smarter, about us engaging simply with lost people.

That's all fruit that comes from this.

But the ultimate goal is engaging and growing in your relationship with God.

And this was a shared life experience.

And what we equate this to, or look to this as is this is peer to peer discipleship.

This is friends sitting down together and having a meal and talking about the things of the Lord as they open up their lives together.

And this is what largely we're going to look at today.

We'll find there's some characteristics where it's more of a discussion than a lesson where everyone in the room becomes a teacher.

I meet with a group of men on Thursdays for lunch at Creekside restaurant, which I've noticed like we're all getting older and in the normisy restaurant what I find a lot of times is there's guys like, right what'd you say?

I can't hear you at the front of the table, but it's a beautiful piece of while we're there.

And each week there's someone who's facilitating the discussion.

We all learn from one another and everyone becomes a teacher because everyone has the Holy Spirit inside of them teaching us the truths of the Lord as they've walked through in their life.

Experience in these relational discipleship environments are going to be largely focused on application, all right?

Not that everything else isn't because it is, but this is a large focus of how does this come with right where I'm at and what we find in relational discipleship.

We're going to look at all these it's a wonderful place to share struggles so that we can pray for each other, we can hold each other accountable, we can give one another biblical counsel and give one another encouragement.

And it takes place largely in these relational discipleship environments that we have.

The second one, theological discipleship.

Theological discipleship where believers come together to grow in their right understanding of the word of God.

They know more about God so that their faith is more grounded in proper biblical doctrine.

We refer to this as this is teacher to student discipleship.

Now I said this last week, I'm going to say this every week.

That's a scary word when we think of the word theological.

And I want to challenge you to not let that be scary.

I don't know of a better word to use.

And we'll talk about in these classes and talk about next week what we mean when we use the word theology.

But very simply it's this what do we believe?

What do we believe?

The Bible says what do we believe on matters that are essential?

Why do we believe them?

Not just what we believe, but why do we believe this?

When we look at all of the things in this world and all of the understandings and all the people who want to contradict what God's word says, why can we cling to that?

This book isn't just simply a book, but it is the word of God spoken and given to us.

So what do we believe?

Why do we believe it?

And the last is who is this for?

Who is this for?

Whose name and whose glory is this for?

And who is the audience that we need to take this to that's theological discipleship.

Don't let the word theological discourage you.

Don't let it frighten you.

Right?

We invite you to join us then we have missional discipleship.

Missional discipleship where believers come together in their community to share the truth of Jesus Christ with those who are not yet followers of Christ.

This is believer to unbeliever discipleship, right?

This is a wonderful opportunity for us to gather together with people who do not know who Jesus is, find some of the things, the activities, the pieces that we share in common and then the wonderful opportunity that we have to have discussions with them about things of the Lord, right?

The beautiful piece of what we have where God calls us to go and make disciples.

And what we've recognized, not just us at Willow Ridge Church, but the church as a whole is we've done a very poor job of putting the training wheels on a bike and then mobilizing that bike and then at some point in time removing the training wheels.

When it comes to sending out believers to share their faith with unbelievers, our two strategies have been largely you go and tell or you go and bring instead of where opportunities that God's allowing us, for us to go build relationships and have the opportunity to share.

And so this morning our discipleship circle is going to come back up on the screen and we're going to begin with just talking about our relational discipleship model and what this looks like.

And I wanted to begin, as we look at these three, with this, because what God has done for years in the life of this church, long before Bo Bradbury was the pastor here, long before many of you attended this church, what God has done with the relational discipleship is allowed us to provide an extremely healthy foundation of discipleship.

And so this is the foundation, this is the floor in which so many things are going to come up from.

And it is a wonderful thing that God has given us as we try to grow this and as we try to stretch this and see what else God wants to do with it.

And so when I refer to relational discipleship, here's what I want us to think through.

I was telling my men's group this week, I've probably preached on this topic more than any topic in scripture because at my last church that was my job.

Every time you preached you talk about relational discipleship as a campus pastor.

So that's what I did.

And as I was studying God's word on relational discipleship, this kind of came in my brain that how can I describe this type of ministry in accordance to Scripture because we can't go to the Bible and instantly draw from this is what this looks like in the life of our church.

And so as I was reading through different passages of scripture, I came to this, that relational discipleship is one another ministry.

Relational discipleship is one another ministry.

Look around, we are our one another's.

And it's the opportunity for us as brothers and sisters in Christ to grow in our relationship together as we grow in our relationship with the Lord.

And when we read Acts chapter two, we see this theme of the one another's.

Acts Chapter Two says that believers were together, they held everything in common, they were unified, they were church family.

Over the years we use some phrases that can seem cliche but are true.

Where relational discipleship is life on life, relational discipleship is growing in relationships, relational discipleship is doing life together.

It's the place where we guarantee, when the question is asked, how are you doing?

It's okay to say, not great.

It's the place that we find that we open up to, that we provide, that is opportunities for us to let our guards down and share of our struggles, to share of our defeats and to share of our battles, of what we've been facing day in and day out.

And so I want us to look at just a handful of passages of scripture really quick, that kind of help.

We see that this is what the early church was doing and the characteristics that we want to seek to provide and be a part of.

So Romans twelve nine through the first part of 16, paul writes and says this let love be genuine.

It's talking to the church, let love be genuine.

Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good.

Love here's the ministry.

Love one another with brotherly affection.

Outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice.

Weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with one another.

It sounds to me like what Paul is encouraging to see in the life of these believers is a place where you can come in, where you can kick back, where you can open up your heart, where you can open up your struggles, where you can open up your defeats and share them with one another.

We see in here in his challenge that we're to love, but specifically, let your love be genuine.

Love one another with brotherly affection.

The commonality that's there.

I don't know why I'm about to share this, but I'll share this.

I appreciate y'all chuckle when I say things like that.

Y'all chuckle, my wife gets uncomfortable.

All right.

I love the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond, right?

Makes you feel better about your family when you watch it.

All right, if you just need to pick me up after a bad holiday, watch that.

Yesterday I was doing some stuff around the house and I've watched the TV show so many times that I can now just listen to it and I know what's happening.

And if you know the TV show, there's two brothers, Robert and Raymond, and obviously the TV show is Everybody Loves Raymond.

And so Raymond's the focal point, and Robert is the jealous brother.

And Robert loves it when things go bad for Raymond, he loves it.

And so in the episode that I was listening to yesterday, ray had to buy his wife a Christmas gift that would impress her.

But if you know Ray, you know that Ray's incapable of doing anything that's not self centered around Ray.

So he goes to his.

Brother Robert who is emotionally connected to a lot of different people.

He thinks through he's selfless.

And Robert comes up with the great Christmas gift for Ray to buy Deborah.

So Ray goes and he buys this gift and Deborah opens it that Christmas morning and she's blown away of the thoughtfulness of her husband.

And instead of Ray playing it cool and just nodding and saying no big deal, he begins over and over and over again to take credit for thinking of this gift beyond right what he could logistically get away with.

And then finally Robert loses it and announces to Ray's wife Deborah that Ray was incapable of thinking of the gift, that he thought of it.

And then a fight ensues.

And in that argument, Robert's girlfriend at the time who will become his wife, finds out that her Christmas gift, which by the way was two tickets to Disney Ice Capades, was Robert's mom's idea.

And as the two brothers stand there in Ray's kitchen getting yelled at, robert looks at Ray and goes I'm so sorry, man.

And Ray looks back at me, goes, yeah, I know, me too, right?

And that's what I love about that TV show.

It's in all of the issues and all of these things there's this bond of love that unites and then really what we find in the life of so many of us, right there's the things that can try to separate us away, but there's this love that's there.

Paul tells them to show respect for one another and they respect each other because they don't know about each other but because they know each other.

He encouraged them to have ownership in serving the Lord and serving each other.

Now, let me tell you, when you serve the Lord and serving each other, when you do it in the context of family, what you have, what you understand is you see the bigger picture because your eyes aren't on you.

Because you know what's good for my brother in Christ.

What's good for my sister in Christ is good for me in Christ.

And so I'm willing to serve.

I'm willing to serve the Lord and serve them because of this.

There's a commonality of empathy that's there.

I love this verse and I have to remind myself this verse all the time, that they're so connected that they rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.

There's not jealousy, there's not AHA, it gotcha there's true rejoice when others rejoice and not because I'm happy because of what I'm going through, but because I'm happy of what they're going through.

And when they're broken and they're weeping, this isn't a fake facade.

This is a deep, genuine groaning in your gut because of your love for them.

You ever had a bad day and then someone you love has a good day and they tell you about it and what happens in you is joy?

Have you ever had a good day and found out that someone you love, someone you care about has had a horrible, horrific day.

And in spite of all that you've experienced, it just brings you to a point of humility for them.

That's what this looks like.

And it's not happening just in a marriage, it's not happening just in an earthly family.

It's happening in a church because it's a church of unity.

Hebrews 1024 through 25 says, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another in all the more as you see the day drawing near.

So not only does relational discipleship promote all of this, but I love this.

It also relational discipleship promotes sanctification, relational discipleship promotes us becoming more and more like Christ.

Relational discipleship promotes you and I having the opportunity to fight the battle of the sin that wants to raise its head in our life and encourage and affirm one another to become who it is that Christ wants us to be.

In a context of meeting together both in the gathering of what we are as a church and individually as we come together, what we find is that these are a group of people who are dedicated to the Lord and dedicated to one another.

The writer of Hebrews says, hey, you can't neglect one another, you can't neglect one another.

This is this unity that comes from this.

And Paul writes in Colossians three and he says, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another.

And if one has a complaint against another forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.

And so Paul here describes what a family looks like because of who Christ is and what Christ has done.

We are holy and beloved, our hearts are compassionate, we desire kindness, we seek humility, meekness and patience.

And then here's where the family rub begins to happen, bearing with one another.

We are not a group of people that does not have issues.

I've got a long list of them myself.

You're never going to find the perfect church, the perfect small group, because what's going to happen in there is there's a group of people who are there and they bring all of these things into it.

Some like to talk too much, some like to talk too little, some like to break in line, some like to complain a lot, right?

Some like to be critical.

There's a long list of the things that we have.

And Paul says in verse 13 and when we get like this, when they get like this, we take our ball and go home.

That's what Paul says.

No, he says we bear with one another.

We bear with one another.

We say we're family, we say we're brothers, we say we're sisters in Christ and we bear with one another and then here's what we do.

We forgive.

We forgive and we forgive to a standard as the Lord has forgiven you.

Now think about that.

What does that look like for you?

I am so grateful in how God has forgiven me time and time again, offense and offense again, over and over again he forgives me.

That's how we're called to forgive.

But also he addresses my sin.

The Holy Spirit never ignores our sin.

He addresses our sin.

And so within this we see that how we love is how we address how we move in the accountability.

So it's forgiveness and it's accountability.

And so we have at our church when we look at these, we have two different relational discipleship opportunities.

The first one that we have is the one that's been our foundation.

It will continue to be and that's our small group ministry.

This isn't as we move toward different opportunities and different strategies, this isn't an opportunity for us to do away with any of that.

It's not an opportunity for us to stop putting a spotlight or want to continue to build that.

In fact the exact opposite.

We want to continue to embuild, we want to continue to engage and continue to strengthen our small group ministry.

And in fact, back here at the table that I'll be standing at, we'll have our handout.

Of all of our small groups that will be meeting, some will be meeting on Sunday morning, some will be meeting on Sunday nights, some will be on different nights of the week, some are meeting here at the church, some are meeting at homes.

We have a wonderful opportunity for small group ministries.

Some have gathered together because of stage of life of where they are.

Others are going to be a buffet of different life experience and different life stages and we want to encourage you to try that and to see if that's what the Lord has for you.

But then also and you see the handouts that we have before you listed in here is some of these that are listed are relational discipleship studies that we're going to have.

So what's the difference between a relational discipleship study and our small groups?

What's the difference between the two?

All right, well primarily our small groups are going to meet consistently throughout the year and even beyond that for many of them we've got some small groups that have been together for 1520 years building community, investing in one another, growing in their relationship with Christ.

And so we love that and love being a part of that.

But the other thing that we're going to provide in these studies are more short term, six to eight weeks in which they'll last.

And so you kind of pick of what you need in your life in your walk with the Lord and so just kind of laying them out there.

So studies because it's every six to eight weeks.

Here's what it'll do for you.

A study will help you build more relationships faster, but because of the time frame, you won't deal in the depth of a relationship that you could have.

And so groups where you won't build as many relationships, but the relationships that you build can be deeper relationships over time.

And so instead of saying, we're a church that does one, we want to say we're a church that does both.

And we want to provide you with an opportunity to engage in this.

And so maybe you've been here, and you've been coming here for a while, and you want to get to know a lot of different people.

And one of these relational studies would help you come alongside you and do that.

Maybe you're going through a season of time or you've been here for a while and you feel like you know a lot of people and you want to dive deeper into relationship with someone and you want to get to know them on a deeper level than you've known them before, then we want to provide you with the opportunity to do that as well.

But here's the cool thing, because some of these studies, I'm sorry, will be happening on Sunday morning, and we got groups that meet at all different times.

Maybe you want to do both, right?

And that's awesome too, and that's wonderful, and that's appreciated, and we want to encourage you to do that.

What do you feel like God is calling you to?

So on September the 10th, when you look through here?

Because what we have listed are some of our theological studies and some of our relational studies.

But on September the 10th, we're going to start three different relational studies, discipleship studies.

Here one that's going to be a Miracles of Jesus study.

Now, that is a women's study.

Okay?

Single guys, you can't go to that either.

Okay?

It's our women's study.

And ladies, maybe you're in here today, maybe you're married, maybe you're single, maybe you're a widow, and you're going through a season of life, and you're like, you know what?

I need some Godly women to come alongside me, and I want to come alongside them.

And we can open up God's Word together, and we can discuss it, and we can invest in each other's lives, and we can share what we're going through.

It will be a wonderful opportunity for you to engage in that and build community in that.

Another one that we're offering is Seven Challenges, and it's a men's study, and none of our single women would want to come to it, right?

And guys, maybe you're in it right now.

You're in it at work, you're in it at home, you're in it amongst your peers.

And as much as you want to, you feel that your wife, she doesn't understand.

But I need a group of guys, and the guys I'm with at church.

I mean, I'm sorry, at work and what I do, they're not Godly influences of me.

And I need some other Godly men to rally around me, to support me, to encourage me.

And so we can talk and have honest, raw, real conversations about the struggles that we face.

That's an opportunity for you to do that as well.

And then we're offering another one on Hurts, Habits and Hangups.

Part one, it'll be a part two.

It started in that next quarter on November, november the fifth.

This is a coed.

And so you've come into this and you've got baggage, you've got struggles, you've got concerns.

Life has hurt you, and you need a group of people you're petrified to open up to anyone because your fears, no one else will understand.

And they want to be here to help walk alongside of you as you grow together in community and as you see what the Lord needs to do in your life and desires to do, starting November.

So these classes, what we'll run, we've got them on here from September the 10th to roughly October the 22nd.

And then starting on November the fifth, we'll start our next batch of those, and we're going to do one called you and Me Forever.

And it's a marriage one.

So a married couple, man, here's what I know.

I've seen it time and time again, and Aaron and I fights against this in our marriage.

But your marriage can get stuck in a routine, which means it gets stuck in a rut.

And if it gets stuck in a rut, it can die.

And so what does it look like for your life to be joined, united before the Lord with this other individual?

And you both bring your shortcomings and your strengths to the table?

And what does it mean to look at for Forever?

With that, we're going to provide a study on spiritual gifts.

Do you know that you are gifted?

Right?

The Holy Spirit is in us.

We are gifted, and we have spiritual gifts from the Lord that can be used.

What we find out is that most people, it's not that they don't want to use their spiritual gift.

They don't know what their spiritual gift is, and they don't know how to use it.

And you want to learn more about the spiritual gifts and what they are and what your spiritual gift may be, and then how you can use that gift for the kingdom.

And so we'll provide that.

And then with part two of The Hurts, Habits and Hangups, you can go ahead and start registering for these.

If you visit our church website and you click on the link for discipleship, it'll take you to those.

The theological ones are listed as well, and you can go ahead early if you want to start registering for those and doing those as well.

We'll begin talking about those next week and explaining those a little bit more and exactly what we mean.

But here's the goal.

Here's the goal for us as a church is that as we walk together, as we each take a next bold step with Jesus, that you and I are arm in arm, hand in hand, walking together, taking a step after step after step of faith with Jesus.

It's a challenge for me.

It's a challenge for you.

Would you join me in prayer?

God, we come to you this morning, Lord, just thanking you for this wonderful opportunity that we have to not just become a follower of Jesus, but that, Lord, you desire to save us and to grow us, to be more of who you desire for us to be.

And so, Lord, what I pray we would do today is we would take a step back and we'd pause.

And, Lord, we'd listen.

We'd listen to Your Holy Spirit to teach us, to guide us, to direct us.

Lord, what do you have for me?

What step do I need to take?

God, maybe I'm an introvert, but you need me to take that step, because there's these things bottled up inside of me.

And when people ask that question, how are you?

It's the same answer over and over again, fine, okay, I'm all right.

But the truth is, you're not.

And we need to take this step where we can come alongside brothers and sisters in Christ, where we can open up and we can share our burdens and they can help us carry them so that we can experience growth and freedom and healing, so that we can experience joy.

God, give us the heart to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep.

May this not be a place where we just go to church.

May this be a place where we gather with our family, with all of our shortcomings and all of our strengths and everything in between.

God, prepare our hearts for this season that is to come.

Direct us where you desire for us to be.

And, Lord, may we give you all the praise and honor and glory.

It's in Jesus'name we pray.

Amen.

Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode.

In the meantime, you can visit [e-mail] or by searching for Willowridge Church on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.