The way many are engaging in church and their faith has forever changed. Will the Church change too? Now is the time to start new discipleship rhythms! In this episode, Caesar spells out four foundational disciple-making elements that the Church needs to embrace as we head into the "new normal". In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• Why having a clear definition of discipleship is vital.
• Understanding our Gospel Identity is foundational to all discipleship.
• Why discipleship must happen in the rhythms of normal life.
• How to find a balance on mission and avoid burnout.

Get started here… From this episode: "When we live with gospel-intentionality, living out of our gospel identity into all of these 6 discipleship rhythms, the pressure is off! All of life becomes an opportunity for discipleship. It’s not a hassle or series of classes we need to talk people into taking. Discipleship is woven into all of life. That’s the way we see Jesus discipling his 12 disciples: In the rhythms of normal everyday life––a life that he created for us!"

Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.

Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Join us on Facebook and take part in the discussion! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of this page or right below. Also, please subscribe and leave an honest review for The Everyday Disciple Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them. Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Free Download of the Big 3 For Episode #340 Everyday Disciple Challenge – Register now FREE      

Caesar: 00:00:01

The way that many people are forever engaging in church and their faith going forward has changed.

Caesar: 00:00:08

And now is the time to start new discipleship rhythms.

Caesar: 00:00:12

We can't just keep doing the same old, same old and thinking.

Caesar: 00:00:16

Out there somehow things that people have never seen or experienced, they've never seen us to do, or any of that.

Caesar: 00:00:23

I've never seen a greater opportunity for discipleship and the multiplication of communities on mission together.

Caesar: 00:00:30

Yeah.

Caesar: 00:00:30

Other than I have right now, for years, as we've talked about this, we hoped and prayed that something would sort of wake us up our family, that capital C church to life on mission in the Everyday, as well as our gathered express.

Caesar: 00:00:45

And right now, both for Christians and those not yet believers who are asking big questions about life, culture, religion, their purpose.

Caesar: 00:00:56

It is a golden opportunity for us to be good news, to point the way to truth.

Caesar: 00:01:03

And to the life that God has for us,

Announcer: 00:01:16

welcome to the Everyday Disciple podcast, where you learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.

Announcer: 00:01:24

In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle, this is the stuff your parents, pastors in seminary.

Announcer: 00:01:30

Probably forgot to tell you.

Announcer: 00:01:32

And now here's your host Caesar Kalinowski

Caesar: 00:01:35

all right, here we go back together.

Caesar: 00:01:38

I love that.

Caesar: 00:01:39

I'm loving it.

Caesar: 00:01:40

Hey, what a weird summer it's been here.

Caesar: 00:01:43

I don't know for you what you've experienced, but it kind of seemed like no one was quite sure when it was starting because of the whole school and sorta homeschool COVID school, partial school stuff.

Caesar: 00:01:55

And then when they'd be going back, but it's been a weird summer and it's been.

Caesar: 00:02:00

Oh, like, so quiet around here compared to normal, usually our backyard, which is contiguous with our neighbor.

Caesar: 00:02:08

It's usually full of kids.

Caesar: 00:02:09

It's like the movie, the Sandlot, it's just sort of day and night games out there, sports going on and it has.

Caesar: 00:02:18

Quiet this year, oddly enough, it was lots of kids last summer, even though it was supposed to be social distancing this year, everything's kind of lifted, but it's quiet.

Caesar: 00:02:28

I don't know.

Caesar: 00:02:30

Is school back in for you or the kids in your neighborhood yet?

Caesar: 00:02:33

Or maybe soon?

Caesar: 00:02:35

I'll tell you one thing I can tell that some are starting to come to an end.

Caesar: 00:02:38

My email inbox is starting to fill back up.

Caesar: 00:02:41

It gets eerily quiet and the old email box.

Caesar: 00:02:46

When summer is at full tilt and everybody's on vacation, there's not a lot of conferencing or planning or any of that going on, but now it's starting to get busier again.

Caesar: 00:02:54

So I can feel that starting to kick back.

Caesar: 00:02:58

Hey, if you've not done this yet, would you go ahead and join me by registering for the Everyday Disciple challenge?

Caesar: 00:03:05

That's where I'll be doing four days of training live on the interwebs and about 45 minutes a day.

Caesar: 00:03:11

And I'll be giving you foundations.

Caesar: 00:03:13

Everyday discipleship tools and rhythms and a little bit of homework and you'll have worksheets to work off of, and I'll be giving out prizes to keep you coming back.

Caesar: 00:03:22

All of that, this whole thing kicks off on Monday, August 16th, be 11 in the morning, Pacific time.

Caesar: 00:03:28

And don't worry if you register like, oh, I can't know if I can make that exact time.

Caesar: 00:03:32

Go ahead and register.

Caesar: 00:03:34

Let me know that I will work that out for you with some replays or something.

Caesar: 00:03:37

Okay.

Caesar: 00:03:38

But right now, pause the podcast.

Caesar: 00:03:40

Go and register.

Caesar: 00:03:42

Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash challenge.

Caesar: 00:03:46

So before you forget, just go ahead and pause now.

Caesar: 00:03:48

Cause you know, like, oh, I should do that.

Caesar: 00:03:50

And then you won't remember it.

Caesar: 00:03:51

So Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash challenge.

Caesar: 00:03:55

Go ahead I'll wait.

Caesar: 00:03:58

All right.

Caesar: 00:03:59

Was that long enough?

Caesar: 00:04:00

Okay.

Caesar: 00:04:01

And by the way, this training will be all.

Caesar: 00:04:03

I live in our Everyday Disciple Podcast, Facebook group.

Caesar: 00:04:07

So join us over there.

Caesar: 00:04:09

Now start to test the waters.

Caesar: 00:04:11

Let me get to know you dig in, ask some questions, get to know other people.

Caesar: 00:04:16

And if you join the group before you register, you'll be all set, but you still need to register.

Caesar: 00:04:20

So you get all the lines, links and downloads and prizes and things like that.

Caesar: 00:04:24

All right.

Caesar: 00:04:26

So with COVID restrictions lifted in most places.

Caesar: 00:04:31

And I know a few places are clamping back down, but for most, uh, some people are excited and really starting to get back out there.

Caesar: 00:04:37

We've talked a little bit about this in the recent weeks, but other people are still being optimistically cautious.

Caesar: 00:04:43

They're still ordering their groceries online.

Caesar: 00:04:46

They haven't gone out to many restaurants yet.

Caesar: 00:04:49

Some folks are still avoiding crowds and if, and when they try.

Caesar: 00:04:53

They probably are driving, choosing to avoid cramped places like airports and airplanes.

Caesar: 00:04:59

I was just on an airplane last week and yeah, it's packed and it feels a little awkward, but everybody's wearing the masks and all that.

Caesar: 00:05:06

And for many, their return to church has been even slower.

Caesar: 00:05:10

Statistical data is showing that only about 30% of regular church attenders have chosen to get back to attending their weekly church gatherings.

Caesar: 00:05:20

What about you?

Caesar: 00:05:21

Or what about your church?

Caesar: 00:05:22

If you're part of the leadership there it's different, right?

Caesar: 00:05:26

So while things might be getting better, things aren't normal yet, and no one knows what to make of these new realities fully.

Caesar: 00:05:35

Is this the new normal quote unquote that we keep hearing?

Caesar: 00:05:38

Will we ever get back to the old one?

Caesar: 00:05:41

And what was the normal anyway?

Caesar: 00:05:45

Well, in light of all that, here's what I want to talk to you about today.

Caesar: 00:05:49

Here.

Caesar: 00:05:49

Here's something I believe to be true the way that many people are forever engaging in church and their faith going forward has changed.

Caesar: 00:05:59

And now is the time to start new discipleship rhythms.

Caesar: 00:06:03

We can't just keep doing the same old, same old and thinking it'll work out there somehow.

Caesar: 00:06:09

Things that people have never seen or experienced.

Caesar: 00:06:11

They've never seen us to do or any of that.

Caesar: 00:06:14

That's why I'm doing the Everyday Disciple workshop and challenge again for free.

Caesar: 00:06:18

I've never seen a greater opportunity for discipleship and the multiplication of communities on mission together than I have.

Caesar: 00:06:27

Right.

Caesar: 00:06:28

For years, as we've talked about this, we hoped and prayed that something would sort of wake us up our family, the capital C church to life on mission in the Everyday, as well as our gathered expressions.

Caesar: 00:06:41

And right now, both for Christians and those not yet believers who are asking big questions about life, culture, religion, their purpose.

Caesar: 00:06:52

It is a golden opportunity for us to be good news.

Caesar: 00:06:57

To point the way to truth into the life that God has for us.

Caesar: 00:07:02

Let me give you today a preview of four major disciple-making foundations that we'll be covering in great detail, and that you're going to get to experience with me in the four days of the upcoming challenge.

Caesar: 00:07:14

I think this will make you as excited as I am right now.

Caesar: 00:07:18

Given all that we're seeing, and you're going to want to hop on board for this powerful free training.

Caesar: 00:07:22

Okay.

Caesar: 00:07:23

First foundational thought without a clear working understanding of what discipleship is.

Caesar: 00:07:32

Everyone will bring old past understandings and expectations to the table.

Caesar: 00:07:38

And this will set you up for conflict and ineffective or confusing and non reproducible discipleship methods.

Caesar: 00:07:46

No one will be sure exactly how to make disciples and then how to reproduce all of that.

Caesar: 00:07:52

It's really important that we define what discipleship is.

Caesar: 00:07:57

Jesus didn't come and die on a cross so that we could have a happy afterlife.

Caesar: 00:08:03

He came so that we might have life to the fullest.

Caesar: 00:08:07

Now.

Caesar: 00:08:08

That means we get to expect that our methods and ways of discipleship should transform our lives and culture today.

Caesar: 00:08:18

And that's why you've heard me say this a million times.

Caesar: 00:08:20

Discipleship is the process of moving from unbelief to belief in the gospel in absolutely every area of life.

Caesar: 00:08:29

And this has great implications for how we'll need to make disciples going.

Caesar: 00:08:36

And it also shows us why much of our old school discipleship methods, quote, unquote, have fallen so short of what Jesus showed us and now hopes for our lives to be.

Caesar: 00:08:51

Yeah.

Caesar: 00:08:51

Understanding exactly what the job is.

Caesar: 00:08:54

Is discipleship passing on head knowledge?

Caesar: 00:08:56

Is it a series of classes?

Caesar: 00:08:58

Is it somehow just accidentally happening?

Caesar: 00:09:01

Because we attend a church service where we sorta a mostly understand what's being said or sung or something.

Caesar: 00:09:10

When I was young Christian, I was taken through a nine week topical study.

Caesar: 00:09:18

Sort of nine sorta Christian topics, you know, one was like on who is God?

Caesar: 00:09:24

And what is sin and how can you be saved and what is prayer and how to pray?

Caesar: 00:09:31

And what are some of the things you don't do anymore as a Christian and what your life should look like now?

Caesar: 00:09:37

Like evangelism . There was a little section on the afterlife, wherever it was nine weeks.

Caesar: 00:09:41

And it really all amounted to how to do this and do this and how not to do that.

Caesar: 00:09:49

And here's how you start doing more of that.

Caesar: 00:09:52

And that was kind of it when I got done with that, they're like, okay, great, good job filled in all the blanks this week.

Caesar: 00:09:59

Awesome.

Caesar: 00:10:00

I don't see Jesus doing that with anybody I never have.

Caesar: 00:10:03

And while I learned.

Caesar: 00:10:05

Some things about God and about the Bible from that, that's not what discipleship is.

Caesar: 00:10:11

It did not help me in any real great ways.

Caesar: 00:10:14

Move from unbelief to belief in the gospel.

Caesar: 00:10:19

In other words about who God is and what he's done in him through Christ and how that speaks to my identity.

Caesar: 00:10:26

Now, how do we get to live this amazing identity authority privilege we have?

Caesar: 00:10:31

Yeah.

Caesar: 00:10:31

That nine week topical study, didn't quite get that.

Caesar: 00:10:36

Now here's what changes for us when we believe that having a clear, powerful definition of discipleship, like the one I gave you, changes everything.

Caesar: 00:10:46

First, our Christian faith becomes much more tangible in everyday life.

Caesar: 00:10:53

If we believe that discipleship's about the gospel speaking into everything.

Caesar: 00:10:57

Well, yeah, now my faith is tangible.

Caesar: 00:11:00

It's here.

Caesar: 00:11:01

It's not.

Caesar: 00:11:03

Here's the second thing we're set free from a form of discipleship.

Caesar: 00:11:08

That's focused on sin management and behavior modification.

Caesar: 00:11:12

Now it's about transformation, spiritual freedom and relational peace.

Caesar: 00:11:19

Which makes our Christian faith much more attractive to others because it's not just up in our heads and about behavioral modification and some afterlife situation.

Caesar: 00:11:32

It's good news for today.

Caesar: 00:11:34

Well, we're going to spend a lot of time digging into this in the upcoming disciple challenge and the workshop, all that, right.

Caesar: 00:11:41

That's why I want you to join me.

Caesar: 00:11:43

Next understanding our gospel identity is foundational to all disciple-making.

Caesar: 00:11:50

It really is through our discipleship.

Caesar: 00:11:54

As we move from unbelief to belief in the gospel, we're becoming more and more like Jesus and increasingly living his life and life.

Caesar: 00:12:03

That's why understanding our gospel identity is foundational to all discipleship.

Caesar: 00:12:09

Everything sits on top of who God is and who he's created us to be.

Caesar: 00:12:16

And why now we've all been taught as Christians that our identity is now in Christ and that's true, but our fuller gospel identity is even bigger than that because it's trinitarian

Caesar: 00:12:29

. See, we've been created in the image of a God who is three and one and identity flows from the father and the son and the holy spirit, which means, and you've probably heard me say this many times, it means we're a family.

Caesar: 00:12:45

We have the same father of missionary servants who are now sent by the same spirit that sent Jesus sent as disciples to make more disciples of Jesus.

Caesar: 00:12:56

Let me say it again, real clean.

Caesar: 00:12:58

We're a family of missionary servants who are now sent as disciples to make more disciples.

Caesar: 00:13:04

That's who we are and all of that.

Caesar: 00:13:06

Each aspect of our gospel identity carries great implication.

Caesar: 00:13:12

I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but when we look at the epistles of the apostle, Paul found the new Testament, we see that all of his writings and correctives are talking about identity.

Caesar: 00:13:23

They're all identity based.

Caesar: 00:13:25

Paul, rarely, if ever delivers a stop doing that or start doing more of this type of message to his disciples, even when he's writing back, like to the Corinthians or others and things are kind of going badly, he points out their true ideas.

Caesar: 00:13:41

And the implications connected to this truth.

Caesar: 00:13:46

He'll say things like, why are you living this way or returning to this type of bondage when this is now true of you.

Caesar: 00:13:54

And he lays out their true identity.

Caesar: 00:13:57

It's powerful to notice that and even reread through the epistles, looking for how Paul.

Caesar: 00:14:03

Gospel identity to these becoming and newly become disciples of Jesus.

Caesar: 00:14:10

Well, not too long ago, I asked a couple of stellar disciple makers that I know Aaron and Rachel keen.

Caesar: 00:14:16

What's changing for you.

Caesar: 00:14:19

And even how you see yourself in light of the truth of who God has created you to be and your gospel identity.

Caesar: 00:14:25

Here's what they had.

Caesar: 00:14:27

This

Aaron: 00:14:27

completely exploded my concept of what the gospel meant.

Aaron: 00:14:32

It wasn't just a, um, it wasn't just like the power to, Hey, like you're eating now and now you're in, because I've never sat well with me.

Aaron: 00:14:42

Cause I'm like, well, this is true, but now what am I just in like this holy waiting room until God's like, okay, your number's up.

Aaron: 00:14:50

But to understand that.

Aaron: 00:14:52

This is an invitation and being brought into a whole, a whole other way to be human.

Aaron: 00:14:58

And that that's reflected in who got his eye.

Aaron: 00:15:02

I knew I'm like, yeah, like reaching out to my neighbors.

Aaron: 00:15:04

That's something I should do, you know, serving others.

Aaron: 00:15:06

That's something I should do.

Aaron: 00:15:09

Um, treating other people kindly.

Aaron: 00:15:12

Yeah.

Aaron: 00:15:12

That's something I should do.

Aaron: 00:15:14

But then taking on the concept that the gospel now has repositioned me and repurposed me.

Aaron: 00:15:21

And to, this is something that I get to do, and this is actually part of who I am.

Aaron: 00:15:27

So like, like what I do comes out of who I am and who I am in, in Christ.

Aaron: 00:15:32

So you get like being family, I mean that alone, I mean, you got your being family of missionary servants that were disciples who make disciples all fours more enough, like for me, like just the family one with so much to chew on because then I'm seeing other people.

Aaron: 00:15:50

Like, you're my brother, you're my sister.

Aaron: 00:15:53

That's been huge for me and understanding myself and how I'm really know that people's family.

Aaron: 00:15:59

And then just like, so I want to serve you and seeing them as family, not just like, oh yeah, we agree on everything because I bet you, the site are human earthly families.

Caesar: 00:16:12

We just.

Caesar: 00:16:14

Like everybody, the same, we get along perfectly.

Caesar: 00:16:18

And

Aaron: 00:16:18

so to see that and realize, wow, like other people can be broadened as family and then like, I get to serve you.

Aaron: 00:16:27

And like we together get to bring, bring the gospel.

Aaron: 00:16:32

Here's your final life steps, not that type of gospel, but the gospel in terms of, you know, this is the good news that God speaks into our bad news.

Aaron: 00:16:40

It made what I think unfortunately gets compartmentalized.

Aaron: 00:16:44

Like here's a little gospel presentation too.

Aaron: 00:16:46

Yeah.

Aaron: 00:16:47

That's like not even the tip of the iceberg and this just like pulled the whole iceberg out of the water and it's something I it's something I'll never fully exhausted, constantly living in.

Caesar: 00:16:59

Again, I want you to believe that understanding and articulating our true gospel identity is a foundational part of making disciples of Jesus.

Caesar: 00:17:12

Now here's what changes for us when we believe this first, our self-worth is not based anymore on what we do, but on who God is and who he created us to be in his image for his glory.

Caesar: 00:17:26

Second, we lose the fear of rejection because we know and believe that God loves us.

Caesar: 00:17:33

His dearly loved children, and he loves us perfectly

Caesar: 00:17:37

and third, like we heard from my buddy, Aaron, we get to treat everyone like they're part of the family, not like a project or someone we have to close the deal with.

Caesar: 00:17:48

There's great freedom living out of our identity rather than out of a big list of shoulds and supposed to.

Caesar: 00:17:55

I'll talk a whole lot more about that and give you a little bit of homework to help you start to experience that during the challenge, another foundational piece to making disciples of Jesus.

Caesar: 00:18:06

I believe discipleship happens in the normal rhythms of life that God has already established.

Caesar: 00:18:13

Yeah.

Caesar: 00:18:14

That's part of why we call this Everyday Disciple.

Caesar: 00:18:16

When we see discipleship this way, our faith in the gospel is experienced in all of normal life in rhythm.

Caesar: 00:18:24

Like it's happening through meals, through sharing and getting to know each other's stories.

Caesar: 00:18:30

It happens in how we listen to God together through small acts of service and even the way we rest or play.

Caesar: 00:18:38

God has created the world in a set of rhythms.

Caesar: 00:18:41

You've heard me talk about these that are perfectly suited for our life as disciples of Jesus.

Caesar: 00:18:46

Who make more disciples.

Caesar: 00:18:49

And when we live with gospel intentionality, living out of our gospel identity into all of these six discipleship rhythms, the pressure's off all of life becomes an opportunity for discipleship.

Caesar: 00:19:02

It's awesome.

Caesar: 00:19:03

It's not a hassle or a series of classes.

Caesar: 00:19:06

We need to talk people into taking discipleship is woven into all of life.

Caesar: 00:19:11

That's the way we see Jesus discipling his 12th.

Caesar: 00:19:15

In the rhythms of normal everyday life, a life that he created for us, he created the world and the way it works and all the rhythms recently, I had a conversation with my friends, Bryce and Jeana

Caesar: 00:19:27

Harsy to Everyday Disciple makers who are in full-time ministry.

Caesar: 00:19:32

And I asked them, how did it first start to hit your head and heart?

Caesar: 00:19:36

When you started to see that there are rhythms of life that we live in.

Caesar: 00:19:40

And so does everyone else.

Caesar: 00:19:42

And that's how we get to make disciples.

Caesar: 00:19:44

How did that affect your disciple-making and leading others to walk in the ways of Jesus with you?

Caesar: 00:19:50

Here's what they said

Bryce: 00:19:51

in powerful ways.

Bryce: 00:19:53

The biggest one is it was so freeing because now life is intentional rather than additional.

Bryce: 00:20:03

I, I look at like all of life is discipleship and all of life is an opportunity to connect with others.

Bryce: 00:20:09

And then now even more and more so as we've had had children and how all of us can do it together, that makes it a lot more doable.

Gina: 00:20:18

You know, when I first realized, like I'm made in the image of God to reflect to the world around me, what he's like, and I.

Gina: 00:20:24

Any moment of my day.

Gina: 00:20:26

And then these rhythms being taught, these rhythms really helped me go, wow, I can, I can intentionally consider blessing others once a week, but then it becomes part of the fabric of my life as I've, as I've learned to live this out, that no matter where I am or what I'm doing, I could choose to bless someone or, um, you know, take moments throughout my family day to teach the story or to listen, you know?

Gina: 00:20:51

And there've been a variety of ways that.

Gina: 00:20:54

I've I've grown in that over the years and I'm so thankful.

Bryce: 00:20:59

Yeah.

Bryce: 00:20:59

And then just the rhythm aspect of it, the routine of it, that it helps just life be so much more, more doable and engaging when, when we have regular rhythms and commitments.

Bryce: 00:21:13

And I think God created those rhythms of 24 hours in a day and morning and evening and a week, you know, and kind of.

Bryce: 00:21:24

Us that way to have those rhythms.

Bryce: 00:21:25

And so that that's been really helpful.

Caesar: 00:21:28

I love their emphasis on the fact that these are rhythms of life that are always coming around over and over.

Caesar: 00:21:35

It's not discipleship as a series of events or remembering that time we had that barbecue together.

Caesar: 00:21:42

Or remember that one time we went and helped so-and-so.

Caesar: 00:21:45

Now it's a rhythm of life.

Caesar: 00:21:48

It's so different than so much of what we used to do.

Caesar: 00:21:52

And I know a lot of people still do in ministry.

Caesar: 00:21:55

We years ago, the height of are really trying to disciple.

Caesar: 00:22:00

The church was a series of classes.

Caesar: 00:22:02

There was the one-on-one, there was the 2 0 1, 3 0 1 and 4 0 1 classes and they were all held in consecutive weeks in the auditorium.

Caesar: 00:22:13

And it was a bunch of head knowledge.

Caesar: 00:22:16

It was lots and lots and lots of head knowledge.

Caesar: 00:22:19

I remember very little time to discuss any of this.

Caesar: 00:22:22

There was nothing that we went out and experienced together.

Caesar: 00:22:25

The gospel was kind of over because we wouldn't have been in these classes.

Caesar: 00:22:28

If we hadn't already said the magic Jesus in our heart, prayer, that's sort of where the gospel fit in.

Caesar: 00:22:33

And so now it was a bunch of sort of Bible literacy and Christian Head knowledge stuff.

Caesar: 00:22:41

But I know a lot of people are still trying to do that.

Caesar: 00:22:44

Even in this quote, new normal, they're still trying to figure out, well, how do we do those?

Caesar: 00:22:49

And, you know, Moving the same old set of classes out into a living room does not make your discipleship.

Caesar: 00:22:57

Community-based like Jesus life on life, life on mission old-school discipleship that hasn't been that effective at making mature disciples of Jesus.

Caesar: 00:23:07

Doesn't all of a sudden work better because the location of the classes change the entire perspective and experience and methods must change.

Caesar: 00:23:19

I hope you believe that here's what changes for us when we do first discipleship moves out of the classroom and out into our living room and to our table, but it's not just the class.

Caesar: 00:23:31

It's a lifestyle.

Caesar: 00:23:33

Second.

Caesar: 00:23:33

Everything in life becomes an opportunity for discipleship and seeing the gospel applied to our unbelief, applied to our lives.

Caesar: 00:23:43

There's so much more opportunity for good news to be experienced and expressed.

Caesar: 00:23:49

And third, when you believe that God has created the world in a series of rhythms.

Caesar: 00:23:54

That are perfectly suited for discipleship while the pressure is off to start maintain lots of Christian programs that we have to continually staff and invite loads of people to participate in.

Caesar: 00:24:06

Yeah, the pressure's off.

Caesar: 00:24:08

He gets set free of that because all of life in rhythm naturally comes up opportunity for discipleship, for the good news of the gospel to be experienced, spoken, and joy.

Caesar: 00:24:20

One last foundational thing I want to talk about today.

Caesar: 00:24:23

And like I said, we'll go deeper in the challenge coming up, but finding balance in the types of experiences, learning and interactions with others out in all of life is important to move to maturity and not burning out so important.

Caesar: 00:24:41

You've got to find a balance.

Caesar: 00:24:43

If all of life is discipleship, then are we just doing everything at all times at all, everything we could think of, Nope.

Caesar: 00:24:50

We get to find balance finding and teaching other disciples to find and maintain a balance between their upward connection to God, his father, and who he now says we are their inward connection to others in community.

Caesar: 00:25:05

Increasingly living like a family on mission and balancing this with.

Caesar: 00:25:10

Outward expression out there finding new People of Peace, serving, loving the least of these in their neighborhoods and cities.

Caesar: 00:25:17

All of that is an important part of living as, and making mature disciples.

Caesar: 00:25:24

Maybe you've heard that term up in out before, but maybe you've not heard how the gospel connects to each of those.

Caesar: 00:25:33

Listening to some thoughts from my friends, Nick and Barb, Terry, they lead a church family together in Missouri and they make disciples all day in everyday life together with their kids and neighbors in community.

Caesar: 00:25:44

I asked them about how they pass on this up in out Missional balance to others in their lives.

Barb: 00:25:51

In our mid weeks, you'll see up and out at the bottom.

Barb: 00:25:53

I mean, it is, it is, we give people the tools they need, and this is, this is how we live.

Barb: 00:25:58

And this is what every message goes through.

Barb: 00:26:01

It's really important.

Barb: 00:26:02

And some people think, oh, I'll just preach that for six weeks or whatever.

Barb: 00:26:05

And it's like, no, no, no.

Barb: 00:26:07

That's what everything is.

Barb: 00:26:09

That's the lens, you know, making sure that everyone understands the same language, um, making everyone gospel fluent, I think is really important.

Barb: 00:26:18

We don't believe that the, that the model we grew up in is sufficient.

Barb: 00:26:21

We also don't believe it's going to sustain itself and I, it's not going to be around forever.

Barb: 00:26:26

And so we have to rethink about what church is going to look like.

Barb: 00:26:30

How is, how are we going to be, um, more, how are we going to allow ourselves to live?

Barb: 00:26:36

For the gospel and the day-to-day for us, really staying focused on, on making sure that our church community values understands and has a language for this is going to be is incredibly important.

Caesar: 00:26:51

Yeah.

Nick: 00:26:52

I've seen a lot of, uh, local, local congregations, local expressions of the church say things like we're equipping people.

Nick: 00:26:59

Uh, that's.

Nick: 00:27:00

I mean, that's a big thing is the purpose of the church is to equip and Edify, but then they think they're equipping people out.

Nick: 00:27:05

They're equipping people for evangelism or for service or for mission where we want to change that narrative and say, we're equipping you for up in out.

Nick: 00:27:15

Like, if, if, if you think that you can get everything from an upward expression or a, or a community-based expression by coming to a building once a week, sitting in rows, And then we're equipping you and pushing you out the door for service and for mission, then we failed..

Caesar: 00:27:34

I really love how Nick and Barb are giving their people, quote, unquote, handles for how to live out the gospel in everyday life.

Caesar: 00:27:42

That's so key.

Caesar: 00:27:43

They're not just giving a bunch of do to be platitudes and lists of activities that people need to do.

Caesar: 00:27:49

So God will be happy with them, or there'll be better Christians or more Missional or something.

Caesar: 00:27:55

There's a natural.

Caesar: 00:27:56

Balance and beauty to this lifestyle that they're living and passing on to others.

Caesar: 00:28:01

I love it.

Caesar: 00:28:02

We've spent a couple years or more in coaching with them and I will tell you, they really are living this with great joy.

Caesar: 00:28:11

Here's what changes for us when we believe this, that we can have this type of.

Caesar: 00:28:16

Balanced this Missional balance.

Caesar: 00:28:18

First, you lose the burnout and pressure to always be doing everything all of the time.

Caesar: 00:28:23

Next, you can look at your own needs or the growth needs of your community and give more attention to what's needed at that time in that season.

Caesar: 00:28:33

Wow.

Caesar: 00:28:34

You mean it's not one size fits all?

Caesar: 00:28:36

Nope.

Caesar: 00:28:38

Hmm.

Caesar: 00:28:38

How do you know what's?

Caesar: 00:28:39

What, where, well, this is the third thing your people in community are guided more.

Caesar: 00:28:45

By the leading of the holy spirit, then a program or series of classes or book studies.

Caesar: 00:28:51

One of my favorite authors, Andrew Murray said the point of the cross was that we would once again, have the spirit be filled with the holy spirit to guide us in all of this.

Caesar: 00:29:01

Wow.

Caesar: 00:29:02

There is such great freedom when we learn to do that.

Caesar: 00:29:05

There's such great balance when we live this way.

Caesar: 00:29:09

Well, all of these things and a whole lot more will be taught in, discussed online together during the four days of the Everyday Disciple challenge.

Caesar: 00:29:17

I'm just sort of giving you some of the big nuggets there and you're going to have worksheets and a little homework each day.

Caesar: 00:29:23

That's going to help you with all that stuff and get new rhythms going.

Caesar: 00:29:27

Now here's the thing.

Caesar: 00:29:29

Of course I can't teach the full framework of disciple-making in all of life in a four day.

Caesar: 00:29:36

But what I can give you is a powerful, foundational first few steps.

Caesar: 00:29:41

That'll begin to reframe your life, your community, and the way you disciple others.

Caesar: 00:29:47

And I'll give you a series of easy, quick wins that will prove that you absolutely can do this too.

Caesar: 00:29:54

You can live this way.

Caesar: 00:29:56

I really believe it.

Caesar: 00:30:00

The Everyday Disciple challenge starts at 11:00 AM on Monday, August 16th.

Caesar: 00:30:05

Okay.

Caesar: 00:30:05

We'll be doing about 40 to 45 minutes a day, and then I'll be online answering questions and you'll be posting homework and it's a blasteven if you've ever done this before, remember this is all being framed in light of the new normal.

Caesar: 00:30:18

So join me again and invite folks from your small group or your Missional Community or your church family to join you, to let them get in all of this with you, and then maybe host your own zoom call afterwards to discuss everything.

Caesar: 00:30:32

Okay.

Caesar: 00:30:33

So go to Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash challenge to register right now Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash challenge.

Caesar: 00:30:42

It's all free.

Caesar: 00:30:43

Sign up.

Caesar: 00:30:44

I'll send you an email right away.

Caesar: 00:30:45

Get you started.

Caesar: 00:30:46

Get you all connected.

Caesar: 00:30:48

All right.

Caesar: 00:30:48

Before I close, though, I'm going to give you the big three takeaways from today's topic.

Caesar: 00:30:52

If nothing else, you don't want to miss these, and you can get a printable PDF for the big three as a free download by going to Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash big three.

Caesar: 00:31:02

Okay.

Caesar: 00:31:03

Here they are.

Caesar: 00:31:03

Here's the big three.

Caesar: 00:31:04

First the ways that many Christians are engaging in their church lives has changed drastically.

Caesar: 00:31:11

Things will never return to the way they were now is the time to start new discipleship rhythms and show others.

Caesar: 00:31:18

What a lifestyle of discipleship and mission looks like.

Caesar: 00:31:22

Not old programs retreaded for the live stream or just done in a house.

Caesar: 00:31:27

Now I'm talking about a lifestyle of discipleship, lived out of our gospel identity, modeled for others to experience and join us.

Caesar: 00:31:36

Number two, God's not measuring your performance or church now.

Caesar: 00:31:41

And basing his love for you on those things.

Caesar: 00:31:45

I hope you believe that Jesus' life, death and resurrection has accomplished the work of restoring us to a right relationship with God that never has to, or can be earned.

Caesar: 00:31:57

You're a dearly loved son or daughter of a perfect father and part of his forever family.

Caesar: 00:32:03

Now you get to live as a missionary as you make disciples of Jesus, but you already have God's full.

Caesar: 00:32:11

Number three truth is many of us were not fully discipled in a way where the gospel touched down in all of everyday life in community.

Caesar: 00:32:22

So how will we disciple others in things we've yet to experience?

Caesar: 00:32:26

Well again, get the training and encouragement you need to get started with new discipleship rhythms and growing in your gospel fluency, please, please join me in the Everyday Disciple challenge and invite others that you love to have this experience with you.

Caesar: 00:32:42

All right, let's go to Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash challenge and register right now.

Caesar: 00:32:48

Well, that's it for today.

Caesar: 00:32:49

I sure hope you'll do it.

Caesar: 00:32:51

Hope you'll join me.

Caesar: 00:32:52

I can't wait.

Caesar: 00:32:53

This all get started soon.

Caesar: 00:32:55

I'll see you there.

Announcer: 00:32:57

Thanks for joining us today for more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit Everyday Disciple dot com.