John K. Jenkins Sr - Disciplines of a Dynamic Disciple

I want to talk today about the disciplines of a dynamic disciple. Look at your neighbor and say, "I wonder, do you have the disciplines of a dynamic disciple?" Ask them and wait for the answer. All right, you can be seated; it took you too long to answer. The mission statement of our church is developing dynamic disciples through discipleship , discipline, and duplication. That 's what we want; we want to be a church that has dynamic disciples, not just dynamic believers. There 's a difference between believers and disciples. Believers believe, but they don't necessarily act. The difference between a believer and a disciple is what you do; a disciple acts. Jesus said, and the scripture teaches clearly that we have to be doers of the word , not merely hearers. We have a lot of people who believe ; the devil believes! Just say that : the devil believes , but he doesn't act. We want to have doers ; we want people who practice , walk out , and live their faith-those who are practicing their faith. I wanted to use the example of the story of Shadrach , Meshach, and Abednego in order to discuss this . Come on, say Amen; talk back to me, brother. In this particular story , Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are three men who find themselves in an incredible situation. Here 's what they do: as a matter of fact, the king has created a golden image, and that golden image is 90 feet high and 9 feet wide-it's huge! He 's made a decree; he's given a command that when the music plays , everyone is to bow down and worship this golden image that the king has created. The scripture states that when the music plays, if you read verse 7 , it says that at that time when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Everybody bowed down. Now, I need to discuss this with you today because that's part of what's happening in our culture. We live in the midst of a community and a culture where everybody's doing things, and we think it's okay just because everybody's doing it. Everybody plays the lottery, so you play the lottery ; everybody divorces their spouse and moves on to the next one, so you divorce your spouse; everybody is shacking up, so you shack up. Come on, look at your neighbor and say, "Don 't do it just because everybody else is doing it." I can tell right now this is going to be a tough service; this is going to be tough right here. They played the music, and everybody bowed down , but these three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were the only ones who did not bow down. As a matter of fact, their response to this situation troubled the king because everybody else had bowed down. He beckons them to talk to him ; he calls them forth, and when they come forth, he challenges them, saying they have a responsibility to bow down. As a matter of fact, he said to them, "You will either bow down when the music is played and worship the image that I have created , or you will be cast into the fiery furnace." I love the way these guys respond. There are lessons for you and me to learn about the way they responded. Would you allow me just a few moments to talk about how they responded ? I hope you ' ll listen and say Amen as I speak about their response. I know you may not like how they responded , but I love the way these guys responded. It is an incredible response; they responded in an amazing way because they had character traits and disciplines in their lives that caused them to respond positively. How did they respond ? Here 's the first point: they had principles , precepts, and disciplines that were powerful. The first one is they committed their lives; they were dedicated to living a life of uncompromising convictions. Let me repeat that: they committed to living uncompromising convictions . Now allow me to say this : my goal in life is to develop dynamic disciples. I'm doing my best to help people not just be churchgoers . I don't want you merely walking in here with a Bible under your arm and a cross around your neck while living a ragged life. We want you to be doers and hearers. This is what I'm working toward; this is my goal. I want to discuss how these three guys lived as disciples . They began by committing their lives to uncompromising convictions. Now, let's talk about what a conviction means. A conviction is a principle you purpose to follow at any cost. That 's what a conviction is: "I'm going to do this no matter what it costs." Now, what Christians have today are not convictions; we have preferences. What 's the difference between a conviction and a preference? With a conviction , you will act regardless of the situation- what others say or who is in the room. When you have a conviction , you' ll do it all the time. If you have a preference, however, you might not .