Skip to content We Are Disciples - pt 2 Oct 19 · 27 min ...more
We Are Disciples - pt 2
October 19, 2025 · 27 min
No one ever said being a disciple of Jesus would be easy. In this teaching, Pastor Rick explains how being Jesus’ disciple means loving other believers and always doing what Jesus tells you.
Series What It Means to Follow Jesus October 19, 2025 · 27 min · What It Means to Follow Jesus
No one ever said being a disciple of Jesus would be easy. In this teaching, Pastor Rick explains how being Jesus’ disciple means loving other believers and always doing what Jesus tells you. ...more Show the full description Show less No one ever said being a disciple of Jesus would be easy. In this teaching, Pastor Rick explains how being Jesus’ disciple means loving other believers and always doing what Jesus tells you.
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Pastor Rick Warren shares the hope and encouragement you need to hear everyday. Listen in as he shares biblical truths to help you live the purpose driven life
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The Importance of Loving the Church 0:01 Have you ever heard anybody say this? You know, I love Jesus, I just don't like the church. I love Jesus, I just can't stand the church. Then let me tell you something, you're not a disciple.0:13 Because with all of its imperfections, all of its faults, all of its faux pas and failures, because it's made up of normal ordinary imperfect people. Jesus says the church matters.0:25 Christ died for the church. In fact, it's the only thing that's gonna last on this planet. Microsoft isn't gonna last. The democratic and republican parties aren't gonna last. The United States of America isn't gonna0:36 last. No empire lasts forever. There's only 1 thing that's gonna last for eternity. That is God's family, the church. You're in it. It's the only thing that's gonna last. It's more important than everything else put0:48 together because God created the universe because he wanted a family. And so if you don't love the church, you're not gonna like Heaven, because that's all who's gonna be there. So1:00 you better figure out how to learn to love other disciples. Now Jesus died for the church. The Bible calls the church the bride of Christ. How about if I said to you, I like you, I just can't stand your1:12 wife. You'd be you'd be irritated. You'd be offended. You'd have a right to be. Or the bible says the church is the body of Christ. I wonder if I said, I like you, but your body's not too hot.1:24 Well you'd be offended. When when you say I don't like the church, you're saying I don't like the body of Christ that Jesus died for. Now, this is absolutely ridiculous. People1:36 think that they can follow Christ and not love the church. They're wrong. In fact, here's what Jesus, what the Bible says, first John chapter 4. If someone says, I love God,1:48 but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar. That's pretty clear. God says, I'm a liar if I say I love God, and don't love2:00 other Christians. For if we don't love people, we can see, how can we love God whom we have not seen? Well, duh. He says this is2:12 obvious. And so to be my disciple, you must love other people in the family of God. This is called fellowship. I want you to write this down. Spiritual growth happens in community.2:25 It doesn't happen on your own. It doesn't you cannot be a disciple by yourself. You cannot be a disciple in isolation. You cannot follow Christ as an individual. Me and Jesus, we got2:37 a good thing going, we don't need anybody else. We can attain maturity on your own. No, you will never grow to spiritual maturity without a church family. The Bible teaches that. In2:49 fact, notice that verse he says, if you have love for 1 another, circle the phrase 1 another. That phrase is used 58 times in the Bible. It says we are to love 13:00 another, care for 1 another, help 1 another, serve 1 another, encourage 1 another, pray for 1 another. We are to support 1 another. We're to greet 1 another. We are to encourage 1 another.3:12 The Bible says we were put on this planet to help each other out in the family of God. And you have to have a Christian church family and be in relationship with3:24 people because life is all about love. Now you may be listening to 10 radio preachers a day, and there are a lot of good ones out there. Some of them are my my friends actually. But if you're listening to all those guys,3:35 you're not growing. You're getting more knowledge, but you're not growing because life is all about love. It's all about love. It's learning to love God and learning3:47 to love your neighbors yourself. Life is all about learning to love God. This is what makes it diff what makes, having a relationship with Jesus different than religion.3:59 Did you know that every single religion, the more you isolate yourself from humanity, the more holy you're considered to be? Whether it's Buddhism, Hinduism,4:11 Islam, or anything else, the holiest people are those who go off into the the monks and the monasteries, or the gurus who hide in the caves in the mountain, who separate themselves from sinful humanity,4:23 so they can't be come impure by all of us who are evil, wicked, mean, bad, and nasty. And and so the more holy you are, the more you separate yourself4:35 from earth and from other people. That is the exact opposite of what Jesus taught. Jesus didn't do that. Jesus was in the marketplace, Jesus went to the parties. Jesus was at the4:47 wedding turning water to wine. In fact, Jesus went to so many parties, the legalistic religious leaders of the day said he is a quote, glutton and a drunk. Today,4:59 they would say Jesus is a party animal. That's what they'd say. Because Jesus taught you you can't learn to love unless you're around people. Now,5:11 you could go and hide in a monastery, and read prayer books all day, and you could quote Scripture, and you can pray, and you can study till your brain is so packed with theology, but you're not spiritually5:23 mature because Jesus said it's all about love. Loving God, and loving your neighbor. And you can't do that unless you get around some unlovely people. Now don't look at them right5:34 now. But God says I measure maturity by how much you love. Not by knowledge, but how much you5:46 love. And this is called radical fellowship. And Jesus expects us to have a very radical kind of love, more than the world. In fact, look at the next verse, first John 3 16.5:58 This is how we know what love is, what real love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the6:09 brothers. Talking about brothers and sisters in the family of God, other Christians. Jesus laid down His life for us and God says I measure your love by how much you're willing to sacrifice for other Christians, for6:20 other believers, for other people in the family. This is radical fellowship. The word in Greek is the word koinonia, fellowship. And fellowship is being as committed to each other as6:32 we are to Jesus Christ. That's what it means to be a disciple. Not that oh, I love God and I couldn't care less about the church. No, God says if you love me, you love my family. I'd tell you that, I'd say6:44 you can't love me and not love my family because my family represents me. And we only grow in community, being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus. This is why being in a small groupRadical Fellowship and Sacrificial Love 6:56 is absolutely essential to your spiritual growth. Number 4, Jesus says if I wanna be a disciple, I must always do what Jesus tells me. That's7:08 the mark of a disciple. I must always do what Jesus tells me. It may not make sense, it may not be popular, it may cost me something, but it's7:20 always the right thing because God's not gonna steer you in the wrong direction. God tells you to do something, it's always the right thing to do. And he's saying that 1 of the marks of discipleship is I must obey him7:30 continually. I must always do what he tells me to do. John chapter 8. Let's read this verse aloud together, okay? If you continue to obey my teaching,7:43 you are truly my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Now, everybody in America knows this phrase, the truth will set you free.7:55 Most Americans don't know the first part of the verse. He says, if you continue to obey my teaching then you're truly my disciple. Now notice he's he's saying here 3 or 4 things8:07 about spiritual growth that are very important. You might write these down. The first thing I want you to notice is spiritual growth is an ongoing process. It is an ongoing process. It's gonna take the rest of your8:18 life, and that's why you've got your whole life to grow up spiritually. But it it you're never gonna stop learning, He says if you continue, circle the word continue.8:31 He says it's a process, it's ongoing. Spiritual growth is not will I go to class and then now I'm spiritually mature, no. It's a process, it's a development, it's incremental, it's gradual,8:44 and it's gonna take the rest of your life. The rest of your life. We go through a step by step process and it's 1 step at a time. You know, I learned this growing8:56 up. My dad was a pastor. And so I knew my dad, he was a great teacher. But I noticed that people could go to church for 20 years or 30 years or 40 years and still be9:08 spiritually immature. And I thought how can that be? I mean they're hearing all this good teaching and and yet they're not grown up. They're still cranky, they're still self centered, they're still gossips, they're still9:19 resentful and bitter, and they worry, and they feel guilty, and they're insecure, and they still got all their hang ups, and they don't seem to be growing up and spiritually maturing. Why is9:31 that? And the reason why is because we forget what we learn. Studies have shown over and over, the first 1 was the US Air Force that discovered this, we forget 909:43 to 95 percent of everything we hear within 72 hours. And if you had heard me teach for 30 years at Saddleback, you have forgotten 95 percent of9:55 it. It takes more than sermons to grow. Sermons are not enough to grow because we forget. Which by the way is why we pass out these little things.10:07 Because the shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory. And if you take notes, you're at least gonna have something you can go home and you can review it again. You see, if you don't take notes, you don't remember10:19 what I taught on last week. Shoot. I don't remember what I taught on last week. And I taught it 6 times. You had to listen to it once. Okay? And I've already forgotten what I taught on. So it's10:31 not like it's not normal. If you don't take notes, if you don't care enough to learn what God wants you to learn, to write it down, then you're not gonna grow. And at the end of this10:42 year, of all the teaching you'll hear at Saddleback, you'll only remember maybe 5 percent of it. And that's why we don't grow up. So we have to to continue, we have to have ways of remembering10:54 it. Now, the bible teaches that it is an ongoing process, spiritual growth. Second thing, notice it's measured by obedience. He says, if you continue to obey11:06 my teaching, then you're my disciple. It's not based on how much you know, it's on how much you practice, how much you obey. There are a lot of people who know the11:18 bible, but they don't live it. Sometimes you can meet people who are veritable storehouses of Bible knowledge, and they can quote Bible verses, and they're the most cranky, cantankerous, arguing11:29 people, judgmental of every other Christian. Because the bible says knowledge puffs up, love builds up. The more knowledge you have, the more arrogant you tend to become if you don't have11:41 love to match it and keep it in a humble attitude. Knowledge without love leads to arrogance. So God says I don't measure your growth by how much you know, I measure your growth by how much you love. How much11:53 do you love others, how much do you love me? And he says you've gotta have, it's how much you obey. In fact, would you write this sentence down? I only believe the part of the Bible I do.12:06 I only believe the part of the Bible I actually practice. Now you may say you believe it, but if you don't do it, you don't really believe it. Do you believe that you should forgive the people who hurt you? Yes. Do you12:16 do it? No. Then I don't believe it. Do you, do you believe that you should always return good for evil? Yes. Do you do it? No. Then you don't believe it. Do you believe you should tithe?12:28 Yes. Do you do it? No. Then you don't believe it. Do you believe you should share your faith with other people? Yes. Do you do it? No. Then you don't believe it. You only believe the part that you actually do.12:46 Do you wanna be happier, healthier, and more resistant to stress? Then you need to develop an attitude of gratitude. In fact, the Bible says we're to rejoice always,12:58 pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances, but it can be difficult to feel grateful. So to help you, Pastor Rick hand selected 52 verses13:10 to bolster your sense of gratitude and increase your happiness. This set of beautifully designed cards will help you memorize scripture so you can recall God's word when you need it13:22 most. You can also use them to minister to others. Give 1 to a friend and write a personalized note of encouragement on the back. If a scripture really speaks to you, frame it.13:34 Put them in places where you can read them during the day for encouragement. And today, when you give a gift to help Daily Hope take the hope of Jesus to a world in need, we'll send you the13:46 gratitude scripture card set to say thanks.13:53 Now, spiritual growth is an ongoing process, it's measured by obedience, it's based on God's word. That's the third thing this verse teaches. If you continue to obey14:05 my teaching Now there are a lot of books out there you can read that are good, they may be positive motivational, they may be, you know, teach you management skills, but it's not human ideas that's gonna help you grow14:17 spiritually. It's not philosophy or man's philosophy or pop psychology that's gonna teach you to grow spiritually. It is the truth, we must feed on the truth. It's soul food, it's the truth. Now the fourth14:28 thing that verse teaches is that it sets me free. That spiritual growth sets me free. The truth will set me free. But what does that mean, set me free?14:41 The more you grow spiritually, the freer you're gonna be in life. You're gonna be set free from the expectations of others, you're gonna be set free from past memories that bother you, you're set free from14:52 guilt, you're set free from resentment, you're set free from bad habits, You're set free from, from shame. You're set free from the pressures and stresses that other people try to put on you15:04 because the more you mature spiritually, the freer you are. The more you grow spiritually, you don't become more religious fanatic, you become more natural.15:16 The the glory of God as a human being fully alive. And the people who are most fully alive in life are those who love Jesus the most, love other people the most, and are growing in the word of15:28 God. The more mature you come, you're free from fear, you're free from anxiety, you're free from insecurity, the truth sets you free. Now it doesn't happen overnight, look15:40 at this verse on the screen. Our lives are gradually becoming brighter. Notice it's gradually, it's a process step by step. More and more beautiful as God enters our lives and15:51 we become more like Him. That's called radical discipleship, becoming like Jesus. And that's the third goal of life, to love God, to love other people, to become likeThe Pathway to Spiritual Growth 16:03 Jesus. That's the third goal, the third purpose of life. Now how do you do that? How do I grow gradually? Well look at the next verse, here's what Jesus says. If you16:15 continue to live in me, circle the word continue, Now it's an ongoing process. If you continue to live in me, and what I say lives in16:27 you, continues in you, then you can ask anything you want, and it'll be yours. That's quite a promise in prayer. Said if you if you're living in me and my and my words living in you, you can ask for whatever you want,16:38 it'll be yours. You give glory to my father when you produce a lot of fruit and therefore show that you're my disciples. Now he says, you gotta continue.16:50 It's a process, it's a strategy, it's a journey. If you're gonna continue to grow the rest of your life and that's what I'm trying to help you do, you're gonna need a couple things. First, you need a plan. You17:02 need a track to run on, you need a pathway, you need some guidelines, you need a trail, you need a process. Jesus had a plan for17:13 helping his disciples grow from immaturity to spiritual maturity. And he starts off where they were, not where they ought to be, he starts off where they are, he loves them and he takes them through each step to growth.17:25 Now when they're growing, he loves them at every stage. Listen to this, Jesus loves you, God loves you at every stage of your maturity. He's not waiting for you to become17:37 mature before He starts loving you. He loves you where you are right now. When my kids were little, Amy, Josh, Matthew, they'd bring me pictures when they're 3, 4 years old, and I'd look at17:49 that picture and I'd say Amy, that picture is perfect. Now what am I sayin', that she's better than Picasso? No. That it's mature? No, I'm saying that's perfect for that stage of her18:01 development. And I'm not waiting for her to become a great painter before I start loving her. I love her at every stage of her growth with my children, And that's the way God loves you.18:13 He's not waiting for you to get mature before He loves you. He loves you unconditionally right now, but He does want you to grow. And you need a pathway. Jesus had a plan and that18:24 pathway was teaching His disciples first to know Him and then to love Him and then to grow in Him and then to serve Him and then18:37 to share Him. Now what I just shared with you, that 1 sentence, is the whole philosophy behind Saddleback Church. Everything in this church helps people move through those 5 stages, those18:49 5 purposes. First, to know Christ, Then we want you, once you know him, then you can love him because you can't love him till you know him. And then you learn to love his family. And then you start growing in Christ.19:01 And then you start serving Christ. And then you start sharing Christ. It's like a baby. A baby has to learn to breathe, then it learns to eat,19:13 then it learns to, walk, and then it learns to talk. We all grow at different stages and greats, but every 1 of us went through those exact same physical19:25 stages. And there are spiritual stages yet in spiritual growth too. And it's why we have a spiritually mature church, because we're intentional about it. We've thought it through, and where did we learn19:37 it? We learned it from Jesus. We we just copied his plans, gradual systematic sequential. Now to help you visualize this, we use a baseball diamond.19:49 If you've been in class 1 0 1, you remember the baseball diamond. And each base represents a different stage of growth. First base, knowing Christ and loving Christ, being committed to20:01 him and his family. Second base, growing in Christ. Third base, sir, serving Christ, home plate, sharing Christ. And we say, we want you to cover all20:13 the bases. We want you to be a grand slam disciple. You don't get credit for runners left on base. Some of you went to class 1 0 1, you got stuck at first base. You need to go to class20:25 2 0 1, second base, and learn the habits for spiritual growth. Then then some of you got stuck at second base. You need to go third base and learn how to discover your shape for serving God. Once you finish third20:37 base, you need to go on to home plate and learn how to live out your life mission in the world. And that's that's what God wants us to do. By the way, those classes we're offering them today, class 1 0 1 to 4 020:48 1 are being offered this afternoon. Now it's really funny because as we've taught the Saddleback's, purpose driven system all around the world, 400000 pastors have been trained in this. So it's all around the21:00 world. It's funny because they don't play baseball in a lot of countries, so they have to have different diagrams. So for instance in Brazil, they don't use a baseball diamond to represent spiritual growth, they they use21:11 a soccer field. 10 yard line, the 20 yard line, or the 50, 40, 30, 20 and then you score and you hit a goal. When you've gone around all of the bases.21:24 In Russia, they use a ladder. Step 1, step 2, and step 3, knowing Christ, loving Christ, serve sharing Christ, you know, the up the steps. In21:35 Australia, they don't play baseball but they play cricket. And I don't know if you know this but they use a dime in there too but you run it the opposite way. You run it clockwise which makes sense they do it backwards21:45 because they're down under, you know. So it's it's reversed than what we do in the northern hemisphere and and so they use a crooked to represent the the purposes. In China where there's a lot of religious persecution21:56 from the Communist Party, the Chinese church chose the Chinese flag because there's 5 stars on it to represent the 5 purposes of of God for our lives. So some communist leader comes in and says, oh, I see you're22:08 very patriotic. Yeah. Well, what they're doing is they're saying that's the symbol for the 5 purposes of the 5 stars. Now this idea that I'm sharing with you, helping people grow systematically is not22:20 new. For 2000 years, churches have been doing this. It's called a catechism. Anybody heard of that 1? You know what a catechism is? It's then catechism is just in Catholic church. All22:32 churches have used catechisms. You learn this, then you learn this, then you learn this, then you learn this, and for 2000 years, people have been going through a growing process. You need a pathway to22:44 grow. But there's something else you need, and this is really important. If you're gonna continue growing the rest of your life, if you don't get anything else I say, I want you to get this. If you wannaHabits and the Fruits of Spiritual Maturity 22:56 grow, you must develop good habits. Would you write that down? Spiritual growth is a matter of good habits. Every area of your23:07 life is determined, controlled by the habits. The difference between successful and unsuccessful people, successful people have habits that unsuccessful people are afraid to develop, are too23:19 lazy to develop. And in the Christian life, you are the sum total of your habits. You see, character is a matter of habit. It's something that you do habitually. For23:31 instance, you can't say you have the character quality of honesty unless it's your habit to always tell the truth. If you tell the truth 70 percent of the time, you're23:43 not honest. It's not a habit. It's not a character quality. You gotta be honest all it has to be a habit in your If I say to my wife, honey, I have the character quality of faithfulness to you.23:55 And I will be faithful to you 28 days a month. Well that doesn't work. Partial faithfulness is unfaithfulness, right? Does that make sense? You're not24:06 being faithful at all, if you're faithful 90 percent of the time. No, I'm not faithful to my wife unless I am 100 percent faithful to her all the time. Now that's true in24:18 every area, it's developing good habits. We have a class called class 2 0 1 where we teach the basic habits of the Christian life. Now throughout the centuries for 200024:30 years of the church, Christians have used these habits. Sometimes they're called spiritual disciplines. Sometimes they're called devotional practices. I don't care what you call them, we call them24:42 habits at Saddleback. It's stuff that you learn like how to have a daily time with God, a quiet time. How to pray, that's a habit. How to read the Bible, that's a habit. How to24:54 be in a small group fellowship, that's a habit. How to tithe your money, that's a habit. The habit of solitude, silence, being quiet before God, the habit of fasting, the habit of journaling. There are25:05 hundreds of good habits, some are more important than others. But they are the building blocks for growing the spiritual maturity. And notice the results of spiritual maturity. It says25:17 that when you have these habits and when you grow and you do what Jesus tells you to do it says, you will produce fruit.25:33 Do you wanna be happier, healthier, and more resistant to stress? Then you need to develop an attitude of gratitude. In fact, the Bible says we're to rejoice always,25:45 pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances, but it can be difficult to feel grateful. So to help you, Pastor Rick hand selected 52 verses25:57 to bolster your sense of gratitude and increase your happiness. This set of beautifully designed cards will help you memorize scripture so you can recall God's word when you need it26:09 most. You can also use them to minister26:25 encouragement. And today, when you give a gift to help Daily Hope take the hope of Jesus to a world in need, we'll send you the gratitude scripture card set to say thanks.In this video 0:00 The Importance of Loving the Church6:51 Radical Fellowship and Sacrificial Love15:57 The Pathway to Spiritual Growth22:51 Habits and the Fruits of Spiritual MaturityHow to be Happy No Matter What - Pt 1
Rick Warren
Nov 15
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