Discipleship Beyond the Topical Checklist
Wouldn’t it be great if Jesus had just left us his “5 Big Steps” or “3 Important Ingredients” for disciple-making? It would be so much simpler if discipleship in the real world was a little more spelled out and outlined into a few basics.
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we’re going to show you how discipleship looks less like one big thing or series of classes… and more like a million little things.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- Why there will never be a perfect set of classes or “one big thing” that adds up to maturity in our churches.
- How Romans 8:28 helps clarify what God is up to when it comes to our sanctification.
- Why dependence on the works of the Holy Spirit is crucial in discipleship.
- Why disciple-making was never meant to be the job of a few professionals.
From this episode:
“I think we’ve overcomplicated discipleship… and sort of dumbed it down to a set of learnings and head knowledge instead of an experience with others of how the gospel of Jesus speaks into and shapes a million little things that all add up to the life we were created to live: His life.”
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!
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Coaching with Caesar & Tina in Everyday Disciple MAKERS
In light of today’s topics, you might find these posts and videos helpful:
Transcript
Discipleship, this movement from unbelief to belief in all of life happens in a million little things in like a million little ways.
Caesar Kalinowski:And yes, there is one singular life, Jesus's, and his death and resurrection that makes our new life in salvation in every area possible, but the way we experience and the way that sanctification works its way out in everyday life and conversations is through a million little things.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I want people to understand that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, I want people to grasp it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, you know.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hey, are you making disciples of people?
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, it's a million little things.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's like, it's not like, Nope.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yep.
Caesar Kalinowski:I do a one to one breakfast with a guy and we sit and we have coffee, you know, every Monday morning and you know, Got him to show up Sundays.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now he's in a class.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, no, but what about all the million other things of his life?
Caesar Kalinowski:How are you seeing that?
Caesar Kalinowski:How's he seeing you live that out?
Caesar Kalinowski:How's he being exposed to the way you speak to your wife and your kids?
Caesar Kalinowski:And, oh, the one child of yours, it's a little strange.
Caesar Kalinowski:And how are you working through that?
Caesar Kalinowski:And how's the gospel keeping your heart pure in that?
Caesar Kalinowski:So you're not bitter and cause you're hurt and all that, like it's a million little things.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what discipleship's like.
Heath Hollensbe:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Heath Hollensbe:In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Heath Hollensbe:This is the stuff your parents, pastors, and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Heath Hollensbe:And now here's your host, Caesar Kalinowski.
Caesar Kalinowski:Here we are.
Caesar Kalinowski:Happy New Year on
Heath Hollensbe:the new year.
Heath Hollensbe:Hey, so resolutions.
Heath Hollensbe:We're a weekend.
Heath Hollensbe:Have you, have you kept any?
Heath Hollensbe:Have you broken any?
Heath Hollensbe:Do you do them?
Heath Hollensbe:You know what?
Heath Hollensbe:I have kept a
Caesar Kalinowski:hundred percent of the resolutions I've made.
Caesar Kalinowski:None.
Caesar Kalinowski:What do they say?
Caesar Kalinowski:The average person has broken all the resolutions 11 days.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think 11
Heath Hollensbe:days is the average or something.
Heath Hollensbe:I don't know how they know.
Heath Hollensbe:Any gym you drive by right now, like there's cars parked on the street and lines to get in.
Heath Hollensbe:I mean, people.
Heath Hollensbe:I was at the gym yesterday.
Heath Hollensbe:It
Caesar Kalinowski:was ridiculous.
Caesar Kalinowski:Are they giving out free turkeys and cash?
Caesar Kalinowski:What's going on here?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, and it'll be that way, like it'll be that way between the holidays and up until around the fourth or fifth in my experience.
Caesar Kalinowski:So yeah, so I haven't done so
Heath Hollensbe:right about now.
Heath Hollensbe:I haven't done this yet this year, but one resolution I was determined to make was that I will not eat at the same restaurant twice this year.
Heath Hollensbe:Ooh In our city, we got so much good food.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah, we got kids man.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah, I know it's hard and and you don't get to see the listen kids you're gonna love this escargot.
Heath Hollensbe:It's Costing
Caesar Kalinowski:mom and dad a fortune
Heath Hollensbe:you're
Caesar Kalinowski:gonna like
Heath Hollensbe:there's a couple places I frequent that I wouldn't want to ruin relationship with but like as far as like lunch meetings and stuff It's like let's try something new
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay, there you go.
Caesar Kalinowski:But you know, there's also the, from a missional standpoint, it's like by frequenting places, you get to know people, you get to know.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, that's what I'm saying.
Caesar Kalinowski:We still have those that we visit.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, for sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:For sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hey.
Heath Hollensbe:No, I haven't broken any.
Heath Hollensbe:How about you?
Caesar Kalinowski:You good?
Heath Hollensbe:Do you make a lot?
Heath Hollensbe:No, I don't.
Heath Hollensbe:I've been, I beat myself.
Heath Hollensbe:I don't want to start the year beating myself up anymore.
Heath Hollensbe:I will say this though.
Heath Hollensbe:And I probably, yeah, I do
Caesar Kalinowski:have some of this though.
Caesar Kalinowski:I, I like to set goals and I have found there's something kind of magical mystical about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:When you set goals, you tend to hit them.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's weird.
Caesar Kalinowski:The, the act of writing them down, discussing them, reviewing them.
Caesar Kalinowski:Going for them.
Caesar Kalinowski:Somehow speaks, you know, like we get to, we have authority and we get to speak things, you know, and, uh, somehow it, it's, yeah, way more than when you don't have a goal.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, exactly.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know,
Heath Hollensbe:so anyway.
Heath Hollensbe:All right, so let me, uh.
Heath Hollensbe:Let's go.
Heath Hollensbe:Let's get into some stuff.
Heath Hollensbe:I'm gonna spin this real quick.
Heath Hollensbe:This is the spin zone, can I'm, switch, switchin opportunities real quick.
Heath Hollensbe:All right.
Heath Hollensbe:And I want to set you up with a question that leads into the rest of this episode.
Heath Hollensbe:Boom.
Heath Hollensbe:Let's go.
Heath Hollensbe:When Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah.
Heath Hollensbe:It wasn't like he was commanding us to do a specific set of classes or routine.
Heath Hollensbe:Wouldn't that have been so much easier though?
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh.
Caesar Kalinowski:He said, go.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what we're trying to do.
Caesar Kalinowski:Go and make disciples.
Caesar Kalinowski:And here's the nine lessons.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus.
Caesar Kalinowski:Translated already into English.
Heath Hollensbe:It wasn't setting us into that, but, but more to enter into the everyday life, the moving from unbelief to belief in all areas.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah.
Heath Hollensbe:That's how we say it.
Heath Hollensbe:Why have we made this so much more complicated than it really is?
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah,
Caesar Kalinowski:really good question.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're going to solve this very right front of the year here, 2019, fresh out of the womb.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so, well, I think, I think we've, we've over complicated it, like you're saying, and I think we've also sort of dumbed it down.
Caesar Kalinowski:And here's what I mean by that.
Caesar Kalinowski:We've made it like a set of learnings.
Caesar Kalinowski:and head knowledge, discipleship, set of learnings and head knowledge instead of an experience with others of how the gospel of Christ speaks into and shapes a million little things that all add up to the life we were created to live, his life.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so we overcomplicate it because it's this and it's that and it's going to, it's a lifetime of this and that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and it's like, you know, Jesus was here, like, on the planet for, you know, a shorter, shorter life than he was here.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he was only doing public ministry with anybody for around three years.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it says, you know, like any, when he left, he said, well, there's so much more I'd like to tell you, but you couldn't handle it.
Caesar Kalinowski:We'll talk more about that, you know, um, and so I, I think we have overcomplicated Jesus did life, did normal life.
Caesar Kalinowski:And as things came up as conversations, as he ran into spiritual people or spiritual numbskulls or broken people or downtrodden or outcasts or people that were called or labeled certain things or live different ways and all that, he, he then exposed them to the far father's heart.
Caesar Kalinowski:He exposed them to, no, but the kingdom is this way.
Caesar Kalinowski:And what's the kingdom?
Caesar Kalinowski:The kingdom is where God reigns and rules over our hearts and over our lives.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so when we're under the rule and reign of Christ, this is how it works.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so he was hipping his disciples to all of life.
Caesar Kalinowski:Here's how it works in light of who my father really is and what.
Caesar Kalinowski:is true of you, how he sees you.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's why I came by the way, you know, is it to restore you back to the way God originally created you?
Caesar Kalinowski:And so I, I, I kind of wonder like how many of our friends listening right now have been truly discipled in a way that was, normal life and they experience the good news of the gospel in time, in real time with others, speaking into and touching every area of normal life.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's
Caesar Kalinowski:good.
Caesar Kalinowski:Cause I've asked room fulls of pastors of this Heath, you know, speaking at conferences and stuff all the time.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:And very, very, very few have ever been really discipled.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's like, they've been to seminary, but they're like, but, but all of life and experience of it.
Caesar Kalinowski:And how
Heath Hollensbe:to really talk and use normal language and good news people and all one and we've talked about two It's a multiplication out an addition.
Heath Hollensbe:So if how do you make disciples if you've never been discipled yourself, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Right, you know discipleship that speaks into parenting and bedtime with kids well how you got to see that then in someone's life or dealing with disobedient kids or Discipleship walks you through moral failures of your own or others in community, and then seeing what reconciliation and restoration looks and feels like.
Caesar Kalinowski:Or when someone loses a job or gets cancer, or when a child goes wayward and loses or rejects their faith in God altogether.
Caesar Kalinowski:The gospel and discipleship is about all that stuff, man.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's not just sort of dumbed down or over complicated thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's all of life.
Caesar Kalinowski:And not in theory, but in practice, the gospel is about all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it takes place in real life, in real time, and not during just a few classes in a church building when you're a new Christian and
Heath Hollensbe:then that's it.
Heath Hollensbe:I know from talking offline with you that, um, you saw some parallels between what we're talking about here and the old show on, on the network ABC called a million little things.
Heath Hollensbe:Uh, so for those who don't know
Caesar Kalinowski:a million little things, the main character within a group of friends and he's the one guy that they all really look up to and they think he has this perfect life and it kind of looks like he is, he commits suicide like right at the beginning.
Caesar Kalinowski:Ooh.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then.
Caesar Kalinowski:The really the shows about his really closest best pal buddies and his wife and all their wives and kids They're all dumbfounded trying to figure out why how could it be him and this guy had it He was he was nice.
Caesar Kalinowski:He was perfect as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's in love with his wife, you know How could it be and that's what the show is all about and and what they find him and the rest of us the friends and all that and family slowly come to understand that there's no one thing that led up to this or the other issues that they're all facing in their lives and relationships.
Caesar Kalinowski:It was a million little things.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so that's what the show is kind of unpacking.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm not saying it's the best show or anything.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's just a show.
Caesar Kalinowski:But I was really intrigued by that.
Caesar Kalinowski:When I heard the title and then I understood the premise of the show, I thought, you know what, like discipleship is the same way.
Caesar Kalinowski:Salvation's the same way.
Caesar Kalinowski:There's not one special prayer and a certain set of teaching or singular experience that saves and sanctifies us.
Caesar Kalinowski:Discipleship, this movement from unbelief to belief, in all of life, happens in prayer.
Caesar Kalinowski:in a million little things, in like a million little ways.
Caesar Kalinowski:And yes, there is one singular life, Jesus's, and his death and resurrection that makes our new life and salvation in every area possible.
Caesar Kalinowski:But the way we experience and the way that sanctification works its way out in everyday life and conversations is through a million little things.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, and I want people to understand that like I want people to grasp it like hey Are you making disciples of people?
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, it's a million little things.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's like it's not like nope Yep, I do a one to one breakfast with a guy and we sit and we have coffee, you know Every Monday morning and you know got him to show up Sundays now, he's in a class Oh, no, but what about all the million other things of his life?
Caesar Kalinowski:How are you seeing that?
Caesar Kalinowski:How's he seeing you live that out?
Caesar Kalinowski:How's he being exposed to the way you speak to your wife and your kids and, oh, the one child of yours that's a little estranged and how are you working through that and how's the gospel keeping your heart pure in that so you're not bitter and cause you're hurt and all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like it's a million little things.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what discipleship is like.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah, and you were saying that on the show that they chose the kind of the saying everything happens for a reason To be one of the central characters prized phrases, right?
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah, that's that's his thing.
Heath Hollensbe:And it sounds sort of true
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, well, it is sort of true everything.
Caesar Kalinowski:What is it?
Caesar Kalinowski:Everything happens for a reason.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's sort of true I mean you think of Romans 8 28, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:It says and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Caesar Kalinowski:So apparently God is working out everything that happens for a purpose, his purpose and for a reason.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it's in this understanding that I think we recapture what discipleship is and was to Jesus and was always meant to be.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's life on life, life in community and life on mission in the everyday stuff of life in a million ways and conversations and experiences and hurts and joys.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it's all happening for a reason.
Caesar Kalinowski:In other words, God is bringing experiences and people.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I, I just, I see everything in life as an opportunity for discipleship.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're always in discipleship.
Caesar Kalinowski:People say, well, when do you start discipling somebody?
Caesar Kalinowski:The moment you meet.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:As soon as you meet someone, they are witnessing what it looks like to either be submitted to God, He's ruling and reigning your life, to believe what's true about Him in your life and how you get to live and treat people, or they're seeing what it looks like to live for self and self rule and maybe look just like the rest of the world.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know, but you're always in discipleship mode.
Caesar Kalinowski:in a million areas of life.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's always happening at work, when you're walking around the block, the way you speak to people, the way your kids, some person comes to the door who's, you know, from another faith and they're wearing gold badges and, you know, they're called elder something and they want to talk to you right now.
Caesar Kalinowski:How are you treating those people?
Caesar Kalinowski:Your kids are watching how you treat people.
Caesar Kalinowski:You don't slam the door like, I don't want to talk about it, I'm a Christian.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, boom, your kid's like, who's that?
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, that's the, that's the fill in the blank.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, it's like, oh, so we're always in discipleship mode.
Heath Hollensbe:Everywhere a million ways, you know, even as you're talking, I've been thinking back to episode 136 on, uh, I think we called it why you need to get to know the Holy Spirit and the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation.
Heath Hollensbe:And I think that.
Heath Hollensbe:And a lot of times we view this as like, Oh, it's my job to seal the deal.
Heath Hollensbe:I have to get this person here so that he goes through my like preordained plan on how he becomes saved.
Heath Hollensbe:And we take the Holy Spirit out of it.
Heath Hollensbe:Uh, and we talk, we've already talked a little bit about how every situation is an opportunity to move from belief to unbelief in both word and deed and thought.
Heath Hollensbe:But I think the thing that's really important is to remember that dependence on the Holy Spirit has to be central in all of this, right?
Heath Hollensbe:Amen.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yep.
Caesar Kalinowski:Amen.
Caesar Kalinowski:Amen.
Caesar Kalinowski:Underline that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Bold that for sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:Boom.
Caesar Kalinowski:Otherwise, boom.
Caesar Kalinowski:Otherwise, we, we'd need to have been taught canned responses or have classes for every possible variation of every possible situation and conversation.
Caesar Kalinowski:Remember, I was kind of tipping my hand to a little while ago, Jesus talking with his disciples right before he left to go be with our Father in heaven.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he said, there is so much more I want to tell you.
Caesar Kalinowski:But you can't bear it now.
Caesar Kalinowski:There's another translation said, but you couldn't handle it.
Caesar Kalinowski:You can't handle it.
Caesar Kalinowski:You couldn't handle the truth.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm sitting on this wall.
Caesar Kalinowski:So no, John 16, There's so much more I want to tell you, but you couldn't handle it now.
Caesar Kalinowski:But when the spirit of truth comes.
Caesar Kalinowski:He'll guide you into all truth, and he'll not speak on his own, but will tell you what he has heard.
Caesar Kalinowski:From who?
Caesar Kalinowski:The Father.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's what Jesus said.
Caesar Kalinowski:I only say what I've heard the Father say.
Caesar Kalinowski:So you're absolutely right.
Caesar Kalinowski:This million little things of life in every little situation that is ripe for discipleship If you're fluent in the gospel and you see these opportunities as discipleship versus a, well, a class only, then how would you know what to say?
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, it's the Spirit.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's the Holy Spirit that knows.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the Spirit not only knows us and our past and our future, but also knows the heart and the fears and the unbelief of that, that particular individual and that millionth little thing that you're currently involved with, with them.
Caesar Kalinowski:Exactly.
Caesar Kalinowski:So imagine that, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Having the omnipotent, sovereign God, spirit of the universe knows, knows it all, dwelling in you, that you get to communicate about all these million little things and ways to help people move from unbelief to belief.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's, it's brilliant.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's awesome.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's, it's, it's beautiful.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's beautiful.
Heath Hollensbe:You know, I know you commonly use the expression, what's next, Lord?
Heath Hollensbe:It's like a simple way of staying connected to the Spirit in life and in discipleship.
Heath Hollensbe:And I'm wondering if maybe you could take us through Maybe a time in your life where you use that model and have actually seen people becoming more like Jesus Simply by taking things one step at a time.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, there's a ton of them.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll share one that that That I I kind of I go into great depth in it and my book transformed kind of near the end in a chapter called One Life to Live.
Caesar Kalinowski:But, um, some very close friends of mine, uh, Seth and Stacy McBee, they won't mind me telling the story cause it's already in the book.
Caesar Kalinowski:But, um, they, um, they, they were getting to the point where they were, they're starting to realize the stuff we're talking about.
Caesar Kalinowski:The discipleship happens in everyday life and, and, and there was opportunities all around them and they, they want to start living more like missionaries in their neighborhood.
Caesar Kalinowski:But there was a problem not longer after they had moved into, their new house, uh, Seth had gone around knocking on doors, quote, unquote, evangelizing everyone.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, it was awesome.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you have to know this guy.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, he's, he's great.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:He, he would ask them a series of questions that he had learned from a book and sort of trick people into admitting that they had lied in their life.
Caesar Kalinowski:and probably stolen at least something small and maybe something like a pen or paperclip or something from work.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then he quoted a few verses from the Bible declaring that if they didn't believe in Jesus, they were going to go straight to hell.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow.
Caesar Kalinowski:After all, they were confessing liars and thieves.
Caesar Kalinowski:He was so rough on them.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so while there's some degree of truth in that, um, some, some, uh, will in fact have to answer for our sins, you know, we've committed generally.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, it's not a really well received way of helping folks come to know the loving pursuit of God and his son, Jesus.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, most people just told Seth, Yeah, thanks, no thanks man, slam the door, you know.
Caesar Kalinowski:But he came to me and he asked me what he should do to get started on A Bitter Foot.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he wasn't stoked with my answer and it's like what you were getting at.
Caesar Kalinowski:I told him, I said, I have no idea what you're supposed to do in your neighborhood exactly.
Caesar Kalinowski:In general, yeah, but that's ripe with opportunities.
Caesar Kalinowski:A million little things happen and they're all going on.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I suggested that he and Stacy start praying and asking the Holy Spirit, What's next?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, what's next Lord?
Caesar Kalinowski:And he, you know, he told me that my answer was a little underwhelming, thanks anyway kind of thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, and he said that it was not giving his reforming legalist, you know, mind a to do list that he wanted, you know?
Caesar Kalinowski:So anyway, um, but him and his wife, they went away and they prayed anyway.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he said it was kind of like half hearted like okay spirit.
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh, I know can you tell me what's up with my neighbors?
Caesar Kalinowski:I guess you know and all that anyway Amazingly within a day or two and independent of each other Seth and Stacy felt like the spirit was telling him something pretty strange and a little weird and But it was kind of like a little you know a little still small voice and they came and they shared what it was and It was that they were this they both heard the same thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:They were to move their barbecue grill from around back in their fenced yard and start grilling on Friday evenings out in front on their driveway.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh wow.
Caesar Kalinowski:And they live in a pretty tight little cul de sac neighborhood, kind of suburban jammed in.
Caesar Kalinowski:And they said, okay, God sounds crazy, but here we go.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, guess what?
Caesar Kalinowski:So that first Friday.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, burgers are, you can smell the burgers and brats and everything grilling away in the neighborhood, people start stopping by to talk to him like, what's going on?
Caesar Kalinowski:What are you doing?
Caesar Kalinowski:This seems a little weird, you know, cause no one's like grilling out in the driveway.
Caesar Kalinowski:Everybody had decks like crazy and fenced in yards and they just start inviting people.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then he's like, what do I, that was, that was pretty cool.
Caesar Kalinowski:People really dug it, you know, and he started having conversations and he was able to apologize for being a kind of a bad neighbor.
Caesar Kalinowski:Seriously.
Caesar Kalinowski:Some people didn't even remember it, but, um, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:But people were saying stuff like, wow, we've lived here for four or five years now.
Caesar Kalinowski:We don't hardly know anybody.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he asked me like, well, what do I do next?
Caesar Kalinowski:I said, I don't know.
Caesar Kalinowski:Ask the Holy Spirit.
Caesar Kalinowski:And what he ended up doing then, the next thing he felt like, you know, that they did was, um, They started doing, he had his first annual wiffle ball tournament and chili cook off.
Caesar Kalinowski:Awesome.
Caesar Kalinowski:Is that weird?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like the Holy Spirit had to have come up with that, you know.
Caesar Kalinowski:They ended up doing it for a while.
Caesar Kalinowski:They made little super cheap flyers, you know, kind of crappy ones.
Caesar Kalinowski:And they, they went to all 153 homes in their subdivision.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and they, people came out and they did it and they had 10 teams and over 250 people came and they, they dropped a couple bucks on trophies.
Caesar Kalinowski:And after that, a whole lot more people started showing up at the Friday night barbecues in the front yard and Seth and Stacy and other people that were starting to form a community started very intentionally spending more and more of their time with people.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, I got to jump way ahead for sake of time.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:It was not that long later, I would say within the year.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I have pictures and video of this, I get a little choked up thinking about it where they were baptizing some of those neighbors in like a horse trough thing that they borrowed in the backyard.
Caesar Kalinowski:And there's a slip and slide right next to it and the grill is going and everybody's having a blast.
Caesar Kalinowski:But there was, there was two or three neighbors that had given their life to Christ and they were like, well, you're our church, you know, and they were, they were all part of SOMA and they were part, you know, but these people were brand new.
Caesar Kalinowski:They, they were just brand new to Christ and they wanted to.
Caesar Kalinowski:seal the deal,
Caesar Kalinowski:you know,
Caesar Kalinowski:and so the beautiful, they're baptizing these, these neighbors right there in the backyard, you know, so, but I didn't know what to tell them.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and, and there again, to, to your question, the Holy Spirit knows this and we have to be super dependent because we don't have the book of every situation in transitional statement and, and, and here's the, and some people think discipleships like that for whatever comes up, if you can give a chapter and a verse, you just gospel them.
Caesar Kalinowski:No, Yeah, you just hit him up with information.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yep, exactly.
Caesar Kalinowski:Good news is good news in context.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus, you know, like he didn't go up to a blind guy and feed him.
Caesar Kalinowski:He gave him sight.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, crippled guy.
Caesar Kalinowski:He didn't go like, Hey, you know, here's your new job.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's like, no, now you get to walk.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, it's like, so good news is good news in context.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the Holy Spirit always knows what's the very next thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:I love that.
Caesar Kalinowski:What's the thing I should say to this person or ask and just listen at this point, you know?
Caesar Kalinowski:So you don't have to Hail Mary that relationship.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're always gonna be in really really good hands if you stick with the spirit Yeah,
Heath Hollensbe:so why do you think this idea of lay people making disciples is so foreign to us?
Heath Hollensbe:Like what is if we were to?
Heath Hollensbe:kind of get at the thing that's going on in our hearts when we're not feeling capable of doing this.
Heath Hollensbe:Uh, what, what's really happening?
Heath Hollensbe:Is it unbelief on our part?
Heath Hollensbe:Is it sin on our part?
Heath Hollensbe:Or is there maybe a systemic issue with the way the church is structured today?
Heath Hollensbe:That's a lot of questions.
Heath Hollensbe:I've got a million of them.
Heath Hollensbe:And how do we move to fixing this?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, I, it might be, it might be systemic in the church in, in the sense that is it really, really common in the church that your average, you know, person in there doesn't know how to make a disciple and probably doesn't even think they're supposed to.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's someone else's job.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe they're just supposed to invite people to church and let the professionals take over.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:Kind of thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's probably systemic in that sense, but I think it's maybe a little deeper than that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus said that he is the way and the truth and the life.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Underlying bold, capitalized life.
Caesar Kalinowski:He didn't say he was a way and here's some suggestions and I'm a weekend service.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm the way, I'm the truth, and I'm the life.
Caesar Kalinowski:And we must get back, I think all of us get to get back to the realization that this life as Christians, this life redeemed is meant to be just that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And all of life endeavor and experience of the gospel in a million little things in a million situations Ongoing and forever.
Caesar Kalinowski:We never stop being a disciple We never hopefully stop making disciples And we'll never be able to fit this life of faith and true discipleship for that matter Primarily into a neat little one to two hour box two or three times a month discipleship is is a normal lifestyle for Christians.
Caesar Kalinowski:Please hear that.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's good.
Caesar Kalinowski:If nothing else, discipleship's a normal lifestyle for Christians, not meant to be rare or weird or done primarily by professionals.
Caesar Kalinowski:So are, are you living the life that Jesus came and died to give you?
Caesar Kalinowski:Are you living as a family of missionary servants that sees the call and the command and privilege of making disciples as part of your highest calling and a fulfillment of God's eternal purpose in the world?
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what's behind discipleship.
Caesar Kalinowski:It is.
Caesar Kalinowski:You get to.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is the life you were created
Heath Hollensbe:to live forever.
Heath Hollensbe:And it starts now here.
Heath Hollensbe:And I can say as somebody who's come from a very structured way of doing church that actually living this way, the what's next and, and having numerous communities.
Heath Hollensbe:Live in this what's next.
Heath Hollensbe:It's so fun seeing how creative the Holy Spirit is in pursuing people's hearts.
Heath Hollensbe:It's so freeing.
Heath Hollensbe:It's all
Caesar Kalinowski:locked
Heath Hollensbe:up I don't know what
Caesar Kalinowski:to say to this guy.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know what to do next, whatever, but they start coming up I don't have a relationship, but maybe I'll give him this fire.
Caesar Kalinowski:What do I do after they start coming?
Caesar Kalinowski:I was like, I don't know, ask the Spirit, you know, all you need to know is what's next You don't need the next 10 steps.
Caesar Kalinowski:You don't need the next hundred steps to glory.
Caesar Kalinowski:All you need is the next one And just do that, you know, yeah Man, so let's get to the big three.
Caesar Kalinowski:The big three takeaways we want people to leave with right now.
Caesar Kalinowski:We'll give
Heath Hollensbe:them to you now, but in case you're at the gym or driving, don't, yeah, don't stress.
Heath Hollensbe:Go to everydaydisciple.
Heath Hollensbe:com forward slash big three.
Heath Hollensbe:Caesar, what are the big three takeaways for this week?
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay, so I, the first one, I'm gonna hit it again.
Caesar Kalinowski:I just said it twice, but discipleship is the normal lifestyle for a Christian.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if you're, if you're listening to this going like, I'm not discipling anybody, It's not normal.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, it may be common, but it's, it's not, it's not what Jesus planned and hoped for you.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus never intended that most Christians would know some stuff about him, but never really become like him and then meet up in heaven someday.
Caesar Kalinowski:That wasn't his hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:Becoming like Jesus happens while being his disciple and making other disciples.
Caesar Kalinowski:There's no other way.
Caesar Kalinowski:To maturity in Christ.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm . There's not, you just, you will not get mature with a private, personal quiet time and a sitting in silence, listening to someone else talk about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:You gotta get out of the boat, you gotta get wet.
Caesar Kalinowski:You gotta make some disciples.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus knew that.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's why he commanded it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's why he modeled that lifestyle.
Caesar Kalinowski:Second one, discipleship, and you said it earlier, we've said it a million times, but it's it's a big, it's a big takeaway.
Caesar Kalinowski:Discipleship is the process of moving from unbelief to belief about who God truly is.
Caesar Kalinowski:And what he's done in and through Jesus and what is now true of you in your life in a million little things Living out of this truth increasingly and helping others do the same is what discipleship is all about and it's how we experience Salvation here and now Jesus said if you stick with this living out what I tell you you are my disciples for sure And then you'll experience for yourself the truth and the truth will will free you.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's a message version of John.
Caesar Kalinowski:I love that man.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Beautiful.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the third is open up your heart and life to the gospel.
Caesar Kalinowski:No longer be content with securing a place in heaven, but grasp ahold of the life that Jesus came to give you now.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yes.
Caesar Kalinowski:In community with others, let your redemption show, let people see what God's doing and still working on as it happens and always be asking the Holy Spirit for guidance and insight on behalf of others and for yourself.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it may seem scary, I know, or risky, All great adventures start with a first step.
Caesar Kalinowski:What next, Lord?
Caesar Kalinowski:What is the very next step you want me to take?
Caesar Kalinowski:If you'll pray that and listen and be obedient to that, you're on your way.
Heath Hollensbe:It's fun too, man.
Heath Hollensbe:It's the adventure of a lifetime.
Heath Hollensbe:You get the Big Three download again by going to everydaydisciple.
Heath Hollensbe:com forward slash Big Three.
Heath Hollensbe:We'll give those to you right away.
Heath Hollensbe:Time's up for now.
Heath Hollensbe:Zip.
Heath Hollensbe:Zip.
Heath Hollensbe:Faster than That was a quick episode, huh?
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah.
Heath Hollensbe:Shoo!
Heath Hollensbe:A lot of content too.
Heath Hollensbe:Flew by, brother.
Heath Hollensbe:Hey, if you haven't joined our Facebook group, go to Facebook in the search bar, type in Everyday Disciple Podcast.
Heath Hollensbe:Caesar or I will approve you to the group.
Heath Hollensbe:And if you haven't left us a review or a star rating on iTunes, it's really helpful as it gets a show out in front of new listeners and And if you like the show, every week on, on Facebook, we, we post a link to it, share it on your, share it on your Facebook wall and share it with your friends and let them know why you like this show.
Heath Hollensbe:That helps us out as well.
Heath Hollensbe:Next week, we are poking a beast, poking the old beast of tithing, tithing, We're gonna talk about tithing.
Heath Hollensbe:Is it Old Testament?
Heath Hollensbe:Is it old school?
Heath Hollensbe:Is it New Testament?
Heath Hollensbe:Is it biblical?
Heath Hollensbe:Is it for us?
Heath Hollensbe:We have lots to get to on that tithing
Heath Hollensbe:episode.
Heath Hollensbe:But you know what I love is that we want to see Jesus in all of this and so, it's not like we're just going after topics that are hot button topics.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is normal life.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is the stuff.
Heath Hollensbe:Thanks for joining us today.
Heath Hollensbe:For more information on this show and to get loads of free podcasts, For free discipleship resources, visit EverydayDisciple.
Heath Hollensbe:com.
Heath Hollensbe:And remember, you really can live with the spiritual freedom and relational peace that Jesus promised every day.