Share Life with God – Making Disciples
Share Life with God
Together Church | Pastor Brandon Werner
August 30, 2026 | Series: Making Disciples
INTRODUCTION
This message will set up the “container” for the last half of this series.
- We’ve exposited the Great Commission and Jesus’ mandate to go make disciples
- We defined what a disciple is by examining Jesus’ words when He first called His disciples
- And last week was special…
We heard from Rev Paul Karani and we’re reminded that – when we simplify Jesus’ commands and example clearly – it looks the same across continents, cultures, civilizations, and throughout time.
We’ve laid the foundation.
Now, we’ll get into the FUNDAMENTALS.
A fundamental is a basic building block for success in any discipline. Whether you are playing an instrument, honing a craft, developing your skills as an athlete, or advancing in a profession… you must learn the fundamentals.
As we finish out this series, our goal will be to look at Jesus and break down the fundamentals for making disciples into bite-size pieces.
So, over the next few weeks, we’ll cover these fundamentals of disciple-making. I encourage you, write these down:
Making disciples like Jesus means we…
- Share Life
- Share Love
- Share Lessons
We used those three L’s to make them easier to remember (repeat).
Some of you are familiar with the Discipleship Wheel or you are going through the 13-week Bible study on discipleship right now.
When you see this, don’t think of these fundamentals as another section on the wheel… they apply to every part of it.
Regardless of the stage, the quadrant, or where people are at in spiritual maturity, these fundamentals are always at play.
Disciple-making always involves sharing life, sharing love, and sharing lessons. You’ll be able to trace anything else you learn about making disciples back to these fundamental practices.
That’s the roadmap.
Today, we’ll look at the first one… SHARE LIFE.
What do you think about when you hear “share life”?
The first thing that comes to my mind is the example of Jesus and how He shared His life with those He was discipling.
THAT’S a great lesson… and we will get to it next week. But we must resist the urge to start there. Why?
Because there is one relationship where sharing life matters most.
Without this relationship, even the most well-intentioned or well-trained disciple-maker will be totally ineffective.
I think you know…
I’m talking about your relationship with God.
The first fundamental of making disciples is that the disciple-maker MUST SHARE LIFE WITH GOD.
What I’m saying is that making disciples is beyond your ability.
It’s outside your capabilities.
You can’t do it.
The work is above your pay grade.
But making disciples IS POSSIBLE when we SHARE LIFE with God and learn to depend on His power.
This fundamental is the ultimate key to success for the disciple-maker.
We LITERALLY cannot fulfill His mission apart from sharing life with God. He is our source and our supply.
BODY
Once again, let’s start with the words of Jesus – the best disciple-maker of all time.
Turn with me to Matthew 16:18…
Remember what was happening:
- Jesus had already recruited His disciples and appointed twelve to be apostles (His small group / His inner circle).
- By now, Jesus’ disciples had witnessed many miracles, heard many teachings, and had several experiences doing ministry with Jesus.
- Then, Jesus took them on a retreat.
During that retreat, they got some time to debrief.
Listen to this question and response on the retreat that leads into our verse…
Matthew 16:13-18
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Peter’s response to Jesus’ question is known as “The Great Confession” – he declared that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God!
Jesus celebrated Peter’s response, then He made this prophetic statement about His Church…
Matthew 16:18b
“I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
This is another first in the gospel of Matthew.
This is the first time the word “church” is used…
- By Jesus
- In Matthew’s gospel
- Or in the entire New Testament
And what does Jesus reveal about His Church?
He made it clear… He said, “I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH.”
Who builds His Church?
Me?
You?
Pastors?
Evangelists?
Group leaders?
Disciple-makers?
No!
JESUS BUILDS HIS CHURCH.
And whose church is it?
It’s not our church… it is HIS CHURCH.
JESUS BUILDS HIS CHURCH…
- Unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor, labor in vain.
- Not by our might or power, but by MY SPIRIT says the Lord of hosts.
You cannot accomplish the work of God in human strength.
Apart from Jesus, you can do nothing.
That’s exactly what Jesus said.
Turn with me now to John 15…
Again, let’s set the scene.
Fast-forward to the end of Jesus’ ministry – moments before He went to the cross and gave His life for us.
Who is Jesus speaking to?
He’s speaking to His apostles.
Well, most of them.
Who’s missing from the twelve?
Judas. He had already left to betray Jesus.
So, in John 15, Jesus is speaking to the eleven remaining apostles. That context matters for proper interpretation.
Now let’s read it…
John 15:1-8
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
In these verses, Jesus tells the eleven to ABIDE.
To abide simply means “to remain.”
So, we can understand it like this…
Jesus said, “ABIDE (remain) in Me, and I in you.”
What does it mean to abide (or remain) in Jesus?
Certainly, Judas is an immediate example of someone who did not remain with Jesus… he was out betraying Him while these words were being spoken!
Judas wasn’t the first. There are several examples in the gospel accounts of people choosing not to follow Jesus or deserting Him.
But the eleven didn’t leave.
Through the trials and tests,
Through their own weaknesses and failures,
They loved Jesus and remained.
So, what does it mean to abide in Jesus?
For starters, very simply, to abide in Jesus means to remain in Him.
More specifically…
Abiding in Jesus means remaining dependent on His power.
That’s what Jesus said in this passage through His illustration about the vine and branches…
“As the branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides…”
“Neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
“Apart from me you can do nothing.”
Abiding in Jesus means remaining dependent on God’s power…
- First and foremost, that means depending on His power to save you.
What does that mean? To depend on God’s power for salvation?
SHARE THE GOSPEL
To abide in Jesus means remaining dependent on His power to save us and to make us new creations in Christ!
The eleven remained… they depended on Jesus’ power to save them. And Jesus said…
John 15:3
Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Jesus is the only one who has power to save.
Despite struggles, tests, and even failures, the eleven were abiding in Jesus… they remained dependent on God’s power for salvation.
If you are a disciple of Jesus, your Christian life BEGAN when you relied completely on God’s power to do what you could not do – saving you from sin and giving you new life in Him.
But sometimes we live like dependence on God’s power ENDED there.
Abiding in Jesus doesn’t just mean remaining dependent on His power for salvation…
Abiding in Jesus means remaining dependent on His power for EVERYTHING…
- Especially for doing His work and bearing His fruit!
That’s what Jesus said.
The point goes beyond, “Apart from me you cannot be saved.”
Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do NOTHING.”
To make the point, Jesus gives us an illustration with four identities:
- A vine (Jesus)
- A vinedresser (the Father)
- A branch that bears no fruit (those not abiding in Him)
- A branch that bears fruit (those who abide in Him)
The illustration is clear and straightforward…
The only way a branch can bear fruit is by abiding in the vine.
I brought a branch…
ILLUSTRATION:
If we all try really hard, do you think we could get this branch to grow some fruit together?
Maybe we could make it look like it is growing some fruit by taping an orange to it or something.
I’m afraid that’s what a lot of disciples and even a lot of churches are doing… performing to make something look fruitful but the fruit isn’t real.
Is that what some of us are doing?
Are we attempting to do God’s work in our own power? Do we really believe that – what began in the power of the Spirit – can now be perfected in the power of the flesh and in our own strength?
The power to produce fruit must come from the vine.
And that brings us back to the principle for making disciples…
You cannot do this in your own power…
You are dependent on Jesus and on the power of the Holy Spirit to do His work through you!
There are some phrases I hear often from people in the church. I heard several of these in the past week…
- I’m just feeling empty
- I need a break
- I’m tired and feeling burnt out
Listen, I’m not trying to make you feel guilty if you feel this way.
I relate to all those things.
- There are times I want to give up.
- There are times I don’t feel like remaining.
- Several times, I’ve thought about quitting my job and doing something else.
I’m not against you.
I’m right there with you.
And sometimes you really ARE tired.
Sometimes you need to intentionally rest.
But here’s what I’ve learned in my walk with Jesus…
When I feel spiritually empty—when I’m running out of strength to do the work God has called me to do—that feeling isn’t a call to quit.
It’s an alarm reminding me to depend on God’s power!
So often, when someone expresses feelings like these to me, I’ve followed up by asking, “Tell me how your time with the Lord has been recently.”
Do you know what is almost always the answer? Guess.
- It has been pretty much non-existent, OR
- It has felt really dry—like going through the motions.
Do you think it is possible those things are related?
Not because every tired Christian has a bad devotional life.
But because you cannot continually POUR OUT spiritually without continually DRAWING FROM the Source.
No one can accomplish the work of God in human strength.
There’s nothing down that road.
His work demands His power.
ILLUSTRATION: Eloise Murdoch
Pastor Jerry tells this story about Eloise Murdoch.
If you didn’t know Eloise, she was a member of our church for more than 30 years. She went home to be with the Lord in March of 2025.
Eloise lived her life connected to God’s power.
- She was a prayer warrior.
- She was a disciple-maker.
- She was a lifelong student of God’s Word.
- She was a faithful witness to her family, friends, and others.
In fact, when Eloise was 84 years old, she brought a lifelong friend to church who eventually professed faith in Jesus and was baptized!
During COVID, Pastor Jerry and Saundra went to visit Eloise at her house. While they were there, Eloise mentioned that her TV hadn’t worked for several weeks.
Jerry offered to take a look.
The first thing he checked was the power supply.
The cord ran behind a piece of furniture, so Jerry moved it out of the way. And sure enough—the cord was plugged in, but it wasn’t plugged in ALL THE WAY.
Jerry pushed the plug into the outlet, grabbed the remote, and the TV came right on!
Eloise asked, “How did you fix it?”
Jerry said, “I plugged it in!”
And they all had a good laugh.
Eloise’s TV had been sitting there for weeks with everything it needed to work. But without a connection to its power source, it couldn’t do anything.
Her TV couldn’t function disconnected from its power source. Eloise knew neither could she.
She knew she could not do the work of God in human strength.
She remained connected to her Supply.
She abided in the Vine.
She depended on God’s power to do His work.
That’s what she did.
Are you?
CONCLUSION
Are you depending on God’s power in your life?
You cannot do the work of God in the strength of man.
How do we do it?
How do we depend on God’s power?
What’s the formula?
We like prescriptions, don’t we?
I can’t just give you a prescription on this because I know a lot of spiritually mature people who are depending on God’s power… and it doesn’t always look the same in practice in their lives!
In fact, it doesn’t even always look the same in my life…
- Sometimes I find greater intentionality after I go on a run and then sit on my back porch to spend time with God.
- Sometimes I go to a specific corner of my office, get on my face before the Lord, and seek Him there.
- Sometimes I find a piano and start playing, singing, and worshipping God.
- Sometimes I stir up greater dependence on the Lord when I gather with God’s people like this, in a small group, or even in a casual setting.
I know Pastor Jerry seeks the Lord on an early morning walk literally almost every single morning.
My wife connects with God through writing, praise music on in the house, or time in the country.
All these practices are good, but they could all be done without a posture of deepening dependence on God’s power. Why?
Because depending on God’s power isn’t about your performance… it’s about your dependence on a Person…
THE PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Listen to what Jesus said to the eleven apostles in the garden moments before He gave them the illustration of the vine and branches…
John 14:16-17
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
And here’s what He said to His disciples just before He ascended into heaven after His resurrection…
Acts 1:8a
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…”
Sharing life with God is not depending on your performance… it is dependence on a Person… the Holy Spirit.
The gospels reveal that Jesus Himself constantly depended on the power of the Holy Spirit in His ministry!
- In Matthew 3:16, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus at His baptism… every gospel writer shows that Jesus’ public ministry only begins after the Spirit comes upon Him.
- In Luke 4:1, Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit”
- In Luke 4:14, Jesus ministered “in the power of the Spirit”
- In Luke 4:18, Jesus depended on the power of the Spirit to fulfill His mission: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me…”
We’re talking about JESUS!
The Son of God incarnate!
If He depended on the power of the Spirit in His life, how much more do you and I need to depend on the Holy Spirit’s power?
If you are a Christian, you have depended on God’s power to do a work in your life that you couldn’t do on your own before…
You depended on God’s power for your salvation!
That your sins would be forgiven and you would have new life in Jesus.
You know what?
He did it! His power at work in you was enough.
We’ve got to understand that is the beginning of abiding!
Jesus didn’t just call His disciples to abide in Him for salvation… we are to abide in Him for EVERYTHING.
Apart from Him, we can do nothing.
It is so easy for the believer to miss this on one side or the other:
On one side, the believer who is not depending on God’s power is immobilized by fear.
- What will others think of me?
- I don’t feel qualified.
- I don’t feel capable.
- What if I do it wrong?
- I don’t think I’m good enough.
And that believer sidelines themselves from God’s mission because they are not depending on God’s power.
But if we get that down, we can stumble off the other side:
- Make a disciple? I know how to do that!
- I’ve done all the trainings and know all the tricks.
- I’ve done this before, I can do it again.
- Share the gospel? No problem. I can do that.
- Minister to others? Lead a ministry? I’ve got this.
And reliance on self slowly replaces dependence on the Holy Spirit’s power.
And listen—
I’m going to say something that may surprise some of you.
Around here, we constantly remind you of the WHOLE gospel – your new nature and who you are in Christ.
But hear me—
Even our new identity in Christ does not free us from dependence on the PERSON of the Holy Spirit to do God’s work EVERY TIME!
If Jesus depended on the Spirit’s power, SO DO WE.
We never outgrow needing God’s power to do God’s work.
INVITATION
This is your invitation this morning…
Will you believe that, apart from Him, you can do nothing?
Will you choose to share life with God?
Will you depend on God’s power to do His work?
INVITATION – LOST
I’m talking to someone specific now…
God has been working in your life. He’s brought you here this morning. You know He is calling you…
But you haven’t fully yielded yet.
You haven’t surrendered your life to follow Jesus.
If that is you, you aren’t here by accident.
God brought you here so that you could depend on His power – right now – to be SAVED. Forgiven of your sins and given new life in Jesus.
Before you can depend on God’s power to do His work, you must first depend on God’s power to save you and give you new life in Jesus.