Spirit Empowered Church Part 1: What is a Disciple

Spirit Empowered Church

Part 1: What is a Disciple?
Luke 9:21-27
Pastor Ray-ann Dela Fuente
August 2, 2026

Theme Verse:
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20 NLT

Introduction:
Welcome to another exciting Sunday here at the River of Faith! Today we are starting a new series I entitled "Spirit Empowered Church." In this series we are going to re-train ourselves of our Vision, Mission, and Purpose as we enter the month of August as our anniversary month and celebrate our 21st year anniversary. Today I want to speak to you about being a disciple.

Vision Statement:
A Spirit-empowered church committed to give the people of San Diego the best opportunity to come to Christ and be transformed by His amazing Love.

Mission Statement:
We are committed to invite people to COME to Christ.
We are committed to LIVE according to the Word of God.
We are committed to SHARE the Gospel to the whole world.

Purpose:
Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Evangelism, Ministry

A disciple simply means a follower or a student. Someone who willingly submits into learning from another. In Christianity a disciple is someone who accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior and is equipped by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Discipleship is the process that required a believer to walk in obedience to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This requires a disciplined life of studying the Word of God, meditating and praying over it, and obeying it. Jesus gives everyone the invitation to come to Him. Discipleship is when we accept that invitation and choose to follow Him for the rest of our lives.

“Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was. “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God.””
Luke 9:21-27 NLT

Main Pointers:

1. Denying of oneself.

A. Jesus spoke here the true words of the essence of a disciple. He started by self-denial. Jesus knows that the biggest hindrance for anyone to be His true disciple is self- centeredness. We cannot be a disciple of Christ if we cannot put Him first above everything else.

B. “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:26 NLT

2. A call to an ultimate surrender.

A. For many they misunderstood the “cross” as some burden that they must carry in their life as Christian to verify that they are a true disciple of Christ. In the Biblical context of the “cross” we know that it only means one thing– death. To carry one’s “cross” means that we must answer to the call of an ultimate surrender to Christ no matter what the cost.

B. “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
Philippians 2:8 NKJV

C. “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’”
Luke 14:28-30 NLT

3. Not just a moment but a life of obedience.

A. Obedience is the true test of discipleship. There is no other way to show if we are true disciples of Jesus other than our obedience to Him.
B. “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32 NLT

Conclusion:
A changed life. That is the result when someone genuinely surrenders everything to Jesus Christ. This is a non refutable fact that the more we become obedient to Jesus and we learn to follow His ways the more our lives change. A true disciple of Jesus bears much fruit.

“When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”
John 15:8 NLT