MESSAGE: Baptize, Teach, Obey             Date: 9/21/2025

SERIES: Launch

COMMUNICATOR: Pastor Josh Ramsay

CHECK-IN & SHARE WINS: What was one highlight from your week? Where have you seen Jesus at work—in your life or in the world around you? Celebrating wins helps fuel God’s mission and inspire others to join in.

THINK, DISCUSS, LIVE: These questions are great for personal reflection, group discussion, or both. They’re meant to help you grow in your faith, deepen your connection with your Jesus friends, and live it out in the world around you. 

1. Who is someone you’ve learned from in life (a teacher, coach, boss, parent, etc.) who made a lasting impact on you? What made their example so influential?
2. In your own words, what does it mean to you to be a disciple of Jesus? What practices, attitudes, or choices best describe your discipleship journey right now? Be as specific and personal as you can.
3. Jesus invited His disciples to follow Him closely—watching how He lived, prayed, treated people and taught. Make a list or discuss those specific characteristics we are to follow and model. Which one is most impressive to you and why?
4. Is there someone in your life who reminds you of Jesus by the way they live? What is it about them that makes you want to learn from their example?
5. Why is studying the Bible essential to being a disciple? What helps you stay consistent, and what tends to hold you back? Can you share one example of each from your own life?
6. Baptism is an act of obedience and a public identification with Jesus and His church. What led you to decide to get baptized? How would you encourage someone else to take this step of faith?
7. Matthew 28:20 says, “teach them to obey everything I have commanded.” Why is modeling obedience—living it out—often more powerful than just teaching with words? How does this reflect the idea of transformation over information? Can you share a time when you saw this play out in your own life?
8. You are the fruit of someone else’s discipleship. Who invested in you, and what phrase or truth did they leave with you that has stuck? What phrase or truth would you want to pass on to the next person you disciple?
9. Which of Jesus’ commands (forgive, pray, give, serve, love, go, etc.) is most challenging for you to live out right now? Why do you think that is? What’s one step you could take this week to live it out?”
10. Romans 10:14 reminds us that people can’t believe unless someone tells them. Who first shared the gospel with you? Who in your life needs to hear the good news now, and what step of faith could you take to share it with them?

TAKING NEW GROUND! This week, start this simple discipleship process with a Jesus friend and or a lost friend. 

• Invite – Build relationships and point them to Jesus. Share life over coffee, a meal, or a hobby. (Matthew 28:19-20)

• Invest – Study Scripture together, model what you teach, and walk with them through everyday life. (2 Timothy 2:2)

• Multiply – Equip them to follow Jesus and disciple others. (John 13:34-35)

Discipleship is a life-long journey: a patient process of transformation, growing to become more like Jesus.

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PRAYER OPTIONS:

• 1 & 1:  One thing to celebrate, one thing to bring to God.
• Praise Sentences: Short prayers thanking God, then pray for shared needs.
• Prayer Clusters: Groups of 2–3, share requests, pray together, and encourage each other during the week.

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NEED TO READ MORE BIBLE? 

• Read through the New Testament in one year – 1 chapter a day, 5 days a week, plus a bonus passage.
  Find it on the Canvas Church app (“Bible Reading Plan”). Listening option available.
• Read it. Think about it. Live it out.

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WORDS THAT IGNITE: Disciple

• A disciple is a learner and follower.
• The word comes from the Greek mathētēs, meaning “student” or “apprentice.”
• A disciple doesn’t just know about Jesus but learns from Him and follows His way of life. Discipleship: Do life together. Live like Jesus. Become like Jesus. Help others do the same.

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CANVAS+ Looking for some great content to help you grow in your faith? 

Check out Canvas Plus, a totally FREE content streaming platform found exclusively in the Canvas App.