About this episode
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? In this episode, Pastor Drew Rogers and Pastor Kurtis Rogers discuss the biblical meaning of discipleship and why Jesus called His followers to do more than simply believe. Together, they explore obedience, spiritual growth, disciple-making, and the mission Christ gave to His Church. The conversation examines the difference between being a believer and being a fully committed disciple, the importance of teaching others to follow Jesus, and how ordinary Christians can participate in fulfilling the Great Commission. If you've ever wondered what discipleship looks like in everyday life, this episode will encourage and challenge you to take the next step in following Christ.
Key takeaways
- A disciple is a learner and follower of Jesus, and discipleship is teaching others how to follow Jesus, not gathering followers of your own — John the Baptist pointed his own disciples to Christ, so a good discipler ends up with no disciples.
- Discipleship is more than abstaining from sin: the rich young ruler kept the commandments but would not forsake everything, and the Pharisees kept the law better than anybody without being Jesus' disciples.
- The goal is to become more like Christ, so discipleship is relational rather than behavioral — as you move toward Jesus, you move away from the world by default.
- Discipleship is obedience to the master; Jesus attached conditions to being his disciple, and following the crowd, going to church, or attending religious activities does not make someone a disciple.
- A person can be saved and still not be a fully committed disciple, because works neither gain nor keep salvation — but a true disciple, like Peter in John 6, has nowhere else to go.
- Believers stall out for reasons the pastors named as not being hungry and thirsty enough for righteousness, misunderstanding what full commitment is, and self-indulgence; they suggested modern Christianity has produced converts but not disciples, and that living for Christ daily is harder than dying for him once.
- Discipleship makes disciples who make disciples, which is the plain rendering of the great commission — "go and make disciples of all nations" — and that multiplication, not church programs, is how the world gets reached and how churches end up with successors.
From the conversation
"So what is a disciple? It is a follower. It is a learner of Jesus."Pastor Drew Rogers
"A good discipler ends up with no disciples, because he disciples them to ultimately follow Jesus on their own."Pastor Kurtis Rogers
"As a believer, I get saved and the Holy Spirit is living inside of 11-year-old little Drew. But I don't believe until I was 26 or 27 years old was I ever truly Spirit-filled."Pastor Drew Rogers
Scripture referenced
- Hebrews 12:2 — "Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (paraphrased)
- John 1:35-37 — John the Baptist points his disciples to "the Lamb of God" and they follow Jesus
- Matthew 19 — the rich young ruler
- John 13:35 — "by this you should know you're my disciples if you have love one for another" (paraphrased)
- Luke 14:26-27 — hating father and mother, taking up your cross (paraphrased)
- Matthew 4:19 — "Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men"
- Romans 10:9, 13 — calling on the name of Jesus and confessing him as Lord to be saved (paraphrased)
- Matthew 7:16-20 — knowing them by their fruit (paraphrased)
- John 15:1 — "I'm the vine, my Father's the husbandman" (paraphrased)
- John 6:37 — "he will in no wise cast us out" (paraphrased)
- John 6 — "I am the bread of life," eating his flesh and drinking his blood; John 6:66, many disciples "went back and walked no more with him"; John 6:68, "Lord, to whom shall we go?"
- 1 Corinthians 15:31 — "I die daily" (paraphrased)
- Galatians 2:20 — crucified with Christ (paraphrased)
- Philippians 3:10 — the fellowship of his sufferings, made conformable to his death (paraphrased)
- Matthew 5, 6 and 7 — the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, including "blessed are those which are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, for they shall be filled"
- Philippians 3:13-14 — forgetting the things behind and pressing forward (paraphrased)
- 1 Corinthians 2-3 — the carnal and the spiritual, feeding milk instead of meat
- John 21 — "Peter, do you love me?" and "what is that to you? Follow me" (paraphrased)
- 1 Corinthians 11, 12 or 13 — "we are all baptized into one Spirit" (speaker was unsure of the chapter)
- James 2 — "show me your faith, I'll show you my works"
- Ephesians 2:8-9 — "not of works lest any man should boast"
- Philippians 2:12 — working out our salvation (paraphrased)
- Titus 2 — godly men teaching young men, older ladies teaching other ladies
- 2 Timothy 2:1-2 — "the things that thou hast heard of me, commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also"
- 2 Timothy — Timothy having known the scriptures from a young age, learned from his grandmother and mother (paraphrased)
- Matthew 28:18-20 — the great commission, "go and make disciples of all nations"
- Acts 1:10-11 — the angels appearing to the disciples after Jesus ascends (paraphrased)
- Acts 2 — the church going from 12 to 120 to 3,000
- Acts 19 — all of Asia having heard the gospel
Mentioned in this episode
- Adrian Rogers — quoted: "two words that cannot go together in the English language are 'no Lord'"
- Pastor John Wilkerson — quoted: "there is no success without successors"
- Rogers City Baptist Church — the church hosting the stream after the Wednesday night service was canceled for weather; members were invited to text prayer requests
- Tower — the church where one of the pastors took over the pastorate in 2025, referred to repeatedly as "Tower" (auto-captions render it as both "tower" and "power")
- Dillon McCurdy — named as the co-host with whom one of the pastors has discussed lordship on the In the Midst podcast
- In the Midst podcast — referenced as the place these lordship conversations have happened before
- Ethan, the Balises and the Warwicks — named as part of the generation of young families discipled over the last 15 years who now form the core of the church (surname spellings uncertain in the auto-captions)
Discussion questions
Take it further
- They said discipleship is more than not sinning. Where do you find yourself measuring your walk by the things you avoid rather than by how you are following Christ?
- Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell everything and follow him. What has Christ asked of you that you have hesitated over or called unreasonable?
- Adrian Rogers said "no" and "Lord" cannot go together. When was the last time you said "no, Lord," and what made obedience hard in that moment?
- Peter answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Is following Jesus still a decision you weigh each time, or have you reached the point where there is nowhere else to go?
- They said it is harder to live for Christ daily than to die for him once. What does daily dying to self look like this week for you?
- 2 Timothy 2:2 says to commit what you have heard to faithful people who can teach others. Who are the one or two people you could begin teaching so they can teach someone else?
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