When you become born again the Holy Spirit comes and makes His residence inside of you! You are the dwelling place of God! The fullness of God's life dwells in you. It is our choice to live according to that life or ignore it. (Those who live according to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but those who live according to the Spirit will receive life and peace. // Sow to the flesh, reap of the flesh, sow the spirit reap of the spirit.)

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Discipleship means: We live his WAY, according to his TRUTH, so we can experience the LIFE we've been given!

Imagine being given 1,000 acres of beautiful land with hills, lakes, forests, and waterfalls. There are diamonds in the rivers and gold in the rivers! You were given this as FREE gift for you to enjoy. Even though it was free, you still have to put your boots on and go explore so you can ENJOY it. Below is who we experience and enjoy the life Jesus has given us!

Live His WAY - If we want the life Jesus had, we must live the lifestyle Jesus lived. For example we can look at someone who is physically fit and say "I want to look like that!" But this is impossible without adopting their workout and nutritions routines. In the same way, we often look at Jesus and say "I want that peace, love, joy, and faith He had!" But we aren't willing to take up the habits, rhythms, and routines He lived in. He spent time alone with the Father, he fasted, he lived in constant community, He let the Father set His priorities. These disciplines, among others, are the WAY Jesus lived. At COL Nashville we are passionate about equipping you to live in these practices. Not just empty actions or dead ritual, but a loving, Holy-spirit empowered pursuit of God!

According to His TRUTH - Practices and habits alone are not enough, without the TRUTH of God to inform and lead them. If you are a disciple, this means that God's Word (The Bible) is now the standard by which you live your life. As you begin to fill your heart with the Word of God, you will begin to desire what he desires, love what He loves, and hate what He hates. Our goal is to believe every promise and obey every command. Remember if you are born again, you have Jesus' life inside of you, it's now your responsibility to live according to it. That's when God's power meets our acts of faith!

Experience His LIFE - As we live his WAY (habits and practices) in accordance with His TRUTH (God's word)... we will begin to experience the life that Jesus died to give us. The fruit of the Spirit will begin to grow on our lives (love, joy, peace, etc) and the gifts of the Spirit will become a normal part of our life (healing, prophecy, servanthood, etc). In other words the way of Jesus and the truth of Jesus will shape us into the character and power of Jesus!

This is what He died to give us, not just to get us into Heaven, but to get Heaven into us!