Sermon Notes from Westheights Community Church

BECOMING LIKE JESUS

Message by Paul Kiss - October 19, 2025

BIG IDEA: Discipleship is about becoming more and more like Jesus. The more we live his teaching, the more like him we become.

"Information"

We are all drowning in "information" in our world today. There is so much information about absolutely anything.
And now AI has made "information" even easier to access.
Information can be good, but the challenge most people have is allowing information to lead to transformation.
When it comes to discipleship, we desire "information" over "transformation."
But discipleship is about transformation. You likely don't need any more information about following Jesus. But you do need to let it turn into transformation, and that's the more challenging part.

"The invitation to follow the way of Jesus doesn't help us cope with the busy lives we have or support our quest for the Canadian dream. It does offer us a radical alternative to the ways of this world that are making us hurried, weary and tired." -- Scandrette, Mark. Practicing the way of Jesus (p. 36). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Matthew 7:24 Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.

John 14:23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

John 13:34-35 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

"God is more concerned about how well you love than how much you know."

LIVING HIS TEACHING

What happens when we start inviting the Spirit of Christ to work in us the ability to live out these difficult teachings?
This is the part of the journey of becoming more like Jesus.
One of the best ways to get to know Jesus is to follow in his way, and one of the best ways to do that is to live out his teaching. His teaching is an invitation to follow him in this way and thus know his heart.

PICK AND CHOOSE TABLE

A few areas we tend to skip over as we talk about Jesus and his teaching (often the teachings we tend to leave on the table):

Grace for the unloveable (Matthew 9)
Forgiveness to those who have hurt you (Matthew 6:14-15)
Reconciliation with those estranged to you (Matthew 5:23-24)
Generosity to those in need (Matthew 5:42; 6:19-21)
Peacemaking over violence (Matthew 5:38-45)

LEANING IN

These are hard things to do, and we often can't. So what do we do? Lean in...

Start with what you can do and move on prayerfully from there, asking him to show you what he'd like you to focus on next.
Don't do this alone. Faith is meant to be lived in community. That means you'll have to be honest with others about where you're at and where you hope to be - and all the failure in between (AKA sin).
Celebrate your successes and give credit to God's work in your life - the Spirit of Freedom that is transforming you more and more to be like Jesus, as you partner with him.
Give grace to failure. Try again, repeating steps 1-3.

Galatians 5:16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

SIGNS

A few signs that you're becoming more and more like Jesus (Gal. 5:22 - your life is characterized by the fruit of the spirit):

You're more interested in knowing Jesus than studying Jesus.
Your life is becoming more about others than you (Gal. 5:13-15).
Your attitude to "others" is more open.
You find yourself talking to God... a lot... throughout your day.
You're less interested in convincing others what to believe than inviting them on a journey with Jesus.
You're less afraid of God than you used to be (1 John 4:17-18).

About Paul Kiss: Paul is an ordained pastor within the BIC for over 30 years. His first full-time pastoral role was right here at Westheights, with Dave Illman. He has been married to Claire for over 30 years as well and is father to Carolyn, Joanna and Daniel and Papa to Addie, Opal, Beau and Truett.

Paul recently transitioned from pastoring, to running his own business, helping companies create healthier workplace cultures. He is a Culture Catalyst who offers in person training, coaching and Keynote speaking in the areas of interpersonal skills.

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