It's much easier than you think
Making disciples who make disciples isn't hard for anyone! What?
I pray for God to send me a person of peace who is open and ready to know Jesus personally. God always comes through, that's what God does. It is likely that this person is someone who will multiply other disciples quickly.
Everywhere I go I look for opportunities and God-opened doors and when I look at life that way everyday I have discipleship moments with others to show Jesus and His love to others. Many just go through life and never notice the people around them. Even believers do this and that is the saddest part of all. Even I confess my own sin, because that was me also.
You will know it when God puts an opportunity for discipling someone to Jesus by sharing as the person and Jesus opens the door.
Before you know it your new friend finds Jesus and you keep walking with your friend in a discipling relationship and you let your new believer experience the same joy you experienced by making sure they know Jesus wants one of their first acts of service to be that of leading others to Jesus. And you do it over and over again as do they.
This is not about making you feel worse -this is about helping you receive the fullness and joy of doing what Jesus commands. If we don't follow His Great Commission we also lose the joy of seeing lives transformed and souls layed up in heaven for eternity.
I love the simplicity of it all and the joys that follow. I will never leave this for I have tasted the joy and I can hardly wait to see the souls in heaven because Jesus used me. The best part is you can have this also.
posted by Bob Carder @ 9:52 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Bob - I can tell that you have found incredible fulfillment in being a disciplemaker. That is so awesome!
I think part of the problem is that if you ask a Christian if they know someone who needs to be "discipled," they will likely think of someone who is a new believer that needs to be grounded in their faith. Rarely do Christians understand that disciplemaking starts with non-disciples (non-believers). When Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples...", He wasn't commanding His followers to find other Christ-followers to baptize and teach to obey. He was commanding His followers to find non-disciples who needed to hear the gospel message and be transformed by believeing in Christ alone and His work on the cross and resurrection from the dead.
Keep pressing on my friend!
Dave - you hit it out of the park with this one. Just ask the questions and you will find out how true this is.
1. Are you making disciples?
2. How many of your disciples have not made a decision about Christ?
So many spend so much time maturing disciples that they often forget to make new ones. I believe the best wau to mature a new believer is to get them making disciples.
Bob, thanks for your reply, I hope I didn't appear too stirred up. I didn't want to seem defensive or upset, but just spur on more conversation.
I'm still not comfortable with saying the Great Commission was commanded for all believers. What I AM certain about, however, and I know we have the same desire here, is that when people truly get to know God, they can't stand the thought of the other people in their life not knowing God. It comes out of a desperate love for others to experience life in Christ. So even for believers who don't necessarily think the Great Commission is a commandment for everybody, if they have a growing relationship with Christ, they will long to see others know Christ regardless of their belief about the Great Commission.
This brings up another question I hope you'll weigh in on. If we have all these churches full of people who believe in Jesus, but many don't have that desperate longing to see others come to Christ, what has gone wrong? It might be just as important to answer that question as it is to answer whether or not people believe the Great Commission was intended for them.
You noticed I showed our last conversation to Dusty because as I was thinking it through, I was just curious what he thought about it all. So I pointed him in your blog's direction, too.
I hope you're well, brother. Much love.
Here's a fun example: Let’s say someone is the next Billy Graham, and they’re personally involved in leading thousands to Christ. He runs into a tough spiritual time, and his ministry will be in jeopardy if he can’t get through it. His wife helps lead him out of this time of trial, and he comes back better than ever, continuing to lead many to Christ. Without her, many people may have not been reached. Even if she never personally leads someone to Christ, I don’t see how she could not be fulfilling the Great Commission.
There's so much complexity in relationships and how God moves, I don't think situations such as these can be discounted.
I understand the point though...if we truly believe and love Him, we'll seek to make disciples. Many are put off by the image of ourselves using a salesmanship approach, but when we're loving as God would have us, it's not going to be that way.
Very thought provoking stuff. I don't believe I've said it before, but your passion and service are an inspiration. Thank you.
Dusty, Great example. The point is we love Jesus so much that we cannot help but let Jesus flow us. Our relationship with Jesus is so strong He oozes out of us.
Other than Billy Graham who has a clear gift of evangelism to reach large groups of people who will need to be disciples along the way, we are all gifted to share Jesus wherever we are as they or God open the door.
Dusty, I can see you engaging someone who does not know Jesus in a restaurant or wherever and they engage you and ask questions and you answer and they want to know what is different in your life and you tell them Jesus! They want Jesus so they keep persuing Him through you and you lead that person to Jesus -not a certain prayer but one from their heart -you cannot mess it up because God is faithful and He will lead you through it. How can you go wrong? A person is made ready for eternity and as you continue meeting with him -He leads another and another to Jesus.
This is discipleship and this is what the Great Commission and the Life of Jesus is all about.
God wants to use you, why not ask Him to put someone who is ready for Jesus in your life? Beware: If you ask, He will do it and somone will come to Jesus because you allowed Him to use and work through you.
What joy, if only you will test this out for youself. Why would you wait in comfort when souls are going into eternity without Jesus..?
Dusty, my passion is yours as a Christ follower and God is drawn to passion that seeks to follow His commands.
If you want to make a difference and if you want your life to count for eternity- God shows you the way to experience life in the full.
Step out of the boat and onto the water - where fear and timidity are forced to leave you and where God's supernatural power falls in her place.
Adam said: "I'm still not comfortable with saying the Great Commission was commanded for all believers."
I am curious who you think the commandment to make disciples is for? Maybe if we just focused on getting those people who you think are commanded to make disciples to do it - we'd still be making progress.
And if this commandment isn't for all believers, are there other commandments in Scripture that don't apply to me? I'd love to know which ones I don't have to obey.
I love the fact that Jesus says in the Great Commission - "Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all that I commanded you." It seems to me that whatever commands were given to the disciples (including this one) are the commands that were included in "all that I commanded you." The imperative/command is to make disciples who are baptized and then obey all His commands - including the command to make disciples who are baptized and then obey all His commands. That's spiritual reproduction/multiplication. And every follower of Jesus obeys His commands. In fact, obedience is the first distinctive of a disciple. Jesus said in John 14:15, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." Only those who obey God's commands in His Word demonstrate their love for Him.
Maybe that's at the core of your second question - "If we have all these churches full of people who believe in Jesus, but many don't have that desperate longing to see others come to Christ, what has gone wrong?" It's a love issue. They may love going to church and worshipping and fellowshipping with Christians - they just don't love Jesus enough to do what He commands.
Keith Phillips notes, "When there is a conflict between God's Word and one's feelings, a disciple wills to do what God says. That is what Christianity is all about." (The Making of a Disciple, p. 44)
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