SPEAKER_00: But if you'd open your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 8, we are continuing our series called The People on Mission.
SPEAKER_00: Usually we do walk through a book of the Bible verse by verse.
SPEAKER_00: A couple weeks ago we finished the book of James, and we'll be starting the book of Nehemiah here in a couple weeks after this series.
SPEAKER_00: But we'll be in Matthew chapter 28.
SPEAKER_00: Miss Irma's excited about it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited too.
SPEAKER_00: But Matthew chapter 28.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know me, my name is Pastor Sammy.
SPEAKER_00: I'm one of the pastors here at Idawald at the Springs.
SPEAKER_00: We are glad that you are here with us.
SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you a question.
SPEAKER_00: If I came to you today after service, and I said, hey, I have a new believer, a person who's just decided to follow Jesus, could you disciple them?
SPEAKER_00: Can you teach them?
SPEAKER_00: Can you train them to observe and follow the commands of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe someone who was saved through Adopt a Block Ministry or Hope Cafe or someone during the service responds to the message of the gospel and receives it.
SPEAKER_00: Do you feel like you would be able to disciple that person?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe in some of your hearts it's a maybe.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a yes.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a no.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's some uncertainty.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about a painter.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe someone who, for a living, they paint houses or paint rooms, and they've been doing this as a profession for maybe 10 years, 15 years, maybe more than that.
SPEAKER_00: And imagine me going to a painter and asking this painter, hey, there's someone who needs work, who needs a job.
SPEAKER_00: Can you teach this person how to paint?
SPEAKER_00: What do you think that painter would say?
SPEAKER_00: He'd probably be able to do that.
SPEAKER_00: They have the experience of doing that painting for so long, they would be able to take that person, put them under their wing, and train them and teach them what it means to paint so much so that eventually the person who was trained under him would what?
SPEAKER_00: Be able to train someone else.
SPEAKER_00: But unfortunately, today in the church, if we're honest, there are some of us who have been followers of Jesus, disciples of Jesus for many years, who have never made a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're honest, we'd say, I don't even know how to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And so listen today, this is not a condemnation from the Word of God, this is an invitation.
SPEAKER_00: That in this passage, you will receive the greatest invitation, the greatest mission to ever exist on this world in making disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Because some of us, as we're, as we think about this conversation of sharing Jesus with others or teaching about Jesus in our hearts, there's a lot of uncertainty.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of doubt.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of, am I capable of doing this?
SPEAKER_00: How do I do this?
SPEAKER_00: I've never done this before.
SPEAKER_00: Is it even for me?
SPEAKER_00: And so my goal today is not to answer all the questions of how do I share the gospel or what does it look like to make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: My goal for you today is just for you to take the next step.
SPEAKER_00: To start taking this call seriously on making disciples of all the nations.
SPEAKER_00: And so here in Matthew 28 in our text, just as we may have some uncertainty of this commission and calling the disciples here with Jesus and his final moments, who spend three years with them, is getting ready to go.
SPEAKER_00: And this verse we'll see there is some uncertainty, there is some doubts, and Jesus speaks to them in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: And so the question that our text is going to answer today is how can ordinary people make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: How can ordinary people like you and me make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: And so let's, as is tradition here at the spring, stand in reverence for those of us who are able to for the reading of the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: This is us declaring as a church that we are grounded on the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That everything that we say and we do is from his word.
SPEAKER_00: And so we've come hungry, we've come expectant, ready to receive from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 28, starting in verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
SPEAKER_00: And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
SPEAKER_00: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, we just pray in this moment, asking for your help.
SPEAKER_00: I ask for your help as I stand here that I would speak truthfully of what your word has already said here.
SPEAKER_00: Lord God, we pray that every person here who is a follower of you would feel the depth and the sense of this commission, this calling, Lord God, that it is for every single one of us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So we pray that we'd be not just hearers, but doers of your word.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Here in Matthew 28, we're jumping in the very end of the book of Matthew.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew was one of writers of the four gospels.
SPEAKER_00: He was an eyewitness to Jesus and wrote down what he saw as a disciple of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote down of the birth of Jesus, the life of Jesus, the death and resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: And now Matthew here writes Jesus' final words in this gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Last words are important, right?
SPEAKER_00: I've asked this question before, but if today was your last day on this earth, you'd have some important last words, right?
SPEAKER_00: To your loved ones, to people you care about, people around you, you would share some meaningful words, last wishes, your final thoughts.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus here, with his dear friends, his disciples, for three years is sharing his final words.
SPEAKER_00: Means it's pretty significant.
SPEAKER_00: It means we should lean in.
SPEAKER_00: What is Jesus about to say?
SPEAKER_00: Starting there in verse 16 of our text.
SPEAKER_00: It says, now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mount to which Jesus had directed them.
SPEAKER_00: A reminder why it's 11 and not 12.
SPEAKER_00: Judas, who was one of the original twelve, had betrayed Jesus and ended his own life, and now there's only 11.
SPEAKER_00: And they're following what Jesus had said in Matthew 26, 32.
SPEAKER_00: He had prophesied about this, that he would be raised up.
SPEAKER_00: It says, but after I am raised, I will go before you to Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: And so there they are meeting Jesus just as he directed them, just as he promised them.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 17, it says, When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.
SPEAKER_00: But some doubted.
SPEAKER_00: First, we see here they worshiped him.
SPEAKER_00: This is just a reminder, as we saw last week in our passage in Mark chapter 2, that moment with the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: Do we remember that?
SPEAKER_00: Where Jesus was able to see within their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: He was able to forgive this man.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Who can forgive sins but God?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus identifies himself as God in the flesh, the one who can forgive.
SPEAKER_00: And here again we see the deity of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus is worshiped.
SPEAKER_00: We have to be careful.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this this I mentioned the Jehovah's Witnesses last week, this past Saturday, and all that we were doing.
SPEAKER_00: I saw them uh park right down here and get out of their car and start getting ready to go door to door.
SPEAKER_00: And I was praying against them.
SPEAKER_00: I said, God, I pray everyone is asleep.
SPEAKER_00: I pray every door is closed.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that this the heat would be too much for them.
SPEAKER_00: You know, not in a you know to be hospitalized, but just you know, to for it to be uncomfortable and to go back home.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it reminds me actually that Andrew's here.
SPEAKER_00: We we had a trip, we were in um South Asia, we were going uh to share the gospel and to these um uh mountains um in South Asia where the there was little to no access to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And when we were there, you know, we saw the Lord move, we saw professions of faith, it was incredible.
SPEAKER_00: And as we were getting ready to leave, we had actually heard the news that there was a group similar to us of going place to place in these villages, but they were preaching a false gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's actually very prominent in Asia, even some places in the U.S.
SPEAKER_00: I've I've had friends run into some of these uh um uh missionaries for this sect or cult.
SPEAKER_00: Uh they're called the Mother God Church.
SPEAKER_00: They believe that God has a mother who is married, all this stuff, but they also don't believe Jesus is God.
SPEAKER_00: And we had heard that as they were going from place to place, uh they got caught and uh arrested and kicked out of the country.
SPEAKER_00: And we would have been really got in trouble for the same thing because the government didn't want us to do what we were doing, but we were freely able to go and to do it, and that didn't happen to us, praise God.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is this: why am I sharing this?
SPEAKER_00: They worship Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We do not worship man.
SPEAKER_00: Worship, as we just sung, is only for God.
SPEAKER_00: And they stood there, this man that they saw and lived life with for three years.
SPEAKER_00: They worshiped him.
SPEAKER_00: He is worthy of that worship.
SPEAKER_00: But also some doubted.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we get to see the realness, the humanness of these disciples, that they were just with Jesus, they saw Jesus die and saw Jesus rise from the grave, but they doubted.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word here for Tao isn't so much a doubting of belief, but a doubting of uncertainty.
SPEAKER_00: What's next?
SPEAKER_00: What's gonna happen?
SPEAKER_00: And here Jesus sees that and he knows that, and he says these words on top of this mountain to these disciples that would change the history of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, and Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
SPEAKER_00: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the first point.
SPEAKER_00: How can ordinary people make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: Is this go in Christ's authority?
SPEAKER_00: Go in Christ's authority.
SPEAKER_00: First, we have to break down this here in verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Go therefore and make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: What is a disciple?
SPEAKER_00: It's a term we use in the church that we use a lot, but what is this actual term?
SPEAKER_00: To put it simply, a disciple is someone who follows the commands of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: In those days, Jesus was there before them.
SPEAKER_00: So a disciple would someone who, just like the disciples, dropped their nets as fishermen, or who Matthew as a tax collector, his job, dropped those things and went and followed Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so for us, Jesus isn't physically here that we follow, but we follow his word, his commands.
SPEAKER_00: We live a life being obedient to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's what a disciple is.
SPEAKER_00: And so he says, go and make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean that me and you are called to go and to make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We spent the past two weeks talking about this as people on mission.
SPEAKER_00: The first week we were in Revelation chapter 7, the vision that John sees of the end of every nation, tribe, and tongue worshiping God, that everything is about that, letting people know that God is worthy of worship and that that vision should be our vision.
SPEAKER_00: And last week we we talked about being like the friends of the paralytic man of bringing others to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And here I want us to focus on discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Making disciples, because the problem within the church is that making disciples has been delegated to the pastor, to the church staff, or the paid person.
SPEAKER_00: But here, as we'll see in our text, and there's so many places we can go, as we've seen, that making disciples is the calling for every single person here in this room.
SPEAKER_00: But one place we can see this is actually in verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 19 and 20.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, right here, listen to this, I am with you always to the end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's the argument people can say, and people have said.
SPEAKER_00: See, that commission wasn't given to me.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't on that mountain.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That was a commission that was given to these 11 guys there on the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't there.
SPEAKER_00: That's not for me to follow.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to catch something.
SPEAKER_00: That last phrase is so valuable.
SPEAKER_00: It says, I am with you always to the end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you this: are these disciples going to be here till the end of the age?
SPEAKER_00: See, Jesus in that moment, he's not speaking to these eleven.
SPEAKER_00: He's speaking to the disciples that they would make that this commission, this mission that I'm giving to you will not stop with you.
SPEAKER_00: There will be people 2,000 years later in Tampa, Florida, Sulfur Springs, and a church who will hear the same commission that need they need to hear, I am with you to the end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: This commission wasn't just for these 11, it was for the church, the followers of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So what does it look like to go?
SPEAKER_00: To go in Christ's authority.
SPEAKER_00: Well, first it looks like going where?
SPEAKER_00: We see it right there in verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: It says, to make disciples of all nations.
SPEAKER_00: So first we go where the gospel's not gone.
SPEAKER_00: We go to the nations, to the people groups where people have no access to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And we share, that's why we had a recap video the past couple weeks of Chip, who's in Malaysia, who we sent out, who's here, who is part of our family, who went and spent two months and is still there now, preaching the gospel, trying to plant a church there.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we just heard about Andrew and Emily who spent three years in South Asia now getting ready to go to Japan for to go to the nations.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it looks like.
SPEAKER_00: And my hope is that that wouldn't just be something that we have someone come up and share about, but here in our midst, our church, that we would send out people to long-term missions who would give their lives and give up everything for the mission of God.
SPEAKER_00: It means going to the nations, but also means going to the neighborhoods.
SPEAKER_00: It means going here.
SPEAKER_00: That some of us here in this place would go across the street to our workplaces, to the areas of our everyday life and preach the gospel and make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: What does that look like to go?
SPEAKER_00: It looks like what we did yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: Or yesterday, this place was packed here, giving clothes and feeding people in the fellowship hall, people who were in need, or people who just needed some clothes that we can help out, but not just care for them physically, but give them the hope of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it looks like to go, to make disciples, to share Jesus boldly.
SPEAKER_00: But not just to share Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's a saying, actually, Andrew's here, so I just remembered it.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a saying that uh he would say, I don't know if it was original to him, but sometimes there's a culture within the church where it's we convert and then to the dirt.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, this person's made a profession or they believed, and then we forget about them.
SPEAKER_00: No, there's something different here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying to not just share the gospel to but to make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: To make people who are baptized in the name of the Trinity and who observe the commands of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what can happen to us.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I know has already happened during this message.
SPEAKER_00: We can be uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: We can think I'm afraid or I can't speak well, or I'm too shy, or I fear rejection if I share the gospel, or if I try to come along somebody and teach them about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing, remember that the disciples are feeling an uncertainty as well.
SPEAKER_00: We saw that.
SPEAKER_00: Some doubted.
SPEAKER_00: But verse 18, this is so important.
SPEAKER_00: What does it say?
SPEAKER_00: All authority.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, In heaven and on earth has been given to me.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean for us?
SPEAKER_00: You are absolutely right to feel uncertain, to feel unqualified, to feel like, you know, that's not for me.
SPEAKER_00: Or I can't do that.
SPEAKER_00: You can do it on your own.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus here, he stands before them.
SPEAKER_00: He says, All authority, not some, but all authority where on heaven.
SPEAKER_00: In heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning the spiritual forces, angels, demons, Satan himself.
SPEAKER_00: He's Jesus saying, Above all these things, I have authority in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: But not just heaven and the things you can't see, but the things that you see.
SPEAKER_00: This Roman Empire that seems strong.
SPEAKER_00: I have authority over them.
SPEAKER_00: Over kings, over rulers, over every human heart, over every inch in this universe and in this earth, I have authority.
SPEAKER_00: And with that authority, he says, Go.
SPEAKER_00: What is he doing?
SPEAKER_00: It's a general before he gives the command to his soldiers to remind them of his status, to remind them of his authority that he is giving them to go.
SPEAKER_00: Saying, go in my authority, go in my power.
SPEAKER_00: And think of it.
SPEAKER_00: They just saw Jesus hanging on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Buried for three days.
SPEAKER_00: And now risen.
SPEAKER_00: Standing before them.
SPEAKER_00: I feel he chose a mountain intentionally.
SPEAKER_00: Have a good view of everything before them.
SPEAKER_00: Saying, I have all the authority.
SPEAKER_00: And he looks at you and me.
SPEAKER_00: He looks at your doubting heart.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, I have the authority.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing, guys.
SPEAKER_00: You don't think that for me there's a moment I feel that I know some of y'all see me, maybe in an adopt the block or drive.
SPEAKER_00: Been around picking up people and think, man, I just don't ever have uncertainty, I don't ever have doubt, I don't ever have fear.
SPEAKER_00: It's there, it's in us.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a king who's given us authority so that when we come onto the streets of Japan or South Asia or Malaysia or Sulfur Springs, if we're here in Sulfur Springs, we say, I come in the authority of uh Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, they said I can be here.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I come in the authority of Idawell Baptist Church, or I come in the authority of the First Amendment right for me to speak my truth.
SPEAKER_00: No, I come in the authority of the risen King, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: To bring the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: He's empowering them.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there was a moment in South Asia when we were trying to teach and train pastors about this Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: Right here, it's a lot easier to share your faith than it is in South Asia, where there is heavy persecution.
SPEAKER_00: And we were in a three-hour discussion.
SPEAKER_00: We were walking through the book of Acts, and I was trying to explain to him this is what we got to do, regardless of the consequences.
SPEAKER_00: And he would say this, dear friend of mine, he said, you know, I get it, but I think we should wait.
SPEAKER_00: We should wait.
SPEAKER_00: Once the government changes, once the government shifts, then we can start sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Then we can start making disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And I would just look through Acts and I'm just, this isn't what the disciples did.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this, Acts chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: I love this.
SPEAKER_00: You get to see Peter and John in this moment that they were standing before Jesus, hearing this commission, now living it out in Acts chapter 4, 17 through 20.
SPEAKER_00: It says, But in order that it may spread no further among the people, this is the Pharisees, the religious people trying to silence them.
SPEAKER_00: They say this, let us warn them not to speak no more to anyone in this name.
SPEAKER_00: So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They had authority, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they had power to kill them, imprison them, beat them.
SPEAKER_00: This was the rulers of the day in verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter and John answered them.
SPEAKER_00: Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.
SPEAKER_00: For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it means to go in the authority of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Second point is this.
SPEAKER_00: For how can ordinary people make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: First is go in Christ's authority, second is baptized into Christ's church.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We see the first step of baptism, or the first step of making a disciple, is baptism.
SPEAKER_00: It's baptism.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word here, where it says in the name of it, really should be translated into the name.
SPEAKER_00: It is an allegiance to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And we would see this a lot in the Middle East or in South Asia or places where people had no problem if you were a Hindu background or you were Muslim background and you were going to church or you were reading the Bible, no big deal.
SPEAKER_00: But the moment that you got baptized, it was crossing the line.
SPEAKER_00: That was when rejection would happen.
SPEAKER_00: That's where you were in danger because they knew that was the moment.
SPEAKER_00: You were making it public.
SPEAKER_00: You are making it real.
SPEAKER_00: And the question for some of you that's so important, and you're walking with Jesus, your own discipleship with Jesus is have you been baptized?
SPEAKER_00: Have you been baptized?
SPEAKER_00: And if not, the good news is you can get baptized.
SPEAKER_00: You can do that here.
SPEAKER_00: We're doing baptism service at the end of August.
SPEAKER_00: And say, you know what, I've never been baptized.
SPEAKER_00: Or I was baptized before, but it was before I was saved.
SPEAKER_00: Before I truly understood the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: I'd encourage you to pray, listen to the Spirit of God calling you to take that step.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing we have to understand.
SPEAKER_00: We can't separate making disciples with the local church.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, where do you see this?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: The one action that you cannot do by yourself, you can try, but we see in the Word of God is in community is baptism.
SPEAKER_00: Someone else, the church of God, would they they would baptize the believers who were there?
SPEAKER_00: We see that in Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost, and moving forward.
SPEAKER_00: It's being baptized into a local body, a church.
SPEAKER_00: We see that.
SPEAKER_00: And we see the the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: What's the result?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gives them this Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens?
SPEAKER_00: They plant churches.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they do.
SPEAKER_00: Fulfilling the Great Commission, you look at the book of Acts, that's exactly what they did.
SPEAKER_00: They went, they shared the gospel, they made disciples, and they planted churches, and they put elders over those churches, pastors over those churches.
SPEAKER_00: They're baptized into Christ's church and to a community.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Discipleship is inviting others to follow Jesus, to make a commitment, allegiance to him in baptism, but it's also an invitation into the community of God, into the church.
SPEAKER_00: Third point is this how can ordinary people make disciples teach Christ's commands?
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: It says, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: Share the gospel, be baptized, but we teach them to observe the commands of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This is a huge problem in the church.
SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned before.
SPEAKER_00: Where we delegate that discipleship, that teaching about Jesus to other people.
SPEAKER_00: And notice what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Notice, Jesus does not say, teach them all I have commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: What does he say?
SPEAKER_00: Teach them to observe all I've commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: What's the difference there?
SPEAKER_00: One of the biggest issues and problems in the American church today is the priority of information and facts about Jesus, but not actually living it out.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's the difference of Jesus not saying teach them the commands and write down the list of the commands.
SPEAKER_00: I can give you the Ten Commandments, I can give you the list of the do's and the don'ts.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not saying that.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying teach them to observe, to obey everything that I've commanded, to follow.
SPEAKER_00: Discipleship with Jesus is not information based, it is obedience-based.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a problem because so many of us, week in and week out, even on Sunday, we hear the word, we hear the word.
SPEAKER_00: But we do so little with it.
SPEAKER_00: And that's not discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Discipleship is under Jesus, is observing it.
SPEAKER_00: How can I apply this?
SPEAKER_00: And discipleship is helping others to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Helping others to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Would you be able, as I asked the first question of today's message, to disciple others if I brought a new believer to you?
SPEAKER_00: One of the markers to know if you are a disciple of Jesus who's growing, is that you are striving to make disciples yourself.
SPEAKER_00: So let's just talk about some practicals of maybe for some of us, here's the reality: before we can disciple others, we have to be discipled.
SPEAKER_00: We have to be disciples.
SPEAKER_00: What are some ways to do that?
SPEAKER_00: First is continue to put yourself weekly under the preaching of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing more valuable than to come and sit with brothers and sisters and hear the Bible, the open book, Word of God, and hear it and apply it and obey it.
SPEAKER_00: The other thing I would encourage you is Thursday nights.
SPEAKER_00: That's a big focus of our midweek is discipleship for our men, for our women's group, for our children, for our youth.
SPEAKER_00: Where the main focus is rather than just coming and sitting and listening, which is incredible, the next step is coming and sitting and discussing.
SPEAKER_00: Being able to see if we're observing it or not observing it.
SPEAKER_00: Being able to be in each other's lives.
SPEAKER_00: So I'd encourage you, if that's you, and say, Man, I don't know how to make disciples, or I'm not there and I need to take a next step.
SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you Thursdays to come.
SPEAKER_00: And I would just say, pray.
SPEAKER_00: Pray to the Lord and ask for help for wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's someone here in this church or someone you know in your life who maybe they've been knowing Jesus a little longer than you have or further in their walk, that you can begin to approach them and say, Would you invest in me?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's a big ask up front.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's just talk at, hey, can we get coffee?
SPEAKER_00: And say, how do you read your Bible?
SPEAKER_00: How do you I've been struggling with praying.
SPEAKER_00: You have to be discipled.
SPEAKER_00: But you also have to disciple others.
SPEAKER_00: You have to disciple others.
SPEAKER_00: And the same thing is with prayer.
SPEAKER_00: That there may be some of you in here to begin praying and saying, you know, it's been a long time, or maybe I've never done that before, but I know that I am ready, but I just need a little push.
SPEAKER_00: Is to pray to God and say, God, would you show me who it is?
SPEAKER_00: Put someone on my heart, maybe today, this very morning, to approach after service and say, Hey, you want to get some coffee?
SPEAKER_00: And say, Hey, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: What's your story?
SPEAKER_00: How can I help you take your next step in Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Who has God placed around you that you can help?
SPEAKER_00: And this is a challenge.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of barriers in this, and this is why church is so important.
SPEAKER_00: Because maybe you need guidance.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't I don't know what that looks like.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how I should disciple others, how should I approach that?
SPEAKER_00: That's why we have a community to lean on one another, talk to one another.
SPEAKER_00: Where you can come talk to me and say, hey, I want to be discipled.
SPEAKER_00: I want to disciple someone.
SPEAKER_00: We can point you in that direction, help you, coach you in what that looks like.
SPEAKER_00: And a simple one here, a practical to live this out is parents in the room.
SPEAKER_00: So disciple your children.
SPEAKER_00: To disciple your children, to pray with them, share the gospel with them, teach them the commands of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Do not delegate the training up and discipling of your children to someone else.
SPEAKER_00: Or to the church or to a school.
SPEAKER_00: Those are valuable, but you are the main discipler of your children.
SPEAKER_00: And can I tell you the best way to do that?
SPEAKER_00: The best way to do that is just to model it.
SPEAKER_00: To model it.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I can't tell you how many times I would wake up in the morning and run downstairs excited to watch Saturday morning cartoons.
SPEAKER_00: And as I'm running down the aroma of uh fresh coffee, and my mom's sitting in the corner of the living room with her Bible open.
SPEAKER_00: That speaks so much more than anything of what of what she says is what she does.
SPEAKER_00: Same thing of knocking on the door, opening the door, and my dad on his knees by the bed, praying.
SPEAKER_00: His model.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: That's not just with your children, that's discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: Paul talking about the to the church at Thessalonica.
SPEAKER_00: He says, So being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives.
SPEAKER_00: Because you had become very dear to us.
SPEAKER_00: God's discipleship is relationship.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just giving facts or information, it's a shared life for you to know what's going on in each other's lives, to encourage, to pray over, to speak the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: And there's some discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there's maybe a mentorship of what's described as a Paul to a Timothy, but there's mutual with one another.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you what I think is the next step our church needs?
SPEAKER_00: It needs real authentic community.
SPEAKER_00: I love this on a Sunday morning when we greet one another.
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
SPEAKER_00: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_00: It shows a sign of community.
SPEAKER_00: We're going around, we're talking, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: But it can't stop there.
SPEAKER_00: It's getting into homes, getting into conversations, getting each other's number to talk to one another.
SPEAKER_00: And help each other take the next step in following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Last point is this.
SPEAKER_00: How can ordinary people make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: Is this fourth trust in Christ's presence?
SPEAKER_00: We saw it in verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is aware of the difficulty of this commission.
SPEAKER_00: He knows it will cost most of these men their lives.
SPEAKER_00: They will die following this commission that Jesus is giving them.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus comforts them with these last words.
SPEAKER_00: I am with you always.
SPEAKER_00: And he knows the difficulty that awaits you as you try to fulfill this.
SPEAKER_00: Rejection, uncertainty, doubt.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, I am with you.
SPEAKER_00: I am here.
SPEAKER_00: When you're struggling to train up and disciple your children.
SPEAKER_00: When you feel like you have no boldness to go and share the gospel with others.
SPEAKER_00: When you feel like God can't use you.
SPEAKER_00: And I will always be there.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, the answer to the problem of lostness in this community and the world is Christ in you.
SPEAKER_00: And there is no plan B.
SPEAKER_00: There's no plan B.
SPEAKER_00: It's you and me.
SPEAKER_00: That's what He's called us to be.
SPEAKER_00: To share the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: I ask the band to come up as we close here.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: Before you can disciple others, you first have to be saved.
SPEAKER_00: You have to be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Have you been reached with the gospel of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: And that today you have an opportunity to respond to the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: What's the gospel message?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you want to be a disciple of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You want to be a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's this you and I, we've sinned against the Holy God.
SPEAKER_00: We have broken his law.
SPEAKER_00: And the consequence of that is a broken world.
SPEAKER_00: And the good news is God didn't want to leave us in the brokenness.
SPEAKER_00: He sent his son, Jesus Christ, into the brokenness, who lived the perfect life.
SPEAKER_00: And despite living a blameless life, he died a criminal's death on a cross because he was bearing your sin.
SPEAKER_00: And he paid the price.
SPEAKER_00: But he didn't just die.
SPEAKER_00: Three days later, he rose again to prove that he had paid the price of sin, that he had power over death, and that he can really save.
SPEAKER_00: And so he can save you today.
SPEAKER_00: Two things.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe.
SPEAKER_00: Those are churchy words.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Turn and trust.
SPEAKER_00: To turn from your sins and trust in Jesus to save you.
SPEAKER_00: To say, I'm turning away from the brokenness, I'm turning away from my life, from my broken dreams.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm trusting in Jesus to save me.
SPEAKER_00: Not in myself.
SPEAKER_00: You can do that today.
SPEAKER_00: We'll close, we'll have worship.
SPEAKER_00: You can come right down here and say, I want to be a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be on mission, but I got to be saved first.
SPEAKER_00: You can be saved.
SPEAKER_00: For the follower of Jesus in here.
SPEAKER_00: What's the next step you need to make to make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's sin and shame in your life that's preventing you from taking that step.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's having a conversation with someone who can disciple you or know what's really going on in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it's praying to God and just asking for help.
SPEAKER_00: God help me to make time for this.
SPEAKER_00: Put this on my calendar.
SPEAKER_00: Put this on my mind and my heart to actually teach people about their next step in following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Let's respond in worship.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's been over 2,000 years since you've given that commission.
SPEAKER_00: And it still hasn't been fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: There is still so much lostness and brokenness in our world.
SPEAKER_00: And so, God, we pray that you would help us.
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like to be ordinary people, just a local church who can make disciples?
SPEAKER_00: Help us to do that, Lord God.
SPEAKER_00: Convict us, challenge us.
SPEAKER_00: And we pray that you would save us, Lord God.
SPEAKER_00: For those of us in here who are far from you, who need the hope of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: God, we give this time to you.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the most beautiful ways to worship you, God, is to speak your gospel of the good news of what you've done.
SPEAKER_00: And to help others follow you, Lord God.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.