Go And Make Disciples Series

Today we will start by reading 2 passages.

Matthew 28:19-20

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always- to the very end of the age.

Acts 1:8

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Matthew 28 is the great commission. There are 4 verbs… Go and Make disciples of all nations. Baptize them. Teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded. (Promise: I am with you always)

What does commission mean? To give someone the official authority to do a Mission/assignment.

When we think of a Mission: I personally think of Tom Cruise… climbing this beautiful mountain and this helicopter comes and send …what I thought was a missile to kill him. But he goes up to the missile hits a button and takes out his next assignment – a secret mission.

And like mission Impossible… we, as Christians , were also given an assignment.

For the last 2000 years since the resurrection of Jesus…people have obeyed and Christianity has spread.

Jesus said: Go and make disciples. Verbally. People give testimony and more and more people hear of Jesus and see him as our Savior.. He took away our sins. With no TV, no radios....today we sit in church 2000 years later...because of people verbally telling others the GOOD NEWS of Jesus.

But back in Jesus’s day they called the followers of Jesus: DISCIPLES.

Let’s look at the definition of : disciple . Interestingly disciple is used 29 times used in New testament in Greek the word is: mathétés

Pronunciation: ma-thay-TAYS

This derived from the root word math. What does Math and Disciple have in common? Math means to put into practice what you have learned. So application is important. To master math you have to apply it.

If you are a disciple of Jesus, you are learning and applying his lessons, His Word, in your life. LESSON

Let’s look at

John 8:31 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.

IF YOU HOLD TO MY TEACHING> You believe , and practice it.

James 1:22-24 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves (fooling yourself). Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

AGAIN: LISTEN AND DO.

Luke 6:40 40 The student (disciple in Greek) is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

So the goal of discipleship is to become like Christ.

Are you A believer? Or a disciple?

Are you following the WORD OF GOD?

Today we do not use DISCIPLE, we use the word Christian. When did the followers of Jesus start using CHRISTIAN instead of disciple?

• Acts 11:25-26 25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

It was the non believers who started calling them Christians. They added the IANS…because they were followers or disciples of Christ.

Following the teaching of Jesus. Are you a follower of Jesus?

If people cannot tell if you are a Christian then you are not putting it into practice.

Some people come to church to learn…. But they don’t put it into practice.

Discipleship is a life long process.

You never arrive

You can’t retire from being a disciple. Paul who was a pharisee and well educated said this.;;

Philippians 3:12-16 example Paul wrote

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul knew he wasn’t perfect… but he worked at sharing his faith. He had a desire to tell people what Jesus did in his life. He understood that we are all called to the Great Commission: