Doing Discipleship Together
Come Together

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All right, good morning, church! I’ve got Tim Stewart up here with me this morning. We’re going to talk a little bit about Life on Life Discipleship. Tim is one of our disciple makers at our church. I wanted to ask him some questions about his experience as one who has been discipled through our life on life discipleship process. Life on life discipleship is the process that Jesus used to teach His disciples; Jesus commits them to go and do likewise. That’s the commission to our church today.

Tim, you’ve been through that process; tell us a little bit about your experience of being a disciple and making disciples. Give us an overview of your experience and, and tell us who discipled you and who you have discipled.

(Tim) I think a couple of years ago at the men’s retreat, I heard people talking about life on life discipleship. I think we were just “kicking off” the life on life program. I heard about it and I was thinking, Yeah, that sounds good. You know, a lot of times when you hear things, somebody’s going to ask you about it sooner or later. So, I was discipled by my brother, Jeff Webb. He asked me if I would like to be discipled and I accepted. I went through the process with him and after I finished I discipled Chris Radford and Mark Knoll.

(Gary) So, would you say that Jeff was a pretty good discipler? (Tim) Jeff was pretty good. He was a pretty good disciple maker. (Gary) Ok, just checking to see how he did. So, going through this process of being, first of all, a learner because that’s how you start, you’re learning from someone and then as a teacher or as a disciple maker, where did you learn the most in those two relationships?

(Tim) I would say that you probably learn the most from being the teacher. As you begin, I guess as the student or the disciple, the teacher is feeding you the information. If you have questions, you ask your discipler. As you become the teacher, you don’t have the answers to all the questions because you don’t know what your disciple is going to ask you one day. What I thought through that process was you see the same thing you learned, like I learned with Jeff, but doing it with Mark and Chris, they told me something from a different perspective that they thought that I wouldn’t think of because that’s not how I think. So, just learning from that perspective and sometimes if you don’t have the answers, you know, I can go back and ask Jeff and then we can go through the “tree” so we find the answer if we don’t know the answer at the time.

(Gary) That’s great! It surprises a lot of people that you learn a lot from the person who’s pouring into you, but you often learn the most from the person that you’re teaching, that you’re “pouring” into because they will ask you questions that you haven’t considered, which deepens your understanding. We have all these people that are in this room, but we also have the people that are watching online and in the next room in our service next door. Some of them, it may be their first time; maybe, you’re a first timer here today. You don’t even know what we’re talking about. You’d like to know more or maybe you’ve been coming for a while, but you’ve been hesitant. You’ve been sort of sitting on the fence about whether or not you want to get involved in discipleship. What would you say to them, Tim, to encourage that first timer, to encourage that one who’s sitting on the fence to get involved in life on life discipleship?> How would you encourage them?

(Tim) I would encourage you to go ahead. If you’ve been thinking about it, go ahead and do it. There’s no need to procrastinate about it. There’s people that are willing to disciple you. Just let the front office know. I will also say that, as I went through the process, I thought about it, accepting Jeff discipline me and then me being able to step out and disciple others. You know, it’s what God called us to do. The thing that I was trying to think about was, you know, at the time, I felt like I wasn’t prepared, which a lot of people might think. But, if we read through our Bibles, there are a lot of people that weren’t prepared when God asked them to do something. So I say I fall in line with Moses, you know, but I just went ahead and went on with it. So you might not feel prepared, but you can get prepared and get started. That’s right. I had a teacher take me through the process and he taught me. So basically, I was regurgitating what Jeff taught me. It’s laid out for me. I didn’t have to make anything up.

(Gary) Thank you so much, Tim, for sharing your story about life on life discipleship. Give him a hand. We appreciate you, brother.

So we want to conclude our series today. This is a five-week series that we’ve entitled, “Come Together” and the reason we entitled it “Come Together” is because God really wants us to come together as a church to make disciples.

One of the things we’ve been repeating during this series is that there are over 100 “one another” commands in the New Testament, such as love “one another,” pray for “one another, bear “one another’s” burdens and be kind to “one another.” I could go on. There’s 100 of them. Here’s what we keep saying to you and help me finish the sentence– “You can’t do the one anothers without one another.” That’s right. You can’t obey the one another commands without one another. God’s called us to come together and He’s called us to come together to keep the Great Commission. Last week, we preached on that. We talked about the Great Commission. The Great Commission is where Jesus brought the disciples together and He said to them in Matthew 28:19,20 (NIV) “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son andof the of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” That’s the Great Commission–go and make disciples. That’s the mission of the church.

What’s happened to the church over the centuries since then, is sometimes we just get on the wrong side of the mission. For many churches, they share the gospel and they see people make decisions for Jesus. That’s a great thing, right? But then, they don’t help them grow any farther. So, they make converts, not disciples. They make people who say, ‘Yes, I believe’ and so they help them that far, but then they don’t help them any farther. It’s kind of like having a baby and leaving them at the hospital or it’s kind of like having a baby and saying, ‘I’m not going to take care of you; you need to fend for yourself now.’ But,the bible calls us to make disciples. In other words , it’s the whole process–to lead them to Jesus and then to help them to grow up, to become more and more like Jesus. By the way, “the church is not the steeple; the church is the people.”

This is talking to us individually and corporately, that we’re each to be disciple makers. We’ve failed to keep that command or to keep it fully. May I say, many of us are not experiencing the promise that Christ has given us, to have this overwhelming peace and this abundant life that He promises.

Jesus promises in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” If you’re not experiencing that kind of life today, I wonder if it could be because you’re not a disciple maker, you’re not a disciple or you’re not a follower. When we say “disciple,” that’s kind of a word that we don’t use a lot today. Let’s say that you’re not an “apprentice” of Jesus. You’re not a follower of Jesus. But pastor, I’m a believer. OK, that’s good. You’re a believer, but have you made Him your Lord, your boss, your CEO, your commander in chief…you fill in the blank. Have you organized all the areas of your life underneath Him so that you recognize that your purpose on planet Earth is to be a disciple of Jesus and a disciple maker for Jesus? I think that’s the reason that people in the church often are not experiencing the abundant life that He came to give.

Now, I see a lot of moms and dads in the house. You probably are looking around and thinking, wow, what’s all this stuff hanging on the walls, on the floors and everywhere we’re looking right now? Well, Kidzfest kicks off tomorrow evening. In fact, there will be a big gathering today to finish decorating and preparing. We love your kids. We love the kids of our community. We recognize that our first disciples, mom and dad, are our kids.

You might say, ‘Well, I don’t know if I am ready to be a disciple maker.’ Well, if you had some kids, you’ve already signed up because they’re your first disciples. If you’re a grandparent here, your grandkids are your disciples. We’re called, not to just drop them off at church or drop them off at the school to learn their reading, writing and arithmetic (the three Rs), but to primarily see the home as the place of teaching them. One of the reasons we’re losing our kids to the culture is because we’re not making disciples at home.

Let’s be a disciple-making church. That’s what we’re talking about today. I believe that we can be the disciple-making church that Christ called us to be. We will experience the overwhelming peace and the abundant life that He’s promised to us.

As we look at the text today, I believe the apostle Paul wrote to his spiritual son of the Lord, Timothy, who was the pastor at the church at Ephesus at the time. We’ll see four instructions on how we can be a disciple-making church.

Let’s look at the text; let’s look at two verses from 2 Timothy 2:2 (ESV) 1 “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” This is God’s word. Amen.

HOW TO BE A DISCIPLE-MAKING CHURCH:

1. Be relational.

Look at that first verse. He says, in verse one, “You then, my child.” Who’s he talking to? He’s talking to Timothy; he calls him his child. Now, Timothy is a grown man. Why is Paul referring to him this way? It’s because he discipled Timothy. It’s because he views Timothy as a spiritual son.

If you read chapter one, he opens up the book by saying this to Timothy, “My dearly beloved son in the Lord.” He sees him as his spiritual son. He talks to him like a father speaks to his son. Now, he’s not his biological father, but he’s his disciple. He’s his spiritual leader and they have this relationship. You might say, as you read the letters of Paul, that some of them can be very strong. He can be very bold. But, when he’s writing this second letter to Timothy, we believe this to be one of the last letters that Paul wrote before he died a martyr’s death under the Caesar Nero and was beheaded under Nero. We believe he probably wrote this last letter, the 2 Timothy letter to Timothy. We see an older Paul, a more mellowed out Paul, a more affectionate Paul and he’s talking to his son in the Lord. He says to Timothy, ‘you’re my son in the Lord. You’re my true son, my beloved son.’ He has this relationship with Timothy.

That’s the kind of church we want to be. We don’t want to be a church that just gives out instructions. We want to connect you to two important relationships: First of all, a vertical relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s how discipleship begins. Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Have you surrendered your life to Him and have that vertical relationship? You can’t really follow Jesus without hanging out with His disciples. We joke about this all the time. I’m sure that some of the twelve disciples said to Jesus , ‘I’d love to follow You, but do I have to hang out with Peter? He’s such a big mouth. He’s always talking. What about Simon the Zealot? He’s always talking about politics. Do I have to hang out with him?’ Maybe, Jesus would correct them and say, ‘If you want to follow Me, you have to hang out with the other disciples. You have to come together.’ This is the vertical relationship with Jesus.

Secondly, a horizontal relationship with other people. That’s what we’re called to and here, we see that Paul refers in a very relational way to Timothy. Notice that it says, 1 “You then, my child.” “You then” could be translated, “therefore;” you “therefore,” which means he’s referring to some stuff in chapter one. In chapter one, he was concerned about Timothy because apparently there’s a conversation going on that’s not recorded here where Timothy is showing some fear in answering his calling. He’s showing some timidity. Paul, you planted this church, you were preaching here for three years and we were having a great time. I was your number two guy. I got to support you and do all that and then you up and left and put me in charge. We see that Timothy apparently is feeling overwhelmed; he’s feeling like he’s too young to be a pastor of the church at Ephesus.

Ephesus was a city, the fourth largest in the Roman Empire. It had 250,000 people in population; it was the largest church in Christendom during that time. Here’s young Timothy, and he’s the pastor; apparently, he was feeling timid. So, in chapter one, Paul is trying to build him up. He says to Timothy to remember that, from your infancy, you were raised in the scriptures by your mother and your grandmother. Remember that I laid hands on you and when you were called at your ordination. Don’t forget to fan into flame your calling.

This is a memory verse that everyone of you should have. It’s a short one. You can memorize this. It’s very helpful.

In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul says this to Timothy, 7“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” See, fear doesn’t come from God. Timothy needs to put away fear. Then, in 2 Timothy 2:2 (ESV) Paul says to Timothy, 1 “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,” Paul has written this whole chapter, chapter one. Now, he has written chapter two. One commentator writes it like this, as Paul encourages Timothy, “Don’t be strong in yourself. Be strong in the grace of Christ Jesus.” One commentator says that it’s like he’s encouraging him to go and mine out from the quarry of grace that which he needs to find strength. It’s as if you have to reach for it and say, ‘God give me the grace.’ It’s available grace; is God’s unmerited favor. His willingness to bless you. if you would only ask.

You see, asking is the currency of heaven; earning is the currency of this old world. But asking is the currency of heaven. Luke 11:9 says this, “I tell you: ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you.” Ask for strength, Timothy. This is a very relational discipleship.

Mark 3:14 (ESV) “And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him…” This was Jesus’ discipleship method. Come be with me, come spend time with me.

Robert Coleman writes in his book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, “Amazing as it may seem, all Jesus did to teach these men His way was to draw them close to Himself. He was His own school and curriculum.” Jesus is the curriculum. If you want to be a Christ follower, you first must be in a relationship with Jesus. You must be a student of Jesus. I encourage all of us to be students of God’s written word. Be students of God’s written word, from Genesis to Revelation, but especially be students of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Those are the four that most clearly outline and show us how Jesus behaved, what He said and what He did and His character. Be a student, a disciple of Jesus, for that is God’s plan.

You might be wondering, What’s God’s plan for my life? It’s already written down here. His plan for you is to make you like Jesus, to conform you to the image of Jesus. He’s the first born from among the dead. He’s the prototype. God’s making you like Jesus. Why don’t you yield to that process, not only yielding to it, but growing in it. It’s a relationship that He’s called you to.

Right after Jesus was resurrected and ascended, Peter and John had this habit in Jerusalem of goingthree times a day, when they would call for prayer in the temple. They would hear the call to prayer in the temple; it would be heard three times during the day. Around 3pm, on this particular day at the midday prayers, Peter and John went up and they entered the gate called “Beautiful.” As they approached the gate, there was a crippled man who had been crippled from birth. He made a living as a beggar; his family would carry him up there and put him right in front of the temple gate called “Beautiful.” He made his income begging at the gate. Peter and John come up to him and Peter says to the beggar to look at him. You don’t look at the person who you trying to get money out, but Peter asked him to look at him. The beggar looks at him and Peter says in Acts 3:6-16, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” That’s better than money, isn’t it? The man stands up. He’s never walked in his whole life. He begins to jump, leap and run as Peter and John go into the temple to pray and to share the gospel. Here’s this man dancing and hopping around them, in a circle around them. It created quite a crowd. As a result, many people came to faith in Jesus.

When the leaders of the Jews heard about this turmoil, this chaotic event happening in the temple, they sent soldiers to arrest Peter and John. They were kept overnight. The next morning, they stood before the judges and the high priest. He said to Peter and John, ‘Didn’t we tell you to stop talking about Jesus, to stop speaking in his Name?

Peter stood up and answered the High Priest. He said in Act 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected,which has become the cornerstone.’[a] 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:13 (ESV) “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” For Peter and John, Jesus was their curriculum. Jesus was their seminary for three years. Day after day, they were with Jesus.

We’re, first of all, called to a relationship with Jesus. Then, we’re called to a relationship with our “one anothers.” That’s how we begin to be more like Jesus.

There are three key horizontal relationships that I want to talk to you about. We have been talking to you about how to be a disciple. It begins with a relationship with Jesus. To continue growing, there’s three key horizontal relationships.

The first horizontal relationship is to have someone that’s pouring into you, like a Paul, who is ahead of you in their Christian walk that can “pour” into you. The second horizontal relationship that you need is a Barnabus. Remember how Paul had Barnabus when he first started out? The name, Barnabus, means “son of encouragement.” You need a soul mate. You need a sidekick, that is in the same place in life as you are, so you can compare notes and encourage each other. The third horizontal relationship that you need is a Timothy, someone you can “pour” into. It turns out, you almost always learn the most from your Timothy because you are learning how to pass it on. It causes you to understand what you have more because you’re passing it on. Every person needs three key horizontal relationships– a Paul, a Barnabus and a Timothy. Ladies, you need a Pauline, a Barbara and a Tammy. You need somebody to “pour” into you, somebody that’s encouraging you and somebody that you’re “pouring” into. If you’re a parent, you already have some Timothys. If you have a spouse, that could be your Barnabus. That’s your running mate. When it comes to somebody to “pour” into, you need to be thinking about that today.

“Be relational” is the first way to build a disciple-making church. We want to be a church that makes disciples in a relational way. Here’s the second instruction:

2. Be discipled.

We’re in verse two now. He says, 2 “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” Paul has been giving Timothy instructions and doctrine and Timothy’s been listening. Paul has been modeling character traits and how he does life; Timothy’s learning from him. In fact, we often learn more by what we see than what we hear and we look for consistency. Paul has been a consistent witness to Timothy and he’s also been teaching him in an orderly way. Timothy has been teaching and he’s been seeing Paul teach in public settings. Timothy has been hearing that Paul preaches the same message everywhere he goes. He has heard it over and over and over again. Come on, Timothy, you’ve been hearing me and trusting this message to other people. You’ve been my disciple. That’s what’s been happening all this time. You’ve been being discipled, Timothy.

Paul is reminding him of this and he says, “in the presence of many witnesses.” He could have been referring, not just to how he had seen Paul preaching in front of witnesses, but he could have also been referring to how witnesses were present at Timothy’s baptism, when Timothy first got saved and baptized. We believe that Timothy was saved during the time when Paul made his first missionary journey through Asia Minor with Barnabus. We believe it’s when Timothy’s mother and grandmother, Lois and Eunice, got saved. Timothy got led to the Lord by them, apparently.

When Paul comes back through on his second missionary journey, he hears that there’s this young man named Timothy that’s growing up in the Lord and he’s being discipled by his mother and his grandmother. So, Paul takes Timothy as a disciple. Paul starts taking him with him everywhere he goes. The witnesses might have been his mother and his grandmother that we were witnessing to him. .

It might have been like this morning at our first service. We baptized two followers of Jesus today. We’re going to show the video of that later in the service. You’ll get to share and then you’ll be witnesses. Maybe Paul was saying to Timothy, Do you remember that there were people there witnessing your baptism? Do you remember when we laid hands on you, set you apart and ordained you to be a minister of the Gospel? There were witnesses that saw that. He’s trying to remind Timothy of all that he had put in him. This is in you, Timothy, you don’t have to be afraid. You have this because it’s been “poured” into you. Now, get ready to “pour” it out. It began with Paul being willing to be a disciple, to be a learner. He starts there. He says that the things that Timothy has heard now that there’s a cost to being a disciple.

This is Jesus speaking in Luke 9:23 (ESV) And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. There is a cost. Discipleship isn’t free. You have to make time for it in your schedule. You have to be willing to open up your life to another believer. It’s not just the workbook that we’ve written. We have twenty-one sessions that take about ninety minutes to go through each session for most people. It takes about a year to go through the whole workbook together with a disciple. Part of the reason it takes longer is because we’re encouraging you to already be handing it off to somebody else as you’re learning. So, you could meet every other week with your discipler and then, in the opposite weeks, you could be “pouring” it into your disciple, so you’re learning together in that way. It takes discipline; there’s a cost. You must make time for this . You have to do the extra reading.

The words, “discipleship” and “discipline” have the same root. It costs something to be a disciple. You have to say “no” to something to say “yes” to something, so there is a cost.

Discipleship has a certain nature. We’ve said that it’s relational. It’s also about learning, not just academically, not just intellectually but learning in character through imitation and following.

Jesus says it like this in Matthew 11:28-30 (ESV) 28 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Jesus’ method of making disciples is ‘learn from Me.’ It’s relational and also, are you willing to be a learner ? Are you willing to learn? Are you willing to humble yourself and be a learner?

It’s not just Jesus that’s teaching this way. Paul does the same thing. Paul basically says, ‘learn from me.’ He says it like this in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NKJV) “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” Parents don’t say this to your kids, ‘do as I say, not as I do.’ That’s the opposite of what Paul is saying here. Paul is saying, ‘do exactly as I do.’ The truth is, your children learn more from watching you than listening to you. They’re born with this ability to tell when you’re being a hypocrite. You say this, but you don’t do it. You tell me to do it but you don’t do it. They just immediately recognize our hypocrisy. If you want a mirror in your life to show you what kind of sinner you are, have a kid. You will look in the mirror every time.

What I would say at my house when my kids were growing up is, ‘I believe he/she’s taken after you, Robin. I believe he/she got that from your side of the family.’ She would say back to me, ‘No. I’ve seen that on your side of the family.’ I had to admit that maybe she was right; I did recognize some of myself there. Your kids are like mirrors of you; that should terrify you. You really need to get busy following Jesus because you do not want to pass bad traits on to your children. You want to pass Jesus on to them. You want to make disciples of Jesus,

When I was growing up, I would say that I was very similar to Timothy. I’d say that I have more of a Timothy testimony than a Paul testimony . You know, Paul was on the road to Damascus and a great flash of light blinded him and Jesus spoke to him. It’s like a lightning bolt hit him on the top of the head, he was blind for three days, he got right and he started preaching. That was Paul. That was not me. I grew up in the church. I was kind of timid; I was more like Timothy, who was raised from his infancy in the scripture except mine were not Lois and Eunice. Mine were Ettie and Wilda; grandmother and mother. My father died when I was eight years old and so these two women “poured” scripture into me and taught me about Jesus, not just in the way they taught it like the word, but in their behavior, their character and their love. Their discipleship for me was what I would call “organic.” It was like surround sound . I saw it “full bodied” in them. As I got older, I needed a male mentor because I needed somebody to disciple me into manhood, which my mother and grandmother couldn’t do. I, also, needed something more orderly so that I could organize the doctrines. My mother and grandmother did it in a very organic way, which I would say is by far the most powerful, but I needed more.

When I got to college, during my freshman year, I met a man named Tom Llewellyn who was on staff for Campus Crusade for Christ. He says to me that he would like to disciple me. I said to him, “You would like to do what to me?” I’d never heard anybody say that before. Then, he told me what it was– “I’d like to help you grow to become more like Jesus.” I asked him what that would look like. He said that we would meet weekly and we would talk through the word of God. Now, I know the word of God. I grew up in the church. He asked me, “Do you know how to give your testimony? Do you know how to share your faith? Do you know how to have a quiet time?” I answered, “No,” to each of these questions.

Tom started showing me how to do these things and kept a checklist of showing me how to be a disciple of jesus. I had both the organic discipleship growing up; I had many witnesses. I had men in my life–my uncles and my grandfathers that were modeling Christian manhood to me. Now, I had this young man, who was only four years older than me, “pouring” into me in an orderly way. I found out I needed all of that. I needed many witnesses to discipline me.

Who told you about Jesus? Who brought you along? If not, are you willing to have someone? Has someone ever “poured” into you in an orderly fashion? That’s what I’m really asking you to think about. Are you willing to be a disciple? Are you willing to be teachable and to let someone really “pour” into you? That’s what we’ve designed here, as a church, in obedience to Christ’s command to be a disciple-making church.

3. Be disciplemakers.

We’re still in verse two; it says, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” The verb,“entrust,” has this idea of to commit to, make a deposit to, to make a handoff to or to pass along. It’s kind of like he’s saying to Timothy, ‘You’re running a race and it’s a relay race. You’ve got the baton and the baton is the deposit I’ve put in you of the gospel, the doctrines and the lifestyle of following Jesus. For you to really be a disciple, you must pass the baton. You can’t just hold it and finish the race. You must pass the baton the way I passed it on to you. I want you to entrust it to faithful men.’

Now, one of the things that we say at our church is that we want to disciple people, put people on ministry teams and leadership roles that are “fat.” I qualify. You take one look at me and say I qualify, right? That’s not what we mean; we don’t mean “fat”as heavy.

We mean “F.A.T”: faithful, available and teachable. We want people to be faithful – if they say they’re going to do something, they do it. If they say they’re going to show up at a certain time, they show up at a certain time. We’re looking for faithful people to disciple.

We want people to make themselves available; they’ll make room in their calendar to do something. Sometimes, you’ll ask somebody to do something, but they’re always too busy. Someone who is willing to be a disciple of Jesus will make themselves available. They’ll clear out a section on their calendar.

We want people to be teachable. Are you willing to humble yourself and allow somebody else to “pour” into you? The requirement of discipleship is to be F.A.T.; to be faithful, available and teachable.

He says, “entrust to faithful men.” Here’s what Jesus said and we’ve quoted it before from the Great Commission: Matthew 28:29 (ESV) “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” So, it’s a command. We’re to focus it towards faithful people, people that will be faithful to receive discipleship.

We’re also to show a particular concern for people of different national backgrounds. The church is to be particularly interested in making disciples of all nations. Literally, we studied this last week in the Greek– all “ethnos;” all ethnic groups.Do you ever feel like it’s the Holy Spirit inside of you that stirs you to speak to other ethnic groups?

I went out to eat in Rocky Mount some months back; my son, Jonathan, and I were looking for a place where we could get some sushi. I was spending the day in Rocky Mount; we were driving around Rocky Mount, doing some prayer walks in Rocky Mount and thinking about how to reach the city.We were wondering if we could find some sushi for lunch. We go into this restaurant and I see this one guy walking by. He did not look Chinese or Japanese. He looked like an Indonesian to me. I’ve, spent several weeks in Indonesia off and on through the years, ministering to missionaries there. Most recently I was there with my wife and another member of our church in 2016. I can recognize an Indonesian for some reason when I see them. This guy walks by and when he walks by I say, “selamat pagi apa kabar.” I thought the guy was going to pass out. He starts talking to me in Indonesian and I said to him, “So sorry; that’s all I have. That’s all I know.” He told me who he was and then he goes, runs in the back, pulls another guy out and says to me, “Say something again!” So, I had to say my few Indonesian words again. I said to the fellow, “I would like order something that’s not on the menu.” They said, “What would you like to order?” I said, “I want some Nasi Goreng with some Jus Semangka.” They started laughing. They said, “We don’t have that on the menu, but maybe we can figure it out.” Nasi Goreng is an Indonesian dish with egg and Jus Semangka is watermelon juice. They come out and they made the closest thing they could make to that particular Indonesian dish.

My son, Jonathan has taken his wife and kids to this restaurant. They’ve been going there and it turns out there’s like three or four more Indonesians in the place. He said that they can barely eat their meal; the waiters all come out and hover around their table. They talk to their kids. Why is this happening? It’s because something in me, called the Holy Spirit, urged me to talk to this guy in his “mother tongue;” in his “heart language.” Now, a younger Gary would have been too timid to do that, but I just felt like this guy’s going to get this and he did. Now, my son Jonathan says that they can barely eat a meal because these guys all come out and greet them like family.

I asked my son Jonathan, “Do you know what the next step is?” He tells me, “I know. We have to invite them over to I the house because nobody will ever think to do that.” Nobody will ever go to a restaurant and think of inviting that waiter or waitress to a meal at their house, to build a relationship and give them the gospel. I said back to Jonathan, “That’s why we have to do it because we’re commanded to make disciples of all nations.”

The most fun you’ll ever have is to do what God made you to do. Jesus says this in John 13:15 (ESV) “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” Jesus has made disciples of you, now go and make disciples of others. That’s what Jesus has called us to.

Paul told Timothy to follow his same pattern for discipleship. He says this in 2 Timothy 1:13-14 (ESV) “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” He’s basically saying, ‘This is what I’ve done; follow that same pattern and share it with others. Continue to disciple others.’

I became “addicted” (I’m going to use that word loosely) I became so caught up in the idea of disciple making when I was in college. That’s when I caught the “bug.” I mentioned to you earlier that Tom Llewellyn discipled me my freshman and sophomore year. Then, he challenged me to start making disciples. I remember we had this event, an evangelistic event where we showed this Christian film. At the end of this Christian film, we handed out response cards, asking the students to respond to the Gospel. We got around forty responses. I can still remember going to the dorms of the guys who responded and saying, “Hey, we saw that you said “Yes” to Jesus on our response card. You checked the box. I am wondering if you’d be interested in being in a Bible study. My name is Gary and I’m starting a Bible study in a couple of weeks.” I had three guys to say they would come to my Bible study. I’m a freshman. I’m just learning this stuff.I’m scared to death because I’ve never done anything like this before. The first guy I talked to was Ken. Ken is a senior and I’m a freshman, so that’s intimidating right off the bat. I invited two other guys. I am ready to have the Bible study; Tom had told me to have something to drink and maybe some chips, cookies or crackers to eat. Iwas ready. Two of the guys no showed and the senior shows up by himself. Oh, no; it’s one on one. What am I going to do? So, I just followed the material; I just followed the pattern. Ken continued to meet with me; he starts growing. He meets with me every week. The other two guys never showed up. When Ken graduated from college, he went on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. He got discipled that whole year by this little dinky freshman. He’s been in the ministry ever since. All I did was obey God’s Word.

My wife and I went to visit one of the guys I discipled in college. His name is Mark. Robin and I just got back from Istanbul back in April. Mark and his wife, Holly, are on the mission field. He was just this young guy that came to Christ.

God gets hold of people. Obey what God tells you to do and be a disciple maker. That whole experience is what caused me, ultimately, to leave my job after twelve years in the corporate world and to plant this church. There’s nothing else like it on planet earth. It’s better than food, it’s better than sleep. Seeing God change lives. I’m addicted to it. I love it. I love it when God changes a life and makes people want to follow Jesus. Be a disciple maker. We have a process. Youcan check the box of your connection card if you’re interested.

4. Be strategic.

Finally notice the strategy that Paul gave to Timothy. It’s in those final few words in verse 2, “who will be able to teach others also.” In other words, ‘Timothy, go teach and make disciples of people who are willing to make disciples of people. Go and invest your life in people that will invest their lives in others. Disciple people that will pass it on; that are able to teach others.’ This was his strategy.

We read the first part of Mark 3:14 a minute ago. Let me read the whole thing this time: Mark 3:14 (ESV) “And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach.” Jesus be wanted, first of all, for them to be with him. Then, He will send them out. That was His purpose; that was His process of discipleship. First of all, be with Me to learn. You’re going to learn by me sending you out. The first few times He sent them out, He had them report back. That way, He could give them feedback on how they were doing, so he could coach them, disciple them further and show them how to do it. That was His process.

Robert Coleman, in his book, “The Master Plan of Evangelism,” talks about this. He says, “The time which Jesus invested in these few disciples was so much more by comparison to that given to others that it can only be regarded as a deliberate strategy. He actually spent more time with His disciples than with everybody else in the world put together.”

You’d think, if Jesus wanted to turn the world upside down with the Gospel, that maybe He would have wanted you to know. For instance, when He was born, there was a sign. He could have gone straight to Caesar and said to him, ‘I need you to get everybody together in the Coliseum. I’m going to preach and get them all right.’ No,that wasn’t His process. His process was to get together these ordinary men and women to be with Him so that He might send them out. That was his strategy and that’s still His strategy today.

We gather people like this on Sunday, but during the week, our process is one modeled by Jesus– that one on one, being poured into one another life that we’re making disciples of Jesus Christ. For that disciple, the strategy is that they must be willing, also, to keep on “passing the baton” of faith down the road to the next person.

This is our process. You can see the illustration of the Apostle Paul discipling Timothy. He’s pouring His life into Timothy. He’s telling Timothy to “pour” his life into faithful men who are also willing and able to disciple others. This is the power of multiplication; this is called discipleship, Jesus’ way. This is the power of discipleship; this is the strategy that Jesus has given to the church. It starts off with slow growth and then it becomes uh explosive growth over time, as we make disciples who make disciples.

This is why we have this as our mission statement. I don’t know if you ever look at the walls when you’re coming in. Maybe, you’ve been coming for a while. You have looked at them when you first came and now you don’t even see them anymore. Our church mission statement comes from two great statements in the Bible, the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. The Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you. I will be with you always to the end of the age.” That’s the Great Commission.

The Great Commandment is, “Love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” By putting those two statements together, you get a great mission statement for the church. That’s where our mission statement comes from: “Our church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ who have a growing heart for God, expressed in passionate worship and generous giving heart for each other, expressed an authentic fellowship and devoted discipleship heart for our world, expressed an intentional evangelism and sacrificial service.” This is what we’re called to, church. We’re called to “Make disciples who have a heart for God, a heart for each other and a heart for our world. Get on board. You really can’t call yourself a disciple of Jesus without obeying his command to be a disciple maker. You really can’t say I believe, but you’ll never really experience the peace, the power and the unbelievable abundant life until you fully say, “I surrender my entire life. I’m going to bring everything under the Lordship of Jesus. I want to be involved in making disciples as Jesus has commanded me as a disciple.

We want to call you to that today. Some of you are here today and your first step is to say “Yes” to Jesus, to get that relationship, that vertical relationship with God. Some of you have already done that. Your decision today to consider is that you need to get your horizontal relationship in line. You need to let somebody “pour” into you. You need to be teachable. You need to start practicing the “one “ anothers” better. I want to pray for you about that today, for people that have been “sitting on the fence” to go ahead and get on board with being a disciple of Jesus.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, thank You for Your word. I pray, first of all, for that person, maybe they’re watching at home, maybe they’re in the next room or maybe they’re in this room. The Holy Spirit is talking to you right now; you need to give your life to Jesus so that you can be right with God and call him Father. The way you can do that right now is through praying, just expressing your faith by prayer. Prayer is just talking to God. You can pray like this right where you’re at: “Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I believe You died on the cross for my sin, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. I believe that. Come into my life. I invite You now to forgive me of my sin and to make me a child of God. I now submit my life to You as my Lord and Savior. If you’re praying that prayer of faith, believing, He will save you and make you a child of God. That’s the entry point to discipleship. Others are here today and you’ve done that. You’re a believer in Jesus, but would you right now, say, ‘I’m ready to commit my life fully. I’ve been holding back, but I’m ready to commit my life fully to being a disciple who makes disciples, one who is actively serving the Lord Jesus and His purpose for this world. I say “yes” to that right now.’ Would you say that, in prayer, right now? ‘Dear Lord Jesus, I want to be part of being a disciple-making church. Help me Lord to be obedient to that. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.’