Tag Archives: Matthew 28:18-20

Do What Jesus Said: Make Disciples

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Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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.” Matthew 28:18-20

People who are good at what they do and who want to be better seek mentors. Every fine musician, artist, writer, politician, athlete, preacher, parent, or business leader who wants to perfect their skills seeks out someone who has the ability and authority on which to base their teaching. In business and life, all my mistakes I readily made on my own. All my successes came directly or indirectly from the one who has ALL authority. And this authority gives all fully committed Christians a command: Go make disciples. Teach them to obey all my commands: love God, love others.

“The Great Commission” is pretty straight forward. It doesn’t leave room for argument. He didn’t qualify it by saying, “those of you who are gifted at teaching, or those of you who are bold and outgoing.” Jesus said, “If you want to follow me, do what I say: make disciples.”

People who love Jesus are great disciple makers. Go Light Your World works through a local Gypsy church in Vetren, Bulgaria. The Leader, Pastor Kashif is not trained in the seminary. He just loves Jesus and so he has discipled other gypsies to worship Jesus in the local church. One of these men who is growing in the faith is now an elder of the church and in charge of the self-sufficiency project aimed at breaking the cycle of dependency and poverty in the gypsy village. A man here in Newton who came from a jail environment loves Jesus and disciples others currently in jail.

One of the most effective methods I have discovered is simply to invite someone to your house to study the bible. Read it together and let the Holy Spirit be your guide. Invite another mature believer to join you so the responsibility of leading is shared. We invited several people from work years ago to come to a nonthreatening and nonjudgmental noon time study of The Purpose Driven Life and let the group lead the discussion. Some of them followed up by doing a study of the gospel of John together.

Fully committed followers of Jesus make disciples who make disciples. Don’t be afraid. Jesus promised He will always be with you. Do what he said: make disciples, and see how much you grow yourself.

Rough Sailing

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I love this painting by Danny Hahlbohm. It conveys Jesus helping a sailor get to safe harbor in the midst of a storm. It reminds me that:

Sometimes Jesus calms the storm; sometimes He calms the sailor.

My brother-in-law, Bruce Ray, is competent sailor and would probably tell me that when your sails are down you are at the mercy of the waves. That’s where we are. The storm still rages, our sails are mostly down, and yet our boat is still in the water being propelled to safe harbor by God’s gentle hand.

To us, this has been a practical demonstration of God’s power and grace. He has allowed me to complete a walking ‘marathon’ (26 miles) since being admitted, even with chemo burned feet. He has given me a good appetite despite upset GI tract and heartburn. Having experienced daily headaches all my adult life, I’ve had only four since my diagnosis. Even though my immune system is dead and I’m waiting for my donor’s immune system to kick in, I remain healthy, alert, with more energy than should be expected, and a reminder to always live “on mission.” All this speaks to how practical and true God’s Word is for every situation. Sometimes, the storm continues but the sailor is calmed.

imageHere’s a shout of thanks to the anonymous donors who made possible my transfusions of blood yesterday and platelets today!

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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.”
Matthew 28:18-20