Disciples Making Disciples

Welcome! It’s so good that you have come today. 😊 (If we have guests) If this is your first or second time with us, welcome! We are so glad you are here with us today. My name is Brian and I am the Senior Pastor here at CBC. If I did not already get the chance to meet you this morning, I hope you will have time to drop by our connection tables after the service this morning. I will be there with Gloria, my wife, and we’d love the chance to meet you. And maybe answer some questions you may have about us. Or if you won’t have time to stop and chat, you can use the connection card that is inside the trifold bulletin you should have received as you entered the building. Just take a few seconds during the service and jot down your contact information, and we will be happy to reach back out to you sometime this week. Let me just encourage everyone here today to use the connection card. You can list prayer request, or request information about our ministries. It’s simple to fill it out and drop it at the connection table on your way out. << show announcement slide>> · May 27th Graduation Celebration- Grace Schlabach, 6PM (after service) VBS (June 6-9) · Sign Holding- Wednesday May 30th 5-7PM @ Church · Decoration Day - Wednesday May 30th 7 PM @ Church · Passing Out Flyers- Saturday June 2nd 9:30 am to 11:30 Meet @ Church · Please Take 10-15 Flyers from the Connection Table to Pass out to friends and Neighbors. Please PRAY for God's Blessings · Food Drive at Heritage Hills, Saturday June 16th AM (need trucks and runners) If you’re not connected with any of our groups, let me encourage you to stop by our connection table. You can request information on any of the groups that meet. Ladies’ Group, Teens, Men’s Group, even Small Group Bible Studies. Let me just remind you that our usual Sunday Night Bible Study will begin Tonight. We will be continuing our Discussion Panel Format, where we encourage feedback from the pew. We have some very special guest on our panel tonight. We will be discussion how to create and sustain a multi-generational church. Whether you are a guest, a member, or somewhere in between, we are here to worship our Great and Awesome God. So let’s all stand and begin our worship with the reading of God’s Word together. Today’s reading comes from Hebrews 4:12-16 <<Responsive Reading>> “Remain Standing as we lift our voices in Song: Congregational 1- “Lord, Reign in Me” Congregational 2- “My Savior My God” Corporate Prayer: “With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; With an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; And with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward. For thou wilt save the afflicted people; But wilt bring down high looks. For thou wilt light my candle: The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by thee I have run through a troop; And by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect: The word of the Lord is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.” (Psalm 18:25–30 Adoration- For God’s Mercy and Righteousness and Justice Confession- Forgive us of our moments of pride and arrogance Thanksgiving- Thank you for establishing our nation. Today we remember those who gave their life to fight for our freedoms. Freedoms which ultimately come from You. Please comfort those who even today are missing loved ones who gave their life in defense our nation’s sovereignty. AMEN Congregational 3- “Our Great God” Special- “This I Believe GK Chesterton- (English Author and Christian Apologist of the early 20th Century, )   "The Christian Ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried"   Jesus said His yoke was easy and his burden light…Surely we should not take this to mean that following Christ would be easy- For he would later say, that to follow Him we must be willing to give up everything, even our very life. How then could He say that His yoke was easy and His burden light? He said it because it is true. If we yoke up with Him, our burden is light, because we will find that He pulls the weight alongside of us. We can pull an amazing amount of weight when yoked up to Jesus. Perhaps an infinite amount of weight. Because when the weight gets heavier, we may have exhausted all of our strength, but His strength never fails. The heavier the burden the more strength He supplies.   What Chesterton observed is that Christians find it too difficult to yoke up with Jesus. Because yoking up with Him means that He not only pulls most of the weight, but He also determines the direction and pace. When we yoke up with Him, we are working alongside of Him. We become busy about the work that He wants to get done.   What is the work that Jesus wants to get done throughout the world?  The work He wants to get done is the work of making disciples all throughout the world. Matthew 28:18-20   “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:18–20, KJV 1900)   This passage is commonly known as the "Great Commission." It is not where we first find the word "disciple", in the Gospels. But, it is where we find it first as a commandment by the Lord given to the church. It is the church being sent on mission. It is the church being commissioned by the Lord of the Church to go and do His bidding. Since it is the also the last words of Christ before His ascension we also now it is of great importance to Him. Thus, it is called the Great Commission.   Making Disciples is central to the work that the Lord desire His church to be busy about. So, it only follows that Discipleship would be central to the life of all those who claim to Believe in Him.   · Those who claim To Believe that He is God in the Flesh. · Those who claim To believe that He is the Creator and controller of the Universe · Those who claim To believe that He, in an indescribable show of love and compassion, suffered an unimaginable death, death by crucifixion so that we could become members in good standing of His kingdom with all the rights and privileges therein for eternity. Much needs to be said about the subject of discipleship. The word is rich with meaning and laden with responsibility. We would not have wasted our life if we dedicated every free moment to the pursuit of understanding what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.   I intend to spend 3 Sundays on the subject with the goal of moving us closer to an understanding of both the rich meaning and the responsibility laid on us by this word: Discipleship.   Today, I'd like us to simply consider the Importance of it. Specifically, I want us to understand why Discipleship must become our central purpose in life.  2 Reasons Why We Must Make Discipleship Central to our Life. I. Discipleship is the Method By Which We Advance God's Kingdom.   Disciples making disciples is the Standing Order of the Church. It is the "Prime Directive" of the Christian   If you're looking at a KJV version, you may be wondering where I find the word "disciple" at all. Every other English translation that I checked has the words "make disciples" in the phrase "Go ye therefore teach all nations". “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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.”” (Matthew 28:18–20, ESV) The word "teach" appears again in verse 20 in the phrase, “teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you." But, this is a different Greek word and has a different grammatical impact on the text here.   So, to get a handle on what discipleship is on a basic and fundamental level, we're going to look at the words here in this passage.   The Greek word in the phrase "Go Ye therefore and teach all nations" or 'make disciples', depending on your translation. Is the word pronounced in the Greek, "mathateuo" and means to "learn". We find it in its verbal form found 4 times in the New Testament, 3 times in Matthew’s Gospel and once in Luke Historical Book - Acts. Matthew 13:52- of Scribes “instructed” in the ways of the Kingdom Matthew 27:57-of a follower of Jesus - “a disciple” Acts 14:21- of those who had been made disciples – “taught”  It is the imperative of this passage. Matthew 28:19 It tells us what we are to be doing. We are to be “teaching” for the purpose of making “disciples” of Jesus. The second "teach" in verse 20 is a different Greek word- it is the word "didaskos" - it means "to teach" and is always translated "teach".   Where the first word “teach” or “make disciples’ is an imperative, this word is a different kind of verb. It’s actually called a participle, and in this instance is accompany the main verb and telling us how to do what we’ve been commanded to do. You might say, it answers the question, “How do I Go and Make Disciples”? The answer is: We are to make disciples, by “teaching them and baptizing them." (do I need to explain what teaching and baptizing is here?) What do we teach them? When do we baptize them? We teach them “all things that Jesus Commanded” We baptize them when they believe the Gospel.   Discipleship is the method by which we are commanded to Advance God’s Kingdom. If we claim to be dedicated to the advancement of God's Kingdom, Then we must be dedicated to discipleship. There is participle in the beginning- "GO" it is not an imperative either, but it has the force of the imperative "make disciples". Thus, with the same force we are commanded to “make disciples” we are commanded to “Go” This means we must “Go” and “Make Disciples” by “teaching and baptizing them” SO, we have to ask ourselves to whom are we going ? And to whom are “We teaching “all things that Jesus Commanded” ?    If we are not Going with the purpose of making disciples we are not yoked up with Jesus. IF we aren’t yoked up with Him we certainly aren’t going to get His work done in the world. So the first thing we need to be clear on, is that we should be going and teaching all things Jesus commanded with the purpose of making disciples. Maybe we are doing that maybe we aren’t. Maybe we’ve done that in the past and are no longer doing that? Maybe you can point to a person or persons you’ve taught the things that Jesus taught with the goal of making them a disciple of Jesus. That’s good. But, there one more thing about discipleship that we need to consider. And it’s very important. The teaching and baptizing- isn’t a onetime event. We don’t have to wait until we’ve taught them everything that Jesus commanded before we baptize them. Much of the teaching is done after baptizing. Discipleship is a lifelong journey.   2. Discipleship is an ongoing process. Lifelong Journey.   "To observe (tareo- keep or preserve) All things that Jesus commanded."   The learning what He said is one aspect of discipleship. The learning how to keep and observe these things is another. We must show people Jesus’ Words in the Bible. We must know Jesus’ Words in order to be His disciple. (duh)   But, because we are to teach them how to “keep” or “preserve” or “observe” these things, Discipleship is more than just reading and listening to sermons. It is experiencing life with other disciples, learning how to live out Jesus' teachings, but watching others live these things out. This means, Discipleship requires relationships with other believers. In some relationships were are teaching others and in some we are being taught. It has often been said that each believer always needs these two types of relationships in their life. People whom you can call a mentor, and people whom you might call a mentee. Someone from who you learn about what it means to follow Christ and someone who learns from you what it means to follow Christ. These aren’t just one on one relationship. Discipleship is done best in small groups of 3 to 5. This is how Jesus did it. He had the 12, and then He spend special times with three others: Peter, James, and John. Imploration   Discipleship is central in my life, when I recognize the Lord's authority to command me to go and make disciples by teaching them and baptizing converts.   Discipleship is central in my life when I am in relationships with others for the purpose of doing this.   Who are you discipling? Who is discipling you?   If you don't know, then come back next week. I want to show you a way you can change that. How you can make discipleship central to your life. How you can start to build those relationships with others that will allow us as a church fulfill the commission of getting the Gospel into the whole world. 9