Disciple Makers
DNA • Sermon • Submitted
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· 9 viewsThere are 3 driving commands that we have from our Lord in his absence: Love God, Love people, and make disciples. Jesus was the ultimate disciple maker as he spent 3 years training the Apostles that would eventually change the course of history. The impact of their multiplication is still being felt today. As we learn to imitate the ministry of Christ we can see the course of history changed once again.
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Introduction
Last week we started a spiritual journey together. A journey that will draw us close to the heart of God and cause God to draw close to us.
The First step on this journey is a better understanding of why we do what we do at Reliant through a new series call “DNA.”
God didn’t lay on my heart to start a church just to be another Church on Hiram Sudie. But to establish a people that understand the heart and mission of God to this community and world that are lost and don’t even know it.
To restore: Faith, Hope, and Love through the power of the gospel.
The Mission of Reliant is simple
“Producing Jesus followers of faith that expand God’s kingdom.”
We are unpacking the 5 core values of the Church that enable us to accomplish this goal.
Bible Believers
Disciple Makers
God Pleasers
Community Engagers
Kingdom Builders
Last week we learned that a Bible Believer is one who submits to the authority of the Bible for all life and practice; not one that simply knows the Bible.
Today we will discuss how
a Disciple Maker invests the gospel in faithful men and women that will invest its power in others.
To do this we will answer 4 questions about Discipleship:
What is the principle of discipleship?
What is the purpose for discipleship?
What is the pattern of discipleship?
What is the pathway of discipleship?
Before we dive heavy into this subject I want you to take a spiritual inventory of your life for a moments. When you bring discipleship down to its most elementary form your life, your very existence is either drawing people to God or scattering them from God. Jesus said in .
23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Lu
If you are a born again believer here this morning the question is simple are you gathering or are you scattering?
If you have come here this morning seeking to know God I pray that we, through the power of God’s Spirit would draw you closer to God.
I want to spend just a few moments on the principle of discipleship as the concept is not hard to understand.
What is the Principle of Discipleship?
What is the Principle of Discipleship?
God always works off his principle of multiplication.
God always works off his principle of multiplication.
In all living things God has placed a seed. The seed is always passed on to the reproduced seed causing a multiplication effect.
God has placed a seed in us. New life can come from the seed inside us.
Gen 1:
12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
God’s command to us has always been to multiply.
God’s command to us has always been to multiply.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Gen 1:28
God has placed a seed in us. New life can come from the seed inside us.
God has placed a seed in us. God has given us the power to procreate through our seed.
From two people that seed has produced 7.5 billon people currently living on the face of the planet (not counting the number that have died).
From two people that seed has produced 7.5 billon people currently living on the face of the planet (not counting the number that have died).
In 1900 there were 1.6 billon people which means through multiplication the population has grown by 6x the amount in just 120 years.
Multiplication is a powerful tool for growth and expansion.
A corrupted seed can only produce corrupted fruit.
A corrupted seed can only produce corrupted fruit.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Adam and Eve were to multiply the divine nature of God with the power of procreation, but corrupted their nature through disobeying God. They could only produce death after the fall.
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
What if I told you there was another seed? A seed that produces life and not death.
There is a seed that can reproduce life instead of death. Every person that is reborn in the family of God is entrusted with this life giving seed.
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
Through the seed of the living word of God we can reproduce sons of God to as many as will receive it.
Through multiplication we can do more for the Kingdom of God.
This is the art of making disciples or what we sometimes call discipleship.
This is different than a convert. A convert would be one that receives the seed of God’s word, but never reproduces that seed in others.
A convert that is not gathering to Christ is scattering from Christ.
The question now is what are we multiplying: good seed of God’s Word (Bible Believers) or corrupted seed of the world?
The question now is what are we multiplying: good seed of God’s Word (Bible Believers) or corrupted seed of the world?
Now that we have the principles and facts out of the way lets talk about the heart of Discipleship.
What is the Purpose of Discipleship?
What is the Purpose of Discipleship?
Discipleship is a very simple two part process that was modeled for us by Jesus.
1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:1
To Seek and Save the Lost.
To Seek and Save the Lost.
Every person in this world starts out lost and far from God.
Lostness is not determined by your current condition or way of life. You might be the most conservative person or you might be the most liberal. Neither one of those positions gets you any closer to God.
Lostness is not determined by your current world view. What you think about God or even if you struggle to believe in God.
Lostness is the condition of every person that comes into the world.
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Jesus didn’t come to condemn people but to seek out and radically save the lost. Everybody wants to quote but what about .
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
John 3:18
Sharing the good news of Jesus is the first step of discipleship.
Receiving the good news is your beginning of discipleship.
You can’t make disciples without evangelism.
To Heal the Brokenhearted.
To Heal the Brokenhearted.
When Jesus went into the temple to begin his public ministry to the world he quoted a prophesy from that would set the tone for not only his ministry but for ours as well.
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luke 4:
“Discipleship is the application of the gospel to heal the brokenhearted and strengthen the believer.”
Every person begins this journey with the Lord in a state of brokenness.
“A good mentor is able to apply the Word of God like a healing salve to the brokenness of a persons heart and life. This is the power of the Gospel.”
Discipleship is not a set of lessons or exercises to fill your head with knowledge, but a systematic healing of the soul that God has so graciously redeemed.
When we make discipleship information based it loses it healing power. Discipleship must be Holy Spirit led as He and He alone and heal the broken heart.
To Embrase Joy in the midst of Sorrow.
To Embrase Joy in the midst of Sorrow.
Pass out the Spiritual Growth Sheet
What is the pattern of Discipleship?
What is the pattern of Discipleship?
Over the years I have observed the working of the Holy Spirit as he leads people into their new relationship with God. Here is the reoccurring pattern that I see:
Love
Acceptance
Recovery
Purpose
Instruction
Trials and Testings
Multiplication
Love: an unconditional affection for others displayed by acts of kindness and sacrifice.
Love: an unconditional affection for others displayed by acts of kindness and sacrifice.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Cor
A display of affection through acts of kindness and sacrifice.
Acceptance: unconditional entrance into the family and community of God.
Acceptance: unconditional entrance into the family and community of God.
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Acceptance is simply an acknowledgment that we all the same.
We all have problems and issues.
We are all in need of a Savior.
The Salvation of God is offered to all and can be recieved by all.
You can accept someone for who they are and without having to affirm or condone what they do.
“Love and acceptance are choices made toward a person regardless of other circumstances.”
“Love and acceptance are choices made toward a person regardless of other circumstances.”
Recovery: supernatural healing of the soul through the application of the gospel.
Recovery: supernatural healing of the soul through the application of the gospel.
Recovery is a safe environment, a refuge in which people can be completely honest about who they are and what they’re going through.
Recovery is the time necessary for an individual to be changed for the inside out through the power of the Holy Spirit God has given them.
The fruit of the Spirit is patience and longsuffering.
Discipleship requires time for the healing of the soul.
Purpose: a new mind focused on the kingdom of God and not the things of this world.
Purpose: a new mind focused on the kingdom of God and not the things of this world.
Instruction: being taught and led by the Holy Spirit of God to accomplish the will of God in your life.
Instruction: being taught and led by the Holy Spirit of God to accomplish the will of God in your life.
The Holy Spirit many times will use a Spiritual life to teach spiritual things to another. This is life on life discipleship.
The Word of God is the truth used for the training.
Trials and testings: The opportunity to have your faith tested for growth and joy and you experience God in real life situations.
Trials and testings: The opportunity to have your faith tested for growth and joy and you experience God in real life situations.
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
Multiplication: Investing in others the same healing power that was given to you expanding the kingdom of God.
Multiplication: Investing in others the same healing power that was given to you expanding the kingdom of God.
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.
We must not be the last link in the chain. (Discipleship Icon)
We must be Investing the gospel in faithful men and women that will invest its power in others.
What is the Pathway of Discipleship?
What is the Pathway of Discipleship?
What is the Pathway of Discipleship?
What is the Pathway of Discipleship?
Step One: Receive the love and acceptance of the Lord and his people.
Step One: Receive the love and acceptance of the Lord and his people.
Step Two: Find a safe place where you can intentionally recover your soul by letting the Spirit do a new work in you.
Step Two: Find a safe place where you can intentionally recover your soul by letting the Spirit do a new work in you.
Step Three: Invite a spiritual person to guide you in spiritual things.
Step Three: Invite a spiritual person to guide you in spiritual things.
Step Four: Be ready for the trials and testings because they will come.
Step Four: Be ready for the trials and testings because they will come.
Step Five: Invest in the life of someone else as we build the kingdom of God together.
Step Five: Invest in the life of someone else as we build the kingdom of God together.