Multiplication: Living On Mission
Notes
Transcript
Intro: Have you ever discovered something that has revolutionized your life?
Intro: Have you ever discovered something that has revolutionized your life?
Something that has changed you so much you begin to share it with others hoping they begin to use it in their life as well because it has helped you so much.
Let me tell about something, something I love, something i enjoy, but we very rarely enjoyed it because in mind it was too difficult and time consuming to prepare.
Lasagna!
I love lasagna, one day I picked up my Iphone and looked up easy lasagna recipe. I found a recipe for crock pot lasagna. I clicked on the link and thought that is easy, let me try it and see if it taste good.
It was amazing!
This is one of our favorite family meals now. I have shared how to make this with my kids, friends, some of Abi’s D-Group because it is easy and amazing.
When we love something so much and love how it impacts our life, we will have a desire to share what we love with others, so they can enjoy it too.
That is who we are. We will come back to this a little later, but for now...
We are in a series called us, in this series we talk about our mission and our values as Fellowship Bible Church. We have talked about connection, transformation and today we will talk about multiplication.
There are 3 important components to multiplication I believe we need to discuss today.
Making Disciples
Role of The church
Multiplication
I. Making Disciples
I. Making Disciples
Before Jesus left this earth, he gathered his followers to gave them a mission. This is known as the great commission. This is what Jesus expects from all people and all churches who claim to follow Him to be doing, lets read it,
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 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.”
Our mission is to make disciples, but what does that mean? One of my greatest fears is this mission and the statement “making disciples” has become so familiar to us, that it is just how we talk. That is our church lingo. The words no longer have meaning associated to them.
But when we sit and think what making a disciple means we discover it is God restoring broken lives who live in this broken world for his glory. Making disciples means that people who were on a trajectory for hell are now going to heaven, not only are they going to heaven but they are living a new life by God’s grace and for his glory.
Too often we have made making disciples an item we check off a list or God forbid a chore.
When we are making disciples God is allowing us to partner with him in the miraculous process of some coming out of darkness and into the light.
Just thinking about this energizes me to make disciples.
The command in this passage is make disciples.
How do we make disciples?
Jesus is also clear how we make disciples, we make disciples by going, baptizing and teaching.
Jesus is telling everyone who is a disciple of Jesus is also a missionary.
So as we go about our everyday lives we are looking for opportunities to disciple others by teaching them about the Gospel of Jesus and then when someone is transformed by the Gospel, we encourage them to get baptized and we continue teaching them all that Jesus commanded.
The mission isn’t over when someone decides to follow Jesus and gets baptized, and becomes a church member. The mission isn’t to just fill church the with people. The mission is to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples.
II. The Role Of the Church in Making Disciples
II. The Role Of the Church in Making Disciples
What is the role of the church in making disciples?
Some people have the idea that it is the role of the church leaders, pastors to make disciples. That is a wrong misconception.
The command to make disciples is a command issued to every single follower of Jesus, so is the Pastor and other church leaders required to make disciples, absolutely. But so are you, so am i, so is any one who claims to be a follower of Jesus.
So what role do the leaders of the church play in the disciple making process? The apostle Paul gives us an answer here,
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
What Paul says is very important here, he explains the role of church leaders and the role of church members.
God provides leaders to the church
to equip the saints - who are the saints? You, the church members. God provides the church leaders who are capable to equip, train, mold church members, For what purpose?
for the work of the ministry - to make disciples.
The role of the Pastor’s and Teachers of the church are to train and equip the church member to make disciples who live by God’s grace and for his glory at home and across the world.
III. What do we mean by multiplication?
III. What do we mean by multiplication?
Pulaski County, which is the county we are a part of, has 33,000 Latinos. If you put all the Latino churches in Pulaski County in one room, we would not even reach 10% of 33, 300. Which is 3,300 people.
Now look around the room, lets just say 50 of you made 1 disciple this year. What would that look like? 50 would turn to 100, lets say if those 100 people made 1 disciple the following year, what would that look like. 100 would turn to 200, and what if those 200 made 1 disciple the year after that, 200 would turn into 400.
That is exciting to think about!
That is what multiplication looks like. But...
Multiplication starts with the commitment to make disciples. Paul also explains this principle to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, I encourage you to go home and read the chapter, but in verses 1 & 2 Paul explains this principle of multiplication in discipleship.
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 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.
Do you see the principle?
Paul is talking to Timothy hear and says what you have heard from me, entrust to faithful me.
Jesus to Paul - 1 generation
From Paul to Timothy - 2 Generation
Timothy to Faithful People - 3 Generation
Faithful Disciples to others - 4 Generation
There are 4 generation of people multiplying the Gospel. This is how Christianity spread throughout the world in much of the same culture we live in today.
When God through the Gospel transformed your life, he did so with a purpose and a mission in mind, the mission of God. The purpose and mission of God for every person who is a disciple of Jesus is to make disciples. God graciously allows us to participate in the greatest miracle of all, the miracle of seeing someone transformed by the Gospel. Jesus, the one who is sitting on the throne and reigns from heaven sends us out to spread the Gospel and make disciples.
When we love Jesus so much and love how Jesus has transformed our lives, we will have a desire to share Jesus, the one we love with others, so they can enjoy a relationship with Jesus too.
Will you join me in this commitment to make disciples, who live by God’s grace and for his glory, here in pulaski county, in arkansas, and in the world? Thats our mission.
Lets Pray!