Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome...

Introduce Self...

Pray...

Jesus was a willing sacrifice...

Jesus had at his disposal thousands of angels to usher in an early kingdom.

Jesus didn’t come to usher in an earthly kingdom.

Jesus came to REDEEM a people for a heavenly kingdom where he is king.

Boom.

Book over.

Last thing written.

Jesus rose from the dead, validating everything he ever said, defeating death, and establishing his authority.

All authority… has been given to me.

Jesus is exalted to the highest position of power and authority.

You can go into any room and ask, “who’s in charge here,” and the answer would be, “Jesus.”

When multiple voices contradict each other, we do well to listen to the voice with the highest authority.

Go therefore...

On the basis of that authority, Jesus commands his disciples to “go”

Go therefore...

This is not an intellectual exercise.

This is not an optional activity.

This is not a ministry for a select group of people with “the gift of evangelism”

We must go.

It is active.

Could have said “therefore make...” but he said “Go”

Up, come on, let’s get a move on.

Make disciples...

We read this passage every week.

We talk about making disciples all the time.

We might be in danger of losing the significance of a statement.

“God loves you, he loved you even while you were still sinners”

“God has a plan and purpose for your life”

What is a disciple?

[[SLIDE]]

By definition, a disciple is a follower, one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another.

A Christian disciple is a person who accepts and assists in the spreading of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Christian discipleship is the process by which disciples grow in the Lord Jesus Christ and are equipped by the Holy Spirit, who resides in our hearts, to overcome the pressures and trials of this present life and become more and more Christlike.

This process requires believers to respond to the Holy Spirit’s prompting to examine their thoughts, words and actions and compare them with the Word of God.

This requires that we be in the Word daily—studying it, praying over it, and obeying it.

Got Questions

This isn’t a comprehensive list… But to be a disciple means:

To cease from work, and trust in Jesus

“Jesus is our sabbath… Jesus is the end of working for God’s approval”

Putting Jesus first in all things

Following Jesus’ teachings

“Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Which leads me into:

Obedience

Disciples of Jesus do what he says.

They hear the voice of Jesus and listen to it.

There is a trend called “obedience based discipleship...”

Fruitfulness

Love for other disciples

This is actually a pretty radical claim that I don’t think the church at large is thriving in.

Evangelism - Making more disciples

Disciples make more disciples.

Period.

In church leadership it’s getting popular to say, “we want to make disciples who make disciples”...

So what does it mean to make a disciple?

[[SLIDE]]

In Ephesians 4:11-16 we are told that God gives pastors to the church to “equip the saints [Christians] for the work of the ministry,” (4:12), and then goes on to define that work of the ministry as “building up the body of Christ,” through “speaking the truth to one another in love,” (4:13, 15).

If we fail to do this–if we don’t speak God’s truths to each other and labor to help one another grow–then we (and the others in our church) will become deceived by false teaching and make a shipwreck of our faith (4:14).

Pastor Marc Sims

Evangelism is really the entry point to discipleship.

Baptizing - bring them into the church family, unite them to Christ

Teaching - teach them everything I said (OBSERVE)

We look at this passage all the time:

2 Corinthians 5:17–20 (ESV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

This is what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

The old has passed away, the new has come.

We are reconciled, now we are given the task of bringing reconciliation to others.

What are some things we do instead of make disciples?

(What distracts us from disciple making?)

We learn about God and fail to know God.

We create social clubs that are not centered on Jesus, but some cause or commonality.

We make it our aim to get people into a building and call it success.

We keep our faith to ourselves under the guise that we are somehow caring for others.

(e.g.

we don’t want to be pushy).

We make disciples, but not of Jesus.

(1) Watching TV

(2) Sports and exercise

(3) Reading

(4) Computer Games

Currently there are more than half a billion people worldwide playing online games at least an hour a day — and 183 million in the US alone” writes Jane McGonigal, author of “Reality is Broken.”

(5) Social Networking

(6) Playing or listening to music

(7) Traveling

(8) Going to the movies

(9) Shopping

(10) Relaxing and thinking

Cooking, minimalism, Keto, Guns, politics, academics, you name it...

Who are you a disciple of?

Basically, how would people describe you?

What would people say you’re really into?

Oh, John, he’s super into sports...

Oh, Bob, he’s the biggest Seahawks fan you’ll ever meet...