Go Make Disciples

Sermon #1 Outline

In his book The Coming Revival, Bill Bright reported that:

Only two percent of believers in America regularly share their faith in Christ with others.”

According to research by Dr. D. James Kennedy, only 5 percent of all Christians have ever led anybody to Christ.

The George Barna research group did a survey in 2007 asking Catholic and Protestant believers if they felt a responsibility to share their faith with others. Eighty-one percent of Catholics said no; 53 percent of Protestants said no. Barna also found that 75 percent of American adults who said that they were “born again” could not even define the Great Commission.

Every minute around the world, 102 people die. Every hour 6,098 people die. Every day 146,357 people die. If we were to line up the people who are without Christ in the world today and give each non-Christian two feet of space, the line would be approximately 1,734,848 miles long. This line would reach around the earth’s equator 70 times!

53% of people will never go to church. - Are we ok with that.

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The last words and deeds of anyone's life are usually quite significant as they are an indication of that person’s values and priorities.

For the followers of Christ, especially the authors who wrote the New Testament, these are the only commands of Jesus that are recorded in all four Gospels and the book of Acts.

We can conclude that not only is this command important, it also takes precedence. It is not a suggestion, it is a command.

Mark 16:15 “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

Luke 24:46-47 “He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

John 20:21-22 “Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.””

Matthew 28:18-20 “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.””

Charles Spurgeon, said, “Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.”

As it was for the early church - The Great Commission Must Become Our Great Obsession

The assumption of us to go, preach, and make disciples assumes we ourselves are disciples. A disciple of Jesus is a Follower of Jesus

Luke 14:25-27 “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

Jesus is not referring to your affections but rather to your priorities

5 Points of what following Christ means.

1. The Cost of Following

Jesus is not added to our already busy lives. Jesus himself becomes our life. His kingdom becomes our focus.

I must remind us that following Jesus will cost us everything.

Here are 3 examples in the book of Luke of those that did not count the cost.

Luke 9:57-62 “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.””

1. A person desiring to follow Him must give up what others consider necessities.

2. The next has been variously interpreted… implies that the spiritually dead can bury the physically dead.... Proclaiming the kingdom of God was so important that it could not wait.

3. Elijah allowed Elisha to do this very thing (1 Kings 19:19-20). Jesus’ words underscore the fact that His message of the kingdom of God was more important than anything else - even family members. The message and the Messiah cannot wait. Jesus’ message was more important than Elijah’s message and demanded total allegiance. It does not allow for divided interests.

Luke does not record their outcomes.

Reminder - You do not have to follow the Lord.

Luke 14:28-33 ““Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”

C. T. Studd was was a wealthy Cambridge graduate who also happened to be the best cricket player in the world when cricket was one of the most popular games in the world. By 1882, he was considered one of the best known athletes of his day in England. However, in 1884, after his brother George became seriously ill, Studd was confronted by the question: “What is all the fame and flattery worth when a man must face eternity?”

He forsook the fame to be a missionary in China

He inherited 145,000 and gave it all to the work of the Lord.

He left England (his wife was ill and stayed to recruit) to go to Africa where no Christian had ever been before. He went to the fiercest place on earth to take the gospel to those who needed to hear, one of his last sermons in England was on counting the cost:

“What are the conditions? They are the same, “Sell out!” God’s price is one. There is no discount. He gives all to such as give all. “All! All! Death to ALL the world, ALL the flesh, to the devil, and perhaps to the worst enemy of all: YOURSELF!” … I don’t care what happens to me, life or death, aye, or hell, so long as my Lord Jesus is glorified!”

I am reminded of what Paul said in Galatians 6: 14-15 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.”

2. Saying no to self

Surrendering the direction of your life to Jesus

Choosing God’s will, submitting to His ways.

Revealed will

Saying no to Self-sufficiency and independence.

The way to declare independence from God is to not pray.

Saying yes to absolute dependence on Jesus

John 15:5 ““I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Hudson Taylor (conditions in china were so difficult, severe deprivation, persecution, martyrdom, he sent his children back to England to be cared for and shortly after he saw his wife and newborn son die. yet somehow he remained calm, peaceful, and full of faith. His passion to reach “every creature” continued contagiously, engulfing others and bearing fruit… how? by abiding in Christ

“Take time. Give God time to reveal Himself to you. Give yourself time to be silent and quiet before Him, waiting to receive through the Spirit, the assurance of His presence with you, His power working through you. Take time to read His Word as in His presence, that from it you may know what He asks of you and what He promises you. Let the Word create around you, create within you a holy atmosphere, a holy heavenly light, in which your soul will be refreshed and strengthened for the work of daily life.”

3. Enduring any sacrifice for the joy of obeying Jesus

“I once had another religion: mincing, lisping, bated breath, proper, hunting the Bible for hidden truths, but no obedience, no sacrifice. Then came a change. The real thing came before me… Words became deeds. The commands of Christ became not mere Sunday recitations, but battle cries to be obeyed.” - C.T. Studd in a talk he gave at a businessman’s luncheon.

We must continually be reminded of what the cross represented in the first century in regards to sacrifice.

An ancient Greek poem describes crucifixion as such: “Punished with limbs outstretched, they see the stake as their fate; they are fastened (and) nailed to it in the most bitter torment, evil food for birds of prey and grim picking for dogs.

Yes carrying our cross transcends a literal meaning, it is a death to our old man in Adam, death to our sins, but when we realize that only one of the apostles died a natural death, it becomes apparent that Jesus is not only speaking figuratively.

The first followers of Christ made the great commission their great obsession and gave God the greatest glory by going in the power of the Holy Spirit to preach and make disciples… even to the sacrifice of their own life.

Stephen was preaching in Jerusalem, he was cast out of the city and stoned to death.

James the son of Zebedee and the elder brother of John was killed with the sword.

Philip suffered martyrdom while taking the gospel to Heliopolis in Phrygia. He was scourged, thrown into prison, and then crucified.

Matthew was preaching in Ethiopia when he suffered martyrdom by the sword.

Andrew the brother of Peter, preached throughout Asia. When he arrived in Edessa he was arrested and crucified on a cross, two ends of which were fixed transversely in the ground.

Bartholomew translated the Gospel of Matthew in India. He was cruelly beaten and crucified.

Thomas preached in Parthia and India, He was martyred with a spear.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, led the church in Jerusalem and authored the epistle that bears his name. At the age of 94, because of his commitment to the Great Commission, he was beaten, stoned, and pummeled to death with a fullers club.

Matthias, the apostle who filled Judas’ spot was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded.

Mark transcribed Peter’s account of Jesus in his gospel. He was dragged to pieces by the people of Alexandria in front of Serapis, their pagan idol.

I’m reminded of what Paul said in Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

“An easy, non-self-denying life will never be one of power. Fruit-bearing involves cross-bearing. There are not two Christs; an easy-going one for easy-going Christians and a suffering one toiling for exceptional believers. There is only one Christ. Are you willing to abide in Him, and thus bear much fruit?”

And I am reminded from Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

4. Following Jesus wherever He goes

Out of your comfort zone

David Platt in his book Radical writes: … somewhere along the way we had missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable. We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.

Following Jesus leads us into uncomfortable places. He goes to the hurting, the hopeless, and the homeless. He goes to hard places and deals with dirty people. Jesus is always calling us out of our comfort zones.

5. Boldly witnessing for Jesus.

John Wesley “You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. And go not only to those that need you, but to those that need you most. It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance.”

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

We are going to win Souls. Church of Grace will not be like the statistics. Here is our gameplan.

Pray for lost people.

The reason why people don’t save souls, win people to christ, etc. is because they don’t pray. If you pray, God will send.

Prayer is not a substitute for ministry, it leads to it.

Personal Story with Terrance

Value people and serve them

Connect instead of correct

Enter their world

Understand them

Hold to your faith

Be different- where is the love, where is the hope, where is the faith. We shine in bad times! because Christ is my sufficiency.

You don’t have to be like them to win them but you do need to like them.

Be Creative

You don’t have to be perfect but you do need to practice!

The more you practice the better you will get

Experience the Gospel

Don’t just talk about the Gospel, live it, experience it, get in on it by winning souls.

So I ask you, are you willing to follow Jesus.

I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed, I have the Holy Spirit power, the die has been cast, I have stepped over the line, the decision has been made: I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I do not have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean in His presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I won’t give up, shut up, let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up for the cause of Jesus Christ.

I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till everyone knows, work till He stops me, and when He comes for His own, He will have no trouble recognizing me because my banner will have been clear.

These words were found in the possession of a young African after he was martyred for his faith in Zimbabwe. He denied himself, took up his cross and fully followed Jesus.