Do Church – Being the Church and Making Disciples

1. I don’t think I’ll speak really long today; I always say that but … I hear you all laughing. I love to preach! I love to preach! This topic “Being the Church and making Disciples”. It’s one of those topics that’s a little hard for me, and I thought I’d make a little confession, “When was the last time I went out to share the Gospel” and because I can make excuses, I pastor, I co-direct a mission agency, I’m on the board of ministry organizations, I teach in Bible College, I do a lot of good things for God, but if I stand and ask myself, “When was the last time, I was sitting in an airplane next to someone and shared the Gospel? When was the last time I was in Alpha Beta Supermarket, and I went to the cashier, and shared the Gospel because I could see that the person was ready to hear the Gospel and was disturbed?”
2. And I do share some, but I know that (I won’t use the word fail) I could do a lot better. And I want to do that; so, this sermon is talking to you a little about my heart to you this morning. I am a Disciple, and I like this word in Greek, because I learn and I continue to learn. I want to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn as much as possible. And it’s a wonderful thing that He wants me and you to sit at His feet, and to be His disciple, and I am excited at what He wants to teach me. The King of the universe wants to personally teach me – that’s pretty amazing. This is very humbling to me and I think that sometimes we confuse sharing the Gospel and Discipleship.
3. The Great Commission says “Go out unto all the world 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 things as I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28: 19-20). As I chewed on this and thought and prayed about my life and your lives today, sometimes we say “Oh, I witness, I share the Gospel”, but like me you want to share it more, because like me I want to share it more, but the Great Commission is not just to share the Gospel, don’t just leave them there, don’t just share the Gospel in a taxi cab and say oh I won this person to Jesus; go and make Disciples!
4. The world is so messed up, if we ever lived in a time when we need to share the Gospel but we also need to ask the Lord, “How can I lead them to become Disciples?” I think that this a problem that plagues the Church worldwide – yes, we must share the Gospel, but some of you might say, I’m not a Bible expert, so, how can I lead people to Discipleship? You know, what, your testimony of salvation is the beginning of Discipleship. I want to introduce you to Jesus, my life was dark, but when Jesus came in, life came in, you’re already beginning to lead them into Discipleship; you don’t have to be a theologian. Some people are afraid that they might lose friends or family, afraid they might be rejected, but I want to tell us today, God doesn’t give us a Spirit of Fear, and He never rejects us. When we speak about Him, He’s there with us, because He cares about every one, and He wants every one to hear about Him. You may think, “I’m not spiritually where I should be”, or maybe your conscience is not quite clear with God, don’t let that be an excuse, just clean up your life, “Jesus, clean me up” and that’s all. Some people very wrongly, they assume that one day God is going to let everybody go to heaven. That’s very dangerous, and it’s a philosophy that’s going around the world.
5. So let me ask you, “Do you care for the Lost?” I don’t come from a Christian home, my parents were not believers, but I remember, many years ago, and the church I went to was just a little church, like this one, but anytime they would preach about people until people would know Jesus, they’re on the road to hell. It would break my heart and I would just sob and sob. I wanted them to know the Jesus that I knew. But I would ask people lately, when was the last time you cried for people who did not know Jesus. And I wonder if there is not a kind of apathy, that’s kind of settled in churches, because church is not supposed to be just 2 hours you do on Sunday morning. Sometimes people say, ok, I got my 2 hours, I got my fix for the week, but Church is His presence within me, I am carrying His living church, I am His temple, wherever I go, right? He is crying out and calling for people to know Him. I heard this recently – that apathy is a bigger problem, than atheism to Christianity. When we’re apathetic, we just say, hmm and that sharing the good news is optional.
6. Our previous verses in Matthew don’t say “if you like, if you wish”, it says “GO and make disciples of all nations”. I have a gentleman who lives next door to me, and many of you know my story, he says bad words to me, he spits at me, he’s not nice at all. No one knows why, he just doesn’t like me. I used to say “Oh God, please just remove him”. But, I got to tell you I don’t like it, but God is telling me that I’ve got to pray for him to get saved, to love this man. I’ve got to cry for his soul that isn’t on its way to heaven but to the other place. It’s not optional, I’m supposed to pray for my enemies, Jesus did and He’s our example, He even said to love them. Jesus was raised from the dead and He said to the disciples that He gave them all authority, because He was raised from the dead, so, when we go, whatever comes against us, in the name of Jesus, we have the authority of heaven, to declare the Word.
7. It doesn’t mean that people won’t come against you, since people came against Jesus. His body was beaten, His beard was plucked out, but nevertheless He went to the cross for the sake of every single person, that they would know that God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that if we believe, when this life is over, we just step through the door, into everlasting life. I love the idea that this is just the beginning, this is just kind of a practice session. When we get to heaven, it’s going to be forever and it’s going to be wonderful. And I don’t want to be selfish, if I don’t tell everyone that comes in my path that the Lord tells me to, then I’d be a little selfish. Let’s go and make Disciples, let’s teach them to observe His commandments. I challenge you to invite them to your home. Maybe you think they’re not quite ready to come to church. If you share the Gospel, then invite them for a cup of coffee to your house, amen? Don’t leave them in the road. Take them to a coffee shop if you don’t want to take them to your house, which is maybe too messed up. That’s what we’re supposed to do.
8. I’ve been concerned for a number of years. I love what Billy is doing, working right down in Exarchia, in the middle of the drug addicts and prostitutes and all of those people, anarchists. Bravo Billy, but I’ve been there, they witness and then they invite for a meal. There’s a problem, and if you don’t agree with me, that’s of, when people come and say, “We won 500 people for the Lord” and not a single church has one new person. Where are all those people? The Bible says, go and make Disciples, teaching them, and if you don’t feel qualified, ask someone to come and help you, we cannot just leave them out there wandering around. We’re called on mission, everyone of you is a missionary. How many of you have had a life-changing experience with Jesus? I did, He changed my life! I’m crazy about Him, and I keep telling you, He loves me the best, but He told me He loves you the best too! When your mother and father forsake you, when your husband abandons you, then He’s right there. I love those whispers in the night, “Oh Gail, I love you”. Hallelujah, I’ve had a life changing experience, I’m in love with the Saviour of the world, the King of Glory, and you should be too, if you’ve met Him. So, we ‘ve got to quit being picky and choosey with whom we share the Gospel. We share with whomever He sends our way, and that could be someone who spits on you and says nasty names to you. But the Lord said very clearly, “I am with you, all the way till the end of the age”.
9. People need the Lord. The Holy Spirit doesn’t turn us on by remote-control. When we invite Him in, He sends the Holy Spirit to work with us and through us. 8 billion people in the world today, and as we heard from Pastor Brian there are about 4 billion who have not heard the Word. God’s heart is for everyone. We need to focus on the individual. One day two really old women came to my parent’s door, and asked if they could take these two little kids to church. My parents had never wanted anything to do with church, but for some reason, it was God, they let us go. God saw this little girl, that nobody wanted, and I keep remembering, there’s a lot of little girls and boys, and a lot of adults, older people, who feel like no one wants them. But God saw me, and someone came and took me to Jesus. God sees, and He’s asking us, “Will you see them with Me?” I love the fact that I know God has a plan, for every person’s life. He knows their pain, their joy, their sorrow, but we need to align our hearts with His heart, so that we can see the world the way He sees the world. I cannot wait to meet Mary Magdalene, she had to see the risen Christ and I want to ask, “What was it like to see Him when He came out of the grave?” Then I want to ask the 7 Disciples, and ask them “What was it like for the risen Christ to make breakfast on the beach?”
10. This same Jesus that’s alive, wants us to introduce Him to a world that would see wonders beyond anything they have ever seen. Everyone may not accept the good news of the Lord, but everyone needs to be invited, because God’s heart and salvation is for every person. Estimates say that the population grows by 200,000every day. I can’t reach the 200,000, but as you heard earlier, if I tell one, and that one tells one, and they each tell others, in 33 days, the whole world would have heard the Gospel. We can never forget that the Church is a sent people. Jesus said to the Disciples, “Peace to you, as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” I think its time to stop being confused about evangelism and mission, today we need to live as a sent people. We have a “bloody cross” to announce, and we have an empty tomb to declare to all who will listen.
11. We need to say today, like Isaiah 6:8 said, “Here am I Lord, send me.” Some of us will go across the world like I did, some of you will go to the corner petrol station. Some of you will go to the little minimarket and some of you will go to your families, but I’m telling you today, if your families are not saved, let’s begin there, pray for a burden. I must say it, I’m begging the Lord to save my son. I don’t want to go to heaven without him, and I know the Lord can do it. How about some of your family members, sons and daughters, husbands? Let’s take them with us! Let’s pray “Oh Lord, somehow give me the words, Lord, that are your heart, and if it’s not me, then send someone else.” Let me tell you this to challenge you, my son has lived in New York for 10 years, I have asked people, will you go visit him? I have asked people; will you call him when you’re there? Guess how many people have done it – none. Brian, you don’t count. He stays there. No one – which for me, always speaks to my heart, that we have become a bit apathetic – somebody else will do it.
12. What if it is your call to go? I love Jesus, and I know you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t love Him too. I want to tell you that He loves you, He gave His life for you. He wants to give you the richest most beautiful life. Treasures that are incomparable here on earth. He wants to give us His peace that no one else can give. All you have to do is to invite Him into your life today. If you have wandered a little bit far away from Him, He says come back to Him, I’m just as close as the mention of My name. Just say the name – JESUS – no other Name I know.

With this I would like to challenge you, to pray for a heart for the lost.