Authentic Disciples
PART 5- Make Disciples Who Make Disciples
Dr. Frank Parrish/ www.world-map.com

A. THE INSTRUCTIONS OF JESUS TO US

The Great Commission –

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus promises His disciples (us) three things:

  1. He is

    them.

  2. The same Spirit (Holy Spirit)

    them.

  3. They go to do His work with His

    .

Man

his God-given authority at the fall in the garden of Eden, and came under Satan’s authority. But because of what Jesus did on the Cross, Satan’s power was stripped and disarmed and all authority was returned to Christ – see Colossians 2:15

Jesus now sends His followers in His authority to go and

.

JESUS SAYS TO HIS DISCIPLES (US): MAKE DISCIPLES OF OTHERS WHO WILL FOLLOW ME JUST AS YOU ARE FOLLOWING ME.

B. EACH ONE, TEACH ONE

The primary purpose of every church leader is to:

1.

others to follow Christ.

2.

others to serve Christ.

3.

others for the work of ministry.

4.

others into ministry.

As leaders, we often either do not train others or we train them to serve only with us in our ministry. This is “the kingdom of me” strategy, instead of the Kingdom of God strategy.

C. FOR WHOM DO WE MAKE DISCIPLES?

If we want to do ministry God’s way, we do not make disciples for ourselves or for our own ministry.

WE MAKE DISCIPLES FOR AND FOR THE EXPANSION OF .

Some of the disciples we train will

and serve with us; but others will be by the Holy Spirit to . And we should release them!

Remember: Discipleship takes place at the personal, local level. But the goal and the intent of discipleship is to

with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“… for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ… From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the Body for the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:11-16

EVERY BELIEVER IN JESUS HAS A

Help the believers in your church to find their gifts and their ministry strengths, and then release them into that ministry. Give them opportunities to supply what only they can supply to the Body of Christ!

D. DISCIPLESHIP IS FOR THE PURPOSE OF MULTIPLICATION

Paul writes to Timothy –

“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” —2 Timothy 2:2

In this one verse, we see five generations of disciples revealed: Paul, witnesses, Timothy, faithful men and others. Discipleship is not for the purpose of one person being discipled. Discipleship means to disciple someone, so that they can disciple someone else, who will then disciple someone else, and so on.

We are charged with

the Kingdom of God.

Paul writes to the church in Rome –

“… from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ.” Romans 15:19

In this verse, Paul writes to a church in Rome, yet he had never been there.

How did the Gospel get to Rome and how did that church start without Paul being there?

EACH ONE, TEACH ONE

YEAR 1 – Disciple someone (so by the end of the year, there will be two disciples of Jesus)

YEAR 2 – Disciple someone new, and your disciple does the same (so by the end of the year, there will be four disciples of Jesus) And so on…

By YEAR 33 (the lifetime Jesus had on earth), there would be more than 8.6 billion disciples – that is more than the earth’s population!

WE MAKE DISCIPLES, WHO MAKE DISCIPLES, WHO MAKE DISCIPLES, WHO MAKE DISCIPLES!