No Place Left Individual Plans

Can you imagine that a small group of trainers (disciple makers) from two churches partnering together in Allen would drive over an hour away to train 10 churches to go into the harvest?  I believe that the Holy Spirit is working in a mighty way in ALL of this.  The Great Commission is realized and some disciples there know the urgency, they feel the urgency, they are at work in the urgency!  The gospel is being shared!  Lives will be changed because of Jesus and the spread of the gospel!

So, this reminds me of my personal goals that we learned from Outreach Training that we have: 
1.  Praying for workers to go into the harvest (Luke 10:2)
2.  Pray and engage someone to train with the 4-1-1 (Core Discipleship Lesson for One Hour)
3.  Share the Gospel with someone in your Sphere of Influence - OIKOS)

Accountability is the KEY!  Disciple Making is being accountable to the Great Commission that Jesus has spoken before us to obey!  I need to PRAY, PLAN and PRACTICE!  Constantly.  It takes time, investing my life in sharing the gospel and then, following up and do life together in the Word and Prayer.  I am working with a PURPOSE in the kingdom of God.  It's not really WORK as I realize my PURPOSE.  It's ministry, it's sharing, it needs to become my life.  I need to plan on these all the time.  Would you join me? 
     

Disciple

Disciple  

This is one of the most misunderstood words in the Bible.  It can be said that this is a churchy word but disciple is actually used in the gospels over 200 times.  It comes from the Greek word mathetes and simply means "learner" or "follower." - someone who is committed to a master.  1 Timothy 4:7 says "Train yourself to be godly."  As a believer in Christ, you are constantly learning from the Lord and the Word about your relationship with Him.  The question is, "Is there ever a time where you aren't learning?"  No.  Being a faithful believer in Christ means you are always being discipled, you are always following Him, and it is changing who you are in Christ.

Bill Hull, who wrote "The Complete Book of Discipleship", says there are three parts of disciple-making:
1.  Deliverance:  salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ followed by baptism.  Interesting point that Hull makes is that most churches limit disciple making to Christians and don't focus on sending disciples out to witness to the lost who need Christ.  The idea is that evangelism and discipleship have a very strong relationship in working together.  You can't have one without the other. 
2.  Development:  developing character and capacity.  Matt. 28:20 is the "teaching them to obey" part.  Its in our DNA as believers in Christ.  One of the issues with many so-called believers is that their capacity is already full.  They have had enough Jesus or church in a few weeks or a few months or years to last a lifetime.  These are the "dropouts" we find that are disconnected with the church, and eventually disconnected with Jesus.  We need the church of Jesus Christ to help with development...to put into practice the "one another's" of the New Testament.  To help us when we fall.  To help us when we are stumped. 
3.  Deployment:  Interesting that this is the first word of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19 - "Go!"  Hull writes "deploying the disciple in mission where he lives, works and plays."  I love this!  We live in a broken world and realizing that we have the message (gospel) that changes lives will help us see the Father's heart to reach out to others.  To be on mission constantly.   

Which stage are you in?  What's stifling your growth? Be the disciple God wants you to be.
 

 

Encourage Believers

Al and I were teamed up together and we met Gilbert.  Gilbert shared a prayer request that as a dad and husband, he was going back to college to get a higher degree.  Wow!  Kids running around in the house and like a boss, he had a pencil hanging out behind his ear.  We prayed for Gilbert and he allowed us to share the gospel with him (3 Circles). 

Most believers usually turn us down because they don't want to be bothered.  They are "good" since they went to church Sunday morning.  We hear this time and time again.  Or, "my husband leads a prayer group at our church, so....we're good." (shut door) Or, "I belong to a group at church and they pray for me." (shut door) Or, "I went to church this morning so I have all I need."  (shut door)

Gilbert, a believer, allowed us to share the gospel with him.  He payed close attention and responded with concern.  He wasn't sure about his relationship with Jesus.  He knew that he had believed in Him at one time and knew of salvation by grace through faith.  One of the great parts of going out into the city is to encourage believers in Christ.  We encouraged Gilbert.  We prayed with him.  We shared Scripture with him and after a brief visit, we offered to train him in the Great Commission. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, "Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."  The "one another" here is the church.  The body of Christ.  Give and accept encouragement, especially in the church.