You Can't Make Disciples

“Let me ask you a question: How are you making disciples? You may be tempted to think, “I don’t know if I can really make disciples.” If that’s you, then I want to let you in on a secret: you can’t. But that’s the whole point. God has put His Holy Spirit in you, and He has equipped you and empowered you to do that which you could never do on your own. That’s the whole point of Christianity. God has not saved you to sit on the sidelines and to do what you’re capable of doing. He has saved you to live on the front lines and experience what He alone is capable of doing.” -- David Platt

Not Saved to Live in a Bubble

"God has not saved you to dwell in a Christian bubble; God has saved you to spread the Christian gospel, both in the city where you live and to the ends of the earth. This is what we were created for, what we’ve been commissioned to do as a church. This is what we’re compelled to do as Christians, to be disciples who make disciples so that the grace and love of God are spread all over the world through us!" -- David Platt

Photo by Paul Henderson

What Does Jesus Want?

"Profession of Jesus as Lord is not asking for assent to the fact of his deity, but calling people to faithfulness, obedience, and allegiance towards him. Jesus wants followers not fans!" -- Michael Bird

Gospel Quote - Baptism is About Identity

"In addition to going, disciples of Jesus are commanded to baptize.  Baptism is primarily about identifying with Jesus and his lordship.  Baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality that we no longer live for ourselves, but for the sake of God and his glory." -- Todd Engstrom

Photo by David Meyer

Gospel Quote - Cross the Street

"While some people are called of God to move overseas to proclaim the good news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, every believer in Christ is called to participate in making disciples of the nations. For some of us, engaging in discipling the nations means intentionally crossing the street to have a conversation.  It means doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality, and showing others how all of life is submitted to the reign and rule of Christ—even buying groceries, coaching soccer or enjoying hard work to the glory of God." -- Todd Engstrom

Photo by D Sharon Pruitt

Gospel Quotes - The Essential Component

"The first essential component of making disciples is “go.”  Discipleship at its very core requires obedience to follow Jesus and make him famous in the nations. By God’s design, the gospel will be proclaimed by His people among those who do not yet know Him, and we as God’s people must go to the nations." -- Todd Engstrom

Discipleship Links | Oct 26 - Nov 7

Here are the best blog posts I came across lately on being and making disciples.

1. Discipling Quick Tips and How To's
2. How Jesus Made Disciples
3. How Do I Get Disciples As Jesus Discipled
4. DeYoung & Gilbert on the Great Mission
5. Story-Formed Disciple-Making
6. Platt & Chan: Don't Be a Lone Ranger
7. Chan and Platt Team Up to Help You Make Disciples
8. The Cost of Discipleship Quotes By Dietrich Bonhoeffer
9. Don't We Already Know the Great Commission?
10. Is Making Disciples a Command to Individuals or a Call to Churches?

6 Simple Ways to be Missional

On the Resurgence Blog Tim Chester shared the following ways to be missional, how to bring Jesus to others as we live our lives in obedience to Jesus' command to go and make disciples in Matthew 28: 18-20.

1. EAT WITH OTHER PEOPLE

We all eat three meals a day. That’s 21 opportunities for church and mission each week without adding anything new to your schedule. And meals are a powerful expression of welcome and community. 

2. WORK IN PUBLIC PLACES

Hold meetings, prepare talks, and read in public spaces like cafés, pubs, and parks. It will naturally help you engage with the culture. For example, whose questions do you want to address in your Bible studies, those of professional exegetes or those of the culture?

3. BE A REGULAR

Adopt a local café, pub, park,
and shop so you regularly visit and become known as a local. Imagine if everyone in your gospel community did this!

4. LEAVE THE HOUSE IN THE EVENINGS

It’s so easy after a long day on a dark evening to slump in front of the television or surf the Internet. Get out! Visit a friend. Take a cake to a neighbor. Attend a local group. Go to the cinema. Hang out in a café. Go for a walk with a friend. It doesn’t matter where as long as you go with gospel intentionality.

5. SERVE YOUR NEIGHBORS

Weed a neighbor’s garden. Help someone move. Put up a shelf. Volunteer with a local group. It could be one evening a week or one day a month. Try to do it with other members of your gospel community so it becomes a common project. Then people will see your love for one another and it will be easier to talk about Jesus.

6. SHARE YOUR PASSION

What do you enjoy? Find a local group that shares your passion. Be missional and have fun
at the same time!

Here is a link to an excellent free e-booklet (pdf) resource on additional ways to be missional: Simple Ways to be Missional

Related Blog Posts:

1. Mission is Where You Live

How Does One Live a Life Worthy of the Gospel?

When I read Philippians 1:27 (HCSB) "Just one thing: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ..." the question that comes to my mind is, "How does one live a life worthy of the gospel?" I really like Scot McKnight's answer to this question:

In some ways, Paul explained what a life worthy of the gospel is in verse 21: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." A life worthy of the gospel is a life lived for Christ. What does that look like? He says it in v. 27: it means striving together, in fellowship, in extending the gospel and preaching the gospel to others. A life worthy of the gospel is a life dedicated to that gospel -- to living it and preaching it.

I wholeheartedly agree! There is no agenda, no cause, absolutely nothing greater than the gospel to live for. The gospel is the greatest message of all time, without it none of history would have happened because God would have had to judge Adam and Eve immediately for their sin. It is such an amazing message that even angels long to look into it!

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Angels desire to look into these things. 1 Peter 1:12 (HCSB)

Can you imagine that! Angels want to know the gospel! Why? I think it is because they see God in His majesty and holiness. They know Him in ways we can't even begin to comprehend and then they see how we reject God to be our owns gods and how we choose to find life, security, and love in created things rather than the Creator. Yet, in spite of this, God in His love, mercy and grace dealt with our sin, having His Son take the punishment Himself, in order to make reconciliation and restoration possible for us with Him.

So, knowing all of this they stand in awe of God and they want to know the gospel better because in doing so they get to know God better. It is sad that so few, who call themselves "Christian", can say the same. If you are in Christ open your hearts and your minds and make the effort to know the gospel better and better.

Then, like Scot McKnight said, dedicate your life to the gospel- living it and preaching it in the context of life with other disciples of Jesus. Do you want your life to count? Do you want your life to have the greatest possible impact and significance? Then die to yourself and live for Jesus and live like He did, trusting the Father, depending on the Holy Spirit, knowing the Word of God and then doing what Jesus said to do. Share the gospel and make disciples of all those who believe it. Now that is a life worth living for!

Being and Making Disciples Workshop

On Saturday, September 1, I did an "Equipping to Serve" workshop for all the Calvary Chapels in Romania in Săcele. The title was "Being and Making Disciples". Below are the links to the channel of the videos (English with Romanian translations), PDF's of the slides and the notes for the four sessions of the workshop.

Video Channel - Vimeo  or  YouTube

PDF's of Slides

1. What Does It Mean to be a Disciple of Jesus?

2. How Do I Begin to Disciple Someone?

3. What is Foundational for Discipling Someone?

4, What Do We Do Long Term in Discipling Someone?


Notes - Letter Sized

1. What Does It Mean to be a Disciple of Jesus?

2. How Do I Begin to Disciple Someone?

3. What is Foundational for Discipling Someone?

4, What Do We Do Long Term in Discipling Someone?



Notes - A4 (European sized)

1. What Does It Mean to be a Disciple of Jesus?

2. How Do I Begin to Disciple Someone?

3. What is Foundational for Discipling Someone?

4, What Do We Do Long Term in Discipling Someone?

Definition of the Gospel

For our second class of the study of the gospel we looked at how to develop a basic outline of the gospel and to write a definition of the whole gospel message- a one sentence version, as well as, a longer definition. Next week they will have to turn in their outlines and definitions. Below are rough drafts of my definitions. If you have any constructive input I would appreciate hearing from you.

Outline 
1. Eternity Past
2. Creation
3. Fall
4. Redemption
5. Restoration
6. Eternity Future

One Sentence Definiton

The gospel is the good news that, though we deserve judgment and hell, God has provided a way for us sinners to be restored to Himself, now and forever, through His Son Jesus if we turn in our hearts from sin to Jesus and receive by faith what He did to deal with our sin- His sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection.

Paragraph Length Definition

The Gospel is the good news that God, in His great love, has provided a way for us and all the rest of His creation to be reconciled and restored to Himself. Without this provision, all we have to look forward to is judgment day, when God will judge all that we did. We will be found guilty of sin and, most importantly, of rejecting His provision for our sin. As a result we will be sent to hell where we will experience the full wrath of God for our sin. God’s provision for our sin is through His Son, Jesus Christ, who became a human being and lived a perfect sinless life, then sacrificially died on a cross for our sins, after which He was resurrected to new life and is now at the right hand of the Father waiting to return to set up his eternal kingdom. All those who have accepted God’s provision in Jesus will be adopted by God as His children and will be with Jesus forever and ever.

Longer Definition

The Gospel for us begins with the fact that we are separated from God due to our sin of disobeying Him and not giving Him His rightful place in our lives and hearts. Instead we have chosen to be our own gods and to do what we want regardless of what God says.

We were created for God’s good pleasure, to have a loving relationship with Him. But for love to exist there needs to be the ability to choose to love or not, so God gave us the ability to choose. Sadly, we chose to reject God and to disobey Him, just like Satan did in eternity past. His pride was his downfall as he was the most glorious of all that God created. Instead of appreciating what God had done for him he decided in his heart that he should be worshipped like the Most High. Tragically, we have fallen in his footsteps of wanting to be our own gods.

Imagine this from God’s perspective! Before anything existed God was. He is spirit, invisible and eternal, without beginning and without end. Even though He exists outside of time He is present everywhere through all time and space. He is infinite in knowledge and wisdom and His ways are beyond our ability to understand. He is all-powerful and able to do anything and everything that He wills to do that is in harmony with His nature. He is beautiful, true, good and perfect in every way never changing.

By His will all things that exist were created. He is sovereign over His entire creation and does as He pleases at all times. He alone is the source and giver of life, full of goodness to all that He has created. As He alone is life and the source of life, He is also love and the source of love. God is one in nature but exist in three divine persons- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For love to exist there needs to be relationship and in the Trinity there has always been perfect harmony and love.

God is holy, righteous and just; He lives in unapproachable light, the light of His majesty and splendor. He is jealous for His glory for He alone is glorious. Sin cannot exist in His presence. He hates sin and because of His nature He brings judgment against it and destroys it by His righteous angry wrath.

While God is holy, righteous and just He is also infinite in love, mercy, grace, kindness, compassion, faithfulness, and patience. In humility He seeks to see His creation become all that He intended it to be.

What we deserve for our rejection and rebellion against God is judgment and hell. Everyone of us is guilty with no exception. We can’t blame others; we are responsible for the choices we have made in our lives. This is indeed bad news.

The bad news even gets worse! There is nothing we can do ourselves to restore our relationship with God. We can’t be good enough or do enough good things or be religious enough to earn our way to Him. 

Because of that, what awaits us after the Lord Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom, is a day where we will have to stand before Him and give an account of our lives. We will be judged for our disobedience to God and for our rejection of Jesus which is God’s only provision for our sin. He will show us all the times He tried to reach out to us with His great love and how we rejected it and instead hardened our hearts towards Him. Then He will tell us to leave Him and go to Hell where we will be separated from Him forever and where we will receive the full wrath of His judgment for our sin. There we will also spend all of eternity living with the knowledge that we rejected Jesus, the Father’s great expression of love for us. 

But there is good news, the greatest, most awesome news ever! God loves us and does not want any of us to go to Hell. That is why He has provided a way for us to be restored in our relationship with Him through His Son. 

He sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and to die on a cross. While on the cross God placed the sin of the entire world upon Him and then poured out His wrath on His own Son for every sin. By this Jesus paid the price for every sin. On the cross He died then was buried and three days later He rose from the dead proving He was without any sin of His own and that God’s wrath was fully satisfied for sin. 

Those that recognize their sin against God and confess it to Him and then turn in their hearts from their disobedient rebellious ways and turn to Jesus, receiving by faith what He did on the cross for their sin and making Him their Lord, will be forgiven of their sin and God will send His Holy Spirit to live within them making them spiritually alive and His children to be with Him forever. 

Some day soon Jesus is going to return and set up His kingdom here on the earth where He will rule in righteousness and truth. When He comes, all those who have turned from their sin and placed their faith in Jesus, will be with Him and will rule with Him in His glorious kingdom. At the time of His coming all those that are His will be transformed in the blink of an eye to be like Him, without sin and immortal. We will have physical bodies, yet they will also be spiritual bodies. 

Eventually all of the creation will burn in a blazing fire then God will create a new heaven and earth. At that time the new Jerusalem will come down from heaven from God. God will live with men, He will be their God and they will be His people. He will wipe every tear and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. He will restore all things and make them new. 

Everything will be as God had originally intended from the very beginning. To the praise of His glory and grace!

On February 4, 2009 I wrote a new post titled The Gospel - A New Definition.  

You will find links to the resources of the 10 week gospel series I did in January-March 2009 here: Gospel Series Resources

       Here is a post I wrote that is my second most viewed one- 
        Why Should Seekers Consider the Gospel?

Here is the newest teaching series I am doing on the gospel. At our church in Bucharest I teach the last Sunday of the month on the gospel. Then when I get time I video an English only version. 

Sorry I haven't had time to do the English only versions  so here is the link to the English with Romanian translation.

On September 1, 2012 I did a workshop titled "Being and Making Disciples".There are links to the channel of the videos (English with Romanian translations), PDF's of the slides and the notes for the four sessions of the workshop.    English     Romanian