How to Share the Good News – Part 5 ~ Go Make Disciples

How to Share the Good News – Part 5 ~ Go Make Disciples

By Pastor Gary Wayne

Text: Matthew 28:19-20

What does it actually mean to be a “disciple” of Jesus?
If we are going to make disciples, we need to know what that is.

According to the Bible? The word for “disciple” is a learner who follows a master teacher.
But discipleship is much more than just the transfer of information, more than a student of a teacher. It is imitating / emulating - the teacher’s life, inculcating his values, and reproducing the teacher.”
Christian discipleship is a relationship with Jesus, following His teaching and His way of life until His ways become the lens that I look at life through.

The term “disciple” is used 269 times as opposed to the term “Christian” which is used only 3 times.
So the term disciple is used to describe the followers of Jesus through the NT.

In looking at our text - In these two verses, there is one main command: make disciples.
And three directives as to how to make disciples – go, baptize, and teach.
As I was studying this, I was excited to see that our Mission Statement directly lines up with this. Engage people, Enrich Believers, Empower the called.

Joh 20:21 “ As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." This means that Jesus’s disciples are on a mission.
So a disciple is someone following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and committed to His mission – pointing people to Jesus.

I believe when my heart is truly devoted to Him, what is on His heart is what matters most to me.
His desires become my desires, blessed and anointed by God. Ps 37:4 “Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

That causes me to be involved in developing relationships to help people come to know Jesus.
This is not a sales pitch like a used car salesman, or an Amway dealer.
People can smell that a mile away.

This is winning people to Jesus, then staying connected with them to “disciple” them until they can stand on their own and make disciples themselves.

How do we disciple people?

Just like personal evangelism, there are multiple methods.
Books, classes, conferences, cover this material a lot.
But as I look at the Church overall in America, I feel this is a major area that we haven’t done very well in.

It’s similar to helping to birth a baby, but after they are born, saying, ok, you are on your own. Some make it, MANY do not.

My pastoral goal for this series, “HOW TO SHAIR THE GOOD NEWS” is to give us information to get started on how to do this.
But head knowledge is not enough.
I have been asking Holy Spirit to breath on our hearts to help us become passionate about what is on His heart.

Over about a year’s time, I have been studying how to reproduce reproducers, and I have looked at a bunch of different methods.

I have settled on one I want to introduce us to.

“The New Believers Handbook.” & “The New Believers friend Handbook.”

This is a discipline tool that can be used in SEVERAL ways.
I only have about 15 small, and 10 “friend” books available.

The best-case scenario – I win someone to Christ, then I ask them if they would like a small book to help them understand what just took place.
So I introduce “The New Believers Handbook.”
It is an easy reading devotional intended to give them a foundation in 8 weeks of daily reading.

Ideally, you invite them to meet with you every week to discuss what they experienced, and to “disciple” them into a life commitment with Jesus.

Very much like my pastoral advice in learning how to share the Good News, I am expecting us to study the material, and figure out how to use what works best for you individually.

2Ti 2:15 “Do your best (KJV – study) to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” NIV