What I am about to discuss may quite likely turn off a lot of people. First, let me make this point quite clear. I am not the perfect example. I have my share of problems in my life. I am not living my share of the abundant life. I have not arrived, but I have left. The words you hear me say are not my own. They belong to my mentor who sent me, Andrew Wommack. And he is getting supernatural results in his life. He has even seen his own son raised up after being dead for five hours and starting to turn black. Unless you are receiving better results than he is, you ought to at least consider the things I am saying. The Word says, "He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me;". Jesus sent Andrew Wommack. Andrew Wommack sent me. Therefore, Jesus sent me. I really believe that this is one of the most important things that I can share with you. Today I am going to talk about something that is really dear to my heart. I mean, this has been a direction that God has given me. It has affected my entire life and everything that I am doing and I am going to start talking about discipleship, making disciples. Instead of just converts. I know that when I introduced this, some of you may think that man that does not sound like something that is going to be meaningful to me. But I can tell you whether that title intrest you or not. This is something that is at the core of Christianity. Although, many of you will not immediately identify with what I am about to say, I encourage you to listen and give me an opportunity. This is going to make a huge difference in your personal life. It is going to answer a lot of questions for you. One of the major benefits of this is, it is going to make you 100 percent more effective in your ministry to other people. It will also give you a lot of understanding about why the body of Christ is ineffective in many ways. One of the things that disturbs me is, if we have so many people that are claiming the name of the Lord, then why are not we seeing our nation go in a Godly direction. It seems like it is marching in exactly the opposite direction. That same principle applies in families on many different levels. On a family level, husbands and wives can not get along. The divorce rate among Christians is higher then it is among non-Christians. I say all of these things in advance of telling you what the subject is, so that you would not turn me off and say, you do not need that or that does not sound interesting to me. The Lord started dealing with me about making disciples. This is what has turned my life into the direction of being a teacher rather than a preacher. Now I am using some terms here talking about things that most people would just use interchangeably, and they act like they are the same thing, but they are not. And as I talk about this, I am going to be explaining things that I can guarantee you will make a huge difference in your life. If when I mentioned the word discipleship, making disciples instead of converts, if that doesn't just make your heart get excited, then I guarantee you that you have missed some revelation someplace. This is really what the Kingdom is all about, and this would solve problems. This will change nations. It has been seen to change people. Discipleship has literally been seen to impact nations. I will be giving more details on this. I am trying not to jump ahead on this. I have some charts and things about how discipleship can literally impact nations. The principles of discipleship have led to meetings with the President and the First Lady of some nations. It is making a powerful difference. What I am going to be talking about is discipleship. I will be specifically contrasting discipleship with the way that evangelism has typically been done in the body of Christ. One of the major points that I hope to accomplish in this series is that, if the emphasis was on discipleship instead of converts, we would actually evangelize people using discipleship evangelism, rather then through the way that evangelism is being done which is evangelism discipleship, where you evangelize and then maybe discipleship comes later. No, you make a goal making disciples, and in the process of trying to make disciples, I guarantee you, you will evangelize people. You will see people's lives change. This method, I promise you will make a radical difference in your life. Then if you adopt these things and begin to walk in it, not only will it change you, but you would be able to start impacting other people on a level that you have never done. Many of you may think that these are things that do not apply to you. I ask you to take my word that this is something that you kneed to understand. A lack of understanding of this is a major reason why we Christians are not experiencing healing, prosperity, deliverance, and relationships. It is why the church is not making the impact on our society that God intended for us to. The body of Christ as a whole, does not have this discipleship mentality. What we have is certain people, such as pastors, or evangelists, or TV or radio ministers, and we believe that those people have a special anointing on their lives. Basically, the body of Christ is depending on God to funnel his ministry gifts and all his power into them. Some of the applications that this applies to are healing. A lot of people do not know how to receive the healing power that God has made available to every one of us. It is God's will that every single person be well. Not a single person is supposed to be sick, Christian and non-Christian. He has already paid for the sickness and disease of the entire world. For what saith the word. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now(Romans 8:22). It is never God who fails to heal. Yet, the vast majority of Christians are not experiencing healing. Not because God has not provided it, but because they do not know how to receive it. One of the reasons that they do not know how to receive it is that they have not been disciple. They have not reached a place of maturity, where they can reach out and take their healing, and then train others to do the same. Now I know that was a long introduction. Nevertheless, I believe it was necessary to introduce the things that are yet to come. *************************** What I am going to focus on, and this is the part that I really want to lift up; unity in the body of Christ among the saints as it relates to the great commission. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations. Before I get to the great commission let us first understand that an introduction to the great commission and its application to unity of the body of Christ, comes from the last words of Jesus as he was about to depart from this physical world. First let us look at Ephesians 4:8-13. ,/ -Here begineth the reading of God's holy word. Ephesians 4:8-13. 8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: - Here endeth the reading of God's holy Word. From here I could do an entire teaching on the authority of the believer, but I am not. Instead what I am going to talk about is: Jesus gave gifts to men in order for the saints to fullfill the the work of the ministry. The people who had the gifts were the clergy or the administrators, the apostles, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers. For without a vision the people perish. Nevertheless, the ones who are called to do the work of the ministry are the saints in general. The church is called to do the work of the ministry, not only the man at the front called "the pastor'. When the pastor teaches and equips the saints for works of service, and they go and do them, that is true success. Now, what is the work of the ministry that the saints are called to do? The point being, there is an expectation, for unification, of the body of Christ, in doing the work of the ministry. Let's look at what that work is. Let us look at Matthew 28:18-20. ,/ -Here begineth the reading of God's holy word. Matthew 28:18-20 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. - Here endeth the reading of God's holy Word. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations. Let us be clear, this teaching is expected to come from the saints and is not limited to the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers. Yes, God has anointed them with a special anointing on their life. Yet, the purpose of their anointing is to teach the saints, how to teach those in the world. This teaching of those in the world is not a two-week sermon. For, those in the world are to be taught all things. The word that is translated teach means disciple. It is translated so in most bible translations. A disciple is like his master. He is a pupil, a learner, a follower, and a scholar. It is implying something similar to what we would call an apprenticeship. Where you not only sit and get instruction, but you apply it, and put the things you are taught into practice, under the apprenticeship of a master teacher. I believe that one reason people have knowingly focused on going out and making converts instead of disciples in direct opposition to what Jesus commanded us to do is because they see the situation, they see the statistics about how many people die every day without knowing Jesus. Thus, they enter into a crisis mentality. They feel compelled to get as many people born again as they can, and as fast as they can. The priority is put on conversion. We the church, have not been making disciples, we have been making converts instead. This is why so many of us, although we have a real relationship with the Lord, and when we die we will go to be with the lord. Still many of us are bitter, miserable, sick, angry, there is unforgiveness. Many of us are depressed, living in proverty, dealing with strife, rejection, hurt, and failed marriages. The devorce rate of christians is higher than the devorce rate in the world. God forbid. We are not living an abundant life, and it is because of this very issue. We are making converts and not disciples. When I say we the church have not been making disciples, I am talking about a large segment of the church. There are churches that are doing a marvelous job, but a large segment of the church is not making disciples. Towards the objective of focusing unity of the body of Christ on the Great commission, we should give serious consideration to establishing free bible colleges, particularly those of us who are retired and have some time on our hands. We have the space that is underutilized. The mission of the church as a whole, is to teach people how to teach people. To have a six month or even a year's lesson plan. To teach students what to say, what questions to ask. What homework assignments to give. We do not have to start from scratch. There are those who have written these things down for our learning, that we through obedience to the word would not cause God's plan in our life to be in vain. For what did Samuel say to Saul. 1 Samuel 13:13 ...Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God .... Let there be unity in the body of Christ, towards the end of Go ye therefore and teach all nations. Do not sit back and wait for those who were given the gifts to do it. You do it. If you do not know how, establish a school that teaches saints how to teach non saints. It does not have to be an accredited school, and you can do it for free. At some point, you may have to or want to charge for a prophet, but start from where you are. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations and teach them all things. ---------------------------------------------------------- Everyone's gifts can be used to disciple. There are those who have been working with discipleship programs for many years with great success, seeing people's lives changed and getting real victories in their lives, and not just being born again, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and water baptized. For these things happen almost immediately. We are missing some things that are falling through the cracks. Everything is not working great. What I am going to share with you is how to bring an inward church, to an outward church. An inward church is one where people just sit, listen to the pastor, and go home. An outward church is one where people reach beyond the four walls of the church building. These are the real statistics: Ninety five percent of all Christians have never led anybody to the Lord and ninety percent of evangelism is directed toward Christians. The church building is the most evangelized area in the world. We evangelize the Sunday school rooms, and we evangelize the sanctuary. The way we evangelize the building, you would think the church needs converting. It was not until the third century under Constantine, that church buildings came into being. Since that time, as far as reaching out to the lost, the church has gone inward and hid behind the walls of the church buildings. We want to reach out beyond those walls to turn an inward church into an outward church. Statistically, there are only less than one percent of programs that reach beyond the four walls of our buildings. That says there is no major denomination in the United States today that has a plan to really reach the lost. Reaching and discipleing people outside of our church buildings is a part of Christianity that needs to be rediscovered. Through the Reformation, Martin Luther brought the revelation of justification through faith to the church's attention. In the 1800s, mass evangelism came through John Wesley. But it seems that personal one-on-one discipleing and evangelism has not been rediscovered since the Apostles. You may say, "I don't know how." We can implament a program where personal evangelism is very easy. A program where it is easy to work with people and to meet new people at the door through using your testimony. This is what I want to focus on now. If I say, look, this is what I want to do: touch people's lives, get them saved, born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, and water-baptized: People would say, "That is great!" But if I said "Now, how many of you want to go with me: There would be maybe three out of two hundred, because the rest are scared or do not know how to do it. Or, if I said, "Now, forget about it. Do not worry about it; you don't have to be afraid. We will use the Bible studies forum to set up discipleship lessons for you." How many would want to teach? There would be about ten or twelve, saying, "Yes, I want to teach: But it would not go beyond that. What I want to do is show you how every gift in the body of Christ can be used to reach the lost, to love and disciple them. It will take every gift, and those gifts are found only in the body of Christ, the local church. Some of you say, "I like to pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, healing, and things like that: Well, there's a time in discipleship when you can be brought in for just that purpose. Other people would say, "I'm not comfortable with that, but can you bake a pie? Can you send a card? Can you make a phone call? Can you paint a fence? Can you baby-sit for a single mom we are ministering to and give her a hour to herself so she can get out of the house? Can you do the practical things? What about intercession? Some of you are called to intercede, to pray. You can be shown the people being ministered to, given their names, and you can be praying and interceding, alone or in groups, for them and for the Discipleship Evangelism teams that go out each week. There is room for everyone to reach out to others, to disciple. We can devolp a program where every gift can be used. We can develop teams of a teacher and a teacher's assistant who go out in a discipleship capacity to minister. Then two people in the helps ministry can come in behind them to do practical things, like giving food, baking a pie, or calling to see how things are going. We can also have people who are interceding for us and the people we minister to. We can see God change people's lives because they are being pastored and cared for, because His love is being shown to them. And do you know who would be doing the work of the ministry? It would be done by the ones who are supposed to do it, the people. Ephesians 4:11 says the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher are given to perfect the saints so they can do the work of the ministry. Again, the church is to do the work of the ministry, not only the man at the front called "the pastor? When the pastor teaches and equips the church for works of service and they go and do them, that is true success. Let me illustrate. If we declared war on another nation and our president said, "We lose too many men in war, so I have decided to do away with the army and send just the generals out there to fight? The rest of the world would laugh at us, and really that is what is happening. The devil is laughing at us because we have sent the generals, the fivefold ministry, to do it all. Let them do it. We are paying them to do it? We have failed to develop an army. God wants to develop that army, and every one of our gifts can be used in Discipleship Evangelism. We want to help create an army, equipped with powerful tools to disciple, not just here in our city, but reaching around the world. It can be done through the tools that have already been developed, the discipleship lessons and all of the strategies God has given us. God bless you as everyone comes together to use their gifts to minister to the lost, to the new believer, and to keep Jesuses commandment to go and disciple the nations. In conclusion let let me take a moment to restate and expound on something I have already said. It seems that personal one-on-one discipleing and evangelism has not been rediscovered since the Apostles. We could, and should each commit to a 6 month apprentiship of 1 person for the next 20 years, and teach others to do the same. That is the method that Apostles used to teach. That is the method the my mentor Andrew Wommack uses. If we use that method we could make disciples of the whole world in 30 years. Let us look at the math. After 6 months there would be 2 disciples, yourself and the person you dis-cipled. After 1 year there would be 4 disciples, yourself, the person you dis-cipled, and the 2nd person each of you dis-cipled. The pattern is each year the total number of disciples would quadruple. At this rate after 10 years there would be 1 million. After 20 years you would have more than 1,000,000,000,000. This represents small beginnings but huemongus endings or what the scriptures define as being more than a conquerer. After 25 years you would have 1 Quadrillion. Wow! It's no wonder we are failing at evangelism. This might be compared the the traditional method of evangelism neting 1,000 per year, which would produce 25,000 after 25 years. Of cource that 25,000 could in theory lead some people to the Lord, thus increasing that number closer to 1 Quadrillion. Nevertheless, the increase would be insignificant. Let's look at the statistics. Ninety five percent of all Christians have never led anybody to the Lord. Likewise, most of those who initially responded to the alter call you never hear from again. Comparatively, not all of the 1 Quadrillion that were dis-cipled for six months, will respond favorbly. Nevertheless, the percentage of favorable responsess will be quite high. Let's do this God's way instead of man's way. Other non christians are doing it God's way, Jehovah Witness and Mormons, why can't we. They read the scripture, partially understood the methodology, and received favorable results over short periods of time. If we are to learn anything from the tower of bable it is that in the short run ungodly objectives are achieveable with Godly methods. Even Satan himself used unconditional authority over the earth to accomplish short term, and un-Godly goals. He that has an ear, let him hear. Grace and Peace be unto you, from God our father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.