Go Make Disciples

They were singing this song, I sought the Lord. And we were singing it out. And I wanted to give you guys the definition of salt, because I want you guys to ask yourself the question. Because I believe that Holy Spirit began to deal with me sitting there at my seat. Salt means this.

To resort to, to go to, to go in search of, to look for, to try to discover. And the question I want you to ask yourself this week is, what am I looking for?

What am I looking for? Who am I looking for? When they went to the tomb, she was looking for a dead Jesus. And the angel said, who are you looking for? He's not here.

He got up. And so a lot of times we come to altars, we come to church, and we're looking for something. And very few times is it that we are actually looking for him. We're looking for affirmation. We're looking for marriage.

We're looking for money. We're looking for peace. We're looking not realizing that all of those things that you seek is found in him. And so when you begin to ask yourself, what am I seeking? And you write down a person, place, thing or idea that is not Jesus.

Jesus, I want to tell you, you will be looking for a long time. But everything. Look at your neighbor. Say everything you need, you will find in him. And I'm talking about full surrender.

I'm not talking about using him as a sugar daddy and only looking for him until you get what you want and then you dip out. He's looking because you want him. He is the prize. He is the promise. He is joy.

He is love. He is community. He is accountability. He is healing. He is peace.

It's Jesus. And all these other things get added from the thing that we seek. So my heart is, is that you seek him. Look at your neighbor in place. Please seek him.

Please seek him. How many of y' all went to homecoming this weekend? Let's talk about it. I'm so glad you're here. Look at your neighbor and say, thank you for coming to church.

Look at them. I know your belly's full. I know you had late night. I know you're tired. Don't ask them if they danced.

Don't ask them. Just say, I'm really glad that you are here today. It is a big weekend, and I'm gonna be honest. About 9:15, I said, the saints ain't coming today. The saints are tired.

They have geehoed too much. But I'm so glad that you made it here, and I'm excited to dive into this word. If you have your Bibles, can you turn with me to Matthew 28. Matthew 28 starting in verse 16.

Today we're going to talk about discipling others. Discipling others? Matthew 28, verse 16 starts here it says. Then the 11 disciples left for Galilee. Going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.

Who told them to go? Jesus told them to go. And when they saw him, they. They worshiped him. Who is him?

Jesus. Good. But some of them talking about the disciples, they doubted. Jesus came and told his disciples. I have been given all, say all, authority in heaven and on earth.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey.

It's fun. All the commands that I have given you. And be sure of this. I am with you always. Even to the end the age.

Father, we love you and we honor you. We're so thankful to be in the house this morning. God, I thank you for the sacrifice of every man, every woman, every child to be here today. God, we come seeking you, to hear from you, to be met by you. We desire your presence.

We desire your will. We desire your strategy. More than how we feel or what we think or every ounce of confusion that might be in this house. God, we come against it now in the name of Jesus, that your word will go forth. It will penetrate every heart.

Whether they know you or not, whether they're surrendered or not. Whether they're sure that this life is real or not. God, you will arrest them at their seat this morning. You will find them. Your sons and your daughters and Father.

God, shake us and mark us in your presence today. I thank you for holy setups in the house this morning. I thank you for the rescuing of bloodlines today. I thank you for full surrendering in the house today. God, in the name of Jesus, I decree and declare it.

And it is so in Jesus name, Amen. I want to give you guys a sobering reality. And it's going to sound very sad, but there's a reason for it. Because we're talking about discipling other people. In the US alone, there is one death every 10 seconds.

There are six deaths every minute. There is 350 deaths every hour. There is 8,400 deaths every day and 3.1 million deaths every year just in the United States. In the world, there are two deaths every second. 120 deaths every minute.

7200 deaths every hour. 173,000 deaths every day and 63 million deaths every year. Look at somebody say, it's important to make disciples. It's important to open up your mouth. It's important to lead people to Christ.

And I'm not just talking about on your Facebook. We have become so desensitized, we don't know how to talk to people.

I can share God on my profile, but if I see you out in public, you're like, I don't know where you. Jesus loves you. But when it comes to actually talking to somebody face to face, eyeball to eyeball, we fell back of doing the thing that God has called us to do, which is making disciples first. Peter 5, 8 says it like this. Be alert and of sober mind.

Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. So this is what we know from those statistics. Life is short, but eternity is long. And spiritually mature people. I'm not talking about churchy people.

And you've got your little pen that you've been to church 50 years. Congratulations. What are you doing with that 50 year pen? Spiritually mature people live with eternity always in mind.

Eternity is long, but life is short. And culture teaches us to be all about this life. You got to make money here, you got to get married here. You got to know people here, you got to make connections here, you got to be about business here. But nobody wants to focus on eternity.

This is short. And you don't get to take anything with you. Ain't that a crying shame.

But spiritually mature people live with eternity always in mind. And not just for themselves themselves, but for the other people around them. Not just the people with your last name. I'm talking about all people. Like when you go to the restaurant today, please go to the restaurant.

When you go get a plate that is set up down the street. Look at them.

See them? Not what they can give you, not what you're buying from them. Don't even see them as a vendor. See them as a soul. When you go to work tomorrow morning, look at your co workers.

I mean, look at them get in their business. How are they really? Do not water down these things like, hey, have a good day. Let's talk about the reports. We gotta be in the board meeting here.

The kids are driving me. When those parents drop those kids off and you're working the line, see them when you go to your homes and your families, maybe y' all don't eat at a restaurant. Maybe y' all go to somebody's house every Sunday. And y' all eat. See the people in the room, not just as your uncle or your auntie or your cousin.

See them with eternity in mind.

Look at somebody say, I want to be spiritually mature.

Our Pastor Jay from our Kannapolis campus. He's been here before. He recently went to Zambia on a missions trip, where he had the opportunity to go to a lion park. I know. That's what I said.

Mm. And he walked along this trail through the woods to a spot where these lions were laying on the ground.

Now, there were instructions given. I need you to catch this. There were instructions given by the man in charge, and it was very important to follow the instructions. He also gave Pastor J the permission to spank the lion.

This man had all authority over the lions, and he passed that along to them, meaning he knew where to touch them, where not to touch them. He knew how soft you to be and how firm you needed to be. He was able to give strategy and intention so that Pastor J would be safe. So what would have happened if he saw this lion and he thought he could handle it on his own with no authority?

That's right. He would have gotten hurt. That's right, baby. He would have. And just the same way as it is with the devil, we act all big and bad, but we have no authority.

And so we come into these areas with our family, but we are still not following the instructions of the one who has authority over the lions.

He had authority over the lions, and he passed it along to Pastor J. Now, in this story that we just read in this passage of Scripture, Jesus had been crucified and raised from the dead, and he appears in Jerusalem to his disciples and several others. And he gives instruction, say instruction for his disciples to meet him in Galilee. It is there that he imparts some of his final words before ascending to heaven. And he gives them what we know as the great commission to defeat this lion, Satan, who seeks to destroy and devour lives.

Every day, we have to follow Jesus instructions and learn to walk in his authority. This is what I want you to write down. As Christ followers, our highest calling is to make disciples.

Our highest calling is to make disciples. Why? Because this life that we live is not for us. Right? It is all for Jesus.

It is all that Jesus gets. Glory. And so I'm going to duplicate what God has done in me and somebody else. Here is my question to you. Are you worth duplicating?

Because when we start making disciples, we start making ourselves.

And so you can't make a disciple if you're not one.

There is a difference between Christians and disciples, and I'm getting ahead of myself. But as the church, we have done a horrible job. We've just told people, you come to church, you ask Jesus into your heart, and then you go up here and you just buzz tail wide open outside. But because you prayed a prayer at nine, you can talk and act and do and be whatever you want. And your little soul's gonna make it.

That is not biblical.

There is a cost to this walk. There is a cost to this walk. Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.

There has to be something in us that desires to be more like disciples that sit at the feet of Jesus. We don't want to be a part of the masses that we just gather in our churches all over the world and we hear a good sermon and we get a little tickle up the spine and then we're gone for months at a time. And we don't talk to Jesus, we don't see Jesus. We ain't including Jesus. We just out here living our lives.

And then one day we have a revelation. Oh, we might need him. A disciple. So stays at the posture of Jesus in all seasons. Good, bad, ugly, indifferent.

Jesus made it unmistakably clear that following him comes with a cost. His call is defined by three demands. Look at somebody say, these aren't optional. It's what sets you apart from everybody else that you're supposed to now go get. You hear me?

Self denial.

Taking up the cross.

You gotta feel the weight of this thing. You gotta know you've been called out. You gotta know you're different. You gotta know you're being set apart. Just don't claim it.

You gotta live it. They gotta know you're carrying a cross. And I'm not talking about just tatted on your body and around your neck. You gotta feel the weight of this in the spirit.

And then number three is following him, so we're not even really following him until we have denied ourselves. We've denied our flesh of all of these desires that got us in a mess to begin with. We're laying down our addictions. We're laying down our pornography. We're laying down all of our sexual lust and desires.

We're laying down that bad language. We're laying down our unforgiveness. We're laying down our shame. And we're coming into agreement with what God has for us. Then we're picking up our cross so we can feel the weight.

Because we have to understand you didn't Lay it down for nothing. You're not saying no for nothing. You didn't create boundaries for Nothing.

Luke chapter 9, verse 24 says, if you try to hang on to your life, you're going to lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, whose sake, Jesus sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? So anyone who rejects these elements, myself included, hear me the elements of true discipleship. Self denial, Taking up the cross and following him.

We may appear. It may appear that our life has been saved or we've gained the world, but ultimately we lose our own soul because we asked Jesus into our hearts. But it didn't cost us anything except a few cheers and then we went right back out into doing what God called us out of.

We have to stop dumbing down the requirements of following Jesus. Salvation is free. But following him is going to cost you something. Look at your neighbor say, has it costed you anything yet?

Or when it started getting costly, did you run away when the bill came? Did you say, oh, I was just kidding, I don't want to do this. I didn't know it was going to be all that. I didn't know I had to actually love my enemies. Oh, I didn't know this was part of the deal.

I didn't know I was going to actually have to forgive them. Oh, I actually have to be the same one place and the same in the other. I have to pick a side. So I can't be churchy on Sunday and a heathen on Monday.

Oh, I didn't know that. I'm sorry.

Choose you this day.

Jesus is not describing a progressive step by step journey like first you follow, then you deny, and then you take up your cross. What he's revealing is that denying yourself, bearing the cross and following him are simultaneous expressions of what it means to be a disciple. Meaning they all work together when we're doing it all in one motion. I'm denying my flesh, I'm carrying my cross and I'm following Jesus. Isn't like one day I deny my flesh and then the next day I don't, but I'm gonna carry a cross.

And then one day I'm not gonna self deny and not carry a cross, but I'm gonna follow Jesus. No, no, no. It all goes together and it is a daily thing you have to do. It is a daily prayer, it's a daily look at somebody say, it's a daily decision to die and surrender your lives to Jesus, that means I'm surrendering my plans for the day. So when I get up in the morning, I'm like, hey, Jesus, this day belongs to you.

These are my plans. What do you want me to do? And so if I'm late for work, maybe you saved me from getting in a car accident. God, I thank you. Anyway, if my husband and wife woke up on the wrong side of the bed, God, I love them.

Anyway, maybe we need to talk. Thank you for giving us opportunity to get to the root of whatever this is. Somebody at work looks broke, busted and disgusted, and God gives you an opportunity to speak life into them. God, I am open to these opportunities. Don't let me be so busy that I miss you.

I'm surrendered. I died of my will to make room for his. So disciple making requires the following. This is not a point, but I need you to get it. Number one, you need to be a disciple first.

So if you want to make a disciple, you need to be one. And that's the question.

That is the question I'm asking you. Are you just a Christian or are you a disciple? And only you know that? But I'm telling you now, Pastor Josh and I are going to get really heavy on discipleship because it's biblical, but not so that we can just keep telling you the same thing, so that you can go out to your schools, to your jobs, to your family and your friends with confidence because you know who you are. We're getting out of cycles.

We're getting out of letting somebody else do it. No, no, we're growing up. Look at somebody say, you growing up. You look good. That's good.

So disciple making requires this. I need to be a disciple first. That's not a slide, but I need you to write it down. Don't try to make something that you're not, because you can't.

The next one, there has to be an elimination of doubt. An elimination of doubt. Jesus had told them to go to the mountain in verse 16 and 17. They worshiped him, but they still doubted. Have you ever been sitting in service?

It happened today for some of us, a lot of us, and it happens more often than we know where we're singing the songs. I trust in God, not really my Savior, the One who never fails. But in our situations, we are terrified that he is, in fact going to fail. He is, in fact, going to drop us. He is, in fact, not going to use us.

He is, in fact not going to fulfill the Word over our lives.

And so we step back, and when it Comes to making disciples. When it comes to sharing about God at work, when it comes to sharing about God in your families, it is the doubting that you will fail. I won't say the right things. They're going to look at me crazy. These are the same people I used to party with.

These are the same people that I used to do all of these things with. And they're going to think I think I'm better than them. No, they're not. You have to trust God with where the seed falls. But the seed is in you.

So I need you to plant it. Look at somebody say, don't be a hoarder. Don't hoard the seed. Don't hoard the seed. Jesus had already appeared to his disciples twice in Jerusalem.

Now we're seeing this days later. How could they doubt him when he now embodies the greatest miracle that they'd ever witnessed? How quickly we can forget the faithfulness of God in our lives and dismiss this perfect track record of fulfilling his promise to us. This is the question. Are we, all of us 100% convinced that his word, not our word, not our best friend's word, not our prophet's word, I'm talking about, you heard from Jesus yourself.

We are convinced that His Word is true and that it works in all situations.

We love to quote Romans 8:28, that we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. But do you only believe that when it is good, when you see good? Or do you believe it all the time? Does it work? Does this word work when things are bad and we can't see?

Good.

Disciples know the word works no matter what the situation is and they don't tarry from it.

Otherwise we will say one thing and post one thing and be all happy and God is good. And then as soon as we hit a rut, we'll be like, well, I don't know where he is and who he is and what he's doing, but I'm gonna try something else.

We've all been there, but God is calling us to a higher place, number two. And we're almost done walking in authority. If I'm gonna make disciples, there has to be an authority that I have to walk in. Verse 18, Jesus came and he told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. The authority that Jesus possessed in this moment.

You have to get this. It was not self manufactured or contrived. It had nothing to do with who his following Was. It had nothing to do with who his connections was. It had everything to do with his obedience.

He had been bestowed on him by his Father in heaven, and now he was giving it to his disciples. So why is it that the majority of believers today do not walk in authority? You're not going to like this, but I love you. Walking in and releasing his authority, not your authority. His authority here on earth is directly tied to radical obedience.

Jesus did not get off the cross because it got hard.

Even unto death. I will ride this thing out.

It's hard.

It's hard, but it's necessary. Radical obedience. John 14:15. You know the scripture. If you love me, not me, him.

If you love him, you will obey what I command. This is what you need to write this down. The call to follow Jesus is inseparable from obedience.

You cannot say you follow Jesus and not obey him. Now, it may take some time for you to get the rhythm. Now, I'm gonna be honest. There are some things that are deep rooted in us. There are things that we didn't even ask for.

And God is walking out sanctification with you. And I need you to get this. Because some people think, well, Pastor Amy, I fall. And it wasn't a suddenly for me. But I'm trying.

That's what I'm talking about. It's the trying. You remember that song we sing? We fall down, but we get up. Yeah, you gotta get up.

So this is me telling you, get up. God is still with you. Okay. You smoked again. All right.

You expected. You asked God to forgive you. It is not your heart's. God desire. You are praying God.

Listen, I know this does not make you happy. I know that you've asked me to let this go. I know you've told me to put down the pornography. I've told you to walk away from this situation. I know what you have said.

And I keep slipping. So I need you to help me. This is not what I want. And I come from a place of repentance. And I get up and I continue to show up.

Do you with. Are you with me?

There is no version of discipleship that excludes obedience.

True followers of Christ hear and recognize his voice. Pastor Josh said this a few months ago. People will say, I've never heard the audible voice of God. Read his Word. When you know the word of God.

Your Bible. That's what I'm talking about. The Bible, the word of God. Anything that goes against it, you'll know he ain't for it.

But you have to have his word in you to be able to discern it correctly.

Obedience. Take a picture of this slide. You're going to need it. Obedience is not an optional expression of love. It is the proof of it.

I can say, I love Jesus, but then when he asks me to do something, I tell him, no.

I told you to step out. I told you to talk to this person. Why haven't you shared your story yet? God, I'm not ready. But I said, you're ready.

They're waiting on you. You know that person at the job that went and sought you out, the person that witnessed to you, that found you? Tag, you're it. It's your turn to do the same that somebody did.

It wasn't just to stop there. That seed was not just to stop there.

So the same way Willie evangelizes to everybody and he brings everybody to church one day, those people, God is going to say, okay, now it's your turn. You tell somebody what I've done for you. Look at somebody say, tag, you're it. This is good. They look good.

And number three, last one, or number four for you guys, because I added one. You got to have a willingness to go. Notice I said willingness because when God calls you to places and asks you to do things, I don't know, 90% of the time it's a no. It's a not really. I don't really want to.

And so the ones that are like, yeah, let's ride. I'm like, well, did Jesus call you? Or you just don't understand the weight? Or you don't understand what's about to happen? I don't know.

But there has to be a willingness. And so the prayer might be for some of you who know that God is calling you to a deep place. God, I need you to help me be willing. I know you're calling me to go to a different level than you, but I'm not willing to go. So God, can you please help my resistance?

It.

Because Jesus said, therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I've given you. And be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So the first Adam was given instruction by God to be fruitful and multiply physically. The second Adam, Jesus gave instructions to us to go make disciples to be fruitful and multiply in the spirit.

So here is my question to you, and you don't have to answer it. Don't answer out loud. How many people have you led to Christ since you got saved?

It's not shame at all. Hear me? But I do want to challenge you as your pastor. People should see something so different in your life. They want to know what is happening to you and it should open the door for you to tell them.

So if you're not telling them why, and God free me of that. A willingness to go is a willingness to this so you'll know what you're asking God for if you start praying today. I want a willingness to go. This is what you're asking for. You ready?

Get excited. It's almost time to go eat lunch. Thank you, Jesus. Catch me at Longhorn. Hallelujah.

Parmesan crust me, please. I'm not kidding. That's really where I'm going. If I don't hug yet, like that's where I'm at. Just find me there.

I'm not kidding. That's a real thing. A willingness to go is a willingness to be inconvenienced. Is this why you won't go? Because it might mean that you have to cross the street to get to them and it might mean you have to cross an ocean.

But all of it is going to require sacrificing your time and your resources. You might have to buy a cup of coffee for this one.

You might have to buy a meal for this one. You might have to use your gas money to go pick somebody up to make sure they get to church. You might have to get up 30 minutes early just to make sure you have time to pick them up and be on time. Hallelujah.

Number two, a willingness to go is a willingness to be patient. You've been asking God to give you fruit to be patient. Why? Because discipleship is a process that takes time. It's a journey.

Someone was patient with you, they're still patient with you. Now you have to return the favor. You don't snap your fingers and disciples are produced. It is not a six week class. It is not a 12 step program and you are now a disciple.

It is an everyday decision to dive yourself and choose the presence of God. To choose what he is asking you to do every day. Whether mom and daddy do it. I'm ten toes down. If nobody else shows up in my house, I'm ten toes down every day.

So you gotta be patient with them. Well, I told them my story one time and they still doing what I told them not to do. Well, it wasn't you telling them not to do. You're telling them what Jesus said, that better than you are not their God. And when you start discipling people, do not become an idol to them.

Hear me.

With new converts, whether you are one or you're not, the people that lead you to Christ are not your God. Their only responsibility is to lead you to God. And so if you start thinking that you can't go to church unless you're there and you can't serve unless they're serving and you can't breathe unless they breathing and you can't walk unless they walking, they have become an idol to you. Their only job was to lead people to Jesus. And your only job when you are telling people your testimony, when you are leading people to Christ is to let them see Jesus.

We don't have idols.

Number three, a willingness to go is a willingness to be frustrated. You need to know this. Why am I going to be frustrated? Because when you start journeying with people, checking on them, when they don't show up and you get blocked, God is good. They don't respond to your messages.

I love that for me, you pour into them. You pray for them three o' clock in the morning because God wakes you up. You are going to have some that still run off the rails. Hear me? You are going to have some that want to wild out and disobey.

You are going to meet some people that turn back to a previous lifestyle. You are going to have some that want to rebel. You're going to have some that will be six months on and six months off. And it is going to frustrate the mess out of you. And the enemy would love nothing more than to tell you that you are not good at making disciples.

Your only job is to pour the seed.

You give the word, you give your testimony. You tell them how good God is and you give them his word. It is up to them to eat it. It is up to them to digest it. You cannot give it, chew it up, spit it back in their mouth.

You can't drag them into this relationship. They are going to have to have a moment with the Lord where they choose for themselves. And so I speak to all of you who have tried to pour into people and walk with people and you feel like you keep hitting a wall. I need you to pour anyway. I need you to serve anyway.

I need you to teach anyway. I need you to keep walking with people anyway. I need you to keep sharing your testimony anyway. I need you to keep buying the coffee, doing the meals, driving your gas, because you never know. You never Know what seed will multiply 160 and 30 fold.

You never know when you are discipling the next pastor of the nations. You never know what is going to come through this salvation. You never know. And you can't stop. Because someone didn't.

Every pastor in America would stop preaching if we all base it on how people ate. Because some Sundays they come hungry and sometimes they just look at you. They don't want to be here. They mad to be here. Somebody made them come and they just sitting there, just waiting, watching football on their phone.

It's football season.

But because our yes is to God. We disciple, we teach, we preach, we love, we give for his glory, not for our own. I tell you this every week. You won't remember me, but the seeds that we plant week after week, Wednesday after Wednesday. I have to believe that somewhere there is a bloodline that is changing.

There are people that are healing. There are people coming out of addictions. There is marriages that are being reconciled. There are people that are finding God that never would have found it if I would have said no. Not because I'm great, because I'm not.

I gave my yes to God. And you have to understand the results are not on you. They're on him. So if he says to do a small group and only one person shows up, steward that one well, because otherwise you'll stop because you only had one. But what did God tell you to do?

You never know when it might grow. And maybe the one. That's it. Maybe you are here discipling the one who's going to be a pastor one day to the nation.

You never know. Look at somebody say poor. Anyway, because discipleship is not an invitation to comfort.

It is a call to surrender.