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Disciple Making Part 2

The greatest thing on Christ’s agenda is making disciples

Without making disciples the church is left with attenders

Attenders never have & never will change the world – Attenders will never make the sacrifice to build the kingdom – but disciples will

6. Discipleship happens on the move

Discipleship is not a date – it’s a journey

The best way to disciple someone is as you are doing something together for God

Paul takes Timothy with him on ministry trips and church planting campaigns

Get your disciples to help you with what you are serving in around church

These are the best places because you are on the job serving God and building the church

Demonstrate your Christian life – a demonstration is better than a conversation

In the gaps – great conversations can take place

7. Build up your people

People don’t need advice or a few pointers – they need leaders and mentors to walk through a situation with them

Disciple making is about building people up – helping them become strong in faith & life

It brings the best out of you and the people you disciple

Disciple making produces people that will stand for Jesus Christ – and not fall or run when the pressure is on

8. Keep people accountable

Disciples need accountability – it is one of people’s greatest needs

A bit of advice now and then is not going to produce a disciple – you need to keep them accountable

Make sure they are in the word and seeking God, that they are living an appropriate life style

Give them an evaluation on their performance in church – help them become servants

They need to hear your voice – I am not shy about speaking into those I am discipling

Make sure they get into church every week

Psalm 92:12-14 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

If you can get people locked into church – it will be one of your best pieces of leadership

9. Believe in them

1 Corinthians 4: 15 Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

Paul became a father to the church leaders under him & a father to Timothy

The reason so many Christian leaders don’t make it – they have no fathers

Help people break down the giants in front of them & breakthrough into God’s anointing

Everyone needs someone that believes in them!

The power of your voice is huge to your disciples

Everyone needs someone telling them that they can make it!

Give them permission to succeed – be a father – be a leader

10. Be around to help the changes take effect in someone’s life

It is the most rewarding thing to be able to input into someone and to see them succeed

If you are going to disciple people – be committed to it – don’t leave your people hanging

Be around for your people, be an inspiring leader

Timothy becomes more than a disciple to Paul, he becomes a son and successor

He takes over from Paul & leads the church of Ephesus which grows to 60,000 people

I am passionate about my disciples – I believe in them and I want them to succeed

To think that God could use our flaws and failings to build up other people’s lives is amazing

Disciple Making Part 1

In such uncertain times in the world we need to be doing what Christ has asked us to do

In the last words of Jesus – he has asked us to make disciples

Matthew 28: 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

1. Before you can make disciples you have to become one

You can’t teach something you don’t really have yourself

Matthew 7: 21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

The number one thing on Christ’s agenda is making disciples

But there are many Christians around who talk about God, even go to church, but never get around to the will of the Father

The will of the father is that we would become disciples and go on to make disciples

Decide to become a disciple – which means a learner – be a follower – be teachable –

Be a great disciple – discipleship can be fun – enjoy it – someone is inputting into your life

2. Choose some people

Matthew 4: 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Find some people you care about and have on your heart

Jesus saw these two brothers and thinks – I like those guys

Maybe they were really passionate about their job – he thought they would be great disciples

Find some people that you could get passionate about training

3. Disciple the willing people

There are projects and then there are disciples – Disciples are the willing

What made Peter and Andrew great disciples is that – they left their nets & followed

They heard the call & responded –some people have all the potential but just won’t respond

You can’t teach someone who doesn’t want to learn

Look for a willing spirit in your disciple

4. Invite them into your world

Many people never disciple anyone because they won’t invite people into their world

They’ve got a neat and tidy life and you don’t want to mess it up with new people

It’s so lucky Jesus never felt like that when he sacrificed his life for them

Some of the greatest people you ever meet with be those Jesus brings to you

Jesus invited the most unlikely people: Jesus disciples included 4 fishermen, a tax collector and a zealot – religious politician

He invited himself to lunch with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector – who had a radical conversion because of meeting Jesus

Open the doors and invite someone into your world

5. Speak into their lives

People don’t need advice or a few pointers – they need leaders and mentors to walk through a situation with them

Share the truths, disciplines and experiences that have helped shape your life

What has God done in your life? – pass on the lessons you have learned

Listen to people and encourage them on the next step of their journey

Don’t allow people to get into trouble or go off track

Challenge the way they live their lives – this is real leadership

Don’t justify people in their behavior – but challenge them to live a Godly life

Invest what you have and you will see a harvest one day

The power of vision

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision the people perish

4 Keys to getting a great vision from God

1. Vision is the ability to see

John 4:35 I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

Jesus is telling us to open our eyes – to see beyond the natural world in front of us to the supernatural reality that exists

Yet so often people get lost

Who are we without the ability to see?

We are blind and we are lost

Jesus attacked the Pharisees for this very weakness – for having eyes but not seeing

Matthew 15:14they are blind guides, and if the blind lead the blind both will fall into the pit

Without vision we are just like the Pharisees – a knowledge of God but no outworking

Vision is the art of seeing the invisible. Jonathan Swift

2. Vision gives our lives direction

Without a vision the people perish

Without a compelling vision who are we? Just another drifter trying to find some meaning

Without vision people end up doing whatever they want

And isn’t that our society today – no commitment, no longevity, no direction, no purpose

Vision is a powerful direction that God brings into our lives

It’s not our direction – but his direction

Vision is not just an optional extra to the Christian life – it is the Christian life

We encounter Christ, we surrender to his way and we follow him

3. Vision enlarges us

Without vision we are small minded and self focussed

Lets not be small minded and self focussed – we follow the greatest mind in the universe

God and anyone connected to him has a big future

How can you be a Christian and have such a limited view of the future?

Vision sees the world of possibilities and miracles – the supernatural world

As we catch a hold of God’s vision for the world – we enlarge our viewpoint

We step into the God zone – we see things as he sees them

Jeremiah 33: 3 Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know

4. Vision gets you through the tough stuff

Vision carries you through the tough bits when on your own you would give up

Many times you get to a place in life where you don’t understand everything

I often have questions I can’t answer – I cry out to God and I don’t always get the answers I need – you can’t always get what you want – that is where faith kicks in

But what keeps you going is a clear vision from God to follow in the times of controversy

We see a glimpse of God’s plan and we run with it

Just keep following the vision

I have been following this vision for 25 years now and it is an awesome life to live

I wouldn’t trade it for some easy going relaxed lifestyle

It’s the journey of a lifetime! It unlocks your potential

Be captivated by a mighty vision from God

Life to the full

Life to the full

We have been preaching on Jesus all December

John 10: 10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and life to the full
Jesus came so that that abundant life would flow out of us
Christians should be the most abundant freest people alive
Why is that not always the case?

How do we receive the abundance that Jesus has come to bring?

1. See the world for what it is
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy
I see a world that is being ripped off
Everyday in the NZ Herald we see stories of brokenness – of stolen futures and destroyed lives
If you live the world’s way you will find that the will of the thief will be fulfilled in your life
You will be stolen from – he will bring destruction into your life and ultimately he will bring death without salvation – eternity without Christ
Don’t let the devil steal your future

2. See Jesus for who he is
but I have come that they may have life and life to the full
The celebration of Christmas is that Jesus came into the world – to bring real life – the kingdom life – abundant life!
Today take a fresh look at Jesus Christ

3. Reject the way of the world
Proverbs 14: 12 there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death
Don’t follow the world’s path that leads to death
Don’t be a Christian that just ends up following the world
Walk away from it –
Reject the world and accept Christ

4. Walk in the freedom that Jesus has won
The abundant life is a free life – It is living in the fullness of Jesus Christ
Free from the burdens of the past, free from fear and doubt and un-forgiveness
Free to be a new creation in Christ
It honors God when we live in freedom
There is no one too far gone – to receive fullness in Christ
It’s time we started living in the fullness that Christ has won for us
Jesus has come to give you life to the full – will you accept it?

10 Scriptures to boost your identity in Christ

Get a fresh revelation of who you are in Christ

quote these scriptures of over your life, your job, your family,  your future and you will never be the same!

1. 1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

2. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength

3. Romans 8: 31 If God is for us who can be against us

4. Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made

5. 1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you

6. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

7. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the new has come

8. 1 John 4: 4 greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world

9. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline

10. 1 John 5:4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith

The heart of worship

Studies show about half the people that attend church don’t experience the presence of God – and this is why

In 2010 we have made worship into something for us
God becomes our supernatural ATM machineWe go to it hoping there is something we can draw out
Just like when we have low funds in our bank
We go to God – I know I haven’t invested much but God I just need one more withdraw
When do we give something to God?
Worship is about giving something to God
The word worship means: To honor with extravagant love and extreme submission
Worship is actually about honoring God
Psalm 100 shows us how to give something back to God

Psalm 100: Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth

Worship is not a religious act – it is a shout for joy
Let the shout come out of you
When you find God, you find joy – the whole earth is called to shout for joy
It is a measure of your worship – is there a shout for joy in you?
Don’t go through the motions – if the joy is gone – you need to reconnect
Rediscover the shout of joy – your first love – the revelation of Christ in your life

Worship the LORD with gladness, come before him with joyful songs

Gladness means exhibiting joy – get the joy in your worship
Get some enthusiasm into your worship experience
It is fun to be in the presence of God – Let your song be joyful
Nehemiah 8: 10 the joy of the Lord is your strength
It’s joy that is greater than the circumstances – you can be in the valley but have joy

Know that the LORD is God

Put him in his rightful place – he’s not your buddy, he’s not your back stop – he is the almighty God – the creator of heaven and earth – who has given you life!
Let some fear of the Lord come upon your worship
Proverbs 22:4
 Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.
If you were standing before God – you wouldn’t be casual – you would be in awe!

It is he who made us, and we are his we are his people, the sheep of his pasture

We are created by God – and we are his people
Let him be the shepherd in your life – It means he leads and you follow
When the call comes to worship – respond with a willing heart
Lets give him the honor he deserves – worship is about honoring God

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise

Go to church regularly and worship with thanksgiving and praise in our hearts
So often we can come burdened and heavy in spirit – and there are times for that
But the best way to off load the burden is to pick up thankfulness and praise
Church is a place where we should celebrate what God has done for us
You might not be on the mountain –but is he still worthy of our praise? –yes 1000 times yes
People used to offer sacrifices to God – now it’s about what we can get
God always meets us at the altar – put some thing on the altar today
Lets rediscover the heart of worship in our lives

Man Vs Wild

Recently I was sitting on the tube in London in June and a guy sitting across from me was reading a Wilbur smith novel. I could sense this guy was reading this adventure story but would rather have been living it. 

Men are created by God to live a life of leadership and adventure – but are so often trying to satisfy the thirst adventure via books, movies and adventure tourism.

But books, movies won’t cut it.

We are created for the greatest adventure – living for our God given purpose!

We are called to be leaders in God’s mission to save a lost world.

Throughout history great men have risen up to bring change in the world – Constantine leads the Roman empire into Christianity, William Wilberforce helps abolish slavery, Martin Luther King stands against racial injustice, Billy Graham reaches a generation with the gospel.

6 keys to being the man you were created to be

1. Be a seeker of God

The great men of history sought God and walked with God. Abraham, Jacob, David, Enoch walked with God. Many men today have lost their connection to God.

If you were to be really honest how many men have become disappointed or discouraged?

You’ve stopped walking with God. Get connected again.

2. Get planted

Psalm 92: 13 planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

If you want to reach your full potential you have to get into the house of God regularly.

One of the keys in my life is that I have been consistently in church since I got saved in 1987. So many people just seem to come and go – it is sad – it’s lost potential.

Those who get planted will go the distance and will reach their potential.

3. Find a band of brothers

You cannot make it on your own – Christianity is a team sport – every guy needs to be part of team. The first thing Jesus did in his ministry was assemble his team. You need people around you – otherwise guys just drift. Find a group you can be part of – find your band of brothers & stick with them!

4. Be a leader

Acts 20:28
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

Men have been given a leadership role by God. Inside of you is a leadership call – the most frustrating life is knowing you are called but not responding to the call. Every church needs great men to be leaders and builders of the church.

I believe our world can change – but it will take a few good men to rise up to their call.

5. Fight

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith

Men are born to fight. Men have a violence problem in society because they don’t know the fight they were created for. If you don’t fight for the right things – you will fight whatever comes along.

You were born to fight for the kingdom of God, fight for your families, fight for each other!

6. Be fathers of the faith

1 Corinthians 4:15
Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers

The world is suffering from a lack of fathers and the church is the same. Men were created to be fathers – I am here to be a father! I want to raise people up in faith.

Man of God will you be a father to a new generation growing up without fathers?

The example of a real man – Jesus Christ

He had a cup that he could of laid down – it wasn’t his to have to drink. It was a cup of suffering – it was our sin and our burden.  

Mark 14:36
Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will

He laid down his life and took the cup to win our freedom. He lived the life of a real man – he came to right the wrongs, to win the lost and to bring a message of hope.  

He has called us to be real men – to life for the greater purpose!

Come on men – This world needs you to rise, this church needs you to rise, I need you rise God needs you to rise!

Taking our message to the world

2 Corinthians 5:17-20

Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has gone the new has come.

Before we found Christ we lived differently, we lived for ourselves, we lived to the pattern of this world

Now we are in Christ a change has taken place

Our perspective has changed, we see the world differently, our priorities have changed

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

He has given us a great message – and the message needs to get out

Reconciliation: re-establishing normal relations between belligerents

The world is separated from God by sin and it is our job to bring them back together

It’s a message of hope – a message of transformation

It is a message with legs on it – It is a message with actions following

Lets get the old connotation of missions out of our head

Oh he’s a missions guy, that place is a missions church, oh I’m not a missions person

Missions is about the great commission that Jesus gave to us when he left the earth

Mark 16 Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation

If your not a missions person your not a Jesus person

The message is a demonstration of our faith

James 2: 14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

I’m a preacher – but the world doesn’t need to hear another sermon – it needs a demonstration of the message – a message with actions

It’s needs to see a church that takes the message out to neighborhoods’, cities and nations

I am excited that we are a church that is willing to step out and demonstrate our faith with actions

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors

We need to understand that we represent Christ in this world – His appeal comes through us

If we don’t get out and do it – the message will not get out

Lets make a great appeal

Many Christians today have lost their mission

They don’t know where they fit and what they can do

But we are all called by Christ to bring this message of hope to a lost world

The scripture says – we are Christ’s ambassadors – what an amazing calling

The church has lost it’s mission – without our calling we are just a social club

And that is what many churches are satisfied in doing

But as we are baptized into Christ – we are baptized into a calling to change the world

I am so blessed to be leading a church that takes it’s calling seriously

Bono from the band U2 said this you can’t fix all the problems – but the ones you can you must

And we can fix some problems

Lets take our message to the world

One act of faith

One act of faith

How do you step into your God given purpose?

How do you see the promises of God fulfilled in your life?

It only takes one act of faith – to activate your future

Matthew 14: 22 – 28 Peter steps out of the boat and walks on water

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.

Jesus made the disciples go to the other side – even though they were heading right into the storm – storms are part of the ingredients for a great act of faith

If you feel like you are in a storm – maybe God is leading you to toward a fresh step of faith

It’s only faith when the conditions are contrary – don’t wait for the conditions to be right

Peter was in the middle of a storm – and yet he takes this great step of faith

After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

Jesus leaves them in the storm – Jesus is not going to turn up every 5 minutes to save the day – He wants his disciples to grow in faith –he wanted them to overcome the storm –Peter did

Don’t be discouraged in your situation – maybe you feel that the wind is against you

You could be just about to walk on water if you would be prepared to step out in faith

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

He left them out all night – he is trying to expand their faith – maybe God is wanting to bring growth in your situation

Peter did what no one else would do – he got out of the boat – he activated his faith – he walked on water

That act of faith – getting out of the boat changed his life forever

What has happened to us as Christians – we have become boat dwellers

Christians have become a bunch of critics sitting comfortably in the boat – telling all those who are trying to walk on water how they should do it

We are called to the water –yet we settle for the boat – & that settling kills the Christian spirit

We started with such a radical tradition of men & women giving their lives for the cause

We need to take that step out of the comfort of the boat and onto the water

For each of us there is a step of faith that God needs from us to activate our future

Great steps of faith

Abraham leaves his home to follow God and becomes a father of nations

Peter and Andrew leave their nets and become apostles for Christ

Yongghi Cho bought a tent in faith and becomes the pastor of the world’s largest church

Phil Pringle moves to Sydney with a dream and becomes the apostle of a movement of 250 churches

What is your act of faith?

A new level of faith

I just got back from Korea where I was attending Ps Yonggi Cho’s Church Growth Conference. It was unreal. I was hanging out with Ps Phil Pringle and Ps Kong Hee and listening to Ps Cho. That’s about as good a week as you can have!

This guy has built the largest church in the history of Christianity by prayer, faith and the Holy Spirit.

He preached a message on faith that took me to another level.

Here are 3 keys of faith from Ps Cho

1. Faith swells in an environment of faith.
It is so important for us to live in the faith zone, to operate in faith and to remain firmly in faith.
I think in the world today – we can have the intention of living by faith but are tempted by and often give in to the doubts, fears and realities that surround us every day.
Our faith gives way to fear.
We need to constantly be putting ourselves in an environment of faith – being in church, getting around great leaders and inspiring people, reading the word of God, spending time in prayer and seeing visions.

2. Faith wants to have a clear goal.
We need to know what we are applying our faith to. Define your goal and bring it before God in persistent prayer.
Keep your goal in mind and see it coming to pass. Pray for it, aim towards it and never let it out of your sight.

3. Language is the clothing for faith.
How cool is that thought!
Faith needs an expression and this happens through your words.
What you speak is what is inside you. So faith expresses itself in your life by your words. So speak words of faith and life and keep speaking them.

Lets be people that build the future by faith!