Creating a Movement of Multiplication

SCREEN OUTLINE

CREATING A MOVEMENT OF MULTIPLICATION

John 1.35-46

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”“Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. John 1.35-46

Disciple making is leading a person to Christ and showing him how to walk with God in such at way that he reproduces his life in the lives of others.

Disciple Making is Jesus’ strategy to reach the world.

Disciple Making implies an intentional plan.

Disciple Making requires personal investment.

Disciple Making results in multiplication.

“One must decide where he wants his ministry to count – in the momentary applause of popular recognition or in the reproduction of his life in a few chosen ones who will carry on his work after he has gone? Really, it is a question of which generation we are living for.” - Robert Coleman

CRAIG MS

A MOVEMENT OF MULTIPLICATION

John 1.35-46

Welcome

Story: First time pastoring, inner-city church, struggling “swimming up stream”
Church today is swimming up stream.
God began to open my eyes to see how Jesus created a movement of multiplication, that is what I want to talk to you about tonight. [Turn John 1.35-46]Set up of passage: launching of Jesus ministry, baptized, tested, filled with Spirit.

What disciple-making is NOT:

Lets stop to define some terms because words matter.

I was in a meeting with national disciple-making leaders: Bill Hull “We are using the same words but speaking a different language”

Not discipleship – separate of the terms, Charles Adams 1850 (Carl Wilson’s book “With Christ in the School of Disciple Building”, 1976)
Not just information – doing Bible study, learning more Bible facts
Not just accountability – accountability groups that meet for years
Not just small groups
Not just preaching
Not just church activity and programs
Not just mentoring
Not just hanging out

What IS disciple-making?

Comes from the Greek Word “mathetes” which means “to make disciples”

Disciple making is leading a person to Christ and showing him how to walk with God in such at way that he reproduces his life in the lives of others.

Notice three distinctives of Disciple Making:

1) Its starts with devotion. “leading a person to Christ”, the beginning point of disciple-making is evangelism.

2) It continues with development. training that new believer how to walk with God on their own in a deep and personal way, training them how to be obedient to Jesus in every area of their life, training them how to share their faith…and this training us usually by example.

3) It culminates in deployment. When that person now is able to lead a person to Christ and train them to walk with God and reproduce. That’s multiplication.

This is what Jesus had in mind, when he gave the commission to the church to “go make disciples of all nations”.

I had to come to the realization that I had spent a lot of my time preaching, program management and pastoral care but I had not but hardly any effort in making disciples.

I believe this is the litmus test of fruitful and effective ministry. Are you making disciples? Can you look over your shoulder and point to a group of people you have helped cross the line, invested in their life and set them out to reproduce? Jesus never told us to build the church – he said that was his job (“I will build my church”) but what he did tell us to do was “make disciples”.

This is the problem with the church today. We have abandoned our primary purpose. In some sense we have sold our birthright (this wonderful call to make disciples that will change the world) for the promise of quick growth and immediate success. And we are just now finding that those methodologies are porridge…ineffective to reach the next generation! We have failed to play the role of the farmer who cultivates, plants and waters patiently praying until the fruit comes.

I want you to Come and See what disciple-making is all about. And I want to point out four things about disciple making.

Disciple Making is Jesus’ strategy to reach the world. Jesus didn’t start with a crusade, he started with a few. His plan wasn’t the reach the world, his plan was to develop and deploy men and women who would reach the world! This is an ancient methodology, Prophets, Priests and Pharisees all made disciples. Look throughout history and when you see the church thriving, disciple making is happening![Illustration: Bill Hulls book]

[I never saw this modeled in the local church, never taught in Seminary, 3 business men that showed me the power of making disciples, I’ve been paying it forward every since. I spent time with high capacity leader Rick, caught the vision of making discipels – invited a friend to meet for lunch. Friend “this is what I’ve been looking for” This is what your people have been looking for! Someone to invest in them.Someone to show them how to walk with God. This was Jesus plan and it can’t be improved. It just needs to be followed. Ken Adams: “Jesus started the church the way he wanted it, now he wants it the way he started it.”

Disciple Making implies an intentional plan. Jesus had an intentional plan. This passage we just read is the very beginning of this plan. Reading the gospels seem like random encounters but I began to read the gospels in chronological order – “Harmony of the Gospels”, and a light came on! Jesus did have a plan. He knew how to develop his men in year one, year two, year three and beyond. In fact, I discovered that Jesus had a four-step strategy for transforming from being wayward to on fire multipliers! [talking to a friend CEO of a multi-billion dollar business, playing golf, I was sharing my thoughts about the church, he said “You must define success and then do what leads to that success”. If you asked Jesus what was a successful church I doubt he would say large attendance. Who knows, maybe Laodicea was packing them in with multiple sites but Jesus said he was about to spew them out of his mouth because they were lukewarm. I don’t think Jesus would say success was writing books or programs events. Jesus himself never wrote a book and he didn’t leave his disciples with any ongoing programming. The longer I live, the more I’m convinced that Jesus view of a successful church is one that consistently, persistently over time does the hard work of making disciples who will reproduce. It was his plan.

Disciple Making requires personal investment.The first thing Jesus did in his public ministry was recruit two men to follow him. He spent time with these men. The first night he convinced John and Andrew that he was the Christ! Wonder what that conversation was like? Then he reached out to Philip with the simple invitation, “follow me”. There is no way to get around this fact, disciple making requires personal time, energy and investment. [I watched these three business men meeting with men at night in their homes, at lunch on the job, in the morning for breakfast. They taught me that investing in people will cost you]. They spent time with me – training me, holding me accountable, praying for me. And through it all I came to know how much they loved and believed in me. That is exactly what Paul did [Paul “what is my joy and crown when I stand before God, is it not you?”] This is the joy in ministry!!! Pastors that are too busy to invest in people are like bakers too busy to kneed the dough, mechanics too busy to get their hands dirty, doctors too busy to see patients, carpenters too busy to craft the wood, farmers too busy to plant to seed. Yes, we are called to preach…yes we are called to lead…yes we are called to care…but we are foremost called to invest our time, our lives in the people we shepherd. [Greg Smith,

Disciple Making results in multiplication. Andrew found Peter, Philip found Nathaniel and the movement would continue growing, 5 to 12 to 72, to 120 to 500…growth of the church! Disciple making isn’t complete until multiplication takes place!Dr. Freddy Gage had a heart for lost people, one day told me “Craig, our work isn’t done till the evangelized becomes an evangelist!” He was right! [Three business men multiplied their life. One man, Jerry, contractor began making disciples. Everywhere he was transferred for a job he would make deciples and leave them to reproduce. He wrote what he taught them in a book which he later named “One on One with God”, today translated into 13 languees, on every continent, grown into the remotest parts of the world! How do you explain that? Multiplication] Church in OKC began to make disciples, planted five congregations, we went multisite, we reached hundreds of teenagers with the gospel, recognized for our evangelism and growth in an area where churches were dying. It wasn’t because I was preaching better, or programming was different…it was because we were committed to making disciples that were making disciples! So let me ask you are hard questions: Are you seeing your church grow? Are you people multiplying? Are your groups multiplying? Are you multiplying worship venues, sites, locations, church plants? The secret to it all is making disciples!That’s what Jesus envisioned on that mountain in Galilee when he said, “Go make disciples of all nations”.

Closing illustration:

“Come and See”… Disciple making is

-committed to raising the banner, reclaiming our birthright for effective, Chrsit honoring ministry!

-This is the right time! Speaking to pastors all across the country. Started a conference in our church, in 2016 will be in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Zambia. God is moving. God is calling his pastors back to his strategy, his command to make disciples. Partnership with our state convention, these men get it! These men and women live it! They are setting the pace and all eyes are on Texas!

-Neo-Reformation.