Has the word "Go" ever carried with it more urgency? This was not a casual suggestion given by the Lord to His disciples before He ascended into heaven - it was a command! The question is, have we obeyed our Lord's command? Is my life, my message, and my ministry resulting in new disciples? If not, I must prayerfully seek the Lord's counsel as to why my life and testimony are not producing converts. The Lord would not give me a command to go and make disciples if He were not intent on giving me some degree of success as I move forward to obey the call. With this in mind, it would serve us well to be reminded of what exactly it is that the Lord has asked us to do. According to our text, the task of 'making disciples' involves four clear steps: 

1. We must "remember" - that God has given Jesus Christ, who is the Head of the church, "all authority". He will build His church and His Gospel will prevail! What an encouragement!!

2. We must "Go" - Disciple makers must leave their home each morning with a sense of mission: to proclaim the Gospel in both word and deed. We have a message to declare!

3. We must "baptize" - Baptism symbolizes the spiritual death and resurrection that the believer has experienced and it identifies them with the local church body - it's a public profession!

4. We must "teach" - We are to teach new disciples everything that we have learned from God's Word. This can be done at church, at Starbucks, and in small groups. If you are not imparting what you have learned to younger believers, then you are missing out on one of the greatest joys of the Christian life!

 

Of course, none of this will be of any profit unless we commit our lives and ministries to the Lord in prayer throughout each day (Luke 10:2, Ephesians 6:18-19, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 2 Thessalonians 3:1). The work of evangelism (making disciples) must begin and end on our knees before the Lord. No evangelistic method or enterprise will be successful without the power of prayer and the assistance of God's Holy Spirit. But if we pray trusting that the Lord will keep His promise to "draw all men unto Himself" as we proclaim the message of Christ Jesus to a lost and dying world, then we can be certain that the Lord of the harvest will bless those who labor in His fields. Therefore...Go! and make disciples.

 

In Christ alone,

Paul

 

We seldom realize fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if we were simply dropped down in creation and have to decide to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do.

Henri J. M. Nouwen