Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
When you think about it, Jesus commanded us to do one thing and that is to make disciples. This is the command to every believer and to the church as a whole; make disciples.
One simple definition of a disciple is ” a student under instruction.”
A disciple of Jesus is one who has placed their hope and trust in him. That’s the starting point. From there, they abide and stay connected to Jesus continually learning from him.
We make disciples by first going, we must go to where the people are. We are the carriers of good news and we must go to the people who need to hear the good news. We are to tell them the good news and believe that the Spirit of God will convict them leading them to put their hope and trust in Jesus.
We are to baptise them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is an outward declaration of their hope and trust in Jesus, a demonstration on the outside of what has happened on the inside that they have died and resurrected with him.
Then comes teaching them to obey everything that Jesus has taught us meaning that you cannot make disciples if you yourselves are not a disciple. We are to teach what we have been taught.
The best part of this process is that we are not alone, he promised to be with us always to the very end.
The question then is, are we making disciples?
