[featured_image]Jesus was a disciple maker. That’s what he did! As he traveled around the villages of Galilee, he healed the sick, he performed miracles, he taught the crowds – but his primary ministry was with a small group of men that became his disciples. Jesus was a disciple maker. He poured Himself into the lives of his disciples.
Jesus was committed to making disciples – and that’s not just talking about the 12 disciples that everyone knows were His followers. In Matthew 27:57 it records the fact that Joseph of Arimathea “had also become a disciple of Jesus.” The verb form used indicates the process that Jesus engaged in with Joseph. Jesus discipled Joseph.
And when he left – He gave His disciples instructions to do the same thing – to be disciplemakers! As Jesus prepared to return to the Father– remember what He told His disciples “And Jesus came up 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 the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Jesus’ final instructions to His disciples told them to be disciple-makers! And you and I are here today as followers of Jesus Christ – because His disciples took those instructions seriously. They did exactly what Jesus showed them to do – they made disciples.
In Acts 14:21, Luke records – “After preaching the Good News in Derbe, and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabus returned again to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia where they strengthened the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith.”
Paul and Barnabus were committed to making disciples. That’s what they did! They made many disciples! Obviously, they followed Jesus’ pattern.
And their disciples made disciples and so on and so on – so that now – 2000 years later – we are here today because of other who were faithful to the task of disciplemaking!
Isn’t that awesome? And now each one of us has been given the same task – every follower of Christ is to be doing what Jesus did – making disciple-makers!
