2. Every Disciple Making Disciples Who Make Disciples

Dsc02 – Every Disciple Making Disciples Who Make Disciples – Philippians 3:8-21
Guest Speaker Grant Schaul

I’m excited for this morning because we are talking about discipleship. Typically, when you talk about discipleship in church we really hit one side of the discipleship coin really hard and we kind of avoid the other side.
And I’m really excited because I listened to Dave’s message last week and I was really blessed by it. We talked last week about making disciples. He hammered home making disciples. So, when we hear discipleship in church, what you typically hear is the growing, transformative, maturing relationship of discipleship. Right?
So, you say, I need to be discipled. I need to get in a discipleship group. And what that means is I need to grow and mature and be transformed. That all sounds right. That’s discipleship – the transforming work of God in our lives where he matures us and grows us. And we talk about this. We do different studies, and different books and it’s a lot of resources and a lot of time spent in maturing and growing and transforming disciples.
Last week Dave gave a couple of definitions of what a disciple is. I’m going to read one to you. He said a disciple is a student that walks so closely to his master that he becomes like him in his thinking and behavior. So, listen, that’s the definition, right? The definition is a person, a student/teacher relationship. A student and a master, right?
And who are we being discipled by? (Please don’t say your Bible study leader). By Jesus. Jesus is the one discipling us. So, by definition, it’s someone who follows – it’s a student.
This is the part where it was crazy. I was talking to Dave. He said, “I want you to teach on discipleship.”
We have discipleship groups that are thriving in our young adult’s ministry and I thought, oh, this is my wheelhouse. This is what I’m passionate about. This is going to be easy and great. So, I said, “What part of discipleship should I talk about? Like what part of that maturing process do you want me to hit on week two?”
And then I said, “Because in week one you talked about making disciples the whole time.”
Here’s the thing. By definition it’s a student who is growing, right? So now think if we spent the whole morning talking about maturing by definition someone who is maturing. “Hey be more of a student you student, who’s being like a student.”
We talk about that side of the coin a lot, and then when it comes to making disciples we say, I don’t know, we’re kind of doing that. That’s the second thing that really stuck out to me from last week, was Dave said, the rut that churches fall into is we all think we love God, we’re proclaiming the gospel, we’re faithful to God’s Word. Once again, all that is great, right? That’s all good stuff.
So, we say, we must just be making disciples. Running church well equates to being a disciple maker.
So, Jesus, when I look at the gospel, just look at the gospel of Matthew. Matthew Chapter 4, he says, “Quit fishing. Quit your job. I’m going to teach you how to fish for people.”
Remember the story? Matthew 4:19-20.
Matthew 4:19-20 (ESV)
19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”20Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Then Matthew 28:19-20.
Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)
19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So, you look at one of the gospels and sandwiched from beginning to end is discipleship and what it really is, is disciple making. Jesus comes and makes disciples and shows us how and sets the example and then does it for the whole gospel. And then at the end he says, and now I’m passing the torch. Now it’s on you guys – go and make disciples.
Last week at our church we had, just out of our high school youth group (where God is really doing a work) and our young adult’s group there were seventeen or eighteen baptisms at our church from those two groups. And there’s new life.
Here’s my point. If the really born-again believers who really were baptized and really have a relationship with God and God has purchased their freedom and their salvation, they really will be maturing and being sanctified like every other believer through the power of the Holy Spirit. Right? So, we talk and talk and have all these resources and all these conferences and we say, this is the best way to grow a disciple. And the definition of a disciple is one who is following and learning and being a student of the master. And then we miss it and say man, when it comes to making disciples we don’t talk about it too much. And when we do we go well, hold on. There’re seventeen baptisms at that church of three hundred, so that’s making disciples.
I don’t really have a pulse here, so there’s no criticism. You guys might say you don’t know, but we double every year and send them out. But I have no pulse as this isn’t my home church. But I would agree with what Dave said that the church at large falls into a rut that just says, we do that. I saw it over there a couple times – we make disciples.
We make it over complicated. We say, I’m not an evangelist. I’m not gifted. What if I’m not smart enough? What if I’m an introvert? What if… and we have all these reasons when it comes to making disciples. That’s not my gift. I’ve heard that so many times. Disciple making is for every single disciple. I’m just going to tell you that’s where we are going this morning.
Disciple making is for every single disciple. And when we say, what about an introvert? Well, nowhere in the Bible does it say introverts get a free pass out. Yeah, introverts make disciples too.
So, I’m looking at this and I’m preaching to you guys this morning not as someone who has all the answers. This is something I’m like wrestling through heavily. Even when I talked to Dave, my thought was, okay, so this is what we should talk about, right? And he kind of pushed me back the other way and said, wait, what do you mean? And I started thinking oh man, I’m totally missing it just talking through it.
The title of this morning’s message is this (and it’s redundant. It’s redundant on purpose). “Every Disciple Making Disciples Who Make Disciples.” The redundant tag at the end is really intentional for our culture. Because if we’re in a culture that says, look, umm, we do that. We already do that. And it’s not really looking like how the early church spread – how Christianity took over the world.
We want that, but we don’t know. So maybe those couple baptisms or those three people last year were the thing. That tag at the end is huge, because what if we upped our examination of ourselves?
We said every single disciple has the responsibility to make disciples. And when we make those disciples, every one of those new disciples know right from the get-go that the next step is we go out and make disciples. That’s multiplication in the Bible. That’s growth in the Bible.
It reminds me of a story in Acts. Acts Chapters 6 through 9, you can read it later. It’s awesome reading.
Stephen is full of the Holy Spirit. Like bursting with the holy Spirit and overflowing. And what it says is in Jerusalem, in this church – the early church has started. Stephen is like the guy that people are saying man, God is using this guy. It’s irrefutable that the Spirit of God is leading this man’s life.
And then it says the church is growing and their adding numbers. There’s evidence of God’s work too, not just a guy saying, “Hey I’m really full of the Spirit and gifted.” There’s the evidence of God’s work.
So, this is what happens. What do you think happens next? God is on the move, Stephen is full of the Holy Spirit, and God is accomplishing his purposes. What’s next? BOOM!!! An attack from the enemy! Right? Of course. And it’s so paralleled to the life of Jesus.
This is what happens. Some guys come up and start saying, look. He’s contradicting Moses (Moses gave the law – same old fight) and he’s blaspheming God. They said Jesus was a blasphemer, right? And so, they arrest him and seize him for what? For doing God’s work.
They pull him in (and I’m just going to summarize this because it is so amazing) and they say, “What have you got to say for yourself?”
Then Acts Chapter seven is a whole chapter of defense. It is one of the coolest defenses in the Bible because Stephen is full of the Holy Spirit and what he does is defends himself just spitting out scripture. It’s all in quotes in your Bible. It’s all coming out of scripture.
And so, he’s just spitting out this defense. In that defense, totally accurate, totally Biblical, and God’s Word is an underlying but pretty clear rebuke to the guys arresting him. He says, at the end, you stiff-necked, hard-hearted… and he is pulling it from scripture, but he says listen. You’re not going to hear this because don’t you remember your fathers killed the prophets before us. And the last paragraph is heavy. And they get really ticked off.
So, they take him out. Paul (Saul at the time) approves of executing Stephen. Just listen to how amazing this story is. So, they bring him out to stone him. They stone him and Stephen has his eyes set on heaven. It says his gaze is fixed on heaven and he looks and he says, “I can see the heavens opening up and Jesus is at the right hand of God.”
And then he’s getting stoned – stones are actually killing Stephen. And he’s bowed down and he says, “God receive my spirit.”
And then, the final stones that are killing him off, they are actually putting him to death, the final ones to finish him off he says, “Don’t hold these sins against them, Lord” and he dies.
Amazing! Talk about being Christ-like.
So then, what happens? You think, okay, that’s terrible. Then the enemy goes yes, I won. So, then the church gets persecuted heavily. It’s not over. It’s the guy the leader, the Holy Spirit driven guy is taken out, bam! It hit the church. And the church starts getting persecuted. So, the apostles hang around probably to hunker down, and they stay in Jerusalem.
Guess what happens next? A bunch of ordinary believers spread and share the gospel everywhere they go. So, they go out, the ordinary believers, the text in our Bible says “some of them.” Some of them did this. And they go out and they start spreading the gospel and making disciples. And this is what is amazing. They make disciples who make disciples. And it multiplies and multiplies.
It doesn’t say they went out and planted churches. They went and made disciples. And as that blew up, churches were planted. One of them being Antioch, which is later Paul’s home church, who sends Paul out on his missionary journeys – to do what? To make disciples!
It’s amazing when you see how the early church expanded. It’s persecution and all this stuff but the priority – every single believer took the responsibility, the ordinary did the extraordinary through God. And what they did is each person made disciples who made disciples and Satan could do nothing about it – it just spread like a wildfire.
That is the Biblical model of church growth. And you can look through history, you can look at underground churches, you can look at churches in places that they get persecuted, and guess what? They take all the stuff away – all the tools, the fliers, they can’t worship freely and they go and they take the responsibility to make disciples. And when that disciple gets made, he makes disciples. And it’s this ongoing process and the church blows up. By the millions! I mean it’s amazing! That is discipleship in the Bible.
Let’s look at Philippians 3 this morning. We’re going to start at verse 8 in the ESV today. I want to now look at this verse through the lens of disciple-making, through discipleship. I just want to look at this, and think about that.
And I’m asking you now, don’t make your mind up on where you stand on this yet. But consider what would God do in his church if all of us left with that real – forget all the strategies – that’s the strategy. What if we said, hey, I’m going to have the responsibility where God’s going to use me to make disciples. And those people are going to be trained in everything that I learned, and they’re going to make disciples. What would God do with that?
Philippians 3:8-9 (ESV)
8Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
First question that has to fly out of that, is everything rubbish to us in comparison to gaining Christ? We have to ask that, right? We have to look at that and say, man, do I really think that? Do I really say everything else in comparison? It doesn’t mean everything is worthless. It’s not Now I just don’t car about anyone, and I’m not going to pay my bills… no, no, no. In comparison, is it worthless?
That’s what we have to answer. Is it worthless? Is it rubbish compared to knowing him? Does the worth of knowing Christ outweigh everything else in our life? If that’s true, wouldn’t we tell people about it?
Because here’s the deal. Don’t give me the “youth group” answer. Which means, I know the answer is yes, but our life, what does my life show? Does my life show that I really believe that it the highest value? Because if so, there is no way I can contain it.
Take an investment in life. Let’s say there’s a real estate investment that was a for sure win. So out here in Nuevo, there are acre parcels for a hundred dollars. And part of the deal is you know when you buy it that when they sell all these new homes and build all these new homes, the bank has already told you in one year we are going to give you a hundred thousand dollars for one acre of land. Would you go snag up a few parcels right now?
Now let’s say the supply was endless, and it never ran out. You would probably tell your friends and family. Probably you would tell your co-workers. You’d say, you’ve got to get on this because the worth is so incredible. A hundred dollars? Buy five of them and you’re going to have half a million in the bank in a year. We’re good. Right?
How do we receive an inheritance? How do we receive heaven and the richness and fullness of God and Christ Jesus and not make disciples? And not tell people? And not open our mouth and speak and say “This is everything.” Everything has become worthless compared to knowing him.
And then look again at verse 10. The first five words of verse 10. THAT I MAY KNOW HIM!!!
Philippians 3:10-11 (ESV)
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,11that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Stephen knew that, right? When you look at that and Stephen, becoming like him in h is death that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead. What does he cry out? He says, “God receive my spirit.”
That’s the real deal for Stephen. Death does that, right? Death puts life into perspective really quick. We cannot fix our eyes on heaven, we cannot think of eternity, we can look and set our mind on earthly things all day. But as soon as someone dies, it gets real, really quick.
I remember after I was a believer, the first time someone passed away and thinking I don’t know… the weight hit me for the first time… I don’t know if that person knew the Lord. Death does that. And I remember going to the first mentor of my life, a guy who discipled me who passed away, freak accident early on. I went to his funeral and knew absolutely he was waking up in the presence of God. I remember that, understanding that. And death does that. It puts life into perspective really quick. And knowing he was in the presence of God for real, right now.
And Stephen knew that. Actually, this is where it gets real. Getting stoned and knowing I’m about to take my last breaths. You’re going to have some reality hitting. Do I really believe? It gets real. This is the cry becoming like him in his death that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead… here’s the key… verse 10 – that I may know him.
We’ve been going through in our young adult’s group and we’re doing a new series called “Purpose.” Last week was the first week. The first week was on knowing God. And I’m going to tell you why we started this series. We have those baptisms. We have new life happening in there. And you get caught up in the routine and you go, man we’ve got a cool worship set and a band and we’ve got cool lights and new graphics and barbecues and pool parties and beach days. And we do all that. And it’s great. Great resources.
But man, I got so convicted, I just thought do these people know him? Do they know how to spend time with him? Do they know how to meet with him and actually have a real, actual relationship with God? How do I actually know?
And that’s the cry here. Paul says, that I may know him. That the surpassing weight of knowing him… and I’ve been wrestling with this. I told you guys, this is like fresh on my heart. I’ve been thinking, like even everything we do, strip away the band. Strip away the air-conditioned room. Strip away the potluck. Take everything out. As children of God, if we got together and we just opened his Word, we prayed, we ask the Holy Spirit to come lead us, and we opened his Word and just said God, we just want to meet with you.
And we just sat here for five hours. Reading the Bible. And letting God’s Word speak and saying, man, he’s hitting my heart and thank you Jesus. And we’re praying and talking and meeting and fellowshipping. Could we leave and say, that’s enough? That’s enough. I know him. I know the living God of the Universe, personally.
We want that. I want Stephen’s heart. I want to look and say, listen, I teach the Bible, I know God, I do have a relationship, I’m saved. Once again, great. But we still want that heart. We still want to press in and say man, I want to be there where life is actually crumbling in and the stones are hitting and I’m saying I want you and nothing else. I want you, please take me, and I want you. I want that heart.
Philippians 3:12-16.
Philippians 3:12-16 (ESV)
12Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.13Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.15Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.16Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
What keeps us from the upward call of God in our life? What keeps us from this call to make disciples? You know what it is? This is why I love this verse. A lot of times we say, I’m not ready. I’m not good enough. To be really honest, what we say is I’m too sinful. Right? Think of making disciples. Playing a part in God’s redemptive history where salvation is being granted to a person. And what I want to say is, I’m not ready.
Paul says, Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect. I’m not there. I have not arrived. But I press on to make it my own. Here’s the key, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
So, what he is saying is I press on to own this. I press on to take the responsibility. I press on to receive the calling. Why? Why? Why? Because Christ has made me his own. Because Christ owns me. I’ll own that because Christ owns me.
But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead… man, please someone hear that this morning. Forget what lies behind. Strain forward to what God has ahead. 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Listen, here’s the discipleship word. Let those of us who are mature think this way… And then here’s the proof of what I was saying earlier. and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
We started these things in “Proclaim” called discipleship groups. And they started from a really good reason. And think the Lord led it and has used it mightily. What happened was there was a buddy of mine that wanted to be a missionary as long as I knew him. Five years. But there was no next step, or how do I actually do that. I was just saying, let’s get together and make that happen. Let’s do what it takes and meet and push each other towards that.
And then there was a couple of brand-new believers at the time that didn’t know that there was an Old Testament and a New Testament. And when you say John 4:3 they’re like, page 43? They didn’t understand how to even find a verse. They were brand new to the Lord. So, we have to have discipleship groups where guys can grow and learn and mature.
One of the brand-new guys, really met the Lord, (still following him years later), really rough around the edges. We were reading “Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and it was talking about caring for the orphan and widow and the homeless and the needy.
He said, there’s no way God would want you to care for the homeless people. You mean the guy on the corner of the freeway? And he would fight me and I loved it because he was honest. And we would talk and work through it and looked at scripture and he really met the Lord, and said, I’m wrong.
A month later, he calls me one morning, he went and met this homeless guy on the side of a gas station, gave him his Bible, spent an hour with him sharing the gospel with him. Then went to the department store and bought him a jacket and stuff so he wouldn’t be cold that night. And then called me, and said it was so cool. This is what God did and what he is doing. And I was saying Praise God.
And we had guys group that night. And I thought this would be so cool he could share what God’s doing. So, guys group happens that night and he doesn’t show up. Where is this guy? So, he gets off work and he has this book, “Cost of Discipleship” folded up in his back jean pocket, and he’s walking out and one of his co-worker’s says, what’s that book? So, he pulls it out, and instead of coming to guys group, he reads the chapter to his co-worker and basically tells him everything he’s learning. And Jesus tells you to sell everything you have and follow him, and he’s sharing this heavy message he is learning with a co-worker.
And I’m sitting there, that guy wasn’t ready, right? He’s not perfect yet. I’m sitting there thinking, ah man, long time until he figures it out. And this guy is putting me to shame on making disciples. Isn’t that amazing? It’s convicting right? We’re holding these groups and I’m doing this… and I just stopped and said, this guy, brand new to the Lord, who loves the Lord in one day has done more than I have done in two months. Convicting.
Philippians 3:17.
Philippians 3:17 (ESV)
17Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
We read this often and think, in our discipleship culture, we think what that means is find a Paul and imitate him. This is Paul writing – brothers imitate me. That’s great.
I have mentors in my life that have changed my life because they are further along and a great resource. Shep is one of those men in my life. There’re men, probably five or six men, in my life that have really impacted my life. They are the “Pauls” in my life and I’m the “Timothy”.
But if Jesus is the one discipling us it also happens with one another. And Dave shared that last week. Do a “one another” study and see how much that phrase gets used in the New Testament.
Paul, the guy who is the Paul and Timothy, in all of his letters (this is amazing) there is only two times he says “my Lord”. Every other time he says “our Lord”. There’s always this community, there’s this integration with one another. This is the challenge I have for us. Can we take the responsibility to say that verse, apply that, and you be the “Paul”? Can you say to someone, “join in imitating me”?
In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul says, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ. It’s not about him, it’s not about me coming up here and saying “guys, act like me…” No, no, no. It’s can I follow Christ? Can I be a disciple in a way that I can actually say to my community around me, say to people around me, “Follow me as I follow him! Join in imitating me!” That gets really real now, right? The responsibility is huge.
Here’s the deal. If making disciples is a priority in the church and why we gather, we’ve got to step up and take the challenge. We have to cling to Christ in a way that is not arrogant. Paul’s not being arrogant here. He just said, “I’m not perfect yet. I’m pressing on, though for what lies ahead.” He’s saying follow me as I follow. We’ve got to live that out.
I just want to keep driving it home. Let me give this scenario. I heard this in a sermon once and it stuck with me. Every single disciple in the room says they have the responsibility to make one disciple next year. And in that, in your discipleship process with them, they from the get-go are thinking what that means is I make disciples now. Everyone owns that. Just one disciple. Make one disciple.
In two years, you would have to plant a church, right. You would have to. Not everyone would fit. You’d say man, we’d better be raising up pastors and elders because God will be moving in such a way, and that’s what it’s all about. That’s what we want to see God do.
I said this last time I was here. We want to see God work in a way that man cannot take credit for. We want to see God work in a way that people say, man, God is at work! God is leading that! The outside world looking in sees it and testifies to the Lord because there is no man who could accomplish what is happening. And so, we ask God, lead me with your Spirit and lead me to be a disciple maker.
Philippians 3:18-19.
Philippians 3:18-19 (ESV)
18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
I have often you, this happens too often. Paul is the leader and has a pulse on the church, and he is saying,
18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.19Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
So, when we first read that the warning is scary but we say that’s obviously just has to be the outsider who hates God and is steeped in sin. Sure, okay. But let me ask something.
…their god is their belly means this. Their god, what they worship, what they serve, what they spend time with, is an unending appetite for pleasure. That’s what the “Belly” line is. That’s what their god is. They’re serving this unending appetite for pleasure.
So that’s why it’s such a big deal when I click on a website that doesn’t honor God, and there is no repentance, there’s no turning, there’s no broken heartedness, there’s no running back to Christ and my relationship with him, and I just say, ugh, and I just let it build, that’s where it starts getting scary, right? What I actually serve is this unending appetite for serving self and pleasure. …they glory in their shame.
And then this one should hit all of us …with minds set on earthly things. I hear that. I don’t want to set my mind on earthly things, right? Immediately, check my heart and say, uh oh, I spent most of the week worrying about my tax bill and my car payment and we’re just fixated fifteen hours a day on all the things that God’ got it all worked out. How much do we dwell on the things of the Lord? This obviously gets in the way of making disciples.
Philippians 3:20-21. And this is the cry of our heart. This is where we should be. This is one of those times when I said earlier open the Bible and just meet with God.
Philippians 3:20-21 (ESV)
20But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,21who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Do we believe that? Do I believe that? Do I say, man, my citizenship is in heaven? Right? Man, we get a vacation from work sometimes, we believe in that. Work is hard, we’re in trials, we’re stressed out with our job and in two months I’m going to Tahoe for one week and we’re just like yeah, I can get through the next two months because that is true. Right?
Do I believe my citizenship, my home, my residence is in heaven? That this life is temporary and whatever is going on I’m going oh my gosh, I can get through it because heaven is coming! …and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,21who will transform our lowly body
I had a guy first service that had an ailment. Last time I was out here we prayed after one of the services as a body. And this man asked me to pray for him. And he came up this morning and said he is totally healed and the doctors are like, what’s going on? Praise God! I don’t even know how to process that. I probably responded weird because I was floored.
…by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. This is the God we serve. This is the God that wants us to know him.
This is my push. Every single disciple should be making disciples who make disciples. That all flows out of a thriving relationship with Jesus Christ. My push is that you would first just dwell on that relationship with God. Think about it. Think about his thoughts about you and how much he loves you.
If we could really understand how good he is… That’s the thing. We try to figure out how to grow more, etc. Listen, if we could just understand that he really is as good as he says he is, and loves us as much as he says he does, we would respond appropriately. We just don’t get it. We say, there’s no way he loves me that much. There’s no way his grace is that good. And we’re in this argument with ourselves. Just stop and dwell on the goodness of God.
And then as we do, and we say he really does love me that much and it deepens and widens and we just know him more, and we spend more time with him and we enjoy him, then we can’t walk out on the world like this – with our eyes covered not seeing anything. We have to walk out and say, “you’ve got to know this God.” Amen?
Let’s pray. Lord, Jesus, thank you for your Word. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for being with us this morning. I ask God that you would stir this up in our heart. Convict our heart to make disciples, to take the responsibility and say, join in following me as I follow Christ. Every single believer in this room, that they would leave – if we’re not there this morning that we would stop right now and say what’s keeping me from being there, Lord? I don’t want to know you just for the stuff. I don’t want to come and just say give to me only and I don’t want you otherwise. I want to come and know you, Lord. I want to know you as God, the almighty God who has called us to be in his redemptive plan. And Lord we want to respond appropriately to that with our lives. Let us, Lord, believe in your model, in your vision for making disciples. And then let us be obedient to follow. We love you, in Jesus’ name, amen!