Making Disciples

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Making Disciples MODELS Leaders
Meeting September 5, 2002
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Making Disciples

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
  with all your soul and with all your mind.
  And...love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew
  2237, 39
• Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
  baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
  the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
  to obey everything I have commanded you. And
  surely I am with you always, to the very end of
  the age. Matthew 2819-20

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Making Disciples

• Leading People to Christ
• How do they take that first step?
• Discipleship
• How do I help them grow in Christ?
• Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone
  who asks you to give the reason for the hope that
  you have. But do this with gentleness and
  respect. 1 Peter 315b

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Leading Someone to Christ

• John 146-7 Jesus answered, "I am the way and
  the truth and the life. No one comes to the
  Father except through me."
• Here are four steps
• Admit
• Repent
• Believe
• Receive

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ADMIT your spiritual need. Admit you are a sinner.

• For all have sinned and fall short of the glory
  of God. Romans 323
• But your iniquities have separated you from God
  your sins have hidden his face from you....
  Isaiah 592
• For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of
  God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  Romans 623

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REPENT and be willing to turn from your sin.

• Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not
  cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my
  transgressions to the Lord"--and you forgave the
  guilt of my sin. Psalm 325
• Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If
  anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will
  come in and eat with him, and he with me.
  Revelation 320

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BELIEVE that Jesus Christ died for you on the
cross and rose from the dead because he loves you
and wants a relationship with you.

• ...if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is
  Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised
  him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans
  109
• For God so loved the world that he gave his one
  and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
  not perish but have eternal life. John 316
• For Christ died for sins once for all, the
  righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to
  God. 1 Peter 318a

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RECEIVE Jesus Christ into your heart and life, by
choosing this relationship over your current life
of sin and separation from Him.

• To all who received Him, to those who believed in
  His name, he gave the right to become children of
  God. John 112
• Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths
  guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are
  God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day
  long. Psalm 254-5
• Jesus said, "I came that they might have life,
  and might have it abundantly." John 1010

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The Sinner's Prayer

• Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and I need
  you. Thank you for dying for me and rising from
  the dead so I can know God and have eternal life.
  Please forgive my sins. Come into my life and
  make me into the person you want me to be. Amen.

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Other explanations of how to become a Christian

• The Four Spiritual Laws
• www.crusade.org/fourlaws/index.html
• Need Him
• www.needhim.org
• The Bridge Diagram

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The Bridge Diagram

• Sin brings death and separates us from God.
• Jesus Christ is the only way to God because he
  died on the cross for our sins. He bridges the
  gap.
• When we repent and believe in Jesus, we cross the
  bridge to receive eternal life and a relationship
  with God.

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Leading Someone to Christ

• Maybe someone asks you about starting a
  relationship with God... Maybe God asks you to
  approach someone...
• Help them understand what they need to do
• Pray with them!
• If they're not ready, you can ask to pray for
  them.
• Follow up
• Make sure they have a Bible and a way to connect
  with other Christians.
• Disciple them if God's asking you to help them
  grow.

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Discipleship (adapted from Sheryl Fleisher's WIM
presentation, 4/25/02)

• Discipleship helping people become more like
  Christ
• As we're growing in Christ, we have a natural
  desire to make disciples
• Keys to Discipleship
• Model
• Mentor
• Monitor

• Motivate
• Multiply

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Keys to Discipleship

• Model
• Build a loving relationship be open and honest
• Jesus showed his disciples how to live by sharing
  his life with them
• Follow my example, as I follow the example of
  Christ. 1 Corinthians 111
• Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved
  children and live a life of love, just as Christ
  loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant
  offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 51-2

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Keys to Discipleship

• Mentor
• Help them discover where they need to and want to
  grow
• People learn the most by listening to themselves
• Be a good listener--listen with your heart as
  well as your mind
• Go deep--be vulnerable and honest and ask them to
  be, too

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Mentoring, continued

• Questions to ask
• How can you grow deeper in your walk with Christ?
• What are you learning about God?
• What are you learning about yourself?
• Where do you want to go/grow?
• How are you using your spiritual gifts?
• Mentoring tools Bible studies, reading
  materials, God's Work of Art packet, etc.

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Keys to Discipleship

• Monitor
• "Accountability is helping people keep THEIR
  commitments to God. It's taking people kicking
  and screaming to where they want to go."
• Motivate
• Be their cheerleader!
• Therefore encourage one another and build each
  other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1
  Thessalonians 511

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Multiply--the Results of Discipleship

• Internally, they should take on more of the
  Character of Christ
• But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
  patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
  gentleness and self-control. Galatians 522-23a
• Externally, they should share Christ with others
• And the things you have heard me say...entrust to
  reliable men who will also be qualified to teach
  others. 2 Timothy 22

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Who to Disciple?

• Disciple the few and encourage the many. Jesus
  loved everyone, but he poured his life into a
  few.
• Pray about it!
• Ask God to give you a deep love for the women he
  wants you to disciple!
• We loved you so much that we were delighted to
  share with you not only the gospel of God but our
  lives as well, because you had become so dear to
  us. 1 Thessalonians 28

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Making Disciples

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
  with all your soul and with all your mind.
  And...love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew
  2237, 39
• Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
  baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
  the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
  to obey everything I have commanded you. And
  surely I am with you always, to the very end of
  the age. Matthew 2819-20

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Resources

• Becoming a Contagious Christian, Mittleberg and
  Hybels
• The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman
• Lifestyle Evangelism, Joe Aldrich
• Connecting, Paul D. Stanley and J. Robert Clinton
• He Chose the Cross, Max Lucado
• Letters From a Skeptic, Boyd and Boyd
• The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith, Lee
  Strobel

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We loved you so much that we were delighted to
share with you not only the gospel of God but our
lives as well, because you had become so dear to
us. 1 Thessalonians 28