Heart For The House-5-Intentional Discipleship

Tonight we continue with the Heart For The House Series. Pastor Brad teaches us that discipleship is intentional.

Pastor's Notes:

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. 19 Go [a]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, 20 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.” [b]Amen.
INTRODUCTION
Good evening, everyone!
I’m so glad that you’re here with us this evening. I love the times that we’re able to come together, fellowship, pray, and learn the Word of God together.
Tonight, I’m going to be sharing my heart tonight in a very real, passionate way. My prayer tonight is that as I’m speaking to you, you will hear the Spirit of God.
I believe if you listen, He will speak to you.Tonight, I want to talk about “Intentional Discipleship”

ILLUSTRATION
I’m a big fan of education. Education comes in all different forms. Some education is strictly in a classroom setting. Some is through trade school. Others may be through apprenticeship. There are many different ways to learn.
Traditionally, our Bible schools like Southwestern, Southeastern, North Central, and Evangel are all educational/classroom based.
Many of our graduating students are receiving degrees with knowledge, but are lacking the “experience needed” to get the job done.
Thus, many schools like SUM, Rhema, and Charis Bible College recognize that classroom setting is not enough, so they have incorporated a “hands on” approach to learning.
TRANSITION
This is where I feel most of us have “missed it”.
We’ve come to church for three times a week (or more if there are special events) for as long as we can remember. Most of us know a ton about Scripture, can recite Bible stories, and have the songs memorized that we love.
Yet, if I were to ask the question “Who are you currently disciplining?”, many of us would stand guilty. We are good at “doing church”, but not so good at disciplining.
But hear me a second: I don’t totally blame you.
Many people don’t make disciples because they’ve never been disciples themselves! How can you do what you don’t know?
It’s in our hearts as a church to change that. We can’t fix the past, but we can change the future.
That’s why it’s going to be different. It’s going to make you uncomfortable. It’s going to be change for everyone.
We are going to be launching Growth Groups, which is a discipleship ministry. Some of you will be leading them, but we will ask everyone to plug into them.
There are so many new people in our church, and many are new to church period, that we need to be intentional at discipleship.
ILLUSTRATION
Jesus was the ultimate disciple maker. Agreed?
He ministered and taught in the multitudes. Yet, He intentionally poured into a small group.
He called them His “disciples”. He didn’t just preach at them—He showed them. They were together at the high times, and they were together at the tough times. He invested His everything into them.
As you can see, you can’t do this from a platform.
Write this down: Discipleship happens in small groups. It’s all about relationships.

BACKGROUND
In our text, Jesus is commissioning the disciples with the greatest task: The Great Commission.
By the way, that mandate is still in affect today.
It’s not just about evangelism. Yes, that part is VERY important. However, Jesus didn’t say “go into all the world and make decisions”. He said to make disciples. These are people who are being saved, need to be nurtured and trained to follow Christ in every day life.
Let’s look in our text
APPLICATION
1. We’ve been commissioned to it.- Authority was given to Jesus, and He gave it to us.
- His desire is for all of us to multiply and reach others for His glory.
2. It doesn’t just happen.
- Notice here that Jesus said we are to “make” disciples.- How do we make disciples?
- Proximity.
- Relationship- Openness
3. It involves teaching.
- We must teach them the importance of
- Prayer
- Worship
- The Scripture
- Family
- The Church
- Etc
CONCLUSION