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The Bible is very clear on the first priority of all believers in the last days.
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 (Matthew 28:19-20, NASB1995).
The last command of Jesus while on earth was for believers to be disciplemakers till the end of the age.
A question: Are we making disciples? If not, we are disobeying our Lord.
When I say “disciplemaking,” I mean one-to-one discipling of new or needing-to-be-renewed believers.
The Apostle Paul said to his disciple Timothy (and by inference to all of us living today) …
The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others (2 Timothy 2:2, NIV).
One-to-one disciplemaking — how is the church doing?
Recent surveys indicate that only five percent of American churches are building disciplers who disciple disciplers.
HHHHMMMHHM!
I’ve heard followers talk about the need for revival today, and I agree. But Jesus (Who would later in His ministry teach the Great Commission of making disciples) gave this instruction about sustainable revival earlier in His ministry …
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37-38).
Workers are needed for a ripe harvest. Considering the “harvest” exhortation of Jesus and His Great Commission, let me give you an OGVI (Old Guy Version Interpretation) of both Matthew 9 (harvest) and Matthew 28 (make disciples) …
The harvest is ready; pray for disciplemakers to be sent into the harvest!
A harvest without reapers or disciplemakers will rot in the field.
We know today that 80 percent of those who receive Jesus as their Savior walk away from faithfulness in 90 days, and the 20 percent left will shrink to only five percent during the next three years.
What?
Following the math above (very difficult for me), we find that out of 100 new believers, in three years, only five will still follow Jesus.
A 95 percent shrinkage rate! It’s why Jesus commanded us to be disciplemakers.
Are we convicted? But we have this promise if we obey Jesus to become disciplemakers.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14, NIV).
Preaching the gospel of the Kingdom includes disciplemaking. We are asked by Jesus to preach the gospel in Matthew 24, and then the end will come. And we are commanded by Jesus to disciple the nations until the end of the age.
Gospel preaching till the end and discipleship until the end of the age — both connected by Jesus as our Kingdom focus right now.
We will not experience effective preaching or revival that lasts without one-to-one discipling.
This is latter-day disciplemaking.