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ow you the ways you are contributing to the problem what do you need to do about this read galatians 6 1 what are the differences between a spirit of gentleness and a spirit of harshness do your friends and family know you as being gentle or harsh how do you need to change what does god s forgiveness of you and reconciliation to you look like what should your forgiveness of others who repent look like and what should your reconciliation with others look like read colossians 3 12 15 and ephesians 4 31 32 what changes does god want you to make in your relationships standard posted in uncategorized 0 comments 08 03 26 by j paul duncan what is worship and how churches should worship here is a helpful article from 9marks about worship as we consider the best ways to gather for worship it is important that we keep in the front of our minds what we are supposed to be doing give it a read and let me know what you think standard posted in uncategorized 0 comments 08 02 26 by j paul duncan multiply acts 14 19 23 main point jesus wants us to bear much fruit today i want to keep working to move us from piddling around with jesus to actively working to make disciples my goal has been and after this mission trip is even more to stir you up equip you and send you out to make disciples and moving us calls for a big dose of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ the problem is too many of us treat jesus like a pile of little green peas that we know are good for us but we really don t want to eat fine i ll read my bible fine i ll go to church fine i ll tell somebody about the lame and boring jesus i have found we must repent of our low views of jesus instead i want us to view jesus like popeye the sailorman viewed canned spinach popeye the sailorman was a comic strip and cartoon character who loved to eat his spinach and eating his spinach gave him great strength to complete the mission given to each of us we must depend on the glorious resurrected and reigning jesus stop piddling with jesus and feast on him for strength when the apostle paul came face to face with the resurrected jesus in acts 9 it caused a monumental shift in his life paul went from piddling around with the empty rules and regulations of religion to enjoying a powerful life devoted to knowing god and making him known paul learned how to do everything with and for jesus his work as a tentmaker was with and for jesus his preaching as an apostle was with and for jesus his friendships and discipleship were with and for jesus constantly aware of and depending on jesus the apostle paul lived a life of worship and did the work of making disciples he lived by faith and faith is being aware of and dependent upon jesus in acts 14 we watch paul and barnabas make disciples and multiply they connected with people explained the gospel made disciples started churches raised up leaders and kept that strategy on repeat jesus had saved them restoring them to god and jesus sent them on the mission to bear much fruit but jesus did not leave them on their own jesus was with them giving them strength simply put paul and barnabas were about the work of multiplication filled with the spirit of christ they made disciples and planted churches i am going to read from acts 14 make some connections to our recent mission trip and hopefully stir you up to go out with strength to make disciples at home at work at school and in our community read acts 14 19 23 here is the path we need to walk on if we are going to multiply connect with people explain the gospel make disciples start churches raise up leaders and repeat this is what jesus wants and this is what jesus is worthy of go make disciples and plant churches this is our mission because christ has been raised help every generation find and follow jesus now every christian must devote themselves to connecting with others explaining the gospel and making disciples we do this at home in our neighborhoods at work and at school yes you are there to do good work but the good work lays the tracks for the gospel to be preached nobody wants to hear the gospel from their noncontributing zero of a coworker do good work and make jesus known let s get to it i connect with people with each step i will show you the command from scripture point to the example in acts 14 and then suggest ways we can obey so what s the command concerning connecting with people the command the command finds its start in leviticus 19 8 that we love our neighbors as ourselves jesus explains the command in matthew 5 43 19 19 22 39 and luke 10 27 the apostles flesh out the command to love our neighbors in romans 13 9 galatians 5 14 and james 2 8 we are to not do any harm to our neighbors and we are to positively do good to our neighbors jesus calls us to get off our phones get off the couch and get out there and do good to everyone gal 6 10 the example where do we see paul and barnabas fulfilling this command in acts 14 in verse 8 they see a crippled man paul looked intently at him and saw that he had faith to be made well in the power of the spirit paul healed the man now unfortunately the spirit has not given any of us the gift of healing like paul had but the spirit has given each of us a gift use that gift to connect with and do good to others so what are ways we can obey ways we can obey i want you to think about the ways god has gifted you the things god has given you and how you can use those things to connect with people more specifically who s your one we are over halfway through 2026 how are you making progress connecting with people on your street at your school and at work go to the board in the foyer and add names and move names you re making progress with for the gospel you may not have the gift of healing but maybe you have the equally impressive gift of administration connect with a church member who has the gift of hospitality and y all work together to do a neighborhood ice cream party or cookout when you find out a neighbor is having surgery use that gift of administration to organize a meal train with your other neighbors one way we found to connect with people while on the mission trip is very impressive maybe even as impressive as the gift of healing look people in the eye smile and say hello crazy right connect with people and ii explain the gospel here s the command the command in the great commission of luke 24 47 jesus commands his disciples to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name to all nations reading the book of acts shows us the disciples knew jesus wanted more than a prophet jonah style ministry we re not to walk through granbury occasionally saying repent and be forgiven in jesus name and think we have adequately preached the gospel we should not go out to reach granbury 2 3 times a year and think we are faithfully sowing gospel seeds let s look at the example the example acts 14 1 now at iconium they entered together into the jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both jews and greeks believed then in verses 15 17 we see paul and barnabas calling the people of lystra to repentance verse 21 tells us paul and barnabas preached the gospel in derbe and made many disciples i ll put it plainly mambrino will not multiply and jesus mission will struggle if you can t or won t clearly explain the gospel let s think then about ways you can obey ways we can obey learn the gospel for the good of your own soul and learn the gospel so you can win souls if someone walked into this church today asked what must i do to be saved and i pointed at you would you be able to clearly explain the gospel so that person has the information to repent and believe learn the gospel and then share the gospel ask people their stories and when they ask yours talk about jesus and the gospel if you don t know how to share the gospel or if you want practice sharing the gospel let me know i want to equip you to do the ministry jesus has called you to do connect with people and explain the gospel in order to make disciples iii make disciples here s the command the command matthew 28 19 this is god s will for your life this is what god wants you to do with your life this is your purpose for living make disciples of all nations go to school to make disciples go to work to make disciples live on your street to make disciples yes do good work but do so as a pathway for making the gospel known it should be really hard for your boss to fire you for sharing the gospel not because you never share the gospel but because you do such good work they can t stand to lose you king jesus commands you to make disciples here s the example the example i already read it in acts 14 21 when they had preached the gospel in derbe and had made many disciples they returned to lystra and to iconium and to antioch we preach the gospel so people can find jesus we make disciples so those people who have found jesus know how to follow jesus we teach our friends who repent believe and are baptized how to obey everything jesus commands we share the gospel but we don t just share the gospel we invest considerable time in helping christians follow jesus how should you do that what are ways we can obey the command to make disciples ways we can obey teach a new believer how to pray by meeting to pray together teach a new believer how to read the bible by reading the bible together teach a new believer how to connect with others and share the gospel by taking him her with you as you go out to share the gospel making disciples isn t complicated it s costly i would love for five of you to go to cody he s one of our elders and ask him today would you teach me how to make disciples on our recent mission trip we had the responsibility of helping seven preachers and their wives learn to better handle the word of god we invested time money and prayers in helping those men follow the chief shepherd and become better shepherds themselves we worked to make disciples by teaching men and women and rightly handle the word of god from teaching sunday school to leading a community group to serving in awana there are so many intro level ways to learn to make disciples just ask now those three are all of us every christian every member of this church has been tasked by jesus with connecting with people explaining the gospel and making disciples some will be like paul and barnabas and iv start churches one of the mistakes of 20 th century missions and short term missions in particular was stopping at explaining the gospel and not making the long term investment of making disciples and gathering those disciples into churches so where s the command the command what we see when we read the bible is jesus promised to build his church in matthew 16 18 and then from the book of acts starting in chapter 2 and going all the way through to the book of revelation we see christians gathering into churches setting up leadership and being told to build up the church protect the church and not forsake gathering with the church gal 1 9 1 cor 14 12 heb 10 25 new testament christians did not need to be told to gather in churches they did it where do we see this in acts 14 the example the gospel had not been preached in iconium lystra pisidia antioch or derbe paul and barnabas connected with people explained the gospel made disciples and planted churches so that when they returned to those cities one thing they did was appoint elders for them in every church acts 14 23 the missionary strategy in acts is to witness to jesus baptize followers of jesus gather those followers into churches and raise up leaders in those churches how should we do that ways we can obey as we think locally the answer is to work to make other existing churches healthy by giving members to those churches who teach sound doctrine and live holy lives if you begin to think the spirit is leading you to invest in another local church please come and talk with the elders our goal will not be to convince you to stay but to equip you to go as we think globally just as aaron landis encouraged us three weeks ago do not settle merely for gospel preaching missionaries we must demand our missionaries are gospel preaching disciple making church planting missionaries it was such an encouragement on this past mission trip to hear the missionary explain the vision of starting churches all across that country yes it starts in their immediate area but as the years go on the desire is to see healthy churches planted all across the land when we met to encourage those pastors they shared with us about the churches they are leading and the fellowships they are beginning in nearby cities they long for these small groups of believers to become churches that have their own pastors and deacons and take responsibility for reaching their city and planting more churches we multiply by making disciples and planting churches and what do those churches need they need leaders v raise up leaders the command paul wrote to pastor timothy and told him what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also 2 tim 2 2 raise up disciple makers raise up teachers raise up pastors the raise up pastors part was clearly in paul s mind because at the end of 2 timothy paul tells timothy to get out of ephesus as soon as possible and come to him in rome to do this timothy needed to raise up his replacement churches need faithful pastors what about acts 14 we ve already seen it look at their example of raising up pastors the example acts 14 23 tells us that paul and barnabas retraced their steps to derbe pisidia antioch lystra and iconium and appointed elders for them in every church what does every christian need a church to belong to what does every church need faithful elders who will lead we must plant churches and raise up local leaders so what are some ways you can obey ways we can obey prayerfully consider if the spirit is calling you to become a missionary who will go to unreached peoples to connect with them explain the gospel make disciples plant churches and raise up leaders jesus said it the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few luke 10 2 we need more of you to go to the nations who have never heard of jesus and make jesus known is god calling you and your family to go to the nations and men what about here mambrino needs more faithful men to serve as elders and deacons if nothing changes in 20 years half of our elders and deacons will be dead in 30 years most if not all will be dead what we learned on this trip is churches that do not raise up elders and deacons in the next generation die with the elders and deacons of this generation we are seeing it happening all around us in the us as churches that refuse to multiply die we must plant and revitalize churches that are committed to connecting with their communities explaining the gospel making disciples planting churches raising up leaders and ke...