Go and Make Disciples

My neighbor Jeff was baptized a couple weekends ago. It was so cool to watch God’s grace transform his life.

We’ve known each other for about seven years or so, and I had invited him to church a few times over the years. But he went through some rough times in his personal life more recently and was chatting with me about it. We decided to meet up for coffee. As he was telling me about some of the challenges he was going through I said, “you know it’s amazing because THIS Sunday the sermon is going to be ‘Finding God in Desperate Times’ (based on Matt 5:1-12).” His eyes kind of lit up and he said “Wow, sounds like I need to be there!” and he hasn’t stopped coming since.

In subsequent weeks we opened the Bible together and studied about what the Bible teaches about being a Christian. We talked about what Jesus expected from his followers and how you discover how the real Christian life is to be lived by studying out what it means to be a “disciple” (since that is the word the Bible uses for a Christian). It’s a very different picture than typical “denominational Christianity” you see in a lot of American churches nowadays. We talked about how our goal was not just to share some good Bible teaching with him, but to “make him a disciple” as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:18-20.

It’s amazing how studying the Bible with someone, helping someone else to become a true follower of Jesus, always brings me back to again making the same decisions for myself. As we’re talking together about what Jesus expects and how awesome he is, I’m reminded again personally of why I do what I do. As I told Jeff, “this helps me just as much as it’s helping you.” I’m always amazed at Jesus’ simple plan to change the entire world – making disciples (of Jesus), who make disciples, who make disciples… living out his teachings in our every-day lives.

Here’s a simple and fun song I wrote several years back that can help you to keep Jesus’ plan on your mind (based on Matthew 28:18-20).

This song was published in DPI’s “Song of the Kingdom” songbook, and works great a capella too. Pick up that book to get the sheet music.

Here is the version that appeared on my CD of church songs, “Be with Me Lord“:

Go And Make Disciples – recording

 

He said to go to every nation.
He said, “Tell everyone!”
He said to make them true disciples
And then the job will get done.

Go and make disciples of all nations,
Then baptize them in my name.
Teach them to obey all I have taught you
And I am with you all of the way.

Teach them to bow before the father.
Teach them to flee from sin.
Teach them real love for one another.
Make them true fishers of men.

Let’s go to each and every nation
Let’s go tell everyone!
Let’s go and make them true disciples
Let’s go ‘till this world is won.

On the video I’m doing it in the key of C so it’s not too high for my son Marshall who is singing with me, but when we do it at church with guitar or the whole band we normally do it in D. Here are the chords:

D / G / D / A
D / G / A / A D

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