Well, here we are in a mini-series I've called Discipleship 101. And just to clarify, and I think most of you would know, when we see the number 101, that would be kind of in a college setting, first semester, first year, basic introductory class. And if you're involved in reading and thinking a lot about discipleship, you'll hear nothing new. If you're really, really strong in math and take a class in Math 101, then it would all be basic review, yet, I hope, a good review. still I think it's important to lay a foundation and so in this four-part series we've had one part so far and the first message was we are disciples of Jesus and I just want to encourage you do you think of yourself as a disciple of Jesus so we walk through and the tapes are online, excuse me, the messages are online and we went through quickly the reality that the Bible makes it clear Jesus had disciples a specific group of followers and they were recognized. They were recognized by Jesus. Jesus knew who his disciples were. Yeah, those are my disciples. And Jesus' disciples knew. Yeah, I'm one of the disciples. There was no confusion about it. Not only did Jesus know that Jesus' disciples knew, Jesus' enemies knew who his disciples were. People in general knew who Jesus' disciples were. If they wanted to try to get to Jesus or talk to them, they would just say, well, let's go talk to one of his disciples. Even the angels know who Jesus' disciples are. And we went through the scripture and demonstrated that last time. Secondly, what is true of Jesus' disciples? These are people who follow him. A disciple is a learner, but not so much learning in the sense that we think of school. You go and take a class and hopefully benefit. Much more than that. You're following someone because you believe in him. I can go to a class and I can benefit from a teacher. It doesn't mean I believe in him. I can benefit from what he would know. Discipleship is much more than that. It's you're following Christ, you believe in him, and it's radical. You die to your old way of life and you begin a new life. You're now a follower of Jesus Christ. And many different illustrations, but let me just try a simple one just to help you think. Maybe if somebody here from the church said, hey, I'm not gonna see you for a long time because I've decided I'm doing something different. I've taken a job, international, with a brand new company. I'm selling my house. I'm leaving the States. I'm leaving the country. I'm going to a faraway place. I'm doing something radical. You'd be going, wow! That's discipleship. That's what happens when you put faith in Jesus Christ. You began a new life. And that would be true of all people who have put faith in Jesus Christ. You say, okay, so what are we doing now? Here we are, we're followers of Jesus Christ, and we've died to ourself, we've died to our old life, we're embracing a new life. What is it that we're doing? And that'll be our second message that we look at this evening. And tonight, I'm calling this Disciples Make Disciples, part two of a four-part message. I invite you to open up to Matthew chapter 28. And in Matthew chapter 28, We'll be looking at verses 18 through 20. I think many of you are well familiar with the text here, and yet I hope that we can review it in a way that will be profitable, maybe even some things to give you to think about that you haven't thought about. Matthew chapter 28, and I'll begin reading in verse 18. I'll start at verse 16. But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some were doubtful." Now, don't let the doubtful thing mess you up. It's not so much they were doubting if Christ was really the Messiah. It's more the idea some were hesitant. That word can be translated hesitant. Because how do you worship Jesus now that he's risen from the dead? That's a hard thing to know. This is new territory, right? Here's Jesus right here. Like, do I fall down flat and cry out, holy, holy? Or do I just sit and listen, or do I stand? And we would be hesitant. We would be unsure of how to worship him. Verse 18, And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 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. So here is Jesus and notice what verse 18 says, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. So Jesus has the authority to tell his disciples what to do. Now, so we should not struggle with that. If Jesus doesn't have the authority in this sense to tell you what to do, it just means that you are not a Christian. If you're a Christian, you're a disciple. If you're a disciple, Jesus has the authority to tell you what to do. That's what he's saying. And notice the repetition of the word all. You'll notice in verse 18, all authority has been given to me, says Jesus. And then verse 19, make disciples of all the nations. And then go down to verse 20, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. So here is one with all authority, and he's telling us as disciples to make disciples of all the nations, and we're to teach these disciples all that Christ has commanded us. I want to just kind of walk through this in a very simple way, and what will we see tonight in this message I've called Disciples Make Disciples. Very simple. Number one, disciples go and make disciples of Jesus. That's what the text says in verse 18, right? All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Okay, so there's the basis now, verse 19. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Let's just kind of walk through these main words one at a time, okay? Let's talk about the disciples. Jesus is giving this command to whom? Some would say to the apostles, Not to us. I would strongly disagree with that. You say, but Greg, it says he's speaking to the 11 disciples. Well, that is true in verse 16. He's talking to the 11. But can I remind you that these 11, 11 now because of what happened to Judas, that these 11 are disciples even as we are disciples. And so when Jesus gives this command to the 11, I would agree with those who would say he's providing a paradigm for all disciples. He's not saying for you 11, you do this, but no one else. He's saying, you are disciples, here's what I want you to do, and I would assume the implication is all disciples would do that. Now, let me just demonstrate that a couple different ways. Luke chapter 6, in verses 12 through 13, let's be reminded of who these twelve apostles, sometimes called the twelve disciples, are. I read Luke 6.12. Jesus went off to the mountain to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer to God and when the day came he called his disciples to him. So here's Jesus saying, come on, all my disciples come here and he chose twelve of them whom he also named his apostles. So he doesn't refer to all of them the same way but they're all disciples even as we are disciples. So I would suggest that what Christ is doing at the end of Matthew 28 is when he's telling the 11, I want you to go make disciples of all the nations, speaking to them as disciples, providing a paradigm for all of us, rather than just for those 11. And let me give you something else just to think about real quick. I do know of people who say, maybe this was just for the apostles. Interestingly, I've never heard anybody say verse 20, lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. Oh, that's just for the apostles, that's not for us. See, there are some people who would say, oh, if Jesus says I'm with you, man, that's for me. But if Jesus says do something else, like that's not for me. Okay. So I would suggest that what Jesus is doing here is he's giving this instruction and it's for all of the disciples, including us. Notice what he says. It says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Let's deal real quickly with the second word, the word go. Some people have overemphasized this. And they would make the word go the main point. You gotta go. You gotta go. Well, in reality, and many of you know this, the imperative is not the word go. Go is what's called the participle. It's related to the main verb, make disciples. We'll cover that next. On the other hand, some people have ignored the word go. It's here. If you're going to make disciples of all of the nations, you see all the nations in verse 19? You gotta go. So the main idea is not go. Oh, and by the way, while you go make disciples. The main idea is make disciples, but you know what? If we're gonna do this of all the nations, you gotta go. People have to go. And there will be people who go to Berlin. There will be people who go to Shanghai. There will be people who go to Italy. Just I'm thinking of our recent missionaries. There will be people that go to Istanbul. I'm thinking of next week. and there will be people that go to different places right here in Greenville County. You say, and what are we doing? Here's the main verb, the main imperative of the text. Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples. Jesus' disciples are commanded to make disciples. This is the key. So these other words all relate to making disciples. But Jesus is commanding, and he has the authority to do this, us to make disciples. I am commanded to be a disciple maker. And the only way I can say that's not accurate of me is to say I'm not a Christian. Every Christian's a disciple, and every disciple is a disciple maker. And if you were to say, you know, I'm maybe not always used to thinking that way, I understand. I mean, I'm not sure I am either. But this is how I want to be thinking. And of course, then I'll hit real quick, all people, I've already mentioned, we are to go and make disciples, key, of all people. That could be the message. I want to go farther than that tonight. But that could be the message. I want to just make a simple application, if I can. I talk to people who struggle, and I know you do as well. Like, who am I? You know, I don't know if I feel like I fit in this world. Here I am and, you know, and there's so many different variations of this. You know, I don't feel like I have a lot of friends. Who am I? You know, maybe I come from a home that's kind of broken. Who am I? Or maybe all of my friends are married. I'm not. Who am I? Or just whatever. And I'm going through life and it's very hard and I don't have any sense of identity. Like, who am I? And this text answers that question. Guys, I'm a disciple of Jesus. That's who I am. I am a follower of Jesus. And if there's ever a time where you're kind of thinking, you know, who am I? And seriously, like deep inside, the answer should come back very quickly. I am a disciple of Jesus. Other people maybe say, well, I don't struggle so much with identity. I struggle more with purpose. Why am I here? I mean, there's all these people, what do they do? They go to school and they study really hard. Why do they study hard? So they can get a really good job. Why do you want a really good job? So they can make money. Why do you want money? So you can have a nice house and raise your kids. And why do you want a nice house and raise your kids? So they can go to school. Why do you want your kids to go to school? So they can get a good job and make a lot of money. And you say, hey, this is kind of like a hamster just going around and around in a wheel. I mean, what's the purpose? Why am I here? And there's biblically an answer. I'm here to make disciples of Jesus. I think you could spend a lot of time just meditating on that. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, if you're a Christian, you are. Now remember, you can't say, well, I'm a Christian, but I'm not following. No, that's not an option. You might not be following Him well, but you are a follower of Christ. If you're not, you're not a Christian. So every Christian is a disciple. Every disciple is commanded to make disciples. So let's do this. I'm going to read the question and you answer it with me out loud if you'd be willing to do that. Now you might say I'm not confident I'm a disciple of Christ. I'm not encouraging you to say something that's not genuine. But if you are truly a person and your faith's in Jesus, you know the gospel, then maybe you would do this with me, okay? So identity. Who am I? Let's say it together. I am a disciple of Jesus. Can we do that one more time? Who am I? I am a disciple of Jesus. Second question. Why am I here? Together. To make disciples of Jesus. One more time. Why am I here? To make disciples of Jesus. I think that would change us. If we woke up every morning thinking, I'm a disciple of Jesus, and I've been called to make disciples. I'm going to give you just a very simple illustration of that. This has been on my mind. Now, obviously, I'm preaching it, and I'm studying it, and whatever. So I'm waking up, and I'm thinking, Lord, I'm your disciple. I want to make disciples. How do I do that? Well, I know at the very least, I need to start smiling more to people. I need to start saying hello to people. I need to start being a more friendly person. People need to see the love of Christ in me somehow. And I'm not saying that's enough, but that's certainly a beginning. So, Nancy and I were at a doctor's office just recently, and here I am, and there's a receptionist there, and she says, Hey, Mr. Mazak, would you please fill out this information? And they give me this little board, and I said, Well, sure, I'd be glad to do that. And I said, How are you doing today? And she said, fine. And I said, well, thank you for giving this and I'll fill it out and I'll bring it right back. She said, okay, thank you. So I'm filling this out and I do all my thing and I hand it back to her. And she said, okay, you can have a seat. And I said, well, thank you. I appreciate that. I hope you have a good day. She looked at me and said, may I ask you something? I said, yes, ma'am. You may ask me what's up. She said, are you a believer? and I thought thank you Jesus because I thought Lord you're encouraging me I took that as Lord you're encouraging me that here I am and I'm actually praying Lord help me to think of myself a disciple of Jesus I need to make disciples of Jesus and I'm not saying please I am not suggesting discipleship consists of smiling but if you are a follower of Jesus you got a lot to smile about And if you want people to maybe engage you, it's certainly gonna be more likely if you're showing the love of Christ than if you have your frowny face on or whatever you wanna say, okay? I took that as an encouragement from the Lord. And I need to think that way more often. I'm not suggesting I've arrived. I think these two thoughts are incredible. But let's keep going. Number one, disciples go and make disciples of Jesus. We see this in the text. Number two, Making disciples includes evangelizing, right? Notice what the text says. All authority, verse 18, has been given to me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So what are we doing when we're making disciples? Well, first of all, the gospel is proclaimed. And yes, that includes preaching behind the pulpit, that's fine. But it's certainly much broader than that. It's sharing the gospel as a herald of Jesus Christ in any way. I'm including you ladies as well. I'm including whether it's passing out literature, whether it's sending somebody a link to a sermon, whether it's just talking to somebody and becoming a friend, and then talking about Jesus. All of that is gospel proclamation. So the gospel is proclaimed, and what happens next? We've reviewed this in Romans chapter 10, right? People believe. And as soon as people believe, they become disciples. So when I say people believe and become disciples, that's not two, that's one. If your faith is in Christ, you're a disciple. If you're not a disciple, you are not on your way to heaven, okay? So, once a person believes the gospel, that person then becomes a disciple. Question, how do you know? Now, we know how to identify the real Clemson fans, right? We look at the back of their vehicles and they got Ipte, right? And there's an Ipte sticker and there's all kinds of, I think, gold level or, you know, maybe based on the amount of giving and that's fine. And I see Ipte on the back of your vehicle and I say, Clemson fan, right? I'm thinking probably not a Gamecock fan, right? Question, how do people know that you have become a disciple of Jesus Christ? Well, there's many ways we show forth that we know Christ, but the official way we demonstrate that is through baptism, right? And that's what the text says. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So it would be the most normal thing, the most biblical thing in the world. Hey, what are you doing? I'm just living my life. I'm going through life, doing my thing, just like everybody else, right? Following my dream, living for myself, right? I always wanted to travel, or I always wanted to have a family, or I always wanted to be involved in a certain kind of a business. Change, radical change. you've repented of your sin and you put faith in Jesus, you're a disciple. Okay? So how do we show everybody? Baptism. And you would be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. You're baptized in the name of the Lord. Why? Because you're following Christ. You're not living for sports anymore. You're not living for money anymore. You're not living for your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, parents, or kids anymore. You're not living for your vocational dream anymore. You're living for Jesus. So, you're baptized. Baptism is a mark of discipleship. Baptism is a right of initiation. It's, hey, look at him. He's a follower of Jesus. Awesome. And he wants everyone to know. And so he is baptized. And disciples are identified through baptism. This is what would take place when a person puts faith in Jesus Christ. So number one, disciples go and make disciples of Jesus. Number two, making disciples includes evangelizing. So it should be that we go through life just thinking, Lord, I'm your disciple and I'm here to make disciples. And that begins with evangelism. And so message three will be on evangelism. But the text doesn't stop there, okay? Sometimes we think of the Great Commission and we think, hey, the Great Commission is all about people going out and sharing the gospel and people getting saved. It begins with that. But it's just the beginning. Because notice what the text continues. Verse 19. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, evangelism, Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And then this wonderful promise, Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. Making disciples includes teaching disciples to obey Christ. So if I'm involved in discipleship, what does that mean? It means I'm evangelizing. I'm sharing the gospel with people. I'm trying to build redemptive relationships. I want people to see Christ in my life so I can begin gospel-centered conversations. I can talk to people about Jesus. They then will put faith in Jesus Christ. They would be baptized because that's how you demonstrate you're now a follower of Jesus. And that's not where it ends. That's where it begins. And we would be teaching them. Now I'd like to point this out in the text. Many commentators do this. Verse 20, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. Let me make a point. It does not say teaching them to understand the deep truths of Christianity. It doesn't say make sure they take a systematic theology exam. I teach in seminary so I can say this. And I love systematic theology. But the text doesn't say, teach them to understand the scriptures, even though that's necessary. The text says, teach them to obey. That's discipleship. It's including teaching them to understand the scriptures. But it's more than that. It's teaching them to obey. That would be part of making disciples. And I've thought about this, and it's not original thoughts with me, but I have listened to sermons that have worked in my life, for example, on evangelism. And people would be encouraged to evangelize, and they would be taught to evangelize, and everybody would be taught to understand you're supposed to share the gospel. You say, does anybody actually share the gospel? I don't know. No one asks. No one follows up. After the sermon, there's really nothing going on that people would say, okay, let's go ahead and talk about how we are going to share the gospel, how we're actually going to obey Jesus. And I think a lot of times we have very biblically literate people who understand very clearly what the scriptures teach and maybe aren't doing so well at living it. Now, this will be an extreme. It's for the point of an illustration. I don't agree with the statement, but it got my attention. I actually was reading a book by a man who said, I'm not going to Bible study anymore. I've had enough Bible study. He said, I put my faith in Christ, and I went to Bible study, after Bible study, after Bible study, and we studied, and we studied, and we studied, and we studied, and we studied, and I kept thinking, when are people going to start living like they follow Christ? So he said, I actually found a couple of guys, and here's what we do. We get together over coffee, we open up the Bible, we read a portion, and then we look at each other, and we say, okay, what are we going to do today to obey Jesus? Because he came to a decision, my problem is not a lack of knowledge. I know a lot. My problem is I'm not doing it. See, in this Great Commission, making disciples includes teaching, and we have to understand the Scriptures. But teaching the disciples to obey Christ, so not merely understand, but obey. And part of that obedience includes the command to make disciples. Okay? So if me, I'm going to talk about me, if I'm doing a good job of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, I'm making disciples. And the way I know that I'm being successful is the people I'm discipling are out making disciples. That applies to me as a pastor. That applies to you who are so gracious and kind. Some of you are teaching Bible study classes. So if you walk into your class just like I walk into this auditorium and my whole goal is to go to Romans 9 and help you understand the election because I think you ought to understand unconditional election. and you go home and you understand unconditional election, I'm just making the point I'm not doing my job. Because you're learning a lot but you're not necessarily obeying. So if a person at Trinity is listening to me preach, listening to our good teaching on Wednesday night, and listening to the many good classes we have going on every Sunday morning, They could be growing in their theological expertise. They could be knowing the Bible better and better and not necessarily becoming more godly. And that would be something we would want to think about. That would be something we would want to prayerfully consider. I think we're all aware of people who have a lot of knowledge and they have heard many good sermons, many good studies, and yet are not following Christ well at all. Discipleship is not a lack of emphasis on teaching, but it's the idea that we're taking seriously what Jesus said here. It's the teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. Now, the command to make disciples, that verb is only found four times in the New Testament. and it's only translated make disciples, twice become a disciple, only commanded make a disciple twice. I wanted to show you the other occurrence. It's in Acts 14. In Acts 14 verses 19 through 20, it says the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and having won over the crowd, so these are the Jews who are opposed to the preaching of the gospel. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, that's the city of Lystra, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples, so these are people who are believers in Jesus Christ, while the disciples stood around him, Paul, he's on the ground and they think he's dead, he, Paul, got up and entered the city. Wow, that's a miracle. The next day he, Paul, went away with Barnabas to Derbe. Okay, so that's Acts 14, 19 and 20. Let's go two more verses, 21. After they had preached the gospel to that city, Derbe, and made many disciples." That's our word. That's the only other place in the New Testament it's translated, make disciples, and it only occurs four times in the whole Greek Testament. It says that, after they had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Tychonium, to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith. Do you see both points there? Here is Paul, and what is he doing? He's preaching the gospel, and after they had made disciples, what does that mean? People put faith in Jesus. And once you become a follower of Christ, you're a disciple. Then Paul goes back to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples. So he's making disciples as people put faith in Jesus Christ, and then he's going back to these cities where there are people who have put faith in Jesus Christ, and he's encouraging them in their faith. And that's part of discipleship, and that'll actually be our fourth message. So what we're doing is we are disciples of Jesus Christ, if you're a believer, that's message number one. What has God commanded us to do to make disciples? That's today's message, message number two. And that includes what? Sharing the gospel and seeing people become disciples and then being baptized, that's number three. And then we encourage them to continue to follow Christ, which means they too will make disciples. Because every person who knows Christ is both a disciple of Christ and one who makes disciples of Christ. That's what we see in the scriptures. So that's our message tonight. I'm going to do some applications. Number one, disciples go and make disciples of Jesus too. Making disciples includes evangelizing. And number three, making disciples includes teaching disciples to obey Christ. Application. Trinity Bible Church's mission is to glorify God by equipping disciples to make disciples. If for any of us, even a little bit this week, You would go to bed prayerfully thinking, wake up prayerfully thinking, Lord, I'm your disciple and you've called me to make disciples. This time has been well spent because that's biblical thinking. Let's push it a little farther. Let's make some basic applications. I don't think any of these will be radical. Number one, you are a disciple and a disciple maker. And if you're not, I would simply say, come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. If you have repented of your sin and put faith in Jesus Christ, and you know that His death on the cross paid the price of your sin, you know that He died, He was buried, He rose again, ascended into heaven, you know the gospel. You're a disciple and a disciple-maker. And if you say, I'm not, I'm simply going to say, you are. Now, you may want to say, I'm not a good one. And many of us, no doubt at times, would say that. But you are. If you are a Christian, you are both a disciple and a disciple maker. Now, that is not edgy thinking. That's basic Christianity. A former student of mine asked me to fill out a recommendation form this week to go to a certain seminary. And so I went to their website so I can make the recommendation. And here's their seminary website. The front of it says, we exist for the church. And then you could read, by biblically educating God called men and women to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ. They're saying we're a biblical seminary. And if you read your Bible, you understand this. You're a disciple. You want to make disciples. And if you are serious about that, come study with us. And I thought that would be an illustration that again, this is not some type of narrow viewpoint. This is widely embraced among those who would believe the scriptures. Number one, you're a disciple and a disciple maker. Number two, The church is to equip disciples to make disciples and provide opportunities for discipleship. That's what we're supposed to do. So, when we come together, what we're trying to do by God's grace is equipping disciples to make disciples. So, if my messages are informational all the way, merely informational, And you leave Romans 9 understanding unconditional election better than ever before and understand that Romans 10, Israel was responsible for not believing. And you think, this is so awesome, Greg. I understand Romans. I am not doing my job. I'm not saying that's wrong, but I'm not doing enough. And if I can address those of you the same way as I address myself first, for those of you who so graciously, kindly take your time throughout the week to study God's Word, and you do such a good job teaching our people in our Bible study and Sunday school classes, If every Sunday morning those in your class say, wow, I have never understood Colossians. I just say Colossians because I don't believe anyone's teaching on that. I have never understood Colossians like that. Wow, do I understand Colossians. That is good. That's not enough. What needs to happen is people need to be thinking, okay, I understand Colossians or I understand Romans. and now I need to live differently and I need to be obeying what I'm hearing and it has to include and I need to be going out and making disciples because every disciple is a disciple maker and as we disciple people we're helping them to be those who make disciples. Now you might think Greg, but like, isn't that your job because you're the elder who does the preaching? Well, many of you are familiar, but I'd like to review Ephesians 4, 11, and 12 with you. Paul writes, and he, the Lord, gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers. I would consider myself a pastor teacher. Why? For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, some translations have for the work of ministry, to the building up of the body of Christ. So if you look at that on the screen, guys, question for you, and I think many of you know this, who is responsible for the work of ministry? Who is responsible to engage in the work of ministry at Trinity Bible Church? Looking at that, and the answer is whom? The saints, thank you. It's not my job. It's not my job. My job, by God's grace, is to help equip all of us to engage in the work of ministry, which is making disciples. I don't think, to be frank, I would be involved in actively going out and making disciples any more or less than you. But as the pastor teacher, I'm equipping all of us to do what all disciples do, because all disciples have been called to make disciples. That's what should be happening in the ministry of Trinity. And again, I always began with myself, and now I can say, for those of you who so kindly and graciously spend time every week studying your Bibles, preparing lessons, and teaching, and you do such a wonderful job, and I thank you for that. I want to give you the same reminder I'm giving myself. Your job is not only to teach, but it's to equip the people who are listening so that they, by God's grace, will be better disciples of Jesus Christ and will be better equipped to go out and make disciples for Jesus Christ. That is the goal of the ministry of Trinity, at least by God's grace it should be. So number one, you're a disciple and a disciple maker. Two, the church is to equip disciples to make disciples and provide opportunities for discipleship. Number three, every Trinity ministry thus exists to make disciples who obey all that Jesus taught. If every disciple is a disciple maker, And as we come together, that's the goal to help people in making disciples, then we need to be thinking of that in every ministry of Trinity. How can we do better at making disciples? And that includes everything from 7 on Saturday men's to ladies' missionary fellowship. That includes our Bible study classes. That includes youth group activities. That includes any type of social outing we have, even if it's going to a baseball game, which I always go to when we have them. You say, Greg, why would you go to a baseball game? Generally, what I'm thinking is, number one, I enjoy baseball. Number two, I have some of my best conversations with people at baseball games. because I'm sitting by the same person sometimes for a good half hour to an hour. That doesn't happen a lot. And I generally try to sit next to somebody I don't know as well on purpose. because I love to get to know people better why so that I can try to encourage them as they follow Christ. Every ministry of Trinity should be focused on making disciples who obey all that Jesus taught, which means number four, thus every Trinity ministry should be evaluated in terms of our mission. And I'm a person who needs to be saying, Lord, in my public proclamation of the scriptures, Am I encouraging people to be better at following Christ and making disciples? And if not, Lord, would you help me understand how I can improve? I want to do better. And now after addressing myself, I address those of you who so graciously and kindly, and that's from my heart, you study the Bible every week, and you study and make your presentation in many different contexts. You should be asking a question. is the ministry you're involved in successfully making disciples of Christ who are thus going out and making disciples of Christ. That's how we should be evaluating the mission of every ministry here at Trinity. Now, you might say, Greg, this sounds to me like it's actually a different mission statement. And I hope you can see that up on the slide. We often say the mission of Trinity, exalting Christ, encouraging those who know Christ, and evangelizing those who need Christ. That's our mission. Let's say the same thing differently. What's the mission of Trinity? Making disciples. Why do we want to make disciples? Because it exalts Christ, because the One who has all power and authority commanded us. And if you want to exalt the One who has all power and authority, do what He tells you to do. So you say, okay, so I got it. I want to exalt Christ. What do I do? Encourage those who know Christ. That's making disciples. And evangelize those who need Christ. That's making disciples. That's what the scripture teaches we as a church would do under the headship of Jesus Christ. And I appreciate my brother Mark making that slide and just kind of putting things together. If seeing something graphically helps you. This is not a change of mission. This would be setting forth the mission we already have, just in a way that's maybe helpful to think about. So number four, each ministry at Trinity should be evaluated in terms of our mission. Hang in there, number five. Last one, and I'll have to explain. We must be more focused on making disciples than maintaining structure and programs. In every organization, there is a desire to maintain things and to resist change. That's just human nature. And so what will frequently happen in every organization, including a church, is if this is the way we've always done it, then this is the way it should be done. Now, if we're thinking biblically, that's not how we're thinking. It doesn't mean what we're doing is wrong. But if the goal of life is making disciples, and I know if I'm making disciples because the people I'm discipling are going out and making disciples, then I should be evaluating, you should be evaluating, can we do better? It doesn't mean we're doing anything wrong. Can we do better? And we must be more focused on making disciples than maintaining structure, than maintaining programs. You say, Greg, help me out with that. Okay, let me give you a specific illustration, and I need to define words very carefully. These are not suggestions. So if you leave saying, Greg wants to change this, I have failed to communicate well. I'm going to use two illustrations. They're not suggestions, they're illustrations. There are many churches who no longer meet on Wednesday night for prayer. Now, is that a good change or a bad change? Well, many people would say, well that's bad because we've always had prayer meeting on Wednesday night. Okay, so I was talking to a pastor and they've always had prayer meeting on Wednesday night, but their church no longer does so. And I said to him, okay, that's interesting. I'm not saying it's good or bad. Tell me why did you do that? And he said, well, we want to focus more on discipleship. I said, discipleship includes prayer. He said, yes. And one of the best things we ever did was quit having prayer meeting. I said, you got to explain this to me. He said, Greg, we were averaging 50 people a night on prayer meeting. We now meet through the week in small groups and we pray and we're running 125. By replacing prayer meeting with small prayer groups, we have increased by like what? More than a hundred percent the amount of praying that's going on in our church. People are growing and discipleship is increasing and that'll happen through replacing prayer meeting with a more effective way of helping people grow. I am not suggesting that. I'm just saying that's an illustration of actually thinking how can we do a better job at discipling. I'm not suggesting that. Second illustration. This is very common. In fact, it might even be more common now than the way we're doing it. There are many churches that come together, they have a worship service, and then they have their Bible study time next. And they would actually spend part of the Bible study time talking about the message. talking about how they can obey the message. So at many churches, and I'm familiar with a number of them, doesn't mean we need to do this. There would be an opening service. I would preach just as I typically preach. And then at least part of what would happen is we would go into our different classes, just like we're meeting now, and talk about obeying the message. Now, you say, what would the result be? Well, one result would be there would be less time for Bible study. That's true. And if the ultimate goal is to learn as much about the Bible as you can, that would be a bad choice. You know my next sentence. But if the ultimate goal is to obey Jesus Christ, maybe that would be something good. Because after hearing the sermon, we would actually meet and talk in some type of structured way about now that I've heard this message, how can I follow Jesus Christ? How can I be a more loving husband to my wife? How can I be a better grandpa? How can I be a better gospel light on my street? How can I be more loving to the people I meet? and we could actually talk about that and then pray for one another on how we could do that. Now some churches, they do it that way. Some do that on Sunday night. Some have other venues. That's an illustration. That's not a suggestion. So after the service, please don't say, hey Greg, I like the idea you're floating. I'm not floating an idea. Except if you understand the scriptures, then you know it is good to evaluate what you're doing in terms of the scriptures. Maybe I can reword number five. I'm gonna do that differently, okay? Here it says we must be more focused on making disciples than maintaining structure. Let me put it this way. We must be willing to adjust the trellis for the good of the vine. What's the purpose of a trellis? Some of you do gardening. I'm not a big gardener, but there's a reason I use this. What's the purpose of a trellis? To hold up a vine. so that the vine could be beautiful and flourish and be healthy. So here is a picture of a trellis. That's an awesome looking trellis. What is it doing? Absolutely nothing. But it's a good trellis. You say, what is the purpose of the trellis? There's no vine on it. And what would happen is, I think it's apparent, If we suggest, well, this is the way we do church, and we need to make sure we don't change anything, we need to make sure we keep doing it the way we're doing it, okay, my question is, are people doing better at making disciples? And, well, I don't know. I just know this is the way we do things. We may end up with the trellis without a vine. Now, how about this for a picture? Isn't that a beautiful vine? That is the picture of a front door of a home with this beautiful vine. Question, what's the trellis look like? And the answer is obviously what? Can't see the trellis. That's a beautiful vine. Man, that's a beautiful vine. Some of you probably even know what plant that is. I don't know. I don't think it's poison ivy. How about that? Okay. But you know what? That trellis is doing a good job. That vine looks awesome. You say, why would you use an example of a trellis and a vine? Because that's the name of a book that many people have read. I'd encourage you to read it. I've read it many times. The Trellis and the Vine. That's simply making the point that if we take seriously discipleship, then what we'll want to do is we will want to simply sit back and evaluate, are we making disciples followers of Christ who are going out and discipling others who then become followers of Christ and make disciples of others? That would be a good thing to do. That's our application. Number one, you are a disciple and a disciple maker, if you know Jesus. Number two, the church is to equip disciples to make disciples. Number three, every Trinity ministry exists to make disciples. Number four, each Trinity ministry should be evaluated in terms of our mission, making disciples. And if you prefer to say it, exalting Christ by evangelizing those who need Christ and encouraging those who know Christ, that also works. And number five, we must be willing to adjust the trellis for the good of divine. And so what I'm asking you is, would you pray? Would you pray? And if you say, Greg, I don't like change. I don't want to change anything. That's OK. I struggle with things too. We all struggle. And that's OK to admit. And the older I get, the more I struggle. And I'll just be very honest. We floated some ideals. And someone has come up to me and said, Greg, you floated some ideas on maybe some possible changes. What do you think? And here's what I'm finding. People my age and above are saying, boy, Greg, I don't know. And people younger are saying, yeah, that's awesome. Let's go. And you say, what do you think about that? Well, I'm hoping older people have more wisdom. And maybe that's a good thing that we're a little more hesitant. And I am grouping myself as one of the old people. So don't think you're calling me. No, I'm calling us old, OK? So I'm allowed to. I'm a grandpa now. My point being, would you pray with us that God would help us to take seriously the reality that number one, I am a disciple, and number two, I have been called to make disciples. And what we do as part of Trinity Bible Church should go hand in hand with that. encouraging people to not only be good disciples, but to make disciples. By God's grace would it be so, let's pray.