This weekend, Pastor Mark concluded the “One Prayer” series with this prayer for the church: make us missional. Using Matthew 10:1, 5-18 as the biblical text, he presented five precepts for being missional. For today’s Bible Drill Wednesday, let’s focus on the first precept - we’ve got a green light.
I was convicted by Pastor Mark’s statement that “too many of us operate with a red light mentality -we stop until God says ‘go’.” Pastor Mark went on to say that Jesus gave us a command to “go” over 2,000 years ago…and that commandment hasn’t been rescinded.
What does this look like in terms of discipleship? Again, Jesus Himself gave the command in Matthew 28:19-20: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” What strikes me about this command is that Jesus didn’t say “wait until potential disciples come to you” - he commanded us to “go and make disciples.” And He set the example for us - He chose the Twelve, He poured Himself into their lives and invested Himself fully in them, He came that “they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
How often do we, as leaders, wait for someone to approach us and ask to be discipled? Do we wait around for people to join our small groups? Do we wait for members of our groups to tell us that they want to lead small groups of their own in the future? Or are we intentionally investing in others and making disciples? We can be spiritually lazy and choose the red-light approach, but we are bound to miss opportunities along the way.
We have a green light, folks - Lord, make us missional.
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