Summary
Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave us His
final command to go and make disciples. His command comes with a promise that
we will receive power from the Holy Spirit to get the job done.
The Mark of
a True Disciple of Christ
The Holy Spirit comes upon us the moment we make a decision to receive Jesus into our life as our Saviour and Lord.
The evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
is a changed life in Christ and spiritual fruit. This is seen when we
continually grow to be more and more like Jesus every day and when we lovingly
serve one another and disciple others into Christ-likeness.
As follower of Jesus, we live for two things: to
honor and glorify God, and to make Christ-committed followers. If we truly are
followers of Jesus, we must be disciplers for Jesus.
The
Principle and the Privilege
The Holy Spirit came to each of the disciples; all
of them were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3b-4). None of us is exempted.
No benchwarmers, no onlookers in the body of Christ. Every follower of Christ
is commanded and empowered to make disciples.
God uses ordinary people like us to do His
extraordinary work through supernatural means – the Holy Spirit. God will
accomplish His plan with or without us, but He chooses to give us the privilege
to be part of His movement in transforming lives. If we don’t obey in faith, we
will forfeit the privilege and miss out on the fullness of joy of being part of
God’s amazing work.
The
Encouragement and the Challenge
The sad truth is not all followers of Christ are
making disciples. We have so many reasons and excuses for not making disciples.
We say we are introverts, inadequate or not yet ready, not trained, not gifted,
still praying for it, fearful, busy, etc.
“God
did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of
self-discipline.”(2 Timothy 1:7). As Rebecca Pippert said, “Being an
extrovert isn't essential to evangelism; obedience and love are.”
Peter and John were unschooled, ordinary fishermen
(Acts 4:13) but yielded their lives to the power of the Holy Spirit. Those who
accepted their message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to
their number that day of the Pentecost (Acts 2:41).
When the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit comes upon
those who believe and receive Jesus, nothing will stop them from doing God’s
work, to step up and speak up.
Ready to
Take Off
We must have the “take-off” mindset – no room
for complacency, or taking things for granted or slowing down or just sitting around.
Allow God to use you to accomplish His great commission. He understands our
fears and limitations, but He knows us better than we know ourselves. He can
use us in different ways according to His plans for u
