The Refreshing Power of Discipling Others | With Jonathan Laurie

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. You're listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, and my objective is to deliver, hopefully, compelling practical insights in faith, culture, and current events from a biblical perspective. To find out more about our ministry, just go to our website, harvest.org. So thanks for joining me for this podcast. Hey, this weekend, I am so excited to get to share with you. My dad asked me if I would share and continue in the series that he's been going over, which he is calling Refresh. And the last couple of weeks, we talked about the refreshing power of evangelizing and sharing your faith.

And so today, I'm going to be sharing with you the refreshing power of discipling others. You see, there's a succession there. There's a process. First, you lead that person to Christ, and yes, they cross the finish line. I like to think of it almost like they're starting their gym membership now, right?

Okay, well, now the work begins. Now you're in there, and the good news is, spiritually speaking, God sees us as completely fit as soon as we enter that gym membership. So theologically, I'm trying to be correct here. But the point is this. Once you become a Christian, now you've got work to do.

Now you need to start exercising, and you need a personal trainer. Listen, that is what we are called to do as Christians. We are called to disciple others. We are called to be a disciple, and we are called to disciple others. My text today is Matthew chapter 28. If you would like to turn in your Bible there or flip on your phone or go on your computer screen, whatever it might be, and you want to follow along, that's great.

Matthew chapter 28, and again, my message title is The Refreshing Power of Discipling Others. This last April, my wife and I celebrated 11 years of marriage. Pretty cool, 11 years.

It's gone by really fast, and it's amazing. She is not the same person that I married. I'm not the same person that she married. We've both grown, and we've grown more in love with each other as we've met each other's needs.

It's awesome. And so we had a great time celebrating 11 years because we had our big 10-year anniversary last year, but it took place during the whole lockdown, so we didn't exactly get to do anything. I think we went down to the beach, and like everything was still kind of in lockdown. It was crazy, and so we made up for it this year, and for our 11-year anniversary this April, we went to the island of Maui. Yeah, we went all out, and we went together, spent some time.

It was amazing. I think it was on our second or third day of the trip. We were actually on a hiking trail, and we were going up this path, and I was really in the zone talking with my wife. We were deep in conversation, and I wasn't really paying attention too close to my surroundings, and as we were walking, the pathway went from about maybe like two feet, three feet wide, and on the other side of us is a pretty, you know, sheer cliff that falls down. We're right next to the water, and so it's a good sheer little drop-off that drops down to some rocks, and as we're kind of going up and down, at some points, we're no joke, you know, 100 feet high next to a pretty steep cliff.

Next point, we're 10 feet off the ground. Well, we're walking, and the pathway narrows from about three feet wide to about six inches wide, and it's kind of a spot you just need to step over. Well, I was so in the zone, I wasn't really paying attention, and I was just wearing flip-flops and my board shorts, and she's walking behind me, and we're talking, and I'm just, you know, just totally into what we're saying, and I step over. I come to the spot, and when I should have stepped over it, I didn't, and I stepped directly into it, and on that grade, that slope was all loose gravel. Loose lava rock is what it really was, and I stepped into it, and before I even realized it, I was sliding down this hill, and I fall onto my stomach, and I do my best to claw my hands in. You know, you've seen those movies where people are like falling down a hill, and they're sliding down like an icy slope, and you're like, come on, man, just use your ax and get it in there. Okay, well, this happened to me, and let me tell you, it doesn't exactly work that way. I was sliding down, and I was digging my hand in as best as I could.

I couldn't do it. All I could do, I had the clarity of thought to look down as I'm sliding down. There is now a sheer edge that is approaching rapidly. I rotate to my back, and I just thought, you know what, if I'm going to fall off this thing, I'm going to do it my way, and so I roll to my back, and I vault myself off the edge intentionally so that I'm in control, and I'm going to be able to land on my feet. And as I'm falling, I look down, and it's about, I want to say, you know, it felt like it was 50 feet, but it was probably 10, 12, maybe 15 feet at the most, and as I'm falling, I'm looking down, and I'm seeing a dead giant tree over here. I'm seeing rocks everywhere, and I look, and somehow, by the grace of God, there is a patch of sand that's maybe two feet wide that I am somehow headed towards. And I go, okay, I'm going to land here, but as I'm falling, I'm thinking broken leg for sure.

I'm going to break my leg for sure. And as I come down, I'm able to, no joke, land completely square on my feet and land. I feel like, you know, one of those gymnasts in the Olympics. I stick the landing. I don't fall. I don't stumble. I land totally square on my feet. Rocks come sliding down.

There's dirt falling everywhere. My water bottle that I dropped on the way down comes down and lands next to me, and it was like, did that just happen? My wife, who was behind me, was screaming in terror the entire time, Jonathan, Jonathan! She thought I was falling to my death.

No joke. She actually turned, when I came back up to the hill, I was like, that was crazy. She said, I literally turned away and closed my eyes. I thought you were going to die.

I was like, what if I like grabbed onto something, and like that 10 seconds could have made the difference. You were just going to close your eyes and let me die. But the point was this, is that when I came back up, she was like teary-eyed. She literally thought I was about to die.

And I would say this, 10 out of 10 would recommend to do at the beginning of your anniversary trip. It elicited all kinds of sympathy. She was so thankful I was alive. She was so thankful that I was there. It was like totally worth it to have some scratches and bruises and bumps on my leg for the rest of the trip.

And so it was great, would recommend. But while we were on that trip as well, one of the things that we got to do that was so cool was hike up to a waterfall. And this is something we'd wanted to do in the past, but we always have our kids with us, and it's a pretty good hike up to this waterfall. And we wanted to get up there, and so as we made our way up to the top of this waterfall, it was a four-mile hike, not too bad. But there were pools along the way, and they were really beautiful, these beautiful pristine pools that were just clear and blue and so refreshing looking.

I was really bummed that they were closed for swimming because it was really hot and humid, and I was looking forward to jumping into one of those pools, but they were closed for whatever reason. And each one was fed by the waterfall, so the waterfall came down, and in succession, each one filled the next, and there was eight of them, or rather seven. And they ultimately emptied out into the ocean. And as we were walking, I was just blown away by their beauty.

And it kind of made me think, why are they this way? Why are they so clear and blue and pristine? What makes them so much better than the pond in my backyard that sometimes fills up when the kids leave the hose on for too long? We've all seen clear, beautiful bodies of water, whether it's a lake or a stream or a river, and we've all seen those stagnant ponds that are like disgusting with algae growing on them. Usually, they're the breeding ground for mosquitoes. They're disgusting.

So what's the difference between those two things? And that got me thinking about our message today. The thing that they have was they were fed by a waterfall, and it was amazing. Rain came down, this pristine water. They needed that inlet. But what each one of those ponds had was also an outlet. You see, if they just built up more and more and more, eventually, that water, it has nowhere to go.

There's bacteria in it, and it begins to fester. But because there was an outlet for these ponds, they were able to stay so pristine and so beautiful. And the difference between that and a stagnant pond is it may have an inlet, but it has no outlet. There's no outlet for these streams to go, for this water to go. And so what does it do? It stagnates.

It gets moss and bacteria and mosquitoes and all kinds of gross stuff. And I couldn't help but just think, I think that Christians can sometimes be the same way. Hear me out here. Whether you're a brand new believer or you've been a Christian for 50 years, I think this principle is still true. Christians who have a steady stream in of spiritual enrichment and a steady stream out of evangelism and discipleship and Christian service and ministry are always the healthiest and the happiest Christians. Have you found that to be true?

I sure have. The ones that are doing the most are often the most happy. Those that are being filled spiritually and then pouring out spiritually into others' lives are always the happiest, serving the Lord. Now let's contrast that for a moment with the believers that have the steady stream in, but they have no outlet. There is no spiritual outlet of making disciples in their lives. They're not being wise stewards with the gifts and opportunities that God has given to them. They don't share the gospel. They don't think that the Great Commission applies to them. And so what happens?

Well, like that pond, that pond that becomes stagnant and unhealthy, and let's be honest, starts to stink a little bit, right? Well, often those Christians are the ones that are the most judgmental. They're the Christians that are the most critical, the most holier than thou, the most legalistic, and dare I say, the most pharisaical.

Because they have all this knowledge, they have all this spiritual wisdom, but they're not exercising it or applying it. And so instead, they criticize, they nitpick, and they're generally unhappy. My dad pointed out in his messages to us the last couple of weeks that evangelistic Christians are happy Christians, nitpicky Christians are unhappy Christians.

I have found that to be true firsthand. Knowledge and understanding and church attendance, those are all great things, but friends, they are not enough to get you into heaven. Only faith in Christ can do that, but your spiritual inlet needs a spiritual outlet. As you're being filled spiritually, you need to be pouring out spiritually.

Jesus' half-brother, James, he wrote this in his letter found in the New Testament, and he kind of expands on this thought in James chapter 2. He says this, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says that they have faith but they don't have works? Can that faith alone save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, hey, buddy, go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? And so also faith by itself, James says, if it does not have works, is dead.

Wow. Faith without works is dead, James is saying. You could kind of say if you're being filled spiritually but you're not pouring out spiritually, your faith isn't good. It's not a good faith. It's not a true faith. And so we need to be cautious.

We need to be aware of these things. And I tell you what, James lived out his faith. James, the half-brother of Jesus, lived out his faith. According to church history, James died a martyr. And when he refused to stop teaching about the resurrected Jesus, the religious leaders in Jerusalem took him to the pinnacle of the temple, 100 feet high or so, and they took him and they told him, you need to stop preaching about Jesus.

Stop doing this. And when he refused, they took James and they threw him to his death over 100 feet down. Except James didn't die.

That's right. And so when the fall didn't kill James and they came to him with clubs and they decided, OK, this is how we're going to kill him. And he still wouldn't stop talking. James, church history tells us, echoed the words of his older brother Jesus when he was dying on the cross. As they were beating James to his death, James said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

They don't know what they're doing. Forgive them, Lord. Wow. Can you imagine having those be your last words, having that heart for your enemies, having that heart for people that you love them so much that the very people that are taking your life and inflicting so much pain and suffering upon you, you are asking God to forgive them, to spare them, not to judge them.

That's radical. Last words say a lot about a person, don't they? Those were James last words. And last words really kind of give us an insight into the things that matter to people that are sharing them when they're on their deathbeds. It gives us an insight into their personalities, their character.

Sometimes they're incredibly sad, and sometimes they're incredibly beautiful and challenging. James' last words were asking for forgiveness on behalf of the men who were beating him to death. Here's some last words that kind of struck me recently as I was looking over some. John Belushi, who was a well-known actor and comedian, kind of a life of the party kind of guy, while he was sadly overdosing on drugs in a hotel room. He said to his friend while he was ODing and slipping in and out of consciousness, he said to his friend, just please don't leave me alone.

Just don't leave me alone. And then that friend left him alone, and John Belushi overdosed on drugs. Very sad.

Heartbreaking to think of that. The loneliness, the fear that he may have been experiencing. Steve Jobs, the founder and president of Apple computers and the creator of the iPhone and the personal computer and all that stuff, when he was dying from pancreatic cancer, his last words were, oh wow, oh wow, oh wow. Three times he said that. Karl Marx, a German philosopher and socialist revolutionary, said, last words are for fools who haven't said enough.

I think that Karl Marx probably said too much, if we're honest. Leonardo da Vinci, we know him. He's the guy that painted the Mona Lisa. He painted all kinds of amazing things. He was a sculptor. He was an inventor. He was an absolute renaissance man. Leonardo da Vinci, who set the standard, painted all kinds of amazing works of art. He said, I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.

Wow. What does that mean for the rest of us? This is a guy that obviously set the absolute standard for amazing works of art. He did not feel that his life measured up to the gift that God had given to him. All of these men, all of these last words give us an insight into who these guys were and what they believed and what mattered to them. Well, I would say to you that there are none more important words than the words, the last words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, when he concluded his earthly ministry here on earth before he ascended to heaven. His last words are recorded in scripture for us to read. And that is our text today, if you would read with me in Matthew chapter 28. Jesus said these words, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Let's pray. Lord, as we just read those words, this amazing command, this amazing charge, this amazing promise. Lord, we pray that you would press these things upon our hearts. Lord, that you would help us to take them seriously to know that this is for us today.

Even though you said them 2000 years ago, the mission is still not complete. And Lord, we need your help to do it. You tell us that you are with us even to the end of the age. So Lord, you are with us today. Fill us with your Holy Spirit.

Help us to understand these things. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen. Well, again, the last couple of weeks, my dad has been sharing messages on the refreshing power of sharing your faith. And today I want to talk to you about how it's equally important that we are discipling others. I've titled this message The Refreshing Power of Discipling Others. Our text today is what we know as the Great Commission.

It's called the Great Commission. It's the final words of Jesus to his followers with his marching orders over 2000 years later, and there's still work to do. Make disciples of all nations, Jesus says. Make disciples of all nations. Wow, that's a bit of a tall order if we're honest, isn't it? Make disciples of all nations. It can sound overwhelming.

It can sound daunting. And I can already hear you beginning to excuse yourself from that. Well, Jonathan, isn't that really for professional Christians? You know, guys like Billy Graham and the Apostle Paul and Kirk Cameron, they're the professional Christians.

We should leave that to them. Okay, I hear what you're saying. You're saying, hey, I can't quit my job. I can't go and pursue this full-time and make disciples. I've got to make a living for my family. Hey, listen, you might be a businessman. You might be a businesswoman. You might be a teacher, a full-time parent. You might be a lawyer, a construction worker, whatever it might be. Listen, regardless of where you exist on the socioeconomic scale or what your profession is, you are called to make disciples.

And so today I want to look at three points, three points together. One, what is a disciple? What do disciples do? And thirdly, who do disciples disciple? Before you excuse yourself from the Great Commission, which Jesus has commanded all of his followers to do, let's look really, what is a disciple? What does it mean to be a disciple? Number one, what is a disciple?

Let's look at that together. In the New Testament, the word Christian, the term that we all use of ourselves, right? The term Christian, the title that we all use as followers of Jesus Christ and carry to this day was only used in Scripture three times. It was only recorded in Scripture three times, in Acts 11, 26, Acts 26, 28, and 1 Peter 4, 16.

Only three times. That term Christian, by the way, was not self-applied. It was not something that they gave to themselves. Let's call ourselves Christians. No, that was not what they called themselves by the disciples of Jesus. The believers, the disciples of Jesus, first became known as Christians by non-believers to mock them and ridicule them.

Kind of similar. We saw kind of an interesting thing happen in the 1960s and 70s. Those that began to follow Jesus and really commit their lives to them, they were given the term, the title, Jesus Freaks. Jesus Freaks. Now today, we're kind of like, oh yeah, I'm a Jesus Freak.

That's cool. I want to wear that as a badge of honor. Well, in the day, that was not a term of endearment. That was not a compliment.

That was a hassle. That was a diss. It was a slang term used to make fun of people. And ultimately, you would be looked down upon if you were called a Jesus Freak, just like in the first century if they called you a Christian. Anyone who was a disciple, they would call that term too. They would call them a Christian.

And again, not a term of endearment, not a good thing. And so while the term Christian is only used in the New Testament three times, the word disciple, the word disciple is used 281 times. This is the term that the followers of Jesus Christ refer to themselves as. We are disciples of Jesus Christ. We are disciples of Jesus.

Don't let that term scare you. Every true Christian is a disciple. And so what is a disciple? A disciple really is a simple word to understand.

It actually just means a learner, a learner. But it means a bit deeper than that, a bit more than that for the follower of Jesus Christ. It means you're a learner who accepts instruction given to him and makes it his rule of conduct. You say Jesus is your Lord, and so you follow, study, and apply his teachings to your life. You are a disciple. Now let me clarify, I'm not saying that you are part of the disciples like the 12 disciples.

No, but we are disciples of Jesus. And as disciples of Jesus, that means that he is our teacher, he is our master, he is our savior. We apply his teachings, we apply his instructions, his guidance and wisdom, and not somebody else's. We are not following what the world has to say.

We are not following what some other leader might tell us how we should conduct our lives. Let us know if you call yourself a Christian, you will model your life after the teachings of Jesus Christ. And as Christians, we never stop being disciples. That is why the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, 1, he said, be imitators of me as I imitate Christ. Be imitators of me as I imitate Christ. Paul did not say follow me, he was saying basically follow me as I follow Jesus. He was saying imitate me as I imitate Jesus. He was saying model my behavior in your life as I model my behavior after Jesus.

There is a difference there. You see, Paul never stopped being a student of Jesus. He never stopped being a disciple of Jesus, and we never stopped being disciples of Jesus either. I have a friend that lives locally, he attends our church, and he owns a martial arts studio along with his brother. They attend and they're great guys, they love the Lord, they bring people from their academy to the church, it's awesome, and they're really great guys. And they are teachers, and they are the teachers at their academy. What they do is they come up with brand new techniques that have not been created. And they come up with these techniques and they teach them to their students. They train the fundamentals, they train new approaches, and between these two guys they're really successful at what they do. Between the two of them they have ten consecutive undefeated black belt world championships in jujitsu, which is pretty amazing.

Now they're both in different weight classes so they didn't have to compete against each other because that'd be awkward, right? And so they're really good at what they do, and they are the senseis, they are the teachers, they are the masters in this craft. And now one of the ways that people advance in their academy, and this brings us kind of to our second point today, one of the things they do is they encourage the more advanced students, the students who have been with them for a while to help the newer students along. So sometimes you walk into their academy and, yes, the two professors, the two guys, the two brothers are walking around and they're giving insight, they're giving input, they're giving correction and helping with technique and form and so forth, but there's only two of them and sometimes there's people in their class where there's 20 to 40 people in there. So they have the more advanced students go and spar and roll and drill with the newer students, and what do they do?

The older students, the more mature, advanced students go and they begin to do the same thing. Hey, this is what I learned helps for me. Hey, I'm noticing that you're not putting your feet on the mat. Hey, I'm noticing that you're doing this. You need to make things tighter. You need to do this technique.

Try this and lean back in this way. They are helping them along. They're helping really disciple these newer students.

It's great. It's a total picture of discipleship. The two teachers are kind of giving the instructions for everybody, but the more advanced students are also at the same time, yes, they're all looking to the teachers as the ultimate example, the ultimate authority on the topic, but as the advanced students are wanting to advance more, one of the ways they do that is they help the newer students along and they begin to teach the principles that were taught to them. It is a total picture of discipleship. The advanced student never becomes the teacher or the primary authority on the techniques being created and designed by these two brothers, but they are able to come and help these newer students develop. They instill knowledge.

They help correct bad technique and so forth. This is what Jesus has called us to do. He has called us to make disciples and he has called us to be disciples. He has called us to make disciples and he has called us to be disciples.

My dad said in his message last week, every Christian should either be discipling someone or being discipled by someone and sometimes both at the same time. And so that brings us to our second point, number two, what do disciples do? What do disciples do?

Let's make it real easy here, okay? Disciples, disciple. Disciples, disciple. Just like those advanced students at the Jiu Jitsu Academy are learning from the two brothers, those advanced students are also simultaneously helping other students around them develop and grow and advance in their skills.

Those students don't become the teacher, but they become a peer, a fellow student who has the understanding to help others along. It's a beautiful picture. Again, the Apostle Paul, he said, follow me as I follow Christ. He said, imitate me as I imitate Christ. We're focusing today and our message on understanding our Master Jesus and his final words to us, his disciples today, his marching orders that he gave to all of us to this day, also called the Great Commission. That's what we're focusing on together where he says in Matthew 28 and 19, he gives us this command, all of his followers, 2,000 years later from the first century to 2021 and beyond. He gives us this command, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, make disciples of all nations.

Let's think about that for a second. That word go, it sounds pretty clear, doesn't it? Go, go across the street, go over there, go across the ocean, go on a mission trip and do it.

Now those things are true. Jesus did command us to go and preach the gospel in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. But that Greek word for go, it's kind of interesting, and I don't want to get too nerdy on you here, but there's a really good insight that I want to point out to you. That Greek word for go is a passive present particle.

Don't zone out on me, all right? What that means is the emphasis in the original language in which the Bible was written, the New Testament was written in Greek, the emphasis is not on the word go as the action, but more on the make disciples part. And so what I'm trying to tell you is you could translate it more as while you were going. While you were going on about your life, you could say, make disciples. While you are being a lawyer in the workplace, make disciples. While you are a teacher, while you are a full-time parent, while you're a police officer, a construction worker, make disciples.

While you're a student, make disciples. This is really what Moses said in Deuteronomy 6, 5 to 7 when he tells the people of Israel, you should love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your might. That's the greatest commandment, by the way, that Jesus tells us. And he says, these words I command you today shall be on your heart. That's our mission. That's our mission right there, that these words will be on our heart and that we would love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with our soul, and with our might. And then he continues and says this and he gives us our strategy.

He gives us our technique on how to do it. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise. He's not saying, okay, it starts at 9 a.m. and it ends at 5 p.m. You be a disciple from this time to this time. You teach these things to your children from this time to this time. You say, no, while you're cooking dinner, while you're driving in the car, while you're on your way to work, when you're sitting across the table from your coworker and you're talking about where you're going to go for lunch or what you want to order on the table for lunch that day, make a disciple.

Talk to them about your faith. Make disciples. You do it on your way. Don't just go and it's a destination you go to.

You do it all the time. It's wherever you go. It's whoever you're with. Make disciples. And so number two, what do disciples do? Disciples, disciple, right? Disciples, disciple.

Disciples teach others the truths that they know and have learned. They teach them to other disciples, and yes, they teach them in the classroom. They teach them on the job site. They teach them on the golf course. They teach them at the beach. They teach them at the dinner table. You know, I've had the privilege of getting to sit under my dad's teaching basically my whole life, and I've learned so many great things, so many wonderful principles found in Scripture. But I think that for me personally, the greatest lessons that I've learned from my dad and my mom as well have not necessarily been when I'm sitting in the front row at church or when they're behind a pulpit giving a Bible study.

It's when they're in the middle of a situation that allows them to model it in real time. This weekend, on Saturday actually, July 24th, it marks 13 years that my older brother Christopher went to be with the Lord, and that was a major wake-up call for our family. That was by far the worst thing that ever has happened to us. It was just my mom, my dad, me, and my brother. We're a tight-knit family. We loved each other. We went to church together, and Christopher was 33 years old when he was driving on his way to work at our church actually when he was killed instantly in an automobile accident. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about my brother, and I don't talk about him to my kids and my family and share stories about him. Really, he's the reason that I kind of put my faith in Christ and wanted the hope of heaven to know I'm going to see him again. I was already kind of primed to make that decision, but that was the thing that just, I was ready.

I was ready. And I got to be honest, as many great Bible studies as I heard my dad give and principles that my mom taught me as a young boy, I saw my parents live out what they preached. I saw my parents model the behavior they talked about so much in such an obvious way. They had a true, deep, real faith. They lived out what they believe, and that's what disciples do. Disciples live out what they believe. They don't just know it up here. No, they practice it.

They exercise it. Disciples disciple, and disciples teach others with their conduct, and they use their actions to teach others as well. Disciples teach others the fundamentals and come alongside new believers to help them develop and mature spiritually.

To quote my dad again, he said, again, every Christian should either be discipling someone or being discipled by someone, and sometimes both at the same time. Now, I mentioned earlier that I have three kids. I have a 16-year-old daughter, a 10, almost 11-year-old daughter, and then a 9-year-old son, Riley, Christopher, and Allie. And Allie is 10 now. She's almost 11. And she told me the other day that, Dad, I'm a preteen. And I'm like, did you just tell me you're a preteen? Is this like a warning sign of things to come? What's going on here? She's already showing it.

Yeah, anyways, pray for me. But Allie, from a very young age, we saw that she was very bright, and she was a learner, and she loved to ask questions, especially stories from my childhood. She's kind of become the family historian. She now corrects me on the way I tell the same stories to her. No, Dad, you told it differently this time.

You said this last time. But she loves to hear about things and ask questions about things that she doesn't know about. And she's asked a lot of great questions about what it means to be a Christian, what the Bible has to say.

And my favorite part is when she tells them back to me, and she understands the principle that I just explained to her. And so Allie came to us one day when she was like five or six years old, and she came and said to us, I want to be a preacher. And we're like, okay, wow, you want to be a preacher? All right, yeah, well, Allie, that's something you could do, and you could, yeah, Allie, you've got passion. You've got excitement for Jesus.

You could totally do that. That's amazing. And Allie took our words seriously, and so she went over into our living room, and she got out one of our little footstools, and Allie climbed up onto the top of the footstool, and she stood up, so she's kind of elevated. She's on a little bit of a platform, a pedestal there. And her two siblings are there, and Mom and Dad are sitting there on the couch just kind of watching this all take place in front of us. And Allie then proceeded to go and tell everybody in the room everything wrong that they had ever done to her, everything wrong that they had ever done, all the bad things that they did, all the secrets that had been told to her, and she was just telling everybody all this stuff. I guess that's what she thinks that a preacher is. I don't know. Hey, she's not hearing it from me, all right?

But it was just so classic and such a funny memory. But that's sometimes what people think being a disciple maker is, that you're just criticizing people. You're just telling people what they're doing wrong. You're just telling people all the things that they need to change and all the things that they're misstepping in and pointing out their failures and their shortcomings. That's not the case. That's not what a disciple maker does.

That's not what a disciple does to other disciples. Well, as Allie has gotten a little bit older now, Allie is a great athlete. She's competitive. She does all kinds of different things. She's done soccer and swim and a couple of other things, and she's, again, really competitive.

It's fun to watch. She loves to do well. Well, Allie is a natural athlete, and she does really well a lot of the time because of that, and so she's got that natural drive. She's the kid that after the swim meet is over, after practice is over, she wants to stay there and swim 10, 15, 20 extra laps working on her technique, working on her strength. She really wants to do well. She wants to be successful in what she does. Here's a little video of her swimming at a swim meet recently, and she's doing the butterfly stroke.

Who created the butterfly stroke, by the way? That is like the most unnatural-looking swim stroke I've ever seen. But look, she gets first place in this swim meet. She did so well, and we were so proud of her. But I got to tell you, when Allie doesn't get first place, when she doesn't win, or even when she doesn't get second place, she is distraught. She is absolutely distraught. She takes losses really hard. She gets bummed out.

She gets tears in her eyes. She usually has to do two or three or four races at her swim meets right now, and so when she loses her first one or she comes in third place or whatever it might be, whatever place she comes in, if it's not first or second, man, she wants to give up. She wants to throw in the towel. She wants to completely just leave.

She wants to go home and not come back ever again. And so my job as dad is to come alongside her and kind of coach her a little bit and encourage her and to comfort her and to bring perspective to help get her back on her feet and keep going. That's what a disciple maker does. That's what a disciple does. When fellow believers inevitably stumble in their faith, when they fall short, when they sin and they mess up, what do we do?

We don't go and say, Yeah, you know it. You did blow it. You probably should just give up now and just turn back and don't come back again.

No, absolutely not. I remember the first time, the first handful of times I did mess up and I did sin and I did fall back to some old behavior when I committed my life to Christ. I'm so thankful that I had spiritually mature Christians around me that said, Jonathan, you need to ask God for forgiveness and you need to get up and you need to keep going and you need to read your Bible tomorrow and you need to pray and you need to keep continuing in your relationship with the Lord. I am so thankful that I wasn't allowed to just turn my back and walk away from the Lord.

That's because I had mature Christians in my life. And so inevitably, when we have those Christians around us, those newer believers around us, they get discouraged, that stumble in their faith, we are there to help them get back on their feet. We remind them of what Jesus did on the cross for them.

We come alongside in those times and we remind them of the promises of Scripture and help move them in the right direction, reminding them of all the things that Jesus said about them. That is what disciples do. We disciple others.

And that brings us to number three, point number three. Who do disciples disciple? Who do we disciple? Well, in Acts 1a, this is kind of a continuation of the Great Commission.

You could say this is pretty much just an extension of it. In Acts 1a, Jesus said these words before he ascended to heaven. He said, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. This is actually, again, part of the Great Commission where Jesus really spells out for us who we are to go to, who we are to disciple. Now, those were obviously very specific instructions for the believers in the first century. Jerusalem, that's literally ground zero.

That's where they were standing. They were in Jerusalem at the time. And the way I see that is there's Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. For us, I think we all have our own Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth.

I think for us, we could see Jerusalem. That's our immediate inner circle. These are the people that you could call at any time and they're going to pick up the phone and have a 15, 20-minute conversation with you, no problem.

You see them on a regular basis. You have a friendship with them. These are the people that we are called to disciple, the people in our immediate inner circle. Talk about your relationship with God. Lead that person to Christ. Help them along in their relationship with the Lord. Disciple them. That's who we're called to disciple, the people in our immediate inner circle in Jerusalem. Then there's Judea. Now, Judea, you could think of those people. That was like your family, your close friends.

Every time you see them, you kind of pick up where you left off. They need the gospel. Judea and Jerusalem were two separate little kingdoms. They were separated from each other. And so they had the same beliefs. They had the same, you know, everything in common.

They were just kind of separate cities. And so we have everything in common with these people and maybe we just haven't helped them along in their relationship with the Lord. They're not as close to you as your inner circle, but they're probably those family, those friends. Again, every time you see them, you kind of pick up where you left off.

We all have those relationships, right? They need the gospel. They need to hear about Jesus.

You could start it off literally just next time you see them. Hey, man, it's so good to see you. Hey, I wanted to share something with you. I don't know if I told you that, man, I've had kind of a life-changing experience and I've put my faith in Jesus Christ. And I've got to tell you, it's changed so many things in my life and it's really illuminated me in a lot of ways and helps me see things with different perspective. And I've got to tell you about it.

Now, if these people are in your Judea, they're going to hear you. Okay, Jonathan, yeah, that's great, man. Let's get coffee. Let's talk about it.

I'd love to hear about that from you. And then that brings us to Samaria. All right, now Samaria, these are those that would maybe be outside of our comfort zone a little bit. The Samaritans, you know, historically speaking, they were half Jewish and half Gentile. But relations between those Jews, the Jewish people, and the Samaritans were icy, all right?

Relations between those in Jerusalem and the Israelites, the Hebrew people, and those that lived in Samaria, they were ice cold. They were not in good terms. But they did still have something in common. They had something in common. And what they had in common was they actually practiced the same faith. They worshiped the same God. Now, they were not heretical. They definitely had some different interpretations of things in Scripture, some of the finer points, but things that were like not huge issues. And so they had a common ground.

They had a bridge that they could build with them right away. These are the people that they were called to go and preach the gospel to. For us today, these could maybe be the people that we don't necessarily get along with, but we have something in common with. Maybe they have a heart for homeless people, right? They're super empathetic or they've got a heart for whatever's going on in the culture. They're compassionate when it comes to those that are hurting. Hey, that's a bridge that we could build on, right?

Maybe it's somebody you align yourself with politically, but you don't really get along with. The point is there is a bridge there and common ground that you can build upon for the sake of winning them to Christ or for the sake of discipling them in the faith. Those are the people in Samaria. This is who we are supposed to go and share our faith with and disciple. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and now to the ends of the earth. Well, to the ends of the earth, those are the places that we don't want to go to whatsoever. We don't know them, we don't like them, and we don't want to go there. God's called us to go there anyways to the literal ends of the earth, the literal last people on your list that you even want to go share your faith with. God calls you to them.

Now, yes, of course, this would definitely be those in Iraq, those in North Korea, those in China, in the deepest creases of the Amazon jungles, the undiscovered people groups and so forth. Yes, go preach the gospel to them. But for you, it might be your next door neighbor that called the cops on you when you left your trash cans out for too long, right?

Or you parked your car in front of their house and they called the city so they'd come and tow your car. It's like, that's the last person I want to talk to, okay? It's not just the people across the ocean.

It could literally be your next door neighbor. Yes, Jesus commands you. Even them, I want you to preach the gospel to.

Even them, I want you to go and make disciples of them. Now, I know that you might think, hey, that's a really tall order to share my faith with these people and I have a hard time doing it and I don't know how good I'm going to be at it. Listen, don't worry about the results. Don't worry about being successful. Jesus Himself says that He is not looking for success. He is looking for faithfulness. When we see Jesus face to face, He's not going to say, well done, good and successful servant. He is going to say, well done, good and faithful servant. He's not looking for success.

Rather, He is looking for obedience. Let me close with this. One of the most amazing and fun aspects of being a parent is getting to re-experience all of the things that you did as a child that you don't really get to anymore, that you've kind of outgrown and getting to experience that through your kids. Like for me, you know, I got really excited because I was like, oh, man, I loved Star Wars as a kid. I watched the first episodes four, five, and six of the original trilogy like crazy. I wore out the VHS tapes, and I was so excited to introduce them to Star Wars. We've never made it through one movie. They get so bored and so tuned out that they just completely disengage. Now, they like some of the stuff that has to do with Star Wars, but I was like, oh, you don't like Star Wars.

How could you, you know? But there's other things that I have gotten to do with them that makes it so much fun, and I get to see it through their eyes. One thing with my son Christopher is when he was around two or three years old, I used to be really good at catching lizards when I was younger, and I was super into it. That's all I wanted to do was catch lizards and bugs and all kinds of stuff. And so when Christopher was two or three, I caught a lizard for him, and his eyes got as big as saucers. And now Christopher, who's nine years old, is like a lizard aficionado. He is totally better at catching these bugs and little creatures than I am. He's catching and climbing into bushes like full Steve Irwin style, like head first into a hedge to grab the lizard or look for the snake or the bug, and he's a total animal.

It's hilarious, but I love it. And so now that has reinvigorated my passion for catching lizards too, and so when we're out and about, I'm like, let's go look for lizards. Oh, look, a western fence lizard, and we're learning all the technical names of them and stuff, and it's so much fun.

We love doing that. Another thing that I've gotten to do is I never really cared about going to Disneyland for a really long time, but now that I have kids, getting to go and experiencing it through their eyes for the first few times is amazing. It was almost like a spiritual experience. They're like, oh, my goodness, what is this place? It's heaven.

This is crazy. Look, there's all these rides and games and toys and all kinds of fun stuff. And just like having a kid in your life helps you see things in a fresh and new way, having a new believer in your life, you might think of things like, you know, that are just mundane and normal and ordinary. When you have a new believer in your life and things like the forgiveness of sin, the hope of heaven, the power of the Holy Spirit. Oh, these are elementary things. That's not that big of a deal.

Basic stuff, nothing to get excited over. But when a new believer understands that for the first time and you get to go and be the one who shares with them, yes, your sins are forgiven and he gives you a second chance and a third chance. And even when you mess up, God is willing to extend his grace to you over and over.

Your sins are forgotten by God. When you get to share that with somebody, that God takes their sin and casts it as far as east is from west. And you get to share that principle with somebody and you see their eyes well up with tears.

And they understand this principle for the first time. Man, it's going to give you an excitement. It's going to give you a passion.

It's going to give you a re-energizing effect of your love for God and for his people. And so Harvest, church family, make disciples. Make disciples.

Look to those people in your life that you can reach out to. Jerusalem, your inner circle. Judea, the people that you're friends with. Samaria, the people that you've got something in common with.

And even those to the ends of the earth. Even your jerk neighbor and the people you don't get along with. Jesus shed his blood for everybody and he wants everybody to come into the kingdom of heaven. And so in closing today, I think it would be really appropriate for us to read together the words of our master, the words of our teacher, our sensei, Jesus Christ, and the great commission that he has given to all of us, all of his disciples, anybody that would call themselves Christian. He has given us our marching orders and he has told us what to do. Let's read these words out loud together.

We're going to put them up on the screen for you so you can read with us. Matthew 28, 19 to 20. He says these words, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Lord, we thank you so much for these words.

We thank you so much for this challenge, how it's actually good for us to live out these things. And Lord, we're so thankful that you give us the power of your Holy Spirit to help us accomplish these things as well. Lord, we pray that you would use us, that you would fill us, that you would guide us, Lord. Guide us and direct us. Help us step into those conversations this week and in the months and years to come, those divine appointments that you have prepared for us. Soften the hearts of people around us so that we could share these things that matter to us, so we could disciple others, so that we could lead them into a deeper relationship with Jesus, so we could help them along in their relationship with you. Help us to do that now, Lord. While we're praying together, you know, there might be somebody watching online right now, wherever you might be, on your phone or device, or you might be watching this message, you know, three years from when it was recorded.

That's okay. But the Lord's been speaking to your heart, and you've been waiting to put your faith in Jesus Christ, and you haven't yet been forgiven of your sin. Can I just ask you a question? What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? Is there anything in your life, anything in this world, that should hold you back from making a commitment to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

I'll tell you personally, I made that decision 13 years ago, and it was the best thing that I ever did. The Bible tells us that we are not promised tomorrow. We don't know what's going to take place tomorrow. We're not promised that we're going to live forever. One out of every one person will die.

I know it's a shocking statistic. But we don't know if we're going to die at the ripe old age of, you know, 115 on our deathbed with our friends and family surrounding us, or we might die from cardiac arrest, or we might get in a car accident like my brother did unexpectedly. You need to be prepared. You need to be prepared to meet your Maker. The Bible tells us that today is the day of salvation.

Choose whom you'll serve and obey. Jesus Himself, He said, come. He welcomes you with open arms.

Come to Me, He said. Anyone who has heavy burdens, anybody who is weary from this life, Jesus said, I will give you rest. He says in Matthew 11, come to Me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you.

Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. Are you walking around in this life with a burden of guilt and shame that you've been lugging around with you, being concerned and saddened by your past behavior, your old sins, the things that you've done, you've ripped people off, you've hurt people, you've done things yourself that you were just ashamed for and you were embarrassed of? Listen, Jesus came not just for your sin, but for your shame and guilt as well. He can remove that from you, and He instead will give you His burden, which is easy, and His yoke, which is light.

Take it from Me. I could barely face myself in the mirror every morning before I put my faith in Christ. I hated who I'd become. I hated the things that defined myself. I didn't know who I was anymore, and I knew I needed this relationship with God.

Listen, when I stepped into that relationship with Him, everything changed. He made me a new creation, and I just want to tell you, He can do that for you today, and I want to invite you to ask Jesus Christ into your life right now, to make a decision today, this weekend, the end of July, or whenever it might be that you're watching this, to put your faith in Jesus Christ. Today is the day of salvation. It's as simple as calling out to God and asking Him to make Jesus your Lord and Savior, putting your faith in Him. You can do it right here, right now. If you want to do that, you can pray this prayer. Just pray it wherever you're at. This is a simple prayer. You're talking to God.

Just say these words. Dear God, I know I'm a sinner, but I know Jesus is the Savior who died on the cross for my sin. So I turn from my sin now, and I turn to You from this moment forward. Jesus, I make You the Lord of my life and ask You to fill me with Your Holy Spirit from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. Thanks for listening to our podcast. And to learn more about Harvest Ministries, please subscribe and consider supporting this show. Just go to harvest.org. And by the way, if you want to find out how to come into a personal relationship with God, go to knowgod.org. That's K-N-O-W-G-O-D dot org.