The Great Commission. Making disciples by baptizing them into Christ and continuing to teach them

In the New Testament we read in each gospel the story of the great commission where disciples are told to preach the gospel to the lost.

In the book of acts we read again and again of disciples preaching the gospel to the lost. We see them preaching to the Jews at Pentecost.

Acts 2:37-41
New American Standard Bible
37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what are we to do?” 38 Peter said to them, Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on urging them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

We read of the gospel being shared with the Samaritans by the evangelist , not the apostle, Philip.

Acts 8:14-15
New American Standard Bible
14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they would receive the Holy Spirit.

In acts 10 we read about the gospel coming to the gentiles and Cornelius and his household was baptized into Christ.

The epistles are all being sent to churches to continue teaching the disciples there about a Christ.

In my experience the majority of people I meet who struggle greatly with their faith all the time tend to be people not involved with their local congregations and they try to replace that with online chitchat. They also often don’t preach the gospel to the lost. Many often have friends who don’t even know they are disciples. In scripture you don’t read of lone Wolf Christians not in fellowship with their local disciples and you don’t read of disciples who are covered lamps keeping their faith to themselves.

These are rhetorical and don’t need to be answered here but something that should be reflected on.

When is the last time someone called you to pray for them?

When is the last time you prayed for someone?

When is the last time you preached the gospel to a complete stranger and tell them about Jesus and invite them to study the Bible with you and go to church?

Who is the three people that you know you can call at 5am in the morning to meet you and study the word with someone? Whose the disciples that head out into the world with you and preach.

If you are already a disciple, and you’re struggling with your faith I think often if you consider these things and start practicing your faith beyond reading books and sometimes fellowshipping in person you may see your faith beginning to grow.

We are told to seek out the kingdom.

2 Likes

I dont anymore as i did some years before or even a year before.But im enclosed to it.Only my friends and family know im a christian and one or two people that i trust (one of them is an atheist).My friends are more open about it.I have see people mock them and even one time things got a little out of hand.So i guess for me ill never be able to do it.I can confess my faith and witness to another Christian ,no problem/But if i speak to a secular person or of any other faith i probably wont tell them.If i were somewhere were persecution was imminent i would have a very hard time. I would have gone hiding.Thankfully no one till now have asked me if im a Christian .It is a well secret i keep. 10 people max know it(and my congregation).If they ask me though i wont deny Christ and ill actually answer them

Plus majority of people know whats the deal.They know who Jesus is.At least thats what i think

It can be scary to “step out of the boat” but as you do it more and more you’ll get use to it. It can help to have some brothers in Christ with you. I usually bring it up regardless of the subject. If they don’t want to discuss it, I’ll stop bring it up on that manner but won’t hide my own faith.

I often meet people over horror. When we are talking about horror I’ll often bring up Christ through mentioning the horror work by people like Ted Dekker, Frank Peretti and so on. If somehow
We are talking about zombies I’ll definitely bring up the resurrection and if it’s about vampires I’ll mention eternal life through Christ. This upcoming halloween, me and other disciples will be watching a few werewolf films together and invite many over for vegan burgers and we will split the night up with a short Vickie study using werewolves as a metaphor for the flesh versus the spirit.

When talking about gardening or landscaping I’ll often bring up the story of the garden of eden and how Christ is the tree of life and how we were asked with being stewards of the land.

Once we are last covid a little bit more I’ll start going to bars on Friday nights and being a example of how you can have fun, spend time with others, and drink a shot and be merry without over indulging and becoming a drunk and how you don’t need to , snd should completely oppose, using bars as just a place to break the ice with woman as the first step of objectifying them. Ive met many men in bars who were depressed and angry and got drunk at least once a week at bars. Many over time stopped getting drunk and instead felt merry and had fun and developed friendships outside of bars.

Overtime it gets easier and easier to share your faith.

Knowing about a jesus as a character is very different from him about you as a disciple under his wings. Then superficial knowledge many has is very different from them having acting faith.

Like James says.

You believe in Jesus? Even the demons believe in Jesus. Your faith is known by your works.

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