LESSON 48

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Making Disciples

 

Discipleship is the process of training and teaching. 

 

Matt. 28:18-19  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

 

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The word teach in this verse is the Greek word for ‘to make disciples.’

 

God's intention is for you to mature to a place that you can make disciples out of other people and that you can bring the manifestation of all that God is and all that God has to a lost and dying world.

 

94% of all the preachers in the world preach to North America.  In other nations revival is breaking loose.  In many of the nations in Africa, 50% of the population is born-again.  In China, over 25,000 people are being born-again every day.  In central and South America, 15,000 people a day are being born-again. 

Revival is sweeping many nations of the world, but it has not reached North America yet.  94% of all the preachers in the world preach to the 6% of the world's population here in North America and still don't get the results. 

 

Something has got to break in North America.  When revival comes you won't have to tell anyone, because it will be plain and obvious to everyone. 

 

Revival consists of  three primary things; an intensive spirit of prayer, salvation, and deep conviction with repentance. 

 

The churches of North America are no larger today in attendance than they were 10 years ago (the percentage has actually slightly dropped).  Most church growth is a transfer growth, people going from one church to another church.  On the most part, it does not consist of bringing new people into the Kingdom and discipling them. 

 

Ex. 6:9    And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

 

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Moses had been with God and had heard the Word of the Lord from the burning bush.  He talked with God.  He came back to the people with a Word from God for them.  The reason they could not hear God's Word out of the mouth of God's servant is because of their anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.  Anguish means ‘much discouragement.’

 

This generation in this nation is so discouraged and full of hopelessness, that there is an anguish of spirit that has so bound them with lust, perversion,  greed, and all the vileness of the devil, that they cannot even hear the Word of the Lord out of the servant's mouth. 

 

God never intended for us to be exposed to the vileness that we've been exposed to.  The average person by the time he reaches the age of 18, will have seen over 90,000 murders, over 70,000 acts of sex (90% of which are out of wedlock), 60,000 acts of violence (outside of murder) just on television.  This does not include video games and computers.  One of the most popular video games out in the last few years is called "Mortal Combat", where the idea is to chop off  people's heads.  We've seen things we were never intended to see.  Our mind was never intended to handle an assault of this kind of activity.

 

1Thes. 5:22  Abstain from all appearance of evil.

 

Psa. 101:3      I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; [it] shall not cleave to me.

 

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All you have to do is turn on the news and there's discouragement every day.  Fear and hopelessness has gripped this nation.  As a result, this nation has been unable to hear the Word of the Lord; a Word of deliverance, healing, restoration, forgiveness and of hope. 

 

The Israelites were in bondage to Egypt (which is a symbol of the world).  They had been in anguish of spirit from the elements of the world, Egypt.  As a result, they could not hear God's servant.  God sent Moses to deliver His people out of the bondage of the elements of Egypt.  The people wouldn't listen to Moses, so God gave him miracles. 

 

The miracles weren't for Pharaoh.  The people saw miracles bring judgment on the world and bring blessing on God's people.  As their hearts, which at first could not hear the Word, saw the supernatural they began to listen. 

 

This nation has got to see the supernatural power of God fully manifested, because nothing else will reach this nation.  Around the world, it's the supernatural that reaches people.  It's the demonstration of all that God has and all that God is, that is drawing in the people of the world. 

In North America, most churches are too afraid to do the miraculous in public, but would rather take the people into a back room to pray for them, because they are afraid of what someone may think.  They back away from the presence of God and the miraculous to try to comfort and ease the people.

 

As a result we are seeing a lukewarm, ineffective gospel being preached in North America.  Most of our growth is not based upon discipleship and new converts coming in. 

 

Many of the churches do not preach confrontational messages or demonstrate the power of God anymore.  People can come in and do their religious thing without their lives being changed.

 

Zech. 4:6    Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This [is] the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

 

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It is through a demonstration of miracles that the Word of God is confirmed. 

 

Mark 16:15-20  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.  And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;  They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.  So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.  And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with [them], and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

 

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God's intention was for the supernatural manifestation of His presence to accompany His Word everywhere it was preached.  It was not intended to be kept in a small room somewhere, or in a closet, but out in the public places, where everyone can see that God is who He claimed to be: that He is a healing, delivering, supernatural God.  When you are in a nation that cannot hear because of the anguish of spirit and the cruel bondage, they need to experience the supernatural of God. 

 

The #1 cause of death for a teenager in North America is a gun.  They are willing to kill for a pair of shoes. 

 

Demand, command and expect the supernatural to take place. 

 

The problem is that most of us believe that we cannot walk in the supernatural until we reach a certain  plane of maturity. 

 

If you walk in the gifts without character, it will kill you.  It's time for you to rise up and expect God to do what He said He would do.

 

Isa. 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.

 

John 8:28  Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [he], and [that] I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

 

John 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as [my] Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

 

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Get in the presence of the Lord and hear the rhema Word that God is speaking to you.

 

Rom. 10:17    So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

 

When you hear what God is saying, speak it.  God speaks His Word to us to bring it to the world.  We must open our mouth and declare, “Thus saith the Lord.”  When we (God's servants, God's mouthpiece and the temple of the Holy Spirit) speak the Word of healing and deliverance that came from the heart of God, it has the same creative force that created the sun, moon and the stars. 

 

Gen. 1:3  And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

 

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When you open your mouth and speak the Word of the Lord into the situation or circumstance, that Word will not return void.  The Word will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent.

 

We have made it so hard and have struggled.  We have said there is no way that God can use me by making excuses.  There is not one man of God in the scriptures other than Jesus that was perfect.

 

Abraham turned over His wife to sleep with Pharaoh because he was full of fear.  Moses gave God so many excuses that God had to give him Aaron.  Also, Moses in anger disobeyed God and lost the chance to go into the promised land.  King David committed adultery and murder.  Peter walked with Jesus for three and a half years and then denied Christ three times, even so far as cursing God. 

 

We look at these men and say if I could just be like them, but they were all scared, doubting and had their weaknesses and shortcomings.  They also had an anointing from God that gave them the ability to do what God had called them to do. 

 

God's intention has always been to use you to demonstrate to the world all that He is and all that He has.  God's purpose is to demonstrate to the world through us that He is God .  God doesn't demand you to be perfect; he just demands you to be obedient.  

 

In Review:

1.  What has God commanded us to do?

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2.  What are the three primary things revival consists of?

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3.  Where does most church growth in North America come from?

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4.  Why did God give us signs, wonders, and miracles?

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