Latest / Time with God with John North / Making Disciples Pt. 5

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Making Disciples Pt. 5 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. We're coming to the end of the week,
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  Speaker 1: and all this week we've been talking about what Jesus
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: meant when he told his followers to make disciples of
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  Speaker 1: other people and to spread that across all nations. Well, obviously.
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  Speaker 1: This is something for us to understand, right. It was
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the big thing Jesus said at the end of his
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: time with his followers. It was his guiding principle for them,
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  Speaker 1: make disciples. Of course, that wasn't a new idea to them.
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  Speaker 1: It's exactly what Jesus had been doing with them.
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  Speaker 1: And so we have to ask ourselves, what does it mean?
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  Speaker 1: What would it look like in my life as a
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  Speaker 1: normal person today to make disciples? I mean that terminology
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  Speaker 1: sounds so foreign to us. What does it mean, make disciples?
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  Speaker 1: We picture maybe some guru in India.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, training a group of people, or we think of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus with his circle of disciples, and often we don't
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  Speaker 1: realise Jesus started off by just inviting people in his
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  Speaker 1: normal course of life to follow Him. And as they did,
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  Speaker 1: he started building into them the spiritual practises that would
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  Speaker 1: strengthen their relationship with God and be a foundation for
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  Speaker 1: everything he wanted to do through them.
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  Speaker 1: And then he started training them to lead other people
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  Speaker 1: to faith in him, helping the people in their lives
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  Speaker 1: find Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: And then he said, I want to train you now
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  Speaker 1: to train them to do the same thing. When you
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  Speaker 1: lead people to faith in me, develop in them the
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  Speaker 1: practises of a disciple, help them learn to lead other
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  Speaker 1: people in their lives to me as well. So there's
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  Speaker 1: this thing, it was just a way of life for Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: and he taught it to the disciples, and it became
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  Speaker 1: a way of life for them.
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  Speaker 1: And this is what God wants for you and me
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  Speaker 1: as well. You start by becoming a disciple, a follower
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus. You need God. Do you sense a need
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  Speaker 1: for outside help in your life? I know I do.
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  Speaker 1: Then come to God and say, I want to follow Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for making a way for me to be
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  Speaker 1: forgiven and start a meaningful relationship with you.
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  Speaker 1: OK, you're going to follow Jesus. What do you do?
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  Speaker 1: Develop the practise of praying to Him a lot, talking
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  Speaker 1: to Him about your life. Learn to listen to Him
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  Speaker 1: by reading the Bible, and as he speaks to you
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  Speaker 1: about your life, respond to Him with prayer.
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  Speaker 1: Learn how to help other people find Jesus. Talk to
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  Speaker 1: Christians in your life who know how to help other
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  Speaker 1: people find Jesus and get them to help you learn
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  Speaker 1: how to do that too.
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  Speaker 1: Then help the people you lead to faith in Jesus
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  Speaker 1: to do those same things. So what's our next step? Well,
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  Speaker 1: what I want you to understand today from what Jesus
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  Speaker 1: said to us as His followers is this.
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  Speaker 1: When you adopt the disciple making way of life.
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  Speaker 1: It's all in.
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  Speaker 1: Right?
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  Speaker 1: The way of life Jesus described and called his followers
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  Speaker 1: to wasn't a way of life that says, great, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to live my life for myself, I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: Plan my life exactly as I want it, and whatever
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  Speaker 1: I want to do, I'm going to do, and I'm
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  Speaker 1: also going to tack God on to the end of
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  Speaker 1: my life, to kind of soothe my conscience and make
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  Speaker 1: me feel good about life, and of course I want
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  Speaker 1: God's help in a lot of ways in my life,
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  Speaker 1: but I live for myself. It just doesn't work. The
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  Speaker 1: whole Christian life doesn't work like that.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what Jesus said in Luke chapter 9 verse 23
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  Speaker 1: in the Bible. He said, If anyone wishes to come
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  Speaker 1: after me.
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  Speaker 1: Let him deny himself.
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  Speaker 1: Take up his cross daily and follow me.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that doesn't sound like something you're just going to
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  Speaker 1: tack on to your life, does it?
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  Speaker 1: It's a whole new way of life. And when you
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  Speaker 1: choose to truly follow Jesus and become a disciple maker,
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  Speaker 1: you need to go all in. You need to put
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  Speaker 1: God right at the centre of your life. You need
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  Speaker 1: to build your relationship around Him and then lead others
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  Speaker 1: to Him. Don't.
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  Speaker 1: Build your life around yourself. Don't organise your life around entertainment.
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  Speaker 1: organise your life around what God wants to do through
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  Speaker 1: you in the lives of the people around you.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.
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  Speaker 2: To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.