07-27-2014 The Disciples: Special Bonus Disciples

We had a great week together as a church family, and not just because the Wright clan is going to be on vacation for the next two weeks (when asked we told people that this year, we were going to Irian Jaya... which is actually the old-fashioned-y name for Papua -- ask me later, and I’m sure that there will be a slideshow available).  But though several of our FCCers were off on vacations, and several others are home-bound at the moment with physical issues, we still had other extended family members and non-related visitors in the mix today, so it averaged out.

We were also able to meet Garland, the new service dog being trained by the League family.  Garland’s an absolute sweetie, but she’s also a little timid, so it’ll probably take a little while before she’s probably comfortable with the hustle and bustle that is First Covenant Church.  

But I invite you to come take part over the next couple of weeks, even though our family won’t be on hand (and yes, for some of you, I’m sure that that’sthe selling point for coming to visit...).  Next Sunday, the Elders will be doing a special, three-part devotional that will lead into our Communion time together, and then the Sunday after that, we’ll be hosting Jerry Trecek from Peoria Rescue Ministries.  If you’ve never spent time with Jerry, then you’ll be in for a treat, because his love for the Lord and his love for his fellow man is decidedly infectious.

We talked about that sort of thing a bit in our last sermon in our series on the Twelve Disciples.  I know that last week, we talked about our twelfth and final disciple, but there were more disciples in Scripture than just those dozen guys.  There were other followers like Mary Magdalene, or Zacchaeus, or Nicodemus, or Joseph of Arimathea, and there were other leaders of the church like Matthias and Paul and Barnabas.  But there was one more, absolutely crucial group of disciples that we needed to talk about before we called our series complete -- the disciples who were taught by the disciples who were taught by Jesus.

If you’ll recall, the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 calls all of Christ’s disciples to make new disciples, and in 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul reminds us that those new disciples should be making new disciples, who should then be making new disciples, who should then... (you get the idea).  It’s an ongoing process, and it’s not just a calling for some of us as Christians, but for all of us as Christians.

Paul says that you should be making new disciples, and that you have the Holy Spirit empowering you.  Peter says that you are a royal priesthood who should be sharing Christ’s light to a darkened world.  Jesus says that you -- you personally -- should go and make disciples, go tell the world what you know, go invest yourself in the lives of those around you.

This isn’t a sometimes thing, or a some Christians thing -- this is an “all of us, all the time” thing.  It’s a way of life thing, not something to try to figure out how to add to your life the way it is.  It’s a paradigm, not a program.

So the trick isn’t asking if you should be involved in making disciples -- the trick is in asking God how He wants you involved...