In my previous blog post, I shared part of how God communicated with me in a powerful way on my birthday weekend, back in July. If you haven’t read it yet, you may want to do that… because today I want to tell the rest of the story!
Remember this devotional page? I explained how the verses at the very bottom matched my flip calendar for July 30th. Today we will be focusing on the top part of this page, and I’ll share another awesome not-coincidence that happened the SAME day!
As you can see, the verses at the top of the page are these:
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “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, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20
Shortly after reading this timely devotional early that Sunday morning and feeling some major stirring in my soul, we went to church. That morning, some of the kids came into service to recite their memory verse they had been learning, which does not happen very often. Guess what verses they were?!
I just kind of sat there in amazement! The only reason I recorded this is because my friend couldn’t be there and her daughter was one of the kiddos up on stage, so I wanted to send it to her. Now I am so glad to have it, too! Because on top of the ‘salt & light’ thing, God also brought ‘the great commission’ verses to me by two completely different avenues that day! The odds of this happening once in a day are very small, but twice?!
God was so kind to show Himself so clearly to me by His Word that morning! These things were not a coincidence! What was so powerful about the actual verses used is that He was clearly confirming something I had decided to do that was going to be starting the following month (August)!
In the midst of the chaos of this past spring, Corey and I received an email from a guy we didn’t know, wanting to meet us for coffee and tell us about a discipleship program that was launching in Northwest Arkansas! He got our contact info from our pastor, who had apparently told him he thought we’d be good candidates. When we met up with him, he told us all about the ministry he is a part of, called “Downline.” Neither of us had ever heard of it. He explained that it is a 9-month Bible and discipleship training institute that started in Memphis in 2006. Since then, Downline has launched institutes in Little Rock, Conway, and as of this year… Northwest Arkansas! There is also a virtual institute for people who do not live in any of those locations. The mission of Downline is “to encourage a restoration of Biblical discipleship in and through the local church, by equipping men and women to know God’s Word and make disciples.”
Everything he said resonated so much with me! My heart is so burdened for the lost, but I struggle to share the gospel clearly, or at all, especially in face-to-face conversations. And I have felt so ashamed about that! I know I have some PTSD from sharing in the past and it not going well at all & causing major relational conflict. I’m also afraid of people asking me questions I don’t know the answers to. There can be all kinds of reasons why we don’t share the good news! We might be afraid of what people will think of us, we are too wrapped up in the world to care or maybe we just don’t know or understand the calling on our lives as believers, etc.
But Jesus’ last words on earth were these:
“…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, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
Do we miss the magnitude of this moment? As the founder of Downline reminded us in class recently, 10 of 11 of the disciples were martyred in obedience to these last words of Christ! They were willing to sacrifice not only their comfort and reputation, but their very lives… are we? It definitely shifts my perspective on all the reasons and excuses I give for not being obedient! Notice Jesus did not say, “all that I have taught you” or “all that I have encouraged you with,” he said “all that I have commanded you.” This is a command, but most of us treat it like a suggestion, if we even know about it!
The Downline website shares some various facts, including this: “When asked if they’d “heard of the Great Commission,” half of U.S. churchgoers say they do not know this term. For the remaining 49% of churchgoers who have heard of the Great Commission, Barna reports that only “20% of Christian adults are involved in some sort of discipleship activity (e.g. Sunday school, fellowship group, meeting with a spiritual mentor, studying the Bible with a group, or reading and discussing a Christian book with a group).”
One thing we are learning about in Downline is Jesus’ strategy. He saw the masses through the disciple and built the disciple to reach the masses. Jesus invested the majority of His time on earth to being with the disciples and showing them how to make disciples by modeling it for them day in and day out in everyday life. So when He gave them ‘the great commission,’ they understood what they were supposed to do, because He had been modeling it for them. They could now go to others and say “follow me as I follow Christ!”
Thankfully for us humans, being a disciple-maker does not mean being perfect or having it all figured out. It is built on relationship and authentically doing life together. It is accountability and commitment and growth, together. In The Book of Acts, we see that Jesus also said:
“But you will receive power when The Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.”
The power is His, the choice of obedience is ours! That being said, please scroll back up and read that whole devotional page. It is so on point! Sadly, I have spent much of my life trying to figure out my purpose and my calling. I pray I will never forget that I get to be both a recipient and an instrument of God’s grace as long as I am on this earth! I can’t think of a better legacy.
Needless to say, I am SO glad I decided to do Downline! Although it was a little overwhelming at the time to consider basically going back to school again for another 9 months, it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made! I get to meet with 35 other men and women of different backgrounds, denominations and ethnicities on Monday evenings and Wednesday mornings to study the Bible through the lens of discipleship. We have the privilege of being taught by various pastors from all over NWA and beyond! My heart is on fire in a way it hasn’t been in quite some time! And I believe it is because I am currently living in obedience to Jesus’ calling on my life. You don’t have to be in Downline to do the same, but if you are interested in it, I will post the website below! Although I didn’t seek this out, I am thankful God used my pastor and Downline staff to bring it to me. Maybe I will be an instrument He uses to pass on this opportunity to someone else!
That powerful Sunday morning I talked about at the beginning of this post was almost exactly one month before I started Downline. One thing we are encouraged to do in this program is memorize Scripture. Check out the image below to see what the 1st memory verses were…
You can’t make this stuff up!!
I’ll leave you with this; we were created to worship and we will always worship someone or something. We will also always being making disciples (followers) of someone or something! Too often it is a business, a brand, a political party, a sports team or ourselves that we worship and/or seek to make follower of! I pray that the eyes of each heart reading this will be enlightened to see where you may have veered off course, so that we can make sure we are giving glory where glory is due! And so that you can be living your ultimate calling, to make disciples of Jesus Christ!
