Been struggling over this one, then today I cracked open the Bible to do my daily reading (supposed to be daily anyway) and here's what I read...
Luke 19:45-46
Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling, saying to them, "It is written, 'AND MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER,' but you have made it a ROBBERS' DEN."
What would happen today if Jesus walked into the church? Imagine.... What would He do? What would He say? He sure would have a lot of cleaning up to do. The things that are being done in His name that He never told us to do. The letters that I get in the mail claiming to be collecting money in His name. The people translating His words to fit their own agendas. We are simply not doing what He wants us to do.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Jesus wants us to teach, to make disciples, disciples that will in turn, make more disciples, and more, and more.....
Think about this:
If you evangelized 1,000 people per year for fifteen years, you would have 15,000 new believers, assuming they were all genuine conversions, and assuming that they all actually converted. If you led one person to the Lord every six months and spent the next six months discipling that person so they could reproduce themselves, what do you think would happen? In one year there would be two new Christians. However, after twelve years, if each continued to reproduce themselves every six months, there would be no one left on earth to evangelize. Jesus’ method of discipleship would have produced nearly 6 billion disciples in less than thirteen years. WOW!
John 2:23-25
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.
Jesus knew all men, he knew that these men were not disciples and they would testify things concerning man (evil), and not the Lord, so he did not commit himself to them. Since Jesus knew all men, he knew which would be his disciple, and who he would teach, these were not the men.
We should rely on Jesus to tell us who our disciples will be. He has always put people in my path, or me in others paths when the time was right, both strangers and friends. He's really good at that. He even gives me the words to speak, and they are always the right words, Thank You Jesus!
John 8:29-32
So Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
That says it all, if we continue studying Jesus' word, we are truly His disciples, we will know the truth, and by knowing the truth, we are free. By knowing the truth, we are FREE!