Empowered to Disciple: Seeing Potential in Others

Man, it's wonderful just to start your week and start your day in worship. There is something about worship that puts your heart in the right place, and we thank God for this privilege. I, man, I was worshiping, and I looked over at Dana, and just a couple of months ago, Dana had a kidney transplant and so I wasn't expecting to see Dana when I came out but when I saw him man I almost had to run across the floor because the Lord has answered our prayers hallelujah somebody man I got caught up. [00:01:35] (43 seconds) Edit Clip


And then today, this new series, Disciple Maker, is all about how God wants to use you to reach and help others to grow. I just want you to catch that. I want you to know this, that part of us following Jesus Christ is not just about you following Jesus Christ, but it's about the people that God wants to reach through you. So this series, I'm going to look at, it's going to be four parts to this series in the month of February. We're going to look at four different people in Scripture about how God used them to reach others, and they became a Disciple Maker. [00:05:17] (32 seconds) Edit Clip


And I began to realize something, that as people began to show up, I began to watch that the goal used to be how many people could show up. But I began to realize that the goal was not how many people could show up. The goal was how many of those that showed up were actually going out and making disciples in other places? Amen. Amen. I began to understand, it began to click to me, it began to register to me that part of what God is trying to do in my life was that he kept reminding me, make sure you are pouring into the lives of others. [00:09:10] (34 seconds) Edit Clip


If there's anybody that ever understood this, today's passage speaks to a man that understood this, a follower of Christ. His name is Barnabas, and his story, we meet him in Acts chapter 9, but he's really first introduced around the end of Acts chapter 4. His name is Barnabas, and his original name is Joseph. They change his name to Barnabas, and his name literally is translated, the son of encouragement. Or literally, he is the one that knows how to encourage others. [00:10:08] (32 seconds) Edit Clip


And one of the things that it requires, if you're going to be a disciple maker, that you've got to be willing to see people not for where they are today, but where God wants to take them tomorrow. This is the picture of what a disciple maker does. They see people. They see people. They see the work and the hand and the desire that Jesus wants to do in their life. Friends, there are people all around you that want to follow Jesus Christ, that want to grow in their walk with Jesus Christ, but perhaps they need you. [00:12:39] (33 seconds) Edit Clip


The gospel is not about how good you are, how smart you are, how talented you are. No, the gospel is that you have some good days and some bad days, but he has redeemed you. He has healed you. He has forgiven you. He is working on you. And every single person in the room has a past, is an X something or another. And if you are not, then perhaps you don't realize who you are and perhaps you're still in it. But when you know who you are and you know what Christ has done, you understand, thank you God for what you've done in my life. [00:18:08] (36 seconds) Edit Clip


You're here today because somebody discipled you and somebody prayed for you and somebody checked in on you and somebody texted you and somebody said, I'm praying for you and I'm thinking about you. Did you go to church today? Somebody was thinking about you, and because that is the case, you gotta be willing to see those around you. Gotta be willing to see them, gotta be willing to see them. Here it is, a disciple maker must be willing to see, but here it is, a disciple leader must be willing to lead. [00:20:14] (28 seconds) Edit Clip


I think about a couple of guys. They had a small group. These brothers had gotten together, and they were a part of their small group. And one of the brothers said this. Matter of fact, he said these words. He said, I told those guys stuff I don't think I'd ever told anybody. He said, but it became a safe place for me. It became a place where I could be myself, where I could heal my wounds, and where I could make war on sin, and where I could find care and accountability and belonging. [00:27:30] (29 seconds) Edit Clip


And I believe that the world is going through so much now with loneliness being an epidemic, and with mental health challenges. And I believe one of the ways that the church has to be able to answer and address these issues is through biblical community and small groups. I believe that's a place that we can find the hope that we often are looking for. And here's what you must know is that when you begin to put in the work in your group as you gather and as you check on and as you care for whatever size group you may be, that sometimes God wants to then work through you to reach others. [00:27:79] (36 seconds) Edit Clip