INTRO.- A disciple is a follower. And we’re all disciples of someone or of something.
ILL.- On April 25, 1994, the news section of Christianity Today, reported that some fans of Elvis Presley were actually revering the king of rock and roll as a god. Not surprising, is it? Pockets of semi-organized Elvis worship had taken hold in New York, Colorado, and Indiana. Worshipers raised their hands, spelled and then chanted Presley’s name, worked themselves into a fervor, and prayed to the deceased star.
A preacher in Denver said that Elvis worship was spreading. Followers believe Elvis watches over them. If someone reports seeing Presley, the high priests at the Church of the Risen Elvis in Denver hold Elvis worship services. They enshrined a look-alike doll of Elvis in an altar surrounded by candles and flowers.
Brothers and sisters, I think this is stretching worship and discipleship a bit too far! But in some ways, it’s no different today.
ILL.- It was Elvis and may still be for many but now it’s Hannah Montana. I read an article recently entitled, "Hannah Mania." Hannah Montana is Miley Cyrus, the 15 year old ’tween pop sensation,’ and also the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus. Of course, she’s far more popular than her daddy ever was!
She is so popular that her tickets have gone for as much as $2,500 each, out-selling the likes of Bruce Springsteen and the Eagles. What makes Cyrus such a huge star, who has seen record-breaking sellouts at major venues around the country? Dozens of fans wrote to a newspaper for the "I Like Hannah Montana" contest, to explain the character’s appeal.
Julie Heming, age 11, says Montana is a good role model, is down-to-earth, is religious and takes care of herself. Plus, her music is great. Parents and children often emphasize Cyrus’ work as a clean, wholesome and positive example for kids. (I hope she stays this way.)
Her great grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher. Her daddy, Billy Ray Cyrus was nominated in 5 categories at the Grammy Awards in 1993. He wore a shirt with the scripture "John 3:16" in reference to one of his favorites. He said, "I wanted to say thanks to God for my five nominations, because a year before, I’d been living in my car. I wanted to give credit where credit was due."
Thank the Lord for a good role model for young girls! But what makes Hannah Montana good? There can be only one answer and that’s the Lord. If we are good, if anyone is good, it’s because of God!
What about you? Are you a disciple of anything or anyone? Why, of course, you are. The most important discipleship of all is following Jesus in life no matter what else we do.
What’s the sign of a disciple of Jesus? You go to church. You got a church that believes in Jesus as the Christ. You may go to church every time the door is open. You get involved. You give. You serve. You pray. You witness. You evangelize. All these and perhaps more indicate you are disciple of Jesus.
Of course, some people just go to church occasionally, thinking that may qualify them to be a disciple.
ILL.- Someone said: "I go to church, so I am a Christian." But that’s like saying if you go to McDonald’s that makes you a Quarter Pounder.
ILL.- A little old Jewish lady was flying out of New York City on her way to Miami Beach. She looked at the businessman sitting next to her and asked him, "Excuse me sir, but are you Jewish?" The man responded politely, "No, ma’am, I’m not Jewish." After a little while she again asked him. "You’re really Jewish, aren’t you?" Again he responded, "No, ma’am, I am not Jewish."
Barely 10 minutes later, the little old lady asked him once more, "Are you sure you’re not Jewish?" To which, in exasperation and in a final effort to shut her up, he replied, "OK. Yes, ma’am, I am Jewish." "Funny," she says, looking puzzled. "You don’t look Jewish!"
If someone were to ask, "Are you a Christian?" and you responded "Yes, I am!" they might say, "Funny, you don’t look like a Christian."
Sometimes we don’t resemble a disciple of Jesus, BUT WE SHOULD! That is, our spirit, our attitude, our enthusiasm, our love, etc. should come from Christ. There should be a difference in us from other people because we’ve been with Jesus! We are His disciples and we should be interested in making more disciples. In our text we see what the apostles did to make disciples and to disciple the disciples.
PROP.- And there are many things we can do to disciple the disciples.
1- Number the disciples
2- Strengthen the disciples
3- Charge the disciples
I. WE MUST NUMBER THE DISCIPLES
21They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples.
I realize that this verse just reads that they won a large number of disciples. To me, this says we must number the disciples, but before we can ever number them we must first make some disciples. WE NEED TO BE MAKING CONVERTS!
HOW DO WE MAKE DISCIPLES? We invite them in or else go get them. However, to invite them into our service we must have something to draw them.
ILL.- Many years ago the small town of Anna, IL, had a famous visitor come to town. Some company hired the ex-heavyweight boxing champ of the world, Smokin’ Joe Frazier, to come to town to advertise a new store that was opening. The event was highly advertised in the paper and on the radio. And on the appointed day, a Saturday morning, Joe Frazier, showed up in a big black limo. My son Shane and I went to meet him. I shook hands with Joe and was shocked at how large his hands were. His hands made my hands seem like a child’s hands.
I visited with Joe a while and he was happy to answer some questions. At that time, his son Marvis was a heavyweight boxer, but he’d just been knocked out in the first round by up and coming Mike Tyson. The year was 1986. I asked him what he thought his son was going to do. Joe said something like, "I don’t know but I think he’d better quit boxing." Marvis didn’t have the same tenacity, chin and ability that his father did.
I asked Joe if he was a Christian and he said "yes, I believe in the Lord!" So I invited him to my church. He said, "I’m not going to be able to stay in town but if I were, I’d come to your church." I SURE WISH HE HAD, BECAUSE I WOULD HAVE BEEN ADVERTISING and we probably would have drawn a better than normal Sunday morning crowd.
Could we do this sort of thing? It would be nice but it’s not likely.
Brothers and sisters, I guess if we can’t get Joe Frazier or some other celebrity to come as our guest in order to draw people into the church then we’ll have to go get them!
Acts 8:4 "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went." Wherever we scatter, we must preach. They scattered because of persecution. We scatter for other reasons, however.
Matthew 10:7 "As you go, preach this message: ’The kingdom of heaven is near.’" As we go, we must preach.
We need to be quick to point people to Christ and to the church as we go places. I admit that I have something of an open door when it comes to witnessing. How so?
I’m a preacher and my name is Shepherd. When people know this, it opens doors. Many often say, "How neat! What a great name for a preacher." I kind of like it myself but I’d like my name even if I didn’t preach. But it does give me an opportunity to talk about the GOOD Shepherd.
We have opportunities all the time. We just need to be alert to them.
ILL.- Roy Weece, former Campus House minister from Columbia, MO, was one of the best that I know of when it came to witnessing for Christ. He had a man knock on his door one night in Columbia. Roy opened the door and the man said, "I’m lost." NOW, WHAT YOU WOULD SAY TO THAT MAN? Roy listened, gave him directions and then said, "A person can be lost in several ways." And then proceeded to talk to him about Christ.
Sometimes people open the door for us to witness and we’re not even aware of it. Elaine does a good job. Do you know what she does? Whenever she meets somebody new (wherever) she just flat out asks, "Do you go to church anywhere?" Or "Do you have a church home?" And then she invites them and some day she’s going to strike it rich!
We need to be open to opportunities to speak for Christ no matter where we are or what crowd we’re with. If our faith means anything at all to us we need to be giving it to others!
II. WE MUST STRENGTHEN THE DISCIPLES
21They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.
ILL.- Josiah Perkins was celebrating his one-hundredth birthday when a reported called and interviewed him. “Do you think you’ll live another hundred years?” the reported asked. “Don’t see why I shouldn’t,” Josiah replied. “I’m a heap stronger than I was a hundred years ago today.”
Are you stronger than you were 20-30 years ago? It all depends on what kind of strength we’re talking about. Physically, we do decline after many years but spiritually, we should be stronger.
What makes a person stronger in the faith of Christ? Years of living the Christian life. Enduring difficulty and trials. Staying faithful. Staying faithful to the Lord will strengthen your faith. Reading the book. Listening to sermons. Watching other Christians live the life.
And we need to pass on that strength to others, that is, what we’ve heard and learned and endured. How do we do this? We talk, we share, we love, we serve, we encourage, etc. We do things that build people in their faith.
ILL.- I have an elder friend back in Iberia, MO, who is now 81 years old. He was an elder in the First Christian Church when I was there from 1974 to 1984 and I never saw a more faithful Christian man than he was and is. He was faithful to attend every service, faithful to serve (sing, teach, lead, etc.), faithful to give, and faithful to encourage others. And his life encouraged me to live the faith as much or more than any sermon I’ve ever heard. WHAT ABOUT YOU? WHAT ABOUT ME?
Our faithful and committed example is probably the best thing we can do to strengthen others in the faith. Beyond that we continue to point people to Christ, encourage, and help one another.
27On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
ILL.- As some of you may know, recently Ray Rickert and I made a trip back to Xenia, OH, to get some of Ray’s personal belongings. And what a trip it was! What a long trip it was! Over 1200 miles in two days of driving. Do you want to know what Ray and I talked about since we were a captive audience to one another? I preached to him and he preached to me! No, not exactly, but we did share stories about Christ and the church since we both have many years of experience.
As he shared about answers to prayer and situations where the Lord was at work, my faith was strengthened. And I hope he felt the same about the stories I shared. In fact, I was so good at preaching to him I put him to sleep! Seriously, we should encourage one another verbally and in other ways and all we can.
I’m sure there are many ways that we can strengthen and encourage one another. Teaching, preaching and definitely, living the faith will encourage others. Whenever we see it done it encourages to do it too!
III. WE MUST CHARGE THE DISCIPLES
22 "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.
ILL.- An airplane pilot said: ABOUT 90 fifth-graders piled into the airliner I was flying, on their way home from a school trip. Once we were in the air and the crew began trying to serve drinks, I could hear them pleading with the children to settle down so the beverages could be served and the other passengers could get some sleep. No amount of reasoning seemed to help, until I thought of the solution that actually worked: I picked up the PA mike in the cockpit and announced, "Children, this is the captain speaking. Don’t make me stop this airplane and come back
there."
Sometimes people need to be warned or charged in a certain ways. We as parents may have threatened our children with the words, "If I have to stop what I’m doing and come in there, you’re going to get it!"
II Tim. 4:1-2 "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction."
Paul charged young Timothy to charge the people in his preaching of the Word. Be strong. Be straight. Be sincere.
ILL.- Bob Stacy is one of my OCC college professors. I remember one time when Bob preached in our chapel services. He started his sermon with these words, "You ought to be dead!" And he said that forcefully. What did he mean by those words? At the time I didn’t know until he finished his sermon, but it was a charge that I’ll never forget and a charge that we all need. We all need to be dead to sin and self but also alive to Christ! That was the basis of the sermon and he was exactly right.
ILL.- I recently heard Tony Evans from Dallas, TX. He was preaching about giving. He said there three types of people: 1- the haves 2- the have nots 3- the have not paid for yet. He said, "Money is tainted. Taint yours and taint mine." And he’s right. Everybody belongs to the Lord. He’s just loaned us some money, a house, car, clothing, etc. And then Tony proceeded to preach about giving and mentioned the scripture in Malachi 3:8 " "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, ’How do we rob you?’ "In tithes and offerings."
He said the reason so many Christians have financial problems, the car breaks down, the house falls apart, etc. is because they are robbing God! Talk about powerful! But he said that our lack in giving is just an indication of a deeper problem! OUCH!
We need to be charged and charged up occasionally. But sometimes people merely need being charged in the sense of being encouraged.
22 "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.
Paul charged the brothers that hardships would come. They do come and they have, have they not? Have you not experienced some hardships in life?
ILL.- Bishop Asbury was a circuit-riding, Methodist preacher who lit gospel fires all across the American frontier, and was no stranger to hardship and suffering. Asbury suffered from one chronic ailment after another, so much so that one biographer calls him a "Job of old on horseback." Migraine headaches plagued him throughout his life, and chronic throat infections would become so severe that doctors feared he would strangle. He wrestled with malaria, asthma, pneumonia, rheumatism, high fevers, and other diseases, and in his mid-forties but he plunged onward, convinced he could not live another year. But he lived to the age of seventy-one.
We don’t experience struggles like that. But we may experience hardships in the sense that life in general is hard! Making living and raising children are not easy tasks!
ILL.- One day a kindergarten class went on a field trip to a local fire station. After the children had an opportunity to examine the fire trucks, the firefighters gear and their quarters, one of the firemen began to talk to them about fire safety. He said, "If you think your house might be on fire, the first thing you should do is go to the door and feel it to see if it is hot."
He continued, "The second thing you should do is fall to your knees." He asked, "Does anyone know why you should get on your knees?"
One little boy in the front raised his hand and said, "You get on your knees so you can pray that God will get you out of that mess!" Life is full of hardship. The Lord is only true help in life.
CONCLUSION------------------------------
ILL.- One man said: AFTER BEING on the phone forever with a customer who had been having difficulties with a computer program, a support technician turned in his report: "The problem resides between the keyboard and the chair."
Brothers and sisters, most of the problems that you and I face in life are with us! We are own worst enemies. We cause us more problems than anybody, consequently, we ALL need to be discipled in some form or another.
We need to make disciples for Jesus and we need to continue to disciple one another anyway we can. We need win people to Christ and encourage them in Christ! It’s my job and it’s your job because we are HIS disciples!
