But first, I want to talk a little bit about the way God works. Something I think I have known for years, but am just now beginning to understand, is that God seems to enjoy making things that are reproductive in nature. God created all the animals to reproduce after their own kind. God created all the plants to reproduce after their own kinds. God created man to reproduce after their own kind.......... I think you get the picture.
But also, I'm starting to believe that God created his Kingdom and Church to operate in the same way. Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It is the smallest seed. But once it dies and starts to reproduce it becomes huge. It reproduces and spreads like crazy. During his ministry on Earth, Jesus spent all his time ministering to the same 12 people. He didn't try to reach the most populated areas and talk to the most people. He stuck with the same 12 ordinary men. Once Jesus is about to ascend back into heaven, he leaves these men with the instructions to go make disciples of all nations. In other words he is telling them to reproduce. What I have taught you, you should go and teach others. The bible says in 2 Tim. 2:2 Paul tells the young man Timothy, "...to teach these truths to reliable men who will pass them on to others." I had never noticed that before until it was recently shown to me. What is he talking about? He is talking about reproductive disciple making. Lets look at the process: Paul disciples Timothy, and Timothy teaches Reliable men, and then these reliable men pass it on to others. It kind of sounds like the mustard seed doesn't it? ....
I believe that as Christ followers, we need to be reproducing after our own kind. Christ discipled people. Jesus's disciples discipled people... You can see where I'm going with this. We need to be discipling people! Yes it's a long process. This means we have to pay a high price and invest in people's lives. We have to get to know them and be prepared to walk with them the same way Jesus walked with his disciples even though they seemed to be "hopeless".... High risk means high reward. Lets take a high risk. The Kingdom of God is expanding.
Whenever you hear any type of Good News, the natural thing is to go tell people. So when we learn how good it is to be followers of Jesus, the first thing we should do is go and tell people so that they can share in the joy and salvation that we are experiencing! I'm not saying that we all need to go out on the streets and start having awkward evangelism conversations with people we don't know. I'm saying that we need to invest in the people that God has put in our lives and always be opened to the opportunities God has given us to make disciples.
I hope that this short post will be an encouragement to you to let your light shine before men, and teach others so they can come to faith in the same God that you have come to know as Love and savior.
Be blessed!
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