0:01 when we think of the Great Commission that Jesus gave his disciples we all must know that there are two parts to it and it's because one 0:20 part has been emphasized way out of proportion compared to the other that we see a shallow version of Christianity in the world today this is true in every 0:37 country so let's look at these two sides of the Great Commission is the last words of Jesus before he went up to heaven almost first is in Mark 16 Mark 16 1:05 and verse 15 and Jesus said to them go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation that's basically 1:22 that Christ died for our sins and he rose again and we can if you repent and trust in him your sins can be forgiven and if you sin again you confess your sin and he'll forgive you 1:40 again and if you keep on sinning you just keep on confessing and he'll keep on forgiving you till one day he comes in glory and we're taken up so the goal of a person who's heard this this gospel is finally to make sure that 1:59 every sin is confessed and to go to heaven that's about it and in this business of going preaching the gospel to all creation he who has believed and is baptized will be saved in verse 16 he who disbelieves will be 2:18 condemned so this is speaking about going into new areas and preaching the gospel to those who' have never heard and when we go like that in fact the Acts of the Apostles is basically 2:35 all what I call Frontier evangelism Frontier evangelism means going into areas where the gospel has never gone many people don't realize that when they read the Acts of the Apostles and uh everything it was always 2:54 the apostles going to some new place some new place and new place they preaching the gospel where it never never been preached people have never heard about Jesus and when you go like that the Lord confirms the word as you see in the Acts of the 3:09 Apostles also and even today with signs following verse 17 uh in my name they will cast out demons they will speak with new tongues and you see that again and again the Acts of the Apostles they'll pick up serpents and basically what that means is 3:28 that if you get accidentally pick up a serpent or get stung by one it won't harm you and you see an example of that also in Acts of the Apostles where when Peter was in the last chap sorry not Peter Paul when he was gathering sticks serpent came out of 3:45 it and the people in Malta thought oh well this guy's going to die this Viper or something has bitten him nothing happened and if they drink any deadly poison it shall not hurt them again you see when you go into new areas 4:01 uh you're not going to be able to live in those days anyway you're not going to be able to live in comfortable places you don't know anybody there and the food you eat may not always be healthy and so all these things mentioned here are in relation to the 4:17 gospel going out to new places and they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover and this is so necessary and if we don't see all this happening in if you don't see all this happening in your life it's because you're not doing 4:36 Frontier evangelism that's all uh but we've seen it again and again in India we go into areas where the gospel is never gone like we have some Churches where there was no church for 2,000 years so 4:54 you go into those places you got to deal with demon-possessed people the demons need to be cast out and there must be some Supernatural manifestation of the power of God otherwise how are these people going to believe and that's why these signs are 5:14 here now the great mistake is when people take this and apply it to situations where the gospel is not going for the first time and they wonder why it isn't happening then people try to manufacture it and pretend it's happening and all 5:29 but you don't need to have any pretense where you're really going out for the gospel for the first time and the reason for it is if you ever try to preach the gospel in an area where it has never never been preached where 5:43 nobody even knows the name of Jesus there's no Bible in the language nobody's heard of Christianity and no Christians in that Village and uh if you go to that Village and how will you have you ever thought how how you will preach the gospel to 6:01 them how will you tell them that Jesus came to Earth and died for their sins you have to tell them 2,000 years ago in the land of Israel they never heard of Israel they haven't studied geography they don't know where this is 6:18 is it another part of India or is it some other country they don't know you're faced with people who know nothing and you tell them well that's a great distance away and they'll ask you things like how do you know what happened 2,000 years 6:32 ago it's written in the Bible what is that is that a history book you you think of the questions people ask and then you say this baby was not born like other babies he was born his mother was born without any Earthly father and immediately he thinks 6:50 you're telling him a fairy tale such things don't happen and then you say he grew up and he healed all the sick people he met and open blind eyes and raised the dead and he's absolutely convinced it's a fairy tale cuz such 7:05 things don't happen and then they you say that he was killed on a cross and immed question comes you say it was God Almighty in human form then why in the world was he killed why couldn't he just finish them off all these questions and 7:21 then you say well he was in the grave and after 3 days he came out of the Grave he's absolutely convinced now you're off your head to teach such a story and then you say he died for your sins he just can't understand that and 7:36 then you say he's gone up and he's coming back again that's it how is he going to believe and then you say okay how do I know he's alive you bring your sick people bring your demon-possessed people whom all 7:54 your religious folks couldn't help and now you'll see in the name of Jesus and the power of Jesus you'll see that he is alive and that's how he's going to deliver these people who are sick and demon possessed that's what happened in those 8:11 days and that's what's happening today but that's one side of the Gospel where people are just converted and so people get converted and they believe in Jesus that he's alive in there then they begin to read the Bible or you explain the Bible 8:27 to them because in many of those cases there's no Bible in their own language so you got to teach them you got to read scripture publicly like it says in one you know Paul told Timothy in one Timothy 4 you must read scripture 8:39 publicly because all the people sitting there in those days had no Bible so unless somebody read the scripture publicly in the church service nobody even know what's in the Bible so when you think of the Gospel going to 8:52 unreached places you're dealing with all types of situations which all our theories here won't work work you have to manifest the power of Christ through the holy spirit's gifts in those places that was why it was so essential for those 9:10 Apostles to be anointed in the Holy Spirit and to have Supernatural gifts because that's the only way they could preach the gospel now if they were going into the synagogues there was no need for that there would there to just take 9:23 the Old Testament scriptures and prove to them this Messiah you've been waiting for is Jesus Christ so this is one side of the Great Commission and very often uh even when the gospel is preached in places where the gospel has been preached for 9:36 hundreds of years it's basically uh repent and believe sometimes even repentance is left out believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved and ask Jesus to come into your heart and your sins are forgiven and years later when you look 9:54 at some of these Christians I've seen many of them in many countries in different denomination Nations there's not much difference between them and nominal Christians those who don't claim to be born again if you go into their homes I 10:08 mean they fight and quarrel there just like in any other non-Christian home so what is the essential difference is it really true that all things have old things have all passed away and everything has become new he doesn't 10:19 look like that like the Bible says in this so-called converted person and so gradually what happens is churches begin to accept this is all there is and it's an intellectual acceptance of the fact that Christ died for my sins 10:32 and there's nothing really more than that all types of sins found in among nominal Christians are found among Born Again people also there's divorce among Born Again people like there's divorce there is this pornography among Born 10:47 Again people as there is among them so what is really the difference it's because of the shallow type of conversion where repentance is not being preached and where seriousness of sin has not been highlighted and so over a period of time 11:05 even if a new church started out with great Zeal and some really fervent Disciples of Jesus over a period of time as more and more people come into that church you find after a few years it gradually 11:21 becomes like any other dead church and that can happen here it can happen anywhere so the other side of the Great Commission is what saves us from that here it is only believe and be 11:38 baptized that's it that's the end of the the end of the Gospel but if you turn to the other side of the Great Commission in Matthew 28 and see what it says there the to me these are two sides of a coin you can't have one without the 11:55 other if you have one without the other it's a counterfeit coin a good coin is always printed on both sides like a currency note it's printed on both sides so here the Lord says all authority 28:18 all authority in Heaven and Earth 12:11 has been given to me now he doesn't say go and preach to all people go and make disciples baptism is again emphasized which shows how important what a baptism is because it is mentioned in both commissions and make disciples that's 12:30 the first thing and once you have made them disciples teach them to observe or do every single thing I commanded you and lo I with you always even to the End of the 12:50 Age so when we started our church it was exactly 40 years ago that we started in August 1975 we started on the basis of this commission this part of the commission because the other was already being preached by 13:08 everybody I I looked at it like 100 people carrying a log which is the Great Commission great commissioner's log and 99 people were holding up one end of the log and there was one person holding up the other end of the log and so which 13:23 side should I go and help it's pretty obvious any sensible person would know where to go and help so I saw 99% of Christians emphasizing evangelism and healing and speaking in tongues and all everything mentioned in 13:39 Mark 16 okay fine I accept all that and casting out demons Etc but what about this Matthew 28 part it's one in a 100 and that also is difficult to find who would go and make sure these people have become disciples a disciple 13:58 iple is a a learner and a follower and if you are honest and you found frustration in your Christian Life and your Christian life is not exciting and satisfying the failure could be here I can honestly say I've been a Believer 14:16 now 55 years 56 years and my Christian life is really exciting every single day I'm never bored with my Christian Life not even a single day my service for the Lord is exciting my walk with the Lord is exciting it has to be like that you 14:33 know it's like electricity when there's electricity everything lights up and works the electricity goes everything becomes dark and when we live in the power of the holy spirit is like that and so we we started out like this and so we 14:50 decided okay first of all let's make sure these few of us who are gathered here are they all disciples have they understood what it means to be a disciple we don't want to assume that everybody knows that because when Jesus told these 15:03 Apostles to make disciples in every nation he had already told them earlier what a disciple was they didn't have to ask them they didn't ask the Lord how do I make disciples he had already told them so when we studied the gospels we 15:22 found that Jesus had already told them who a disciple was and that's in Luke chapter 14 so we spent quite some time studying Luke 14 the the particular section on discipleship from verse 25 to 15:41 35 because In this passage Luke 2425 to35 we first of all see a great multitude going along with him and he said to them some of the hardest 15:57 words that he ever spoke to a crowd now today if a preacher sees a great multitude he thinks well it's time to take an offering or say something nice so that these people will bring others and 16:15 increase the numbers this is like a mega church the potential for a mega church here and he turned and said to them if any of you in this big crowd vers 26 Luke 14:25 and now in 26 and you don't hate your father and 16:34 you don't hate your mother you don't hate your wife you don't hate your children you don't hate your brothers you don't hate your sisters you don't hate your own life just forget about being my disciple you cannot be my 16:48 disciple and then he said if you don't carry your own cross and another place he said every day and you come after me you cannot be my disciple and the third condition was verse 33 he said none of you can be my disciple who does not give 17:04 up all his own possessions so can you imagine saying this to a great multitude of people can imagine a preacher who's getting nowadays 10,000 people in a church and he gets up and tells them word words like this how many 17:20 people would come back next Sunday they'd find some other church and that's why these words are you almost never hear them preached in any church or if they preach this skim over it and go on to other 17:38 things I mean even if you were to search YouTube for all the thousands of sermons there are and find how many there are sermons that are preaching about taking up the cross every day or what it means to hate father mother you know it's very easy 17:54 just search and find you can find if there are messages teaching that and giving up your possessions you find it's pretty close to zero you can try it out and then he uses two or three examples so I believe these examples are 18:12 related to disciples converts versus disciples converts are Matthew 16 Mark 16 disciples are Matthew 28 so the first example he uses is a man who wants to build a tower or today we call it a 18:30 skyscraper it's not just a one floor building it's a skyscraper the Christian life is like a skyscraper when you become a disciple you're going to be building a skyscraper many many 18:49 floors of obedience to all his Commandments but before he a sensible person before he does that sits down and calculates the cost what do I have to pay how much is 19:06 it going to cost me to build this 100 Floor skyscraper and the cost is hate father mother brother sister wife children and your own life and every day you die to yourself every single day you die to 19:26 self which wants to assert itself and forsake all your possessions and the chap says well I don't want to pay that much but I've laid a foundation Foundation is what the foundation is I've repented I believe Jesus died for 19:44 my sins I've accepted him as my savior my sins are forgiven and on my on my way to heaven I keep singing my sins are all forgiven I'm on my way to heaven Foundation is there he's already laid it this is not talking about a man who's 19:58 never accepted Christ it's not an unbeliever an unbeliever hasn't even laid a foundation you know it says in Hebrews 6 one uh therefore leaving the elementary teaching of Christ let's not lay again a foundation here's the foundation Hebrews 20:16 61 repentance Faith Washings or baptisms that is baptism in water and baptism in the Holy Spirit by the way that's also part of the foundation and teaching about the resurrection of the Dead finally and laying on of hands of spiritual gifts 20:32 and eternal judgment that's just a foundation he says don't let's stuck there let's move on from there beyond the foundation press on to Perfection and maturity the same thing there let's build the skyscraper so here is a person 20:47 who laid the foundation that means he came to a place where he to a church where he was told about faith in Christ and receive Jesus into your heart and get baptized he's done that and he's sitting down now in church coming 20:59 regularly to the meetings to the services and singing and happy of course just defeated constantly but that doesn't matter because everybody around him is also defeated and the pastor defeated himself so he's just a happy bunch of people who singing 21:18 are my sins are forgiven I'm on my way to heaven not not even one floor built on this foundation and it says people who watch begin to ridicule people are watching is the angels are watching the demons are watching and they laugh at this guy this 21:36 guy claims to be a disciple of Jesus those are the ones who ridiculing this man began to build he's not able to finish why in the world did he start then have you ever seen people in a housing area just laying a foundation 21:48 and then 25 years later it's just a foundation lots of people sitting like that in Christian churches today thousands and thousands in never built a house just the foundation and if you talk about building this hey that's a gospel of 22:03 works we don't believe in a gospel of Works salvation is no works so when you think of a foundation and a super structure turn to Ephesians in Chapter 2 because this is the favorite verse of no works the gospel without any Works Ephesians 2:8 and9 I 22:23 want to say I believe it completely but it's only part of the truth that's the point the problem with a lot of false teaching is they take one verse and neglect the other sometimes the very next verse and I'll show it to you 22:38 here Ephesians 2:8 says by Grace you have been saved through faith that not of yourselves it is the gift of God gift means you don't pay for it right forgiveness is absolutely free the gift of the holy spirit is called a gift 22:55 which means you don't pay for it not as a result of works because like it says in Isaiah 646 your all your righteousness are like filthy rags now all your righteousness ton of righteousness will not forgive one sin of yours so not a result of 23:12 works because then no one can boast you know otherwise one man can say I did more Works than you no nobody can boast the man who's done a lot of good works and the man who's just done lived in sin all his life both are forgiven on 23:25 exactly the same basis Christ died for you brother you lived a very righteous life good but you're a sinner Christ died for you and this rotten sinner Christ died for him that's the message in Romans 1 and Romans 2 Romans 1 is 23:37 about the Godless Sinner and Romans 2 is about the religious Sinner and then it says in Romans 3 there's no difference all have sinned forgiveness is by the death of Christ but see the next verse 8 and N is the foundation no works in the 23:56 foundation but now you come to the super structure the skyscraper you begin to build that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them so there are 24:10 certain good works that we have to do but they're not in the foundation they're in the super structure it's like saying when you lay the foundation of a building you don't put doors and windows there no crazy person will put doors and 24:23 windows in a foundation that's the meaning of no works in the foundation but when you build the superstructures full of doors and windows that's the point here no works in the foundation not even one door not even one window it's solid concrete and 24:40 then on top of that plenty of works every floor works works works works works works 100 Floors full of Works what type of works not any odd work I feel like doing Works which God prepared said 25:00 beforehand that I should walk in them in other words a plan God made for my life long before I was born because he knew that at a particular age I would lay a foundation in my life I would accept Christ in my case when I was 19 and a 25:18 half and from that point onwards God planned that I should do certain works of which baptism water baptism was the first one that's not necessary for salvation it's one of the works subsequent to being born 25:35 again that comes in verse 10 not in verse 9 baptism is not in verse 9 there's no works there in verse 10 it's one of the works God has planned all believers should do is get baptized and then from there many other works God has 25:52 planned I'm I'm so thankful that way back in the beginning almost immediately after I got baptized I took about a year and a half to be baptized because I wasn't so sure whether my Orthodox Church infant baptism was valid or not 26:07 see that's how blind I was because I was sprinkled as a baby and everybody said that was baptism I didn't know the Bible and I was studied the Bible and I discovered that was not a valid baptism but it took me one and a half years to 26:22 discover that as I read the scriptures cuz I wanted to get all my answer from scripture then I got baptized and when I got baptized then the Lord began to show me the next work and the next work and the next work he showed me about money that 26:37 I had taken wrongfully that I needed to return taxes that I had not paid that I needed to return and things like this apologies that I had to make to people whom I had hurt in some way and I wouldn't have seen that if I 26:54 hadn't done the first work there were works and then then as I did that the Lord showed me something else and something else and something else something else till about 3 years later after my baptism the Lord told me to quit my job 27:08 in the Navy and come out to serve him it was one work but if I had not done these works you know I would not have built floor after floor after floor of my life and I think a lot of people are like that they never make much progress after 27:22 their baptism they're not discovering new new things that the Lord is saying another floor another works that I plan for you here's a work I plan for you to do next okay you finish that now I'm going to show you something else works 27:32 that God before prepared beforehand that we should walk in them we're not to stand still there's no such thing as standing still in the Christian Life to walk in the light means I'm progressing every step is a progress so 27:46 whether you look at as a walk or as a building it's progress and so that is the picture in Luke 14 of a building foundation and super structure so when you have a church with thousands of people have just laid a foundation that's not the type of church 28:05 Jesus wants every single person in that church must be told that God has prepared works for you specific works that he planned for you from before you were 28:22 born that you should walk in them so you got to find out what those works are and it's it's Unthinkable that God would work make a plan for you and refuse to tell you what it is that's crazy he brings you to Christ and you 28:41 have taken one step in baptism is he going to say I'm not going to tell you what the next thing you have to do is impossible he is more eager to tell you than you are eager to know the eag lack of eagerness is on your part not his he's just is 28:57 desperately eager that you should see the works he has planned instead of doing what you think is right I believed in those days and I was only 21 years old I said Lord if there are works that you plann you know amazing I discovered these things from 29:13 scripture there was hardly anybody teaching them teaching me these things those days but I discovered one thing when I was baptized God's got a plan for my life I don't know what it is but I saw it like the pillar of cloud that would 29:26 show me day by day day where I've got to go next if you ask those Israelites where are you going tomorrow he I don't know if you ask them where are you going this evening I don't know because sometimes the pillar of cloud would move 29:37 off in the evening and they had to pack up roll up their tents and start moving and little by little by little that pillar of cloud finally LED them to the borders of the land of Canaan that's where God's plan was for them but you 29:53 know they turned back and then God's so angry with them he said okay they took two years to get there and God said next 38 years you're going to be in the wilderness that is the example set before us people who did not follow 30:04 God's plan all the way they did it a little bit and then that's it they turned back and they were lost lots and lots of Believers like that today it says in 1 Corinthians 10 these the thing that happened to the Israelites has been written to be for an 30:19 example for us you don't fulfill God's plan God was not well pleased with them and God is not believe believe me when I say God is not well pleased with most believers who laid a foundation today because they're not working in the 30:39 plan God's made for them it's almost like saying to God I don't care for your plan I got my own plan I've already decided what I'm going to do but I I realized that in God's plan he had planned who I should marry I was single those days and uh what I 30:57 should do I didn't know that he would call me to quit my job he doesn't call everybody I think one in a thousand Believers he calls to quit their jobs 999 he C them to stay in their jobs but I did not know that I would be one of 31:10 those one in a thousand I didn't know at all so I just wanted to say Lord show show me day by day what your plan is that's a disciple one who as the Lord leads him on he follows so that is foundation and super structure 31:27 the next picture we read in Luke 14:31 two or three pictures he uses here of discipleship the next picture he uses in Luke 14:31 is when he sets out to meet another king in battle the first one is a picture of building the Christian Life is pictured 31:47 like a building the second picture of the Christian Life is a battle that's a picture comes many times in the Christian Life and we know that battle is with Satan throughout the New Testament the Christians battle is with Satan and 32:04 disciple is a builder first of all and then a warrior I mean the Christian life is not a picnic uh it's a building process and it's a battle so the next picture verse 31 is of a king setting 32:22 out to meet another king in battle and God is a king and the Devil is a king the devil's called The Prince of this world Jesus himself called him the prince of this world or the ruler of this world and here is Jesus Christ on one 32:39 side and the devil on the other side and it's a battle and that battle has been going on for 2,000 years I mean Jesus defeated him on the cross so as far as he's concerned there's no battle it's already been won but there are billions of people on the 32:56 Earth who are on the devil's side who even Christians who don't know that the devil was defeated on the cross who are oppressed by Satan and Satan tempts them and knocks them down day after day after day after day after 33:11 day who's winning in this battle is it Jesus or the devil in most Believers lives very often it's it's Satan but he was defeated on the cross so here this king is now thinking I don't have enough men see 33:29 that's the point here forget the numbers just look at it like this let me paraphrase it he has a king who's got very few people in his army and he's got to fight with another one who's got many more in his army and that's a picture of Jesus with 33:49 very few people fighting the devil with many more people I mean everybody knows there are more followers of Satan in the world today than there are followers of Jesus without a doubt everyone know any true disciple knows 34:01 that and so if he feels well I can't fight with these people there's no hope he'll overwhelm me cuz he's got more people what will this King do while the other is still far away verse 32 he'll send a delegation and say let's have 34:18 peace I will not fight with you and that's not a disciple the disciple never makes peace with Satan but a lot of Believers so-called Believers have made peace with Satan okay 34:37 Satan I won't trouble you too much I won't go and try to win souls out of your kingdom I'm not going to have a passion to bring people to Christ I'm okay with the people around me are lost let them be lost Satan I won't trouble Your 34:53 Kingdom at all I won't try and snatch any anybody out of your kingdom that's the condition of lots and lots of Believers I tell you that they have zero interest in bringing other people to Christ they have zero interest even inviting somebody to the 35:08 church to hear the word of God they have zero interest in giving somebody a book or a or a DVD or something to try and win that person or at least be a witness to that person they have made peace with Satan I 35:25 will not trouble any of you your members I have peace with you but Jesus is not like that a disciple says it doesn't matter numbers are not important you know the Old Testament is full of examples think of Gideon's Army he had 35:44 32,000 people I don't have time to go and read you read Judges chapter 7 sometimes 32,000 people and the Lord said there are too many all those are afraid tell them to go home that's the first word all who are 36:01 afraid of the devil go home now itself otherwise you'll bring fear into the hearts of others and 22,000 people went home 2/3 went home and and the Lord said 10,000 that's also too much these are not wholehearted people you we've sent away the people 36:20 are afraid of the devil afraid the Devil May harm them or do some witchcraft on them or do something for them so they made peace with the devil like I won't trouble you and you don't trouble me okay I won't disturb your kingdom you don't please 36:32 don't disturb my life and the Lord says okay that's one group gone but there's another 10,000 left here they're also too much and if you remember the story the Lord said take them down to the river and I will test them there now 36:48 they did not know they were being tested do you know that most of the time when the Lord tests us we don't know that we are being tested until the test is over after the test is over and the Lord selected some people and say hey I 37:00 didn't know that was a test in our schools in India sometimes we have a thing called surprise tests where there's no warning given to the students that there going to be a test all of a sudden students go to school and the teacher says today we're 37:15 going to have a test that's the way they make sure that people have really studied the subject and not just studyed just for the examination but they know it all the time so these 10,000 people came to the river they were all 37:29 thirsty that's okay and that River or water is a picture of the world you know it's one of the verses in Revelation 17 the last vers is Seas of the world so the waters are a picture of the world and 37:49 9,700 people forgot all about the enemy laid their weapons aside buried their head into the water because they were thirsty and began to drink they did not they were not alert to the enemy they laid their weapons aside and 38:07 put their head down and began to drink but 300 stood on their feet they say we got to be alert to the enemy and they just lapped up the water with their hands and the Lord said I'll select those 300 it's a picture of 300 people 38:25 who will you know use the world but not make full use of it it's like saying in one Corinthians 7 Paul says that you use the world don't but don't get taken up with the world we all have to use the world because you need to use money uh we need to work we 38:43 need to earn our living uh but we can be like those 9,700 that bury our heads completely in our work and in making money and everything in the world and the Lord says not fit and then there are others who also living in the world who 38:58 also are thirsty who need to drink but they lap up with their hands take your time to read Judges chapter 7 sometimes very interesting to see it and these are the 300 who went to 39:16 battle and the enemy was routed that's the picture in the Old Testament and so it's a beautiful picture of discipleship so here's Gideon was scared you know about 39:33 well I can I fight these people with the 300 let me show you something there which turn to judges 7even I'll show you something interesting there because with Gideon must have thought how in the world can I go with 300 people and 39:53 fight you read about this verse 6 judges 7:6 the number of those who lapped putting their hand to their mouth was 300 but all the rest of the people knelt down and began to take drink the water they buried their head in the 40:09 water and the Lord said with these 300 I will deliver the midianites into your hand let the other people go to their home let them all go earlier in verse three he had sent away those who were afraid and then you know Gideon was 40:24 still afraid and so to encourage Gideon this part I want you to see the same night verse 9 the Lord said to him before you go to this battle I want you to go to the camp and hear something if you're afraid verse 10 some of you Gideon 40:42 you're still afraid of the devil okay go down go with your servant and hear what they are saying verse 11 and then your hands will be strengthened so Gideon went with his servant down to the Outpost of the Army and the midianites 40:59 and the amalekites who were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts and their camels verse 12 were numerous as the sand on the seashore what a massive Army it's a picture of the devil and his demons and Gideon came and he heard a man telling his 41:17 friend a dream verse 13 I had a dream a loaf of Bley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned out flat and the friend answered and said this is nothing less than the sword of 41:35 Gideon and verse 15 when Gideon heard this he bowed in worship and he said arise verse 15 last part the Lord has given the enemy into our hands so what I see here is the devil the Lord says are you still scared just go down and listen to what 41:54 the demons are saying to each other and you'll hear what they're saying we've been defeated we have no hope against these Believers but some of them don't know that we've been defeated so we can have power over them we can scare 42:10 them we can make peace with them and they're scared of us so they'll make peace with us so we need to hear that we need to hear that the demons are scared of true disciples it's a wonderful thing to be 42:27 in that small army so that's the second picture of discipleship that Jesus spoke about in you know we started out with go and make disciples of all Nations disciples are Builders who building a skyscraper and disciples are people who have a very 42:43 small number I mean think of 300 Gideon's Army compared to 32,000 you know how much that is it's one in 100 one 1% less than 1% 320 would have been 43:01 1% 300 means less than 1% that means one in a 100 among Christians who really want to be disciples there a picture like that so it's a very small number and here's this massive Army of the devil like it says there like spread 43:20 out like Locust and all you know as the sand on the seash shore such a huge number of demons and here we are a small group of disciples very small church not a big mega church small Church really seeking to fight the battle against the 43:35 devil and we don't seek for peace our King is Jesus and we don't seek for peace we say that's all right if you're are a small number we're going to overcome so that's the second picture of discipleship that we need to see the way 43:49 to life is narrow Jesus said and very very few find it so if you're going to gather those those few you're not going to have a very big church and even if the church increases with somebody's relatives coming along and somebody's friends coming along and 44:05 somebody's children growing up yet they will only be like passengers the real the real church will be a group in the midst of that church of fighting the battles and winning the Victory and moving the church forward and that 44:18 number that core is what must increase and keep on increasing a core of disciples who are wholehearted radical wanting to follow the lord so that's the second picture and then a third picture in Luke 44:36 14 and that is salt now we all know that when you put salt into your food it's a very small quantity that you 44:55 put think of a whole bowl of food whatever it is how much do you salt do you put in it just a few grains of salt he says salt is good verse 34 but if the salt is 45:13 tasteless what's the use if you have a plate full of food and the salt has got no taste in it the seasoning is gone you put a plate full of salt useless that's a picture of believers who are not Disciples of plate full of salt but 45:31 if it's real disciples you need just a few grains and otherwise if you have lost the seasoning if it lost the taste then it is useless verse 35 believers who are 45:51 useless they're useless for the soil or for the manual pile the useless for everything is thrown out and he who has ears to hear Let Him hear so here are the picture is of our retaining the strength our saltiness retaining our 46:13 saltiness so there's another passage I think it's me see if I can find it uh yeah Mark 949 Mark 9:49 it says here everyone will be salted with 46:34 fire salt is good verse 50 but if the salt becomes unsalty Mark 9:50 with volum make it salty again have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another so it speaks about being on fire 46:52 being salted with fire the fire of the Holy holy spirit always retaining to so retaining the taste of salt when I compare Luke 14 with Mark 9 is I see it as retaining the fire of the holy spirit all the time in my 47:11 life never losing it even in our speech especially in our speech because we sin most with our tongue I think most of the sins we commit are with our eyes and our tongue more than any other part of our 47:28 body you examine your life and see most of the sins you've committed are with your eyes in your tongue and it says in Colossians in chapter 4 Colossians in chapter 4 and verse 47:47 6 Colossians chapter 4 verse6 he's talking about your speech your speech must always always always means 24/7 if you want a good Bible study take a concordance and look for the word 48:07 always in the New Testament very profitable the things that you have to do 247 here's one of them always your speech must be with Grace seasoned with salt 48:27 so that you know exactly how to speak to each person who comes across your body how to speak to a child how to speak to an adult how to speak to a person who's discouraged because he's fallen into sin so much how to speak 48:46 with to an argumentative so-called believer how to speak to a Pharisee and how to speak to a seeking hungry Soul your speech must be seasoned with salt that means I had to be very careful that the fire of the Holy Spirit you 49:05 know everyone is salted with fire must be there even in my words not just when I'm preaching I remember years ago when I was seeking God about Lord how can I make sure that whenever I preach your word it's 49:25 all always always always with the fire of the Holy Spirit not just once in a while not even most of the time but always and one of the words the Lord showed me was Jeremiah 15 Jeremiah 49:43 15 and verse 19 you know if you take God's word seriously I want to tell you something there's no partiality with God God doesn't have preferences for some of his children over other children but those who respond to his word and 50:00 fulfill his conditions he does more for them there's no partiality all are equal the conditions are the same for everyone and everyone is welcome to come so Jeremiah 15 the Lord is speaking to Jeremiah who 50:19 was a prophet and he says if you really want to be my Prophet let me give you something some advice if you return then I'll restore you and you will stand before me this is very very important that 50:36 always I must stand in God's presence when I'm speaking to my wife any time of the day or night Jesus is between me and my wife always that is standing in the presence 50:53 of the Lord you will stand stand before me and then I speak to my wife so imagine if Jesus were physically there in your house how would you speak to your wife that's how I want to speak to my wife every single moment of every single 51:13 day I stand before the Lord and then when I'm standing with people who are fighting with me or shouting at me okay Jesus is there again I stand before the Lord and I want to reply to this guy who is shouting at me or somebody else is calling me a bad 51:31 name and I'm standing before the Lord Jesus is between me and that person and I want to speak I tell you it makes a tremendous difference in your speech if you stand before the Lord and then what will happen is whenever you 51:44 get a chance to share the word somewhere you'll be standing before the Lord even in the Pulpit he'll be there in front of you and you're not one bit interested in impress pressing anybody sitting there or trying to please 51:57 anybody or not even seeing whether anybody's nodding their head not doesn't interest you one bit it's Jesus who's there and you say everything that he wants you to say you don't hold back anything to let somebody get offended if 52:11 they get offended let them get offended and go and you don't say anything to tickle anybody's ears or to get some honor or no you're standing before the the Lord anything that I cannot stand and say before the Lord I never want to say 52:30 at any time in my life to anybody In a Pulpit or outside the pulpit or even on a phone conversation the phone conversation the Lord is there I stand before him that's what the Lord said and you know it's possible for every one of 52:43 us it's difficult in the beginning because we are not used to standing before the Lord we are used to standing before people we're only conscious of people when we speak but you know an act if you keep sewing an act it becomes a 53:00 habit I often use the example of brushing teeth if you were to go to some African jungle and teach some Barbarian to brush his teeth I'm almost certain that most days he'd forget and you got again remind him hey you got to brush your 53:14 teeth man but how is it nobody has to remind you every morning to do that you got to remind your children but you've done it so often that you can walk in your sleep and brush your teeth an act that's you keep on 53:31 repeating becomes a habit and so if you really seek particularly when you're alone with somebody your wife or people your place of work or with difficult people and you say Lord I'm going to stand before you all the time it'll become a habit 53:51 after a while so stand before me and something else you got to do Jeremiah 15:19 this is what the Lord spoke to me when I was asking him this question how to be your mouthpiece take out the precious from the worthless in your 54:10 conversation that means in my conversation my mind tells me to say so many things but the Lord says you got to do a little sifting here take out the workless words throw them away and keep what is 54:31 precious precious doesn't mean always serious there's a difference between precious and serious uh for example humor I believe humor is a very good thing it's it's not it's precious it's not 54:50 worthless humor that makes fun of other people that's worthless but humor that you know uh binds people together in a relationship that's good I've often said that the test of a 55:07 good relationship between a husband and wife is hum not that they read the Bible together not that they pray together a husband and wife can have tension but they will still pray together oh every husband and wife can will admit that 55:24 they can be fighting with with each other and they'll pray together they'll read the Bible together but they will not joke with each other when they have a tension it's absolutely true the same with your relationship with Brothers you 55:39 can pray with a brother read the Bible together do so many things with a brother but if you have a tension with that brother you will not joke with him humor is the test of a relationship I don't have a verse for it but I say what Paul said in in 1 55:55 Corinthians 7 I have no commandment from the Lord but as one who has received Mercy from the Lord I give my opinion so Paul was permitted to give his opinion in 1 Corinthians 7 and I'm giving my opinion you can take it or 56:08 leave it but I've taken it and I found it's an absolute perfect test for me whether I have a good relationship with the person is there can I have humor in my relationship not humor that hurts him I mean may I can crack a joke at myself 56:21 that's okay but there is good humor and clean humor okay so precious uh from the worthless in my conversation that again it takes time so an act gradually it'll become a habit because usually in the past there's been so much of worthless stuff in our 56:40 conversation gossiping backbiting accusing people oh so many things now we're going to sort it all out and take only what is precious keep only that in our conversation and if you do these two two things you stand before me and get rid 56:57 of all the worthless stuff in your con conversation what will happen you will become my spokesman or is the literal in the margin of my Bible NB margin it says you will be my mouth 57:15 wow imagine being the mouth of God is that possible in the Old Testament God didn't say that to everybody it only to a few people like Jeremiah but in the New Testament you know that we can all prophesy there was no command in the Old 57:33 Testament that you should all seek to prophesy but in the New Testament 1 Corinthians 14:1 says all of you must seek to prophesy so I learned from the Old Testament prophets they stood before the Lord and they got rid of that which was 57:50 worthless in their conversation and they prophesied says let me show you new testament verse 1 Peter 4 1 Peter 4 verse 58:15 10 as everyone has received a special gift employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold manifold means many colored many sided grace of God the 58:33 grace of God has got many colors many sides to it and it each of us can manifest one color of it or one side of it and we must manifest um we must serve others with the gift God has given us 58:50 and if your gift is speaking verse 11 speak as the mouth of God as if God himself is speaking this is in the New Testament it's not just 59:08 for Jeremiah now and do it with the strength that God supplies so that God may be glorified it's a beautiful verse I must speak as the mouth of God with the power of the Holy Spirit and for the glory of God so 59:27 that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs really all the glory so this is you know our speech being seasoned with salt so that I know exactly how to speak to every 59:46 person so that's the third picture we read in Luke 14 of three pictures he used of disciples ship remember again once is the building and he said sit down and count the cost is it really worth it to build a 1:00:05 skyscraper then the picture of a battle we are few in number but we're going to win because the devil's already been defeated on the cross and the third is salt I never never want to lose my taste I want it always to be strong Sal 1:00:25 so that even a little bit you know little bit means a few in number or in speech means just a few words you know how when the Pharisees brought a woman caught in 1:00:43 adultery to Jesus it says he was scribbling on the ground I don't believe he was writing anything he was just you know sometimes we scribble thoughtlessly he was saying father what shall I say he lived as a man remember and I believe he was saying 1:01:02 what shall I say to these people am I going to give them a big sermon on legalism no and the spirit of God said to Jesus tell them the one without sin should cast the first stone so he said it he was without sin cast the first 1:01:17 stone back to his scribbling on the ground that was enough problem solved with a few words full of or somebody tried to capture him with uh should we pay tribute to Caesar or not you know and Caesar was ruling Israel 1:01:35 those days they want to get something out of his mouth to trap him just like I met lots of people who come to me try to trap me with words to try and prove that I'm preaching some wrong theology uh they try to trap Jesus and 1:01:48 said just show me a coin whose picture is this Caesar's okay give to Caesar what is Caesar give to God what's God's end of discussion they didn't know what to say and the wonderful thing is you know Jesus says in Luke 21 and 1:02:06 verse 15 it's a promise for us now I will give you a mouth if you got a margin in your Bible it says in the margin the actual Greek word is mouth I will give you a mouth 1:02:25 and wisdom which none of your enemies will be able to resist or refute I remember many years ago I think it was in North Carolina I 1:02:43 was speaking in a new order armish Church the only time I got a chance to speak there and it was a full day session the bishop had asked me to take a full day session for them and I preached the whole Council of God there and in between was a lunch 1:03:02 break and we were all sitting at the table and every single man all the men were together and the women were separate every single one of those people had a beard it is their culture and their teaching all men must have beards and I 1:03:19 was the only one sitting there without a beard and one of the people sitting in front of me he was probably upset with what I was teaching so he tried to Humble me saying brother Zach did God make a mistake when he gave you hair on your 1:03:36 face or did you make a mistake by cutting it off I I said Lord you got to give me a word now for this her mouth and her wisdom I got it pretty quickly I said brother did God make a mistake when he gave you nails or did you make a mistake in cutting them 1:03:55 off end of discussion but I didn't want to embarrass him further so I changed the subject so I didn't want to humiliate him I've had examples like that sometimes with one sentence end of discussion I remember I was with some 1:04:12 Pentecostal people once two pastors arguing arguing with me about their definition of prophecy which I didn't agree with at all I said my definition of prophecy is 1 Corinthians 14:3 not you guys just go around telling people all types of funny things about 1:04:30 the future I said that's not what the New Testament teaches and so we went on and on and on I think about 1 hour I said Lord I can't it's getting late at night I have to go to bed and uh you got to give me a word 1:04:46 now so and the lord gave me a word if there are Gifts of Prophecy see they'll be done away with if there are tongues it'll seize but there remains Faith open love and 1:05:04 the greatest of these is love pursue after love yeah they all had to agree on that and that was the end of the discussion and I could go to bed so if you really seek God you know it's really amazing and I always think of that verse in Luke 21:15 you said 1:05:22 Lord you'll give me a mouth and a Wis wisdom that will shut the mouths of my enemies and sometimes it's just one sentence I want to encourage you all to seek God for this it's a wonderful thing to be the mouth of God as a disciple so 1:05:38 when Jesus said go and make disciples these are the pictures he had in mind and very quickly Luke 14 the three conditions of discipleship that he mentioned which help us to build this building fight the devil and have salt 1:05:55 in our lives number one hate father mother brother sister wife children disciples it means when compared with Mark chapter Matthew chapter 10 if anyone loves father or mother more than me he's not worthy of me so I pictured it like this that 1:06:11 compared to my love for Jesus the love my love for Jesus must almost extinguish um the little bit of that means the my love for my father mother andlaw becomes so small and the picture I got was it's not that I don't love my father and 1:06:27 mother it's not that I don't love my wife the Bible says I must love my wife as Christ loved the church so how does that fit in with hate your wife so I was trying to get an answer to this and the picture I got was like the stars in the 1:06:38 sky my love for my some people they love for their parents and their wife is like the sun it's not to be like that it's to be the stars have got a light I love my father I love my mother I love my wife I love my children I love my brothers and 1:06:52 sisters all of you but when the Sun rises I can't see the stars it's not that they've disappeared they're there but I don't see them because the light of the sun is so great so that's the picture I got you can say the star has 1:07:07 become dark it's not dark but it has become dark in the light of the Sun so in the light of my love for Jesus is almost as though my attitude to my wife and children and all this looks like hatred so that is a picture it's not real 1:07:23 hatred but it's a comparative statement and the second condition that means nobody on Earth basically it means the first condition of discipl is nobody on Earth must be more important to me than Jesus Christ if Christ tells me 1:07:38 something and the whole world says something else I'm going to do what Christ says it doesn't bother me what other people say or think what even my whether my wife thinks it should be done another way no Christ has said this the 1:07:49 second condition is I got to deny myself and take up the cross every day that means this self that's ruled my life ever since I was born as a child like all children I would fight and grab it's me me me me I want the best of 1:08:03 everything and now I have to put it to death what self Rises up to respond to somebody in an un Christlike way put the put it to death that's the meaning of taking out the cross is that every single day the cross is not something I do once 1:08:21 for all like baptism baptism is a test sorry baptism is a testimony that I'm willing to let people bury me that's what baptism is down I believe God will raise me up that's the testimony in baptism so I say Lord that's the way I want to 1:08:40 go every day if people put me down I'll accept it I'm not going to resist the guy who's pushing me down you'd never get baptized if you keep resisting the guy who was pushing you down you yield so it's a it's the it's the picture of the cross I yield 1:08:55 somebody's crucifying Me by yelling at me or calling me a bad name or treating me badly or cheating me I say Okay God will raise me up I don't resist that follow God will do that the raising up part is God's it says you know that 1:09:09 Jesus says in John 10 I have power to lay my life down and I have power to take it again he said in John 10 but he only used the first part of it he he laid down his life but he never took it up again God raised him up if you look 1:09:23 in the New Testament it always says God raised up Jesus from the dead God raised up Jesus God raised up the spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead but you read in John 10 he had power to lift it up again so I have the power but I 1:09:36 won't exercise it Jesus had the power to exercise his own will but he wouldn't so uh I must deny myself and die every day and the third condition is Luke 14:33 I must give up all my possessions possessions 1:09:54 are the things on earth that possess you there are certain things on earth that can possess you possess your mind they they are your possessions your mind is grabbed hold of 1:10:11 them you won't give it up your with a tight fist you hold on to Earthly things and the Lord says you can't do that you got to let go you can still have it you it's like I'm going to hold on to this I'm not going to let anybody take 1:10:29 it it's my possession but if I open my pal it's still there it's mine I don't possess it anymore this should be my attitude to all material things I have a card I'm not going to 1:10:47 grab on it I have it I use it it's in my name but lord it's not mine it's yours house property bank account money business anything there can be a possessive attitude towards it I cannot be a disciple or I give up that possessive 1:11:06 attitude and say it's not my possession I've given up my possession but I have it one of the clearest examples of that is Abraham offering up Isaac until Isaac came along in his life Abraham found it easy to worship God but 1:11:22 once Isaac came along the son of his old age at the age of a 100 the one God had promised supernaturally born he became so precious to him that God saw Isaac has become an idol in Abraham's life he possessed him this is my 1:11:39 son God said kill him and walk for three days to Mount Moriah so that you can think about it you don't have to do it in a hurry sit down and count the cost same thing don't be in a hurry that's that's why he told him to sacrifice him not nearby but 3 1:11:56 days away in Mount Mariah and he went to mount Mariah and he walked three days and and the devil says is it worth it to serve a God Like This who wants you to kill your son and Abraham says worth it worth it worth it and he goes up he's 1:12:13 going to take the dagger and kill his son and the Lord says stop I don't want it I was only testing you now I know that you you fear me the first time in the Bible where God says about 1:12:30 anybody you are a fearer of God I want that certificate from God God telling me you fear me I've seen it and when did he say that when he gave up that which was most precious Abraham would have given up all 1:12:49 his sheep and camels and everything or whatever he had to keep Isaac but God said give up Isaac so we got we if you look in your life also you may you'll see that there are certain things you possess they're very precious to you and 1:13:06 one way to find out is what is your mind always on if your mind is always on something that's usually what you possess I'm not saying our legitimate work we have to do our legitimate work to earn our living that's okay see I used this illustration of the 1:13:25 rubber band you probably heard me use it I can have a rubber band here's the Heavenly things that I keep my mind set on then I stretch it down to the Earth for all my Earthly work maybe 8 hours a day maybe 12 hours a day this rubber 1:13:41 band is stretched down to earth to be occupied with my work or the office or a factory or a business or whatever it is and then my work is over and the rubber band is released it goes back to the Heavenly things the mind I mean the mind 1:13:55 is back to heaven but with many Christians most Christians is the other way around the robber band is tied down here to Earthly things and is stretched on Sunday morning for little praise and worship and singing a few songs and then 1:14:10 when that's all over back to Earthly things again and then stretched maybe on Wednesday evening when we think again a little bit about Heavenly things and then back again where is your mind connected that is the question it all 1:14:28 depends on what is your possession you cannot possess but you can have so when Abraham came back from Mount Mariah that day he still had Isaac Isaac hadn't disappeared he was still his son but he never possessed him and that 1:14:47 is what it means to be a disciple to possess nothing but maybe you have many many things but you possess nothing and this is not a once- for all thing because I found that you can give up something and then you put your hand 1:15:02 on the Altar and take it back after a while that's how backsliding happens that's how you find some people who started their life with tremendous Devotion to Christ you see them years later I've seen that so many cases like 1:15:14 that wonderful young people who in their early 20s were Radical disciples you see them 20 years later oh it's gone I'm concerned about young people who are radical Christians that they don't lose that fire they need older people who keep 1:15:32 challenging them to keep that fire by their own example so those are the conditions of discipleship which will make sure the salt remains salty which ensures that we keep building the skyscraper and which ensures that we win 1:15:46 the battle every time against the devil let's pray Heavenly Father father we just want to commit this what we have heard today that it will not be taken away it will not be 1:16:06 something that goes in without depth of Earth but will sink deep it'll not be something that's crushed out by the Thorns cares and worries of this life but it'll produce fruit for eternity We Trust You Lord please help every one of 1:16:24 us to meditate on what we have heard whatever you have spoken to us individually and to live by it every single day of our life that we can here build a church against which the Gates of Hell will not 1:16:40 Prevail we pray in Jesus name amen
