Great Commission Strategy

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” Matt 4:19
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” Mark 1:17

First of all, Jesus calls us because he sees potential in us. He calls us because he likes us. A rabbi in the days of Jesus only called disciples he knew could be just like him.

Secondly, we follow him. We don’t follow anyone other than Jesus.

Our assignment is connected with our calling. Jesus didn’t just call his disciples to follow him. He also gave them an assignment “I will make you fishers of men”. If they chose to follow him, he will then train them, make them and take them into their real destiny. Which was Catching men.

Maybe some people will hear the call of Jesus to himself and then will get training in business, government, education, etc. He calls us and we follow him into the places he wants to go.

So how do you live this out on a daily basis? And how do you teach others to obey this? I have a couple opinions but I would love to hear how you obey & teach this command to others. So please leave a comment below sharing how you do this!

Action Points:

For me the most basic key to actually living this command on a daily basis is knowing the voice of God.  When the disciples were called to follow Jesus they followed Jesus physically.  They could talk to him, ask him questions.  They could even smell his body odor!

But for you and me we have something even better than that!  We have the Holy Spirit.  And we live by the Spirit and not by rules.  So…if we’re going to follow Jesus.  We need to understand the leading of the Spirit.

And for me the way I am led by the Spirit is by understanding his voice.  It’s not necessarily an audible voice.  Sometimes it’s a feeling that I should, or shouldn’t, do something.  Sometimes it’s a thought.  It can be all sorts of things.  God even spoke to a guy through a donkey in the Bible!

The best way to discern what is God’s voice and what is your voice.  Is by practice.  When I first met my wife I didn’t know her voice from any other lady’s voice.  Now when she calls me I know it’s hear easily.  It works the same with God.

You feel like he is leading you to do something.  So you do it.  And see the results.  That’s how it works!

Many Blessings as you begin to follow Jesus & teach others how to obey this as well!

One day Loren Cunnigham (YWAM) was is Colorado with his family on vacation.  He got word from Bill Bright (Campus Crusade) that he was also in Colorado.  So they made an appointment to have lunch the next day.

That night Loren got a word from God to share with Bill when they were eating.  God told him that there were 7 Spheres of influence, of 7 mind molders, in society.  If you want to influence a nation.  You have to take these 7 mind molders because whoever influences these 7 will influence the culture and whoever takes the culture will take the harvest!

Needless to say Loren was pretty excited to share this work with Bill the next day.

When they sat down to eat lunch, Loren said to Bill “I have a word for you” and to his surprise Bill said “I have a word for you too!”  They both pulled out the paper, or napkin, or whatever it was they wrote the word on.  And guess what?!  They both had the same thing written down!

God told them the same 7 things that influence culture which influence the nations. And since Jesus told us to “Make Disciples of All Nations”  this is the strategy for today to accomplish this command.

The 7 Mind Molders are:

• Religion
• Government & Law
• Arts & Entertainment
• Education
• Business
• Media
• Family

These 7 Culture molders influence the thoughts & values of any culture anywhere on earth!

For us to truly finish the great commission we need to find which sphere God is calling us to influence, invade that sphere & demonstrate God’s excellence, to release his commands in that sphere and therefore to represent God’s Kingdom there!

Have an opinion on how to do this?  Leave a comment below!

Have you ever thought about those people in the bible who did great things and thought….I wish I could be like them?

I have…but maybe I’m weird.  It’s that God given drive for significance I guess.  High D if you’re familiar with the DISC model.

Anyways….

Every great man & woman of God in the Bible had one thing in common when it came to doing the great thing.  And that one thing is this:

Favor

Moses tells the people.  Go to your next-door neighbor’s, their slave driver’s house, knock on the door, and ask them for whatever you want and they’ll give it to you.  Why?  Cause God was going to put his favor on them.

Esther is going to barge in on the King and ask him to not kill her people.  If she does this she will die.  It’s not right with protocol.  But she goes in and doesn’t die.  Why?  She found favor in the king’s eyes.

And of course there’s Jesus.  It says in Luke 2 that he grew in wisdom, stature & favor with God and Man.  How in the world does the perfect God of the universe need to grow in favor with God?  I don’t know…but if Jesus needed to.  How much more do we?!!!

So the thing that caused all of the great men & women of God to do great things is that irresistable force called favor.

Here’s the definition of favor I got via Lance Wallnau:

Favor is God’s affection towards you, that releases an influence through you, that causes others to like you, trust you & cooperate with you in the assignment God has given you.

Favor is always linked to an assignment!

So how do you find your assignment?

Part 2 will cover how to find your assignment.

When Jesus gave the great commission in Matthew 28 to “make disciples of all nations” he was specifically speaking to group of youth.

I say there was 11 in the video because Judas had killed himself and that left the other 11 disciples.

It’s my opinion that we need to call youth back to the Great Commission.

Forget just trying to get them to not do drugs and not have sex.  Lets get them to be a part of something bigger than themselves so they can get on with doing what Jesus would want them to do.

There are 7 culture molders, or spheres of influence, in any society.  The culture of a society will influence the actions of that society.  But what influences culture?  Whatever controls the mass mind of culture, controls the nation.  And those 7 “mind molders” are:

• Religion
• Government & Law
• Arts & Entertainment
• Education
• Business
• Media
• Family

These 7 mind molders effect the thoughts of any culture.  And like I said thoughts lead to actions.

So…it’s time we start empowering, equipping & training young people to find the sphere of influence God is calling them to and give them the tools necessary to bring God’s kindgom into that “Culture Molder”