All Nations

 Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis, and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

Most church planters who have been trained in the Village Church Planting ministry can recite from memory the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19,20. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We pray for its fulfillment. We teach people to make disciples in obedience to these last words of Jesus before his ascension. But too often in our teaching we forget a very significant phrase, “make disciples of all nations.”

Even baby Christians understand that they are called upon to make disciples. But the vast majority of Christians who make disciples are discipling people from their own tribe, their own country, their own language, their own ethnic groups and their own religious background. Please don’t misunderstand. Each of us must disciple our family, our neighbors, our friends. We must use our mother tongue to do so. We must help them follow Christ in ways that respect our shared cultural norms. This is good, but it is not enough. We must teach our disciples to make disciples of all nations.

But what is a nation? When the Bible speaks of nations it is not describing countries like Nigeria, Gabon, Ethiopia or Egypt. It is speaking of ethnic groups like Ewe, Yoruba, Fang, Oromo, and Berbers. 

Jesus’ command to make disciples of all ethnic groups was shocking. His disciples, like most people everywhere, were ethnocentric. That means they thought their people, their tribe, their ethnic group was better, smarter, and more deserving of God’s blessing than other ethnic groups. James and John even wanted to call down fire from heaven when the Samaritans wouldn’t welcome them (Luke 9:54). When believed and obeyed, Jesus’ Great Commission slays ethnocentrism. If believe that God is calling people from every tribe and every religious background to be disciples of Jesus, and it’s your job to teach them to follow Him, racism and ethnocentrism will be destroyed in your life.

Furthermore, if you believe that to faithfully follow Jesus, you must work, pray, give, and go to make disciples of other ethnic groups, the world will be transformed.

So, let me ask you three questions. Do you believe that working to make disciples of all nations is God’s will for your life? Have you begun to share the Good News and make disciples of people from other ethnic groups? Are you training your disciples that they have a Gospel responsibility even to the tribes and peoples they have most despised? If you can answer yes to all three of these questions, you are well on your way to changing the world. If you can’t answer yes to all three questions, please pray for God to give you grace to love people from all nations and to fulfill the Great Commission.

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, who will you share this encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #TheGreatCommission #VillageChurchPlanting

The Three Circles The World is Broken

 

Hello, this is Multiply, a podcast to encourage village church planters and leaders. I am Brad Snowden. I have learned many things throughout my life, and one important thought is. I cannot fix everything because this is a man's default. If my wife shares a problem, my mind goes into action. How can I fix this to make it better or right? There are some things that no matter how you try, you cannot fix. It is amazing how far man will go to try to fix things with money or possessions, trying to fill the void, and yet it will not happen. WHY? 

The three circles have such a great object lesson for us to learn from. We can not fix what is not ours to fix. We live in a broken world, the second drawing in the three circles. 

God did not design our world to be broken, and through sin, it is broken. We live in a broken world, not as God desired. God’s design was different than the place we live in now. He desired our lives to be filled with His presence, for He walked with Adam in the garden and talked with him. Our bodies to be healthy and strong, but because we live in a broken world, we have frailty. He desired us to have perfect union with Him and for our families to be whole. We could go on and on with the brokenness of our world and how it affects us. 

We live here in this broken world, and that is where we are. This is such a suitable place to share with someone because they cannot deny that this world is broken. You can invite them to share with you what they see and how brokenness has touched their lives. We can easily share this point and how we got here because of the rebellion of man’s heart. We are all born into this broken world, and so that makes us all in need of fixing. 

This fixing is not something this world can give us because it is broken.

The three circles are such a powerful tool to bring out so many good conversations about God’s love for each one of us. It is an eye-opening and heart-opening conversation that will be such a powerful preparation of the heart to receive God’s love and the good news of Jesus Christ. It is my prayer that when it comes to drawing and explanation of the broken world, you spend time there so that the point is well-received. We can not fix this; only Jesus can do this work in the hearts of those to whom we share this.

This has been a word of encouragement for village church planters. Who will you share this with today? Lord bless you!