And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:18-20

A disciple is a learner; one who is taught and disciplined. A disciple is one who sits at the feet of another to learn from him and to become like him. A disciple of Yeshua is committed to obeying and serving Him. His goal is to become just like his Master. Many believers today are followers of Yeshua; they are not true disciples. A follower may appreciate the salvation Yeshua offers, but he chooses to live for his own pleasure and gain. He follows Yeshua for the blessings he can receive - not in order to be a blessing to Him.

The ministry style of Yeshua

Yeshua preached to thousands of followers, trained at least 70 disciples, and chose 12 of those disciples for closer friendship and additional training. From the 12, Yeshua chose three as special friends to mentor further. Let's look at this in more detail --

Yeshua preached the gospel to the multitudes (thousands of people). He taught them about the Kingdom of God, healed the sick and delivered many from demonic oppression. He not only cared for their spiritual needs, He also felt responsible for their physical needs. On two occasions He multiplied food for them. Yeshua felt a responsibility to the multitudes (Matt. 4:23-25, 14:14-21; Luke 4:40-41, 5:15). He described His public ministry in Luke 4:18-19.

Yeshua trained at least 70 people and sent them to preach the gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons. (Luke 10:1-3) Out of this group, Yeshua selected 12 men to teach and train as apostles. Yeshua chose them to be with Him and to learn from Him before sending them out to do His work (Mark 3:13-15, Matt. 28:16-20).

In John 17:6a, 8, Yeshua describes His ministry to His disciples:

I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world... I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.

Of these 12, Yeshua chose three - Peter, James and John - who would be His closer companions. These He mentored into leadership.

Yeshua's ministry to His disciples

Yeshua manifested God's name (His Person, nature, and character) to His disciples. He did not try to disciple everyone; He only trained those whom the Father gave Him. Into them, He poured His life. Yeshua then sent His disciples out to preach the gospel, heal the sick, and disciple others in their personal relationships with God and the Scriptures. (John 17:18 -As You sent Me out into the world, I also have sent them out into the world.)

Our calling as the Lord's disciples today is identical to the calling that God gave Yeshua and His original disciples: (1) We are to minister to the multitudes in the power of the Spirit through preaching, teaching, and healing. (2) We are to teach and train others in their relationship with the Lord. (3) If we are spiritual leaders, we are to notice those with leadership potential and invest more fully into them, mentoring them into spiritual leadership.

Commissions to obey

The commissions regarding the souls of men that Yeshua gave to His disciples should be of top priority within the life of every believer. We will consider three: (1) to pray for laborers for the harvest, (2) to preach the gospel, and (3) to produce disciples.

The first commission is found in Matt. 9:37-38.

Then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

We have a mandate from God to pray for more workers for the harvest. This should be a regular part of our prayer lives! People all over the world are dying without the knowledge of God's salvation in Yeshua. We must petition the Father to send workers into His harvest fields!

The more we pray for laborers, the more we want to be among those that God sends. The opposite is also true: the less we pray for workers to be sent into the harvest fields, the more we will feel comfortable staying right where we are. The late Keith Green wrote a song with these lyrics: "The Lord tells us to go; why do so many feel called to stay?"

Yeshua gave us a second commission in Mark 16:15: And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  We are to preach the good news of salvation made possible through Yeshua's death and resurrection! Our ministry should include praying for the sick and casting out demons. (see Mark 16:17-18) The Apostle Paul said in 1 Cor. 2:4-5, And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

A third commission, commonly called the Great Commission, is found in Matthew 28:19-20. We are commissioned to produce disciples. Intentional, strategic disciple making is the surest way to bring new believers into a solid relationship with the Lord and a mature understanding of Him and His ways. We are to help believers yield to Yeshua's Lordship. To make a disciple requires us to teach, mentor, and model the lifestyle of Yeshua. It is not just the informing of facts; it is imparting life.

Multiplication principle of disciple making

To illustrate how important and effective intentional discipling is, consider this comparison. Imagine a powerful evangelist who could win 1000 souls to Yeshua each day of his life from the day he was born. In 80 years, he would win 29,200,000 souls to Yeshua. That is wonderful! What a tremendous accomplishment!

However, if one person faithfully disciples another person for an entire year and then those two disciple one person each the next year, there will be four disciples. If those four disciples faithfully disciple one person each for a year, and the resulting eight people disciple eight more the next year, and so on... In one generation of faithful disciple making the earth's population of over 6 billion people could be discipled (not just converted)! In 33 years, 4,294,967,296 people would be discipled! In 34 years, 8,589,934,592 would be discipled!

The attack against disciple making

One of the greatest attacks against the Body of Messiah has always been in the area of intentional disciple making. Throughout history, the Church has been its weakest when the ministry of making disciples has been neglected or forgotten. Today, many believers are not being trained how to study God's Word and apply His principles to their lives, so they are carnal, weak, and ineffective. Many have distorted perceptions of God. Others have faulty doctrines. New believers need people who will invest in them personally. They need to be taught how to grow in their knowledge of the Lord so that they can become spiritually mature and able to disciple others.

Spiritual leaders must invest time and energy to disciple believers and equip them to share the load of ministry. Busy with many areas of service, leaders often neglect the crucial work of making disciples. If only they could see that the Lord's ordained method for building His Body and preparing ministries was and still is personal disciple making!

Dr. Keith Phillips says, Discipleship is the only way to produce both the quantity and quality of believers God desires.

Unless we understand that we are called to make disciples, we will fail to get alongside new or struggling believers to help them mature in the Lord. We need to realize that we ARE our brothers' keepers (Genesis 4:9-10), and take our God-given responsibility to care for the spiritual welfare of others seriously.

Lasting fruit

We are commissioned not to make converts, but to make disciples. Unfortunately, we have many "infant deaths" within God's kingdom; recent statistics show that 80-90% of new believers fall away from the faith within the first year of their giving their lives to Yeshua! God does not want us to just bear fruit; He wants us to bear fruit that remains!

In John 15:16 Yeshua said, You have not chosen Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

The devotional writer Oswald Chambers wrote in My Utmost for His Highest,

Our work begins where God's grace has laid the foundation; we are not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God's sovereign grace; our work as His disciples is to disciple lives until they are completely yielded and surrendered to God. One life wholly yielded to God is of more value to God than 100 lives simply awakened by His Spirit. God brings us to a standard of life by His grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that standard in others.

Strategic, intentional disciple making is one of the ways we can bear fruit that remains. Pause for a few minutes and ask the Lord into whom you should be investing your life and the Word of God. Ask Him how He wants you to fulfill this Great Commission.