MARK

The story of Bullen… “I am going to impact the world by making disciples of all nations.” Where did he ever get such an idea?

‘Then Jesus went up a hill and called to himself the men he wanted. They came to him, and he chose twelve, whom he named apostles. “I have chosen you to be with me,” he told them. I will also send you out to preach, and you will have authority to drive out demons.” ‘And these are the twelve he chose: Simon, James, his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, Andrew, Philip, Batholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Patriot, Judas Iscariot.’ ---Mark

There are 148 hours in a week, 7696 in a year, which means that Jesus in 3 years spent over 23,000 hours with these men. If a third of that was sleep time, he still spent over 15,000 hours with them---the equivalent of 7 ½ years of work at 40 hours a week. Wherever he went, they went They ate meals together They walked over much of Israel The observed him teach, pray, and heal They went to synagogue with him weekly They asked him lots and lots of questions He led them in a study of the Old Testament

Eventually they concluded he was God’s Messiah, the Savior, the Word of God who was God. As one of them wrote, “The Word became a human being, full of grace and truth, and lived among us.” (John 1.14) Jesus loved them and called them his friends (John 15.15) He prayed for them that they would be unified (John 17.21) He was patient with them (Luke ) He gave them the Holy Spirit of Truth (Acts ) In all these ways he discipled them

The heart of discipleship is building friendships… “My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. The greatest love you can have for your friends is to give your life for them. And you are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call your servants any longer, because servants do not know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard form my Father…I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures.” Jesus, John

Nonetheless, they often failed… Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. The others fled when he was arrested. Peter denied him. The leaders of his people with the help of the Romans put him to death. But Jesus forgave them. Jesus commanded them to go into all the world and make disciples and teach them to obey his teachings Jesus promised them the help of the Holy Spirit. And they obeyed ---- not perfectly, but substantially --- and turned the world upside down.

What Jesus did, what they early church did, we are to do… “Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being: the old is gone, the new has come. All this is done by God, who through Christ has changed us from enemies into his friends, and has given us the task of making others his friends also.” St Paul, II Corinthians

The mega-strategy of Jesus: make disciples. People are God’s method for winning the world back to himself. People radically transformed by Jesus and his Spirit. It is forming friendships with others and then teaching what we ourselves have learned.

The Bourbon Street story

Meanwhile, what of the Good News Mystery Box generation? Should we reach out to them? How? Here’s something we’re working on…Project Orange? The goal: helping parents and congregation work together with our children.* * The church has kids 100 hours a year---parent have 3000!

Some ideas--- +Read the Word---take a book or theme and follow it through +Pray for our education leaders about Project Orange + Pray for Nicaragua +Pray for John Ludy and a group sinners & addicts +Offer to lead a small group for our 40 Days in the Word + Befriend someone, disciple someone + Live boldly! Whose life are you having an impact on?