Page 45 - Principles for Discipling Others-Student textbook

Winning Someone to Christ

Matthew 28:19-20; Daniel 12:3; Acts 1:8
Jesus came to earth to reveal God and His will to men. Part of God’s plan for men is that every man
might come to love God supremely.

II Peter 3:9 “The Lord….is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance.”

So we should be interested in helping people to know God!

The Call to Witness

Jesus had risen from the dead and had spent 40 days with his disciples, getting them ready for his
permanent departure. Finally he took them to the top of a mountain in Galilee and there he gave them
His last words:

Matthew 28: 18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been
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given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
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and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And
behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

He commanded His disciples that, while they were going, to make disciples of all nations. You cannot be
a disciple until you have received Christ as Savior, so included in this charge is the idea that his disciples
should be witnesses of Christ and make disciples of those who receive their message. Again, he made
one final charge to them just before departing into the clouds. These were his last words to his
disciples:

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my

witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

This call to witness is of greatest importance, because it represents the heartbeat of God. He came to
die for every man’s sins. He paid the ultimate price in expressing His love for all mankind. And in
departing, He wants every man to hear of what He did for them so that they might be saved.
Remember, II Peter 3:8 tells us that the Lord is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should
reach repentance. He desires all men everywhere to hear the Gospel and believe in Him. But he has
chosen you and me to be the instruments of His message.

Romans 10:13-15 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of
whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are
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they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the
good news!”

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