ESOCS Devotional 1 March 2023

ESOCS Devotional 1 March 2023

MEMORY VERSE: “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 Ghost.” Matthew 28:19 NKJV

Our Lord Jesus’s final words to His disciples on Ascension Day is known as the Great commission. It is a command to preach the gospel and replicate all that the Saviour had done for the advancement of the kingdom.

‘Going’ suggests a lifestyle of reaching out, patterned after the life of Christ. The thought is “as you are going” make disciples of those you encounter in your daily living. Disciple makers do not just simply build a church on the corner and wait for disciples to come to them.

A disciple is a learner, a pupil, or an apprentice – a person who has decided to follow his master and become like him. Discipleship does not end with conversion; rather, it is a lifelong relationship of walking with and growing with Christ. He said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my name, he may give to you” (John 15:16).

Christ has chosen us; we did not choose him first. Not only has he chosen us, He has ordained us to be fruitful, meaning we are to be productive and successful in spreading the gospel. We were set apart for this purpose by Christ. Christ expects this fruit to “remain” or be permanent.

Disciple makers direct people to faith in Christ by their words and relationships. Therefore, embracing the Lord’s Great commission entails standing hand in hand with the Cross and spread the words that will lift men up even in our different capacities. We don’t have to be rich and educated to spread the word of God, we only need to speak true with devotion. This is the true meaning of the Gospel knowing full well that ‘He is with us always to the end of age’ (v 20).