19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (ESV)

19 having gone, then, disciple all the nations, (baptizing them—to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Youngs Literal)

As you can see form the two versions of the same verse you may think at first there is no real difference. But there is and you may think it is samantics, but the question is: is it easier to make disciples, or, to disciple.

To "make disciples" gives the idea of turning or making someone into a disciple or even a Christian implying that to be discipled you need to be a Christian, but in fact, you don’t need to be a Christian to be discipled.

But, if you read it like the literal translation shows where the word "disciple" is a verb rather than a noun, then is would appear, to me at least, to make more sense. The first disciples weren’t made disciples, they became disciples through being discipled by Jesus. Jesus discipled (verb) them, and they became disciples. Discipling is a process and so is becoming a disciple, it takes time to understand. When you read on through the next verse "20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV) , it shows that discipling involves teaching.

To take it all together then would mean to go and teach, through discipleship, the nations to observe all that Jesus commanded.

How is this done, that comes next….

God vs Science   “Let me explain the problem science has with religion.” The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.

‘You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?’

‘Yes sir,’ the student says.

‘So you believe in God?’

‘Absolutely ‘

‘Is God good?’ ‘Sure! God’s good.’

‘Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?’

‘Yes’

‘Are you good or evil?’

‘The Bible says I’m evil..’
The professor grins knowingly. ‘Aha! The Bible! He considers for a moment. ‘Here’s one for you. Let’s say there’s a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it.. Would you help him? Would you try?’

‘Yes sir, I would..’

‘So you’re good…!’

‘I wouldn’t say that.’

‘But why not say that? You’d help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn’t.’

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. ‘He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Can you answer that one?’

The student remains silent. ‘No, you can’t, can you?’ the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. ‘Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?’

‘Er..yes,’ the student says.

‘Is Satan good?’

The student doesn’t hesitate on this one.. ‘No.’

‘Then where does Satan come from?’

The student falters. ‘From God’

‘That’s right. God made Satan, didn’t he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything, correct?’

‘Yes’

‘So who created evil?’ The professor continued, ‘If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.’

Again, the student has no answer. ‘Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?’

The student squirms on his feet. ‘Yes.’

‘So who created them ?’

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. ‘Who created them?’ There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. ‘Tell me,’ he continues onto another student. ‘Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?’

The student’s voice betrays him and cracks. ‘Yes, professor, I do.’

The old man stops pacing. ‘Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?’

‘No sir. I’ve never seen Him.’

‘Then tell us if you’ve ever heard your Jesus?’

‘No, sir, I have not.’

‘Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?’

‘No, sir, I’m afraid I haven’t..’

‘Yet you still believe in him?’

‘Yes’

‘According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist… What do you say to that, son?’

‘Nothing,’ the student replies.. ‘I only have my faith.’

‘Yes, faith,’ the professor repeats. ‘And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.’

The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. ‘Professor, is there such thing as heat? ‘

‘ Yes.

‘And is there such a thing as cold?’

‘Yes, son, there’s cold too.’

‘No sir, there isn’t.’

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. ‘You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don’t have anything called ‘cold’. We can hit down to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy.. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold… Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.’

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.

‘What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?’

‘Yes,’ the professor replies without hesitation.. ‘What is night if it isn’t darkness?’

‘You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?’

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. ‘So what point are you making, young man?’

‘Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.’

The professor’s face cannot hide his surprise this time. ‘Flawed? Can you explain how?’

‘You are working on the premise of duality,’ the student explains.. ‘You argue that there is life and then there’s death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought.’ ‘It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.’ ‘Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?’

‘If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.’

‘Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?’

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

‘Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?’

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided. ‘To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.’ The student looks around the room. ‘Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?’ The class breaks out into laughter. ‘Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt the professor’s brain, touched or smelt the professor’s brain? No one appears to have done so.. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.’ ‘So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?’

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers.. ‘I Guess you’ll have to take them on faith.’

‘Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,’ the student continues. ‘Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?’ Now uncertain, the professor responds, ‘Of course, there is. We see it Everyday. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in The multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world.. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.’

To this the student replied, ‘Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God.. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.’

The professor sat down.

PS: The student was Albert Einstein.

Albert Einstein wrote a book titled ‘God vs. Science’ in 1921……

There are several points I’d like to highlight.

Firstly, this is a wonder example of using scientific argument to prove your own point, like, I have a answer, now I’ll use these tools to prove it – bad science!

Secondly, evolution has still not been proved, yet it is taught in schools as though it is fact not a theory. This is also not good science. And if you say that God hasn’t been proved to exist, then you have missed the point!

and some photos:

And they raised $1838. You can add your bit here at the Worlds Greatest Shave

2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

A challenging statement and far easier to read that to go through.
Isaiah 64:8 states

8 But now, O Lord, You are our Father,

We are the clay, and You our potter;

And all of us are the work of Your hand.

How wonderful to know that we are the work of the creator of the universe!
Russ shared with us the “crisis” he went through with God (available here) and here are some of the revelations:

• In order for a resurrection there must be a death.
• When God speaks, your situation doesn’t necessarily change, but you change.
• When God speaks, life is released.
• Prov 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
• Even in the midst of a crisis you can still have intimacy with God. Jesus said (in Matt 28:20) that he will be with us “even to the end of the age”
• You have to build your relationship with God yourself. You can receive an impartition from others, but you cannot receive someone else’s experience of a relationship. God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day, so he wants to walk with you, be with you.
• Give God time to respond. A relationship is a two-way thing, Ps 34 “I sought the Lord and he answered me.”
• Share what you are going through with your spouce/ best friend
• You are not abandoned, God is with you in the fire Ps 23 “Even though I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me’.

“Great faith is a product of great fights” – Smith Wigglesworth.

Phil 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

1. The willingness to live off 2nd hand revelation and experiences. We read books and watch video off the internet and are willing to take that as God moving and doing his work. But what about here and you? Don’t you want God in your life, to tell others about how God worked in your life and those around you?

2. Jesus could do all these things because he was God. Wrong. In Luke 4 it is written “And Jesus full of the Holy Spirit”. Jesus was born man, but to do all the wonderful miracles he also needed the Holy Spirit, to be anointed. It was God who raised Jesus in the tomb. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus is the same Holy Spirit that saved you, that fills you!

3. The apostles did what they did because they were called to do it and its not for today – wrong! In Act 8 Philip saved, healed and cast out demons and he wasn’t an apostle.

4. Day of miracles is over – rubbish! John14:12-14
ESV: John Chapter 14

[12] “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
[13] Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
[14] If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

We can’t pick and choose.

Have you thought that God might just be waiting for you to do something, so he can work through You? Jesus commissioned us to "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons". Thats not praying for healing, that is going out and healing the sick. When you were born again, you received the same power that raised Jesus from the grave, this same power is used to heal the sick. When Peter and John where heading to the temple and saw the lame man, he didn’t say "so, whats wrong, do you have some pain in your hips? Will you let me pray for you?" NO, Peter said "… In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" See, quite straight forward really. Question, do you think God wants people to suffer with illnesses and pain? No, I didn’t think so. Is God faithful? Yes. So if you see someone suffering, are you going to do what Jesus asked of you? Are you going to lay hands on and command healing into their life, to command the illness to go. You can you know.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t pray, Jesus taught us how to pray, "… Your kingdom come, you will be done on earth as it is in heaven…". In heaven there is no illness, no tears, no pain. This is what we are asking for here on earth, no more tears, no more pain, for the kingdom of heaven to be here on earth. Are you going to be part of the solution in Gods plan? Are you going to make yourself available for God to work through? Are you going to be obedient?

This has really challenged me. I am now asking God for opportunities to heal the sick and to pray for people. I don’t see many dead people where I am, or lepers, but the deaf and the blind there are, and for opportunities to speak the gospel into peoples lives, to share what God has done and is doing in my life. I want to make a difference, I want to do what God is blessing and that is to "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons" Freely I have been give, freely I will give.

This Monday my thoughts are about “day and night” or should it be “evening and morning”? Tom Sumner’s sermon on this is well worth listening to at New Gen City Church. In Genesis it is written about how God created the heaven and the earth, and there the order is evening and morning (Gen 1:5, 8, 13,19, 23, 31). This is an interesting order of things in that the start of the ‘day’ is actually the evening before! The psalmists wrote some beautiful poetry but in there are also some amazing truths, “I will bless the Lord who has counseled me, indeed, my mind instructs me in the night” (Ps 16,7) so here God counsels David while he sleeps!

“It is in vain that you rise early and also go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil for he gives to his beloved sleep” (Ps 127:2) meaning sleep is a gift from God.

All this says that at night while we sleep God counsels and instructs and prepares us for the day ahead. Sleeping isn’t for the recouping of the day just gone but for preparation for the morning to come.