My Father's House Spiritual Retreat Center at 39 North Moodus Road, Moodus, CT 06469 US - GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES

Jesus has given to us, that is to each and all of us, the Great Commission to "go and make disciples." We read in Matthew's Gospel, 'Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. 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 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded of you. Know that I am with you always, even to the end of the age"' (28:18-20). Jesus came on a mission from the Father. He tells us in His Inaugural address what that mission is to be. 'The Spirit of the Lord rests upon me. For this has He anointed me, to proclaim good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, for the prisoners to be set free, that the blind may have sight, and to announce a year of favor from the Lord" (Lk 4:1-12). Jesus came to proclaim the good news, to heal, to unite, to enlighten, and to evangelize. He also came to pass his mission on to us as His body. We are to be His Hands, His Eyes, His Feet, His Lips and His Heart "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Each of us is called to continue across our time and our space His redemptive and healing work. Jesus realized a simple principle of evangelization, that is, that the masses are led by a few inspired disciples. And so He spent sometime with the 5,000, more time with the 70 disciples, still more time with the twelve apostles, and most of His time with Peter, James and John, His key leaders. He had a method. There is a very beautiful book by Robert Coleman enticed, "The Master Plan of Evangelism." It is a description of Jesus' relationship with His disciples organized around eight principles. These are the principles of Jesus' method of evangelization and disciplepshipmaking. 1. Selection. Jesus chose a few men who were willing to learn. He did not neglect the masses, but He concentrated on the seventy, the twelve and the three. Thus, He recognized a natural principle-the many are lead by a few. And the priority is to instruct some who others will follow. Some years ago, someone asked Billy Graham what he considered to be his most important work; and he answered, 'The selection and the formation of a few good men who would pass on to others what the Lord has passed on to me. " 2. Association. Much of what the disciples learned and received through their constant association with Jesus we too will be able to train others to do, but only by establishing deep intimate and personal relationships with them-not just through formal times of teaching and instruction. 3. Consecration. Jesus sought men and also women who would dedicate themselves completely to following Him. They had to be willing to leave everything to do this, even father, mother, wife and children, if need be. The call was to radically commit to Him and to His Gospel for the sake of others. In this He was their prime example in that He was totally consecrated to the Father and His plan. 'With all the earnestness I possess, I tell you this, the Son does nothing on his own. The Son does only what he sees the Father doing" (Jn 5:19). Jesus only did the will of the Father and He was totally consecrated to His plan. 4. Impartation- Jesus realized that without His spirit, these apostles could do nothing. He was as a vine and they were as branches. Without the new life of His Spirit He realized that they could not be Inspired to think or to love or to act like Him. So Jesus imparted to them His Holy Spirit, and it was the Spirit that enlightened their minds, inflamed their hearts and empowered their lives so that they could think and love and act like Him. All disciples must come to depend upon the Holy Spirit. Catholicism, Christianity is essentially a Charismatic religion. All life, all wisdom, all holiness, all inspiration, and all power come from the Father, through the Son by the working of the Holy Spirit. 5. Demonstration. Jesus showed his disciples how to do the Father's will. He taught them constantly through what He did and through what He said. He taught them how to pray, how to meditate upon the Scriptures and how to reach others. 6. Delegation. Jesus delegated His authority and responsibility to His disciples and sent them out expecting them to learn from experience. He trusted them. He gave them practical and detailed instruction such as, take nothing along the way. 7. Supervision. Jesus reviewed his disciples words and actions and used their failures and successes to teach them. He gently corrected them and showed patience in bringing them to maturity. 8. Reproduction. Jesus taught his disciples to reproduce themselves in others. Thus, a Christian becomes another Christ; and what I learn from Him, I pass on to others. The Kingdom of God grows through spiritual reproduction. God's method is to reproduce his life in us, transforming us Into other Jesus' so that we think and love and act like Him. The Vine And The Branches In the 15th Chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus gives us a beautiful parable about discipleship. He says, 'I am the vine and you are the branches. If you abide in me and my word abides in you then you shall ask for anything you wish and you shall have it." Here we have the first three principles of discipleship: abiding, listening and answered prayer. 1. We have to abide in Christ. That is, we have to consecrate ourselves to Him, All that we are and all that we have we have to surrender to Him so that He may work in us and through us by His Spirit with His Wisdom, His Love and His Power. We have to consecrate to Him the first part of every day, go to Him first with every decision and problem and give Him the first place in our hearts. We should say a Morning Offering, and, if we go to daily Mass, we should unite ourselves with the priest and to Christ at the offertory. 2. Through meditation and prayer we are to listen to Christ. We should allow the Scriptures to speak to our minds and hearts and an ever new and personal word. We should also allow the Spirit of God to put thoughts directly into our minds. Inspired thoughts, Christ-like thoughts, holy thoughts. It is in meditation and prayer that we commune with God. 3. Once we get on God's wavelength, we will find that more and more of our prayers are, in fact, answered. Bearing Fruit Jesus goes on to say in this parable, 'For this is how my Father's glory is shown by your bearing much fruit and in this way you will become my disciple." Here we have three more keys: Giving glory to the Father, bearing fruit and being a disciple. 1. First of all, we are here on earth above all to give honor, and glory and praise and adoration to our God. In everything we do and say, we should do it for the honor and glory of God. We should join our minds and hearts in union with the whole heavenly court that continually gives glory to our God. 2. As we abide in Christ, His Spirit abides in us and produces the fruits of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control or purity. This follows as the night the day. The more united we are with Christ the more His Spirit produces these fruits within us. 3. We become His disciples. Whatever a person worships, that is what he or she loves and talks about. This is true in general, but it is especially true of a Christian. The more time we spend loving and worshipping our God, the more time we will spend loving Him. Experiencing God's Love and Peace Jesus goes on to say, "Just as much as the Father loves me, that's how much I love you. Remain in my love. The reason that I'm saying all this to you is so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. 1. The more time we spend united with Christ, the more we will realize that we are fully and unconditionally loved by Him. Jesus can only love us 100 percent, which is the same as the Father. 2. The more united we are with Christ the more we will experience His joy and peace, as well--a joy and a peace the world cannot give. Empowered To Love As He Loves Jesus continues, 'All I ask of you is this, that you love one another as I have loved you. The greatest love a man can have for his friends is to lay down his life for them." 1. The more I am filled with the Spirit of Jesus, the more I am filled with the height, depth, length and breadth of His inspired agape love. The more Jesus fills me, the greater my capacity is to vastly love as He loves. I will begin to love the unlovable, forgive the unforgivable, to reach the unreachable and to touch the untouchable. 2. The more I love, the more capable I will be of sacrificing myself like Jesus, the more I will crucify my ego and my flesh and the more filled with the Spirit I will be. Hearing His Voice And Becoming His Friend Jesus proceeds to say, "I have not called you to be slave, for a slave does not know what the master is about. I have called you to be my friend because I tell you everything I hear from My Father. 1. United with Him, I will hear His voice spoken not only externally through the word, through the Church and through others, but also internally through my own thoughts and deepest intuitions.   I will hear Him tell me how much I am loved, not to worry or be afraid, to do this or not to do that. 2. In this way, I will arrive at the intimacy of real friendship moving only as the Spirit prompts me to move. A Powerful And Anointed Ministry Jesus says, you have not chosen me, I have chosen you and I have appointed you now to bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that will endure so that the Father will give to you whatever you ask of Him in my name. 1. As we abide in Christ, His Spirit prompts us to continue across our time and space His redemptive, sanctifying, healing and evangelizing work. The spirit received so humbly and prayerfully cannot be contained. It will flow through me to others. They, in turn, will be touched. 2. The more united I am and the more prayerfully I listen, the more powerful will be the anointing upon my ministry.

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