“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on 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 observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”
Matthew 28:18-20
The Great Commission serves as the conclusion to the gospel of Matthew and carries significant weight in that position, as the call of the first disciples does at the start of Jesus’ ministry.
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-22
Consider these four young fishermen and how completely transformed they were by three years with Jesus. Read Acts 3 and 4 to see what happened soon after Jesus ascended back to heaven and the Holy Spirit was poured out. Peter and John (two of the former fishermen) were arrested for healing a paralyzed man and publicly preaching about Jesus. Seeing the miracle and hearing about the resurrection, many put their faith in Jesus, but the Jewish leaders were “greatly annoyed” (Acts 4:2). Trying to stop Peter and John from teaching about Jesus, the bold young men refused to be silenced.
How had two humble fishermen become bold gospel preachers?
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13
Is discipleship really as simple as that? “They had been with Jesus.”
It is only as we spend time with Jesus that we can become more like Him, and lead others along the same path.
The apostle Paul sums up his ministry with this level of powerful simplicity.
“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV)
Join us at Oakwood for the month of October (2026) as we learn what it looks like to be with Jesus and become more like Him so we can lead others to do the same. Following the Great Commission (“teaching them to observe”) and in obedience to the Sermon on the Mount, our goal is to train wise builders who hear the words of Jesus and do them.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”
Matthew 7:24-25
As we saw in our series on Lament (Sept. 2026, mostly not available online), it is also necessary to be well connected in community to be fruitful in making disciples. So visit a Community Group this month!
I’ll also update our first message on Discipleship here. I summarized the call of Jesus as P.O.S.A. (10/11/26 message: https://www.oakwoodfl.org/2026/10/08/1-come-to-me/) but someone immediately improved that to S.O.A.P. Brilliant. (And, yes, I do remember that “sopa” means soup.) The only way to be clean is to come to Jesus to have your sins washed away. Jesus’ call, “Come to me” can be summed up as:
S – serious – impacting your life and eternity
O – open to all who will acknowledge their need
A – amazing – the grace of Jesus is beyond comprehension
P – personal, directly from the eternally divine Son of God
Hear the wonderful call of the Lord Jesus:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30