One at a Time and the Great Commission

I remember hearing the story of a little boy who was at the ocean with his family and at the time a huge number of Starfish had been washed ashore covering the beach they were at.  The boy was picking up the Starfish one at time and throwing them back into the sea, his Father watched him for some time and came up to him and said, "Son, you can't rescue all of these Starfish, there are just too many."  The son looked at his Dad and said, "You're right Dad, I may not be able to save them all, but I can save this one".  He bent over and picked up the one closest to him and threw it into the water, "and I can save this one".  And over and over he repeated himself.

  Many, many people say yes to salvation through Jesus Christ, but most don't stay with it.  Jesus even talked about this in the Parable of the Seeds found in Matthew 13, only 1 out of 4 seeds actually produces what it was created for!  In the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20 we read that every Christ Follower is to do;

1. Go.
2. Make Disciples everywhere.
3. Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
4. Teach them to obey everything I commanded you.

  I want to focus on #4 - "Teach them to obey everything I commanded you."  I believe with all my heart that every Christ follower should have a mentor/discipler who does what Jesus commanded us.  These were His last words, and last words are usually quite important.  If we discipled everyone who asked Christ to forgive them I think the failure/fall out rate would be drastically lower, Christ followers would be so much more effective and more people would come to Christ as Savior.  Most Christ followers do not even know everything Jesus commanded.  Do you?  Take the time to do a Harmony of the Gospels Study, I recommend Thomas/Gundry's by Moody Press.  Spiritual Reproduction (discipleship) has to occur for Christianity to continue, and learning to apply Jesus' commands and taking the time to teach others what they are and how to apply them is fulfilling the Great Commission.

  My advice to you is first find someone who is young in the faith, go through Jesus' commands in the New Testament together.  Study them and figure out how to obey/apply them and then when you are both done, both of you go find someone else to do this with on your own.