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Sermon Guide

FOLLOW | Multiplication

Teaching Text

MATTHEW 28:18-20

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Sermon Recap

This Sunday, Pastor Billy closed our FOLLOW series with Jesus’ final words to His disciples in Matthew 28:18–20—the Great Commission. He began with a sobering statistic: the average Christian will make one new disciple every 26 years, and if we exist to see the fame and deeds of God renewed and known in our time, this can’t be our case.

The Great Commission can sound like a monumental assignment. Pastor Billy made the case that it is often far more ordinary than that. Every person in the room has been shaped by someone who chose to follow Jesus and then invited someone else into that life. This is multiplication; one life making room for another to follow Jesus.

Pastor Billy drew out three things that make a life of multiplication possible: identity, obedience, and inheritance. We begin by knowing who we are in Christ and whose authority we live under. Then we look around. We already have relationships, access, and places of influence no pastor could replicate. “The plan is you,” Pastor Billy said. “You are the pastor of your workplace, your family, your friend group.”

The final movement was inheritance. The Great Commission is not only a command to obey; it is work Jesus entrusts to His people. Because we belong to Christ, disciple-making is not reserved for the especially gifted or spiritually mature. It belongs to all of us.

The stories Pastor Billy shared made that tangible—a prayer group started at work, a new believer inviting someone to church, a simple Bible-reading practice that eventually led to a broken relationship being restored and members of a family being baptized. Small acts of obedience can travel much further than the person who first took them.

Pastor Billy ended by bringing the assignment back down to one person. Make yourself known as a Christian. Ask God who He is inviting you to disciple. Then watch for the lean-in or the opportunity to engage.

We do not change hearts, Jesus does. Our part is to be faithful with the person He has already placed in front of us.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  • Who is someone whose faith has had a lasting impact on your life? What did they actually do that helped you follow Jesus?

  • Scripture references from the sermon:

    • Matthew 28:16–20

    • 1 Peter 2:9

    • John 14:15

    • John 6:44

    • Hebrews 12:2

    • Mark 10:29–30

    • Romans 8:18

    Choose 1–2 passages from the list and read them together:

    • What stands out to you in this passage?

    • What does this passage reveal about God and His purposes for His people?

    • What do you notice about our role in God's work?

    1. What stayed with you from Sunday's message?

    2. Jesus sent His disciples even though some of them were still doubting. How does that change the way you think about being “ready” to make disciples?

    3. Pastor Billy encouraged us to ask God for one person to disciple. Who comes to mind when you hear that?

    4. What might it look like to make yourself known as a Christian in the ordinary places you already spend your time?

  • Pray for courage to respond to the people and opportunities God has already placed around us.

    Ask God to bring one person to mind and to give each person in the group the faithfulness to take the next step, trusting Him with what comes after.

    Pray a commissioning over your group that they would be the pastors of their workplace, friend group, industry, etc.