Read Matthew 4:18-22 and do the following exercises:

• What is Jesus calling the brothers to? Why might that have been appealing to them?
• Does this encounter qualify as “evangelism?” If not, why not? If so, how is it different than more familiar approaches to evangelism?
• Have you ever called someone to follow you into anything before? If yes, what? If no, why not?

Here’s where things get a little more risky this week: Over the next 48 hours I want you to look for an opportunity to imitate Jesus’ model of leadership. Jesus didn’t try sell, coerce, manipulate, or command the brothers to do anything. He simply invited them to join him (”follow me”) into a project that was good and compelling (”I can make you fishers of men”). It was their choice to follow or not.

Sometime during the next two days I want you to attempt to do the same thing with someone in your life. It can be something big or small. You could invite a co-worker to join you in a new project. You could invite your children to join you in a game or chore. You could invite a neighbor to help you serve someone else in need. You could invite an enemy to join you in reconciliation. Take some time now to pray and ask God to open your eyes to just such an opportunity.

Not only did Jesus tell us to make disciples, but he told us how to make disciples. In the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20), Jesus lays out a method of spiritual formation that is from the inside-out:

• “Make disciples” - Enlist people as students of Jesus, engaging their mind and their will (or their “hearts”) in the intentional experience of learning from him.
• “Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” - This doesn’t just refer to dunking people underwater. It literally means to immerse (”baptize”) them into the presence and reality of the triune God. Put another way, we must immerse people in the kind of life that is full of the work of the living God. That is exactly what Christ did with his disciples.
• “Teach them to obey everything I have commanded” - Specifically, teach them the faithful outward acts of a genuine inward faith, like those found in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). This means to praise them when they succeed, correct them when they’re wrong, and encourage them when they’re tired.