Disciples are Made Not Born

By: Walt Hendrichsen

ISBN: 978-0781438834

READ: 2001 & May 2017

RATING:  8/10

Summary: My second read through this book. It’s incredibly solid. He does a good job of balancing vision, heart, and skill. He begins by setting vision for the kind of person God uses, then looks at Christ and what He did. Finally, he works through some practical elements on how to train a disciple.

Chapter titles: 1. The Kind of Person God Uses 2. Jesus as Lord 3. The Cost of Discipleship 4. A Proper View of God and Man 5. Evangelism and the Disciple 6. Recruiting a Prospective Disciple 7. How to Train a Disciple – Follow-Up 8. How to Train a Disciple – Imparting the Basics 9. How to Train a Disciple – Conviction and Perspective 10. How to Train a Disciple – Gifts and Calling 11. Multiplying Your Efforts

[On Matthew 28:19-20] “We cannot embrace the promise and ignore the process.” pg. 5

Chapter 1 –The Kind of Person God Uses

“Jesus had world vision. He expected His men to have world vision. Jesus expected them to see the world through the disciples they would produce, just as He had seen the world through the twelve men He had raised up.” pg. 8

“Activity is no substitute for production. Production is no substitute for reproduction.” –Dawson Trotman

“Rarely did the Lord Jesus ask people to seek something, but here [Mt. 6:33] He suggests we seek two things which are to become twofold objective of every believer: His kingdom and His righteousness.” pg. 10

“The Scriptures are shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without dear of drowning and deep enough for theologians to swim without ever touching the bottom.” St. Jerome pg. 13

“The faithful person is the one who has applied the Scriptures to every area of his life.” pg. 18

Chapter 2 – Jesus as Lord

“A disciple is a disciplined one. He is one who says no to what he wants in deference to what his Lord wants. The disciple does not pamper himself by satisfying his wants and desires in a self-gratifying fashion.” pg. 21

Chapter 3 –The Cost of Discipleship

“The disciple is one who in every area of his life determines from the Bible what is right and lives it consistently rather than allowing circumstances to shape his conduct.” pg. 32

“An important lesson for the disciple emerges from these three verses (Luke 14:8-10): namely, that the commandments of God are never whimsical or arbitrary but are designed for our best.” pg. 34

“Christianity is a religion of rescue.” pg. 38

“One of the fundamental requisites for true discipleship is a spirit of desperation that burns deep within the soul.” pg. 38

Chapter 4 – A Proper View of God and Man

“Every problem a person has is related to his concept of God. If you have a big God, you have small problems. If you have a small God you have big problems. Simple as that.” pg. 45

“The Lord God never grows tired, never runs out of ideas, never at a loss as to what to do or where to go.” pg. 49

“There are only two persons who can hurt you—you and God. Satan cannot hurt you.” pg. 49

“No one can touch your life but you, and the Bible does teach that it is possible for a person to ruin himself. You are your own worst enemy.” pg. 50

“The Bible teaches that God is man’s Savior. He and He alone can save. Consequently, He alone is our security.” [Is. 43:11-18] pg. 52

“If you and I had been with the disciples on that eventful day, we, like they, would no doubt have seen the Crucifixion as a tragedy. Likewise, if we had been with the women at the tomb on that Sunday morning when they found it empty, we, like they, would have concluded that a further calamity had struck, that somebody had stolen the body. However, with the perspective of 2,000 years, we view both the Cross and the empty tomb not as calamities but as victories.” pg. 55

[On Is. 58:10-12] “During dry periods in your life, the Lord will satisfy your soul. You will have the privilege of becoming the foundation of many generations. But all this is qualified by an ‘if’. If you will give your soul to the hungry and afflicted. If you will devote your life to this kind of goal and objective, God will in turn prosper you beyond your wildest imagination.” pg. 56

“Let me urge you to look further at Isaiah 40-66. Read through these great chapters three separate times. The first time through, write down all you learn about the nature and character of God. In your second reading, write down all you learn about the nature and character of man. The third time through, write down all that you learn about God’s commitment to man. This third reading will stagger you. having learned of His greatness and our tendency to sin, you will see how graciously He has dealt with us.” pg. 57

Chapter 5 – Evangelism and the Disciple.

“Being a disciple begins with a [roper relationship to Jesus Christ and having on your heart what’s on His. Making disciples begins with evangelism.” pg. 59

“Evangelism begins with becoming friends with worldly people.” pg. 60

“In evangelism, develop a feel for the important questions and major in them.” pg. 65

Chapter 6 – Recruiting a Prospective Disciple

“As ambassadors of Jesus Christ, we are in the business of recruiting me and women to a life of discipleship.” pg. 72

“Our ministry should have a pulsating rhythm to it of thrust and conserve. First, recruit a small band of individuals and then throttle back and build deeply into their lives.” pg. 78

[On Luke 2:52]: “Wisdom is the intellect. Stature is the physical. In favor with God is the spiritual. In favor with man is the social.” pg 82

“A commander tells people what to do; a leader shows people what to do by personal example.” pg. 84

“It is imperative, therefore, that you major on being the kind of person you want your disciple to become. You can know for certain that you will reproduce what you are in his life.” pg. 86

Chapter 7 – How to Train a Disciple in Follow-Up

“Making disciples begins with the task of evangelism. If we work only with Christians in our disciple-making ministry, then the net gain to the Kingdom of God is zero.” pg. 87

“Aggressive evangelism is the mark of the committed disciple, and it is primarily from the fruit of this evangelism that he chooses his Timothy—the person he seeks to disciple.” pg. 87

“Follow-up then is spiritual pediatrics—the care and protection of the spiritual infant.” pg. 88

“We are shocked to the point of unbelief when we hear of a baby being left alone without proper care, but for some reason, our consciences are dulled when we hear of new babes in Christ being neglected. Left alone they slip into carnality.” pg. 88

“Follow-up is nothing more and nothing less than parental concern coupled with common sense.” pg. 88

“For many new Christians, the task of learning how to feed themselves from the Word of God is laborious.” pg. 94

Chapter 8—How to Train a Disciple, Imparting the Basics

He identifies the basics from 1 Thess 1 process Paul describes: 1. solid decisions for Christ 2. Disciples. 3. Pacesetters. 4. Reproduction. 5. Commitment

“The dictionary defines train as ‘to direct the growth of: to form by instruction; discipline and drill; to form by bending; [pruning, such as directing the growth of a plant].” pg. 101

“All the trainer can do is help a disciple become what he wants to be.” pg. 101

“In the final analysis, the trainer can contribute to a person’s development in only two areas: 1. The giving of time. 2. The opportunity to learn.” pg. 101

“The trainer then simply assumes the role of a guide and stimulus for the person, enabling him to attain his own goals and objectives.” pg. 102

“The hub of a wheel does at least two things—it provides the power that moves the wheel, and it also gives direction for the wheel.” pg. 105

Chapter 9 –How to Train a Disciple, Conviction and Perspective

“Faith is never passive—always active.” pg 121

“Discover the person who has the conviction without knowing how to disciple others, and you will eventually see that person find the method.” pg. 125

“The only time a person willfully sins is when his perspective goes out of focus.” pg. 127

“Conviction and perspective characterized the life of Moses. They are the two most important aspects of the training process. They are essential ingredients in “The Art of Discipling. If the aspirant lacks either conviction or perspective, he is not trained.” pg. 127

“Training begins and ends with God.” pg. 127

“Convictions are built, not by practicing the method, but by understanding the principle. The would-be disciple sees things clearly (perspective) and develops convictions by probing into the whys of what is done.” pg. 130

“major in developing thought processes rather than the skills.” pg. 133

“Major in bringing the philosophy of life into conformity with the Bible and the convictions and perspective will naturally follow.” pg. 135

Responses to the Parable of the Four Soils: 1. No faith. 2. Faith without conviction. 3. Faith without perspective. 4. Reproductive faith. pg. 135-136

In Training Disciples we should: 1. Major in principles rather than methods. 2. Major in meeting the needs of people rather than on developing, and imparting techniques. 3. Major in developing the thought processes rather than in the skills. 4. Major in how to trust God rather than teaching religious stories about God. “By now you may realize that these four suggestions are simply four facets of the same truth, like facets of a diamond. The gem we are looking at is conviction and perspective.” pg. 138

Chapter 10 – How to Train a Disciple, Gifts and Calling

“As I help people in this area, I work under the premise that any talents or abilities a person has are God-given and become ‘spiritual’ when controlled and energized by the Holy Spirit.” pg. 143

Chapter 11 – Multiplying Your Efforts

“…the first commandment God ever gave to man, a commandment to multiply.” pg. 150

“God wants the same principles that are at work in the physical realm to be applied in the spiritual realm.” pg. 152

“Addition can never keep pace with multiplication.” pg. 153

“Multiplication is assured only when there is proper training of faithful people who can carry the training process into succeeding generations.” pg. 154

“Disciples cannot be mass produced.” pg. 155

Chapter 12 – Choosing a Life Objective

“…The difference between comfortable Christianity and costly Christianity is spiritual reproduction.” pg. 168

“Because involvement in people’s lives is costly, very few take it seriously.” pg. 170