In his book One Crowded Hour, Tim Bowden describes an incident in Borneo in 1964. Nepalese fighters known as Gurkhas were asked if they would be willing to jump from airplanes into combat against the Indonesians. The Gurkhas didn’t clearly understand what was involved, but they bravely said they would do it, asking only that the plane fly slowly over a swampy area and no higher than 100 feet. When they were told that the parachutes would not have time to open at that height, the Gurkhas replied, “Oh, you didn’t mention parachutes before!”
The word translated “disciple” in the New Testament means “student or follower.” Jesus upped the ante (yes, I did it again) for His disciples by saying they would need to deny themselves and take up their crosses to follow Him. Jesus’ final commission to His disciples was to go into all the world and “make disciples.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Fast forward less than three months and Peter is preaching a sermon at Pentecost at which 3,000 people are saved. These new disciples formed a church and immediately devoted themselves to the Disciples’ teaching, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer (Acts 2:42).
In the coming weeks (or months if we keep having weather delays) I plan to begin a class/Bible study to help in the area of becoming better disciples/disciple-makers. I’m hoping to find a few “Gurkhas for Jesus” among us! 🙂
Pastor Scott
Grace Notes 