The Invested Life - Making Disciples Of All Nations One Person At A Time

192 Pages·2016·1.42 MB·English

by  Joel C Rosenberg

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Visit Joel C. Rosenberg’s website at www.joelrosenberg.com.
Learn more about T. E. Koshy’s ministry at www.friendshipevangelism.org.
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The Invested Life: Making Disciples of All Nations One Person at a Time
Copyright © 2012 by Joel C. Rosenberg. All rights reserved.
Designed by Dean H. Renninger
Published in association with Trident Media Group, LLC, 41 Madison Avenue, Floor 36, New York, NY 10010
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rosenberg, Joel C., date.
The invested life : making disciples of all nations one person at a time / Joel C. Rosenberg and T.E. Koshy.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-4143-7637-0 (sc)
1. Discipling (Christianity) 2. Witness bearing (Christianity) 3. Spiritual formation. I. Koshy, T. E. (Thottukadavil Eapen), 1933- II. Title.
BV4520.R648 2012
248'.5—dc23 2012016942
Build: 2012-08-07 11:23:50
God offers you eternal life.
He wants you to live an abundant life.
He calls you to the invested life.
THE GREAT COMMISSION
Jesus came up and spoke to [His disciples], saying, “All authority has
been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
age.”
JESUS CHRIST (MATTHEW 28:18-20)
Contents
How to Use This Book
Note to the Reader
Chapter One: Ask Two Simple Questions
Testimony: John and Edith Hayward
Chapter Two: Defining Discipleship
Testimony: Dr. T. E. Koshy
Chapter Three: Be Discipled
Testimony: Gandhi
Chapter Four: Follow Jesus’ Model
Testimony: Syracuse
Chapter Five: Prayerfully Choose
Testimony: Mrs. Indira Koshy, MD
Chapter Six: Get Started
Testimony: Marriage
Chapter Seven: Go Deeper
Testimony: Lynn A. Rosenberg
Chapter Eight: Worship Together
Testimony: Joel C. Rosenberg
Chapter Nine: Track Your Progress
Additional Recommended Reading
About the Authors
Notes
How to Use This Book
Get a big, biblical vision.
This is God’s heart for his children and his church.
Fear not.
With God’s help, you can do this.
Start praying.
Unless the Lord builds the house, the workers labor in vain.
Take baby steps.
Begin with small, manageable tasks: each chapter title is a task; when you finish
reading the whole book, go back to the table of contents to see the simple process you
can follow.
Note to the Reader
For simplicity, this book generically uses the terms he and him. But this should not be
taken to imply that the invested life is only for men. God’s plan for making disciples is
universal, with older men investing in younger men and older women investing in the
lives of younger women.
Discussion Questions
For your convenience, the discussion questions at the end of each chapter are available
online in a printable format. Go to www.tyndale.com/the-invested-life and click on the
Discussion Guide link along the left.
Chapter One
Ask Two Simple Questions
Go therefore and make disciples . . .
JESUS CHRIST (MATTHEW 28:19)
Every follower of Jesus Christ should be able to answer two simple questions:
First, “Who is investing in me?”
And second, “Whom am I investing in?”
God desires to pour an abundance of spiritual and emotional capital into your life—
directly and through older and wiser believers. And he wants to use you to pour
spiritual and emotional capital into the lives of others. Along the way, you’ll be
changed. Others will change. You’ll grow. Others will grow. You’ll feel loved. Others
will feel loved. You will experience God and his community in a new and personal and
supernatural way. And so will others.
God calls this process of spiritual investing “making disciples.” It’s the heart of the
Great Commission. It’s the vision of a great local church. It’s the secret of a healthy,
joyful, secure, and significant life.
We call it “the invested life.” And that’s what this book is all about.
God the Investor
God is in the business of turning nothing into something and a little into a lot.
In Genesis 1 and 2, we read the story of God creating the heavens and the earth out
of nothing. And man out of dust. And woman out of man. And God said it was “good.”
In John 2:1-11, we read the story of a wedding where Jesus turned six stone jars of
water—each holding between twenty and thirty gallons—into fabulous wine.
In Luke 9:10-17, we read the story of Jesus turning five loaves of bread and two fish
into enough food to feed at least five thousand people.
That’s the greatness of our great God. He can turn nothing into something and a
little into a lot.
And that’s exactly what he wants to do in your life.