Planting, Nurturing, & Reproducing

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
    and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
    to sprout up before all the nations.'” Isaiah 61:11

Within every seed for every plant there is everything needed for the seed to germinate, grow, bud and produce fruit. There is no switch to turn on. The seed just does what it was created to do. Under the right conditions the dormant seed sprouts and produces a plant like the one that was the parent of the seed. 

But every gardener knows there are ways to nurture a seed and help it produce abundantly more than it does if left on its own. Fertilizing and watering at the right times enhance the natural tendency of the plant to grow and produce fruit. The gardener is proactive in preventing disease and other invasive plants that limit the growth of the plant. Finally there comes a day when the plant is mature and can produce seed for the next generation of plants which will be exactly like the original.  

Every human being has been created in the image of the Creator. Built into every person is the capacity to be a worshiper. Worship is the natural thing to do. But people don't always worship the way they were created to do. Sometimes they worship money, or power, or prestige, or themselves. 

A disciple-maker is like a gardener. A disciple-maker sees the potential in every other human to be transformed into the person God intended them to be. A disciple-maker knows how to identify with the person who is focusing their worship incorrectly. A disciple-maker also knows how to invite the worshiper to redirect their worship to the Creator and become a disciple. A disciple-maker nurtures the new disciple through the various stages of development until a new disciple-maker is ready to reproduce the process with someone else who is directing their worship in the wrong direction.

The Lord God is causing righteousness and praise to sprout up in the nations of our world.