A Fresh Look at the Great Commission Matthew 28:16-20
Let’s take our Bibles … turn to Matthew 28 … this morning …
… if you were Out of town over the 4th of July Weekend …
… Welcome back … hope you had a great weekend … BBQ
… We enjoyed being outside for our first time this summer …
… Thank you to those who served … Children’s Ministry …
… Set up crew … serving crews … clean-up crews … it was fun
If you share a prayer request … praise report … connect card …
If you have a comment … or a question … or recently dedicated your life to the Lord …
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… drop it in the offering bag at the end of the service …
I don’t know if you have noticed … sometimes … not intentionally
… Sometimes … we say things … we read things in the word
… We sing things … without really thinking about their meaning
Without feeling the full weight of what we are singing … saying … reading
Example … “Cornerstone” … what a great song
1 “My hope is built on nothing less … than Jesus blood and righteousness”
… did you think about that … the weight of those words
The Song … “This I believe” …
… I believe in God our Father … I believe in Christ the Son
… I believe in the Holy Spirit … Our God is 3 in one
I believe in the resurrection … when we shall rise again …
… as I get older … the idea … I will rise again …
… this life isn’t what is important … but the next life
… living my life … in this life … with a focus on the next …
The other day … I was reading in the Book of Isaiah …
… I read Isaiah 66:2 …
“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word. Isaiah 66:2 (NIV)
Wow … the person God delights in … the person God is looking for …
… The person to is humble … contrite … who trembles at His word
What would it be like … if we trembled at God’s word?
… hear … this morning …
… what if we weren’t coming to church to hear another sermon
2 … What if we trembled at God’s word …
…What if we came with that kind of honor … reverence … respect …
The next day … or within a day or two I read …
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; Psalm 98:4
What would it be like … for all the earth …to shout for joy to the Lord …
… Burst into jubilant song …
My grandkids were over this last week … we turned on some music
… they want to sing and dance …
We turned on this CD … our kids used to sing to …
… we started singing … dancing … even grandpa danced
… He didn’t care that he can’t dance … looked stupid
… He just started dancing … it was so fun …
What would it be like for the whole earth … to shout for joy to the Lord
… to burst forth with Song …
Someday it will … In the meantime … we get to do it by faith …
Some of us have never shouted to the Lord … you have never
… Some of us have never acted “Liked a child”
Even though the Bible tells us to shout to the Lord …
… You say … Pastor … that is not me … that is not my personality …
3 We have all kinds of reason … and all kinds of excuses for why we don’t
… why we don’t really honor His word … why we don’t tremble
… we kind of pick and choose what we want to believe … obey
I have just wondered …
Is that why the church is not … as powerful as it could be in the day we live
Is that why people don’t really experience radical change …break through
Is that why we don’t always experience the joy of our salvation
… peace that passes all understanding …
Are we playing it safe … setting our own standards …
… deciding how much of the Bible we want to believe … obey?
I am just asking … I don’t know …
… But I don’t think the problem with the church in America …
… is a lack of knowledge … sermons … books to read
… I was talking to a new friend here in the life of our church
… He recently rededicated His life to the Lord …
… He is “On fire” … He is reading everything He can get his hands on
… everything He can listen to … down load to His kindle / phone
4 There is so much available to us as believers …
… there are so many preachers … teachers …
… there are so many brilliant guys
Our Problem … Is not that we don’t have enough teaching …
Our Problem … We don’t really tremble at His word …
… We don’t really honor it for what it is … This is God’s word …
How many of you have ever come to church … been really convicted
… maybe even said … great sermon Pastor …
… or went to lunch … “Great message … great service … great Sunday
… But it didn’t really change the way you live …
… you were still grumpy … selfish … unkind …
How many remember the story of the “Rich Young Ruler”
… He came to Jesus asking … “What must I do to inherit eternal life”
… Jesus didn’t pull any punches …
… He just told him the truth … Sell all you have … give it to the poor
He walked away sad … because he was very rich …
Jesus was sad ...
… “how difficult it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven”
5 … There lives are so tangled up in their own Ideas … their own agenda …
… their own goals …
It would be easier to take this camel and stuff it through the eye of a needle
… than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven …
His disciples said … “Then who can be saved?”
Jesus said … What is impossible with men … is possible with God
IN the next chapter … Luke 19
… there is the story of Zacchaeus …
… Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem …
Zacchaeus is up in a tree … Zacchaeus was a tax collector “Very rich!”
… Jesus saw Zacchaeus up in the tree … and said … “Come down”
… I must go to your house today …
… He went to Zacchaeus’s house … Big
In the Middle of the Party … Zacchaeus stood up …
… Today I am giving ½ my money to the poor
… If I have cheated anyone … I will pay you back 4 times
Jesus rejoiced … Salvation has come to this house …
… Zacchaeus trembled at His word … took action
6 It is not enough … just to be convicted … The Rich young Ruler was convicted …
… Zacchaeus took action …
Jesus … “Big smile” on His face said … “Salvation has come to this house”
… He too is a son of Abraham …
Well … this morning …
… I wanted to take a “Fresh Look at the Great Commission
… we read it a couple weeks ago …
… this section of scripture … is one we are pretty familiar with
… I think we can overlook the weight of it … the gravity
… It is one of those sections … where it is easy to be convicted
… But not do anything about it …
… I believe the key … is taking Action …
Pray …
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20 (NIV)
7 I don’t know how many times you have read this section of scripture …
One of the things … I saw for the 1st time … this last week
… when I read these verse … how Jesus invited them to come up on a Mountain …
… When He gave them this mission for their lives
Mountains were pretty important throughout the history … OT and NT
… the meeting place with God …
Moses … received the 10 commandments up on a Mountain …
… Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal … Mt Carmel
… Jesus 1st Sermon … Sermon on the Mount
… giving them insight into what the kingdom of God was all about
Jesus was transfigured on the Mount of transfiguration …
Here when Jesus gives His final message to His disciples …
… He brings them up on the Mountain
… I had never seen that before …
That added something for me … to the authority of this moment … v.18 …it says … “Then Jesus came to them and said” …
8 … Did you get that? …
… Jesus was dead … Now He is alive …
… That is amazing to me …
We take this for granted … after 2000 years of church history …
… “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me …”
… Jesus was dead … Now He is alive
The 1st thing He says …
“All Authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me”
… How many think that got their attention …
… These are just a small hand full of disciples …
… They have no position … no power … no status … influence
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me …
Therefore Go … Make disciples of all nations … baptizing
#1 The Great Commission is an evangelistic mission
… They were up on a mountain …
… this small group of disciples …
… there is a whole world out there …
… “Go make disciples of all nations”
9 I will never forget … when we were given this piece of property
… several of us came up here …
… I was struggling with the whole Idea … building a building
… expanding our vision … “Believing God wanted to do more”
We came up Here … looked out over the city … “Our mission field”
… Every time we came up here … Our Mission field
The Great Commission is an evangelistic Mission …
… It is about the harvest …
Jesus didn’t say … get in small groups … and disciple one another
… we love small groups … I am in a small groups
… It talks a lot in the NT about small groups
Small groups are not the mission of the church …
… they support the mission … but the mission is evangelism
I was convicted about that … when I read these verses …
… Discipleship is important in the church …
… We want to grow …
But the Mission is to reach the Lost …
10 Jesus was saying to His disciples …
… “You have been with me for 3 ½ years”
… You have experienced the love of God … the Power of God
… You have seen what God is like …
“They are like a sheep without a shepherd” … they are lost …
… Go make disciples of all nations
And I want to just say here this morning … “Go make disciples”
… You have been walking with Jesus for 3 years
… 5 years … 15 years … “Go make disciples of all nations”
The Great Commission is an Evangelistic mission …
… I have a lot to learn about that … we have a lot to learn about that
… I don’t know all the ways … He wants us to Go …
… “The good news … He is with us always … even to the end of the age”
#2 The Great commission is a challenging Mission
… It is hard for me … to talk to people about Jesus sometimes
… It is hard to talk to strangers … to bring up Jesus in the conversation
… It is hard to talk with family sometimes …
… It is hard to talk to neighbors …
… I don’t like being rejected … I don’t like making people feel uncomfortable
11 But … People need Jesus … in Romans 10 … Paul says … paraphrase … v.13-15
“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved … But how can they call on one they have not believe in … and how can they believe in one of whom they have not heard … and how can they hear without someone preaching to them …. As it is written … “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of them that bring good news.” Romans 10:13-15
We need to tell people about Jesus …
I used to do a lot of street witnessing … when I 1st became a Christian
… I have told you stories … going down town … Eugene
.. door to door … God did some amazing things
… the presence of God was there …
Jesus said … “Surely I am with you always”
… Jesus is there … when you are sharing the Gospel
Sometimes … I talk to people … who have lost the fire …
… the don’t feel close to the Lord
… “Have the shared the Gospel lately”
“Sometimes … people will leave our church … say something like
… “I’m just not being fed” …
When you are involved in ministry … when you are on the front lines
… sharing your faith … The pastor could preach on peanut butter and jelly
12 … Because you are hungry … you are praying … you are pressing into Jesus …
… You need him … because your faith is on the line
… you need wisdom … you need insight …
Sometimes … people say … I would sure like to see the power of God
… like the book of Acts … Awesome
Share your faith … preach the Gospel …
… Jesus said in Acts 1:8 …
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.” Acts 1:8
… The Power of the Holy Spirit … is so we can be witnesses
… It’s called Power Evangelism …
We need the Gifts of the Spirit … “Words of Wisdom … Knowledge
… miracles … Most of the miracles … were witnessing opportunities
The Great Commission … is an Evangelistic Mission
… And It is hard …
I remember … after I got involved in full time ministry …
… I wasn’t witnessing as much …
… I was sharing in the office … I was studying for sermons
13 … I was preparing for funerals … I wasn’t witnessing
It bothered me … I ask another Pastor …
… Are you involved doing any street witnessing
… sharing your faith outside the church …
He said … “No … not really” …
… I said … “Does that bother you?” … It bothered me …
… I was so busy with the church …
I wasn’t out there … taking risks …
He said … “That is the people’s job”
… They share their faith … I thought … That is good
… I am off the hook …
Then I talk to people in the church about sharing there faith
… “DO you make many opportunities to share your faith?”
“I’m not a preacher” … I don’t know what to say … I don’t have the answers
… What I learned … “NO body is doing it” …
The Great Commission is an evangelistic Mission …
… It is challenging …
When we do … The Power of God is there …
Worship team:
14 Jesus said … “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me”
… Therefore Go …
I remember … 20 years ago … When Missions groups were encouraging the church to pray for the 10 / 40 window …
… “Resistance belt” … countries were closed to the gospel”
Isis … People are coming out of those countries …
… Missions workers are there … preaching the gospel
… 1000’s are getting saved …
“All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me” … therefore go
We feel powerless … God is not …
Paul said … “I am not ashamed of the Gospel … it is the power of God”
… unto salvation
I don’t understand how God saves people …
“I plant … Apollos waters … God caused the increase”
… I need to Go … preach the Gospel
15 Announcements:
VBS for elementary Students 1st – 6th grade starts this week … tomorrow
… sign up … at the welcome center … go on line … to our website
… we are trying things a little different … families can come together
… starts with a dinner tomorrow night … July
Our Men’s night has been moved to the following Monday Night … July 18th
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