Go Back, Go Worship, Go Out

GO BACK, GO WORSHIP, GO OUT!

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

The number 3 biblically represents fullness. Past, present, future, outer court, inner court, Holy of Holies, Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Body, Soul, Spirit. Death, burial, resurrection, Joseph had 3 coats, his father gave him his first coat, Potiphar gave him his second coat, Pharaoh gave him his 3rd coat. There were 3 deaths at Calvary 1 died in sin 1 died to sin, 1 died for sin. Today I want to deal with a process of 3. Process being the steps to complete something. This is a 3step process to bring you to a level in being used by God. GO, GO, GO – GO BACK, GO WORSHIP, GO OUT.

PRAYER:-

SCRIPTURE:- Matthew 28 10 & 16 – 19 “Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”.

Now at the reading of this scripture tradition would have us believe that this is a sermon for Resurrection Sunday or what we commonly call Easter. Thank God we are not dealing with tradition but dealing with relationship!

QUESTION: - Have you ever felt like everything is against you. You walk with God yet circumstances and situations leave you feeling alone, scared, frustrated, confused, and uncertain. This may sound like a miserable place to be but many of us are living right here. Some may say well as a child of God you should never feel like this, but I am dealing with real life and there are times when we feel this way. As a matter of fact, this place of uncertainty and fear is the same place the disciples found themselves in. It was after the resurrection but before the return of Christ. After the death of the Christ, the disciples had scattered; their faith had been shaken, everything seemed over, all their certainties had crumbled, and their hopes had died. We see the disciples turning from people with apparently strong faith and firm convictions to those who appeared weak, unfaithful, lacking in convictions, fearful and even cowardly.

After all the things they had said and gone through with Jesus, they had deserted Him and Peter even denied knowing Him and now He had been crucified. The disciples are now fearful of their lives, future scared of the people of Jerusalem and uncertain about what lied ahead.

UNDERSTAND:- This place of loneliness, despair, frustration, uncertainty, and fear is not a demonic place but a place that we must leave and travel back to the beginning before we are able to move forward. This place can be called the place between here and there. It is a place where we need to make a conscience decision, chose to be obedient, worship God and experience an awesome transformation before we can go forward. This place is part of the process.

We like the disciples of Christ have been entrusted with a message that is wonderful and life changing; however, there are some parts that we just may not understand and even doubt.

You know the story, Jesus had been crucified and buried, it was now the 3rd day and Mary and the other Mary went to the tomb of Jesus but when they get there Jesus had already resurrected. Matthew 28:10 says, “Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me”.

GO BACK - GALILEE

At first, the good news of Christ’s resurrection brought by Mary Magdalene, was considered as idle tales and discarded by the fearful and doubtful disciples Luke 24:11 says “And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not”. That showed their ignorance and unbelief! John says in John 20:9 “For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.”

Jesus told her to tell them to go to Galilee! Galilee means a passing over from death to life; for Jesus had already passed from death unto life.

Galilee is the place where everything began. They are to return there, to return to the place where they were first called. In Galilee, Jesus had walked along the shores of the lake as the fishermen were casting their nets. There he had called them, and there they had left everything and followed him.