Prayer-
Introduction-
We began last week looking at the church of God.
I say the church of God because there are churches not asking God for help or following God directions for the church and if you look close at that church, you’ll see that they do not have the anointing and power of God working in that church.
The church should be a force in the culture and the community that it is placed in. The culture does not run the church. The church is run and founded and empowered by Jesus Christ.
The church operating under the blood, sweat and tears of Jesus Christ cannot be stopped. It is unstoppable!
We are not perfect, He is perfect and we share his holiness because of what He did on the cross.
We saw last week that the church is not only a building, it is each one of us reflecting the image of Christ to those that we come into contact with.
The church (you and I) should be bringing people into the house of God.
We are all called to be people of God and the building the kingdom of God.
The church should be a place of encouragement and each one of us should be an encouragement to someone that God has put into our lives.
We looked at the blind spots of life
We looked at the gates of Hell not prevailing in the church of God
That Jesus Christ has given the church the keys of the kingdom and the power of God working in our lives to touch people for the kingdom of God.
Talked about binding and loosing- allowing and forbidding things under the authority of God.
This morning, I want to piggy back on that and continue looking at what the church is and what we all should be doing- I did say ALL.
The text is Matthew 28:16-20 and you can turn there, but first some thoughts.
Jesus commissions each of us to do the work that we are called too. Each one of us is called to some responsibility in the building of the kingdom of God.
Commission -by definition is to be “authorized to perform certain duties or take certain powers.”
While the word commission is only found in the Great Commission, it’s concept of giving us our marching orders is throughout God word.
There are 4 commissions or duties that Jesus sends his followers out to do-
Make disciples- the text we will look at in a moment in Matthew
Understand and proclaim the gospel found in Luke
Be set apart- Be send ones, found in the book of John
Be physical witnesses of Christ- empowered by the Holy Spirit of God in the book of Acts.
Each one of those things should be active in a believer’s life because it is the purpose and mission of the church of Jesus Christ.
Repent of our sins, and desire to see others repent and come to Christ
Be empowered by the Holy Spirit of God and do great things in Jesus Name!
Make disciples- reproduce ourselves.
Illustration-
When I was active in Sports- The idea was always to win. That is what drives a competitor, that is the end result that you want to achieve. The team’s goal is to win. I hated if someone on the team was not putting out 100 %. There is a difference of not putting out a 100% and not being as good as someone else. I never faulted someone if it was not in them, I faulted them if they did not use their God-given talent 100%. We practice, we memorize, we talk, we plan, we work together, but on game day, we need to get the job done. No one sits the bench of God’s team, the whole church of God is called to get the job done.
You are to be always learning and you are to be discipling someone.
“You are to be my disciples”
“But you shall receive power.”
“You are to be my witnesses.”
Jesus was sent out by God the Father, and we are sent out by Jesus Christ.
Our mission is literally to preach the gospel. The Greek word here is “kerusso,“a herald, a public crier”.
We are to be Christ official public criers bringing the gospel to those we come in contact with.
Read Matthew 28:16-20 - Now we can look and understand the context of the text this morning
Jesus, 11 of the disciples, 500 or more people round the mountain of God (1 Corinthians) and us (you and I)(because it is not the end of the age yet) are here (h.e.r.e.) to hear (h.e.a.r.) Jesus give His followers the great commission.
(17) “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”
What did they doubt? Some doubted or had questions of the resurrection and his being raised from the dead. At least they doubted and showed up to church. Jesus addresses their concerns and doubts. They worshiped, that what should happen in church. We pray, we worship, we exalt and lift up the name of Jesus and we encourage and disciple one another so that we can accomplish the great commission which is to not only see people saved and redeemed but discipled and mentored in the teaching of God’s word.
Red letter wording in your bible tells you that the words spoken here were Jesus words himself- “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
I love what Tony Evans says about this verse- “All authority” he says is in heaven and on earth- not only the past but the future. Not only in eternity but the nasty right now. I am in charge. How true!
One day he will split these skies and return and take back this kingdom coming from His kingdom, but his people can still do kingdom work here because He is in charge and He empowers his believers with the Holy Spirit.
(19) “Therefore Go and make disciples”
In any language, Go means “don’t stay.” We are to make disciples wherever God has placed us and it is not just the leaders but everyone of us He calls to that teaching and that responsibility.
We are the go between of a living God and a dying people.
We first have to be disciples of Christ and then our commission is to make disciples.
We are to be the image of Christ and then help others be the image themselves after Christ.
To be a disciple is to be a learner of the things of Christ.
We must duplicate the things of Christ.
Mark chapter 1- again Jesus red letter so he is speaking- (15) “The time has come, he said, the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe the good news.”
Right after that Jesus calls his first disciples (17) “Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people.”
After that- Jesus cast out a demon from a person and they were amazed- Jesus says you will do the same. They later try to cast out a demon and they could not do it, tail stuck between their legs, Jesus comes and cast the demon out-
What is the problem? They had not yet learned that the power of God working in our lives is the only way that we will see the super natural done. Amen!
There are 3 Commissions Jesus gives;
Go
Baptize
Obedience and discipleship
When we are disciples, our life is different and we want to see a difference in other people’s lives.
We need to stop being secret agent Christians and let this world see what Jesus means to us.
There are a whole lot of believers on their way to heaven because they have accepted the Grace and Mercy of God but have cheated themselves out of the power and influence they could have by being discipled and learners from God’s Word.
You cannot have the power without knowing God’s Word.
You cannot have the power of God without having a relationship with God.
Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Here, It is more than getting them wet- it is an outward sign of what God was doing inside
It is immersing them in the things of God.
Like a dye maker, it is immersing them and changing them.
There should be a change.
You cannot spend time with God and not have God change your life.
He is the Baptizer, He will change your life! You will never be the same.
You will have a new identity!
Winding this down,
Hudson Taylor
“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies.”
“A man must keep his fire burning hot in his soul.”
The great Commission of God is not an option, it is a commandment.
John Wesley
“The church changes the world not by making converts but by making disciples.”
Illustration-
A man was with his new bride and they were traveling too fast down a dark road and he turned his car over. His wife was badly hurt and he saw that if she did not get immediate help that she would bleed out from her injuries. He looks up and he see’s a sign that reads the office of Dr. ‘Bill Jones. He literally carries his wife up the hill to his house and knocks on the door. An old man answers the door and the man says “save her, save her”. The old man responds and says that he no longer practices medicine, he was retired. The young man says you sir have two choices. You can either save my wife or you can take down your sign. You cannot have a sign saying that in this place is a savior where you can bring the badly hurt the bleeding and dying, and not be a place that will touch and help people. You either help her or take down your sign. We at Rosedale either can be a place that God is working through and discipling and changing people lives or we need to take down the sign because we cannot and will not operate as a social club, a place where the power of God is used in the past tense.
It has been said there are a lot of churches in the USA. Why would there be so much trouble and so much hurt when we have so many places claiming to be healing places and places where God is suppose to dwell. The only answer is there are a lot of churches, but there are not a lot of places where people not only get saved, find a relationship with Jesus Christ, but there has to also be a place where people get discipled and reproduced themselves in the image of Christ.
God help us to be a place of healing!
God help us to be a place where people are being discipled and finding out and living out their faith in Jesus Christ.
God help us to be so immersed in Jesus Christ that we model him to this dying world.
God help us to be so sensitive to the things that God cares about that we see people empowered by the Spirit of the living God and turn this community upside down and right size up for Jesus. That when the community hears Rosedale, the next word out of their mouth is our love for Jesus Christ and the people around us.
Do you want that for your life?
Do you want to see that happen in other people’s life?
We need the Lord to do that!
Amen. Close as the Lord leads-
