WEEK 43 “THE GREAT COMMISSION” (Part 2) Matthew 28:19-20

Read Matthew 28:19-20

As part of the great commission, our saviour Jesus said:

"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.”

4.Make disciples OF ALL NATIONS. This is a worldwide call! We need to share the gospel of Jesus and disciple people wherever JESUS sends us!! No matter where in the world that is!! This also shows us that the gospel is for all people, so we SHOULD NOT SHOW FAVOURITISM to whom we preach to!!

(Compare Matthew 2 and Luke 2 and the Christmas story and whom God revealed the birth of Jesus to. See also Acts 16 and Mark 5 and the different types of people from different backgrounds who get saved in these passages)

5.BAPTISM is part of the discipleship process!! Notice Jesus said to Baptise in the name of The Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit!! And yet we see in Acts, people were baptised in the name of Jesus (Acts 8:16, 19:5)!! This shows they are one and the same!! (John 10:30) (GOD IS TRIUNE IN NATURE)

HAVE YOU BEEN BAPTISED? DO YOU KNOW WHAT BAPTISM REPRESENTS? (Romans 6:3-4) Notice also that it is DISCIPLES who are being BAPTISED? This also supports the idea of BELIEVERS BAPTISM rather than infant baptism!! (See Acts 2:38, Acts 8:12-13, 8:36-38, 9:18, 10:47-48, 19:2-5)

5b. IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT!

Notice the trinity here! Where else in scripture do we see the trinity mentioned? (Eg. Luke 3:21-22 at Jesus' baptism, 2 Corinthians 13:14) We see that the word “name” is in the singular showing that The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one and the same!!

6.TEACHING THEM: Notice from this passage, that the means by which the nations would be taught the gospel and word of God, was by the disciples passing on everything that Jesus commanded them!

So In other words, as disciples of Jesus, when our saviour Jesus teaches us something from His word (from our daily quiet times with Him), the worst thing we can do is keep it to ourselves. Whatever He teaches us from His word was meant to be passed on to others so that they can be blessed and draw closer to our wonderful saviour!! (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 1 Corinthians 11:23) PASS ON THE REVELATION!

So the two questions for us to consider:

1.What has Jesus taught/revealed to me this week?

2.Whom can I pass this revelation/teaching onto so that they in turn can be blessed, encouraged and draw closer to our wonderful Jesus!!

May we share what Jesus has taught us with our brothers and sisters in the front foyer at church, friends at work, and family and children so that they too may be blessed and encouraged in Jesus' name!!

7.TO OBEY EVERYTHING I HAVE COMMANDED YOU: part of discipleship is obedience to ALL of Jesus' words and commands, not just some (Luke 1:6)!! Notice We are to obey all of Jesus’ commands, not Moses? This suggests It is the New Testament covenant we are to obey, not old covenant!!

Do we live a life of obedience to Jesus? (Eg. Luke 24:25)

Notice this shows us we are to teach the whole counsel of God, not pick and choose which parts of God's word we teach and follow! (Acts 20:26-27)

To do this, we need to have read the whole bible (or at least the whole New Testament) ourselves!

HAVE YOU READ THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD? ARE YOU SHARING THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD TO OTHERS?

8.And behold I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, to the very end of the age!! What a comforting promise as we go out into all the world and do the Lord’s work, that no matter where we are, Jesus will be with us!! He will never leave us nor forsake us!! (Hebrews 13:5, Psalm 73:25, Matthew 1:23)

9.END OF THE AGE (Matthew 24:3). In Luke 20:34-35, Jesus reveals that there is this age and the age to come which is eternity when we are resurrected from the dead!! From this passage in Matthew 28, Jesus reveals to us that this age will come to an end!!

May you be equippe power of The Holy Spirit to carry out Jesus’ great commission!