Well, Christmas has come and gone. The best thing about Christmas is the. opportunity it provides to highlight Christ and the message of Christianity.

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Moris Reeves
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1 Matthew 28:16-20 The Great Commission Sunday, January 3, 2016 Introduction: Well, Christmas has come and gone. The best thing about Christmas is the opportunity it provides to highlight Christ and the message of Christianity. We ve been keen this whole Christmas season to make sure the real meaning of Christmas is made clear to people. Hopefully, many seeds have been planted in the hearts and minds of people who attended some of the services we held over the last few weeks. (In fact, this is the reason all this effort is put forward; to share the good news of Jesus Christ.) But we re not just to do this at Christmas; this is what we must do all year long. I want to encourage us all to continue the good work that s been done over this Christmas holiday. In fact, that s our focus for this year. Today is the unveiling of our 2016 motto verse. That verse is Matthew 28: Let s continue to make every effort to spread the message of Jesus Christ, not just at Christmas and Easter but every day of the year because that is why we exist as a church Starks - Page 1

2 Interpretation: What is described here in our passage takes place about 40 days after the resurrection and probably not long before Jesus left and ascended into Heaven. One of the first things Jesus did during his earthly ministry was to select 12 men to serve as his disciples. For 3-1/2 years he trained them and taught them. Now he was about to leave them, but before he left he instructed them to meet him in Galilee. Verse 16 says that the disciples went to Galilee and met Jesus on the mountain where he told them to go. In 1 Corinthians 15:6 Paul says that on one occasion Jesus was seen by more than five hundred people at the same time. Those 500 people were probably present on this occasion which would explain why Matthew says that "when they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted." It's unlikely that the eleven disciples who had by this time seen Jesus on more than one occasion would still be in doubt, and more likely that Matthew is referring to some of the five hundred other people who were there. Jesus met them to give them some final instructions. He was in effect passing the torch to them. They were to carry on the work that he had started. The instructions contained in these few verses are commonly referred to as The Starks - Page 2

3 Great Commission. What Jesus said to them applies to us today just as if we were standing on that mountaintop with Jesus and heard it with our own ears. Let s look a little closer at this Great Commission and what it means for us by considering the who, what, where, when, and why of the Great Commission. Application: What? The Great Commission is contained in verses (1) It is Jesus final instructions to his followers to go and develop other followers of Jesus Christ. (2) It is Jesus official commissioning of his disciples to act on his behalf and on his authority. The authority he had been given by his Heavenly Father, he was now passing on to us. (3) It is the foundational mission statement of the church. We are in the disciple-making business. Who? Who does the Great Commission apply to? (To whom does the Great Commission apply?) The Great Commission applies to every Christian. The commission has a corporate and individual aspect. We seek to fulfil this commission collectively as a church through our various ministries, but each of us has a personal responsibility to help develop disciples as well. Where? Verse 19 says that to go and make disciples of all nations. Jesus instructs us to take make disciples of people from every tribe, language, and nation on the planet. The where of our Great Commission has a corporate Starks - Page 3

4 and individual aspect to it as well. No one church can reach the entire world, so collectively all the believers that make up the body of Christ work together to fulfil this mission, but each local church while first focusing on their local community must also do what they can to assist believers in other parts of the world. When? Verse 19 says, Therefore, go which implies immediacy, but that wasn t the case with the first disciples. In Acts 1:4-5 Jesus told the disciples to wait until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. In verse 8 he tells them that when they had received the Holy Spirit they would have the power to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. We received that power the moment we got saved so the time is now. We don t know the day or the hour of Jesus return so we don t have time to waste. Why? the answer is in the verses we ve been considering Jesus commanded us to go make disciples. Paul explains this further in 2 Corinthians 5: READ. Jesus started this work; God is continuing this work through the body of Christ you and I. We are the hope of this world. Bonus question: How? Presence, Proclamation, and Power Starks - Page 4

5 The first way we make disciples for Jesus Christ is by being a Christ-like presence in this world. One of the ways that Jesus convinced people that he is the Son of God was by the life he lived. One of the ways we ll convince people that Jesus is who we say he is, is by the life we live. Secondly, we make disciples for Jesus Christ by proclaiming his teachings. In verse 20 of our text, Jesus instructed his followers to teach [others] to obey everything I have commanded you Everything we do is empowered by the Holy Spirit. I referred earlier to Acts 1:4-8. When you read in the Book of Acts of the incredible things the disciples did, understand that it s because they were empowered by the Holy Spirit. It s the Holy Spirit that gives power to our message. Conclusion: This year we want to keep at the forefront of our minds our core mission making disciples for Jesus Christ, baptising them, and teaching them everything God s Word teaches us. This is why we exist as a church. Ask God to help you to do your part Starks - Page 5

Sermon Luke Ascension

Sermon Luke Ascension Sermon Luke 24 44 53 Ascension Sermon: Ascension Sunday Text: Luke 24:46-48 Theme: You are witnesses of these things Goal: To witness about Jesus so that people can be lead to repentance and to faith in