First Things First!

Saturday, May 02, 2009 ·

Its been quite awhile since I've preached and I'm grateful to Pastor Andy and the XS committee for giving me the opportunity to speak at combined cell. I spoke on the Great Commission.



What do you understand by The Great Commission?
The common answers will be “BRINGING PEOPLE TO CHURCH”, “EVANGELISM”, “ SPREADING THE GOSPEL”, “GETTING PEOPLE TO BECOME CHRISTIANS”, “MISSION TRIPS!”

Let’s take a close look at the passage today. I want us to read this together in just a moment.

Matthew 28
16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

THE LEAD UP TO THE GREAT COMMISSION.
They went to Galilee…

You know… sometimes, as Christians, we tend to overcomplicate things. When we think of evangelism, we think it is some difficult, complex debate that we have to win when we share the gospel.
But the lead up to the great commission starts off with a simple act. They went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. They simply did what Jesus told them to do. Obedience.
When I say obedience, I’m not talking about having to be perfect. Always making the correct decision. I’m talking about just being faithful with what God has told you to do. The bible says that if you’re faithful with the small things, he will reward you with much. Obedience is the starting point for greatness. I see this occurring consistently in the bible and it can also be true in your life.
Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, Jesus, The Disciples, Paul,

When you are obedient, Jesus will reveal Himself to you! Not the ‘peekaboo’ kind of revealing but an understanding of His Word, or a discovery of His character, a show of His Power in healing or miracles.

Matthew 11:25 -> Revealed them to children.
Luke 17:11-19 -> Ten Lepers get healed AS they went…. Only the samaritan worshipped

The Jews of Judea and Galilee disliked the Samaritans because they were not true Jews.

As a religious sect, the Samaritans are a strict, Torah-observing party with a resolute pride in their religious heritage. They maintain that they and not the Jews are the bearers of the true faith of ancient Israel as expounded by Moses and as practiced at Mt. Gerizim in ancient times.

Which brings me to my next point.
When they saw him…
When you have a revelation of Jesus Christ, you will Worship.
What is worship? What has it got to do with The Great Commission? EVERYTHING!!!
John Piper, theologian, preacher, and author, once said that Missions exists because worship doesn’t.

Proskuneo
1. to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence
2. among the Orientals, esp. the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence
3. in the NT by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication

Luke 5:6-8 -> Peter gets a revelation of Jesus Christ and confesses Him in Luke 9:18-20
Exodus 3:10,12 -> God redeemed the nation of Israel so that they might serve or worship God on this mountain. God wants worshippers!!
John 4:21-24 -> Worship in Spirit and in Truth. But He still wants worshippers!

We have the awesome-mest God
Jesus says one of the most amazing, controversial statements ever recorded in the bible. Sometimes I feel that our reading of the verse doesn’t do it justice.
“All authority in heaven and on earth HAS BEEN GIVEN to me!”

How powerful is your God? Is he the same one we sing about in Sunday School song, “My God is so big, so strong and so mighty. There nothing my God cannot do!”

Sometimes, I feel that we are rushing into evangelism before we ourselves get to know how great our God is. We try to tell people before we are convinced! We start telling other people’s testimonies!
“You know my Mother’s colleague’s daughter prayed before she took her piano exam and she got a distinction! Praise God!”
What has God done for you! Tell me YOUR encounter. Tell me YOUR experience. YOUR healing, miracle, breakthrough!

Do we know our In-Christ Position? (Eph 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

THEREFORE!!!!
Go and make disciples - Matheteuo
1. to be a disciple of one
a. to follow his precepts and instructions
2. to make a disciple
a. to teach, instruct
Have we forgotten how to learn from the nations?
I think we should be listening to them and observing them and learning from them so that we can become relevant… And that’s what our missionaries are doing. They have cultural exchanges, where they learn to speak the language, the activities, the behaviour and character of people in a foreign land.

Shouldn’t we be doing that with our own groups of friends? Shouldn’t we learn about them too? Shouldn’t we present our Jesus in a way that they will accept instead of the typical “You’re a sinner, you need Jesus” method?

Baptizing them - Baptizo
1. to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk)
2. to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe
3. to overwhelm

Bapto (Dip) Baptizo (Immerse)

I believe in baptism. I believe that when confess Jesus as Lord, we’re immersed and mixed up all together with Him. And God sees us as His own children.
But before people are ready to be accept Christ, I believe they need to be Baptoed first. Its like swimming. You can’t throw a young child into the deep end of the pool and expect him to enjoy swimming immediately! You have to let him get used to the temperature of the water, let him wade about before he is comfortable with it.

That’s what we as Christians should be doing. We carry around the presence of God. We are the ones who give them the taste of the presence of God.
2 Corinthians 2:14 àBut thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

Teaching them - Didasko
1. to teach
· to hold discourse with others in order to instruct them, deliver didactic discourses (communication of thought by words; talk; conversation: earnest and intelligent discourse. From dictionary.com)

Teaching makes it sound as if we have to know a lot. I prefer the word conversation. Its less threatening for both sides.

Recently, a small group of us decided to visit the homeless in Singapore… And I loved the fact that we didn’t have an agenda for them. We weren’t there to talk about Jesus or to convert them. We just sat at their feet and listened… We became a disciple so that we could find out what they needed, what they were concerned about. I learnt a lot of new perspectives from them. Some skewed, some true, but all interesting.

They were wary at first, and they kept asking where we were from. But about 5-10 minutes after we introduced ourselves, I think they started enjoying the company. I believe God Is concerned about the well being of people. And if we would just learn to show love instead of practicing the 4 spiritual laws, we could actually create some change.

Some of you might be asking God, how can I serve you more, how can I reach more people? As the musicians come up, I want to ask you, have you been immersed together with Christ? Have you experienced and enjoyed His presence? I believe God is telling you today , “Will you just come into my presence and enjoy me? Let me fill you up? Let me show you abundant life!”



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