Power Receiving Power

Power

Receiving Power

The Great Commission is so familiar

we can miss its importance in our lives

 So maybe it is a good idea to ask ourselves

How well do we follow instructions?

Receiving Power

How well do you follow instructions?

The first question you might ask is…

 What instructions?

Every believer is, or should be, very

acquainted with the Great Commission.

The account of this command

from Christ in Matthew tells us…

"All authority in heaven and

on earth has been given to me.”

Our instructions come from the One

 who has “All Authority”.

Have you allowed yourself to

feel the weight of that authority?

All of us have been in a place where we have

felt the weight of those with “some authority”.

Maybe it was a young kid at an amusement

park who instructed you where you

should go to get in line for the ride.

Maybe you had the opportunity

to meet a dignitary or a judge.

The weight of authority

increases with the authority.

Jesus has been given “All Authority”.

That is a lot of weight.

The authority was not just put in His lap.

Jesus was equipped to handle All Authority.

We have all seen people with authority or

have taken authority that should not have it.

So these words of Christ carry weight.

They are not a suggestion, but a command.

So it becomes important that we take a

look at how we respond to His Authority.

It is important that we realize the Great

Commission is an impartation of authority.

The first question you have to ask yourself is…

 How do I feel about being in authority?

This basic question is foundational to your

effectiveness in handling what God wants you to do.

The next question is…

 What is God wanting you to do?

What does “Go” mean to you?

We are told to go to “All Nations”.

 When something is too big for us

to handle we generally do nothing.

Unless you hear God directing you to travel,

you and I need to realize we are already in a nation.

The people of that nation are all around us.

The people in every nation

do many of the same things.

They work, shop, raise families, it is these similarities

that open doors for us to fulfill the Great Commission.

The next question we have to ask ourselves is…

 What is it God wants us to do?

How do you understand “make disciples”?

This is more than making converts.

Making disciples is helping people see their

need to follow Jesus and how to follow Him.

When people came to Jesus we see Jesus

did not tell them to say the sinner’s prayer

even though repentance is very important.

Jesus gave people who came to Him two words…

“Follow Me”

Our job is to lead people on the Follow Me Path.

Following Jesus is not to a

destination like His throne.

Following Jesus is a journey that never stops.

This why Paul says…

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14

If we handle the authority

Jesus gives us, we will…

Lead people to be baptized.

To publicly declare their identity with the

death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

 

A statement that in Jesus, the Father is

revealed and the Holy Spirit is poured out.

Jesus called this experience a new birth.

Born into a new family.

That family is the church, the Children of God.

We together are responsible for…

“teaching them to obey

everything I have commanded you”

The first command is to love God

and the second is love one another.

That is the sum of all God’s commands.

Becoming people of love because God is love.

Sadly, the world has a warped understanding of love.

What is so important for us to see about the authority

Jesus has and the authority He places on us is?

  “I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Never are you alone in

fulfilling the Great Commission.

Yes, people treated Jesus badly so

that will also happen to you but know

He has shown He will not bail out.

He endured the cross and whatever

suffering you face He will be there, too.

 

The Great Commission is so familiar

we can miss its importance in our lives.

 So maybe it is a good idea to ask ourselves…

How well do we follow instructions?

Scripture Reading

Matthew 28:17 - 20 NIV

 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."