REACH
Passage:
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20)
Pray:
Intro:
The Call to Reach:
And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
- In this section here, Jesus gathers his disciples right before he ascends back into heaven – he tells his disciples that their job – their mission – as they continue to live their life is to give the gospel to other people. Introduce them to Jesus, and teach them to be more like Jesus.
this isn’t the only place – in fact – if we look through the rest of Scripture – we see that this call over and over again to the church – Paul says it this way in 2nd Corinthians –
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
The Story of Silence:
I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because what could anyone do to stop it? A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then the wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in the cars! Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear the sound of those wheels because we knew that we would hear the cries of the Jews en route to a death camp. Their screams tormented us. We knew the time the train was coming, and when we heard the whistle blow we began singing hymns. By the time the train came past our church, we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more. Years have passed, and no one talks about it anymore. But I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. God forgive me; forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians yet did nothing to intervene.
Practical ways to reach:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
- This phrase often gets overlooked when we talk about the Great Commission – specifically those first two words – “Go therefore.”
I think we see those words and think that they mean we have to hop on a plane to Uganda and share the gospel in the bush – and it most definitely can mean that – and maybe some of you are in this room today that are called to that, however – that is not the literal translation of that word
- “Go therefore” is actually more accurately translated as “as you go”
See the command Jesus is giving is not so much about holding an evangelistic event – as much as it is fundamentally viewing your life differently
Conclusion:
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted