Untitled Sermon (7)

Matthew 28:18-20 “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.””

These scriptures are the most “Here is your orders” verse that there are.

“All authority has been given to me.”

He had the authority to send. Who was Jesus talking to: The disciples. Who is a disciple of Jesus? All those who are saved. If you are saved, you are called to follow Him. You mimic everything He does. How He would react to situations, how He engaged with others, how He conducted business, basically facet of our lives will be governed by “how would Jesus handle this.” By definition that is being a disciple. Therefore, if you are a follower of Christ then Jesus is talking you us, and to be called a follower of Christ we have to be willing fulfill the Great Commission and follow Him wherever He leads.

The first thing that Christ tells the disciples is this. “All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Now this sounds a little out of place for Christ to randomly inject that He is the most worthy being in the universe to give orders, but there are two things that we can take away from this declaration.

One: He was about to send them on a soul winning, earth changing, history shaping mission.

Does God still call men and women into the ministry? You bet He does. Everyday He does, and He will continue to call people until there is no one else to call. Does God have the authority to call people? Does He have the authority to call you? I will tell you this, if God calls on you to do something then it does not matter much about what yours or my opinion is. God calls men and women for a reason. He has seen the entirety of time, and He knows the paths of every man. If He calls you, it is for a reason. The steps are already laid out, you just have to surrender.

Proverbs 16:9 “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

You can plan your entire life, and the Lord will step in and show you a better path. Every Missionary that I have listened to did not plan to live their lives on the mission field. They may not have opposed, but they certainly planned to lead other lives. God knows what is best though. Our best laid plans cannot compare to the Lord’s divine will.

This leads me to the second point of why Jesus explained that He had all authority. These men were about to encounter difficulties that they had never experienced before. Each of these 11 men lost their lives or were imprisoned and exiled for their faith, and carrying out the Great Commission that Christ had given them. Some where beaten. Ran out of towns. Paul, who would join the ranks shortly after this commissioning, had a slew of travesties befall him from being shipwrecked, to stoned, and beaten then ultimately losing his life. The journey is not easy, but how many stories do you hear of where the disciples closed up shop and quit following Jesus when the going got rough? Jesus told them that He had all the authority so that they would know that even when things became difficult, they had a God who was in control that gave them a calling and a purpose. That is why He closed by telling them that He would always be with them.

The very Jesus that commissioned the disciples here is the exact same Jesus that commission those who follow Him today. Same authority, same promise. Do you think it is easy to be a missionary? What is something that you take for granted every day that you might lose if you moved into an impoverish nation with the goal of spreading the gospel? John David Smith would always tell us stories of his time in Cape Verde, and one thing they faced was a lack of warm water. Anyone have a hot shower in the last 24 hours? Was it not nice? No think about losing those.

Did you have a good nights rest? I bet you slept in a familiar place didn’t you? Did you wake up to your favorite breakfast? Did you greet each other this morning in English? Did you offend someone by what you wore this morning? (I hope not anyways) Were you able to watch your local tv channel and know what was going on? Did you go to sleep anxious that your home may be raided, and you might be hauled off to jail or worse? Do you have someone that you can call anytime you feel upset, disheartened, or weary? We have these luxuries, but missionaries walk away from their homes, their comfort, everything and everyone that they know and love. They leave it all behind, and you better believe it is hard, but they do it because they know that there are men, women, and children out there who have never been exposed to the gospel and they need to hear about the Jesus who came to save them.

You see Jesus is so much greater than our fear of discomfort. Could you sacrifice a few luxuries so that souls would spend eternity with the Lord? If God called you to go, would you do it? These are difficult yet sobering questions that we must be asking ourselves.

Support the ones who are going. Support the ones who are already there. They need it.

What does the GC mean for FBC Damascus

Those of us who are saved have been called, we must respond. {Sign up for E.E.} You must be sharing your faith with those around you. Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller, is a die-hard atheist. This is what he had to say about sharing the gospel. “If you believe that there is a heaven and a hell and people could be going to hell or not receiving eternal life, and you think that it’s really not worth telling them this because because it would make it socially awkward [or any other excuse], how much do you have to hate somebody to not prosthetize? How much do you have to hate them in order to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them?”

If you saw a truck coming towards a person and you screamed for them to get out of the way, but they were insistent that there was no vehicle coming their way, but the truck continued to barrel down at them, would you stand there and say “I told you so” or would you tackle them out of the way?

If you believe in the afterlife, and you believe in the gospel, you have got to be telling those who are headed in the wrong direction. They may reach their destination before you know it.

We have to go beyond telling people about Christ, and show them how to live for Christ

Be a disciple — Ever do something that you never knew was wrong only to read or be taught that it is contrary to God’s word? This is why you must be a disciple before you can ever be a disciple maker. Every single one of the 11 sat under the teachings of Jesus for 3 years being trained in His will and His ways and pursued His ways all the way to their deaths. We must be lifelong disciples of Christ.

Be a disciple maker— After becoming a practicing disciple you must begin to pour into someone around you. Would you have a child and leave it on the door step of the hospital? Saying, see you later. Hope you make it! NO! you nurture them, you guide them, you bring them up to maturity and then you let them thrive. It is the same way with discipling others. When someone is young in the faith, which can be at any age of life, you must walk with them until they are able to run themselves.

What is the BMA doing to fulfill the Great Commission?

As you heard in the video this morning there are over 400 missionaries in 65 countries that represent the BMA. The BMA global missions are presently helping to start over 350 new church here in the US, and across the globe. God is still calling men and women, and He still has a full steam ahead on His divine will. But it is not easy. We have already mentioned the difficulties of leaving home and everything familiar and starting fresh in a foreign country just for the chance of changing lives with the gospel. They would not have it any other way though.

It is my desire that you will prayerfully consider partnering with the missionaries.

How do we partner and help them in their process?

— Pray. It seems like the weakest form of support, but that is only because you cannot see what it is doing. I assure you they can feel it. Who is the Lord of the harvest? Our God is. Who is out laboring for the harvest? Our missionaries are. Pray for the seeds that are being planted. Pray for the harvest to come. Pray for laborers. Pray that more laborers will come. Pray for spiritual and physical protection. Pray for encouragement. Missionaries are really good at encouraging others, but where does their encouragement come from? You cannot pull from a dry well. Pray for the missionaries.

— Send Money. Its pretty straight forward. You guys did not get here this morning without spending money. Missionaries have to have money to survive too, the only thing is they are in a foreign country (many of them) in a strange work environment, and it is more difficult for them to earn a good living. Plus there is the burden of the churches they are trying to start, the disciples they are trying to make, and the lost souls they are trying to reach. It all adds up. Sending them monetary aid is a fantastic way to support their ministry and join the hands and feet of Jesus across the globe.

— Visit Them: How many of you guys have been on a mission trip? We all need to experience the mission field at least once. A great way to have your morale boosted is by seeing the face of like-minded Christians coming to spend time with you. That is something we are looking to start again in the near future, so put that on your radar.

Before Jesus ascended to His rightful place on His thrown where He currently reigns victoriously, He left us with this. Reach those who are lost, train those who are saved, and be encouraged that He will be with us every step of the way.

Are you saved? If not, do you want to be? If you do, ask the person next to you if they would share their Jesus with you.

Are you sharing your faith with those in your life? Are you seeking to strengthen your faith? Are you pouring into those around you

I assure you that your missionaries around this world are. They are working extremely hard to see that the Great Commission is fulfilled to its fullest. Are you supporting your missionaries? If you have not previously, would you consider it now? We are all in this together. Lets help each other out.