Matthew 28:17-20

God’s Preferred Method(Person)

Have we ever thought of God's method concerning His kingdom? We are so concerned about many methods and ways that we sometimes must be reminded how God wants it done. Men (Mankind) Humans are God's method of relaying God's Message. If we can imagine God sitting at his desk wondering how will he get the message of salvation out across the world. The light bulb went off when MAN came to thought. If anyone can explain its man, if anyone can express to the world my goodness its man, ill put a perfect thing in a broken vessel. I'll redeem them and let the redeemed relay the message to the lost. The trees got a message but man has to tell it. Nature is beautiful but that's not God’s preferred method. Stones will cry out if my preferred method keeps silent. Jesus was commissioned to live the greatest life ever, and Man is commissioned to tell everyone about the Greatest person ever.

The greatest moment in history has taken place, what has been said has been done, and what has never happened has happened. Death finally tasted defeat. The grip is broken, and the sting has been removed. The battered body is better, The sealed Stone is now an Open tomb, and in verse 2 a lazy boy for a descended angel. Everything that was too much for man is now conquered.

Jesus gave message to tell his disciples to meet him on the Mountain in Galilee. They worshipped Him but some doubted , some hesitated , some wasn’t sure, some had little faith in what they were seeing. Hopefully you are getting an idea of whats going on when it says some doubted.

They worshipped him , but some were shifting between 2 positions. some had a double stance, there was worship while some wavering. What they saw and what they believed wasn’t on the same page.

This is the same word we find in Matthew 14:31 “31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?””

Peter walked and was distracted and gave more attention to the wind rather than the word.

Maybe they were caught up in the wind, the conspiracy going around that the disciples stole the body.. Matthew 28:11-15 “

11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.

12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers

13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’

14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”

15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.”

I hear you asking, How can your faith be so small , how can you doubt or waiver when Jesus is there and did exactly what he said he would.

I think its something there for us.. to take away from this.

That even though the Goodness of God isn’t hidden, is far from a mystery..

There still must be some Persuasion

We have all experience God in some form.

Romans 1:20 ESV

20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

So the problem come with the lack of people who are capable of compelling men to come, or men who are unwilling. We all have doubt. We all lack confidence somewhere in this faith walk. Most come to church with little faith in some area. Bills/ Job / health / security / marraige / something. You come because you want to be convinced that everything will be okay. We are all humans. With this fragil flesh doubt is a frequent visitor, for others doubt has a room. Doubt has convince some that this is false and a waste of time.

The more attention you give doubt, the more doubt takes over. Doubt is natural. Faith is not the absence of Doubt. Remember Jesus told Peter, you of little faith why did you doubt. Faith was present just not preeminent. Based on our Text this doubt wasn’t unbelief, because the thing I give credit to the 11 is that their doubt didnt cause them to disobey. They showed up to the meeting! Some people dont get cured from doubt because they stop showing up to the meeting. For that faith to change from little to greater God left some people in your life to convince you or persuade you to strengthen your stance.

Listen not just you in here, but God has been working on somebody out there they seen God work a miracle, even gave god the credit for it but there is a battle between two opinions… The word and the world are in competition. Our job ain’t just to convince you, but we convince you so that you can persuade others.

Watch the Jesus, the next verse Jesus does some convincing....

Matthew 28:18 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

I love Jesus demeanor. He didn’t get frustrated like in Matthew 16. With there lack on understanding / but the image shows us that Jesus walks over to them and says.. I have ALL Authority , in heaven and on earth. Seen and Unseen. I now all full authority. Jesus shows mercy to the doubters. I think that’s something we should take with us. No need to judge , no need to belittle , no need to ignore or neglect those who doubt, Jude tells us to show mercy towards the doubters. Because sometimes doubters make the best disciples.

Reminding them hey,

All authority is in my possession.

They are hearing the wind… They hear the lies that they stole the body, along with still trying to grasp what actually happen. Some still not understanding.

But this helps us today...

All Authority is nothing can happen without Jesus approval. Nothing. The clouds could be gray and heavy, not one rain drop will fall without first getting approval. Seasons change at His command, He don’t request or recommend. What manner of man is this that even the wind and waves obey his command. Authority.

That’s the authority we have access to. No need to fear, no need to doubt , God wants us to be so confident in our witness / stance that he unleashed power unlike any other. I refuse to believe that Jesus told them about what He has, to keep it absent from what He was about to tell them to do.

Jesus has never kept what He has to himself. I used power to feed you, to heal you, to protect you, to cover you, to provide for you, to hold a red light longer to miss a drunk driver, gave you flat to prevent a wreck that would have taken you out, God has never kept what he had to himself. Since he mentioned it I believe he plans on using it. Jesus is not saying it to brag but to convince you.

John 16:15 Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you.

I am the way to guide you / the door to give access / I am bread to provide / I am Light for life gets dark. / good shepherd / resurrection and life / way truth and life / true vine.

You Got My Permission -

Jesus says with my Possession now you have my Permission to cause Pandemonium.

Acts 17:6 ESV

6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,

With my Power

Look at the Book Labs Outline > I Am with You Always

1. Go. (Matthew 28:19)

2. Make disciples. (Matthew 28:19)

3. Take the gospel to all the nations. (Matthew 28:19)

4. Baptize them. (Matthew 28:19)

5. Make plain the Trinity. (Matthew 28:19)

6. Teach them to obey. (Matthew 28:20)

Go make disciples.

Not choir memebers , ushers , parking lot attendees , janitors , etc. Make disciples.

Nothing wrong with choir praise team etc. We cant focus on the minor and expect major change. Major change comes when we focus on Jesus way.

It’s time to leave Jerusalem. Its time to leave the church grounds , time to leave comfort , time to leave where the songs sound filimilar , time to leave where the language is always holy , and you are the method God is still using.

Social media is fine - But somebody needs a hand to hold , someone need a hug , somebody is expecting a face to face encounter.

Thats your chance to convince, that if he did it for me , he can do it for you,

if he saved me, he can save you.

If you believe you Got a license.

On that license it says. You have been redeemed now say so

You got the right to tell the truth on Jesus / you the right to tell the world how good he is / you got the right to prove the doubters wrong / you got a right to turn the world upside down/ Yes you got a right, but its also a requirement.

You have a respondsibilty. Whats your response to someone who saved your life.

Whats your response to the one who step in front.

Who took the case / That was my sin but he took the fall / was on death row but he took my case / unfit fit to live and wasnt ready to die but he made it possible to live rather here or there.

Whats my response to that old rugged cross

High on the mountain of sorrow and shame, Grace signs my pardon as Christ took the blame, When I'm called to answer for my history, Calvary answers for me, Calvary answers for me.

You cant make me doubt him

I know too much about him.

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

19 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,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Great Commission or Great Ommission? (Matt. 28:18–20)

In spite of the conditions around us; in spite of the difficulties and dangers; in spite of every excuse we offer, The Great Commission still stands! God still expects His people to take His message to a lost world so that they might hear the wonderful words of life.

Has The Great Commission become The Great Omission in your life and mine? Are we doing everything we can to find inroads of outreach into the world around us?

I want to take a fresh look at The Great Commission today. I want to some facts from these verses that give us much needed insight into The Great Commission. I want to preach on the subject Great Commission or Great Omission?

I. v. 19 WE HAVE A DIVINE MANDATE

• The mandate of The Great Commission is to “Go”. This is a word of action! We cannot “go” if we are sitting still. We cannot “go” if we stay where we are. We cannot “go” if we do not make a move.

• This verb literally means “as you go”. As we pass through this world we are to carry the Gospel message with us, sharing it with everyone we meet along the way. There are two ways we can do this.

1. It involves our Lifestyle—Matt. 5:13–16. Like salt, our lives should create a thirst in people for the Lord. Our joy, our peace, our differences from the world should cause them to want to know why we are like we are. Our lives should be like a great spotlight which directs its beam toward Jesus. If He is the focus of our lives, men will see Him lived out through our lives day by day!

2. It involves our Lips—We are told to “teach”. That word has the idea of “making disciples or to instruct”. We are to live the right kind of life, but we are also told to share our faith. We are to tell a lost world what Jesus did for us when He saved us and what He can do for them, if they will trust Him as we did. It is not enough to just show it, we must also say it!

Mark 16:15 says this, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” The word “preach” comes from a world that means “to herald”. Like a king’s herald, we are to pass through the highways and byways of life lifting our voices to declare the Gospel of grace!

The word “preach” is a present tense, active voice, imperative mood verb. The imperative means that it is a command. The active voice means that you are to be involved in carrying out this command. The present tense means that it is something we are supposed to be doing all the time.

In fact, we are preaching all the time. Every moment we live we are preaching through our actions and through our words. We are either pointing people to Jesus are we are pointing them away from Him. We are either saying “He is my Lord and Savior and you need to know Him too”; or we are saying “My relationship with Jesus really doesn’t make a difference in my life.”

Our duty is to tell! If the Lord just saved us to keep us out of Hell, then He would have taken us to Heaven as soon as He saved us. If He had just saved us to worship and praise Him, then He would have taken us straight home to glory. He saved us so that we would have a story to tell! He leaves us here so we can tell the story. He saved us to use us in this world as His tools of ministry to lost sinners!

How well are we carrying out this command? (Ill. While D. L. Moody was attending a convention in Indianapolis on mass evangelism, he asked his song leader Ira Sankey to meet him at 6 o’clock one evening at a certain street corner. When Sankey arrived, Mr. Moody asked him to stand on a box and sing. Once a crowd had gathered, Moody spoke briefly and then invited the people to follow him to the nearby convention hall. Soon the auditorium was filled with spiritually hungry people, and the great evangelist preached the gospel to them.

Then the convention delegates began to arrive. Moody stopped preaching and said, “Now we must close, as the brethren of the convention wish to come and discuss the topic, ‘How to reach the masses.’ ”

Moody graphically illustrated the difference between talking about doing something and going out and doing it.)

II. v. 20 WE HAVE A DIVINE MESSAGE

• Jesus tells His followers to share a specific message: “… to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you …” As we go and as we tell the world about Jesus, the message we are to share is very clear. We are to share the Gospel.

• Jesus came to this world to make the Gospel a reality. He came to this world to die on a cross, rise from the dead and open a way of eternal salvation for all who will receive Him into their hearts. Jesus came to this world as THE Savior of men, Luke 19:10; Mark 10:45; John 14:6. He came to make a way for lost sinners to get to God. He achieved every purpose He had for coming into this world, Isa. 53:4–6; Heb. 10:11–14; 9:28. He came to save us and to give us a message of salvation that we could share with lost souls.

• Our message is not a message about our church or our denomination. It is not about our preacher or about our standards of dress and music. It is not about our style of worship. All of those are important, but none of them can save a lost, hell-bound soul.

Our message is a simple message. It is a message of hope to hurting; of life to the dead; of peace to the tormented. Our message is called The Gospel and “it is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Rom. 1:16) It is a message that every person in the world needs to hear. It is a message that is universal in its application. It is a message that has the potential to change every life and every eternity that falls under its power, John 1:11–12.

Our message is this: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”, 1 Cor. 15:3–4. Sharing this Gospel message is as easy as telling lost people what Jesus did for you and what He can do for them, Mark 5:20!

That is it! It is the most powerful message the world has ever heard and it is a message that must be delivered to a lost world by the people of God. There is no other message that God will use to draw the sinner to Himself and there is no other message He will use to save lost souls!

III. v. 19 WE HAVE A DIVINE MISSION

• Jesus tells us that we are to “Go … and teach all nations”. In Mark 16:15, He says, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” In Acts 1:8, He says, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

• He us telling very clearly that our mission is to every person in the world. And that our mission field is the entire world. He may call someone from this fellowship to leave this country and reach a certain people group. Of course, He may just ask us to send our money to support those whom He has called to reach those in other parts of the world.

• While He may never call you to go to a foreign land to tell the story of salvation, He expects you to tell it where you live. He expects us to reach out to all people without regard to their ethnic heritage, their race, their past, their lifestyle, their economic standing, etc. If they are sinners, they are candidates to hear the message of the cross. If they are lost, they need a Savior. If they do not know Him, they need to and we have been authorized and commanded to reach them!

• How are we doing reaching the world around us? Are we active in our Jerusalem? Are we fulfilling The Great Commission? Or, are we guilty of committing The Great Omission?

IV. v. 20 WE HAVE A DIVINE MENTOR

• Jesus doesn’t send us in to this world, lost world without any resources. He doesn’t expect us to accomplish this Great Commission in our own power. These verses share two of the greatest resources we have as witnessed of the Gospel.

1. We Are Promised His Presence—“Lo, I am with you alway …” When you are standing there sharing the Gospel with that friend, that family member, even that total stranger, the Lord Himself is right there with you. He will help you; enable you; embolden you and use you if you will simply obey Him and share the Gospel with others. You will never share the Gospel alone if you are a child of God!

He will help you say what you need to say when the witnessing opportunity presents itself, “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you” Matt. 10:19–20. Obviously, He is talking about being arrested for the faith. When that happens, He will give the words to speak.

The same principle applies to our witness. When we witness, we are on trial for our faith. He will give us the words we need when the time comes. (Ill. The Lord took what was supposed to be a trial and turned it into a testimony time for Paul on more than one occasion!)

2. We are Promised His Power—“All power in Heaven and earth is given unto Me”—He also says, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me …” (Acts 1:8) When we are faithful to share His Gospel message, we can be confident God will use His message for His glory. He will take our feeble words and He will attach power to them. The Spirit of God will take our efforts and He will use the words we share to convict the hearts of the lost, John 16:7–8.

I am not a powerful witness and I do not have a stunning testimony, but if I will faithfully share what the Lord has done for me and what He has said in His Word, He will put His power on my weak message and draw sinners to Himself for salvation.