Going Therefore

Psalm 8 / Matthew 28:16-20

Go Therefore

Go = action and intent, not necessarily relocation

Therefore = Because Almighty Christ has reclaimed all that was lost in the fall, and has empowered, and charged His people with glorious purpose!

Discipline

Discipline / Disciple

Formative Discipline before Corrective

Yes evangelize, but much more!

Acts 14:19-23 “19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

Live the life of a disciple consistently

Share the gospel

Prioritize the Local Church

Ordinances

Baptize them

initiate them into the covenant community

Old Covenant initiation = male circumcision

Who was circumcised? bloodline and converts

Who is baptized? those born from above (blood applied) & converts

Matthew 2 - John required fruit/evidence

Acts 8:36 - The Ethiopian Eunuch demonstrated understanding and change, and only then was baptized by Philip

ceremonially prepare them for public ministry

Priests observed washings

Jesus was baptized before ministering publicly

Matthew 4 - begins immediately after Jesus’ baptism with His temptation and thus victory over Satan

Baptism is not the means of grace to affect regeneration of a soul (it is NOT what saves a soul), but it is very tightly tied to being born again (one of the 3 pictures: Jesus death, burial, and resurrection, the regeneration of the baptizant, and the Heavenly declaration at Jesus’ own baptism) and is an important event in discipling.

Oh, and the other ordinance while we’re here:

Whereas baptism is the initiatory rite, and an individual act (we all don’t go in the water together), Holy Communion, or The Lord’s Supper, is the communal ordinance. We observe it together. It too is a tangible, visible, picture of the gospel, and a re-statement of our collective faith. It is also one way that the Lord unifies a local church.

In Baptism, God says this is my child. In the supper, God says we are a family.

...or secondarily, but also true and important:

In Baptism, we individually say we are saved and commit to living so. In the supper we say we collectively believe and belong together in this family in Christ.

Instruction

The New Hampshire Confession of Faith

I. Of the Scriptures

We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect

treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and

truth without any mixture of error for its matter, that it reveals the principles by which

God will judge us; and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the true

center of Christian union , and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried.

1 Timothy 3:15 - [the church is] a pillar and buttress/foundation of the truth

Acts 20:27 “for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”

Content assigned / restricted in all these spheres:

preaching

teaching (SS, Midweek, VBS, devotions)

singing

teaching in the home

Public statements of membership (including social media)

Immanuel

Revelation 1:12-16 “12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.”

Revelation 1:17-20 “17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

Church Family, Immanuel is not just a name given to Christ because of His virgin birth; He truly is and always has been with and among us. He is today in the midst of His churches, just as John saw. He will be with us til the end. He has empowered us for this time; for His ministry. Let us go therefore, a chosen people, a redeemed people, an empowered people, a called people to be His church here and now. God help us to make disciples until He returns!