Teaching in the Great Commission
Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

1. Commandment:
1. The word go  is a demand for obedient action. The word ye  means: 'each and every one of you personally'. Regardless of what anyone else does or does not do, we will personally anser to God at the judgment seat of Christ  for our level of obedience to this command.
2. John 14:15 says: If ye love me, keep my commandments.  If we don't obey His commandments then we prove that we are a liar and hypocrite when we say or sing about our love of Jesus.
2. Promised reward for obedience:
1. All through the Bible we are promised that God blesses obedience and curses disobedience.
2. Our reference includes and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.  This is an implied promise of blessing and of His providing the power  that our reference started out telling us about.
3. Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us about the rich young ruler speaking to Jesus. In those references, Jesus promised that we will have treasure in heaven  if we give up what we have in this world and follow Jesus. Helping with the outreach ministries that are just starting require us to give up our time and follow Jesus in order to help others to get saved and grow spiritually. Helping in these ministries will put treasure  in people's personal heavenly account.
4. 2Corinthians 5:10 says: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.  Our obeying will get us rewards at the judgment seat of Christ.
3. Promised curse for disobedience:
1. Returning to our reference in 2Corinthians 5:10, we see that our refusal to obey will get us bad  which will be with us at least until God wipes away all tears over 1,000 years later.
2. Matthew 24:42-44 says: Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.  This is talking about being always ready for death or the 'Rapture' but it also applies to all of our life. We never know when God will punish our disobedience. We never know when God will remove His protection and let a devil hurt us because of our disobedience.
3. This message is not about the consequences of obedience or disobedience but enough references are provided to remind you of the truths that you already know.
4. Application:
1. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore.
• Since Jesus Christ has All power, the only reason that we can't do the job given is that we are not praying to receive His power or we are not using His power in obedience to His command.
• We increase our own power and knowledge by doing and by teaching others to do. The beat way to learn is to teach someone else. In a large family, the parents teach the older children and then supervise them as they teach younger children.
• There is a saying of: 'The only ability that God requires is availability'. Go to Pastor James and he will find a place for you to help in the outreach programs that the church is just starting. Your participation will increase God's power in your life and your own spiritual maturity as well as helping the church program.
2. The church is your spiritual family. Just like everyone in a physical family has to help, so also is everyone in the church expected to help.
3. teach all nations: This command is to teach the lost and the saved. This is to give the basics of the Gospel to everyone like the youth camp, VBS and other outreach programs of the church will do during the next several months. If you are involved in the church outreach programs then you will be obeying the command, can expect to receive the blessings and avoid the curse. If you aren't involved then you should expect to not get the blessing and to possibly have problems if God decides to punish your disobedience.
4. baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
• Satan gets men to teach doctrinal error about some of the most important doctrines in the Bible including baptism. Men teach that where 1Peter says we are saved by baptism, it is speaking about spiritual salvation. However, Peter says that it is a like figure  to when God saved Noah. That is a physical salvation and it is saying that God physically protects saved people who are baptized but does not make that promise to sympathizers. In the outreach programs of the next few months church members will be able to teach newly saved people how to get God's protection and blessings by obeying in things like baptism.
• When the Bible says baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost  It means 'getting them identified with the holiness and righteousness of God the Father and identified with the sacrifice and service of God the Son and with the ongoing personal relationship that God the Holy Ghost maintains with all saved'. These are things that we all need to be continually growing in spiritually. One of the main ways for us to grow spiritually in these areas is to help others with lessons which they struggle with but which we have already learned.
5. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
• The word observe  means 'to watch in detail and thought over a period of time'. God wants us to think about how our lifestyle obeys or disobeys God's commandments. We are to learn how to make our lifestyle match the commandments of God and then teach other saved people to do the same.
• The phrase all things  means not just what we have no problem obeying but also those things that we want to disobey.
• The phrase whatsoever I have commanded you, with the emphasis on the word I, means that we are to obey the Bible and verify with the Bible what religion says we are supposed to do. Satan is always trying to get the best people and churches to change our personal relationship with God into religious tradition. We need to be able to point people to the Bible for what we believe and practice and not just rely upon what we are taught in church.
6. and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world:
• The word and  means this is added to what came before.
• The word alway  is singular and not the plural form of always.  This means that Jesus is alway  with us but only in this one path of obedience. He will never leave us but we can leave Him. If saved people are not doing the 'Great Commission', including the part here in Matthew, then they have left Him and can not expect to have His blessings and protection until they return and start obeying again.
• even unto the end of the world  means until we personally are out of this world.

No saved person who is still alive is exempt from this commandment. Even if we are in a hospital bed, we can participate by praying for those who are actively doing. Will you come to the altar and make a commitment to God to be involved in the ministries that God has given to this church that you are part of?

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