Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
28 sermons cite this verse
… He can say this. Therefore, the one instruction that I want to give to all my ministers is to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. these new disciples to obey all my commands that I have given you and be sure of this one thing. I am with you even to the end of the age. Do y'all know that when you're a minister of Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter if it's SARS, if it's Ebola, if it's COVID-19, when you're a minister and you're going out and you're telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ, he says, I will be with you to the end of the age. Somebody needs to get excited about that right now because you've been walking in fear. And God says, why are you walking in fear? I'm with you. The one thing about my daughter Isabella is we've been going through this stage where she likes to sleep in my bed and I need everybody to pray for me because it's, you know, it's hard. …
… Write that down. It's an action of obedience. Matthew 28 verse 19. It says therefore go everybody say go Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations watch this word baptizing them Now he could have said anything right there He could have said like hey, I want you to go and I want you to get everybody a chain with my face on it Call it a jesus piece I want you to go I know what did he say? Because this is one of the last instructions that he gives to his disciples before he leaves and said guys come around here This is my only instruction for you. I want you to go and I want you to baptize People in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit I know you're gonna have a lot of things that people are gonna try to remember and you're gonna try to remember all my Talks and all that other stuff He said but when people hear what you have to say something's gonna move in their heart and when it moves in their heart They're gonna be like I want to follow this jesus and when they follow tell them hold up Don't just follow him from what you've heard. I need you to do something to actually show that you actually identify with what you've heard And there are too many believers right now Who don't ever want to Take a step Beyond what is comfortable And today baptism it ain't comfortable …
… Jesus speaking to his followers, to people who are baptized. The word literally means immersed, plunged, enveloped in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So this is just like the mystery of the Trinity here. God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit three persons and one God one theologian said try to explain it you'll lose your mind try to deny it you'll lose your soul this is God in community within himself the Father loves the Son loves the Spirit distinct persons within the one Godhead I don't have time to do an exhaustive study of the Trinity today but I do want you to see and soak in the reality that you, right where you're sitting, have been invited to experience life in Trinitarian communion. So for those of you who are here today, maybe exploring Christianity, you're visiting, this is the whole message of the Bible, that God has created each of us for life in relationship with him. The problem is we have all sinned against God. We've turned aside from the one true God to lesser gods, namely ourselves. The Bible calls this sin. Our sin separates us from God and deserves death. It's why we die. And if we die in this state of separation from God, we will spend eternity in holy judgment do our sin. But God does not want that for you or me. He loves us, and he has come to us in Jesus, the Son, God in the flesh, who lived a perfect life with no sin. …
… All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. So as he speaks to us, then we are supposed to pass that on to others. Listen to these verses. Remember Deuteronomy 6, 6 through 9? We've looked at them before. These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand. They shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Like, did you hear that? Talk about my word. God says, when you're sitting in your house, when you're walking by the way, when you're lying down and when you're rising, that pretty much covers it. …
… To reach out. The Bible tells us in Matthew 28, verse 19, it's called the Great Commission. Not the Great Omission. The Great Commission. Jesus said, go. He didn't say yo. Go and make disciples, full court followers. Make disciples. And we are to reach out. And as God gives us the ability, we're to impact and influence others for the glory of God. You're called to reach up. You're called to reach out before you're called to be a teacher or a coach or a truck driver or a pastor or a surgeon or a lawyer. This is on another level here, what we're talking about. Now, obviously, God does not call most of us into the ministry. I don't wanna scare you. When I felt the call into the ministry, you'll love this, I walked into dad's closet. He was getting dressed for a funeral. I said, dad, I feel called into the ministry. He goes, you do? I said, yes. He said, well, son, I don't know about that. …
Jesus speaking, go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you even to the end of the age. It's given to every Christian. It's given to you, it's given to me. And it's interesting because in that statement, lo, I am with you even to the end of the age, contextually in the original language, it's implying that Jesus will be with us in a special way when we're fulfilling the Great Commission. That's not to say He won't be with us all the time because He said, I'll never leave you or forsake you. But it is to say, Jesus speaking, I will be with you when you do this. I will open doors for you. I will put words in your mouth. I will direct you to the right people. I'll be with you. So your job, your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to go and make disciples, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. …
… How do we do that? Well, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. So what's the plan to go? Where are we supposed to go? To all the nations. What are we supposed to do to make disciples? How do you make disciples? You see people saved, you baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and you teach them everything that God has taught you, and lo, surely. I am with you always to the very end of the age. Go. The gospel. starts with go. And that's the plan. This is God's will for our lives, is that we go. He's saying go where? Go everywhere. Who's going? Everyone's going. Everyone in the gathering today is sent. Everyone in the gathering today has the same mission. Everyone in this gathering today is invited into the same plan. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations. You're like, wow, is this like a missionary message? Yes. This is a missions message. And the message hopefully will land in such a way that everybody in the gathering will realize today, who knew? I am a missionary. …
… and the renewal of his spirit. In the institution of baptism, where he says, 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, and where he says, whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And this promise is repeated when Scripture calls baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins. Let's close by looking again at Titus chapter 3. I'll read it one more time in verse 4. When the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The inheritance in heaven, the storehouses full of blessing that God has prepared for his people, and even beyond that, the benefit of life in the presence of God. These are the privileges of the family members of God, of those children and men and women who belong to his house. And these are the privileges and blessing that our baptism points to and confirms, that it reminds us of and assures us are real for you and I particularly. So receive his baptism by faith, whether you are bringing your own children or …
… the Great Commission. Matthew 28, 19 and 20 is where we find it. You stay there in Revelation 7, but go therefore, Jesus said, 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. Matthew tells us that when Jesus had said these words, he ascended back up into heaven, which I guess is his version of making the invitation just disintegrate in our hands. Now, it is important for us to note that this was not a new command that Jesus just pulled out of nowhere. Jesus was not like, hey guys, look, I think we got a great product here. It's obviously testing well in the market. Let's take it global. No, this was the fulfillment of one of the oldest promises in the Bible, a promise that God had given to an old sterile man and his old barren wife, Abraham and Sarah. In Genesis 12, he had appeared to these two octogenarians to tell them that he had chosen them to rescue the human race from the curse of sin and all the woes of Genesis chapters 3 through 11. He was going to do that by bringing forth from them a new nation and then from that nation he would provide a forgiveness of sins that would bless the whole world and all the nations of the earth. At the time it seemed an impossible and unrealistic mission …
… accomplishing the great commission that God has for us to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And so we have to understand that we are not alone. See, the enemy's plan for your life is to isolate you, to make you feel like you're all alone. No one else struggles with that sin that you're dealing with. Who do you think you are? You think you can show up to church? What? But can I just encourage you this morning? You're not alone. Somebody needs to hear that this morning. You are not alone. No matter who you are, no matter what you walked in with, no matter what you did last night, we're glad you're here. We love you. Jesus has a plan for your life, and you're not alone. And the enemy wants us to feel like we're alone. He wants to isolate us. He wants us to feel like we're the only person in the world struggling with what we're dealing with. …
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. May you have a seat. So one, I would say this, one of the many gifts of the TV show, The Chosen, is I, I mean, kind of humanizing the apostles and that sense of just the way in which the apostles, at a moment like this, at a moment like the ascension, would have just been so confused and just kind of utterly, I imagine, imagine being one of the apostles, one of the disciples who is standing there and you watch Jesus go and you're just like standing there with your mouth open. He just flew away. and then you're like, what now? What do we do now? That's why God had to send a couple of angels. Like, why are you still sending it with their mouths open? But that's the question, like, what do we do now? But also a bigger question, not a bigger question, but another question. Not just what now, but why? like why the ascension? Like why does Jesus have to leave? …
… 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 then here's the important part for tonight. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. There's the answer. Jesus gives us the answer to the question, where is Jesus? us. He's with us. He is with us always. However, our second text, Acts chapter 1, verse 6, when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father is fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And then while they were gazing into heaven, as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? …
… to the great commission, which was Jesus in Matthew 28, verse 19 and 20. He says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
… right so he's claiming I am the king of kings my father has given me all authority on heaven and earth therefore go 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 obey everything that I've commanded you. These verses are known as the Great Commission. So Jesus is giving his disciples, and not just his disciples, all of his followers for all generations would come after them, this mission, this commission. And I love this. These two words summarize the rest of it. Therefore, go. Therefore, go. In seminary, you're taught that whenever you find a therefore in scripture, you need to find out what it's there for. And in this case, the risen Christ is saying, I have authority and I'm giving it to you. And now because I'm alive, I'm calling you to go out and to continue to do the things that I have been doing. I want you to take everything that I taught you and I want you to live out those things in the world. …
… through the scripture, it was then to be passed on to the entire church. How do we know that? Matthew 28 verse 19 is the great commission. Go into all the world, preach the gospel, you know the story. Then he says, teach them everything I taught you. What did he teach them? He taught them how to bring deliverance. He taught them how to bring healing. It was always meant to be passed on to every generation of disciples, Jesus followers. I am not Pentecostal and then a disciple. I'm not Catholic and then a disciple. I'm not Methodist and then a disciple. I'm a disciple of Jesus and then I'm whatever tribe I am. Being a disciple of Jesus defines who I am and what my responsibility is, not my history, not the title. So I'm a disciple of Jesus and every disciple was given the mandate. We also know this from Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4 gives us the great instruction about apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers are given to do what? …
… Moses needed to hear. It's all the reassurance that we need as well, that the Lord, he goes with us. He goes before us. Matthew 28, verse 18 through 20, the great commission. And Jesus came and spoke to them, his disciples, saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I have commanded you. And praise God it doesn't stop right there. Because if it stopped right there, then we might rightfully feel insecure. But it doesn't. Jesus goes on to say, And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Even to the end of the world itself, he is with us in what he has called us to do. And now we're not going to get into them in great detail because of the amount of time we have left. …
… authority in heaven, authority on earth. 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 things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. According to Jesus, 10 out of 10 of his followers are meant to play a part actively in the Great Commission until he returns to this world. When I was a young boy, I used to have a recurring nightmare. And in my dream, I saw two lines, a line heading to heaven and a line heading to hell. and I was in the line heading to heaven because I praise God, gave my life to Jesus, saw him, chose to follow him, turned from my sins, turned to him in faith, was given what I could never earn, eternal life. And in that line, you were kind of shuffling forward to enter into glory. …
… and a new year filled with blessings, peace, joy, and more amor, more love. So we start this message in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, help us to be ready when you come back in your kingdom. And as we begin a new year, give us the confidence that you are with us, the faith to open our hearts for you and believe your promises, and the strength to take up our crosses. These we pray in the name of Jesus, and please say with me, Amen. The other day, I was reading about the many and different traditions around the world for saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new one. In Greece, for example, it's common to hang onions on doors and other places in houses as a symbol of regeneration or rebirth. In some towns in Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark, people smash plates against their front doors because they think this is good for prosperity. …
… Second, making disciples is our mission. when you get to Matthew chapter 28 verse 16 through 20 the passage we just read in the original language of the New Testament there is only one imperative verb in this passage just to remind you just in case school's been a while you don't remember the imperative verb an imperative is a command when my wife Heather gives me an imperative that's a command do it right then or should do it right then in this passage there's one imperative verb one command around which this whole thing revolves It's one word in the Greek. It's two words here in the English. It's make disciples. It's make disciples. And some translations even have go and teach all nations, which really, it's a completely different word than what we see later with teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. So we need to make sure to separate the two. Make disciples of all nations. That is the mission that I'm giving you, Jesus says. …
… But when that day came, at his funeral mass, when they laid Herb's body to rest, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he was covered with brightly colored cards and drawings from his grandchildren, with the sound of amazing grace filling the church. He had nothing to prove. It was all a gift. So, also for you, Jesus, he has all the victory you'll ever need with extra to spare. He won you in the draft. He covered your losses, intercepted your blame, shut out death for good, and he will not cut you from his team. He lives to give you a new way of thinking. So huddle up with your local church, the body of Christ this week. Show up ready to win. Play for the name on the front. Amen. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. speak or do. But ask your wisdom as a sign. Oh, let me cheerfully fulfill. In all my words, your presence find. …
… Jesus said, 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 the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I've have taught you, and behold, I'm going to be with you always to the end. that global authority to presume to tell us, to tell every other religion to become Christian, that global authority, that total authority of Jesus over the nations was obtained in a peculiar way, namely by blood. Revelation 5, 9. Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, you were slaughtered, and by your blood you ransomed people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom, priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. He bought them, and the you is go get them. Amazing. There isn't a greater enterprise anywhere in the world. …
The New Testament calls us to put on the love of Christ, to remember that by baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we have been clothed in Christ. And this Christ is of such a quality that he doesn't wear into us. But the other way around, we wear into him. I mentioned that 100-year warranty leather bag I was gifted. Over the last seven years, I've worn that bag across the country, and everywhere I go, everywhere I go, people comment on it. I love your bag, they tell me. The quality catches their eye. And I'm realizing that I'm not wearing the bag. the bag is wearing me I'm just along for the ride that's how it is with Jesus we're just along for the ride and he is raising us to his quality to his standard to love like he loves until the day he returns in glory and we'll finally be all worn in Recently, I learned that the people who started and still run the company that made the bag I was given are Christ followers. …
… As Jesus had commanded, so they baptized me. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, they put God's name on me. I still have other names I'm called by. Mike, Michael, Mikey, Ziegler, Ziggy, sometimes just Z. I'm called American after an Italian explorer. I'm called a St. Louisan after a French Catholic king. I'm called Lutheran after a German pastor. All these names are part of my story, but they are all under the name Jesus. And I'm speaking to you in his name. Jesus is a Hebrew name. In Hebrew, it's pronounced Yahshua. and there's a name inside his name. Yah is a shortened version of the name of God revealed in the Old Testament of the Bible. It's the same Yah as in the word Hallelujah, a Hebrew phrase that means praise Yah. Yah is the shortened version of God's personal name. No one knows for sure how to say his full name though because the ancient Jewish people so revered God's name that at some point they decided never to say it out loud because they were afraid of misusing God's name and falling under God's judgment. …
… One more place to look at this, Matthew chapter 28, verse 19. Jesus said this, go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. I've told you this before, but this is super important. In English, there are several verbs in that sentence. Go, make disciples, baptize, teach. In Greek, however, there's only one verb, make disciples. And all the other words in that verse that look to us like the verbs are actually participles. You say, fascinating grammar lesson, JD. So what? Well, in Greek, that means that make disciples is the center of everything else in that sentence. Everything else Jesus charges the church to do, going, baptizing, teaching people to observe all that he commanded, falls under the larger category of making disciples. That means every ministry of the church. It means every passion of every believer should have as its central guiding purpose reproducing disciples. …
… Jesus said to that which would become the early church, Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. and in light of this assignment that Jesus himself has set before the church and the harsh realities of our time, it might appear at first glance that the mission for which we, the church, has been commissioned is impossible. We must but turn on the news, CNN or NBC, MSNBC, ABC or Fox. In fact, some of us don't even have to turn on the TV. We can just walk outside to see what kind of night it really is for black people in America and for poor people beyond racial distinctions. even though black people are disproportionately poor, not only in our own neighborhoods, in our state, in our nation, but black people are the most economically and socially disenfranchised people in the world. Many of us can but walk outside our front doors to see what time of night it really is for those of us whose skins have been kissed by the sun. …
… get going. All right. Matthew 28, verse 18. Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. I just remember a story of an old-timer that wouldn't fly in airplanes. He just refused to fly. Somebody said, hey, if it's your time to go, it's your time to go. And he says, I don't mind going when it's my time to go. I just don't want to be on the plane when it's the pilot's time to go. That made sense to me. He says, well, you should fly because God's with you. And he says, no. He says, lo, I am with you. I am with you, lo. …
… not to send a bunch of books somewhere. He says, but as you go, make disciples of all nations. What is he saying? He's saying that our responsibility is to get the truth of the message and then build up the believers in order that the Christ who indwells us and will indwell them may then work through them to multiply himself in the life of believers. The gospel was given to be given, shared, and the life was to be given to be multiplied. Not simply adding additions to the church, but the multiplication of the life of believers. That's God's plan. And you see, once we grasp that, that God has saved you and me in order to live his life in us, in order to live his life through us, to duplicate his life in someone else's life. Once we begin to understand that, we begin to see that the missionary obligation begins on my doorstep where I live and that obligation doesn't cease till the uttermost part of the earth has been reached with the gospel. …
That is, in heaven and earth, he says, I have all authority. 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 the things that I've commanded you, and lo, I'm with you all the way, even to the end of this age. He said, I'll be with you and I am giving you divine authority to carry out the work that I have called you to. Well, when you and I think about what authority means and what power means, look, if you will, in Ephesians chapter 3. Because he says here in verse 20, now to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, and that is Christ. God the Father, Christ the Holy Spirit. Listen, what power is at work in the life of every single believer? It is the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. the resurrection power of Jesus Christ is not only available to, it already is within the body. …