another 4 words

Matthew 28

16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee,

going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.

17 When they saw him, they worshiped him;

but some of them doubted!

  18 Jesus came and told his disciples,

"I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.

And be sure of this:

I am with you always,

even to the end of the age."

Jesus was fixin' to leave the disciples & go back to heaven.

He made it pretty plain & simple for them – they were plain & simple guys.

He started by saying 1 very important,operative word...

Go

Now where that “go” would take them would depend on who we're talking about.

Thomas supposedly went to India.

Andrew is thought to have gone to Russia.

Matthew? Maybe Persia & Ethiopia?

Phillip possibly went to Carthage & rest of northern Africa.

Just to name a few...

One thing is for sure – Jesus does not intend for us to remain stationary.

“Go” can mean different things to different people – the trick is to just ask Jesus where He wants us personally to “go”.

But one thing is for sure – it does not mean stay like we are.

Jesus fully intended us to get more people on the bus.

iow, to impact & influence people to start to follow Jesus as we have.

There is no indication that we are to be idle or indifferent to the masses of people all around us who are going slam to hell.

Our job is to help them find their way to Jesus – that's pretty clear.

Baptism seems important to Jesus.

It was & is a public, outward sign that things are different for each of us as we follow Jesus.

As we follow Jesus, we cannot remain in the closet about it.

We must each make a bold, public statement about our intentions to follow Him.

And we're not supposed to “just get people saved”...

We're supposed to tell them about all the things Jesus taught.

And I suppose it would follow that we're to model Jesus' behavior towards others.

In short, love them as He did.

Btw - Jesus also said He'd be with us through it all.

So there we have it – the final directive from Jesus...

Go, disciple, baptize, teach.

4 words cover it.

Now, a show of hands who among us is doing that?