28 Days: Day 3
SCRIPTURE
- Acts 1:1-11
OBSERVATION
Jesus came to earth with a mission – the mission was simple…proclaim that God loves mankind and wants to re-establish relationship with him. Jesus proclaimed this news through preaching, teaching and by performing signs and wonders. He also trained up a band of men to follow in His footsteps. When Jesus went back to heaven He commissioned the disciples to continue with the mission – they were to proclaim the Good News of God’s love to all nations and to testify of the power of God displayed through Jesus’ life.
UNDERSTANDING
When Jesus was resurrected He appeared to people for forty days. During that time His purpose was clear. He wanted the disciples to be fully confident of a few things…That He was truly risen from the dead – Luke tells us that He gave them many infallible proofs of the reality of His resurrection. Most of the people in Jerusalem knew that Jesus was crucified but they needed to know that Jesus was risen once again, so the disciples became the witnesses of the resurrection and having encountered Jesus and been assured of His resurrection He commissioned them to go and tell others that He was risen. We no longer have to live in sin and separation from God.He also wanted them to know that the time for being witnesses had an expiration date. Soon He will return. We may think that it has been a long time and He has not come back yet but you and I need to live in the reality that Jesus can return at any moment.
LIFE APPLICATION
28 Days: Day 2
SCRIPTURE
OBSERVATION
Verse 20 of Matthew 28 is that Great Commission Call issued by Jesus to all His disciples. We need to make sure we understand the scope of the calling. Christians are called to go! We are sent ones not ones who gather.
UNDERSTANDING
The church has become the gathering ones, haven’t we? We have come to believe that the purpose of the church is for us to just be given knowledge, but that knowledge is useless if we don’t apply it to what we have been called to do – which is to go and proclaim the Good News to the world around us. Go and tell them that God loves them and has made a way for them to have a relationship with Him. Go and tell them that only God can satisfy the longing of their hearts and the emptiness in their souls. Then once they have believed we are to baptize them – induct them into the team and then teach them to be a Great Commission Disciple – a go-er. And where are we called to go? To all nations! So are you ready for the mission? Are you involved in the mission?
LIFE APPLICATION
How will you say yes to God about going? How is the Great Commission being worked out in your lives?
28 Days: Day 1
SCRIPTURE
- Matthew 28
OBSERVATION
Jesus is risen – He is alive and His resurrection gives us reason to believe and have hope. His resurrection now brings us to the place where Jesus has commanded us to go and make disciples (believers in Jesus) of all nations. If we do not go there will be others who go and tell lies (read verses 11-15) and people will believe a lie rather than the truth. God loves us and He has the power to change our lives! That is what Jesus commissioned His disciples to go and tell others. Are you ready? We are to go and preach (teach them what we have learned about God), baptize those who believe and then disciple them.Will you take time to pray today that God will give you a Great Commission passion? Will you respond to His Call? [Ask God that over the next 28 days He will fill your heart with passion and vision of how you are to be a part of a Great Commission Movement.]
UNDERSTANDING
What is God saying to me?I notice that a couple of times in the passage that people have an encounter with God and then after the encounter they are asked to go and tell others of what they have learned and experienced. It leads me to ask…am I having encounters with God? If I am experiencing deeper intimacy and encounters with Jesus the next question is am I steward those things well? To steward it properly means that I must do what is commanded of me…go quickly and tell others.