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30 Aug 2020

The Great Commission [Matthew 28:16-20]

Overview

The Great Commission is about making disciples. Not making money, or buildings, or programs, or services. As our great King, Jesus commands His church to go and make disciples. We must, therefore, make sure we do not relegate this to a "Great Suggestion", or the "Great Omission"! We pray and labour in such a way that the church will not just be doctrinally sound, but also missionally faithful. This last sermon (of 148 sermons) after 3+ years of journeying through the Gospel of Matthew, therefore, takes us to the last words of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. It covers the Authority, the Assignment and the Assurance from Jesus. Let us be faithful in the Great Commission because Jesus gave Himself for us.  May God use this message to help you be faithful in being a disciple and a disciple-maker! S

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Sermon Transcript

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A very good morning to all of you and once again, welcome to Gospel Light Christian Church, our Sunday online service. We're so glad you can join us on this very special weekend, because we mark the end of our three plus year journey in a book of Matthew.

I've just had a simple count, it may not be exact, but I think we have just covered 148 sermons in the book of Matthew. So that is a long, long time ago. So thank you for being with me all these years, looking at this wonderful book - how Jesus indeed, is the King of his people.

So we come to the very last message and I hope that this message will be a kind of wrap up. And also a message that will bring us to the call to action. That we will respond correctly to Jesus as our King, not just in knowing about the teachings in the book of Matthew, but in living out His will, with regards to the Great Commission.

Now, we are going to a very familiar passage of the Bible. I think, if you have been a Christian for any period of time, you must have heard that phrase, "The Great Commission". So we're going to spend our time this morning just looking at this Great Commission. And once more, I want to urge you, please listen with a prayerful heart. Please listen with a view to obeying Christ, our King, in his command, towards us.

Just a kind of a background, you remember last week, we looked at how Jesus died and was placed in a tomb. And on the third day, on Sunday morning itself, Jesus then appeared to some of the ladies and relayed a message to His disciples to meet Him a few days later, on a mount in Galilee.

So this is where we follow through in verse 16 of chapter 28. “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.” “And when they saw Him they worshipped Him, but some doubted.” [Matt 28:17]

Now, I can think this is very understandable. This is the first time they are encountering anything like this, that their Savior who died such a tragic, brutal death on a cross would be resurrected. Naturally, some would have their doubts and so I think we should not read too much into it. It's not that they are living in unbelief, but they struggle with some doubts. Nevertheless, they came as what Jesus had told them to do.

So at this point, “Jesus came and said to them …”, these famous words which we call, "The Great Commission", today, "… 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 behold, I'm with you always, to the end of the age.” [Matt 28:18-20]

Now, this is the Great Commission, because this is a very great saying. There are some awesome things that are being spoken here. For example, we see the phrase, ‘all authority’, then we see ‘all nations’ or ‘all people groups’, or ethnos, in the Greek. Then we see, ‘all that I have commanded’ and finally, ‘always’.

So, let's take a look at this Great Commission in three simple points. They are not of equal length. Point one and point three will be short. Point two will be more elaborate because it's the details of what it means to fulfill the Great Commission.

1] His Authority
So let's go to point number one. I like us to notice today, His authority as spoken in the Great Commission. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” [Matt 28:18] So he now, commands his people, as the all authority, holding King. He has all authority given to Him. How fitting it is that Matthew should end his book about Jesus with this phrase – ‘All authority in heaven and on earth’.

Now, this is really the whole motif, the whole theme of the book of Matthew, as we have mentioned. We began this journey three and a half years ago with, “The Revelation of the King”. How Jesus was born into this world and how people came to worship this God King.

And then a little while later, we read about, “The King's Speech”, and how he gave his address as King. Remember the Sermon on the Mount? And then we looked at, “The Authority of the King” over diseases, over defilements and even over death and disaster.

So Matthew has been telling us about how He is King. We came to the triumphal entry, Jesus entering Jerusalem as King. And then, we saw last week how Jesus was risen from the dead. He is not a defeated man, but He's the risen conquering King and Savior.

So, we see today this phrase, “All authority has been given to me’. [Matt 28;18] Now, when I think about this, saying of Jesus, it reminds me instantly about my Chinese culture. You would know that in China, in time past, the Emperor would sometimes send messages and commands to his subjects, to his officials. Now, he won't travel all the way because it's difficult for him and he should remain in the palace.

So in a day where there is no SMS or WhatsApp, he would have to send messengers there and the messengers would be very careful to carry this imperial edict. It's a kind of a scroll that records exactly what the king commands. And when the messenger comes before the subject, he would say, “奉天承运,皇帝诏曰.” [fèng tiān chéng yùn, huáng dì zhāo yuē]

Now, don't ask me what it means, except that I think it says, “That this is the king's edict and command, you listen up and you make sure you obey.” And upon this messenger arriving and hearing these words - “奉天承运,皇帝诏曰” [fèng tiān chéng yùn, huáng dì zhāo yuē], the subject immediately bows down, kneels before the messenger.

Now, it's … it's very common in China. Because they understand the supreme authority of the king. The messenger would then read the edict, and the subject would say, “臣子遵守” [chén zǐ zūn shǒu] or your subject will obey.

So I think about this, when I think about Jesus saying, "All authority has been given unto me.” I want to up the stakes for you. I want to … I want you to realize that what we are learning here today is not something optional for you to decide, whether to obey or not. This is not the great suggestion. This, I hope will not be the great omission. But I hope this will be the Great Commission that will be obeyed in your life.

So, it is with such a humble, reverential heart posture, like that of kneeling before our King that you would listen on to the rest of the sermon. Jesus comes, on behalf of the Father, saying, “All authority has been given to me. Now, go and fulfill the Great Commission.”

May this be something not just for your listening but for your obeying. May this not just be to tickle your ears, but that this would change your life. And may the Spirit of God help us to be a church, a people who would live out the Great Commission. So number one, we see the authority.

2] His Assignment
Number two, I said this would be a longer point and it would be about - His assignment. So what is it that Jesus wants us to do? What exactly will be his assignment? This is where the bulk of his statement is, 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” [Matt 28:19-20]

So it sounds like a mouthful. It sounds like a lot. But I want to tell you that God's Great Commission is actually very straightforward. It's very clear! It's very concise! It's very succinct! It is not something that you should be confused about.

Whilst it seems like there are many things to do in these two verses, the Greek, you know that a lot of the New Testament is written in the Greek and not in the English. The Greek sentence here actually contains only one central imperative. An imperative in the Greek is like a command. There's only one central command, in this sentence or in these sentences. And it is that phrase, ‘make disciples’.

So you could say that, “The Great Commission that Jesus gave to his church, to his people is very simple, that we are to make disciples.” A disciple is a learner. A disciple is a follower. It's like an apprentice. In those days, there will be carpenters and bakers and cooks and the best way to learn is to follow the carpenter, follow the baker, follow the cook. You watch his life. You learn from his life. You copy him. You mimic him. You disciple after him.

And that's what Jesus is saying, “Your Great Commission, your mission, the command I leave to you is that you must help people follow Me well. Make disciples of Myself. Help them to learn of My values. Help them to learn of My ways. Help them to learn of My teachings. Help them to follow My life, in My character, in My ministry, in My heart posture, in how I deny Myself, take up the cross in order to follow the Father's will. Help them to be little Christ.”

That's the Great Commission! To make disciples. And so this is our priority. We are to so invest and build and give to the lives of people so that Christ could be formed, could be seen in men and women's lives. So that more and more will be more like Jesus. That's the Great Commission!

Now, I want to make it simple for you. This is the simple statement we are having to grasp – ‘The Great Commission is making disciples’. In order to clarify that for you, I want you to see that the Great Commission that Jesus left for his church is not about making buildings. Now, many Christians and churches today, sadly, think that God's will is that we will have many, many church buildings, buy many, many pieces of property.

No! That's not the KPI. That's not the key performance index that God has left for us. We are not taught to make buildings, but we are called to make disciples. Neither are we called to make money. The church today is not expected or God is not commanding us to make a profit. As if we go to heaven and say, “Look God! How great is our church! We made so much money.” That's not God's commission.

Neither is it to make programs, “O Lord! Look at our training program. Look at how we have so many classes, so many equipping sessions set up. O, look at our programs that fill out calendar.” Nope! God's will is not that we have many programs and miss out on making disciples.

Neither is it about making events, having fun day, sports day, family day. And … and satisfying ourselves that simply because we have so many events, we must be a good church.

Neither is that about making services. “O, we have so many worship services. A few English services here, a few Chinese services there. ” That's neither God's will for us.

Again, it is also not about making classrooms. Alright, not running many, many, many classes as if that alone is our goal.

So let's be very clear, the Great Commission is making disciples, not about making these things. But here is the distinction, whilst we want to make disciples, it is sometimes, indeed, often times quite helpful to use buildings to make disciples. Now, we don't want to make the building an idol. It is not our ultimate joy, but if God has given us a building, it is a blessing that we should use to make disciples.

We are grateful for the building we have here at Punggol. Now, we long for the day, many more people would come to hear God's Word, to go for Bible studies, to have evangelism taking place here, to have training platforms. This is why we are thankful for the building. And we must use the building for the Great Commission, but we don't make an idol out of our buildings. Let's be clear!

Now, we don't want to make an idol out of money, but we want to use money for the sake of the Great Commission. So, we often pray this, that every dollar and cent used or given in Gospel Light Christian Church would be used for the furtherance of His Kingdom, for the advancement of the Gospel and in the making of disciples. If money is not used for that ultimate goal, it is wasted money. So we want to use money, we don't want to make an idol out of money, but we want to use it to make disciples.

Nothing wrong to have programs, but be sure to use programs for making disciples and not just run programs for the sake of running programs. I think an effective church regularly looks at his own or its own calendar, and is willing to slay some sacred cows. You know what they are? Things that have been in existence for a long time in the local church, but the reason for its existence has now become irrelevant. It has not been updated to be effective in making disciples. I think we need to slay sacred cows because they sometimes may drain resources and not contribute to our KPI of making disciples.

We also must not be obsessed with just creating event after event, as if many people coming for events is our goal too. Neither are we here to just pack the services. We are grateful many people can come. But if people only come, but they do not become devoted followers of Jesus Christ, we have also missed the mark.

Similarly for classrooms. Nothing wrong to have classes. Nothing wrong to teach the Bible. But everything wrong if we only think that the church is just to establish classrooms and not look at how people's lives mimic or follow Jesus.

So in summary, I hope this is clear, the Great Commission, that authority that is given to each, Jesus and now given to us as a command is - to make disciples. I think that's very exciting! That helps us realize what the ultimate goal is for us. To help people know and to follow Jesus in that, so that they may glorify God.

Now, we live in a very difficult time. We live in COVID 19 pandemic, where we are not allowed to gather as we used to. We can’t gather in our services, in the hundreds and thousands anymore. We can't even gather in our care groups anymore in a physical way. We are told to stay home.

Are you despairing? Are you upset? Oh! I hope you're not. Because I hope you still realize that even though we can't gather as we used to, we can still do God's will. We can still fulfill the Great Commission and we should, we should continue to fulfill the Great Commission. I want you to know that in the early church; now we want to be like an Acts church for today, right?

Now, in the early church, I tell you something, I don't think they gathered like we used to gather. I don't think they gathered in one massive building but the Bible tells us that they gathered from house to house. And they still were doing the work of the Great Commission, because thousands were added to the church, and people were added to the church daily.

Why? Because they understand that their mission is making disciples and not gathering in a building.

In fact, when you read the book of Acts, you would see in Acts 2[v46], 5[v42], 8[v3] and so on[Acts 10:2, 12:12, 16:32, 40, 18:7, 20:20, Rom 16:5, 1 Cor 16:19, Col 4:15, Philemon 1:2] the way they gathered, is house to house, small groups, house to house. That's how they did church!

So don't be broken, don't be despairing, don't be depressed as if God's will, is now stopped in the church. No! No! God's will can still and should be lived out in our lives, house to house, if we are on point, in fulfilling the Great Commission.

Now, the early church, I don't think they are very rich. They had a lot of needs, widows were going hungry. I don't think they have big buildings. I don't think they have a lot of programs. I don't think they have sports day. I don't think they have a lot of classrooms. But I think they were missional. They gathered regularly around the apostles' teachings, breaking bread, praying together, serving and encouraging one another.

I hope that in this COVID 19 pandemic, it causes you to rethink your Christianity. It frees you up from all these forms and all these outward things and focus on what is really inward, what is really important. Are you making disciples? And if you are yet making disciples, are you learning to be a disciple? That's the goal!

I'm your pastor and my goal for you is not for you to just come for church service. Now, it looks good. It looks good to outsiders. It looks good to you to see many people. It looks good to me. But you know, that's not the goal! The goal is that you will be a mature and equipped disciple of Jesus Christ.

So in this COVID-19 as you settle at home, as you have more time, don't just Netflix it away, don't just cry it away, don't just lament it away. But think, “Am I a disciple of Jesus?” Can I grow in my discipleship to Jesus? “How can I develop spiritually?” And then, think about how you can make disciples. I think this is so important.

Seth Whitaker, he says, “Church should be considered a movement, not a monument.” Hey! We are not a building, we're not a structure. It's not a static thing. It's a dynamic movement where people are growing in Jesus and helping others to know and to grow and to go for Jesus.”

So hey, folks! This is the joy that we had to go and make disciples. You know, factories make shoes, schools make students, [sic:Arm or training], army training camps makes soldiers, but only the church can make disciples of Jesus Christ. What a privilege! This is for the church.

And I hope this is your goal in life. I hope your goal in life is not to make money. Bible says, “It is foolish. It is destructive to your soul, if that is your goal in life to make money.” “They that will be rich, they that want to be rich, pierce themselves through with many sorrows.” Devote yourself, not to making money, not to making fame, not to making buildings, not to making babies, but devote yourself to this, to making disciples.

Now, I'm not saying, “It's wrong to make money.” I'm not saying, “It's wrong to have a family.” But I'm saying, “Even in the making of money, in the making of babies, let it be towards, the KPI of making disciples of Jesus Christ. Let your money be given for Gospel-centered causes. Let your child be a follower of Jesus. Teach and nurture the child in the way that he should go.”

Why? Because this is what it means to love God. This is what it means to love your neighbor. You know, one day when you die, you're not going to go to heaven, and celebrate before God, saying, “Lord! Look at how smart I was in my investments. I got this stocks. I got this property. And … and I died having 100 million dollars in my account. Ain't I great?”

God would ask you, “How about My edict? How about what My Son said, ‘Go and make disciples?’” “O God! I'm so sorry. I thought making money is it. I thought making a name for myself is it. I thought that making a good family is it.” “No! It's about making disciples.”

So this is the assignment given by the Lord Jesus Christ. How … how then do you do it? Okay, I need to make disciples. But exactly how should I do it? Well, let's look at the whole of verse 18 and 19. There are three participles. Now, like I said, in the Greek you have a distinction between a central command and then the attendant participles. Things that you need to do, in order to fulfill the central command. So the central command is - make disciples.

Now I just want to add that sometimes in some Bible versions, it's translated as, ‘teach’, make disciples is teach. Actually, that's sad because that's inadequate. We are not just to teach, as if we communicate truth. But we are to do more than that, to make disciples mean, of course, to teach, but also to model, to pray, to love, and to keep the person accountable. So much more!

So the central command is - make disciples. But there are three things you need to do.

Number one, in order to make disciples, you need to go. Very simple. You got to go. Don't stay here. Go. So let me bring you back to 2000 years ago, Jesus meeting the disciples. They must be all enraptured with the reality that Jesus is alive. They must have wished that they will stay with Jesus forever. They must wish that they will go to heaven with Jesus. But Jesus says, “Don't stay here. Don't huddle here. Go! You are on a mission. You are sent.” And we are to go.

The Church of Jesus Christ must not only gather on Sunday mornings. The Church of Jesus Christ must not just celebrate the fact that we can fellowship and commune together in little groups. The Church of Jesus Christ must remember to go. Because we are not, we are called to be missionaries, not stationeries. Alright! We are called to be on mission, to go out of our comfort zone. We are not to wait here, but we are to go.

Jesus said that, “His people are to be like the salt of the earth.” You know, salt is only useful when it is spread out. Salt is useless if it's all kept in a salt shaker. And the Church must not be a salt shaker, that we keep ourselves together. But we go and we exert that Christian influence and we go and share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

It's like a basketball game. You don't win a basketball game by having good timeouts only. Oh! Let's … let's have a timeout. Let's talk about strategy. Let's talk about how we beat the other team. Let's have a great cheer.” Now, this basketball team will win nothing until this team, after the huddle, gets out onto the court and play ball.

This is where it matters. We gather on Sunday mornings, now online, we hear God's Word. But that's not the goal. The goal is so that on Monday to Sunday, you will get out into the court of your life, to go into your families, your office, your … your schools, your neighborhood and make disciples. We've got to go! Out of our comfort zones. Taking the initiative to love, to pray, to ask good questions, and eventually earn that right to journey with people in the Gospel.

Go and then you baptize. Baptism is that outward declaration of someone who has repented and believed in Jesus. So, when we hear Jesus saying, “Go, baptized.” It means you must have shared the Gospel and help the person come to faith in Him, then you baptize him. That's the ceremony. That's the ordinance. That kind of allows the man or the woman to officially declare, “I do believe in Jesus Christ, God's Son, who died and rose again to save me from all my sins.”

So we have to go and to baptize. And we see the trinitarian allusion here about the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So we have to go, we are to share the message of repentance and forgiveness. We are to share with them message of the Good News to one and all, that they might believe and that they might be baptized.

And then thirdly, we see the word, ‘teaching’. So this ‘teach’ is different from the make disciples, Greek word. The two Greek words are totally different. So this is a better translation. Yes, we make disciples and in order to do that, we go, we baptize, and we teach.

We must teach people the whole Word of God. “Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” [Matt 18:20] Now, there are many people who wonder, what is more important - evangelism or discipleship, that is teaching? Which is more important?

Now, let me say, I don't think it is wise to compare one versus the other because in my mind, according to the Scripture, we are not called to evangelism only. We are not called to discipleship only, but we are called to disciple making, the whole process of leading someone to Christ. And then helping him mature and then helping him become the leader, the disciple that he is to be.

So, we're not just interested in obstetrics and gynecology, delivering of a child. We are also interested in the pediatrics and the geriatrics. We should be involved in the whole range of Christian growth and development.

So let's be clear! As a church, let us not just focus on evangelism. Let us also not just focus on discipleship. But let us be clear, that we as a people are commanded by Jesus to do disciple making. That's God's call!

So, when we make disciples, this is the challenging part. Don't just help him to grow as a Christian, but help him to also become a disciple maker, who will make disciples, who will disciple others. So if I may put it this way, “The Great Commission is so that disciple makers will make disciple makers, who will make disciple makers.”

Can I say that? “The Great Commission is making disciples who will be disciple makers, who will be disciple makers.” And we look beyond our generation, we look to many generations to come because that's the Great Commission. You make disciples, who will teach others to observe all that I have commanded you.

In Gospel Light, we have a simple mission statement - we are to be leading generations into a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ. It's very important to emphasize, ‘life changing relationship’. In other words, we are not interested just with information, but also transformation. Teaching of the Bible, information, very important. But if it is just mere academic knowledge, we fail.

So we must pray, we must model, we must encourage, we must keep people accountable. We must invest our lives in others, so that the information they have does not stay only as information, but it will be used by the Spirit to effect transformation. Because the Great Commission says, “Teaching them to observe, to obey.”

You know, what's the fear in Gospel Light? It's that you hear a lot of teaching, you get a lot of information, but you don't observe, you don't do. You look into the mirror of the Bible, you see all your problems, but you leave the house, just as you are. That's so tragic! I pray today, that as we hear God's Word, we would say, “Lord, give me a tender heart to obey you.” So, this is what you do.

Now, it is so exciting because in COVID-19 pandemic, we may say, “Hah! I can't make disciples anymore. Hah! It's so sad.” No! Who says making disciples need to be in a building? We can make disciples still, if we leverage on technology. And isn't it true that every one of us or most of us today are in some kind of connection with others online?

Isn't it exciting that today I can reach someone who is thousands of miles away on Zoom, on Google Meet? Isn't it exciting today that I can still be gathering in my care group online? So much easier! I can gather in my discipleship group. There are many Bible study groups you can be a part of here in Gospel Light. And there are men and women who love God, love His Word, who are willing to invest in your life.

And so let me ask you, how are you using these lockdown months? Are you wasting it away? Or are you saying, “Lord, I hear Your authority, Your authoritative command, the Great Commission to make disciples, I want to do that. I do not know how yet but I want to grow. I want to be a good follower of Jesus first. And I will join in this Bible study or join in that care group. I would pray about discipleship. I'll read and I'll listen to messages online. I want to connect with my brothers and sisters as best as I can. COVID or not, I am on point. I'm on target to fulfilling the Great Commission.”

And friends today, you can make disciples, you can start a Bible study group. You can gather brothers and sisters in Christ, to pray, to disciple. You can sow that seed virtually and water that seed, water that plant and see God bring about abundant fruit. I pray today, you will be fulfilling the Great Commission in your life.

And this is what Jesus says, “You can do that for all nations, all people groups.” There is no one who is impossible to reach for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No people group that should be written off. The church in time past, has always been faithful to the Great Commission. Lives have been laid down, blood shed. And today we see the Christian faith flourish, from the Middle East to all parts of the world.

And today with technology, perhaps we can spread the Gospel even further and wider. May God use his church to bring about a global purpose of making disciples, starting in Jerusalem, to Judea to Samaria, unto the uttermost parts of the world.

3] His Assurance
Finally, I want to end with my third point, and it is this, - His assurance. How comforting that this imperial edict as it were, is not just a command, but it comes with a promise. The promise is, “Behold, I'm with you always, to the end of the age.” [Matt 18:20] How amazing that God, Jesus Himself promises to be with us!

Now, this is a promise. Of course, directly applicable to the 11 that were gathered at the mountain in Galilee. But I think it is also applicable to you and to me. Why? Because it says, “To the end of the age.” For all times, Jesus promises to be with His church, with his people.

Now, I believe it is His being with us through the person and work of The Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Christ is called the Spirit of Christ because He is the Spirit of Christ. And He is with His church, always. What a tremendous phrase! ‘End of the age’ or and ‘always’, because it means the whole of every day. In other words, there's no timeout for God. He's always with us.

And doesn't this echo back to Matthew, chapter 1, [sic:where] when Jesus is born, they will call his Name, Emmanuel, which means, God with us. And this is the promise.

Maybe you feel today, God is not with you. You don't sense His presence. You don't have that joy. You don't have the answered prayer. Perhaps it's your sin that cuts you off from God. But perhaps it's because we are not on mission, we are not doing God's work. But the greatest joy a man or woman can have in this life, is being in the center of God's will and that involves making disciples.

If you are busy making money, if you are busy making a name for yourself, if you are busy making properties, let me tell you, “You will not experience this promise – ‘Behold, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.’”

I pray that Gospel Light will be a church that seriously reflects upon this Great Commission. You know one thing about our church, I think we know the Bible or at least we teach the Bible. Many of you are very good at crossing the dots, crossing the T's and dotting the i's, in the Bible. You're very meticulous in doctrine. That's a good thing! Nothing bad with that! Please don't get me wrong. But I think the danger is that, we satisfy ourselves is the mere knowledge and we forget that we are to obey.

I pray that with time, with the Spirit of God working in our hearts, with discipleship [sic:growing], going on, we will be a missional church. That our people will be faithfully going, teaching, baptizing, discipling, making disciples. There's only one group of people who will be making disciples of Jesus and that is the church. May we be faithfully doing it.

I end with a short, simple illustration of Hudson Taylor. Well, he was an Englishman, but he felt the call of God to China. He adapted himself. He changed his looks. He learned the language so that he could be bringing the Gospel to China, so that he can be making disciples of China. And God blessed him, China Inland Missions is still famous up to today. Praise Got for a man who would obey.

But there's a story told about a Scottish man, who wanted to also go to the mission field in China and went to Hudson Taylor for an interview to assess suitability to go for missions. What's interesting about this Scottish man, however, is that he has only one leg. So when Hudson Taylor met him, he asked, “Sir, what business have you, having one leg to go to China for missions? Why would you go?” And this man replied, “Because I don't see those with two legs going.” Hence, he was accepted.

My friends, it doesn't matter whether you have one leg or two legs. Do you know why Jesus left you here on Earth? And why he didn't call you back home in heaven? Because we have a mission to fulfill.

We have a Great Commission to obey. He promises, “I am with you.”

Money, no money. Smart, not smart. Rich or poor. One leg or two legs. I am with you always. Let's be a missional church! Let's step out of our comfort zone! Let's give God our five loaves, two fishes! Let’s be making disciples! That's what it means to love God and to love others.

Let's bow for word of pray together.

This has been a journey in the book of Matthew, looking at Jesus as King. But it all boils down to this - Is he really King of your life? How are you spending your life, your time, your finances? Are you making money? Are you making a name for yourself? Or are you invested and committed to making disciples?

I tell you, “There's nothing more glorious in this world than a disciple of Jesus Christ. There's nothing more privileged for us to be a part of than investing in people and seeing Christ form in them.” Let's be a church that will bow before Jesus today and say, “Lord! Let Your edict … let Your commission be fully obeyed in our lives.”

Maybe there are some things you need to repent of in life. Maybe it's an idol of work, idol of riches, idol of fame, idol of success. Repent of these things and bow before your King, bow before your God. Maybe there are some things you need to change in your daily routine. How you need to give of yourself more to the learning, to the studying, to the growing in God's Word. Maybe there are some fellowship groups you need to be a part of, steps of faith you need to take. So that, you can be in a care group, you can be in a Bible study group, you may pray about discipleship here in this church.

Maybe today, even right now, let us unite our hearts and say, “Lord, help Gospel Light, not just to be a Bible Church, not just to be a Punggol church, but help us to be a disciple making church, help us to be a missional church.”

And if you're here today, you do not know Jesus as your Savior. Let me tell you, “There's nothing more important in your life than to know Jesus Christ, because He alone, as we have spoken in the past few weeks, went to the cross, laid down His life, rose again the third day to save His people from their sins.” I pray you will learn of Jesus, you will repent of your sin and believe in Him. May God bless you.

Father, thank You this morning we can hear Your Words. So many things spoken, but not let that all settle into the deep recesses of our hearts. And let that, then change the way we see things and the way we live our lives. May we live and labor in such a way, that when we see You in heaven, we can hear the words, "Well done, you good and faithful servant, enter into My rest." Bless Your church. Bless each one. Thank You. We pray all this in Jesus’ Name. Amen. God bless.

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