Sermon Tone Analysis

WHAT DOES THE GREAT COMMISSION MEAN TO US TODAY PT2

Last week we saw how Jesus gave the great commission to his dieciples just before he went up into heaven.

But he said wait util you be empowered from on high.

Giving reference to the holy spirit .

we also saw that to be an effective christian with regard to the great commission we needed to be enpowered with that same Holy spirit.

we saw how Jesus life was made complete when he became full of the Holy Spirit.

Today we are going to see what a life given over to jesus filled with the Holy spirit can do.

You ask how can i know what effect the holy spirit will have on a Life.

we could look at the old testament and look at the life of Samson, Gideon, Jephthah, David, who were moved upon by the holy spirit

we could look at the new testament and look at the lives of Jesus, peter, Philip, all were moved by the Holy Spirit.

we can see just what an effect the Holy Spirit had on these people.

Here-we have the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch

But what was significant about this man?

was it that he was a great teacher?

was it that he was caught away by the Holy spirit

or was there something else.

Last week we looked at the great commision that said

Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature

We can split into 3

GO

ye into all the world

and preach the gospel to every creature

Lets look at these in tern and see what we as a church a congregation a people should be doing.

The first word we see is the word is

Go

Go is a command to leave where you are and move to somewhere else

so often we use this word to tell people to leave us alone

Jesus was not telling us to leave him alone but to move into pastures new.

we can take this word on its own and do just that GO

Go and leave the place where you have been for many years and go somewhere else other than the place you were told to go to is so difficult.

if you do that when God askes you to Go somewhere again you will run away because you dont trust him to lead you through the difficulties.

This word Go can be filled with great blessing or hardship but you will never know unless you do it go.

Here the patriarch of the old tesament heard the voice of God speak to him and tell him to leave where he was and go somewhere else

Here we have a promise agian with a condition.

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed...... promise

Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee........ condition

we could look at many more but time doesnt allow

But we know that when we go we are moving out of our comfort zone and into strange territory.

Jesus knew that for the disciples to spread the good news of the gospel they would have to move out of there comfort zone

For us to share the gospel today we have to move out of our comfort zone.

Its no use saying God didn't say that to me, so i don’t have to do it.

if we consider ourselves to be disciples then that message is to us.

its no use trying to leave it to someone else

just like the the poster during the war Britain needs you.

Jesus needs you to go.

you might try and run away from verse but God will keep bringing you back to the same spot before you can advance.

but Go where

Jesus give us the answer in

and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

for us to go we need a place to go to, and Jesus New just how hard it was going to be for these 11 disciples to take this message to the world even with the power of the holy Spirit

This new exsperince of the indwelling power of the Holy spirit was going to be hard at first to understand but in time the disciples would get the hang of him.

As we have spoken about before the holy spirit dosnt turn the individual into a robot but we need to learn how to live with him inside us.

Things are different.

So this is one of the reasons Jesus said to his disciples to start in Jerusalem.

Yes it was a place of familiarity but it was the also the most important place for people to come to who worshiped God.

So it would be a great place to meet people from all over the known world.

also it was a place small enough for the faltering disciples to get to grips with sharing this new gospel, this Good news about Jesus

AS their confidence grew and their understanding of what the Holy Spirit could do through them so grew there field of mimistry

to judaea their area

to Samaria the area you don’t lik or don’t like you

then the uttermost parts of the world

Radiating from that central point like ripples on a pond.

Christ disciples were to be his witnesses starting at.

But where is our area of witness ?

do i have to go halfway around the world to share my love of Jesus.

NO

Start right where you live

your family, your street your community

then move out to your city or town

then move into the areas that you don’t like or don’t like you

then finaly the world

But its no good going into these areas if you dont have a life changing message.

many People have messagers to bring to people but not all life changing for the good.

dealers on our streets bring a message that bind men and women in a life of a chasing circle.

conners on the net and phones entice people into get rich quick skeems

leaving people left with an empty dream and an empty bank acount.

young people are enticed away to fight to give their lives as suiside bombers with the promise of entering paradise.

how empty all these thing seem when we hold them up to the promise that Jesus gives

these are promisers of life for a look at christ to believe.

and this is the message that we have to give to a die world

And preach the gospel

we have to share the massage of Christ

if we dont, not only do those who we are called to go and preach the gospel die.

but we ourselves die.

we look at our churches and we see in some cases churches closing because of lack of attendence.

you can say its because people dont have time for God, and maybe your right

but the Bible says

but the skeptic of you can say oh that was only soloman he walked away from God.

here was a man who had so much wisdom

realise that without a vision the people perish.

If as a church we dont have a vision we will perish.

but God has given a vision to the church and that vision is to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

we as agbc have a message to bring to

ACOCKS GREEN

BIRMINGHAM

LONDON

THE WHOLE WORLD

and that message is that

JESUS IS ALIVE

what does the great commission mean to us today ?