174 posts tagged Great Commission

Today, I had some time to listen to 2 messages by Pastor John Piper and Pastor Mark Dever. Both of these men I highly respect and value their study of the scriptures. Piper’s message on “Being baptized in the Holy Spirit” takes a look at the Acts 1 and 2 Scriptures about receiving Power to be His witnesses and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Recent news stories: A church building torn down. A 70-year-old woman burned over 70% of her body. A young girl’s mother telling her she deserved death. Why was the building torn down? The woman burned? The girl treated so badly? Baptism. Baptism is a powerful symbol for those who understand what it means.

Newt fence photo from JPR Environmental If you do a search for “fence” and “newt”, you either come across a story about Newt Gingrich and border control, or you learn about the terrific effort in Scotland to put up a fence that protects the great crested newt as it heads to its breeding ponds.

May 11, 2008 The Great Commission S: “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 things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

In our passage for today, Jesus seems to be trying to get away and get some well deserved R&R.  Remember from last chapter, that he had been preaching from a boat along the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.  In chapter 4, we saw that Jesus was exhausted and had his disciples take him across

Matthew v28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Today is not only Mother’s Day, it is also Pentecost Sunday.  And each year on Pentecost Sunday, Y2K, Evangelicals around the world have been unitedly seeking God for revival, and interceding on behalf of the world  as part of the Global Day of Prayer.

The popular Great Commission passage of Matthew 28:18-20 is not the only commissioning passage from Jesus.  There is actually four, and each emphasizes a different aspect of what Jesus wants his people to do after he ascends into heaven.  Here are the missions from Jesus: Commission: “I am sending you.”  “Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21).

I knew that Anabaptist theologian John Howard Yoder’s “Baptism and the new humanity” chapter of Body Politics had key things to say about my previous post concerning the shape of the church and anabaptist versus emerging church ecclesiology - but I forgot how many related issues this chapter speaks to.

Luke 4 describes Jesus spending time in the desert, out in a place where people and civilisation were absent. Out in the desert under the blazing sun, Jesus is distilled & concentrated so that all that’s left is a focused and very determined Son of God who finds the heart of what his mission will be.