All...All...All...Always

OPENING PRAYER:

Lord, thank you that your Word is truth and that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Help me to live today rejoicing in him.

READ: Matthew 28:11-20

The Guards’ Report

11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

The Great Commission

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:11-20

REFLECT:

Worshipping the risen Lord includes listening to him and doing what he says.

The next day everyone in Jerusalem knew that the tomb was empty. What had happened? Clearly something had. It would be interesting to know what the chief priests and elders thought. They felt they had to invent a fake story about it. But the disciples, eventually, knew that Christ was risen from the dead. In the days that followed, they saw him alive on several occasions; he talked with them in both Jerusalem and Galilee; and he commissioned them to go and tell the world. Which they did.

Did you notice all the ‘all’s in the final verses? All authority (v 18), all nations (v 19), all I have commanded (v 20) and always (v 20). The Lord Jesus Christ is not to be limited or undervalued. There is nothing we face in heaven or earth that he does not have authority over. There is no nation or people group that is outside the scope of his good news.

He deserves the loving obedience of all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength. He doesn’t just send you and me into the future; he comes with us all the time.

APPLY:

Think of a country whose name begins with the same letter as your own name. Then pray for it. (Between us, we should touch many nations!) Pray for new believers in that country, its pastors, its evangelists and those who suffer there.

I WILL STATEMENT:

I WILL start a conversation with my spouse about how I can love or respect them more.

CLOSING PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, your call is clear. I am to witness, disciple, and bring the light into the dark places of my world. Teach me and use me.

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