TEACHING 2

Topic:       THE GREAT COMMISSION

1. Introduction:

1. The New Life Miracle Church (TNLMC) is “the Church of those who are going to heaven”.
2. This church understands Sound Doctrine, teaches it, and practices it.
3. The bedrock of our Christian faith is HOLINESS. “Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord”. (Heb. 12: 14b).
4.  The VISION of this church, The New Life Miracle Church, is “A CHURCH COMMITTED TO THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS, AND THE GREAT COMMISSION”.
5. From this vision, the five purposes of TNLMC were crafted which are:
6. Worship.
7. Ministry.
8. Evangelism.
9. Fellowship, and
10. Discipleship.
11. About the beginning of this year, the Holy Spirit placed the great burden of soulwinning upon the leadership of this church. This led to TARGET 2026: “THAT JESUS WILL ADD TO TNLMC, AT LEAST TEN THOUSAND ADULTS WHO ARE BORN AGAIN, BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR 2026”.
12. We have since commenced training for all members, especially those who are saved, on soulwinning.
13. Every believer, every saved soul, must be a soulwinner: “out, where the sinners are”.
14. Soulwinning is the work nearest the heart of the Almighty.

• The Great Commission:

“Go therefore and make disciples (EVANGELISM) of all the nations, baptizing (FELLOWSHIP) them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching (DISCIPLESHIP) them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28: 19, 20).

 This is a single complex sentence!

Define Commission: An instruction, command, or role given to a person or group.

We shall examine this great commission under the following headings:

1. Go therefore:
2. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” (Matt. 28: 18).
3. Christ who died for the sin of mankind, who resurrected from the dead on the third day by the mighty power of God, came and spoke to His disciples that God, the Father, has given all authority in heaven and on earth to Him. Hallelujah! Amen.
4. Based on this fact, Jesus commanded His disciples to “Go therefore”.
5. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. Remember always that I am the custodian of ALL authority in heaven and on earth!
6. And He said in Matt. 28: 20b: “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

1. Go and make disciples:

“Go and make disciples.” This is Evangelism/ Soulwinning.

1. This commission is to who? The disciples of Jesus. If we are disciples of Jesus, this commission is to us too.
2. The word “go”, is a command. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments”. (John 14: 15). Failure to “go” is disobedience, a sin. As we repent of other sins, we must as a church repent of the sin of “failure to go”. And as individuals, we must also repent of the same sin. When you repent, you must bring forth fruits meet for repentance, meaning that we must turn over a new leaf. We must “go”.
3. Go where? “Out, where the sinners are”. Wherever we can find human beings, we must go there, preach Christ to them, lead them to true repentance and accepting Christ as their Lord and personal Saviour, right where they are. Many of them will thereafter be willing to follow you to the church where they will learn more about Christ and Christian living.
4. When should we do this? Daily. “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved”. (Acts. 2: 47b). This is possible because the people evangelized daily!
5. The church exists to communicate God’s Word. We are ambassadors for Christ, and our mission is to evangelize the world.
6. The word “go” in the Great Commission is a present participle in the Greek text. It should read “as you are going”.
7. It is every Christian’s responsibility to share the Good News wherever we go.
8. We are to tell the whole world of Christ’s coming, His death on the cross, His resurrection, and His promise to return.
9.  Someday each of us will give an account to God regarding how seriously we took this responsibility.
10. The task of evangelism is so important, Christ gave us five Great Commissions, one in each of the gospels, and one in the book of Acts.
11. Matthew 28: 19-20,
12. Mark 16: 15,
13. Luke 24: 47-49,
14. John 20: 21, and
15. Acts 1: 8.
16. Jesus commissions us to go and tell the world the message of salvation.
17. Evangelism is more than our responsibility; it’s our great privilege. We are invited to be a part of bringing people into God’s eternal family. As long as there is one person in the world who does not know Christ, the church has a mandate to keep growing.
18. Growth is not optional; it is commanded by Jesus. We should not seek church growth for our own benefit, but because God wants people saved.

1. Baptizing them:
2. In the Greek text of the Great Commission, there are three present participle verbs: going, baptizing, and teaching. Each of these is a part of the command to “make disciples.”
3. Going, baptizing, and teaching are the essential elements of the disciple-making process.
4. At first glance you might wonder why the Great Commission gives the same prominence to the simple act of baptism as it does to the great tasks of evangelism and edification. Obviously, Jesus did not mention it by accident. Why is baptism so important to warrant inclusion in Christ’s Great Commission? It is because it symbolizes one of the purposes of the church: fellowship – identification with the body of Christ.
5. As Christians, we’re called to belong, not just to believe. In (Eph. 2: 19d LB) we read, “……, and you belong (my emphasis) in God’s household with every other Christian.”
6. We are not meant to live lone ranger lives; instead, we are to belong to Christ’s family and be members of His body.
7. Baptism is not only a symbol of salvation; it’s a symbol of fellowship.
8. It not only symbolizes our new life in Christ, it visualizes a person’s incorporation into the body of Christ.
9. It says to the world, “This person is now one of us!”
10. When new believers are baptized, they are welcome into the fellowship of the family of God.
11. We are not alone. We have each other for support. “Now you are no longer strangers to God and foreigners to heaven, but you are members of God’s very own family, (my emphasis) citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.” (Eph. 2: 19 LB).
12. The church exists to provide fellowship for believers.

1. Teaching them to obey:
2. The word that is commonly used to refer to this purpose is discipleship.
3. The church exists to edify (improve morally), to educate, to train, God’s people.
4. Discipleship is the process of helping people become more like Christ in their thoughts, feelings, and actions.
5. This process begins when a person is born again and continues throughout the rest of his life. Col. 1: 28 (NCV) (NCV means New Century Version) says, “So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature person in Christ.” (my italics).
6. As a church, we are called not only to reach people, but also to teach them. After someone has decided for Christ, he or she must be discipled.
7. It is the church’s responsibility to develop people to spiritual maturity.
8. This is God’s will for every believer.
9. Paul writes: “…… so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4: 12b-13 NIV).

• Summary/ Action points:
• The Great Commission is for all disciples of Jesus.
• The Great Commission is in three parts: Evangelism, Fellowship, and Discipleship.
• Going, baptizing, and teaching are the essential elements of the disciple-making process. We must continue to carry out these roles till the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
•  Evangelism:
• Every believer in Christ is commissioned to be a soul winner for Christ, out, where the sinners are.
• The work of soul winning should be done daily.
• Preach Christ to them; lead them to true repentance and accepting Jesus as their Lord and personal Saviour.
• Follow-up is important, essential, and necessary.
• Do the work of evangelism as your business.
• Fellowship:
• Integrating the newborn souls to the body of Christ.
• We are not alone. We have each other for support. “Now you are no longer strangers to God and foreigners to heaven, but you are members of God’s very own family, (my emphasis) citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.” (Eph. 2: 19 LB).
•  The church exists to provide fellowship for believers.
•  What about the fake brothers and sisters who want to take advantage of us? This calls for wisdom and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

• Discipleship:
• Believers’ Class is a tailor-made training for new converts.
• There are other classes to nurture the new converts to maturity in Christ.
• We will equally teach and train them on effective soulwinning.
• And not to forsake the fellowship of one another.

• Prayers:

1. “As you’re going, make disciples of all nations.” This is EVANGELISM. Evangelism is a “going” purpose. O LORD, help TNLMC to do the work of evangelism as it ought to be done. Pray in Jesus’ name.

• The Gospel is “Good News”. O LORD, help us to preach the Gospel to all the nations. Pray IJN.
• “Baptizing them ….”. Baptism symbolizes one of the purposes of the church which is fellowship – identification with the body of Christ. O LORD, help TNLMC to have true, righteous, and holy fellowship with one another and with the Lord Jesus Christ.Pray IJN.
• As Christians, we’re called to belong, not just to believe. In (Eph. 2: 19d LB) we read, “……, and you belong (my emphasis) in God’s household with every other Christian. “O LORD, help us in TNLMC to develop this sense of belonging among all our members IJN.” Pray IJN.
• When new believers are baptized, they are welcome into the fellowship of the family of God. We are not alone. We have each other for support. O LORD, help us in TNLMC to grow this fellowship of the family of God and support one another. Pray IJN.
• Discipleship is the process of helping people become more like Christ in their thoughts, feelings, and actions. O LORD, help us in TNLMC to disciple people, so that they can become more like Christ in their thoughts, feelings, and actions. Pray IJN.
• It’s the church’s responsibility to develop people to spiritual maturity. This is God’s will for every believer. O LORD, as we endeavor to develop people to spiritual maturity, send help to us IJN. Pray IJN.