march 8 : matthew 28

The Great Commission.
"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Jesus has risen, and he is with us now. Without this chapter the teaching of Jesus would be no different than the teachings of prophets of both the Bible and other religions. Without the resurrection of Jesus Jesus would have been just another man, who lived and inevitably died. But Jesus overcame death. He lived again after his death here on Earth. How amazing is that. That is the power of our God. Now what interested me about this chapter is what Jesus tells his followers to do. If you look in the other Gospels its very similar to what was written here. "Go and make disciples of all nations," what Jesus' last command. He said to "Go." How important of a task would this have been to Jesus that this was his last command? Now as a follower of Christ I need to learn this. I dislike the fact that I have to call small group members, pester them to come to church, or make them feel guilty. I dont like that. I always looked at Jesus' ministry and noticed that he never begged people to listen, he never pleaded with people to come and listen to him. I am not saying I am comparable to Jesus, but this was my approach too. I am now thinking I have been doing it wrong. I need to "Go" as Jesus commanded and reach out to people around me, that would be obeying God's commands. I think as leaders of the church it should be our duty to do this - to ask for them to come and listen. =] God bless you guys.