God's Word for Me Today
Saturday, September 15, 2001
Focus: Our Mission With The World
A note about online study
Introduction to God's Word for Me Today
Some Special Instructions for Today’s Study!
As we complete our first week of daily prayer, study and reflection on God’s Word, I pray that the new life of Jesus Christ is already more evident in your life, and that you’ve been sharing it with others. For those of you who prayed to receive the new life Jesus offers us at the close of yesterday’s study, I want to extend a personal invitation for you to worship at New Life Christian Ministries tomorrow at 8:30 or 10:30 a.m. Please, let me know that you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, because I’d like to welcome you into the fellowship of Jesus’ followers personally!
Today’s study (and every Saturday’s study) will focus on the Scripture for the next day’s worship. The study for Sunday will also focus on that Scripture. Why two days on the same text? Because God’s Word is so rich that we could take one text and read it every day, and God could still reveal something new every day. Often we come to worship without any preparation. We just “show up” and start to sing, or listen to what’s going on, and we haven’t even considered what God may have in store for us, or more importantly how we may honor and glorify God. As we move from trying to follow Jesus, to training to follow Him, being more intentional about our preparation is one key element of the training process.
The Saturday reading of the next morning’s Scripture will give us the opportunity to start to prepare our hearts and minds for worship, as well as introduce us to the theme for the following week. Then on Sunday, the daily reading will focus on some additional aspects of the text and additional points of application for our daily lives. I pray that as we come to worship more prepared and more expectant, God will be honored and glorified, and we will receive additional blessing. May God’s grace and peace be with you!
Dr. Chris E. Marshall, Pastor
One additional note about tomorrow’s Scripture: It may not be the Scripture that Missionary Mark Geppert uses as he preaches. Mark brings to worship leadership a unique combination of abundant joy, deep insight into Scripture and a passionate desire that every man, woman and child on our planet has the opportunity to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior—in this generation!
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your commitment to us. Thank You for loving us enough to come here personally, for being a missionary God. As I read Your Word this day, renew my passion for sharing the new life of Your Son, Jesus, with the world. Bless those near and far who serve as missionaries, and bestow on Mark Geppert your special blessing as he shares Your Word with us tomorrow. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
God's Word for Me Today: Matthew 28:16-20
16Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them still doubted! 18Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. 19Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Questions for Reflection
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Who would you want to take with you?
What is one thing you would teach every person in your sphere of influence, if you were given the opportunity?
Questions for Exploration
What was the response of Jesus’ disciples to seeing Him in this “post-resurrection” appearance? (28:16-17)
What are the specific commands contained in Jesus’ Great Commission to the disciples? (28:19-20) KEY VERSES
Questions for Understanding
Why do you suppose that some of the disciples worshiped Jesus, while others doubted?
What does it mean to make disciples?
Questions for Application
Where will you go today to share the Good News of Jesus and participate in the disciple-making process?
Reflect on Jesus promise to be with us ALWAYS. The next time you feel alone, or feel that God is not responding to your prayers, claim this promise of Jesus that he IS with us always!
Sharing Jesus with the World!
What could be simpler than sharing the BEST news in the world with others? That’s what Jesus calls his disciples (and that includes us!) to do. Jesus tells us to go out into the world and as we’re going we are to make disciples. In fact, in the entire Great Commission, “19Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you,” there is only one verb in the Greek text. The verb is “make disciples.” Going, and baptizing and teaching are all participles. They depend on “make disciples” for the force of their action! How easy it ought to be to make disciples for Jesus. After all, He promises us eternal life. He promises never to leave us or forsake us. He promises that His Spirit will sustain us and empower us to do the miraculous.
So why is it so hard to share Jesus with the world? Well, the world doesn’t always seem interested. The world laughs at us sometimes. The world wonders where we get off talking about the love of Jesus, when we’re not always loving. Before long, we’re wondering whether Jesus would even want us to share Him with the world. He DOES! He wants us to invite every single person we can to receive the new life He offers and to become a part of His eternal kingdom. And He promises to be with us—with us as we share the Good News with us; with us as we learn and grow; with us when we fall on our faces (He’ll even help us up!); and with us when someone says, “Yes!” I want the new life. The joy of seeing someone receive that new life kept the first century church going despite persecution, imprisonment and death! Wow! What are we waiting for? Someone needs to hear the Good News, and Jesus is ready to go with us to share it!
To view the studies for other days, visit the God's Word for Me Today calendar.