U-turn (Day 21) The Great Commission | Eld Jill Ling

Good morning, and welcome everyone to the final day of our extra utan prayer

and Fast Day twenty one. Wow, well done for coming this far,

and I trust that God has really been strengthening and speaking to and moving in

our lives so powerfully, and we can't wait to hear your testimonies. It's

me again, Jill, the coordinator of our prayer bod and also one of

the elders here in x KL, and I have a double privilege of being

able to have started us off on our devotion and also to end us of

our devotion on the theme of Christ's journey to the Cross that all may know.

So today's scripture reading will be taken from Matthew chapter twenty eight, verse

sixteen to verse twenty and I'm going to be reading the scripture out for us

from the version before I unpacked a couple of key learning points that God has

downloaded to me for all of us to learn. So verse sixteen goes,

Now, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus

had directed them verse seventeen, and when they saw him, they worshiped him,

but some doubted verse eighteen, and Jesus came and said to them,

all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me verse nineteen.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of

the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, verse twenty,

teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you, And behold, I am

with you always to the end of the age. Now, as I was

reading this portion of scripture, I'm reminded that we are probably all quite familiar

with the Great Commission that is stated in verse eighteen to verse twenty. But

for today, it's interesting that the Holy Spirit brought my attention to the verses

the few verses just before the Great Commission. And wait, says in verse

sixteen, Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which

Jesus had directed them. And even from this single verse we can learn so

much. You know, numbers are significant to God, and different numbers carry

different meanings in the Scripture. And we know that the number twelve is a

number of God's divine order for government. Looking at the Old Testament, there

were twelve tribes in Israel that formed the nation of Israel. Looking at the

New Testament, we see that Christ had twelve disciples that he said spent his

you know, time with, sold his life into, taught them, passed

on to them, anointed them, prepared them that they would carry out the

Great commission. And so twelve really is a very significant number to God.

It also represents his completeness. And so the number eleven, on the other

hand, would see in the opposite of the number twelve. If the number

twelve represented God's divine order, then the number eleven represents disorder, our human

disorder. If the number twelve represents God's completeness, God's perfection, then the

number eleven represents our incompleteness, our imperfection. And you know, I know

that in xt chapter one we read, you know of how Matthias was chosen

to replace Judas is carried to complete the twelve Disciples. But you know,

it's really amazing and encouraging that Christ did not wait for Matthias to be appointed

to complete the twelve Disciples before he gave the Great commission. It shows us

that he didn't wait for things to be in order, things to be complete,

things to be perfect before he gave the Great commission. And I think

to me personally, and I hope to us as well, that this would

be such a revelation that we don't need to wait for things in our lives

to be in order. We don't need to wait for things in our lives

to be complete, We don't need to wait for things in our lives to

be perfect before we live out the Great Commission. We can. We can

live out the Great Commission, even in the midst of disorder, even in

the midst of incompleteness, in the even in the midst of imperfection, even

when things aren't I deal, we can and we must live out the Great

Commission. And Christ has shown us this, even by him giving the Great

Commission in an unideal situation. You know how how much more unideal was the

situation we read on in verse twelve, You know, sorry, verse seventeen,

it says, and when they saw him, they worshiped him, but

some doubted. You know, even in the midst of doubt, Christ still

gave the Great Commission. He didn't wait for all to worship he. He

didn't wait for all to believe and him. He didn't wait for all to

be matured in their faith before he gave the Great commission. But even in

the midst of doubt, Christ gave the Great commission. And this shows us

again that even in the midst of our doubts, we can live out the

Great commission. You know, it's interesting that I was looking at the word,

you know, some doubted. And the other only time that this word

doubt came out in the Word of God was in Matthew, which at the

fourteen where Peter was called by Christ the war on water, and he did,

but very soon as he saw the waves, he became afraid and he

began to sink. And that's when Christ said, you know, oh,

ye of little faith, why did you doubt? And the doubt in Matthew

fourteen, which Christ spoke of Peter, is the same doubt that some of

the disciples had when they saw Christ. And this doubt that Peter had was

not a doubt that he didn't believe in Jesus as the Son of God,

as the Messiah, but it was a lack of faith, and it was

the presence of fear. And so you know this, this really speaks to

us that friends, we may have our doubts, we may have our fears,

we may have our lack of faith. We believe in Jesus for sure,

but we may have our doubts, our lack of faith, our fears.

But even in the midst of all these friends, we can and we've

got to live out the great commission, that is to go and make disciples

of all nations. And so you know, that's that's the first learning point

that God has really spoken to me personally, that even in the midst of

imperfection, even in the midst of an unideal situation, we can still live

out the Great Commission. We don't have to wait until everything is I deal

and perfect before we act on the Great Commission. I was just preaching recently

in the one point thirty service, and you know, God also spoke to

me to tell the church that, you know, we've got to act fast

when God calls us and commands us, because sometimes in the waiting, that's

when the enemy, you know, sows seeds of doubt and inertia to move.

And so really, let's just do it. Let's just live out the

Great Commission now and not wait too long wait until things are perfect then only

we move. Let's move now, and let's trust the Holy Spirit to make

a way for us where there seems to be no way. And this brings

me to the second and final learning point for today's devotion, where Christ says

in verse eighteen, all authority in heaven and on earth been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name

of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them

to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you

always to the end of the age. I'm not going to be, you

know, preaching or teaching us about, you know, going and making disciples,

baptizing, you know, teaching them to observe, because I think we're

all really familiar with that portion of scripture. But what I want to draw

attention to is really to what comes before and what comes after that. You

know, many times, myself included, we tend to focus on the goal,

you know, and make disciples and baptize them and teach them to observe,

and we forget what has come before that and what comes after that,

And so we tend to take the whole responsibility, the whole burden, the

whole pressure of making disciples on ourselves. When that's not meant to be.

You know, Christ has never meant for us to carry this call or this

burden alone. In fact, before he issued this call, he says,

all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. So the

Great Commission doesn't begin with us. It begins with Christ saying that all authority

in heaven and on earth has been given to me. I have all the

power for you to live out the Great Commission. So live in my power,

not in your own strength. And you know, after the Great Commission

at the end, Cris says, and be whold, I am with you

always to the end of the age. Again, Christ doesn't leave us alone

to live out the Great Commission, but he says, I am with you

every step of the way. So, friends, we are not called to

live out the Great Commission on our own, in our own strength. But

Christ has called us to live out the Great Commission with his presence and with

his power. With us on our own we cannot do it. But with

Christ all things are possible. We can live out the Great Commission. With

his presence, with his power, we can do it. So, friends,

I hope that you're encouraged today to know that really, in the midst

of the imperfections and the ideal situations of our lives, we can live out

the great commission now. And we are not left alone or our own strength

to do it. But we have Christ with us and his power with us

to live out the Great Commission. So I hope you're encouraged with this word,

and let me pray as we go on to our day. Father,

God, we thank you for your precious word for us today our daily bread.

God. And we thank you, Lord Jesus, for your journey to

the cross, that you made it possible for us to have your presence and

to have your power to help all to know You or God. It's because

you have gone to the cross, you died, and you resurrected, that

you have overcome Lord, all sin, all death, every power on earth

and in heaven no God, Lord, and we have your power with us

or God to be able to make disciples of all nations. So Lord,

would you just anoint us this day, Lord with a greater measure Lord of

your power, a greater assurance of your presence, Lord, a greater anointing

Lord to reach someone for you or God, may faith a rise and our

fears decrease, O, God, for you have not given us a spirit

of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of a sound

mind. And Lord, which you just increase Lord, our confidence, increase

our anointing, increase our fruitfulness. Lord, as we go forth, Lord

together with you in your power, Lord, to make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in your name and teaching them to observe all that you've commanded

us to. Thank you, Lord, May you use us in a fresh

and greater way than ever before. Lord, even as we conclude our twenty

one days prayer and fast. Or God Lord, may you continue to Lord,

complete the good work that you've begun in our lives, in our situations,

or God Lord, in our impossibilities. Or God, we believe that

you have begun a good work, And may you complete your good work in

your perfect timing and ways. Or God Lord, and may you continue to

lead us, speak to us, strengthen us as we live each day with

you, Holy Spirit, that we will see your kingdom come. Your will

be done on earth here as it is in heaven. Thank you Father,

Thank you Lord, Jesus, Thank you Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name,

we pray ah and have an amazing final day of you turn friends, and

we look forward to celebrating Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday together with you across all

our ex global plans. God bless you.