Matthew 28:16-20
\n16 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.”<\/p>\n
This week, we are reminding ourselves of the overarching purpose of our church. This passage has come to be known as the \u201cGreat Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n
We looked at the\u2026<\/p>\n
I. The Power (Authority) of the Great Commission<\/p>\n
II. The Activity of the Great Commission<\/p>\n
Now, we are continuing to look at..<\/p>\n
III. The Process of Making Disciples<\/p>\n
Since making disciples is the activity of the Great Commission, Jesus uses three participles to explain the process of making disciples. They are \u201cGo,\u201d \u201cBaptizing\u201d and \u201cTeaching.<\/p>\n
Last time, we looked at the first step in making disciples which is\u2026<\/p>\n
A. As you \u201cGO\u201d look for opportunities to make disciples.<\/p>\n
The next two steps are more specific as to the process.
\nTo become a disciple a person should be baptized.<\/p>\n
B. Baptizing<\/p>\n
While many churches promote various forms of baptism, the New Testament model for baptism is by immersion. Why is that? Because only immersion symbolizes what happens when one gives their life to Jesus. The water is a symbol of the grave. When one goes under the water, they are symbolically saying they have died to their old self and their old ways. When one comes up out of the water, they are saying that they are now alive to live for Jesus.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy our baptism then, we were buried with Him and shared His death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead\u2026so also we may live a new life!\u201d Romans 6:4 (NIV)<\/p>\n
When one gives their life to Jesus, baptism is to be their public confession of their identity with Jesus.<\/p>\n
So, the first step in making disciples is to lead people to confess their faith in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Is Baptism necessary?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not necessary to be baptized to be saved; It is just necessary to be baptized.<\/p>\n
The early church knew of only one way to initially confess Jesus. If someone said they wanted to follow Jesus, the response of the church, in so many words, would have been, \u201chit the water and we\u2019ll believe you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our initial confession of Christ is not a matter of walking down the aisle at an invitation. It is testifying from the baptistery. Again, baptism doesn\u2019t save you. But, it is seen to be the first step of obedience in following Jesus. As we will see in detail tomorrow, we are to teach people to obey \u201ceverything\u201d Jesus had taught them. And the first thing He taught, in order to make a disciple, was to lead them to the baptismal waters.<\/p>\n
Baptism doesn’t make you a believer – it shows that you already believe.
\nBaptism does not “save” you; only Jesus through your faith does that.
\nBaptism is like a wedding ring – it is that outward symbol of the commitment you made in your heart.<\/p>\n
There are many good, biblical reasons why someone should be baptized (by immersion).<\/p>\n
Is there really a good reason not to?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Matthew 28:16-20 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3590"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3591,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3590\/revisions\/3591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}