THE GREAT COMMISSION.

TEXT: MATTHEW 18:18-20; ACTS 1:8.

INTRODUCTION

Our Lord Jesus Christ came to the earth to build a kingdom, the church. He travailed in the garden of Gethsemane, for the church. When pierced with a spear on his side, blood and water gushed out, signifying the birth of his church. He told us, “As the Father send me to the world, so do I also send you.” His church has grown for the last 2000 years from only a few people to about many people today. The Holy Spirit was sent to empower the church to preach the gospel of the Lord. On the first day of His arrival, 3000 souls were born. The purpose of a Christian is to bear fruit. After most Christians are born again, they just settle on the purpose of maintaining their faith, not backside, year after year, up to the end of their lives. The mandate for the Christian is to get born again, be fed spiritually to maturity then go out to war and bring a sinner to the kingdom. So most battles for the typical Christians are defensive. Only 5% of Christians go for the offensive. Going to the enemy’s territory, to win souls and enlarge the kingdom of the Lord, this is called evangelism. The world is in dire need of apostles and evangelism today like never before. Last year 2023, about 57 million people died without Christ, went to hell. This is about 156,000 per day. This year 2024, the number will be greater. When the born again christian gets into apathy and his/her goal in life is only to protect his/her Christianity as they watch sinners dying and going to hell without Jesus, our Father is not happy. Most Christians have made peace with satan, they want to live easy. Some world church statistics: number of Christians today:-

African Christians	Middle East Christians	Asia Christians
Kenya 80%	Turkey 0.2%	China 2.5 %
Somalia 0.01%	Egypt 10%	Japan 1.5%
Djibouti 6%	Iran 1.5%	Singapore 18.9%
North Sudan 0.2%	Yemen 0.1 %	India 2.3%

Our Lord Jesus commanded us to “Go ye therefore.” He showed us the way to evangelize when He sent the 72 to win souls-Luke 10:1-19. How to win the sinner:-

CREATE GOODWILL, BE EASY TO GET ALONG WITH

The Lord told them, whatever house you enter, say “peace be unto this house”-Luke 10:5. Don’t condemn the sinner, be friendly so that you can win them to Christ. Paul said, “to the Jew I became as a Jew, to those not having the law I became like one not having the law, so as to win them to Christ”-1st Corinthians 9:20-21.
Repentance and conversion is voluntary, be nice to the sinner, they will listen to your message.

IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON-1ST TIMOTHY 4:2.

You need to be equipped all the time, whether you had planned a mission for evangelism or not you never know when God sends the sinner to you for you to preach the gospel to them. Even when “not ready” and opportunity comes, present the gospel to the sinner. You may never again meet him/her in life.

RELY ON THE LEADING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Acts 1:8. You will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of evangelism and missions. When you start witnessing, preaching, He joins immediately. There’s no easier way to invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit other than in winning of souls. The Lord said, “Go ye therefore, and lo, I am with you, until the cose of the age”-Matthew 28:20.

KNOW WHAT TO TELL THE SINNER.

Romans 3:23. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sin has separated us from God.
Repentance. Persuade the sinner to be sorry for their sins and ask for forgiveness form the Lord-Acts 2:38.
Accept Jesus as Lord. Persuade the sinner to invite Jesus as Lord, master of their lives-Revelation 3:20.

REJECTION OF THE GOSPEL IS INVITATION FOR JUDGEMENT.

Some missionaries went to preach in Somalia Mogadishu. The government took them to the capital, stripped them and slew them in public. Upto today, the country has suffered chaos because of te wrath of God.
Jesus’ mission on earth had headquarters in Capernaum on the shore of Lake Galilee. He did a lot of miracles there and in the neighboring towns of Bethsaida and Chorazin. Despite seeing these wonders, most people there did not repent. He said to them, “woe to you chorazin, woe to you Bethsaida for if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes, but it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgement and you Capernaum will you be lifted to the heaven> no, you will go down to hades.
Preach in love, God will judge.

CONCLUSION

The harvest is plenty, the laborers are few-Luke 10:2.
How will they hear without a preacher?-Romans 10:14.
There is greater joy in heaven when ne sinner repents-Luke 15:7.
They also lead others to righteousness will shine like the stars forever in heaven-Daniel 12:3.