Sunday Message - Today Jesus 145

30/03/08
<Matthew 28:16-20>
MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS
• Today’s message is a conclusion to the “Today Jesus” series
• The Lord gave us His most important words just before He ascended to Heaven. This means His
word will never change. His word will not change with my feelings, or faith. God’s word is still
being fulfilled today

Read <Matthew 28:16-20>

• v17 We always doubt too. Though we have seen God’s work before, we are still doubtful.
Even though this is the case, God’s word will not fail

• What does “Today Jesus” messages talk about?

• <Mt 1:1> This sums up the whole Old Testament
• Jesus Christ is the son of God and He came to earth to fulfill everything written in the Old
Testament concerning Him
• <Mt 4> The Lord started His ministry through temptations and victory
• <Mt 5-7> Sermon on the Mount. The Lord told the God’s people that they were blessed. He also
told them about God’s covenant, prayers, bearing good fruits etc
• <Mt 8, 9> The Lord brought the disciples to the field. The field is really important. He wanted them
to see the darkness in the field and how people were living in it
• Men’s actual problem is that they do not see that God is with them. Thus, they are all harassed
and helpless
• Therefore, we need to ask God to send out workers to collect those harvests
• <Mt 10> The Lord gave them authority to cast away demons and heal all sorts of illnesses. Use
the Gospel from Heaven to save, heal, find and bless people
• All Lord’s disciples saw evidences after they’d gone out to the field. And they even saw that Satan
was fearful of them
• <Mt 11> Disciples of John, the Baptist came to look for Jesus Christ. The Lord asked them to tell
John, the Baptist all the miraculous signs they had witnessed
• <Mt 12> The Lord had given the disciples the most important spiritual mystery. The Lord’s
kingdom is spiritual. The disciples had to rely on the Holy Spirit to cast out demons. If not, seven
demons will go in after one has left. Their lives will be worse than before
• “arid places” = places where there isn’t any word of God
• If a person has been living a religious life, his situation later will be much worse than before
• God has never given us religions. God gave us Gospel. We don’t live a religious life, but a life with
belief
• We must know what it means by relying on the Holy Spirit, what is demon, what is the coming of
the Heavenly Kingdom etc
• <Mt 13-15> The Lord performed many miraculous signs before the disciples to tell them that He is
God
• <Mt 16> is the peak of the entire <Matthew>. The Lord asked the disciples, “Who do people say
the Son of Man is?” And He also asked them, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are
the Christ, son of the living God”. For that, Jesus Christ blessed Peter immediately
• What Peter had known came from God. Therefore, the Lord wants to build His church upon the
foundation and rock of what he had known. The Lord’s church cannot be demolished
• What can a church rely on in order not to be demolished? A church can be demolished by the
disassembly of men. A church cannot be demolished if it was built on the foundation of “Jesus is
the Christ”. God will protect that church completely
• Our ministries cannot be denied if they are built upon the foundation of “Jesus is the Christ”
• If our lives are built upon the foundation of “Jesus is the Christ”, we are able to stand up and
glorify the Lord regardless of the pains, sadness and tribulations we face
• <Mt 17-25> The Lord brought the disciples to ‘the mountain of Jesus’ transfiguration’ to let them
see His complete glory. He prepared the disciples to know that He will die. He told them the
parable of the heaven; how the Son of Man will come back with the angelic armies and how the
Saints will resurrect
• After the Saints had resurrected, there will be goats and sheep beside the Lord. The sheep (those
who are saved) will receive crowns
• As the Lord taught till this stage, He stopped performing miracles. The Lord’s purpose is to fulfill
God’s work of salvation
• <Mt 26> At the last supper, the Lord asked the disciples to remember what He had done in their
midst and also to remember the suffering that He will go through. What is it that the Lord wants us
to remember? The Lord wants us to remember daily and in all things. Remember it day and night.
We must remember it all the more when we are having tribulations
• We must remember when we are battling with our enemies on earth. All these are for our
protection
• Those who remember, those who know how to pray will triumph over all things. This is the prayer
of the Lord at Gethsemane
• The Lord was victorious when He was captured. He was also victorious when He was judged and
crucified. The Lord had fulfilled all of God’s word
• He was buried. He died and resurrected. Today’s message is the words spoken to the disciples
before the Lord ascended to Heaven
• The ending message of <Mt> has the same contents as the other Gospel books
• <Mark> everything that happens on those who believe. Our belief is spiritual
• <Luke> all the things recorded in the Old Testament regarding Him was fulfilled. Our belief is
logical. Our belief is not based on feelings. It must be known. Those who know will receive the
Holy Spirit
• <John> Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” Our belief is love.
• The Lord asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Finally, the Lord told Peter that he would
glorify Him in his final days. This is emotional.
• True love will have these 3 elements. Therefore, belief is spiritual, logical and emotional
• All of us are blessed. Even if we have tribulations, we are still blessed. The life of Peter is in us
• After the 4 Gospel books is the book of <Acts>. The Lord asked them to know only one thing:
When the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they will all become witnesses for the Lord in their
individual situation
• We always ask the Lord, when He will resolve my problems. The Lord’s answer is, “when the Holy
Spirit comes upon you.” What does it mean by resolving? Things that we think are problems; we
are able to use them to glorify God. This is true resolving of our problems
• E.g. It is not true resolving if we receive money when we are in poverty. However, if we use our
poverty to glorify God, then our poverty problem is really resolved

1. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me  It has been done
• The Lord entered our lives with His whole life and content. God’s word will be fulfilled
completely through our lives, time and network
• The three mysteries of Jesus Christ:
1) He has revealed the mystery of “Immanuel” which for ages past was kept hidden in
God
• The word becomes flesh means that He has revealed God’s mysteries
• God’s revelation is very important. We can never know God without Jesus Christ (word)
becoming flesh. If that’s the case, we will go into religions
• If we don’t understand what Jesus Christ has fulfilled, our worships are done religiously
• We will have authority when we understand. When we know a person is a liar, we will
have the authority to order him to go away. Satan’s head is already broken. Those who
know this can order him to go away
• After a person understands, he must truly believe. “True belief” means that we judge all
things by what we know. We will really become “Today’s Jesus” when we know this
• People who don’t know this mystery tend to beautify Jesus Christ or make Him to be
someone very special because people want to see these things
• In fact, the Lord and His disciples were all very ordinary people. The Lord was a carpenter
while the disciples were fishermen
• An ordinary person (with ordinary appearance and background) after being filled with
God’s word, judges all things with “true belief” will have God’s glory come upon him
abundantly. As such, all the things he judge or said would be fulfilled. In that case, he has
really become today’s Jesus
• The important thing is not about our looks. The important thing is whether we have the
Lord’s mystery and content in us
• This is the greatest authority. However, the authority that worldly people want to see are
those miraculous or physical signs
• We tend to seek for the wrong things. We tend to seek for things that are special
• After we have understood, we able to glorify God with ordinary things
• After we have really understood and truly believe, we will not be afraid or be in need
anymore

2) He has “died and resurrected”, completely overcoming the power of “Satan,

condemnation and death”
• The Lord definitely will need to die and then be resurrected. It is only through this that
Satan’s head can be crushed and our root sin can be exterminated
• The Lord became the substitute, who took our place for our curses and judgment. People
who know this truth will exude authority
• We are no longer judged. We are already freed. Freedom is authority. The freedom is
complete. Paul said, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus <Ro 8>.
Therefore, we already have freedom regardless of what situation we are in
• Although we have sinned, God has already provided a way out for us, by cleansing us
using the precious blood of Jesus Christ
• God neither ask us to change our religion, nor gives us any religion at all. How can a
dead person change? Everything God has given us is new. He has given us a new
identity as God’s children. Only those who have received this identity will have authority
• For example: If we are staying in our father’s house, we will have authority. We can do
whatever we want at home. However, if we are not staying at our own house, we would
not have any authority
• With a belonging and a correct direction, whatever a person does will all become his
inheritance. All the curses become blessings. He receives inheritance by using his
failures to glorify God and using his success to testify the Lord
• Therefore, poverty will become abundance, sickness will become good health
• We think that Christianity is a religion, which is unrelated to my studies and work. It is only
when we encounter problems that we will seek the Lord. Such knowledge is incorrect
 • Actually, our studies, our suffering, our marriage and our children are our inheritance
• Even though a person is weak, like King David, he can still receive inheritance; After
David repented from his sins, the psalms that he wrote were able to edify the Israelites
• Since we are people belonging to the heavenly kingdom, and everything that we do today
is for the kingdom, we will definitely have authority
• We will not have authority if everything we do is done for ourselves

3) He “sits on the right hand of the Throne”

• The Lord receives the highest authority in the spiritual realm. Why did the bible
emphasize this?
• The Lord, Jesus Christ came in human form and became the most humble. He was
together with everyone. For all creation, He submitted by His death <Philippians>
Therefore, God raised Him to the highest from the most humble
• Therefore, among the multitude, there is no glory greater than His, no love that is deeper
than His, no righteousness that is more perfect than His
• There is no problem that we encounter in our lives that cannot be solved in the Lord,
Jesus Christ
• Those who call in the name of the Lord are blessed

• After a person ponders over these 3 things, there will be some changes to his psychological
and spiritual being. His moodiness will become joy, and his joy will have authority. Even
though he does not open his mouth to evangelize, the joy in his life will influence others
• Why do we call Qiufen “pastor’s wife”? Is it solely because she is the wife of a pastor? We
must see that she has the life and mannerism of a pastor’s wife, to call her “pastor’s wife”.
Her transformation is a result of the Lord, Jesus Christ and the husband beside her
• When we receive the grace from the gospel, the grace we receive in our lives will naturally be
transferred to people who are together with us
• No one is born knowing how to have compassion for others, or to have a giving heart
• One day, our children will be able to proclaim, “We are Jesus’ precious ones”, and we have
never told our children this before
• Those with children ought to love God more. For the good of the children, we should not give
God the lower priority
• There are many things to learn in the course of the children’s growth. However, what is most
important is that they must be moved. There are many things that they can learn when they
are older. Do not let them learn many other things during their golden days such that they are
not able to know God
• What is most important is that they must understand who God is and that God loves them, so
that they are able to respond to God and communicate with Him
• When they know how to do so, the wisdom and logic that they need will come upon them
• A person who prays and lives “in the name of Jesus Christ” will definitely not live a life that will
come to nothing. But of course, some answers have to be waited upon. However, the most
important answer is the answer received during the process
• Man is a created being. Marriage is created. It is not that when we get married, we will
automatically have a blissful family. God’s important answer is given through a process
• When will the Lord answers us? God has already started to work since the day we started to
pray
• If there is anything that causes us to be very unhappy, or if anyone who give us great
disappointment, we must regard these things as being very important and hence pray. When
we pray in this manner for these people, there will then be changes in them
• God gives us opportunities to breakthrough through problems like these
 • The Lord slept when the storm came. The storm represents problems, Satan. The Lord taught
the disciples where their faith was. Did they not see that God was with them?
• People have to all experience these things. This is because no one is strong right from the
start

2. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations  the sole purpose saints sojourn in this
world
1) Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations (our fields of living, life’s network, to the
ends of the earth)
• After a person knows Jesus Christ and be blessed, no matter how weak or contradictory
his life is, all those who are related to him are blessed
• Abraham and David were of little faith and weak from the start. We are blessed so that
the people beside us can also be blessed
• All who are in Jesus Christ are a new creation (the past has gone and have become new)
• We must abandon our old ways of thinking. What Jesus Christ has given us are all new.
Our lives have “crossed over from death to a new life”
• If God works, it is very simple. The question is how does He want to do so? God often
works through His people and the people beside His people. Therefore they have then
receive crowns and testimonies
• When the Lord tells us to make disciples from all people, He is not telling us to suddenly
give up all we have to go around evangelizing
• God uses many Missionaries to go around the world to evangelize. However, these
Missionaries do not just go without knowing the purpose. But they must go with a
foundation
• <Acts 1> When Peter stood up to preach the message, the people from 15 different
regions who gathered, listened and believed. That had a foundation. Thereafter, when the
disciples went to the churches of the people in the 15 regions, they continued to spread
the message. That is network of life. People all have their life’s network
• Those who are continually praying for family members, do not be disheartened. God will
work
• There is a route drawn in the life network that God has given us
• One day, Jesus Christ asked, “Who are my parents, who are my brothers?” Later, Jesus
Christ still went to look for them
• This means that God’s work follows a time table
• We should save those people who are often with us, and allow them to understand. We
should show concern to those whom God tells us to show concern. We should intercede
for those whom God tells us to intercede for. When we do so, God will bring our family
members to church without us noticing
• What is gospel? Gospel is something that God convicts and cannot be forced
• God wants us to find those people whom we can bless. This is prayer
• Hence, our answer to evangelism is the problems we meet currently

2) Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
(regeneration of those who have been chosen)
• When we go to our fields, we should not talk about other matters. We only talk about
God’s love, wisdom, righteousness, perfect will, how to live a life of a Holy child, and
nature. We rely on the conviction of the Holy Spirit to interact and touch people. This is
the meaning of baptizing people
• It is only when we do this that others would know about the Trinity God
• When people see our lives, they would know that we are Christians
 • Of course, we will still have weaknesses and times of failure. However, the way we
handle weaknesses and failures is different. We will always see the glory of God
• Although we have weaknesses, we will not often have feel guilty; although we often fail,
we will stand up very quickly
• What we want to spread is God’s love and His desire. With this, we will let others see God
• We want to give people lives that are born again and tell them to see and hear God
through our lives

3) Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you (sanctification of those who
are born again)
• Many people ask, what were Jesus Christ’s instructions? Is it to evangelize? No. The Lord
is 24 hours, continually instructing us
• He instructs us on how to be a husband; He instructs me how to teach children; He
instructs me how to take care of children when they are sick etc
• We must also listen the Lord’s instructions when we are at work to know what we need to
do and to know the Lord’s perfect will and hence submit
• The Lord’s perfect will is to tell us the details. If the Lord is with us, our footsteps will have
His details and there will also be God’s voice within
• We will also think of the Lord’s tone when speaking, and think of how the Lord will handle
some situation. When the Lord is angry, how He would have the authority to teach
• How do we drive our demons? By finding God’s perfect will and thereby submit is driving
out demons
• “In the name of Jesus Christ” means to receive God’s perfect will
• When we evangelize according to God’s perfect will, others will not feel pressurized but
instead feel peace
• How can we evangelize if we do not know the Lord’s instruction? It would just be telling
others using the knowledge that we learnt
• This is not something that we can teach within a day and night. Therefore, the Lord Jesus
required 3 years together with the disciples, changing their perspective and ideologies
completely

3. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age  Enjoy Christ and live out
Christ
• It is very important that you see “and lo”. We must see how the Lord is with us, till the ends of
the world
• A life of faith has to be witnessed. Those who have not seen will ask, why do I need to serve,
or, why do I need to attend Sunday worship

1) Grasp the evidence of “Lord Christ living in me” = we have to confirm this evidence in
our lives and living
• One day, I discovered I am such a noble person. This is because I have seen the
evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ lives in me
• Many people also know that Jesus Christ resides in us. However, what is the meaning of
Him truly residing in me? The same Spirit which convicts Jesus Christ similarly convicts
us
• The Spirit of the Lord, Jesus Christ is being loved by God. Therefore, if the Lord resides in
us, we have a heart that is “being loved”
• Those who see this, his personality and behavior will slowly become like that of Jesus
Christ. Those who are husbands will slowly become more gentle in treating their wives
• When we see a life, we will use our entire life to bless him
 • The way we view and value life and money will become more and more like the Lord.
Jesus Christ
• In the past, there were things that we are unable to let go of. However, now we can
• When the life of Jesus Christ enters, the cells of our Holy Spirit will slowly expand,
causing us to become more and more like the Lord, Jesus Christ

2) See the evidence of “Lord Christ dwelling in the fellowship of Christians”

• The Lord resides among the fellowship of the Saints. When two or more Saints come
together, it forms a church
• When two people converse and have the same heart, God will reveal to them His perfect
will and let them understand
• What they originally saw as worrying and frustrating becomes the Lord’s answer
• We must understand that in a risk, it is a chance for us to be blessed
• Those who have confirmed this before will know that this church is what God has given to
them to bless them. It is a church that is prepared for me as an individual
• Therefore, I want to receive inheritance and blessings in this church

3) Enjoy Christ’s life, His power and authority and his fruit daily
• There are many times when we will still have weaknesses, be tired, and be tempted.
However, every time we pray, we have to restore the Lord’s heart
• The Lord will reveal to us once again and show us greater grace
• Therefore, having the “know how” is very important
• We need not be afraid of falling. This is because we know that when we pray, we will
restore and once again bless those people beside us
• We know that when we are restored, we will receive authority and strength to bless others
• Therefore, when we encounter lack, we receive through prayers. This is more important
and better than what we get through using our brains
• When we receive by relying on prayers, the evil spirit will be bound. After getting the evil
spirit bound through prayers, the real Kingdom of heaven will come

4) More and more clearly master and enjoy the mystery of “preaching the gospel and
blessing people in a natural way whether in or out of season”
• One day, we will discover that the gospel we spread is more and more practical and
natural, allowing people to understand and accept easily
• Evangelism need not be beautified. Evangelism cannot be taught or be carried out if we
had not experienced it practically before
• Otherwise, people will not listen. People want to know why given the same situation, we
can be joyful with thanksgiving while they are filled with complaints
• Therefore, evangelism is related to everything that we do now
• When we meet a person, we can talk about God according to that situation we are in
• We can share about God by following a person’s interest
• When we tell other parents our testimony of how we teach our children, they will see the
God’s grace upon the children and themselves and hence be touched
• Therefore, we must “play” when evangelizing. Those who are parents must enjoy playing
with their children
• We do not preach out of duty. We share under very natural and enjoyable settings

• Today’s message is the conclusion and blessings of the entire 4 Gospel books
• Let us live blessed days, enjoyable days and days that continue to add more crowns!
Sharing and Prayer Topics
1. Have I gained the evidence of “Christ living in my life everyday”? Does Christ guide and teach me
in everything? Are Christ’s thoughts the same as mine? Is the spirit that worked in the life of Jesus
Christ working in my life? Is Christ’s heart the same as mine? Are Christ’s beauty, peace, joy,
wisdom, power and authority revealed in my life today?
2. At present, how much can I enjoy “preaching the gospel and blessing others”? Can I do that
whether in season or out of season? Is it natural for you to listen to messages of the gospel and
give testimonies? Do I see the work of the Holy Spirit? Does my language, facial expression and
gestures have an impact on others? Do those who are often with me like me more?
3. What is the current state of the work of the gospel in my life’s network? Do I see in my mind’s eye
a picture of “my life’s network being blessed, my doors of evangelism being continuously opened,
my life being joined and built up well with others, and the gradual expansion of the kingdom
thereby”? In the gospel ministry, how are my relationships with the fellowship of Christ’s disciples
in terms of joining and building up together, praying for one another, and working together? In my
current schedule, who are the people that I need to focus on and pray for?