Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. God 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 have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Going. We as teens need to hear and obey the commands of Jesus. Wherever we are, at school, at home, or even just hanging out with our friends, we must be "going" about obeying Jesus command! Often, we don't want to go, we would rather just stay. However, if we are going to be teens who stay on target, then we must be teens who are "going!" The emphasis of this text is not necessarily on "GO!" but rather, the idea is "WHILE YOU ARE GOING". So it is assumed that we will "go" in order to obey the rest of the commands in this text! However, in our culture, often we just sit around and hope that somehow we will fulfill God's commands without "GOING." So, we need to be teens who are actively striving to be on mission and be going. Multiplying. Make disciples is the primary command in this text! Implied in this command is the idea of multiplication! Yes, a big mathematical word! It means that there are more people being added into the body of Jesus. It means that there are more believers who are walking in obedience to Jesus! More! But who is charged with making more? We are. Jesus is the only one who can save, but he tells us to be going and making disciples! So, we want to make every effort to be spreading the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone we possibly can! Teaching the commands of Jesus and connecting people to the local church for their further growth! Multiply! Loving.Jesus said in Luke 13, that the way people would know that we were part of His disciples, was by the way we loved one another! It is not enough to be going, and be multiplying, if our lives do not reflect the message we share! We as teens must be showing the love and acceptance that we have in Jesus to those around us! Even if people are different than us, or don't like us, or don't like the things we like, we must still show the love of God to them. It is not something we can manufacture! Rather, we love, because He first loved us! When we take God's love and bend it out towards other people, we show them the power of God's love for us by loving them! The culture of our youth group must be one of unqualified, unconditional love! To whom will you go with the Gospel?
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AuthorWritten by members of the Lebanon Baptist Youthgroup Archives
September 2017
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