Carrying Out The Great Comission

It may or may not surprise you that the Barna Research Group, a Christian organization, found that among American adults who said that they were ''born again,'' seventy-five percent couldn't even define the Great Commission.

Also, it may or may not surprise you to know that according to those who do the studies, it is estimated that probably 95% of all church members have never led anyone to Christ.

WHAT IS THE GREAT COMMISSION?

The great commission is found in Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

Basically the purpose of every church is to carry out the GREAT COMMISSION.

We hear in our neighborhoods where we talk about neighbors trying to keep up with their neighbors.

• If their neighbor get a new car, they get a new car.

• If their neighbor get a new lawn mower they get a new lawn mower.

This is a fact of life!!!

But also in our churches we have churches trying to keep up with other churches.

Illus: (True Story) Two men were in a donut shop talking and bragging about their churches.

• One of them said, “We just bought a chandelier that cost $50,000 dollars”

• The other fellow was not going to let him out brag him, he said we are buying a NEW ORGAN that is going to cost almost a hundred thousand dollars.

• One fellow said, the governor comes to our church.

• The other fellow said the Mayor come to our church.

Listen, if our church is going to try and keep up with other churches we need to keep up with the New Testament church where they understood the church is HERE TO CARRY OUT THE GREAT COMMISSION.

Illus: Dr. Odell Belger said when I first got saved and started reading my Bible I came across the book of Acts and I wondered why this book was called the BOOK OF ACTS. I was a new convert, I did not know!

I later found out that it was called ACTS because it contained the ACTS OF THESE NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANS.

What was there ACTS, it was to carry out the GREAT COMMISSION of reaching the Lost for the Lord.

Listen, the reason that churches today are carrying out the GREAT COMMISSION they do not even know why God put the church here.

• Listen, there are churches all around town and they can not remember when someone got saved in their church.

• There are churches all around town and they can not remember when they baptize a new converts.

As a Bible-preaching preacher I get concern and so should every Christians when weeks and weeks go by and we are not baptizing new converts.

Let’s take a good look at the Book of Acts, that begins after the Great Commission was given, to see what we must be doing as an INDIVIDUAL and as a CHURCH.

First, let us look at-

I. THE PURPOSE OF MISSIONS

One of the reasons that churches are not carrying out the Great Commission is because we have been given an awesome responsibility.

We see that responsibility in Acts 28: 26-27, we read, “Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

This is no easy mission that has given the church.

For example, in the reaching of the Jews, the Lord said they would be trying to reach people who:

1. Hear, but they would not understand

2. See, but they will not be able to see

• Why will they hear but not understand what they hear?

• Why will they be able to see, but yet spiritually they are blind?

Because the Bible tells us the people we are to reach for Him are DULL OF HEARING and with EYES THAT ARE CLOSED!

There are two kinds of salesman, one is more difficult than others. For example…

(1) When a car salesman see someone pull up on their car lot they know they did not come there to buy a hamburger. They came there looking and perhaps buy a car.

This makes a car salesman job somewhat easy.

All they have to do is convince the customer they have the car they need.