The Great Commission of Jesus Matthew 28:18-20, NIV Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “The Great Commission of Jesus,” based on Matthew 28:18-20. Could you please repeat after me? “The Great Commission of Jesus. The Great Commission of Jesus.” Before people die, they make a will and include their final, important words in it. A will is a written document with a legal declaration of a person’s wishes regarding the disposal of his or her property or estate after death. Therefore, a will contains the most important commands, requests, or desires of the deceased. Before Jesus left the earth, just before His Ascension, He left the words in today’s Scripture. We call this “The Great Commission of Jesus.” All of the four Gospels?Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?record this Great Commission and so does the Book of Acts, which is the historical record of the Early Church. The leading verse is found in Matthew 28:18-20. This Scripture can be summarized, “Preach the Gospel.” Preaching the Gospel is the most important mission and duty of all Christians. It is the purpose of the Church. God takes delight and receives glory when we preach the Gospel. We should never forget that we preach the Gospel because it is the only way to begin to repay God’s grace and love, which cannot be repaid. When we preach the Gospel, our faith will grow. The Church will be revived when we preach the Gospel all over the world. When we send missionaries to the ends of the earth, our country will prosper. Preaching the Gospel and carrying out world missions should be the greatest goal of our life. It is “The Great Commission of Jesus,” the purpose for the existence of the Church, and the duty of all Christians. How can we carry out such a great mission? What should we do for world missions? 1. The mission that is carried out through the authority of Jesus Christ. Verse 28:18 says, “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’ ” Since we cannot preach the Gospel in our own power, we must trust in the Lord Jesus, who has all authority in heaven and on earth. Then God will manifest His power, and we can lead many souls to the Lord and to the blessings of God. A member of our church once said to me, “I have eight brothers and sisters. I was the first Christian in my family. All my brothers and sisters are Christians now except one. His wife is a devout Buddhist. My brother is close to becoming a Christian, but he has not become one yet.” I said to him, “He will become a faithful Christian soon. A devout Buddhist becomes a devout Christian when converted.” We cannot preach the Gospel, however, through only our own power. We need the help of the Lord. When we preach the Gospel with the power of the Lord, miracles will take place. Demons will be cast out, diseases will be healed, problems will be resolved, and God’s blessings will be upon us. When Jesus rose again, God gave Him all authority. Every knee should bow at the name of Jesus. Philippians 2:9-11 says, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Jesus Christ has all authority. Therefore, the Lord will perform wonderful things through His authority when we march forward and trust in Him. Since the Lord Jesus has all the authority in heaven and on earth, as long as we trust in the Lord He will do wonderful things for us and through our lives. To preach the Gospel is proclaim the Lord Jesus all over the world. So many people do not know our Lord Jesus yet. They were born in sin, live in sin, and die in sin. Their lives are hopeless. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we can be freed from sin. We can be freed from hopelessness and all problems?only when we believe in the Lord Jesus. He is our absolute hope, life, blessing, and miracle. Therefore, let us totally trust in the Lord Jesus, and preach the Gospel of life to the ends of the earth. When we believe in Jesus, our destinies will change. We will receive wonderful grace from God. We used to be the slaves of Satan, but we have become the blessed children of God. Such wonderful power is available to us through the power of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When we receive the Holy Spirit, we will receive power, and we will become witnesses of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The word witness contains the meaning of a martyr. Therefore, when we receive the Spirit and power, we will preach the Gospel of the Lord, even sacrificing our lives. Missionary Thomas was the first martyred missionary in Korea. He boarded the ship, General Sherman, and sailed along the Taedong River. The Koreans set the ship ablaze. Missionary Thomas threw Bibles to the shore and urged people to believe in Jesus, until he died on the ship in the flames. Those who took the Bibles believed in Jesus and became the first Korean Christians. Later, churches were built and God’s blessing came upon Koreans. I went to Pyongyang but could not find any remains of the martyrdom. However, while I was carefully reading a map, I found out that the name of the street where Missionary Thomas was martyred was “Mission Kangan Street.” The name of the district was “Mission District.” Mission District! They may have erased all other remains, but they could not completely erase it. We see Mission District on the map of Pyongyang. Even though we do not have a Mission District in Seoul, Pyongyang has a Mission District. Their map shows the history of missions. I also found a station named “Revival”. We do not have a station named “Revival” here in Seoul. We have Yoido Station and Ferry Station but no Revival Station. I was assured that there would be a great revival in North Korea when God opens its door. I am sure that many souls will come to the Lord. Hallelujah! I pray that you will preach the Gospel with a great passion for world missions. Preaching the Gospel is what the Lord delights in the most! Preaching is accompanied by toil and pain, though. Sometimes we may have to risk our lives. Nevertheless, we should never forget that the blood of martyrdom has made such a great revival possible in church history. Rev. Ki-Chul Joo is a great martyr in Korean church history. He often said, “I do not have much. I am not rich or talented. I am not highly educated, either. If I have anything, I have blood in my veins like everybody else. I can give my blood to the last drop for my Lord Jesus.” Just as he confessed, he shed his blood and offered himself as a sacrifice for the mission of Christ. The Japanese tried to force Rev. Joo to worship the Japanese gods in their shrines. They tortured him and put him in prison, but Rev. Joo never gave in. They brought the church members to the prison yard. They made a large bamboo wooden block, drove nails through it, turned it upside down, and told the Christians to walk on it barefoot. They asked Rev. Joo, “Do you still refuse to worship our gods?” Rev. Joo said that he would walk on the nails. He put his foot down on the wood, and the nails pierced the sole of his foot, causing blood to gush out from his foot. Then he put his other foot down on it, and his blood gushed out from that foot, too. Not long after this, complications from the infection of the nail-pierced wounds caused him to die. However, the drops of his blood have borne much fruit. We now have millions of Christians in this land. I pray that you will have great zeal and passion for missions and preach the Gospel, saying, “I want to give my life to preach the Gospel for the Lord.” Just imagine . . . how was it possible for him to step on the nails? Those nails pierced his feet. He could hardly lift up his feet, because the nails were stuck deeply into his feet. He finally shook each foot loose from those nails and kept walking on them. Rev. Joo kept on walking on those nails, singing hymns, such as, “I’m pressing on the upward way, New heights I'm gaining every day.” Church members who were watching him were weeping and wailing. Even though he was soaked with his own blood, he was not reluctant to testify about the Lord Jesus. He was not intimidated. He never yielded to evil power. I pray that you will have the spirit of martyrdom, and preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I pray that you will march forward with faith to preach the Gospel, focusing on the Cross, and be filled with the grace of the Cross of our Lord Jesus. 2. The mission that reaches out to lost souls. Verse 28:19 says, “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.” The Lord tells us to go, make disciples of all nations, and baptize them. He tells us to go. “To go,” means that we need to leave from our present place. Genesis 12:1 says, “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’ ” God wanted to bless Abram, so He commanded him to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household. God tells us to leave the place of hopelessness, pain, and agony, and go to our destination with holy visions in the Lord. We must leave the place of our old self to preach the Gospel of the Lord. We must get rid of our stubbornness, pride, unbelief, complaining, and negative attitudes. We must leave sinful habits, turning to the souls who are waving at us and asking for our help. Moses was tending a flock in the desert when God called him to send him to the suffering Israelites. He left his flock, went to Egypt, and delivered his fellow Israelites. God also told Jonah to go to Nineveh, a city of wickedness. Jonah 1:2 says, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” We must go where God sends us. Where is our Nineveh, our destination? Is it your home, your neighbor, workplace, or school? On the other hand, is it North Korea? We must go. The Lord tells us to go. John Knox, a leader of the Protestant Reformation, once said, “Lord, give me Scotland or death.” He preached the Gospel with a spirit of martyrdom. For her time, the Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world. Rev. John Harper of Glasgow, the newly called pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, was on the Titanic. The ocean liner collided with a huge iceberg and began to sink. Rev. Harper was seen swimming frantically to people in the water to lead them to Jesus before they died. He swam up to one young man who had climbed up on a piece of debris, and Rev. Harper asked him between breaths, “Young man, do you believe in Jesus?” The young man replied, “No, I do not.” Harper then tried again to lead the young man to Christ, asking, “Will you believe in Jesus now?” But he replied, “No. Not yet.” Rev. Harper then took off his life jacket and threw it to the man and said, “Here then, you need this more than I do,” and swam away to other people. A few years later, the young man gave this testimony in a church in New York. He said, “I am John Harper’s last convert. He preached the Lord Jesus to me before going under in the frigid waters, saying, “Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” Being deeply impressed by Rev. Harper, he wondered, Who is this Jesus Christ that he was preaching about?even at the very last moment of his life? The young man was converted after being rescued. He became a faithful Christian and gave his testimony. I pray that your last words will be of Jesus Christ. I want you to testify about your faith in the Lord. The Gospel will remain forever?even after we are gone. The Gospel is stained with the blood of Jesus. The Gospel was purchased with the price of the blood of Jesus. When we preach the Gospel, wonderful grace and the blessing of God will be upon us. Even though Rev. John Harper died, the Gospel that he preached is still living, leading many souls to the Lord. The Lord is sending us, saying, “Go and preach the Gospel.” Now that we have received God’s grace, we should not stay where we are. We must take the Gospel to our workplaces, schools, villages, and remote towns. We must become witnesses of the Gospel, leading many souls to the Lord, changing them and guiding them into God’s wonderful grace. We must lead them into the blessing of eternal life. So many people who are suffering from famine and poverty ask us to help them. We must go to them. The “Sharing Love and Happiness Foundation” has been founded to preach the Gospel of the Lord. We are taking the love of the Lord to preach His Gospel. We are helping people and preaching the Gospel of the Lord. By offering them medical treatment and helping the disabled, we are preaching the Gospel of the Lord. Preaching the Gospel of the Lord is the greatest mission, goal, and purpose in our lives. Therefore, I pray that you will preach the Gospel wherever you are and in whatever you do. 3. The mission that makes disciples of Christ. Verse 28:19 says, “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.” There are many believers but not many disciples. Few people follow Jesus and live like Him. Non-believers make fun of Christians, saying, “When a Christian goes under water, only his lips will float.” This means that Christians talk a lot but do not act much like Christians. Non-Christians criticize us for that. Now that we are Christians, we must live like Christ our Lord. We should live like the disciples of Jesus. It is not enough to believe in Jesus in order to be His disciple. When we live like Jesus Christ after we believe in Him, then the miracles, blessings, and grace of the Lord will be upon us. Lord, make us Your disciples. Make us witnesses of the Gospel. Help us to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Help us to go one step further after believing in Jesus to be like the Lord Jesus, preaching about Him and living like our Lord. When the disciples of the Lord preached the Gospel after receiving the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit raised up many new disciples. This is the cell division of Christianity. It is a nuclear division. We should win many souls wherever we go, spreading the Gospel more and more. When every one of us becomes a disciple of the Lord, we will go and make disciples wherever we go. Since we have not become the disciples of the Lord yet, since we are still baby Christians, we do not change. I urge you to become mature disciples. Imitate the Lord Jesus with your changed personality, thinking, speaking, and acting like Jesus. I pray that God will pour His blessings and miracles on you for that. Some say, “We are like angels at church, but when we go home…” This means that we are living a double life with a double personality. We are like angels when we worship the Lord, but we become like a devil when we lose our temper at home. Why do we have a face like an angel and a face like a devil? These things happen, because we have not yet become disciples of the Lord. How can we become disciples? We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:5 says, “For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” We can be true disciples?only when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit means being filled with Jesus, and it is the only way that brings about the wonderful work of the Lord in our lives. Even though the disciples of the Lord had followed Him for three-and-a-half years, they were powerless before receiving the Holy Spirit. After receiving the Holy Spirit, however, great miracles took place in their lives. They received great blessings. The apostles became great witnesses who preached the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The Great Commission in Matthew 28 bears fruit through the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. Therefore, we must desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Yoido Full Gospel Church has become the world’s largest church in its history of 51 years through the work of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. In fact, we have never learned how to preach the Gospel. However, since the Holy Spirit seized people, we went out and preached the Gospel. We formed pairs and preached the Gospel all over the city. We started from Seodaemun, preaching the Gospel in Nangchun-Dong, Hyunjeo-Dong, Hongeun-Dong, and beyond. We would knock on doors and said, “Believe in Jesus. Receive God’s blessings. Let us go to heaven together.” We were so enthusiastic about preaching that we even preached the Gospel to members of other churches, which caused some problems sometimes. We were the best in preaching the Gospel. Did anybody tell us to do it? No one told us to do it. Since we were so happy and thankful to receive the Holy Spirit, we could not help preaching the Gospel. When we preached the Gospel, a wonderful revival took place. This is true. When we receive the Spirit, we cannot help preaching the Gospel. We must ask the Lord to make us witnesses of the Gospel. We have to pray to the Lord to fill us with the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. A wonderful work of revival must start within our hearts and within our church. The Lord told the disciples to baptize the new converts in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. What does this mean? To do the work of God, people must be assured of their salvation first before receiving the Spirit. Therefore, we must have the enthusiasm of salvation and carry out the work of God, standing firmly in our faith based on the Cross and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Moreover, we need to obey the Word of God. Matthew 28:20 says, “…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” The Lord said, “Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.” When we obey the Word, God’s wonderful work will be done. Then we can carry out the work of the Lord by the grace of God. When we keep the Word, we will be blessed. Psalm 1:1-3 says, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Let us arm ourselves with the Word. Let us be filled with the Holy Spirit. Let us preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. 4. The mission in which Jesus is with us. We must carry out missionary work with Jesus the Lord?the Immanuel mission. Matthew 28:20 says, “…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age--to the very end of the age. I will be with you always, never leaving you.” Rev. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, is buried in Westminster Abbey. Three statements are inscribed on his tombstone. The three statements are words that John Wesley made before he died, “The world is my parish. God buries His servants but continues His work. What is best is that God is with us.” He left these three messages. He said, “The world is my parish.” He viewed the world as his parish and preached the Gospel with great passion. Secondly, he said, “God buries His servants.” We will eventually die and be buried. However, God will continue His work. Thirdly, he said, “What is best is that God is with us.” How wonderful this is! We can be happy because Jesus, the Lord of love, is with us. He says, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will be with you always to the very end.” The Lord Jesus who has overcome the world is with us. John 16:33 says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” The Lord Jesus who has overcome the world is with us. He will never leave us. He will walk with us forever. Those who belong to the world will never know this joy or grace. The words in hymn No. 499 say, “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own; And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known.” “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own; And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known.” How can people, belonging to the world, understand this joy? How can they know the joy that comes from the Lord? The Lord Jesus has saved us. He comes into our hearts, staying with us and walking with us forever and carrying out His great works. Therefore, do not be dismayed. Do not be sad. Do not worry. Do not give up. Do not despair. Jesus, the Lord of love, is with us. He will lead you throughout your whole life. He will do wonderful thing in your life until He comes again. I pray that you will become witnesses of the Gospel to the ends of the earth, trusting in the Lord and focusing on Him. This is my earnest prayer for you. Let us pray. Our Father of infinite love, grace, and mercy, we give thanks to You. Thank You for choosing us and making us Your children. Thank You for using us as witnesses of the Gospel. Even though we go through trials and hardship, help us to cling to the Cross of Jesus, living victoriously. Fill us with the Holy Spirit, and make us witnesses of the Gospel. We pray for our country of Korea. Have mercy on us as we are in chaos and tribulation. Heal our wounds through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Unite us. Resolve all our problems. Let the Gospel of the Lord spread all over the country. Unite the nation through the Gospel. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.