The Great Commission: Baptism, Authority, and Presence

Something else Jesus taught was, if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will my father in heaven give the holy spirit to those who ask him. So feel free to ask him for the holy spirit if you feel you haven't received the spirit yet. But that is how Jesus is keeping this promise that he is with us always to the very end of the age because he has given us his holy spirit. And so he is alive within us. And his passions and his joy and his holy will is at work in our hearts and in our minds. [01:07:56] (44 seconds)  #ReceiveHolySpirit

Just as an aside, when you're being tempted, you too can rebuke Satan. You too can re rebuke the devil. You too can rebuke those temptations. You can say, get away from me. You can say, go back to hell. You can say, a rebuke against the devil, against those temptations not by your own power, not by your own authority, but because you are in Christ Jesus. Because Jesus Christ has been given all power and authority. By whom? Not by the devil, but by his heavenly father. [00:53:46] (46 seconds)  #RebukeInChrist

Now what Matthew does not include here that Luke does, so we know sort of what happens next, is following this, Jesus ascended up to his heavenly father. After those forty days following his resurrection, Jesus had those forty days where he was appearing and talking and eating with people and they were, you know, seeing him and touching him and all of that beautiful, glorious, mysterious, joyful celebrations. But at the end of those forty days, as Jesus gave this commission to his disciples on that mountainside, Following that, Jesus ascended up to his heavenly father and sat down, we understand, at the right hand of his heavenly father. [01:05:51] (50 seconds)  #JesusAscended

He says, surely, I am with you always to the very end of the age. Well, how is that Jesus? If we can no longer see you, if we can no longer hear you speaking, if if you're no longer walking among us on this earth, how is it that you are with us always to the very end of the age? And we know that he poured out his holy spirit ten days after his his ascension. The disciples and others were in that that upper room, possibly the same room where they'd had that last supper [01:06:54] (30 seconds)  #PromiseKept

a few weeks earlier, and the holy spirit came like a a fire with the sound of a violent wind, and they were filled with the spirit of the living god. They were filled with the spirit of the risen lord Jesus Christ. And we too have been filled with that same spirit. Some of you may not be able to feel that. Some of you may not be able to sort of put your finger on that and say, yes, I've received the holy spirit. [01:07:24] (32 seconds)  #FilledWithSpirit

So they saw him and they worshiped him and then they, like, came together fully. Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All authority in heaven and on earth, heaven and earth has been given to me. You'll recall that when Jesus was about to begin his public ministry a few years earlier, he went to the Jordan River. And his cousin, John the baptizer, baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, and then Jesus went out into the wilderness for forty days. I hope this rings a bell. [00:52:29] (40 seconds)  #AllAuthority

So Jesus is giving his disciples, giving all of his disciples including us this as we came to call it, this great commission. This great mission to go and to make disciples and to baptize in the name of the father, son, and holy spirit. And so baby Ellie's parents have helped to fulfill Jesus' commission today by bringing Ellie to be baptized. And I've been a part of fulfilling Jesus' commission today. And all of us have been a part of fulfilling Jesus' commission today by receiving Ellie, by celebrating the sacrament of holy baptism that our lord has given to us, [00:57:08] (48 seconds)  #GreatCommission

And we need to allow him to to have that space in our hearts and lives and put him at the center of who we are so that our emotions and our thoughts and our actions can flow forth in that same spirit of our risen lord. This is our beautiful lord Jesus Christ, the lord of lords and the king of kings. He is with us here now in this space. He's with you when you're in your homes, in your cars, at work. He is with us and we need to be open and sensitive to listening to him, to sensing him, to to spending time discerning his will [01:08:40] (46 seconds)  #CenterOnChrist