All That Jesus Taught : Bible Study Part 1 | Zac Poonen

We are going to start our study today titled ‘All that Jesus taught’. The burden I have in my heart is to bring balance in this matter of fulfilling the great commission. All Christians know how important it is to fulfill what is known as the great commission which Jesus gave to his disciples just before he left this earth.

The first part of that great commission is found in Mark 16: 15, going to all the world and preach the gospel to all creatures, he who believes and is baptized will be saved but he who does not believe will be condemned. There is another part of this great commission. The other half of it which is described in Matthew 28: 18-2, Jesus said all authority is been given to me in heaven and on earth, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you and law with you always even in the end of the age. As I observed Christians and Born Again Christians and Christian Mission and Christian churches in the last 52 years since I was Born Again. I find that most Christians majors on Mark 16:15 aspect of the great commission and very few major on Matthew 28: 19. My guess would be 99% major on Mark 16:15 and about 1% major on Matthew 28:19-20. To use an illustration it would be like a 100 people carrying a log and 99 people at the end of the log and 1 person at the other end of the log struggling to hold that end up. That is the way I see it. I found that the commission that the Lord gave me but I began to teach the word as he gifted me was to emphasize that other aspect of the great commission, the one which is fulfilled only by about 1% where it should be 50-50.

The first part of the great commission is known as evangelism or what is generally called missionary work, going in to unreached areas. Very essential to bring the message gospel that man is in sin. All sin come in to the glory of God and Christ died for the sins of the World. It is the only way to the Father. Christ rose from the dead and he who believes in him and is baptized will be saved and he who does not believe will be condemned. But did the Lord want it to stop there? That once the person has believed, accepted the fact that he is a sinner, perceived Christ as a savior. Is that all? What about Matthew 28:19? Where he said we are to go to all nations and make disciples. Now, what does it mean to be a disciple? Those early apostles who heard that the first time, they had no doubt in their mind as to what was meant to by disciples because Jesus had explained it very clearly to them in Luke 14. In Luke 14 when Jesus saw a great multitude of people coming along with him he read in Luke 14:25. Great multitudes for coming along with Jesus and he turned and said to them some of the hardest words that he ever spoke to anyone. Now most preachers or pastors when they see a great crowd coming to listen to them would never dream of speaking word like this and then we see that Jesus is different. He was not interested in the numbers.