Have You Been Called?

Over the last couple of days, again and again and again I have heard "Go forth and Make Disciples." Ironically when I glanced at my alphabet picture on my wall today I realized I am on Letter G and it highlights The book of Matthew, chapter 28, verse 19. Taken out of my MacArthur Study Bible, it reads:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Now if you recall, anytime you see therefore you really need to go and read what was happening prior.

I jumped to the beginning of the segment which began at verse 16 only to discover that verse started with the word "But" meaning I needed to go a little further back only to discover to do this verse justice, I needed to start back in Chapter 27. It's such an awesome chapter and it thrills me to no end no matter how many times I read it that I am almost tempted to go even further but for now this will suffice! I am going to start off with Chapter 27 verse 45 and suggest if this intrigues you, do your own due diligence and read the prior 44 verses for yourself!

With that being said, again from my MacArthur Study Bible:

The sub heading is: Jesus Dies; Accompanying Signs

and it references The Book of Mark, Chapter 15, verses 33-41, The book of Luke, Chapter 23, verses 44-49; The book of John 19, verses 28-30

verse 45: Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.

verse 46: About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"

verse 47: And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, "This man is calling for Elijah."

verse 48: Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.

verse 49: But the rest of them said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him."

verse 50: And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.

verse 51: And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

verse 52: The tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

verse 53: and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

verse 54: Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"

verse 55: Many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him.

verse 56: Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

As we proceed on to verse 57, we have another sub heading: Jesus is Buried. (This part references Mark 15: 42-47; Luke 23: 50-55 and John 19: 38-42)

verse 57: When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.

verse 58: This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.

verse 59: And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

verse 60: and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.

verse 61: And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave.

verse 62: Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,

verse 63: and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that the deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.'

verse 64: Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead', and the last deception will be worse than the first."

verse 65: Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how."

verse 66: And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone

Now we come to Chapter 28: The subheading for the first 7 verses reads: The Empty Tomb. This section references Mark, Chapter 16, verses 1-8; Luke, Chapter 24, verses 1-11:

verse 1: Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.

verse 2: And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it,

verse 3: And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.

verse 4: The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.

verse 5: The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.

verse 6: He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.

verse 7: Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you."

The next subheading is: The Appearance of Jesus to the Women

verse 8: And they left the tomb and quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.

verse 9: And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.

verse 10: Then Jesus *said to them, Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me."

The next Sub Title: The Bribery of the Soldiers

verse 11: Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.

verse 12: And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,

verse 13: and said, "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.'

verse 14: And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble."

verse 15: And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.

The following sub heading is: The Great Commission

verse 16: But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.

verse 18: And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

verse 19: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

verse 20: teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

You see why I get so excited! Jesus conquered Death. His only request for those brothers and sisters that believe in this Truth is to spread the good news. Honestly, I don't know how you can know all of this and not  share it with others at every opportunity.

Since the beginning Satan has schemed, lied, stolen and deceived countless numbers. Jesus conquered him! The evil one, the devil, The father of lies, he has more names than anyone other than Jesus in the bible. I found this list that really lays out just who Satan is by name and book so that you can verify it all for yourself. http://www.markbeast.com/satan/names-of-satan.htm In all things when attempting to "win" against another team, business, person, you study the competition. You find their weakness, you recognize their strengths. How can you win over Evil if you don't understand the True source? The simple answer is you Can't!

When you realize who Jesus is and what He represents, you also begin to understand who the enemy truly is. Once you accept Christ as your Savior, you must accept Satan for who he is. It is foolish to think him nothing. Satan has been around for a VERY long time. He has had time to practice on countless beings. There is only one person on earth that defeated him and that is Jesus. Jesus Christ, our Savior, already won the battle for us. For daily protection we Must put on our armor each and every day as described in The book of Ephesians. I warn you though, even with dressing daily for the battle, Satan is scheming and looking for a crack in your armor. Don't grow weary for he never grows weary. On top of this you must alert your brothers and sisters. You must spread the good news. You must sound the warning. You are commended to Go forth and make disciples of All nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I only have one question for you, "Are You Ready to Answer the Call?"

Father, I pray my fellow brothers and sisters hear the call and answer. I pray more of my fellow brothers and sisters that dream of one day working for you, simply start right where they are. I pray we all seek your wisdom. I pray we become excellent students, who in turn, with Love, share what we learn from you Father. I pray we get bolder and brighter. I pray the lost seek the Light.  In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Wendy, Mom of Many

On a side note, when you see all caps in a New Testament Book, it is a direct quote from a book in the Old Testament.

On a bigger side note, many argue over who Jesus really was. I did a walk through the gospels based on Luke as he goes chronologically in order with his gospel where I attend fellowship on Sunday. It was the most exciting, eye opening, undeniable truths study I have done to date. I, myself cannot recite all the messianic miracles Jesus fulfilled or where they are located, but I did take the time to find an article that lays it all out for you. If you are curious to discover the truth for yourself. Here is the link: http://lbcc.org/files/2012/03/prophesies_yeshua_fulfilled-1.pdf


©Wendy Glidden 2013