WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.439 Welcome to the NECF podcast, where we share our 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:05.820 weekly sermons and faithfully interpret the Bible 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:08.279 to encourage and direct you on your spiritual 00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:11.919 path. We're our devoted pastors and special guests 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:14.599 diving to the depths of the Bible, exploring 00:00:14.599 --> 00:00:16.920 its profound lessons and useful applications 00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:19.600 for your day. Praise the Lord. So today we're 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:23.140 going to continue with what I was teaching from 00:00:23.140 --> 00:00:27.219 the last time I was here, which is the supernatural 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:31.760 nature. of the Christian gathering. We're going 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:40.539 to continue with that. And I believe that we'll 00:00:40.539 --> 00:00:50.000 be blessed. Amen. Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 00:00:50.000 --> 00:01:03.079 chapter 28, verses 18 to 20. Matthew chapter 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:08.599 28, verses 18 to 20. And Jesus came and spoke 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:12.000 to them, saying, All authority has been given 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.000 to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, 00:01:15.219 --> 00:01:18.920 and make disciples of all nations, baptizing 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:21.840 them in the name of the Father, the Son, and 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:26.400 the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:29.200 all the things I have commanded you, and lo, 00:01:29.260 --> 00:01:31.859 I am with you. always, even to the end of the 00:01:31.859 --> 00:01:36.280 age. Amen. Praise the Lord. So, we have been 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:40.420 taught several times from these scriptures, and 00:01:40.420 --> 00:01:43.359 we know it is what we call the Great Commission, 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:47.560 right? A thing that Jesus has called us to do. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:51.140 He has given us a mandate to go and preach the 00:01:51.140 --> 00:01:55.400 gospel, to go and make disciples of all nations. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:59.019 So, we have been given these mandates by God. 00:01:59.629 --> 00:02:02.930 to go and make disciples, to go and teach. This 00:02:02.930 --> 00:02:06.930 is a mandate that every believer, every person 00:02:06.930 --> 00:02:09.710 that has come to the knowledge or have come to 00:02:09.710 --> 00:02:16.310 God, has and will continue to do. Praise the 00:02:16.310 --> 00:02:20.930 Lord. We have a mandate as believers to do the 00:02:20.930 --> 00:02:23.810 will of God. Praise the Lord. So we cannot have 00:02:23.810 --> 00:02:27.330 God's will outside of this mandate. You cannot 00:02:27.330 --> 00:02:31.240 have God's will. for your life outside of this 00:02:31.240 --> 00:02:34.539 mandate to go and make disciples, to go and preach 00:02:34.539 --> 00:02:38.400 the gospel. Praise the Lord. It is God's mandate 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:41.860 to us. It is for every believer. It is not for 00:02:41.860 --> 00:02:46.719 a season. It is not for in the summers when the 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:50.819 weathers are good or when people are outside. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.599 It is for every season, for the winters, for 00:02:54.599 --> 00:02:56.439 when there is rain, for when there is no rain. 00:02:56.909 --> 00:03:00.610 For when things are going on as you expect them 00:03:00.610 --> 00:03:03.830 to go, and when things are not going on as you 00:03:03.830 --> 00:03:07.789 expect them to go, it is a mandate of every believer 00:03:07.789 --> 00:03:12.289 to go and preach the gospel. Verse 19 tells us, 00:03:12.310 --> 00:03:15.930 it says, To go and make disciples of all nations, 00:03:16.229 --> 00:03:19.530 baptizing them in the name of the Father and 00:03:19.530 --> 00:03:22.349 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Praise the 00:03:22.349 --> 00:03:25.289 Lord. So the word to make disciples is a Greek 00:03:25.289 --> 00:03:30.610 word, matatio, Right? Which means to teach. This 00:03:30.610 --> 00:03:34.669 is to go and teach. Praise the Lord. To make 00:03:34.669 --> 00:03:42.689 disciples is the word, M -A -T -H -E -T -E -U 00:03:42.689 --> 00:03:46.610 -O. Right? It's the word to teach. Praise the 00:03:46.610 --> 00:03:50.909 Lord. And so we have, and somebody might be asking, 00:03:51.150 --> 00:03:54.969 why does this church try their best to always... 00:03:55.610 --> 00:03:59.349 spell a Greek word to us or always tell us what 00:03:59.349 --> 00:04:01.250 is these things about these Greek words that 00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:04.889 we need. Why do we need them? Because as we know 00:04:04.889 --> 00:04:08.270 and as we have been taught, the Greek word helps 00:04:08.270 --> 00:04:12.189 us to know the intention of the writer. Praise 00:04:12.189 --> 00:04:15.729 the Lord. Because as we know, the Bible was not 00:04:15.729 --> 00:04:18.910 written in English. Praise the Lord. The writers 00:04:18.910 --> 00:04:22.689 of these scriptures did not speak English. Matter 00:04:22.689 --> 00:04:26.209 of fact, English was not in existence. as it 00:04:26.209 --> 00:04:29.370 was written or as it was given. Praise the Lord. 00:04:29.490 --> 00:04:32.910 So we go to this Greek word to help us understand 00:04:32.910 --> 00:04:36.990 the intention of the things that was written, 00:04:37.149 --> 00:04:42.490 to better help us understand. And why do we also 00:04:42.490 --> 00:04:47.069 need to do that? Because when you have the translations 00:04:47.069 --> 00:04:50.529 or when the Bible is translated to English, it's 00:04:50.529 --> 00:04:53.269 not just translations. Praise the Lord. It is 00:04:53.269 --> 00:04:58.779 also a... the translators trying to interpret. 00:04:59.300 --> 00:05:02.019 Praise the Lord. They are also interpreting what 00:05:02.019 --> 00:05:05.199 is written or the version that you have. So we 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:08.319 go to the Greek word to understand the intention 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:13.000 of the writer. So matateo is not just to teach. 00:05:13.139 --> 00:05:16.220 It's not just merely to teach somebody. Praise 00:05:16.220 --> 00:05:19.139 the Lord. It's not merely like the way your teachers 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:21.660 will come to class and they try to teach you 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:24.370 a subject. Praise the Lord. You have your responsibilities. 00:05:24.509 --> 00:05:26.750 You have the things you have to do. And they 00:05:26.750 --> 00:05:29.449 come to teach you. To tell you this, this, this, 00:05:29.509 --> 00:05:31.230 that and that. Prepare for it. It is going to 00:05:31.230 --> 00:05:33.269 come out as an example. It is not just that. 00:05:33.350 --> 00:05:37.069 It is deeper than that. Praise the Lord. So to 00:05:37.069 --> 00:05:40.589 go and make disciples is just deeper than us 00:05:40.589 --> 00:05:44.029 coming on Sunday and teaching you the word. Or 00:05:44.029 --> 00:05:47.709 preaching to you. Praise the Lord. It is deeper 00:05:47.709 --> 00:05:50.529 than that. We have so many other Greek words 00:05:50.529 --> 00:05:54.360 that... Talks about teaching. Praise the Lord. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:06:01.740 Talks about teaching. One of them is didaskalia, 00:06:01.939 --> 00:06:05.199 right? Which means doctrine. Which is doctrine. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:11.040 Didaskalia. D -A -D -A -S -K -A -L -I -A. Didaskalia. 00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:15.019 Right? It means doctrine. We have another one 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:20.639 called didaskalos. D -A -D -A -S -K -A -L -I 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:26.120 -A. Sorry, D -I -D -A -S -K -A -L -O -S. Didache. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:35.259 We have another one as didache, right? D -I -D 00:06:35.259 --> 00:06:41.980 -A -C -H -E, right? This word, they convey teaching. 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:45.959 Praise the Lord. They tell us about teaching. 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:49.000 We have these different words that talk about 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:54.019 teaching. It conveys teaching or a teacher, right? 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:57.040 He talks about a teacher or the kind of teaching 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:00.300 or the type of teaching. Praise the Lord, right? 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:02.980 But this is not the same word that we see in 00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:07.399 verse 19 of Matthew chapter 28, to go and make 00:07:07.399 --> 00:07:10.959 disciples. That word that is there is mathathio, 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:14.160 is deeper than just teaching, like I said, right? 00:07:14.540 --> 00:07:20.069 It means to train, right? It means to... it is 00:07:20.069 --> 00:07:23.769 very practical praise the lord it means to train 00:07:23.769 --> 00:07:28.050 right somebody who if you have a trainer for 00:07:28.050 --> 00:07:32.029 example people that go to the gym if you have 00:07:32.029 --> 00:07:35.829 a trainer they they are although you have a target 00:07:35.829 --> 00:07:38.050 you have they have a target for you you have 00:07:38.050 --> 00:07:41.870 a target for your life the trainer is very well 00:07:41.870 --> 00:07:45.290 experienced and he knows exactly the kind of 00:07:45.290 --> 00:07:48.680 exercise you should do and how many of them you 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:52.139 should do in a session. Praise the Lord. He knows 00:07:52.139 --> 00:07:54.519 whether you are, whether to push you to a particular 00:07:54.519 --> 00:07:57.319 limit because of the things that you are trying 00:07:57.319 --> 00:07:59.560 to achieve. Praise the Lord. So he's not just 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:01.560 telling you, do this, do this, do that. They 00:08:01.560 --> 00:08:04.720 also monitor you as you do the things. Praise 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:08.079 the Lord. So he means to train. And he's very 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:11.959 practical, right? To model something. Praise 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:15.720 the Lord. To model something by teaching or by 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:19.980 exercise. To model something by practice. Praise 00:08:19.980 --> 00:08:23.519 the Lord. So this is the mandate that every believer 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:27.800 has. This is the mandate that you and I have. 00:08:28.060 --> 00:08:32.179 This is the mandate that we are all to carry 00:08:32.179 --> 00:08:37.240 out. So it carries a wider intention than just 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:40.320 teaching. Praise the Lord. So to make disciple 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:43.919 is not... So for somebody to be called a disciple 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:46.750 or somebody to have gone through... discipleship, 00:08:46.789 --> 00:08:50.070 it is not just that you came to church and the 00:08:50.070 --> 00:08:53.330 pastor preached and you wrote down and then you 00:08:53.330 --> 00:08:56.830 go home. Praise the Lord. There is a place that 00:08:56.830 --> 00:09:01.169 it is being modeled by practice, by teaching. 00:09:01.389 --> 00:09:03.490 Praise the Lord. Like the way Pastor Kostin told 00:09:03.490 --> 00:09:06.830 us last week, to pray and to give word to one 00:09:06.830 --> 00:09:09.750 another. Praise the Lord. That is making disciples. 00:09:10.049 --> 00:09:13.370 That is, by practice, you are able to do these 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:15.679 things. And he monitors that. Did you give what? 00:09:15.799 --> 00:09:20.419 Praise the Lord. That is making disciples. Praise 00:09:20.419 --> 00:09:22.860 the Lord. And so this is not just the practice 00:09:22.860 --> 00:09:27.159 of pastors to say, oh, do this or do that. Praise 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:31.379 the Lord. It is the practice that every believer 00:09:31.379 --> 00:09:34.200 should embody. This is a practice that every 00:09:34.200 --> 00:09:37.580 believer should participate in to make disciples. 00:09:38.220 --> 00:09:42.059 Praise the Lord. That you know somebody. who 00:09:42.059 --> 00:09:44.580 is not born again and you preach to them and 00:09:44.580 --> 00:09:49.080 they believe the gospel and so you make you help 00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:52.799 them you teach them how to pray praise the lord 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:55.480 and you pray with them praise the lord you will 00:09:55.480 --> 00:09:58.519 not just say did you pray today did you read 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:01.159 your bible today praise the lord you teach them 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:03.440 how to pray you teach them how to read the word 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:06.379 you teach them and you pray with them so if you 00:10:06.379 --> 00:10:08.919 say okay let's pray for 30 minutes okay stay 00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:11.360 in your place pray for 30 minutes No, you also 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:14.440 pray with them. Praise the Lord. Because you're 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:19.679 more matured and you know the mind of God concerning 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:25.759 what a disciple should be. So, you see, it is 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:31.440 God's intention that he has people that are trained 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:35.000 so that they can train others. Praise the Lord. 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:38.200 He has people that are trained so that they can 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:40.289 train others. So some of the things that we do 00:10:40.289 --> 00:10:44.409 in church, it's not because we're trying to stress 00:10:44.409 --> 00:10:48.049 you. It's not because we're trying to see that 00:10:48.049 --> 00:10:52.049 you are, you don't, let's say, enjoy yourself. 00:10:52.450 --> 00:10:56.450 Praise the Lord. It's not that we're trying to 00:10:56.450 --> 00:10:59.629 see, where is that your free time? Let's collect 00:10:59.629 --> 00:11:01.929 every free time from you. Remember some teachers 00:11:01.929 --> 00:11:03.909 in secondary school, when they find out that 00:11:03.909 --> 00:11:06.009 your class, the class is making noise, they will 00:11:06.009 --> 00:11:08.340 just come in and say, ah. This class, what do 00:11:08.340 --> 00:11:10.399 you have? Say, free time. They will go and bring 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:13.000 their notes. No, they will not even go and bring 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:14.860 their notes. They will say, somebody should go 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:16.759 to my office, get their notes. They will come 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:19.399 and they will start teaching you. Because some 00:11:19.399 --> 00:11:21.759 of them is because they want to teach you. Some 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:23.860 of them is because you're making noise. And they 00:11:23.860 --> 00:11:25.559 want to tell you that there's no free time here. 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:27.519 Praise the Lord. That's not the pastor's intention. 00:11:27.940 --> 00:11:31.240 Our intention is not to say, oh, okay, from Monday 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:34.440 evening, you actually have nothing to do. So, 00:11:34.539 --> 00:11:37.789 come. Come and sit down for three hours. Let's 00:11:37.789 --> 00:11:39.649 teach you something. Or come and pray for this 00:11:39.649 --> 00:11:42.610 long. No, that's not the intention. The intention 00:11:42.610 --> 00:11:46.450 is that you are trained so that you can train 00:11:46.450 --> 00:11:49.169 others. Praise the Lord. That you are not a child 00:11:49.169 --> 00:11:53.509 in the things of God. That you are not... You're 00:11:53.509 --> 00:11:57.049 very matured. Praise the Lord. You're very matured. 00:11:57.049 --> 00:12:01.570 So that also your children... A lot of us give 00:12:01.570 --> 00:12:06.529 our life to Christ. We believe the gospel. Right? 00:12:07.809 --> 00:12:11.169 because we left our parents. We came somewhere, 00:12:11.350 --> 00:12:14.330 somebody preached to us. We had the gospel first. 00:12:14.590 --> 00:12:17.529 We understood it first from somewhere else, not 00:12:17.529 --> 00:12:20.450 because our parents taught us, right? Maybe they 00:12:20.450 --> 00:12:22.830 took us to church, they did their best. They 00:12:22.830 --> 00:12:24.809 did their very best. A lot of our parents, maybe 00:12:24.809 --> 00:12:27.269 you're not seeing it now, but you soon see it, 00:12:27.289 --> 00:12:29.610 that they did their best. Praise the Lord. They 00:12:29.610 --> 00:12:32.809 did their best in all that they gave us. Praise 00:12:32.809 --> 00:12:34.710 the Lord. But we discover that, you know, we 00:12:34.710 --> 00:12:37.769 begin to know more about God. Improper understanding 00:12:37.769 --> 00:12:40.330 when we are outside of them. That's not the intention 00:12:40.330 --> 00:12:43.509 of God. Praise the Lord. It's that as a mother, 00:12:43.610 --> 00:12:47.330 as a father, your children know the Lord because 00:12:47.330 --> 00:12:50.850 of you. Praise the Lord. The people in your office, 00:12:51.110 --> 00:12:55.250 the people in your community know Christ because 00:12:55.250 --> 00:12:59.789 of you. Because you model it by practice. Praise 00:12:59.789 --> 00:13:02.250 the Lord. You show them the things of the Lord. 00:13:02.350 --> 00:13:05.110 They will not hear the things of the Spirit after 00:13:05.110 --> 00:13:08.870 a while. Praise the Lord. Oh, they will not say, 00:13:08.889 --> 00:13:11.110 growing up, you see people praying in tongues. 00:13:11.169 --> 00:13:12.970 People say, what are they saying? Praise the 00:13:12.970 --> 00:13:16.110 Lord. And so we just say it. That's not what 00:13:16.110 --> 00:13:18.950 God wants you to be like. He don't want you to 00:13:18.950 --> 00:13:21.830 be saying, just do it. No, we're not Nike. Okay? 00:13:22.210 --> 00:13:25.090 We'll not just do it. We'll explain to you why 00:13:25.090 --> 00:13:27.909 you should do it. Praise the Lord. We have a 00:13:27.909 --> 00:13:30.789 reason. We'll explain to you why you should do 00:13:30.789 --> 00:13:34.370 it. So it's God's intention that he wants disciples 00:13:34.370 --> 00:13:37.480 that are trained. That is believers who will 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:40.960 train others. Praise the Lord. Who will train 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:45.600 others. Which means that the church is an ongoing 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:49.200 training. Praise the Lord. Which means that this 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:52.259 church, what we have here, is an ongoing training. 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:55.460 Every day that we gather, every time that we 00:13:55.460 --> 00:13:59.659 gather, it is a training session. Praise the 00:13:59.659 --> 00:14:03.100 Lord. It is a training session. So that's why 00:14:03.100 --> 00:14:05.679 we say, are you with your pen? Are you writing? 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:08.779 Because it is a training session. We're trying 00:14:08.779 --> 00:14:12.100 to model something by practice. Praise the Lord. 00:14:12.179 --> 00:14:15.379 We're trying to model something by practice. 00:14:16.379 --> 00:14:18.480 That's why we asked you to come with your pen. 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:21.440 That's why we want to know if you attended the 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:23.879 schools, whether you attended the cell meetings. 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:26.460 That's why we say you should attend Foundation 00:14:26.460 --> 00:14:29.519 School. Praise the Lord. Because the church is 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:32.340 an ongoing training. We want you to attend the 00:14:32.340 --> 00:14:35.070 meetings because... We want you to be trained 00:14:35.070 --> 00:14:41.309 and that is the will of God. So that's why you 00:14:41.309 --> 00:14:46.409 will discover that you don't have comedians coming 00:14:46.409 --> 00:14:48.950 to make you laugh. Praise the Lord. We laugh 00:14:48.950 --> 00:14:52.129 in the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. Do we laugh in 00:14:52.129 --> 00:14:54.610 the Holy Ghost? Can somebody laugh in the Holy 00:14:54.610 --> 00:14:59.269 Ghost? Praise the Lord. So instead of having 00:14:59.269 --> 00:15:02.220 people coming to tell us jokes, We know that 00:15:02.220 --> 00:15:05.879 joy comes from where? It comes from inside. Praise 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:07.679 the Lord. Isn't there somebody coming to tell 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:09.440 us something that will just make you start laughing? 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:12.100 Joy comes from the inside. You don't need that. 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:15.820 Praise the Lord. You have joy from the inside 00:15:15.820 --> 00:15:18.080 of you. Praise the Lord. I'm sure some of your 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:20.659 friends, maybe who are drinking, who are partying, 00:15:20.700 --> 00:15:23.720 they will ask you, is your life very boring? 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:27.500 What are you doing? How do you get joy? How do 00:15:27.500 --> 00:15:31.560 you get away? What is your get away? activity. 00:15:31.560 --> 00:15:33.820 Praise the Lord. Where do you go to ease off? 00:15:34.139 --> 00:15:38.559 To, you know, to ease your stress. Are you in 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:40.340 the club? Are you drinking? What are you doing? 00:15:40.379 --> 00:15:43.019 Praise the Lord. You will tell them that way, 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:46.259 that joy comes from the inside. Praise the Lord. 00:15:46.340 --> 00:15:49.080 You're not looking for external things to give 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:51.679 you joy. Praise the Lord. You're not looking 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:54.840 for external things to give you joy. So the church 00:15:54.840 --> 00:16:00.039 is an ongoing training. It is not a place of 00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:04.600 entertainment. Matthew chapter 13. See looking 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:12.039 at to betraying Matthew. Matthew chapter 13 verse 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:23.419 52. Then he said to them, Therefore every scribe 00:16:23.419 --> 00:16:26.820 instructed consigning the kingdom of heaven is 00:16:26.820 --> 00:16:30.129 like a householder who brings out his treasure, 00:16:30.389 --> 00:16:35.289 new things and old. Praise the Lord. Every scribe 00:16:35.289 --> 00:16:37.490 instructed. That word instructed is the same 00:16:37.490 --> 00:16:41.769 word as to be trained. Praise the Lord. It's 00:16:41.769 --> 00:16:45.289 the same word there. So scribes, as we know them, 00:16:45.409 --> 00:16:48.970 are people who are scholars. People that know 00:16:48.970 --> 00:16:53.350 the scriptures. People that are scholars. Praise 00:16:53.350 --> 00:16:55.950 the Lord. People that are scholars. They know 00:16:55.950 --> 00:17:05.690 the scriptures. They know the scriptures. So 00:17:05.690 --> 00:17:09.230 by saying that the scribe is instructed into 00:17:09.230 --> 00:17:12.730 the kingdom of God, he's saying that they are 00:17:12.730 --> 00:17:16.569 what? They are retrained, right? They are learning 00:17:16.569 --> 00:17:19.769 and relearning. Praise the Lord. He's saying 00:17:19.769 --> 00:17:23.970 that they are learning and relearning, consigning 00:17:23.970 --> 00:17:28.779 the kingdom. Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 00:17:28.779 --> 00:17:39.859 27 verse 57. So now came, sorry. Now when the 00:17:39.859 --> 00:17:42.380 evening had come, there came a rich man from 00:17:42.380 --> 00:17:46.599 Arimathea named Joseph, who himself also became 00:17:46.599 --> 00:17:50.559 a disciple, who himself had also become a disciple 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:54.940 of Jesus. Praise the Lord. So we see here that 00:17:54.940 --> 00:18:00.259 a rich man. He's also a disciple of Jesus. Praise 00:18:00.259 --> 00:18:03.720 the Lord. He's a man of influence. Praise the 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:08.599 Lord. So what this man was able to get, right, 00:18:08.660 --> 00:18:10.819 from the authorities concerning the Christ, he 00:18:10.819 --> 00:18:14.160 cannot get it if he's not an important person 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:17.700 in the society. Praise the Lord. He cannot get 00:18:17.700 --> 00:18:20.220 it if he's not an important person in the society. 00:18:20.539 --> 00:18:23.980 So he was a man of influence. He was a wealthy 00:18:23.980 --> 00:18:27.009 man. Praise the Lord. He was well regarded in 00:18:27.009 --> 00:18:31.009 the society. Praise the Lord. But he's a disciple 00:18:31.009 --> 00:18:34.930 of Jesus. You see, who himself has also become 00:18:34.930 --> 00:18:41.990 a disciple of Jesus. This tells us that to be 00:18:41.990 --> 00:18:47.950 a disciple of Jesus, wealth and age is not a 00:18:47.950 --> 00:18:52.690 factor. Praise the Lord. Wealth and age is not 00:18:52.690 --> 00:18:56.539 a factor. Whether you're a wealthy, whether you're 00:18:56.539 --> 00:18:58.960 a person of influence, whether you're the governor 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:01.819 or the president of your country, it does not 00:19:01.819 --> 00:19:05.980 matter. Praise the Lord. He himself has become 00:19:05.980 --> 00:19:12.220 a disciple of Jesus. And how he has accomplished 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:16.859 that is because for him to become a disciple 00:19:16.859 --> 00:19:20.140 means that he has the attitude of a child as 00:19:20.140 --> 00:19:23.809 Jesus would encourage. Praise the Lord. To learn 00:19:23.809 --> 00:19:27.170 and relearn. Praise the Lord. To sit in the place 00:19:27.170 --> 00:19:31.349 of training. To be instructed. Praise the Lord. 00:19:31.410 --> 00:19:35.390 This is so important. So that you don't have 00:19:35.390 --> 00:19:38.750 people in your life, for example, let's say you 00:19:38.750 --> 00:19:45.250 know somebody who maybe his father is the maybe 00:19:45.250 --> 00:19:48.650 a military officer in your country and there 00:19:48.650 --> 00:19:51.730 he's your friend. Praise the Lord. You are now 00:19:52.220 --> 00:19:54.759 Instead of you to think of, and the person does 00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:58.720 not know God or is not discipled or is not trained, 00:19:59.140 --> 00:20:00.720 instead of you to be looking and say, ah, this 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:03.839 person, you know, their father is rich, you know, 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:06.259 what can I tell them? All of this. Praise the 00:20:06.259 --> 00:20:09.259 Lord. You will have this attitude that it does 00:20:09.259 --> 00:20:12.279 not matter the influence that they have. It does 00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:15.640 not matter the age that they are, their age, 00:20:16.019 --> 00:20:20.200 right? They have to be discipled. They need discipleship. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:23.269 They have to be. instructed. Praise the Lord. 00:20:23.569 --> 00:20:25.230 So you don't be one of those people that are 00:20:25.230 --> 00:20:27.210 just following them and say, ah, this person, 00:20:27.289 --> 00:20:29.710 who knows? If I tell him about Christ now, you 00:20:29.710 --> 00:20:32.269 know, say, I need to try to organize my future. 00:20:32.730 --> 00:20:35.710 Maybe he would, if he does not accept now, or 00:20:35.710 --> 00:20:38.130 maybe if he does not like what I'm saying, he 00:20:38.130 --> 00:20:39.750 might just block the way for me in the future. 00:20:39.809 --> 00:20:42.470 Praise the Lord. No, you don't think about things 00:20:42.470 --> 00:20:45.990 like that. Praise the Lord. You think as the 00:20:45.990 --> 00:20:50.000 person needs to be discipled, the person need 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.799 to be trained. Again, sometimes people who are 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:58.119 advancing in age will also think that they don't 00:20:58.119 --> 00:21:01.380 need discipleship. Praise the Lord. They don't 00:21:01.380 --> 00:21:04.339 need to go through the same process that every 00:21:04.339 --> 00:21:05.700 other person is going through. This is where 00:21:05.700 --> 00:21:10.500 there are young people. That is not the thing 00:21:10.500 --> 00:21:13.940 that Christ intends. Praise the Lord. It does 00:21:13.940 --> 00:21:17.460 not matter your age. You are supposed to be trained. 00:21:17.819 --> 00:21:20.829 Praise the Lord. As you are in church, you are 00:21:20.829 --> 00:21:22.569 supposed to be trained. You are supposed to be 00:21:22.569 --> 00:21:25.329 going through the same process as every other 00:21:25.329 --> 00:21:30.490 person is going through. They need discipleship, 00:21:30.490 --> 00:21:34.130 irrespective of their age, irrespective of their 00:21:34.130 --> 00:21:37.230 influence, irrespective of the things that they 00:21:37.230 --> 00:21:40.049 have acquired. Praise the Lord. Are we learning 00:21:40.049 --> 00:21:44.789 something? So Jesus is saying, go and train and 00:21:44.789 --> 00:21:48.269 retrain people. Praise the Lord. Go and train 00:21:48.269 --> 00:21:50.750 and retrain people. When you see somebody that 00:21:50.750 --> 00:21:52.809 is not trained or you feel like the person is 00:21:52.809 --> 00:21:55.869 not trained properly, retrain the person. Praise 00:21:55.869 --> 00:21:57.670 the Lord. That's what we're doing as a church, 00:21:57.809 --> 00:22:00.069 right? You came with some knowledge. You came 00:22:00.069 --> 00:22:03.130 with this and that. You receive a retraining. 00:22:03.490 --> 00:22:08.349 Praise the Lord. You learn again. You learn again. 00:22:08.829 --> 00:22:12.069 Some of the testimonies that people have, that 00:22:12.069 --> 00:22:15.630 they have this attitude of, you know, it is you 00:22:15.630 --> 00:22:18.240 alone. I don't really need anybody. But he found 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:21.400 out that they need people. Praise the Lord. He 00:22:21.400 --> 00:22:24.759 found out that people are there to ensure that 00:22:24.759 --> 00:22:28.299 they get to the level in which they ought to 00:22:28.299 --> 00:22:31.259 get. So for us to get to the level at which God 00:22:31.259 --> 00:22:34.900 intends for us, we need to be trained. We need 00:22:34.900 --> 00:22:37.420 to go out there and train and we train people. 00:22:37.940 --> 00:22:40.799 Praise the Lord. So how are we going to train 00:22:40.799 --> 00:22:44.259 people? How do we train people? What is the process 00:22:44.259 --> 00:22:49.750 of training? If you like. So in Matthew 28, it 00:22:49.750 --> 00:23:00.410 tells us in verse 20, it's a teaching them to 00:23:00.410 --> 00:23:03.490 observe all the things I've commanded you and 00:23:03.490 --> 00:23:06.970 lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the 00:23:06.970 --> 00:23:10.609 age. So the process of training, how we do training 00:23:10.609 --> 00:23:14.539 is by teaching. Praise the Lord. The process 00:23:14.539 --> 00:23:19.700 of training, right, is what? By teaching. Praise 00:23:19.700 --> 00:23:24.240 the Lord. This word is the word didasko. It is 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:30.480 by teaching. D -I -D -A -S -K -O, right? Which 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:35.819 means that discipleship involves teaching. Praise 00:23:35.819 --> 00:23:40.880 the Lord. Discipleship is not... Okay, please, 00:23:41.059 --> 00:23:43.829 get me water. Please go and iron my clothes. 00:23:45.210 --> 00:23:48.430 Is the car ready? Go and turn the car and bring 00:23:48.430 --> 00:23:51.930 it closer. Praise the Lord. Discipleship involves 00:23:51.930 --> 00:23:56.589 training. It involves teaching. Praise the Lord. 00:23:56.710 --> 00:23:59.490 What are we teaching? We are teaching the Word. 00:24:00.190 --> 00:24:03.230 Praise the Lord. So that you will not grow and 00:24:03.230 --> 00:24:05.190 then you say you have a disciple and then the 00:24:05.190 --> 00:24:09.250 disciple is like boy boy for you. Or he's ironing 00:24:09.250 --> 00:24:10.990 your clothes and he's running around for you. 00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:13.240 And he's not receiving any, he's not growing. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:16.079 He's not receiving any word from you. Praise 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:21.099 the Lord. Discipleship involves teaching, to 00:24:21.099 --> 00:24:24.700 instruct, right? It means to educate, right? 00:24:25.259 --> 00:24:28.519 Didasko means to instruct. It means to educate 00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:34.019 someone. It means to educate. So we can call 00:24:34.019 --> 00:24:38.559 the church, or we can say that the church is 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:43.509 a Bible school. Praise the Lord. The church is 00:24:43.509 --> 00:24:51.049 a Bible school. The church is a Bible school. 00:24:51.349 --> 00:24:56.049 It is called or should be a Bible school. Every 00:24:56.049 --> 00:25:00.450 church, every gathering of believers ought to 00:25:00.450 --> 00:25:05.130 be a Bible school. Praise the Lord. It ought 00:25:05.130 --> 00:25:12.650 to be a Bible school. The Bible is where we get 00:25:12.650 --> 00:25:16.190 our information. Praise the Lord. It is where 00:25:16.190 --> 00:25:20.450 we get our wisdom. It is where we get direction. 00:25:22.849 --> 00:25:25.690 Praise the Lord. It is where we get wisdom, where 00:25:25.690 --> 00:25:27.650 we get understanding, where we get instructions 00:25:27.650 --> 00:25:30.549 for our lives. Praise the Lord. So the church 00:25:30.549 --> 00:25:33.630 ought to be a Bible school, where you come to 00:25:33.630 --> 00:25:37.859 receive teaching. Praise the Lord. To receive 00:25:37.859 --> 00:25:41.359 teaching, to be educated. Praise the Lord. To 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:50.759 be instructed. So, it means that the church has, 00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:55.240 or when you come under the Bible school, you 00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:58.640 are ought to be taught the proper subjects. Praise 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.099 the Lord. You are ought to be taught rightly. 00:26:01.779 --> 00:26:05.019 Praise the Lord. You are ought to be taught the 00:26:05.019 --> 00:26:07.579 right things, the right way. Praise the Lord. 00:26:07.700 --> 00:26:10.880 So imagine this is a civil engineering department. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:15.579 Imagine a second year, first semester, first 00:26:15.579 --> 00:26:19.400 year, second semester student, and all they were 00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:23.519 teaching you, henceforth, was chemistry. Praise 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:26.400 the Lord. Chemistry is good, but at that stage 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:29.799 of civil engineering, you do not need chemistry. 00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:33.720 Praise the Lord. So imagine you come to church 00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:38.059 and then you are... You just come and you don't 00:26:38.059 --> 00:26:41.220 receive the word. You're not being taught. That's 00:26:41.220 --> 00:26:44.380 not what you need. Praise the Lord. What you 00:26:44.380 --> 00:26:48.019 need at this stage is not other things. You need 00:26:48.019 --> 00:26:52.720 teaching. Praise the Lord. So the church ought 00:26:52.720 --> 00:27:01.960 to be a place, a Bible school. Praise the Lord. 00:27:07.150 --> 00:27:09.950 So the way Jesus is saying, teaching them to 00:27:09.950 --> 00:27:13.130 observe all the things I've commanded you and 00:27:13.130 --> 00:27:15.529 lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the 00:27:15.529 --> 00:27:19.490 age. Verse 20. Praise the Lord. He's saying that, 00:27:19.529 --> 00:27:23.829 or Jesus is saying that you cannot develop your 00:27:23.829 --> 00:27:27.769 own curriculum. Praise the Lord. You cannot develop 00:27:27.769 --> 00:27:31.430 your own body of knowledge. Praise the Lord. 00:27:31.769 --> 00:27:35.690 He's saying to teach them all the things, right? 00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:38.859 Teaching them to observe all the things I've 00:27:38.859 --> 00:27:42.240 commanded you. So he had taught them something. 00:27:42.779 --> 00:27:46.200 Praise the Lord. He has taught them something, 00:27:46.339 --> 00:27:50.200 right? Something in which they also have observed. 00:27:50.440 --> 00:27:53.619 That is, they have lived that also. Praise the 00:27:53.619 --> 00:27:56.619 Lord. Something, he has taught them something. 00:27:56.660 --> 00:28:00.519 So you cannot develop your own curriculum. This 00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:03.400 is what we are teaching. This is our area of 00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:06.150 focus. This is what we are going to do in this 00:28:06.150 --> 00:28:09.369 church. Praise the Lord. So as we go, as we leave 00:28:09.369 --> 00:28:13.289 this place, right? And you have the opportunities 00:28:13.289 --> 00:28:16.349 to teach, right? You are teaching the things 00:28:16.349 --> 00:28:20.730 that Christ has taught. Praise the Lord. You're 00:28:20.730 --> 00:28:23.849 not developing your own body of knowledge. You 00:28:23.849 --> 00:28:27.390 cannot say that maybe as you are starting a new 00:28:27.390 --> 00:28:30.950 work, that your focus is the worship of God. 00:28:31.170 --> 00:28:37.160 Praise the Lord. Your focus. is how to help people 00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:41.440 utilize their potential as a church. Praise the 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:45.440 Lord. You cannot say that your purpose or your 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:49.019 focus as a church is helping people discover 00:28:49.019 --> 00:28:52.720 purpose. Praise the Lord. There are purpose for 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:55.119 their lives. Praise the Lord. You're supposed 00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:58.619 to do what? Teaching them to observe all the 00:28:58.619 --> 00:29:02.220 things that Christ has commanded. Praise the 00:29:02.220 --> 00:29:06.980 Lord. Thank you for listening to our sermon today. 00:29:07.220 --> 00:29:10.339 We hope you were blessed by this teaching. If 00:29:10.339 --> 00:29:12.579 you want to learn more about our church, please 00:29:12.579 --> 00:29:15.119 visit our website or follow us on social media. 00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:17.700 We would love to connect with you and hear your 00:29:17.700 --> 00:29:20.539 feedback. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast 00:29:20.539 --> 00:29:22.859 channel and share it with your friends and family. 00:29:23.099 --> 00:29:25.559 You never know who might need a word of encouragement.