Welcome to Kendra Graham’s Online Bible Study! This is a place where we can come together and share in our journey towards Scriptural truths and spiritual maturity. We pray this will be a safe, respectful, resourceful place to come and discuss God’s Word…to discover What it says…What it means…and What it means to you!Make sure you don’t miss a post, just enter your email in the “Subscribe Via Email” box in the upper left-hand corner of our blog. It’s free and you’ll receive these posts straight into your email inbox.
KENDRA GRAHAM NOTES FROM MATTHEW 28
Matthew 28:18-20
“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.’”
What Does it Say?
- Jesus spoke: All authority has been given Me in heaven and earth.
- GO make disciples of all nations.
- Teaching them to observe all I commanded. I AM with you.
The Lessons
How appropriate that these are the last words of the Rabbi to the talmidin. After a talmid had followed a Rabbi and learned all there was to learn, the Rabbi would then, according to Mishna tradition, say, “As far as it is possible, you are like me now. Go! Seek others who will imitate you, because you are like me, and when they imitate you, they will be like me.”
This is the point we have come to with the Rabbi Jesus and His talmidin. The work of Jesus is completed once and for all. The Bible from beginning to end tells us all of the extreme love that God has for mankind, His handmade creation. It is the story of His love reclaiming a broken world.
The Son of God has opened seas and made dry paths across the abyss for His people…He has ventured to crowded cities during Passover to heal and commission. He has climbed mountains, crossed angry seas, pulled men out of tombs, chased down paths, and built charcoal fires to bring one at a time to the true knowledge of the personal love that He has for them.
We have seen the authority of Jesus proven by the Word of God. Jesus did not come to authenticate the Word of God; the Word of God authenticates Jesus. The Word of God is always the standard. Jesus, here is reminding the talmidin of that authority and that it still belongs to Him. It is because of who Jesus is that we can go into all the world and preach the Gospel, the Good News! Redemption is here for a broken, messy and needy world, so Go!
“Go!” Right here, right now, the command is given!
It’s as if Jesus is saying,
“I, the Rabbi, have chased you down, I know you see it! You came with Me and I set you free, removing the walls that kept you hidden, scared, confused and beat down. Now, GO! Where I found you, find others. You now have the Story—the Gospel—burning deep inside your soul. It will propel you towards purpose—My purpose—to tell a broken world that the True Gospel has come!
“Go! Go across streets, across towns, across borders, across seas, to hurting people who are living in tombs! Go even to people who may—or may no—hold your worldview! Go even into Decapolises! Embrace them with the True Gospel! GO! Call others to COME follow you, so that you can teach them what it looks like to follow Me. This means you may have to spend time with them and do life with them.
“GO! Plead with them! All authority is Mine, so I have the power to save you and to save them! GO! Preach with boldness the mystery of the Gospel. (See Ephesians 6:19). Live a BOLD, unfiltered life, healed by the Gospel of Peace.”
This is the charge: Go everywhere and tell of Jesus. As you go to work, to church, to soccer practice and soccer games, reflect the Rabbi in all you do. Continue to be covered in the dust of the Rabbi. How do we do that when Jesus is no longer physically walking the earth? We are covered in the dust of the Rabbi by continually being in the Word of God. Often it’s the Word of God—our Bibles—that are dusty, and not us.
The Word of God is the only thing that can transform lives. His Word is the authority, and it will transform your life to the purpose it was meant to have from the beginning of time.
There are two kings in this world. One king has the sole purpose to steal, kill and destroy your soul. And if he can’t have your soul, he will settle for stealing your fire, your purpose and your passion for God and His Word. The other King—the King of kings—has come to give you life and to give it with abundance. The choice lies with each one of us. You and I will bend our knee to one of these two kings. (See John chapter 10.)
GO! “Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will complete it” (Philippians 1:6).
Dear talmid, please know that you were not delivered just for deliverance’ sake, but you were delivered for purpose—for impact! You have been #Delivered to #LIVEBOLD impactful lives! Jesus gave up His life so that we could have life and have it abundantly.
GO! Step out—and stay out—of your comfort zone. RISK it all to GO! Go where the Rabbi leads you. It may not be necessarily where you want to go, or think you should go, but GO… press into faith. We have settled far too long for leading quiet, obscure, ineffective lives. We’re free! We are #Delivered to #LIVEBOLD unfiltered lives.
COME! Be part of the story. Be covered in the dust of the Rabbi, and then GO! Don’t let anyone pour water on your fire. Go with passion.
What Does it Mean to Me?
Where is it that we go on a daily basis? As we go, how are our lives mirroring Jesus? Which is more dusty in our lives, the Word of God, or us from being in the Word of God?
LIVE IT OUT
Today I will spend time in the Word of God; and as He sends me out today, I will mirror Jesus to the world around me.
Click here to join us tonight on Periscope as we finish our 2018 Evening Cove Bible study series, #LiveBOLD.
Click the link below to enjoy a poem written by Kendra’s twelve-year-old son, Quinn. The topic relates to tonight’s study content, and we know you’ll be blessed as you read!