Day 20: GO and Teach Them
Intention
To understand the importance of being taught, and teaching well, as a part of the Great Commission.
Scripture
“… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
– Matthew 28:20
Reflection
Inspirational writer William A. Ward said, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires”.
In Matthew’s Gospel, we read the powerful command from our Saviour and great teacher, Jesus, to preach the good news to everyone. However, in the Scripture above, Jesus also tells us to teach. And how important that is!
In the key area of leading people to Jesus, not only do we want to encourage, inspire and lead them to a commitment, but Jesus also says to teach.
Over many years, I’ve been fortunate to teach science, religious education and mathematics. This is in addition to pastoral work in Catholic churches. Teaching can be difficult. It is not always easy to get new concepts across, inspire students/parishioners and ensure they understand the work or message. However, it is greatly rewarding.
Only recently, I was working with a group of Year 12 students on prayer. As a part of this teaching, we spent some time praying in our College Chapel. At the end of our time together, one of the students very excitedly, said to me, “Sir, my mind is clear!”
I knew what he meant, but asked the young man to elaborate. He said, “When we started, I had so much going on in my head. It was swirling. But after we spent time silently meditating on the Scriptures, my thoughts became clear!” From this experience, we can see that good teaching can lead to an encounter with Jesus.
The ultimate teacher, Jesus, shows us how to do this well. We know that Jesus, as a good Jew, spent time in the synagogue, learning from wise mentors. This was central to His life. During these times, Jesus would have grown in multiple ways, including knowledge, understanding and wisdom.
Jesus then took this information and applied it to His largely rural culture. He mastered linking the information He learned to a culture familiar to His listeners. As a good teacher, He knew knowledge needs to be readily connected and implemented in the student’s life.
As we focus on the Great Commission, let’s remember that a part of this command is to impart quality, biblical information about Jesus Christ and His Church. Knowledge that is relevant and transforms that believer into a mature disciple. This could happen through your own information or by encouraging them to attend an Alpha course. It could also be by giving them a book from Warwick and Kurt, or some other inspirational reading.
So let’s be a part of the Great Commission by teaching and teaching well.
Video
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for Your love for us, for saving us, for giving us new hope. Guide us in this important call to share Jesus with others and to teach them. Amen.
Author Bio
Rev. Matt Ransom has been married to his amazing wife Cathy for thirty-one years. He has two children and five granddaughters. Matt is a married Deacon in the Catholic Church and has engaged in missionary work across Australia, Papua New Guinea and the USA. He is blessed to call a number of Protestant pastors his friends.
Prayer Points and Purpose for GO Month 2024
- To worship Jesus and give extravagant praise to God. 1 Chron 16:23–31.
- To pray for revival, repentance and deliverance for Australia and for millions to find Christ. Acts 2:1–41.
- To pray for five people by name to find Christ and share the gospel with those five in May. Matt 28:18–20.
We invite you to support this prayer campaign to multiply prayer in Australia for revival and see millions come to Christ. Every donation to the Canberra Declaration helps us promote prayer and make a stand for family, faith, freedom, life, and the good news of God’s love through Jesus Christ His Son.
Join us for our nightly Zoom prayer call:
DATES: Every night in May
TIME: 8 PM (AEST); 7:30 PM (ACST); 6 PM (AWST)
ZOOM URL LINK: https://zoom.us/j/776881184
Daily devotions are brought to you by the Canberra Declaration.
View GO Month 2024 devotionals on the Daily Declaration website.
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Matt Ransom says that “ Knowledge that is relevant and transforms that believer into a mature disciple”. I beg to differ. If that was true we would have millions of mature disciples in Churches everywhere . My experience as a leadership trainer is that very few church attenders are maturing in Christ, despite all the knowledge that is taught. There is a true statement in leadership “People do what you inspect not what you expect”. Jesus said “ teach them to obey all that I’ve commanded you.” So a good teacher is one who keeps his/her students accountable for the obedience and application they’ve taught them. In the groups I lead the study begins with a group covenant to do the preparation/homework beforehand then discuss this and how we will apply this in our lives, then the following meeting share how they got on putting it into practice. Try it in your group. I’m sure God will bless this with His results.