Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• Mark 16:9-20 is a disputed text
• Many Evangelical churches do not preach these verse
• The two oldest manuscripts do not contain these verses
• These verses contain 17 words not used by Mark elsewhere in his gospel
• These verses contain some things not said in other parts of the gospel (e.g. drinking poison)
• 99% of bible manuscripts include v9-20
• The oldest two Vaticanus and Sinaticus
• Includes the gospel of Barnabas and apocryphal books
• A third manuscript "Alexandrius" contains these verses
• Other contemporary authors quote from these verses
• There are 17 words not used by Mark in the previous 12 verses
• There are some words not used by Luke in his gospel
• Most of the things quoted in theses verses (apart from drinking poison) were fulfilled in the Book of Acts
• This should not destroy our confidence in the word of God
• No doctrine is every contradicted
• We should consider newer texts that have come to light
• Study of the Greek and Hebrew (including the variant readings) confirms the word of God
• There are over 7500 manuscripts and over 25'000 additional materials confirm
• Consider that Homer's Illyad only has 40 copies

The Different Gospels

• Mark 16:15
• Matt 28:18-20
• Coming along side people
• Teaching them everything (the whole counsel of God)
• Making disciples
• Baptising
• John 20:21
• Jesus is sending the disciples
• Luke 24:46-47
• Repentance
• Forgiveness of sins

Who are to Go?

• The disciples
• They were sinners
• They were fearful, full of doubts (e.g. Thomas)
• They had bickered amongst themselves
• They had been chided and rebuked by Jesus
• They had prevented children and women to speak to Jesus
• They were judgmental
• They were sinners with all sorts of faults and failings
• They fled at the cross/end, one denied Jesus three times
• However they loved Jesus above all
• They left everything to follow Him
• They said to whom else would they go
• In practical reality, how much are we reaching others for Christ
• The Great Commission is not 'come' but 'go'
• We must step out of our comfort zone
• We must go to where people are
• Consider the parable in Luke 14 - 'go to where the people are'
• People like you and me - sinners with faults and failings
• God confounds the wisdom of this world
• DL Moody - a shoe maker
• Billy Sunday - a baseball player
• Where is the Mission Field?
• Europe is the graveyard of the Mission Field
• Today we talk about training the indigenous people
• This is not the be all and end all of missions
• God's ways are not our ways
• Consider Paul - he would have been perfect to send to the Jews, but God sent him to the Gentiles
• The message is go
• Start in Jerusalem
• Start where you are and expand from there

What is their Task?

• To preach
• Not foreign aid
• Mission work is not social work
• It is always preaching the word of God (though may include other works)
• Prayer
• They do not immediately go
• They wait for the Holy Spirit to empower them
• Mere activism will not produce results
• Individual and corporate prayer
• A great emphasis on corporate prayer, on group prayer
• A church bathed in prayer knows much blessing (e.g. Pontefract)
• A church looking outwards spends less time looking inwards (and sees less problems)
• Compassion
• We will not go unless we first feel the need for others
• Consider our own hell bound situation
• Consider the state of our friends and family
• If this doesn't move us, what will?
• Have we lost our sense of urgency?
• Are we lacking courage and faith?
• Only 2.5% Evangelistic in Europe (8% Muslim)
• The task is:
• To go in His name
• To preach forgiveness of sins
• To baptise
• "If in doubt - go"
• Our Mission Statement: "Equipping the saints - to reach out with the gospel"

What is their Message?

• Good news
• The message is of salvation not condemnation
• Jesus came to seek and to save
• People must see their need to be saved
• We must preach repentance
• We must teach and explain what sin is
• Sin is a state of being in our heart
• Sin is also acts
• Sin is not loving God as we ought
• Sin is disregarding God's law (including in our hearts)
• We must teach that people need to completely turn away from sin and to embrace Jesus
• We must call people to believe in Christ
• Not just mentally believing
• Bowing the knee and yielding to Jesus
• Trusting your life to Him
• We preach Jesus
• We don't just preach a doctrine but a Person
• We preach the Living Jesus Christ

We must obey this text