We need to take the final instructions of Jesus seriously!
Matthew 28:18-20
* I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this; I am with you always , even to the end of the age.*
If we are to take the final instructions of Jesus seriously then we must learn to see the world as God sees it. Jesus will not return until the great commission is fulfilled, until the gospel is preached to all nations. It says in Matthew 24:14 * And the good news about the kingdom will be preached through out the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.
How many times have you heard the old saying " you can't take it with you when you die"? Well there is one thing we can take with us to heaven; and that is souls, preferably as many as possible.
We are often asked this question with the expectation of worldly answers. If you suddenly came into an enormous amount of money; what would you do with it? But, here is my question for you. As you come into the knowledge of God's word; what should you be doing with it? Those in real poverty are the ones without the knowledge of their Lord and Savior.
In Isaiah 58:8 God says *Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your righteousness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. * So Jesus will go before us and God's glory will guard us from behind.
You may not find many in your neighborhood or your family who are hungry for God, but, there are many who are hungry for Him in other parts of the world. In Isaiah 60:1-3 we see that we have to get up and go. We have to make the first move and bring forth the light of Jesus; then God will bring the nations to us. But not if we sit at home in our comfort zone instead of going out to answer the call.
If you give a man a fish, he will be satisfied until tomorrow when he looks for you to bring him another. But, if you teach him how to fish, then he can feed himself from then on. We are not only called to take the gospel to all nations but, to (teach) make disciples of them also. We see many times when evangelists or missionaries come to our churches and speak that there will be a lot of souls won but, then after they leave many will go back to their old life and the churches won't be anywhere near as full. Why? because they heard the gospel but, were not taught how to become disciples. how to live the christian life.
In Matthew 9:36-38 we see that Jesus had compassion on the people before He did any healing or delivering. What is compassion? It is more than feeling sorry for someone. It is putting yourself in another's shoes and feeling their pain. It is when we pray with compassion that God moves. We must develope a heart of compassion, especially for the lost, if we are to be His disciples. It is the heart of God that we have compassion.
We are to reach the whole world for Jesus, not just the easy areas of it. We can go to our "Judea" or our "Samaria" as missionaries or we can go as refugees. God will send us one way or another. Don't say it can't happen. Remember Jonah and the big Fish? God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach and Jonah said no and ran away but, God sent a big fish to swallow Jonah up and soon Jonah repented and went to Nineveh. It can happen to us just as in the days of old.
The question is: What will we do as individuals and (or) as a body of believers? Will we take the "great commission" seriously or will we take it as the" great suggestion"?
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