GO!
Mark 16:15
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation".
I was hunting with my friend Bob and His black Lab a Charlie. We had hunted through some thick and muddy tag alder brush and Charlie had gotten pretty dirty. Soon we came to the banks of the Sturgeon River and Bob called Charlie to his side. Charlie sat alongside Bob's feet and Bob put his hand in front of Charlie's nose, pointing forward Bob said, "Go!".
At that command Charlie jumped into the slow moving water and swam out into the middle of the river. After about 20 yards he swam back towards us. As he got near the bank, Bob pointed out and again said, "Go!". Charlie turned again and swam out into the river.
I asked Bob, "how long will he do that" Bob said, "as long as I tell him to, until he drowns if I kept saying, 'Go'".
It struck me, that is true obedience, to follow our master's leading, even unto death, if required.
What is our first and foremost job in life? Where is our ministry? What did Jesus leave us with as His last command?
Christ gave his disciples many commands during His 3 years of ministry, for instance...
• Love Your Enemies (Matthew 5:44–46).
• Fear Not (Matthew 10:28).
• Feed My Sheep (John 2 1:15–16).
• Love Your Neighbor (Matthew 22:39–40).
However at the very end of His earthly ministry, what was His very last command... of anything that Christ could have left His disciples, what was it that He wanted to leave His followers with? That command was given in these 2 verses.
• Matthew 28:19-20
"Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
One of 6 men that was with me at a Colorado Ranch when my ministry was formed had shared his desire to be much deeper in missions. He felt God calling him to serve in missions and he wasn't sure where or how... then one day he came to me and told me where God wanted him to serve... "right where I am"! We are all called to serve "right where we are".
Nobody is excused from sowing. In Luke 8:4–15, the parable is given of a man who went out to sow. Christ simply said, "A sower went out to sow...." He is an unnamed personality. He is not the preacher, not the deacon, just a sower. Every person in the church should be a seed-sower.
There is a story of a man named Peter Apples in Gipsy Smith's book The Beauty of Jesus. Gipsy Smith told about Peter Apples, a man (during the Civil War) who went into the enemy's territory. Peter Apples did not know much about being a good soldier. He just knew that when his superior officer said, "Charge!" he was supposed to go. And he was the kind of man who never came back until he made contact with the enemy.
One day his officer said, "Charge!" Peter Apples charged. But they came under such severe fire that the superior officer asked them to retreat, to come back. Peter Apples didn't hear that, so he kept going. He went across "No-Man's Land" and finally into the enemy's territory.
He went down in a ditch where the enemy soldiers were lined up one behind the other, took hold of the first one in the ditch, grabbed him by the nape of the neck, drug him out and started back toward home with him.
The enemy soldiers took aim and started to shoot, but since their own soldier was being dragged behind Peter Apples, they couldn't fire. About the time they thought they had a shot, their own soldier would get in the way again.
Peter Apples continued to travel with the soldier. Finally he dragged him across "No-Man's Land" and back into his own territory and dropped him at the feet of his superior officer.
The officer looked at him, took a deep breath, and said, "Where in the world did you get him?"
He answered, "I got him over there in the ditch. There's plenty of them over there, and all of you could have had one if you had wanted one."
The truth is, there are plenty of lost people all over our world. They are next door to you, they work with you, they meet you at the stores, at the Gym, on the lake and on the street. Everyone could have had one if you had really wanted one.
Set your heart on wanting just one today... Desire to cross over into enemy territory and bring a soul back for Christ. Each trip back and forth will become easier.
"GO and make disciples of all nations."
Help achieve the mission - GIVE today
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