If you've
ever done any international travel, you're familiar with the phrase
"Passport please." You slide the document across the counter and the
immigration officer flips through your passport looking for the visa that
allows you to enter his country. The visa is your authority for entry.
After His resurrection, Jesus meets with His disciples on a mountain in Galilee and gives them these instructions. "...all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt 28:18-20)
"All authority" provides the context for the focus of mission. Digging a well, building a children's home, or offering hope to the marginalized--it is all to be done with a desire to "make disciples." All our giving, going, and praying, all our teaching and building and baptizing, is to focus on making disciples of all nations.
Jesus doesn't just give us a task and send us out. Like a pair of bookends, His authority and His presence support His Great Commission. His authority determines our direction and purpose, and His presence provides the power and encouragement to carry out the task of making disciples of all nations.
The challenge to His disciples was to make fully devoted followers of Jesus who worship at the throne of grace. And this is the challenge each generation must rise up and take.
After His resurrection, Jesus meets with His disciples on a mountain in Galilee and gives them these instructions. "...all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt 28:18-20)
"All authority" provides the context for the focus of mission. Digging a well, building a children's home, or offering hope to the marginalized--it is all to be done with a desire to "make disciples." All our giving, going, and praying, all our teaching and building and baptizing, is to focus on making disciples of all nations.
Jesus doesn't just give us a task and send us out. Like a pair of bookends, His authority and His presence support His Great Commission. His authority determines our direction and purpose, and His presence provides the power and encouragement to carry out the task of making disciples of all nations.
The challenge to His disciples was to make fully devoted followers of Jesus who worship at the throne of grace. And this is the challenge each generation must rise up and take.
Can God change your life?
God has made it possible for you to
know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.
change in your own life.
Discover how you can find peace with
God.
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