The Great Commission of Jesus belongs to the saints; not just to our pastors, leaders, and missionaries! We are all missionaries in the sense that, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have all been “sent.”
Jesus said “As the father has sent me, so I am sending you.”- John 20:21
Matthew 28: 18-20 is for all saints; in all times, & in all places!
Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, go therefore and make disciples of all nations (peoples), baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Spirit (ritual of allegiance to the Kingdom), teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you (pathway of discipleship, with an emphasis on obedience and not just learning doctrines about God) and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the age. (promise of the Holy Spirit’s power and help to accomplish the mission) // (my emphasis)
There is no “junior Holy Spirit.” We as leaders don’t have a senior Holy Spirit, we just have different gifts and roles.
As saints/believers, we all have the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. We all have direct access to God because of the cross. This is the good news, the Gospel.
We should all have a testimony that we can minister to others. If you have been through something in life and have found comfort from God and deliverance through the storm, then you can minister that same comfort to someone else.
You can be equipped to go deeper and grow in understanding, grow in leadership, discover your God given gifts, and minister to others out of those giftings.
The Gift of Righteousness and the Power of God
Jesus never meant for us to do this on our own. It is precisely when we come to the end of our own strength, our own ways, our own wisdom that God can really start to use us most effectively.
Again, we receive the “gift of righteousness” by faith. Righteousness is not earned but is freely given when we access it by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. This is the Gospel!
The bad news is that we are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared to believe, and the good news is we are more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared to hope.
Jesus did not leave us as orphans. He has given us the Holy Spirit to be with us. We are told not to grieve the Spirit of God, not to quench him or put out his fire.
Jesus told his disciples, the early saints, to wait in Jerusalem (before they went out to start their ministry) until they be endued with power from on high. Acts 1:8
When the power came, it wasn’t for a show. It wasn’t for goosebumps and good feelings. It was the enablement to do the work God had called them to do; to speak plainly the truth they knew and to demonstrate the Kingdom of God through signs, wonders, and miracles of the Holy Spirit.
They would be his witnesses in their hometown, in their region, across the tracks as it were, and even to the ends of earth!
That promise is for us today. This church was built upon the power of the Holy Spirit and we need him now, more than ever…Not just to have revival or to prophesy or to speak in tongues but to touch a dark, lost and dying world who desperately need God’s love and hope through the Gospel.
We need apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers and all of the Saints (Eph 4:11-13)- operating in the marketplace, touching every sphere of society in the power of the Holy Spirit if we really want to see the fulfillment of everything Jesus has called us to do.
