How to Help Fulfill the Great Commission

Today, we live in a world in crisis -- terrorism, war, hate, natural disasters, poverty, economic crisis, corruption, abuse.

This is the time for Christians to become involved in what would well become the greatest spiritual harvest since Pentecost. We must help set in motion a sweeping spiritual awakening that will reveal to mankind the answers that Christ alone offers for the problems of the world. 

Who gave the Great Commission and to whom was it given?

The Lord Jesus Christ is the One who gave the Great Commission. 

• Only Christ has the authority to say, "I have been given all authority in heaven and earth".
• He is the Son of God. He died on the cross and was raised from the dead to save everyone from sin and to give eternal life to all who receive Him.
• He has caused more changes for good than anyone else in the entire history of mankind. He changes people and nations. Wherever his message goes, people are transformed.
• In Colossians, 1:15, the Word of God states, "Jesus is the visible expression of the invisible God."
• In Colossians 2:9-10, the Word of God records, "in Christ, there is all of God in a human body; so you have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ. He is the highest ruler with authority over every other power."
• Hebrews 1:1-3 records that Jesus is the creator through whom God speaks to men.
• John 14:6 and John 2:22-23 emphasize that man can know God only through Jesus Christ.

It was given to the apostles and to every believer in every generation.

• Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostles went out boldly to proclaim the message of God's love and forgiveness through Christ at the cost of their lives. The eleven apostles with the exception of John, died as martyrs. He died in exile after being burned in oil for his faith in Jesus.
• Jesus prayed that the world would know Him through the witness of future believers (John 17:18-23).
• We need to place our full confidence in our resurrected Lord, be filled with the Holy Spirt and be available to impact our world for Christ. Not all Christians have the gift of evangelism, but all Christians have the responsibility to live holy lives and to be his witnesses. If we are consistent in our Christian lives, faithful in our witness and dependent on the Holy Spirit, we cannot fail in fulfilling our part of the Great Commission.

What is the Great Commission?

The Great Commission is Jesus Christ's command to make disciples. It involves building multiplying disciples in all nations so that they will in turn saturate their nations with the Good News and train their disciples to do the same generation after generation. 

As a result of this command, we desire to make a prayerful, intelligent presentation of the gospel to every living person. Although not all who hear will become Christians, many will respond, some after only one presentation. In Colossians 1:6, we read, "the same good news that came to you is going out all over the world and changing lives everywhere, just as it changed yours that very first day you heard it and understood about God's great kindness to sinners."

Why should we devote ourselves completely to helping fulfill the Great Commission?

There are at least four good reasons why we should devout ourselves completely to helping fulfill the Great Commission. 

First, Christ has commanded us to go and make disciples. The athletic coach presents a list of rules and standards to the athlete and says, "these are the things you must do if you expect to be part of the team." The players subscribe to these rules, or they do not make the team. Same goes with the employee. If the employee does not follow the rules, they lose the job. 

Jesus Christ has issued an order, a command, "go and make disciples" and no true believer should take our Lord's command lightly. But most Christians have never taken this command of our Lord seriously. We have been playing at church while tens of millions go into eternity without Christ forever lost. We are dealing with peripheral issues when it is people's hearts that need to be changed. The problems in the world that are threatening to engulf humanity can only be solved through faith in Christ and surrender to His will.

If we take our Lord seriously, we must direct ourselves fully --time, talent, treasure, and technology -- to the fulfilment of the Great Commission. It must not be out of a sense of legalistic duty, but out of a sense of gratitude and loving debt for what Christ has done for us. He said, "go" and that is sufficient reason for going. We need no other reason.

Second, people are lost without Christ. There is salvation in no one else. Under all heaven, there is no other name for people to call upon to save them. Do you really believe that people without Christ are lost? 

Third, the Holy Spirit has created a hunger for God everywhere. This is evidenced by the many who respond when the Gospel is presented in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Fourth, there is a great urgency to take the Gospel to every living person before our Lord returns or before each generation dies. 

When will the Great Commission be fulfilled?

Our Lord has given the command to make disciples by going, teaching, and baptizing all nations because He loves all people and is not willing that any should perish. Since He has promised to empower and go with us, we can rightly assume that He wants it fulfilled in our generation, but the timing is up to Him. Discipleship.Space is committed in helping reach that goal as we work with churches of all denominations and other organizations.

Where must we go to help fulfill the Great Commission?

• We must go to the whole world.
• We must begin in our own Jerusalem. Begin to share Christ as a way of life in your Jerusalem --your home, neighborhood, school, your office. Seek ways to present Christ in your Judea, community, state, nation. And reach the rest of the world through your prayers, your financial investments and personal involvements.

How is the Great Commission to be fulfilled?

You can have a personal strategy to use your time, talent, treasure and technology to help fulfill the Great Commission. A personal strategy is a deliberate plan of action to help fulfill the Great Commission. Developing a personal strategy enables us to move forward in obedience to our Lord's command and to concentrate our energies on our primary calling of helping fulfill the Great Commission.

• When you personally introduce another to Christ or evangelize, that is spiritual addition.
• When you disciple the new Christian and help him win, disciple, train, and send others, who will win and disciple still others, that is building multiplying disciples.

Use these spiritual suggestions for developing your own personal strategy.

• Be sure you are committed to the Lordship of Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit. You can trust a loving God to guide you and fill your life with the joy of His presence when you surrender every ambition of life to Him. There is no experience in life that compares with seeking first the Kingdom of God, keeping Christ in control of our lives, living in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, obeying God's commands and being an instrument through whom He changes lives. This is truly life abundant at its highest and best.
• Pray in faith that God will guide you in developing your personal strategy. God honors faith. Ask God for an effective strategy to reach your immediate area of influence for Christ. You do not have to design your own strategy. You are simply discovering a plan that God has already designed.
• Outline the strategy that God reveals in answer to your prayers. Make lists of specific people to whom you can witness. Consider specific groups in your life and develop a strategy to reach each one. Begin with your family. Remember that in your home, more than in any other place, your life will be your testimony. Trust God continually to fill you with His Spirit, so that your actions will bear witness to what Jesus has done in our life. Pray for people and then go to them. Tell them Gods love and forgiveness available through Jesus Christ. Give them an opportunity to receive Him. Witness as a way of life: talk about Christ with everyone you meet. As people trust Him as Lord and Savior, begin to build them in the chain of spiritual multiplication.
• Learn all you can about how to accomplish your personal strategy. Hundreds of students, laymen, and pastors have taken advantage of the trainings and materials through Disicipleship.Space. They can learn the techniques in winning people to Christ, building them in the faith and sending them to the world with the good news of God's love and forgiveness in Christ. Courses in Discipleship.Space have been carefully designed and created to provide training in evangelism and discipleship.
• Give your attention to aggressive evangelism. Under the Holy Spirit's guidance, you can proceed with confidence to plan your work and work your plan. All Christians need a personal strategy to help reach their own community or area of influence for Christ.

The Urgency of the Great Commission

We dare not be satisfied with a type of Christianity which is committed to business as usual. These are desperate times and only our total surrender to Christ is adequate for the challenge that is before us.

Total dedication and full surrender to the lordship of Chris characterized the disciples and multitudes of other first century Christians. Such has been the dedication of every servant of God who has made any significant impact for Christ and His kingdom. God is looking today for disciplined soldiers of the cross, completely committed Christians through whom He can accomplish mighty exploits. 

We believe that millions of Christians are awakening to the fact that we must be about the Father's business. As we observe God's working in the lives of people around the world through many movements, we are persuaded that the greatest spiritual awakening since Pentecost has already begun.

Just as God used Paul and millions of other s like him through the centuries, so He is looking for men and women in our time through whom He can accomplish His great plans. Jesus said, "go and make disciples of all nations". In order to make disciples, we must be disciples ourselves. The person who is committed to Christ and who understands how to walk in the fullness of the Spirit is going to influence an help produce the same kind of Christians. 

Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. Anyone who wants to be My follower must love Me far more than he dies his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers or sisters --yes, more than his own life --otherwise he cannot be my disciple."

For some, such a call to discipleship may sound too difficult. Perhaps, this was in Peter's mind when he said to the Lord, "we have left everything and followed You." Jesus said in Luke 18:29, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farm, for my sake and for the Gospel's sake, but that he shall receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms along with persecutions; and in the world to come, eternal life."

You have the privilege of being part of the most significant movement and harvest of all the centuries. This movement will help fulfill the Great Commission of our Lord in this generation. 

We invite you to join with millions of other Christians in enlisting in the Great Commission strategy. In obedience to our Lord's command, we are asking men and women everywhere to put aside their personal ambitions, selfish desires and pleasures, and to say with the apostle Paul, "I am a slave of Jesus Christ." I will give my attention, my time, my talents, my treasure and my technology to Him for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. From the time I waken in the morning until I go to bed at night, I want to be part of God's great strategy for the world.

It may mean sacrifice. For some, it may mean even death; but can you think of anything more important? Can you think of anyone greater whom you would rather follow than our Lord? It was He who died for our sins, was raised form the dead and now dwells within all of us who are believers. Is there a greater cause than his to which you can give yourself?

If this is your desire to commit yourself, may I suggest the following prayer: