The Great Commision

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." ~Mark 16:15

It can't get more simple than that. Some of Jesus' last words before gonig back up to heaven. He gave us the command to go into ALL nations and EVERY corner of the world and preach the gospel message to EVERYONE EVERYWHERE. There are no exceptions. You can't pick and choose certain people.

For "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" ~Romans 10:13-15

There are people all around us who don't know the good news. They are our friends at school, our co-workers, sometimes in our family. We all know someone who "doesn't get it." They may have rejected it completely, denying its existence, they may be "agnostic", unsure of whether there is a God. There are people that never really have been exposed to God at all, simply because they weren't brought up in a church. There are also countless numbers of people around the world who don't have the gospel message simply because they don't have it in their own language. Jesus told us to share with EVERYONE. We all have different gifts and ways of sharing that work better for us. For some, evangelizing is more of a private one on one conversation with a friend or co-worker or family member. For others, they share the good news in more of a lecture type setting, whether by presentations, sermons, or speeches. There are also those of us who can strike up conversation with random stangers in a checkout line at the grocery store or on a city bus and share that way. Not one is better than the other, but regardless of how you do it, we are all supposed to preach the message! Now, the word "preach" simply means "to share, tell or declare." Which is exactly what we are supposed to do.

For me, when I finally "got it," there is nothing more that I wanted to do than share. I am more reserved and I don't handle public speaking very well, and I could never strike up conversation with a stranger. It was more my thing to share with people I know, and with just a few people at a time. I started with my family. Eventually, I felt more comfortable with reaching out to my friends and co-workers. I love sharing my story, it's just the setting for me is different than other people.

What I'm getting at here is if someone has accepted Jesus into their heart and has trusted in Him ALONE for salvation, why wouldn't you want to share it? God's love for us is such a wonderful thing! To know that you can make a choice about where you will spend an eternity is such a wonderful concept that everyone should know about! Holding back, to me, just seems out of place. I literally want to tell the world!

So, friends, family, and whoever else follows my blog; this is a message to YOU. If you have heard and understood the gospel message, what are you doing about it? Are you doing what Jesus said? Who have you shared the gospel with? Who are some people at school, at work, or even in your own family that don't have Jesus in their life? The reality of life is that everyone is going to spend an eternity somewhere. Every single person on this earth is either going to spend an eternity with God in heaven, or be permenantly separated from him in the firey pits of hell. So, if you have a close friend or family member that hasn't trusted in Christ as their Savior, what are you waiting for? If you truly care about them, wouldn't you want them to have the assurance of an eternity with God? People can die at any second, so there is no time to waste. Start saving lives!