INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE GREAT COMMISSION (ENGLISH)
INTERNATIONAL YEAR
OF THE GREAT COMMISSION
Commencing on the
Day of the Pentecost, Sunday, May 15th 2016
“Go make disciples
of all nations; baptize and teach them to obey my commands.” Matt. 28:19-20
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you, and you are to be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria
and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
This
Great Commission,
the Last and the Supreme Command that Yeshua Messiah gave to all his followers.
Thus, our task is to make disciples of all the 16,300 nations, in their 6500
tongues, across the world’s 2.5 million villages. Even though this mandate has
been the core agenda of the church ever since, our task remains unfinished.
Until this task is completed, Messiah the King cannot come and establish his
glorious, millennial kingdom, here on earth.
The
Day of the Pentecost was the birthday of the Ecclesia and the beginning of
church age, when Peter, in
the power of the Holy Spirit, opened his heavenly rewards account. That day,
3000 souls repented, got baptized and received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Their number rapidly multiplied into myriads (tens of thousands) of new believers.
Acts 2:41, 21:20
Explosive
growth and multiplication of the New Testament Ecclesia was the norm.
Acts 2:47, “The Lord added to their numbers daily.
Acts 4:4, 5000 new believers added;
Acts 5:28, City saturation of Jerusalem: “You have filled the
whole city with your teachings”.
Acts 6:1,7, Exponential multiplication of disciples.
Acts 8:12, Samaria evangelized by Philip, a table cleaner.
Acts 9:31, Churches in Galilee and Judaea edified and
multiplied.
Acts 16:5, Daily multiplication of quality churches, “The
churches were strengthened in faith and multiplied in numbers daily”.
Acts 19:8-10, “All Asia heard the Gospel.”
Romans 15:19-20, Gospel fully preached from Jerusalem to
Illyricum, a distance of 2000 km.
Acts 13:1-3,
Antioch becomes launching pad for world mission led by multi-national, multi
cultural, multi leadership ekklesia, led by Banabas the Cypriot, Lucius the
Cyrenian, Mannen the Palestinian, Paul the Turk and Simon Niger from black Africa.
Romans 15:23, “No more places left.”
- Instead of gathering in the temple, they gathered in thousands of homes, thus fulfilling Abrahamic covenant of being a blessing to all the families (mishpacha) of the earth. Gen. 12:3; Acts 20:20,27
- Instead of dead animals; they worshipped God by offering sanctified living souls. Rom. 15:16
- Instead of being exclusive and eating only Kosher food, they became inclusive by fellowshipping (koinonia) by breaking bread from house to house and eating whatever was laid before them with Gentile seekers and non-believers. Luke 10:5-8; Acts 11:1-3; Galatians 2:12; 3:27-29
- Instead of tithing for temple upkeep, they practiced freewill generous giving for the poor, and to mobilize apostles’ feet. Acts 2:44-45; 1Cor. 9:6,7
- Instead of shepherding the barren sheep in the fold that did not reproduce, they started seeking and saving the lost sheep that were not yet in the fold. Luke 15:7,10; 19:10; John 10:16
- Instead of keeping the Sabbath and sacrifices, they made disciples, planted churches, and thus became royal priests and brand ambassadors of the kingdom. 2 Cor. 5:20; Heb. 2:9; Acts 6:7; 16:5Not surprisingly the Lord added to their numbers daily. Wow!
(Ecclesia,
the Greek term often translated as “church,” was a secular legal assembly with
magistrates, judges and proconsuls etc. Yeshua appointed apostles, prophets,
evangelists, shepherds and teachers to edify his Ecclesia, by making and multiplying disciples that go and change
the kingdom profile of the city and the nation. Acts 19:38-41; Eph. 4:11,12)
So
what is the logjam that hinders us from reaching the finish line? We looked around for the culprit and found it
is, “we the church”! For centuries, we got so mired down in property, pulpits,
programs, politics and budgets, that we lost the mandate, the motivation and the
momentum. Yeshua needs “workers” for the harvest field, not bench warmers. Our
Bible schools produce “aquarium keepers” that take care of the exotic fish that
do not reproduce. Instead of equipping the saints to go and change the kingdom
profile of their neighbourhoods, workplaces, the city and the nation; our
shepherds are busy pastoring sheep that do not have the vision or the skill for
seeking and saving the lost. (John 10:16) Our churches are no longer the “House
of Prayer for All Nations” (Mark
11:17). Our missionaries plant mission stations and stay put, whilst Paul
raised up local leaders, planted Disciple Multiplying Movement (DMM), and moved
on. Even our prayer cells and Bible study groups produce prayer warriors and
scholars that do not metamorphose into fishers of men (Matt. 4:19).
So
Yahweh is now doing a new thing. The doom and gloom media daily breaks news that all nations,
are plunging deeper and deeper into economic, political, moral and religious
turmoil. However, what is not reported is, that the new believers from all
nations, tongues and tribes are entering the Messiah’s Kingdom, in numbers unprecedented.
And guess who is making this happen! Interestingly, it is not the superstar
tele-evangelists, nor the traditional church members, but the anointed,
first-generation, humble believers. These ordinary folk engage neighbors,
friends, colleagues and needy persons, demolishing rampant old and neo-paganism
by breaking bread and sharing the whole wisdom of God, from house to house. They
are so effective and productive because their
passion and simple life style matches their message. They do not do this as Church program but they know
that the primary agenda is, not to grow their church but to advance the kingdom
agenda in their area of influence. They are Christ-centered, seeker focused, relational,
holistic and transformational. Thus, once again, like the first century, Yahweh
is raising up new Home Ecclesia Movements. Matt. 11:12; Acts 20:20
Reverse flow is now in
full swing: After the Pentecost, just as the Temple at Jerusalem
shrank and the organic house ecclesia flourished, similarly the greatest
church-shift in history, from the institutional church back into the original
household ecclesia, is taking place today. God is taking away the kingdom from
the religious elite and giving it back to foolish and weak things and nobodies
of this world, who are bringing the fruits thereof. (Matt. 21:43; 1Corinthians
1:27) As the West goes off the edges of the Bible and becomes hostile to Christianity,
it has now become the biggest mission field. Pastors and evangelists from
witchcraft and voodoo infested black Africa; Chinese from Dragonland; transformed
idolaters from countries like India; Buddhists from Korea and infidels of Islam
are now not only pastoring ethnic churches but also lily white churches and
bringing much needed revival in the West. Interestingly, most of the champion
church planting coaches in the West, had their exposure in the 10/40 Window countries
that catalyzed them into doing something for their own nations. According to
researcher Barna, USA alone now has well over a 100,000 home churches. However, this is only a trickle, which is
likely to soon grow into a mighty stream.
We
have a mandate.
Yeshua received a dual assignment. First, he was to be sacrificed as the
Passover Lamb not only for our redemption but also to make us priests and kings
to reign on earth. (Revelation 5:9,10) Second, he announced, “I will build my
church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail… I give to you the keys of the
Kingdom, authority over all the power of the enemy to demolish his strongholds...
I send you to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Matt. 16:18,19; Luke
10:19; 19:10) However, Yeshua built no church building; instead, he built his
ecclesia with twelve disciples who went and demolished demon driven religious,
societal and cultural Gates of Hell, and turned the world upside down. Although
many nations have been evangelized, baptized, churched and sermonized, yet none
has been discipled like the disciples of Jesus or Paul. However, the clear,
unambiguous command of Jesus remains: “Go, make disciples of all nations.”
Thus, the mandate of the whole church is “to take the whole Gospel to the whole
world,” until the last rascal is sought, found, saved and made a disciple-maker.
As Jesus demonstrated through the Samaritan woman, the best way to worship in
spirit and in truth is to bring your village to his feet, so he can give them a
new heart and a new spirit. John 4:23,24; Acts 17:6; Ezekiel 36:26
Yeshua did not just
command us to carry out his Great Commission, but modelled it for us:
- As you Go: He conducted daily road shows, modelling the Kingdom and seeking and saving the lost. These included Zacchaeus, a despised tax collector, and the demonic of Decapolis (ten cities), whom he transformed into ‘Persons of Peace’, sending them back to change the kingdom profile of their own cities. Mark 1:38; 6:7
- Make Disciples: He made twelve disciples whom he sent forth 2 by 2, who made 70 disciples. Yeshua then sent the second generation 2 by 2 to equip the third generation of disciples. Disciples are those replicators and disciple-multipliers. Luke 9:1,2; 10:1,2; John 15:8
- Baptize: Through his disciples, Yeshua baptized more than John the Baptist did. The Great Commission ordains every believer to be a baptizer. John 4:1-2; 15:16
- Teach obedience: Yeshua obeyed the Father unto death, and taught: “If you love me, you will obey my commands.” He gave us only one specific topic to teach, “Teach them to obey all my commands.” All his disciples earned their crosses and became martyrs. Philip. 2:8; John 14:15
The
International year of the Great Commission is meant to be a time when Christians throughout
the world set aside their differences and prioritize, “Seek ye first the
kingdom of God …” by making a fresh commitment to honour, obey and fulfil the
Great Commission of our Lord in their area of influence. They take up the
challenge to pray, proclaim and possess their “promised land,” transforming the
demon-driven world into kingdom of God, where kingdom values of love, peace,
justice and righteousness prevail, even as there may be giants in the land. Matt.
6:33; Num. 13:27-33
We
know God’s End Vision. Jesus
heartbeat is to see all sinners saved, that is why he incarnated. He would like
to see all nations, tongues, tribes, dressed in white clothes, holding palm
branches in their hands, worshipping him and the kings of the earth bringing
their glory and honour in a celestial parade before His Throne (Rev. 7:9-10;
21:24). We need to go out, as on-site-shepherds, pastoring all the lost people in
our own oikos: family, friends,
neighbours, work colleagues, school-mates, community and clients in the market
place, and redeem them, thus making them worthy to participate in the grand
parade. We must look upon them as a swimming coach looks on a drowning person. We
do not need permission from a drowning person to save him. We must not only
pray for them but must go to the next level and rescue them, then upgrade them
into disciple-makers, baptizers and equippers. For this, they need to be
equipped with disciple-making tools on their tool belts, by skilled coaches who
have practical skills on how to disciple Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists
and others. It is not enough to be a follower of Yeshua; everyone must graduate,
not necessarily as preachers, but as on-site-minister, by ministering to
hurting folk’s felt needs, lest someone else bear their burden and rob your
inheritance and your crown. Luke 19:10; Matthew 4:19; Ephesians 4:11-13
Our
objective is to make this initiative a global movement, not just an event. Individuals, families, women, youth, churches,
missions and grant-makers adopt and take ownership of their God-given domains:
neighbours, streets, cities, workplaces, communities, regions and nations (ethnos), initiating Jesus-planting
movements that transform governments, politics, judiciary, media, education,
health, sports, arts, music, agriculture, labour and business, until the
churches themselves be transformed into congregations of on-site-shepherds.
Like our Master, we need to have compassion for the sheep, lost for no fault of
their own, but for lack of shepherds. We need to pursue this until the kingdoms
of this world become the Kingdom of our Lord and his Christ and
we shall reign with him forever and ever. Matthew 9:35-38; Revelation 11:15
Until
there be no places left.
Let us work together to make this message go viral through personal contacts,
print, electronic and social media, websites, organized events and training
seminars. All the needed talent and resources can be found seated on the pews. They
only need to be mentored, mobilized and launched as champion Great
Commissioners, to rescue the perishing, who sit in darkness and in the shadow
of death. After all, we will give an account for them. The best way to have our
sins forgiven and have our names written in the Book of the Lamb, is to go out
as lambs among the wolves and catalyse the DNA of the Great Commission
Movement, until the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea and there be no place left where Christ has not
been named. Matt. 4:16; Ezekiel 3:18; Daniel 12:1-3; Luke 10:20; James 5:20; Habakkuk
2:14; Rom. 15:23
No one was born like him.
No one was given a name like his.
No one taught like him.
No one did miracles like him.
No one lived a blameless life like him.
No one fulfilled prophesies like
him.
No one died like him.
No one was raised from the grave
like him.
No one ascended to heaven like him.
No one is closer to Ahaya Asher
Ahaya like him.
No one will return to judge like
him.
No one loves you like him.
His name is Yeshiya Messiah.
Shalom,
Email: vchoudhrie@gmail.com
http://www.thechurchinyourhouse.blogspot.in/
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