The Great Commission part 5
Today I want to end with the beginning of our key memory verse for this Rant series. Matthew 28:18 (NLT), "Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth."" Why is this important? Because this is where we get OUR authority from. Look at Revelation 1:6 (NLT), "He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen." The King of kings. Made us a Kingdom of priests. He is the King of kings... because we are kings! Get it! He rules and reigns in and through and as us! So all we have to do is receive and release the gift He has given us. All we have to do is walk and talk in the power and authority that He has given us! God reconciled us to Himself, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That's how this thing works. He has blessed us to be a blessing. Given us everything we need to live victorious, successful, love-filled lives. Because He gave us Himself. Jesus didn't just give His life FOR us, He gave His life TO us. Because He wanted us to have it. Because He wanted us to experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love. He wanted it for us... so He gave it to us. It's that simple. All authority has been given to Him... and He gave that authority to us. Think about it--God never expects anything from us that He doesn't first provide for us. Before there was a cow, there was grass for the cow to eat. Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior--the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. See, God knows the end from the beginning. He knew what we needed, and He gave it to us. So we don't have to run around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get something we think we haven't got. We don't have to try to be someone we're not. We can simply embrace who we are--who we are in Christ, which is who Christ is in us--and we can share who we are. We can give what we've got, when we know and believe that we've got it. We can let what's inside come out, when we know what's in there. We can fulfill the Great Commission when we understand what it is--loving people, immersing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which is Jesus, which is love--and when we understand where our power comes from. It's all Jesus. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. When we can't, that's when HE will. Fulfilling the Great Commission is not about what WE can do. It is about what Jesus can do in us, and through us, and as us. Learning to love by learning how we are loved. And then teaching others what it means to be loved by loving them with that same love that Jesus loves us with. The New Commandment for the New Man. Love one another as Jesus loves you. It really is that simple. Receive and release the love of God. Receive it BY releasing it. Release it by receiving it. Breathe it in and breathe it out. Our kingly authority is not about what we do. It is about who we are. And what we do flows from who we (believe we) are. A disciple of Christ is a student of love. The Great Commission is putting what you've learned into practice. Getting out there where the rubber meets the road and DOING something with what you've learned. Not only embracing who you are, but BEING who you are. Letting the love of God that's inside you come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. You have the authority to rule and reign... in, and through, and because of love!