“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach
these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of
this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” These are the words of
Matthew 28:19-20 (NLT), also known as the Great Commission. This is by far one
of my favorite parts of the Bible. The context of this passage is right before
Jesus ascends into Heaven. He leaves the disciples with one small nugget of
wisdom. These are the last words of Jesus ever recorded until the day He will come
back! Jesus commands his disciples to go and spread the word of his death and resurrection.
This passage initiates Act 5 of the Story, according to what we read today in
class. In the book of Acts, we see how the disciples respond to Jesus’s words –
they create the first church. Now that God has completed the Redemption part of
His plan, the disciples pretty much become the first Christians (converting
from Old Testament Judaism). They do their job given by the Messiah, and the
message of Salvation spreads to the world! As churches spring up all over,
ranging from Rome to Corinth, Paul continues his work by sending letters of
encouragement to the churches. These letters now make up a large portion of the
New Testament, and as Christians we can study them to learn from the first
churches’ successes and mistakes. The cool thing is, that by learning from these
churches, we can now fulfill our part of the Great Commission and reach out to
tell others about the Good News of Salvation. I've included a brief video that is amzingly powerful! Check it out real quick and share your feedback in the comments below!
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