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One recent Friday evening as I was taking a shower, I asked the Lord what He would like me to preach on in the following

Sunday's service. My approach to ministering is to seek what He wants done, not necessarily to preach what I think is a good sermon. I like to share notes with the people in my church whenever possible and wanted to prepare something for them as usual to take home with them.

It is easy to stand behind a pulpit and speak, but the people in church congregations may not remember everything they hear. It is easy to think of Sunday’s roast or something else and leave church to go shopping or attend a sporting event. That is OK. We are meant to enjoy life to the full, until it overflows, but we also need to devote one day to God. Treat it as His day and ponder over the message at home afterwards. It is easy to forget the message otherwise and if it is Holy Ghost driven, it could provide precisely what is required for a special purpose.

I believe that people need something to take with them for future reference and, as I said before, try to give everyone sermon notes of the message. I do this so that they can check what is preached to ensure accuracy and for revision purposes. The church at Berea checked messages out. In Acts 17:11 we see they did not readily accept what was told them over a pulpit and checked the preaching against scripture. I often invite people to do this with my material and I wish that more people who call themselves Christians would do that. It can avoid error and protect immature believers. Please check what you hear, regardless of who is standing in front of you. You have the right, the privilege and the responsibility to do so.

As I was standing beneath that shower, I was talking with the Lord about it and, as He often does, He replied by asking me a question.

He said, "What is the great commission?" stressing the word IS! I was flabbergasted. I though that the great commission was evangelism I thought that it was going into the highways and the byways reaching the lost for Jesus.

He said, “Is it?” That started me thinking so I did some in-depth research into the matter.

What is shared on this page is part of what I found.

It is reproduced here for your assessment, encouragement and blessing.

Robert

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you asked me what kind of ministry I prefer I would probably say that I am an evangelist at heart. I am a pastor. Much of my ministry is teaching. I occupy the office of an apostle and flow in the prophetic as the Holy Spirit leads, but at heart I guess that I am an evangelist. This was not always the case. I was raised in the Anglican Church and

was very involved in all the church activities with my parents who were prominent figures in the parish and in the diocese. Priests occasionally boarded with us. My father was the lay leader in the parish comprised of three churches. I was the Priest’s protégé, was confirmed, did all the things expected of a lad like me but there were so many unanswered questions…

Looking at the Stations of the Cross (a series of pictures on the wall of the church depicting the life of Christ), I could never understand why there seemed to be such a vast difference between what I was taught and respected and what I saw around me. Jesus was to alive, having been raised from the dead. God never changed and His word never changed, yet it seemed from my perspective that they were not real. My reasoning was that if God never changed and His word never changed, why shouldn’t we be experiencing the same things that Jesus’ disciples and others like Paul had experienced. I asked, “Where are those apostles and prophets today. Shouldn’t they still be with us?” Such answers eluded me until, as a grown man at 26 years of age, I met the Jesus (who was merely a character from history) personally and He became a very real and living person to me on September 1st, 1968 at 7:30 PM. On that fateful night, those early prayers were answered and I knew without any shadow of doubt that God had placed His hands on my life and called me into the ministry, thinking that I was to be the pastor of a church somewhere. In those days, all we really understood was the ministry of a pastor. We accepted those we called evangelists and we occasionally have visits by those we called teachers. In hindsight, I now wonder if they really were exhorters and not evangelists, or those who expounded the scriptures, but really were not teachers. We knew nothing of apostles and prophets, having not received revelation in scripture that they are Ministry Gifts given to the Church by Jesus and that they have been set in place for the duration until His return (see Ephesians 4:7-15). Jesus occupied all such offices. He was an apostle, or a sent one, having been sent by the Father. He was a teacher whose teaching abilities amazed people as He taught about the Kingdom of God. He was an evangelist because he proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God and won the hearts of people. He was a prophet who fulfilled prophecies and declared the prophetic word of God. Some prophetic utterances have yet to be fulfilled, but the day is very close for that to happen. He was a pastor, calling Himself the Good Shepherd. He was also a priest who entered the holy of holies to present his shed blood to atone for our sin. The good news about these attributes is that he is still all of these today and is making intercession for you today. We could say that He was the first one to fulfil The Great Commission. This raises the question I will often ask, “What IS That Great Commission?” We immediately think of evangelism (that I like) and this takes on several forms but before I answer my own question please look at Jesus’ ministry. Hebrews 10 describes how the Law was a shadow of things to come and were ineffectual in permanent removal of sin. It states that by the offering of Jesus’ body, we receive perfect redemption.

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The writer describes how the sacrifices and burnt offerings that were made in obedience to God’s command were not sufficient and in verses 7 and 9 say the same things that Psalm 40 spoke of. In fact it is as if God wanted this emphasised, as it is repeated. Let us look at what Psalm 40 said-

Then I said, “I have come! (It is written about me in the scroll of the book.) I am happy to do your will, O my God.” Your teachings are deep within me. I will announce the good news of righteousness among those assembled for worship. I will not close my lips. You know that, O LORD. I have not buried your righteousness deep in my heart. I have been outspoken about your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not hidden your mercy and your truth from those assembled for worship.

Obviously this talks of Jesus, sent by the Father. It also illustrates that someone who is sent by God has certain qualities. God’s teachings are deep within this person who has buried the things of God deep inside the heart. What is in the heart has to come out! Such a person thus cannot but help being outspoken about God and His ways and can’t help sharing whenever it is possible. The Psalmist states that such declarations are primarily towards those who are assembled for worship. This is a kind of evangelism. It entails being sent on a divine assignment and delivers the good news to those assembled for worship. It makes no mention of going to the heathen! When I saw this, it made me sit back for a moment and reconsider my views of an evangelist. I thought that we were supposed to Go Ye, meaning to go to the heathen! I thought that we were supposed to go into the highways and byways and seek everyone we could, especially those who were afar off and invite them to come, compelling them to come if necessary. I have not changed my mind on this. We are supposed to share Jesus with everyone we can. As a minister of the Gospel, I have a responsibility and a duty to preach the Gospel and ask people to receive Jesus and so do you. We cite such scriptures as Matthew 22 When Jesus spoke about inviting people to the wedding and rightly so, but forget something. Jesus was not talking to the disciples (or to us) at that point! He was speaking to religious people! He had just ridden into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey and gone into the Temple where the chief priests and elders of the people started questioning His authority. Religious people still question, argue and debate! Almost all of Matthew chapter 21 recounts this and those religious leaders realized that He was speaking about them! They wanted to seize Him there and then but feared the people. Jesus then spoke about the kingdom, likening it to the wedding. Evangelist Jesus came to His own people first.

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. John 1:10-13.

I had spent 26 years of my life in a religious environment in which the bible was read, communion given and prayers offered to God—but I never knew the LORD! I was never told that I could be reborn—not with a physical birth but by becoming saved, or born again. That spiritual regeneration was never mentioned and is still not mentioned! How many people are similar church go-ers without knowing God intimately without that rebirth the bible talks about? My heart has been and is still for evangelism in the traditional sense.

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My dreams have been to reach the unchurched anywhere in the world, thinking of those who do not know Jesus. I admire the heady days of the tent crusades and the sawdust trail that saw many champions emerge. Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, Billy Sunday, Aimee Semple McPherson, Smith Wigglesworth, Billy Graham and Reinhardt Bonnke and others stir my blood. Reinhardt has preached to 1.6 million individuals in a single meeting; seen over 42 million documented salvations in the last 5 years and printed over 190 million Gospel books and booklets in 140 languages. That to me is evangelism and I would like to conduct crusades like that too, winning souls for the Kingdom—plundering hell and populating Heaven. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached one unprepared, spontaneous sermon, rising to the occasion and 3000 souls were saved. I like that too, but please notice who got saved that day—the pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the feast. The world population is estimated to be 7.1 billion people. 1.3 billion are in India alone

with a similar number in China. Africa has been regarded as a vast mission field and our viewpoints of Africa in the past have been wrong. God is moving in that continent in a marvelous way, but what about those who are supposed to be Christian? The Roman Catholic Church is estimated to have 1.2 billion people. That is the equivalent of whole population of India or China. We regard those countries as vast mission fields. I am about to say something that will sound controversial, but I am not denigrating the Roman Catholic Church. I took part in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal days and joined with many Catholics in some wonderful meetings in which God moved. God gave me an opportunity to meet with a Bishop in his private office and we sat around a coffee table in discussion before he had to close the meeting regretfully as he had another appointment following. He asked if we could close with a word of prayer and we sat holding hands across the table. After he prayed, I reached over to him and lay my hands on his heads and prayed for him! Can you imagine a Pentecostal preacher doing that?

I emphasized “Roman Catholic” for a reason. The word Catholic is not in the exclusive domain of this group of people. It refers to the Church universal or the Church in general throughout the world, coming from two Greek words, Kata and Holos (whole). The church in Rome would call me a Protestant that, strictly speaking, is incorrect because I am a Catholic, or, a person who belongs to the universal Christian church! What we call the Roman Catholic Church that is headquartered in Rome is a part of this greater body. I am not splitting hairs and I am not denigrating them. Rather, I am laying a foundation for something extremely important. Please look at what we call the Church for a moment. The term is probably derived from the Greek Kuriakon (that means the LORD'S house), to speak of the place of worship. The Greek word Ecclesia (synonymous with the Hebrew Kahal) is also used and both words simply mean an assembly.

There is no clear instance of its being used for a place of meeting or of worship and this word is never used to denote the inhabitants of a country we would term a Christian Country, such as the Church of England, or the Church of Scotland.

If you look with me at the word Ecclesia, you will find it is used to denote an assembly of people (see Acts 19:32-41). It denotes the whole body of the redeemed wherever they are located and this body is the invisible Catholic Church (Ephesians 5:23-29; Hebrews 12:23).

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According to Romans 16:5 and Colossians 4:15, a few Christians associated together in observing the ordinances of the gospel are an Ecclesia.

Quite often in the New Testament, a group of followers of Jesus found in a particular city, whether they assembled together in one place or in several places for religious worship, were an Ecclesia. Acts 13:1 describes all the disciples in Antioch, who formed several congregations, as one church—The Church at Antioch. In like manner we see the Church at Ephesus, the Church at Nicolatia, the Church as Smyrna, the Church at Pergamos, the Church at Thyatira, the Church in Sardis, the Church in Philadelphia and the church at Laodicia in Revelation 1 and 2. The Church of God at Corinth is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:2 and the founding church— the church at Jerusalem in Acts 8:1. See also 1Corinthians 15:9, Galatians 1:13 and Matthew 16:18.

Believers were first called Christians in Acts 11:26. At no time had the concept of denominations been mentioned in the bible.

What is generally called the church is comprised of people around the world who may or may not really be Christians in the strict meaning of the word. We could describe it as a blend of sheep and goats or wheat and chaff. The separating of them will happen at the end of this dispensation. People in this group have organized themselves into distinct visible ecclesiastical communities, each having differing constitutions, laws, and officers, ordinances and disciplines.

The Church that Jesus is building consists individuals who are blood washed, redeemed saints—individuals in whom Christ dwells. This is the body of Christ. It is an invisible, mystical body, because the Kingdom of God dwells within the hearts of the members. Individual people may be seen physically, but the real church is one that is unseen except by Him who searches the heart. The Lord knoweth them that are his (2Timothy 2:19).

God has ever had only one church on earth. THIS is the Catholic Church that is not confined to any particular country or outward organization, but comprises all believers throughout the whole world and she will continue through all ages to the end of the world. This church can never be destroyed and the gates of hell cannot destroy her. Jesus said that when He said that He would build His Church.

Peter preached to devout Jews! They did everything God had commanded. They kept the Law; tithed; kept the feast days exactly how God had commanded, but had no intimate personal relationship with the God they were worshipping! When He preached the truth, it hit them and they cried out asking him what did they have to do? That to me is real evangelism. The Holy Spirit conviced them of sin, rightousness and judgment just as Jesus said (see John 16:7-15) and they were so touched that they had to do something about it. We cannot take the Holy Spirit out of the equation. I know that many people do that, little realizing that they are disconnecting from the very source that brings life and liberty to us. I, like many others, have altar calls and extend invitations to people to receive Jesus as Savior and I will never cease doing that. It is almost as if we beg and plead for them to receive Jesus (and I will also keep doing that if necessary) but we tend to forget that this is a command! There is no option (see acts 17:30). Throughout the book of Acts, Peter’s words were a command, “Repent”. I hear little of this in the church and to be honest, I have not really preached much like that myself.

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This means that almost half of the world’s population is concentrated in the three major areas just outlined. Again it brings me to the original question. Is that Great Commission? Is it really going into the entire world to those who have never heard of Jesus, or is it something else? We need to look at our role model, the LORD Jesus Christ. As we saw in Psalm 40 and Hebrews 10, Jesus came on a mission. He was one who was sent on a specific mission by the Father. As we have already seen, Jesus was sent to His own people, the Jews and they rejected Him, but who did the rejecting? The ordinary people loved Him! Those who rejected Him were the rulers and religious leaders. When questioned about this assignment by those religious leaders, He said that the works He did were the works of the Father who had sent Him.

…the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. John 5:36. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. John 9:4.

Moses said similar things when a contention arose concerning the legitimacy of his ministry.

And Moses said, By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I do not act of my own accord: Numbers 16:28. See also Jeremiah 25:4 and Zechariah 2:8, 4:9.

It seems that God’s people, or those who profess to be God’s people, especially in leadership positions, are often those who reject or question the ministries of those whom God sends on specific assignments. John the Baptist came with a clear and resounding message to repent and prepare for the coming Messiah and his message was to God’s people. It seems to me that God is very interested in making sure that those who call themselves His people are in fact HIS PEOPLE and are in close relationship with Him. He knows those who are not and des not want anyone to miss out of course. Peter said this in 2 Peter 3:9 and this is one good reason why evangelical people are motivated to winning the lost. These things remind me of the time when the LORD took me to hell for a 45 minute visit. That was an experience I never want to experience again and it has had a profound affect on me. It was early morning when my wife Marjorie and I were sitting in our lounge together with the Lord. We were still in pyjamas when the strangest of sensations came upon me. We were sitting in lounge chairs and I had a distinct feeling of movement as if I were rolling forward out of my chair. The Lord told me to go upstairs, shower and dress and I did. I then lay down on my bed but did not fall asleep, wondering what He wanted when this movement started again. Suddenly, without warning, I was in the middle of a desert setting. I was not sleeping, so it was not a dream. I felt the hot wind of the desert wind on my face and saw a large circular hole in the ground ahead and, after certain other things happened, I went down into that hole. At the bottom was a seething liquid fire. It was not hot at all but eerily cold with a dank coldness that penetrated my being. I heard screams that were full of absolute terror and agony coming from the people that I saw there as flames that seemed as if they were coming from flamethrowers came at them from various directions.

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I also saw a large group of people huddled together and as each of those flames seared out and peoples’ cries emanated, they all winced and cringed. They were all dressed in dismal grey hooded garments that looked more like shrouds than clothing. Every one of them looked at the ground with their heads bowed. After that experience, I asked the LORD who they were. He told me that they were preachers! That shocked me. He explained that they were preachers who never taught the truth and their eternal punishment was witnessing the eternal torments of their church members who never heard the truth and never received the gospel message in such a way that they were never saved! I’ve heard people say that God would not send anyone to hell. They are right, but they do not realize that those who go to hell do so because of their own choice processes.

… just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must [so it is necessary that] the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross], In order that everyone who believes in Him [who cleaves to Him, trusts Him, and relies on Him] may not perish, but have eternal life and [actually] live forever! For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him. He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation—he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ's name.] The [basis of the] judgment (indictment, the test by which men are judged, the ground for the sentence) lies in this: the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works (deeds) were evil. John 3:14-19.

It is a choice process that God honours.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: Deuteronomy 30:19. See also Joshua 24:15 and 1 Kings 18:21.

Preachers in hell! What an indictment to my profession. Denominations do not matter. Religious education does not count. Theological training does not guarantee entry to heaven. There is only ONE WAY to God and that is though Jesus so one answer to my questions is, “What is the great Commission” is… evangelism! It is winning the hearts of people for the LORD. The bible speaks much on this.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. Proverbs 11:30. There is an old song with words, “Will there be any stars in my crown?” that often stirs my soul and I sure hope to say “Yes”, but there is much more to winning souls.

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Jesus did not really tell us to win souls. Please allow me to explain. Jesus came to reveal the Father. A very high proportion of His preaching was about the Kingdom of God.

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. Matthew 9:35.

Jesus taught. He preached. He healed sicknesses and diseases and He took control over evil spirits, casting them out. According to Mark 16:15-18, this is part if not all of the great commission, yet despite this very clear instruction, many believers refuse to accept all of the terms and conditions, such as the accompanying signs. Verse twenty is very interesting because it says that after Jesus departed, the disciples went everywhere as He had commanded them.

So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied [it]. Amen (so be it). Mark 16:19-20

Please notice that THEY went out! As they did, Jesus went WITH them! When we go on ministry assignments (that He authorizes) we can expect Jesus to go with us! If He does, then we should experience the same things He said we aught and as they experienced. Jesus went with them—confirming their preaching with the accompanying signs. God is no respecter of persons and He never changes. If so, then we should have the same results as they. We know from His words that the Kingdom of God is God’s way of doing things. If we really believe what He said, then we should preach the same Gospel Jesus preached, not some other gospel. If we preach what He preached and if His words abide forever, then we should be able to say the same words and achieve the same results! There is an aspect to this that I had not previously considered. John said in Matthew 3:11-12 that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire and said that He (Jesus) would thoroughly clean His grain and put it into a store but burn what was not His. Is he referring to his own here and to no one else? When He was in the country of Tyre and Sidon a woman begged Him to help her daughter. He never even answered her. Was that being rude? I doubt it, but He was silent for a purpose. The disciples asked Him to send her away because she was bothering them. It seems that she just would not quit. Jesus ignored her, so she went to the disciples and they wouldn’t give her the time of day and He replied

I was sent only to the wandering sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15:24

Jesus clearly stated that He came only to the Jew, but we know that God loves everyone. The point I want to make is that we must only do what God instructs, even though we know that He does not want anyone to miss out! We shall see more of this shortly.

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She returned to Jesus and He repeated His stand. He all but called her a dog and that was calling someone the lowest of the low. She would not quit and I suspect that Jesus wanted her to press through like the woman with the issue of blood. Never quit. God’s promises may take a little time to be fulfilled, but they are kept. The promises of God are yea and amen.

Certainly, Christ made God's many promises come true. For that reason, because of our message, people also honor God by saying, “Amen!” 2 Corinthians 1:20.

We know that He came to seek and save the lost because He said so. He called Himself the Good Shepherd and this gives a clue to another aspect of both his ministry and ours. The denomination I attended after my conversion correctly majored on follow-up mentoring using what we called The Commitment Pack. Those early studies gave me a solid foundation on which I built, but sad to say, it was baby food only concentrating on new believers. Many parts of the church universal stay there. Many parts of the church cultivate babies who never grow up into mature believers. It is therefore out of balance. Winning the lost is often where it stops, but evangelism is more than that. When I shared my ministry vision with some other ministers, I was almost discouraged with the comments that it was a noble idea, but what was I going to do with follow up? I pondered greatly on this and the Lord helped me understand. He said, “If I am good enough to save people, don’t you think I am able to keep them”? This made me look at Peter’s day of Pentecost preaching. He was not prepared. He was still afraid and he could not have prepared a single thing for “follow up lessons”! The book of Acts says that the Lord added people to the Church daily (Acts 2:47). Reinhardt Bonnke has a program that accurately determines how many people attend each crusade and how many decisions are made. There is nothing amiss with statistics and planning and keeping one’s ministry fine-tuned. I do! What I am trying to share is that there are two sides to evangelism. We could liken The Great Commission as we call it to a double-sided sword. There are two sides to a coin and we cannot concentrate only on getting people saved! Jesus went around teaching people, healing people, delivering people from demonic influences, preaching the Kingdom of God and meeting the temporal needs of people. The feeding of the multitude was one part of His ministry, but He had taught about the Kingdom of God in the process. Many great charitable organizations feed people; provide clothing or accommodation for people and this is commendable, but they often do not really preach the Gospel. Conversely, there are great evangelistic groups who conduct crusaded and win the lost, but do not follow up with the practical aspects, catering only to the spiritual. We much do both together. In Luke 10, Jesus appointed an additional seventy disciples and sent them out on preaching assignments. He told them to heal the sick. That is an inherent part of a true evangelist. Signs, wonders and miracles should accompany the preaching of the word. They accompanied Jesus. They followed the disciples and people like Philip. They should follow us also. Do they? He told them on their return that many prophets and kings wanted to see what they saw and to hear what they heard. It is like the report that John’s disciples gave him when he sent them to Jesus to ask if He was “the one”. Jesus did not say, “Yes. I am He” when asked, but told them to observe and listen and return to John to give their reports.

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Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Luke 7:22-23

That is what is involved in the Great Commission. That is what should happen in an evangelist’s ministry. Again, “What is the Great Commission? I did say before that Jesus called Himself the Great Shepherd. Such shepherds know their sheep and their sheep know them, personally and intimately. After His resurrection, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” This happened when they had been fishing unsuccessfully and Jesus gave them breakfast. He went out of His way to feed them. I believe that part of the Great Commission included feeding people. Each time Peter replied, Jesus said, “Feed them”. The first question brought the statement, “Feed My Lambs”. That means to provide His lambs with fodder and graze them. The next time Peter said that he loved Jesus, the LORD told him to feed His sheep. The meaning here is to tend as a shepherd does of course, but it also speaks of rulership. The third answer produced the command to feed Jesus’ sheep, which is the same as the first, namely, Look after My lambs. The order was lambs, sheep and lambs. This reveals one aspect of the Great Commission. It embraces evangelism whereby we win the lost to Christ, but we take on a role as shepherd of Jesus’ sheep. When a person is born, there is a natural cycle of mothering. That precious infant needs love, nurturing, feeding, bathing and protecting. In due season, the child is weaned, cuts teeth, feeds on solid foods, learns to crawl and talk and to walk. A newborn Christian needs similar things. This is why Peter told us

Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. 1 Peter 2:2.

This is the other side of the coin. Jesus did not tell us to win the lost—HE TOLD US TO MAKE

DISCIPLES! I have said this before, but a pastor is a shepherd. Shepherds are to feed and look after the lambs that grow up to become sheep. Those sheep in turn have their own lambs that become sheep that bear lambs that become sheep that bear lambs that become sheep that bear lambs and the cycle continues. If the members of a church are the sheep, then they should bear lambs—not the pastor. He shepherds them! That is evangelism. Part of the Great Commission involves training and equipping the saints, which is why Jesus gave us the five ascension gift ministries in Ephesians 4. The command Go ye is mentioned in Acts 1:8 when Jesus told His followers (that includes you and me) to Be His witnesses in an expanding circle that starts in Jerusalem (that we could liken to starting at home), then Judea (which is the next door neighbour), then to Samaria (to the distant neighbour) and finally to the world at large. Food for thought? Robert

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Jesus made some very powerful and compelling statements after His resurrection that startled His Disciples. His closing words ring throughout the world today… “Go ye…”

Many believers call them “The Great Commission”.

In this thought-provoking presentation, Pastor Robert Carter asks the question, “What is the Great Commission”? Do we really understand what He said and are we actually doing what He commanded?

Bashan Ministries P.O. Box 152

Mount Tamborine QLD 4272 Australia E-mail info@bashanministres.org Web www.bashanministries.org