iGo-Day 1-the Assumption of Jesus

Yesterday we completed our iLife series with the final message iGo. There is a natural progression in our walk with Jesus toward maturity and faithfulness. Once we believe, we can worship; from worship comes the desire to follow; once we claim to follow Jesus, we commit to grow in Him; once we start to grow, we wil desire to surrender and give all to HIm; once we give all to Him, we can discover our SHAPE for ministry; once we discover our place of service, it naturally follows that we will go out and share the hope we have in Jesus

This pattern seems to be the same pattern that the disciples followed in the journey with Jesus...belief, worship following, growing giving, serving, and the finally being sent out. Obviously, it wasn't always quite in this order, but we see this progression in the life of the disciples.

Take a moment and reread the Great Commission...

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

In this passage, we find a hidden assumption of Jesus when He says, "Therefore go..." The actual literal translation here is "...having gone..." Jesus wasn't commanding the disciples to go out as much as He was assuming that it would be a natural part of their DNA to be out bringing healing and hope in a dark world.

The command is to make disciples WHILE they were going out into the lost world.

In our modern day with all of our programs and church buildings, is is easy to lose sight of this assumption of Jesus that we would naturally go out and share our faith. It is a good reminder to us that it is supposed to be part of who we are to be out in the world sharing the hope that we have in Jesus. The lost world is out there outside of our church buildings and it is our call to be out in that world bringing hope.

Ask yourself this question: when is the last time I spent time with someone who does not follow Jesus?  

It is so easy to fall into the trap of believing that going means going to Africa or South America. The truth is we enter our mission field every time we walk out of the door of our church.

Dear God, give me the courage today to take your hope into a lost and dying a world. Help me to be faithful today to your call to go and make disciples. In Jesus name, amen.