The Great Commission

Matthew 28:19-20 (King James Version)
19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end
of the world. Amen.

Jesus instructed the disciples in what has been termed today as the great commission, and that is to go and make disciples, teaching others all that Christ had taught them. Bringing others to Christ is an important aspect of a Christian life. In order for all to know about Christ the word must be spread. God wants us to instruct others on the message of salvation and how to obtain it. Without this you or I may have never heard of Christ and how to live a Christ like life.
The original Greek used the word that means “as you go” indicating that in the course of a Christian life we should be bringing others to Christ. It’s not so much a command but an instruction on how to live our lives. Less a command and more an aspect of a “mature” Christian life. It’s clear that not everyone is suited to or meant to be evangelists or even missionaries. However some do have the gifts of the spirit that enables them to be used by God that way. Everyone that is a mature follower of Christ should be able to be an example and a witness of Christ's love.
We are told to be ready in season and out to give an accounting of our walk with Christ.

2 Timothy 4:2 (King James Version)
2Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.

I believe the bible is clear that “part” of a Christian life entails telling others about Christ and being an example of living a Christ like life. The truth is that is not what is being taught today even though that is what we label it.
That brings us to the church today, many churches are changing their mission statements, and focus. The new mission statements all center on the great commission and physical needs of the here and now. Many of you will ask “so what is wrong with that“. The biggest error in the new church is our focus. The new age church (church of the antichrist) changes our focus in very subtle ways. It all sounds very good but it is out of balance and perspective of a God’s word. The focus of a Christian life and incidentally the church as well, is building and maintaining a personal relationship with Christ. Without first having a sound relationship with God, and a sound background in His word we don’t have the grounded information needed to instruct others, everything after that is in error, no matter how it makes us feel or tickles our ears.

Luke 13:24-27 (King James Version)
24Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in,
and shall not be able. 25When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut
to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord,
Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye
are: 26Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou
hast taught in our streets. 27But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are;
depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.

Matthew 7:19-28 (King James Version)
19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven. 22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done
many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Christ is very clear in the last days everyone that calls themselves a Christian will not be a true follower of Christ and will be left out of the kingdom of heaven. Today the terminology and definitions are changing and not for the better. Where is the preparation for eternity, where is the emphasizes on spiritual health, where is denying the here and now and focus on God? With a mixture of God and world we are being taught doctrines that are not of God.

1 Timothy 4:1 (King James Version)
1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Today we have given into the flesh and focus on works, pleasure, gratification, pride and so on. We are now told to run around saving others, now it’s okay to derive gratification of bringing someone to Christ. For those of you that just said, “so what’s wrong with that?” For those people I have to ask have you ever read the bible. God’s word tells us to deny the flesh in order to serve Him, when we take gratification in bringing someone to Christ, that is gratification that is taken from God’s glory. It is prideful and selfish. But those same people who just proved my point prove that we no longer know right from wrong, denying the flesh no longer is preached, that fact that “I” has no place in spreading God’s word is only given lip service too, all the while the sin of pride and self-serving acts goes on. Again I am not speaking of all, but this is now the norm and plunging headlong forward.

Isaiah 5:20 (King James Version)
20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for
darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

There is more:

Luke 18 7-8 (King James Version)
7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though
he bear long with them? 8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless
when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

When Christ returns He questions whether He will find faith on the earth. That is a disturbing question. Our first response is “of course He will, there are so many churches and they are growing” Maybe this new age growth and popularity the churches are seeing is in error. Maybe the church of the antichrist is well along in its construction. Unfortunately the changes are so subtle that the common Christian so involved in money, selfishness, acquiring possessions, pleasure, getting ahead at work, in other words the New Age Christian, doesn’t see the error and is easily led astray. After all today we are preaching what the flesh always wanted to hear.

Matthew 24:24 (King James Version)
24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

The very elect are the followers of Christ even the pastors in churches, the bible warns us about this deception, unfortunately we explain it away so as it does not impact our daily lives or require any kind of action from us that might make us uncomfortable. Some of the signs and wonders spoken of are the very changes of the so called Christian church, a growth that we are calling a new reformation of the church. However it is based on error and will evolve into the enemy of Christ. The notoriety of some of the so called “Christian” evangelists such as Rick Warren is not so much a miracle as a sign of the times. Rick Warren is the most popular and is making the biggest impact for the New Age church. Rick Warren is really the New Age John the Baptist paving the way for the anti Christ and the one world church. Satan copies everything God has done so he also needed a John the Baptist, baptizing the New Age Christian.

Luke 12:56 (King James Version)
56Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?

We believe we are so knowledgeable today, however people were in error in Christ's time as well. Again today we don’t see the signs for what they are due to the misdirection of the enemy.

James 4:4 (King James Version)
4Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with
God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

John 15 (King James Version)
18If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19If ye were of the world,
the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out
of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20Remember the word that I said unto you, The
servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if
they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

The new age church seeks for the world to love the church. God tells us that this compromise is in error. I say compromise because if we are preaching the true word of God the bible says the world will hate us. This is because the word of God is not compatible with what the world wants. Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too; bible allows us to choose one or the other, heaven or damnation not both. The world does love Rich Warren, is this in keeping with the word of God?
According to James 4:4 we are adulters for wanting to be liked or be accepted by the world, but the new age belief which is paving the road for the church of the antichrist mentioned in revelations believes that we are unloving if we do not strive to befriend the world. That won’t sit well with the New Age Christian, but it’s God’s word.
I have heard Preachers stand at their pulpits telling the congregation that if you don’t buy into this new paradigm you are not Christ like, you are unloving, you do not love your neighbor and you are not a true Christian, in other words you are not getting into heaven. You are told that you are dogmatic, unloving and not a Christian. This manipulation of God’s word and of the followers of Christ will lead many to the point of Matt 7-23: ” …I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity…”
Now it seems the bible is being rewritten to suit enemy’s agenda. The very new age message that claims to be leading you to heaven is in fact leading all to miss out in the very gift we strive for. Rick Warren’s church, a church model that tens of thousands of pastors are following, was founded on pagan wants and desires. Rick states in his book The Purpose driven Church, that he went through the town knocking on 500 doors asking what would make the people attend a church. What would they want in a church; if they were already Christians Rick erased what they wanted and went on to the pagans and non believers. Rick didn’t want to corrupt the church with what Christians thought a church should be. Is that what the word of God tells us to do consult and come to a consensus (compromise) with pagans and non believers? That’s what Rick thinks God wants of him.
The Great Commission has been co-opted by the enemy and turned into something no longer of God. Isn’t that the enemies’ way, to take something righteous and change it enough to lead us astray? When Satan was tempting Christ, he quoted the bible and twisted the meaning enough so that if Christ would of listened it would have been a sin. Christ was smarter than that, but sadly it seems we are not.
The great commission is now the rally cry of the enemy, of course it is presented out of context and out of balance with a Christian life. The enemy’s words always sound pleasing and in keeping with the word of God, however they are not.

2 Timothy 4:3 (King James Version)
3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

In Timothy we are warned of a time when Christians won’t be interested in sound doctrine but some watered down, compromised with the world message. Something that will allow us to do what we want and still call ourselves Christians. But Matt 7:23 tells us that while we may fool ourselves into thinking that we are Christians we will not fool God and then it will be too late.

1 Timothy 4:1 (King James Version)
1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

We are also warned that in the last days there will be many pastors who are no longer preaching the word of God but are in fact preaching the teachings of demons.
So after all this what should the focus of the church be?

Luke 10:27 (King James Version)
27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.

The focus of the church and of individuals is to love the Lord your God. Everything else in the bible is secondary to that. Loving you neighbor is an aspect of a Christian walk however we cannot get to that point by jumping over the love the Lord your God. Loving the Lord involves having a deep relationship with Him, to the point that we don’t just talk to Him but He talks to us and we hear and respond. This is an all encompassing relationship that requires years of teaching, correction and trials, this isn’t just some golf buddy. When the focus of the church becomes a focus on people even the lost, and when our mission statements convict us of this fact, then our focus is in error and we are already far down the wrong road. We are creating a church where the knowledge of God’s word is weak and not maintained in order for us to go out and do works.
The pastors of these churches will pay lip service to the fact that God must come first but the focus and the actions of these preachers don’t match their words. When every sermon includes the great commission and a berating of the congregation to go out and do works (make disciples), then the message no longer matches God’s words.
We need to first concentrate on having a true relationship with Christ, we need to get our house in order and maintain it or we don’t know by what spirit we are preaching. The new age church preaches little on getting our spiritual lives on track, only go out and make disciples (works). How irresponsible is it to send out untried Christian to spread the word.

Titus 1:5-10 (King James Version)
6If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or
unruly. 7For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry,
not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; 8But a lover of hospitality, a lover of
good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; 9Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught,
that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. 10For
there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:

We are neglecting the directions in choosing teachers of the word when we just randomly tell everyone to spread the word. In Titus we are told what qualifications we are to look for in choosing those who teach the word of God or even those who we send out. When we focus on going out and preaching we neglect to make sure those we send out have sound doctrine and have been tested in life.

Titus 2 1-12 (King James Version)
1But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: 2That the aged men be sober,
grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. 3The aged women likewise, that
they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine,
teachers of good things; 4That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their
husbands, to love their children, 5To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to
their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. 6Young men likewise
exhort to be sober minded. 7In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in
doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, 8Sound speech, that cannot be
condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of
you. 9Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all
things; not answering again; 10Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may
adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. 11For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (emphasis is
mine)

This passage contradicts everything the new age church teaches on sending everyone out willy nilly (forgive the aged term, it seemed to fit) or the shotgun effect, to spread the word of God. The focus of the new age church and the teachings within it are in error. This is irresponsible to say the least, I am a carpenter, I build, repair and maintain, however no one would want me to maintain a nuclear power plant. Now give me some teaching, test me, work with me for an appropriate period of time and I very well could maintain a nuclear power plant. (Don’t worry I won’t). This analogy is the same as sending out people to spread the word, after “sound instruction” a period of testing, and some working along side of and anyone can spread the word. However sound doctrine is no longer preached only a feel good watered down, politically correct doctrine is being preached. When the teachers are being taught wrong everything after that is folly. By no means am I speaking of all pastors, unfortunately what I have witnessed this is a majority and growing.

Now is the time to get back on track, to much longer and many will be lost forever.

In His service
Biblically Correct Ministries