Great Commission Strategy

When talking about the Great Commission many people focus on either the Matthew Great Commission or the Mark Great Commission.  Rarely do you ever hear someone talk about both being essential to our calling as Christians.

You’ll hear something like “we need to preach to everybody!”

or

“The Great Commission is about making disciples.”

When it’s really about both.

So here are the two:

¹⁵He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. ¹⁶Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”  Mark 16:15-18

¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

So the Mark passage is all about Preaching to Everyone & the Matthew passage is about teaching or discipling all the nations.

Just a quick note on the Matthew Passage.  It says to make disciples of nations.  For too long we’ve been content to make disciples in nations when Jesus specifically commanded us to make disciples of nations.

Okay…I digress.

I believe the Mark commission is a generational commission whereas the Matthew commission is a multi-generational commission.

Mark says to preach to every creature in the planet.  Lets say you finally find the last person on the planet who needs to hear about the Kingdom and you go up to them and begin to tell them how awesome Jesus is.  And you’re so excited because this is the “last person” on the planet!

And while you’re sharing the 4 spiritual laws, or whatever method you prefer, a baby is born at that very second.  In fact, in 2008 they figured out that 4 babies are born every second in the world.

So even if you have your gospel presentation down to 10 seconds 40 people have been born around the planet that you now need to go find!

Therefore the Mark Commission is every single generation’s responsibility because it is a perpetual work.

Now the Matthew Commission is a Multi-Generational command.  Meaning you can do the work now and it will last 3 generations down the line.

I learned about this from non other than the golden arches, McDonald’s.

You can go to a MickeyD’s anywhere in the world and have the same experience nearly every single time.  Ever wonder why?

It’s because this guy named Ray Croc got together with the McDonald brothers years ago and saw that they had something going for them.  So Ray asked himself “How can I systematize this process so I can hand the system to a 15 year old kid and they can run it?”

And that’s what he did.  He created a system that to this day is used all over the world.  They basically sell you a business in a box for a million dollars.  You put the system to work and it will work for you.

What does this have to do with the Great Commission?

Everything!

Jesus told us in the Matthew Passage that we are supposed to teach the nations to obey his commands.  If Ray can do it with hamburgers; If he can teach a system that to this day works around the world if he’s there or not, surely we can teach a way to obey the commands of Jesus that will work in the nations no matter if we’re still alive or not.

And since we’re lining up the nations to the very design of the creator of the universe.  It will work!

Just think…what if we taught Government officials & business men how to really obey the command of Jesus to let your yes be yes, and your no be no.  That would make an amazing difference in our planet!

I believe in this so much that I write articles on this site about how to obey the commands of Jesus.  I’d love your input also!  So go visit those posts and leave a comment!

Many Blessings,

RK Castillo

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matt 5:16

The light we shine is the good works that we do.  Good deeds can actually cause people to praise/worship God in heaven.  Good deeds, deeds done in the natural can point people to a supernatural God.  Good deeds are also salt that preserves the culture here.

Good deeds cause you to shine like a city on a hill.  No matter how hard you try.  People can’t miss you.  Why?  Cause you’re doing good!

The word works, especially in John’s writings, refers to the miracle working power of Jesus.  One of the other ways you shine your light is to do the works of Jesus which are miracles, signs & wonders.

So how do you go about obeying this command?  Leave a comment below letting me know.  I’d love to hear what you have to say about letting your light shine.

Action Point:

For me obeying this command and teaching others to obey this command is pretty simple.  Do good things!  And teach others to do good things!

I remember hearing Dr.Laura on the radio say “Now go do the right thing.”

She summed it up.  Do the right thing.  Do good things to people and it will be a sign of the goodness of God and it will drive them to praise God in heaven!

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  Matt 5:12

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. Luke 6:23

The last Beattitude that Jesus gives us is “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Then he says we’re blessed when people insult us and falsely say all kinds of things against us because of Him.

And he then follows it up with this command.  Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!  Why?  Because your reward is great in heaven.

This is tough for me to do cause I personally don’t like being insulted and I really really don’t like people saying false things about me.   But by saying that I’m proving that I’m looking at the wrong person.  Look at that sentence again and notice how many times I use the word “me” or “I”  The point of life isn’t “Me/I”  it’s him!

We are called to rejoice in the midst of persecution because our reward is in heaven.  That’s our focus!  What heaven thinks about me trumps what anyone else thinks about me on this planet!

So how do you obey this command on a practical basis?  I have a couple opinions but I’d love to hear yours!  Leave a comment below and share with me how you go about rejoicing in the midst of persecution.

So on a scale of 1-10 (1 being never, and 10 being all the time) how well do you obey this command?

Action Points:

So how do I go about rejoicing in the midst of persecution?

Like I said I’m not that great at this one but when I do succeed this is what I do.

There’s 3 things that effect your state.  Rejoicing is actually a state.  Those 3 things are:

• Focus
• Self Talk
• Physiology

If you’re focusing on you and them insulting you, you’re self talk will be something like “how dare they say that to me!  Do they know who I am?!”  And then your body will reflect the resentment & bitterness that is going on inside of you.  And you then reflect that bitter angry state.

So how do you rejoice in that situation?  You change at least 1 of those 3 things!  If you can change all 3 that’s even better.

Next time someone is persecuting you, just try putting on a huge smile and see what happens to your state.

Or take your thoughts captive and tell yourself “Jesus loves me no matter what these people are saying about me.  He thinks I’m the best!”

This is how I go about rejoicing in the midst of a bad situation.