Great Commission Mission

Great Commission Series

Great Commission Mission

The Teaching of Jesus on Mission

Great Commission Mission – PDF

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Book Trailer

This book in the Great Commission Series is compiled from two previous books now in one volume.

Teaching them to Obey in Love

Jesus the Model for Short Term Supernatural Mission

Contents of Great Commission Mission

PART 1: Teaching them to Obey in Love

Introduction to Part 1

1 Love God:

Faith in God – God our Father

Follow Me – Jesus our Lord

Filled with the Spirit – God’s Spirit our Helper

2 Love Others:

Love one another

Serve one another

Encourage one another

Conclusion to Part 1

PART 2: Jesus the Model for Supernatural Mission

Introduction to Part 2

1 Jesus’ Mission and Ministry

2 The Disciples’ Mission and Ministry

3 Peter and Paul on Mission

4 My Mission Adventures

5 How to Minister Like Jesus (by Bart Doornweerd, as reproduced in Renewal Journal 5: Signs & Wonders)

6 Power Evangelism in Short Term Missions (by Randy Clark, as adapted in Renewal Journal 10: Evangelism)

7 China Miracle: The Spirit told us what to do (by Carl Lawrence, as reproduced in Great Revival Stories)

Conclusion

All 3 books in the Great Commission Series are in paperback and ebook

Teaching Them to Obey in Love is printed in colour.

From the Introduction to Part 1

What is obedience?

Jesus told a parable about two sons whose father told them to work in his vineyard (Matthew 21:28-32). One son said he would go but he did not. The other son said he would not go but changed his mind and went. The one who said ‘No’ but then went was more obedient than the one who said ‘Yes’ but didn’t go. The story shows how we can repent, change our mind and obey.

Jesus’ parable of the two sons encourages us to repent, turn around, and obey even if previously we did not. Often we may feel guilty that we are not obeying Jesus fully and wholeheartedly. When we pray we may remember how we disobeyed or were half-hearted or reluctant to obey. We can repent, and obey.

Some of Jesus commands seem hard for us to obey: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you; whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me; carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; sell your possessions, and give alms; those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples (Luke 6:27-28; 9:23; 10:4; 12:33; 14:33). And that’s just a few of his instructions!

We’re not all called to be Saint Francis or Mother Teresa. But we are called to follow Jesus – and that’s a challenge. Jesus’ instructions can shape our attitudes and actions. We may live it out in different ways in different places, but his commands will always guide us as we are led by his Spirit. Jesus was wholly obedient in different ways at different times as a child, a student, a carpenter, a teaching rabbi, a healer, a sacrifice. We can obey in our different situations.

Our obedience springs from love and flows strong in God’s love. We love Him because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Love is the reason we obey

Jesus says that we will obey his commandments because of our love for him. We obey from love, not just from duty. Our duty becomes our delight.

We understand obeying in love with people we really love such as our parents or husband or wife. We love to obey or please them because we love them. It’s our delight, not just a duty. We love to please them, and we are so happy when our response to them pleases them.

Jesus’ obedience was a natural part of his loving relationship with his Father, and he calls us into loving obedience also.

If you keep My commandments you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love (John 15:10).

Jesus lived in full fellowship and intimate loving relationship with his Father. Consequently his obedience flowed naturally and supernaturally from that.

So this book explores how we can obey Jesus in love by loving God and loving others. Loving God and loving others are inter-related. John, the Apostle of love, reminds us:

Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also (1 John 4:20-21).

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith (1 John 5:1-4).

Believing in God and in his Son Jesus changes us. It enables us to love God and to love one another. When we believe in God and trust him he gives us his life and we discover that his life in us gives us love for him and for others.

From the Introduction to Part 2

Jesus is the best model for short term supernatural mission.

When Jesus, aged about 30, returned to his home town of Nazareth in the hills of Galilee, he explained his mission and ministry by quoting from Isaiah.

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. …

¹⁶When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ …

(Luke 4:14-15, 16-21; see Isaiah 61:1-2)

Jesus fulfilled that prophecy in his life and ministry, and taught his followers to minister that way. We can too.

The name Joshua/Jesus means God saves, or God is salvation. That is why the angel announcing his birth said, “… you are to name him Joshua/Jesus (Yeshua), for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). It is the same name as Moses’ general, Joshua, who led the Israelites into their promised land.

The earliest English translations of the Bible used the name Jesus for Yeshua of Nazareth, and the name Joshua for others with that same name. So in English the name Jesus became unique and sacred for Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world.

This book explores the mission and ministry of Jesus/Joshua the Christ/Messiah, the Son of God, and how he fulfilled his brief ministry (Chapter 1). Jesus took others to minister with him and sent them out to minister in the authority and power of his name (Chapter 2).

Peter and Paul travelled with teams in their mission and ministry, also anointed with the Spirit of God (Chapter 3).

I give some brief contemporary examples of short term mission and ministry (Chapter 4) and Bart Doornweed (Chapter 5) and Randy Clark (Chapter 6) describe their experience of short term supernatural mission.

The final chapter is a powerful story by Carl Lawrence about two teenage girls in China who established 30 churches in two years with congregations ranging from 200 to 5,000 (Chapter 7).

Listen to God’s Spirit as you read and apply this good news.