Who is Jesus to you? Is Jesus a good teacher? A friend? A prophet? Someone you reach out to only in the time of trouble? Yes, there is a reason I ask. The reason I ask is because there is only one form of Jesus that will save you. Jesus knows that, He fought every temptation that we face. He defeated every temptation that He faced. He lived a life that I was created to live, but due to my sin, I couldn’t do what I was created to do. He lived a life that we were all created to live but ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All of us stand condemned before a Holy God. But, there is good news.. Jesus came to save us from condemnation.
Coming to Africa, I’ve began to get a new glimpse of who Jesus is. Jesus was not just a good teacher, He was not just a person of good morals, He was not a prophet. Jesus is before all things and by Him all things hold together. Jesus is Lord, He has conquered sin and death. He has the keys to Hell. He is the one who dictates who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell. Romans 10:9 says that “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” It’s not until Jesus becomes Lord of our lives that we can be saved from our sin. If He is not our Lord, He won’t be our savior. Jesus came and lived a life I couldn’t live, died a death that I deserved, then rose from the grave. So now any time we sin or mess up, when before Christ we would’ve received eternal punishment, we now have Jesus as an ambassador for us standing in our place. When Jesus hung on the cross, every sin I would ever commit hung there on the cross.
Here in South Africa, there are many people who we meet that have a false view of Jesus. If Jesus is not our soul’s one desire and refuge, we are missing out on a life of abundance. John 10:10 says that “The enemy came to steal, kill and destroy but I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.”
As followers of Jesus, we are COMMANDED to go to the Nations. There are currently 3.2 billion people who have never heard the name of Jesus. 3.2 billion people that are slaves to sin, trapped in guilt and slaves to sin with no hope outside of this life. Jesus has given us power and authority over the powers of Hell to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. He has given us the playbook to see souls won for the Kingdom of Christ. There’s unreached people all over the world that have never heard about Jesus and how He came to save them from their sin. They cannot believe in Him if they have not heard. They cannot hear if someone does not go and preach. If we as the body of Christ do not go out and preach the good news, they cannot be saved from their sin (Romans 10). Therefore they go to Hell for an eternity because we were not obedient to the call that Jesus placed on our lives as followers of Him. We have the Spirit of God living within us, the Lord of angel armies goes before us, with us, and behind us. Whom shall we fear? The American church is asleep to the spiritual forces around us and the reality found in scripture about the unreached. I pray that reading this, it will help reveal something new and fresh to you.
How are you playing a part in the great commission? I would love to talk to you about it! Below, I will add two links that are great recourses in regards to the great commission.
https://joshuaproject.net
Matthew 10:7-8 “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”
