Go Ye

The “go ye” that Jesus gave to the disciples who followed Him while He was here on earth is the same “go ye,” the same task, that we have as His disciples today: To convince a needy world that the crucified Jesus is the resurrected Christ Who lives and meets the needs of mankind today.

Our task is to preach the Gospel by producing the proof of that resurrection power.

There are many, many people who claim to be “preaching the Gospel.” We have more preachers than there have ever been, more ministries, more outreaches, more religious television programs, more churches. Yet the world is not being won for Jesus Christ as He meant it to be. Faced as we are with the exploding population of the unsaved and the rampant evil of our present society, there is only one hope we have of reaching this world for Christ. It certainly is not through the ministry as we know it today in its present form.

I believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that we are going to reach this world, this entire world, for Christ before Jesus comes again. That is the purpose, the core, the heart’s throb of our ministry. It is so exciting to be a part of what God is doing in these last days, but it will take an army of God’s people to complete it. It will take an army of God’s people from every walk of life working together in the power of God.

The biggest need in our churches today is for people to become disciples of Jesus Christ. The reason why we have not taken this world is that we have been making converts, not disciples — sons, not soldiers. A convert, according to the dictionary, is a person who is brought over from one belief or view to another. Converts are people who change their minds concerning their religious concepts, then sit in the church and become lazy “spiritual bumps on a log.” They become good-for-nothings who spend more time watching television and reading secular literature than they do in prayer, the Word of God, or out winning lost souls.

Converts can use their time for entertainment and sports and, in the meantime, let whole cities or nations go to hell. Yet they think that one day the trumpet is going to sound and the Lord is going to rapture them. They will have a rude awakening. The Church Jesus is going to rapture is made up of disciples, not just converts. But the Bible says:

Not 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. (Matthew 7:21)