Matthew 28: 18-20

The Great Commission is the magnificent obsession of the  church.
It is the very life blood of Christianity.

We must have a vision of a vast world that is without Jesus.
In a day in  which millions are plunging into eternity without Christ,
if we  are standing still , we are backing up.
We must begin at home,
and go to the ends of the earth with the good news of Jesus Christ.

The Scripture passage in Matthew is telling us to go  everywhere.
"And Jesus came and spake unto them,
saying, all power  is given unto me in Heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have  commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.  Amen."

It is quite clear that Jesus was emphasizing
that we should penetrate the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The  gospel must penetrate all the world.
No strata of society was to be excluded,
no fortress of hell unpenetrated,
no bastion of darkness unimpregnated with the light of the gospel.

Every  religion must be confronted,
every tribe invaded,
every error exposed,
every language translated,
every city and village,
every country and continent assaulted
until the  foundations of hell tremble and Satan's walls crumble.

"For the darkness shall turn to dawning,
And the dawning to noonday bright!
And  Christ's great Kingdom shall come on earth,
the Kingdom of love and  light."

That means all nations, all cultures, all religions,
all ethnic groups, all tribes of the earth --  "to the end of the world."

Jesus said very clearly, "Go everywhere."

The way must go through education, and prayer,  and finances, and personnel.
The New Testament church survived against impossible odds,
and even penetrated the world with the gospel
because whatever happened to all of them
was more important to each of them
than what happened to any of them.

There are in several factors that are essential to world evangelism.

Penetration

Campus ministries, rescue  missions, hospitals, television, radio, computers,
The World Wide Web,  Biblical education,
all types of evangelism, church planting, medical  missions --
every strata of life and society must be  permeated.

Acts 1: 8:
"But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:
and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem
and in all of Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

This verse is saying to us, "Go from  here."
Jesus is giving His strategy for world evangelism.

Can you imagine the reticence of the apostles
to attempt the Great Commission.
It must have seemed as a "mission impossible."

It was geographically  impossible.

Most of the world had not even been  discovered.
At that time they believed the earth was flat
and that to sail the seas was inevitably to drop off into  oblivion.

It was physically impossible.

There was no way to go -- no boats, no planes,
no printing press, no radios -- nothing.

It was numerically impossible.

There were far too few.
At most, no more than 500 followers of Christ could possibly be counted upon --
and how many of those would "surrender for foreign missions"?

It was financially impossible.

Historians suggest that the wealth of  the early church
at this juncture of world history was less
than the equivalent of $10,000 American dollars.
What percentage of  your congregation's wealth can you get at any given time?
Ten percent? Twenty percent? Suppose, it was 50 percent.
Could you put on a program of world evangelism for $5000.

It was legally impossible.

It was against the law to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.
Followers of "The Way" were being persecuted, imprisoned, and martyred.

It was socially  impossible.

They were the discards and rejects, Paul reminds  us in 1 Corinthians 1: 26:
"For ye see your calling, rather, how that not  many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble, are called."

They had no influence.
Who would listen to  them?
Who would believe them?

But then, they remembered Jesus' admonition to pray.
Perhaps, someone suggested that  rather than fret over what they could not do,
they should do the one thing they could do: pray.
So they went to the upper room.

And in ten days, miracle of miracles, wonder of wonders, the Lord --
who knew all along they could not go to all the world --
brought the world to  them
because they had done what they could with what  they had.

And so must we!

We must begin where we are.
It is the epitome of hypocrisy to send money to Africa or  China
while we ignore the person who lives next door.
World  missions "begin at Jerusalem."
Evangelism begins at home.
Missions begins at our front door.

Luke, the  physician, has become Luke the mission strategist,
and is quick to record Jesus' plan for the spiritual conquest of the earth.
Begin at home -- go from here!

In 1967, the coldest day on  which a professional football game
has ever been played was recorded.
In a 67 degree below -- zero chill factor,
the Green Bay  Packers entertained the Dallas Cowboys
for the division championship.

With less than a minute to play, the Packers --
trailing by just two points -- pushed the ball to the Dallas' two yard line.
As with one voice, the tens of thousands of Green Bay fans
stood and began to cheer: "Go! Go!  Go!"

Sportscasters reported it to be the most electrifying  pulsating crowd noise
they had ever heard,
reverberating, throbbing through the stands,
charging the souls of the players,
pumping their adrenaline level to the skies.

The quarterback called the signal, and the center hiked the ball.
As a one-man, the  indomitable Packers driven by the cheers of their fans
pushed the ball across the goal line for the winning touchdown.

History has  recorded the familiar sayings of her sons.
Who can forget Patrick  Henry's, "Give me liberty or give me death."
Or McArthur's, "I shall return."

But nothing, in or out of sacred literature,
can compare with the last commandment of our  Lord:
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every  creature."

We stand today at our greatest hour of  opportunity.
We live at a time of world history where the old  foundations are crumbling,
and men's hearts are failing them.

What a tremendous hour for the church!
What an hour for missions and evangelism!

With knees knelt in prayer,
with hands filled with more than adequate resources, talent, funds,  and personnel,
may we, as the church of God, lock arms.
May  this be our finest hour as we seize,
what may be the best opportunity,
to bring our world to the feet of our blessed  Saviour.

Surely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
the  redeemed of the ages, the saints of the Old and New Testaments,
are  straining at the precipice of heaven,
and saying to this church:

"Go! Go into all the world!
Go to every  creature!
Go everywhere!
Go with me!
Go together!
Go from here!
Go! Go! Go!

Sermon by  Dr. Harold L. White
Email Dr. White at hleewhite@aol.com