Where did this church come from?

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:18-20

The Great Commission. This was the last command given to the disciples of Christ. Christ commanded that his disciples go out into the world to make more disciples. This command was encompassed by two significant things. First it was qualified by the omnipotency of our Lord. When he said all authority in heaven and earth were his, he was claiming two things. First was the right he had as creator to have authority over all that his hands had made. Secondly he was claiming victory over death, and consequently authority over the earth which had temporarily been given to Satan. Christ alone has the right to judge the living and the dead. Christ alone has the right to be worshiped and hailed as King. Christ alone has the right to be submitted and obeyed as Lord. Satan no more has any power on this earth to do as he pleases but must submit to the will of God and function within the allowance of God. This power is what we can count on in Christ when we are his children.

Next an assurance was given to us after the command. We have the assurance of the omnipresence of our Lord. When he said that he will be with us unto the end of the age, he was reaffirming his promise made in Joshua 1 that "(He) will not leave you or forsake you." So we are commanded to go and make disciples in all of the earth, in the name of the one who has the heavens and earth and his beck and call, and we have that power in the name of Christ anywhere we are, in any situation, around any group of people. At work, at school, with friends, at church, at an orphanage, in a different country. Wherever we find ourselves we are to be Ambassadors for Christ and fulfill the great commission. It is with the authority of Christ and in the presence of Christ that we are to go and evangelize the world.

There is no possibility of failing your mission when you set out on doing the work of the Lord. When we set out to evangelize we bring with us the gospel in our mouths and deeds, which is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out...And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. (John 6:37, 39)". Because of the power of Christ promised to us, we can have complete assurance that His will is going to be accomplished in whatever environment we find ourself.

In short I believe we must really reconsider many things about our life in light of this. This passage is not just about evangelism in different countries, but is a command for ALL disciples of Christ to obey wherever they may find themselves. Praise God for those who have a desire to go overseas and reach unknown people groups for Christ, but may God have mercy on us who stay in our comfortable domestic lives doing nothing to bring sinners to the cross and point them to the cure of their disease, sin. The great commission, and the promise of Christ being with us always means that by implication that we are commanded to witness wherever we are in whatever circumstance we find ourselves. It would be foolish to look at the scriptures and ignore the men who were stationed at specific churches, as much as it is foolish to overlook the fact that the apostles and the early disciples were dispersed into all the known world. We must have people to go, and we must have people to stay, but just because you stay does not excuse you from evangelism, for Christ is with you in any corner of the earth, even in your comfortable home in America. Do not waste the power to seek and save the lost through gospel of Christ.