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Matt. 28: 18-20 "18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.' Amen."
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations:
In our Lord's personal account of the commission He gave to His disciples, He uses only one verb to describe the task. Out Lord calls it "disciple" or as Webster says, "to discipline, to change through teaching." After the process of Discipling or teaching which brings about a change, repentance, then there is the command to baptize in the triune name of: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We Christians, those of us who have the gift of faith, who hear and who know our Lords voice because of this gift are called to Him by the Father through the operations of the Spirit. We are not called through intellectualism, our parents, our denomination, or any earthly source - but rather we are born of the Spirit by God who has known us since before the foundation of the world. This begin true we who are of the elect and who have been given this gift of faith and this great salvation for which we can offer nothing in return, know that all those of any nation who will be discipled, must also be called and gifted by this self same Spirit - by God the Father. Second only to such great salvation as this, is the revelation by God that we and all of those who are saved of every nation have been personally known by Him since before the foundation of the world. The sad truth is that many today that go by the biblical name of "Christian" are anything but Christian. Being a true Christian is the result of an act by God Himself. To be truly Christian means that God has chosen whom He will to be a believer in Him, and accordingly He must give such a person the gift of faith. All who are true believers know that they believe only because He has given them the gift of faith to believe. The natural man cannot know God, cannot believe in His Christ, our risen Lord, it is all just so much foolishness to him! Because of much false teaching and false prophets among the larger body of evangelicals today, our Christian culture in America and around the world believe that they can become a Christian at will and that the faith they have, if is true faith, somehow came from their understanding and their will to be saved while still in their lost state of carnal mind. Many are never told or in anyway taught that their salvation is by faith alone and that not of themselves but that it is a gift from God. Their claim to being a Christian is based on as little as Church membership to no more than a concept that includes a long and varied list of things from faith plus doctrines of many different kinds and origins to faith plus certain works and merits, but always for those who are not sure of their salvation it is faith plus something else. Remonstrating against the apostate condition of what passes for "Christian" is not done to denigrate those who would be Christian, but who have not been drawn of the Father. It is rather to make it very clear for those to whom God has given the gift of faith, that God will not be mocked. It is He who has called, who is calling and who will call and gift all whom He delights to save with or without the instrumentality of any specific individuals. In other words, it is God the Father who authorized Jesus Christ our Lord to give the great commission to go into the whole world and to make disciples of every nation. He does not say every person, He says every nation. Thus, although not all will be drawn of the Spirit to believe and to come to Christ, yet enough will be so gifted and so called so as to be representative of that nation. To all those who have the gift of faith and who are of the adoption, it must be clear that we live in extraordinary times. Despite world terrorism there is unprecedented opportunity to travel into almost every nick and cranny of God's creation. More importantly, we live in a time much like the times of Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Knox, yet multiplied a thousand times over. There are hundreds of thousands of pastors today who long for the truths of the Reformation but are held back by circumstances and yet their prayers will be answered. The question is never one of whether God our father will answer their cries for truth and revelation, but it is only a question of whether you will be one of His instruments which He uses to answer them. Yours is the blessing to be gained or to be lost. It is yours to embrace the opportunity, no one can do it for you and no one can take it away from you. We will all sit down one day and feast together with God's great instruments who have gone on before us: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, David, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Nehemiah the Apostles, Paul and many, many others. What will we talk about, what will we share? Will we talk about our exploits at school, our jobs, our vacations, our incomes, our retirement, what will we talk about? Certainly our everyday lives are ordered of God our Father and yes, they are worthy of conversation, but what about the possibilities of the exploits to disciple the nations? Is there nothing in that great commission with which you can identify and be a part of? Of course there is! You have the mind of Christ and all you have to do is say to your Lord, "Here am I Lord, what do you want me to do? He is faithful; He will tell you what to do. Ecclesiastes 5:15 says we came into the world naked and naked we will leave the world. Our question to ourselves should always be: "What will I be able to share with that great cloud of witnesses about my time here?" RMIC has open doors to teach the truth of the gospel to thousands of native pastors, elders, deacons and families. Our work is presently focused on Mexico and the many open doors we have there. Yet, we know that God will soon open many doors for us in all of Latin America and in as many other countries as He has planned for us to work in. We invite you to come and see and if you cannot come and see for yourself that you would send someone. God says that if we respond even so little as to only give a glass of water to one of His children we will not lose our reward, how much greater rewards have we to receive, both now and in the resurrection, if we respond to His call to be a part of His great discipling of the nations? RMIC has an open invitation for all to come and see. Yet, we know that most cannot travel so far and cannot leave their responsibilities to do so. For this reason we ask you to seek God's will for you in His great discipling of the nations. Invite others to come and witness the truth of what we say in our claims to have open doors to thousands of pastor, leaders, etc. Also, remember that these great opportunities require great effort, responsible leadership and the commitment of your financial support. We ask all to come and see to remove their doubts but we also challenge you to pray for wisdom, for understanding and for faith and to send us your support without seeing, if that is possible. In either case, we pray for you to be blessed of God in all things for His glory and honor.
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