Your Personal Commission

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 Judaea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

This is the commission that still holds for today. This is not given only to the church as a body; it is not a corporate commission. This is a very personal command to each believer personally, privately. This was given to [the apostles] even before the Holy Spirit had come and formed the church [on the Day of Pentecost].

It is a direct command for you and for me today. It is our business to get the Word of God out to the world. We can't say that it is up to the church to send missionaries and to give out the gospel, and then sit back and let others do it. The all-important question is whether you are getting out the Word of God. Have you gone to the ends of the earth as a witness to the gospel?
Or do you support a ministry or a web site that does? Are you personally involved?

Today there are a great many people who want to talk about the "Signs of The Times" and "Season of His Coming", but they don't want to get involved in getting out the Word of God. But that is His commission - not only to the Apostles - that is His commission to you and me. I am of the opinion that if the Lord should suddenly appear to you or to me right where we are at this moment, He would not only talk about the "Signs of The Times" and the "Time of His Coming", but He would talk about getting out the gospel. He wants people to be saved. This is our commission, our calling.

In order to get this gospel out, we need power. That was His promise: "Ye shall receive power." And we need the leading of the Lord. Although it is our business today to get out the Word of God, there is no power in us, there is no power in the church, but there is power in the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who moves through an individual or through a ministry or through an Internet site. The question is whether we permit Him to do so. "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."

Jesus said: "I must be about My Father's Business" and this applies to both you and me. We must be about God's Business.

"Ye shall be witnesses unto me." Our witness is to Christ. He is the center of attraction. "In Jerusalem," which applied to us means our hometown, there should be a witness to Christ. "All Judaea" is equivalent to our community; "Samaria" represents the other side of the tracks, the folks we don't associate with. Although we may not meet with these people socially, we are to take the gospel to them. Of course we can't associate with everybody. We can select our friends as everyone else does. That is part of the freedom which we have.

There are people who wouldn't want to associate with us. There are lots of people who wouldn't want us around; we would crimp their style. But we have both the privilege and the responsibility to get the Word of God out to all people, whether or not we know them or associate with them socially.

Finally, this witness to Christ is to go to the utter-most parts of the earth. We never should lose sight of the fact that this is the Lord's intention. He has told us if we love Him to keep His commandments. His command is personal. We can't pass this off on the crowd and say,

"Someone else is doing it; so I don't need to get involved."

How much are you involved, friend? What is your witness to Christ?