Jesus commissioned us to go and do six things. He sent us to proclaim the Kingdom of God, heal the sick and cast out demons. He sent us to make disciples and baptize them, and teach them what He taught us, and finally He sent us as the Father sent Him, to forgive Sin.

Each one of the commissions has been authorized and empowered. Each one brings the recipient closer to the wholeness that we seek as we seek to enter the Kingdom of God.

To proclaim the Kingdom calls us to introduce people to the King that they might know Him. Healing the sick calls upon us to enable people to be able to fulfill their purpose on earth. Casting out demons calls us to be free and willing to set people free from all sorts of bondage. Making disciplines calls upon us to introduce people to Jesus and bring them into community in His Body on earth, which is the Church. Teaching calls upon us to let people know the way into the Kingdom. Forgiving Sin calls us to remove any barriers that stand between people and God that they might know Him.

1. Is the Church fulfilling the commissions?

2. How is what we are doing related to the commissions?

3. Is the entire set of commission relevant to us today?

4. How do we participate in the coming of the Kingdom while we wait?

When we become aware of the commissions, which we will find in Scripture, it is evident that we need some greater wisdom and power than we possess if we are to fulfill them. We will need grace. We will need the power and direction of God Himself to fulfill His will.

We were given authority to do these things by Jesus as He commissioned us to go in His Name. They are the same ministries that He exercised while He walked the earth in the flesh He received from Mary. He intends to continue these ministries in the flesh that He receives from us.

It is important to see that the authority that He gives us does not Lord it over anyone else. He has given us power over serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy so that nothing shall hurt us; but He does not give us authority over one another.

Holy Spirit comes to empower us to do these things by incarnating Jesus in us, that the works that He did we may do. When we give Him access to our lives and invite Him to occupy the space available, we begin to see that we are more than we were. We are becoming the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

As we come to know Holy Spirit, our God becomes adequate. God, the Father created us and gave us a real purpose for our lives in this creation. Jesus revealed to us what it means to become a child of God. Holy Spirit now enables us to fulfill what Jesus has revealed. Our God is a Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One God in three Persons.

With an adequate God we can overcome the things that stand in our way. We can learn to listen and follow the direction of Holy Spirit. We can trust that Jesus, who is sharing our flesh, will accomplish the work that we are sent to do with Him.

We must become aware of who we are. What we feel like may not be the same as what we will. We have no control over our feelings, and we cannot find a stable life if we let them control us.

We are not able to do the work that we are sent to do. Flesh and blood are limited without the presence of the One who is able to use us. When we are willing, GOD IS ABLE. Grace comes to us to enable us to fulfill any of the commissions that God elects to send us to perform.

It is our will that matters. It is our will that opens the way for God to come into our lives and work His work through us. Are we willing to offer ourselves to God to be His presence for the world for which Christ died?

1. Can we fulfill the commissions we have received?

2. Should we?

3. Are we willing to pay the cost?

4. What exactly can we do?

5. What is the nature of our authority?

Do we dare take it upon ourselves to seek to fulfill the commissions we are given? Do we dare become doers of the Word and not hearers only? That is the decision we must face and make. Not to decide it to decide.

Prayer is of the essence of our lives with God, we must be willing to commit ourselves to communicate with our Heavenly Father if we are going to obey the King and live in the Kingdom now.

We must be willing to seek His strength and His life through the Sacrament of Holy Communion. It is as we offer our lives to Him in the Community of His Body, the Church, that we receive His Body and Blood that He may dwell in us and we in Him. It is as we are joined in this corporate worship that we are made one to grow up into the fullness of the stature of Christ.

We must steep ourselves in Holy Scripture to be more informed, so we can find and walk in His will.

We must witness to others telling of the grace that God has shown in our lives as we walk with Him. We must let our Light shine that He who dwells within us might be seen. We must minister to the Body and to the world. It is important that we see the discontinuity between the world and the Kingdom of God.

1. Is Christian life practical as Jesus commissioned us?

2. Is it possible? How can we know?

3. Are we willing to bet our lives that Jesus Christ is God, the Son and take His commissions seriously?