We’re living in interesting times, and all Scripture is relevant for today. Every page points to Jesus Christ our Messiah. Whether Old Testament or New, it’s all about him. We’re not talking about Mission Impossible, but Mission Possible, because with God, all things are possible. We are empowered to engage. That means that we’ve been equipped because God won’t give us power without first giving us the equipment.
When we were born again, God also equipped us. When we gave our hearts to Jesus, we said, “I’m Yours, Lord. You are the Lord of my life, and I pledge to You my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor. I give it all to You.” When we released that, God took it and said, “Now you’re ready.” Then he empowered us for the mission.
We are empowered to engage
“Some people think that the world is going to inevitably decay, get worse, get darker, and then be ultimately destroyed. I think that the A Plan is to get back to the “Cultural Mandate” God gave humanity in the Garden to fill the earth with people who are like Jesus, who love God, who follow His ways and are to govern it and to beautify it in such a way, organize it, which leads to the flourishing of humanity.
“God went to great lengths to reconcile us to Him and restore us to that mission, and the Gospel had ‘Victory’ written all over it and He who is in you and me is greater than he who is in the world. Now our job, our marching orders are to go teach the nations. We would do well to start with our own, because we are so far off the rails, and this is going to end in a terrible disaster if we don’t return to the first principles of faith and courage.” – Kirk Camaron
A fatalistic mindset assumes that the world is winding down to destruction, but we’ve been given dominion over this world. We serve a God who is still on the throne, and he hasn’t thrown in the towel yet – and we shouldn’t either. As believers, we should never capitulate to the devil but rather walk in dominion.
We’ve been called, according to Scripture, to be the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath, blessed going in and blessed going out. The devil might come at us one way, but he has to flee seven ways. He’s been de-clawed and de-fanged because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Jesus won this war and therefore we win too. Every generation has had to contend for ground in the Kingdom of God. They’ve all had their fight, and now this is ours. Our posterity is coming behind us, and we have a responsibility before them to fight the good fight of faith.
Three Commissions in the Book of Acts
Cultural mandate number one:
Genesis 1:26,27 NIV
“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
Cultural mandate number two:
“The Great Commission” or “The Apostolic Mandate.” Because of the cross, Jesus snatched the keys of the Kingdom out of the devil’s hands.
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV84
“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ ”
That is our call, our mandate, and our mission – to disciple the nations. God cares about nations and borders. This isn’t just a Texas or Arizona thing. God set people in their boundaries, and he cares about nations. What happened to us as the Church of Jesus Christ in America, when we decided that church was to be an addendum to our life and that Jesus was no longer at the beginning and on every page?
When we let go of our mandate, it was because we bought into a lie from hell that this is all just winding down anyway – it’s all going to hell in a handbasket. That only produced soft and lazy Christians in America. We must get back to the mandate – the commission – what he’s called us to do. He’ll never leave us or forsake us, so why are we afraid to engage the fight or to engage the culture?
Why do we believe the culture when it tells us to step back, to shut up and sit down? Since when did any of us from Texas stop fighting, stop standing up, and stop speaking the truth or what needs to be said? But, instead, we do those things because we love.
Cultural mandate number three:
Mark 16:15-20 NIV
“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they
will get well.’ After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.”
God has called us to be biblical Christians who actually stand on God’s Word. We don’t take it because it’s comfortable, it feels good, or because it fits our worldview, but because that’s what it says. We were never given the privilege or the option of tearing out Bible pages we don’t like. This is the normal Christian life. God wants to do a new thing in our midst where we drive out demons just by walking in a room because we’re filled with the Holy Spirit.
The devils should get nervous and tremble when we wake up in the morning because we actually believe our Bibles. We don’t follow signs – signs follow us – when we show up full of the Spirit of God and we understand who we are – blood-bought sons of the Most High God – King’s kids. We are on a mission from God!
Factoids about the Book of Acts
- Luke (a Gentile) wrote it for Gentiles
- Luke was a physician who focused on details and accuracy
- Luke drew much of his material from Mark
- Luke was not one of the twelve apostles
- Luke possibly never met Jesus personally, but compiled his account from eye-witness sources (like an investigative journalist). He accompanied Paul on some of his missionary journies.
- Luke’s two volumes (Book of Luke and the Book of Acts) account for thirty percent of the New Testament and they were meant to be read together
- Luke was well-educated and was familiar with Greek literary conventions and he was highly proficient in the Greek language.
- Luke’s Gospel paid special attention to Jesus’ ministry to the Gentiles, women, and the poor
- The Book of Luke is the longest book in the New Testament
Luke 1:1-4 NIV84 – Luke Volume 1 – The Beginning
“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”
Luke 24:48-53 NIV84 – Luke Volume 1 – The End
“ ‘You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’ When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.”
If we have the same sense of expectation they had, we’ll say, “Jesus, I want everything You have for me – everything Your Word tells me I have – and I want to walk in that. I want to understand it – to employ it and deploy it into my life so that it touches the lives of our people. It gives me impetus and strength, power, ability and favor to engage culture and to live out this missional mandate. I want everything You have for me – nothing more and nothing less.”
That means we live a life that is in lock-step with him – moving at his pace and direction – staying with him in a living and life-giving relationship with a living Lord. If we do that, we won’t get off the rails or get into spiritual or emotional excesses. The Bible puts the “Go” in “Gospel” so we can go do something for God and his kingdom. We don’t have to worry so much about being extreme that we, instead, do nothing at all. We can do something with God, where he works in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now is the time for us to receive a fresh baptism in the Holy Spirit. He’s not out to make us weirdos or flakes, but to empower our witness (Acts 1:8). When we got saved, the Holy Spirit came to live inside us, but we weren’t clothed yet. We hadn’t received the garment – the mantle – the covering. The word “baptize” (Greek – baptizō) literally means to be wholly immersed or whelmed over – to be immersed in.
We understand that when we’re baptized in the Holy Spirit, it means we put on a suit of armor that we never had before – powerful and strong – so that when we go out on mission for him, he empowers our steps with ability and authority – and favor to do what we cannot, in and of ourselves, do. God wants to share through us what he has done for us and in us. He wants to reach people through us with our story and our testimony – not our theology – just what God has done in our life to this point. Many are so afraid to open their mouths and talk about God because they’re afraid somebody will ask them a question they can’t answer.
But, they only need to say, “Listen, I don’t know about any of that stuff – that’s above my pay grade – but here’s what I do know, I once was lost. I once had no direction. I once had no purpose, and, quite frankly, I was bound for hell. But, God showed up in my life, and now I’m found – now I have a reason to get up in the morning and thank God because now I have a reason to be excited about life. I’m living on a mission. I have a missional mandate, and I’m going to live the rest of my days fulfilling that mission.”
That’s what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit – baptized within and without – and to have a suit of armor so we can go into battle in any atmosphere …and change it!
Prayer
Father, thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank You that You give us this precious gift so that You can empower us to go out and be leaky vessels overflowing with who You are. It’s effortless when we’re empowered by You – filled inside and covered on the outside – within and without. We walk out into this culture and we engage – not in our own strength and thinking but in Your ability and guidance – and our witness becomes alive because of Your presence, Your power, and Your grace.
Lord, our missional mandate isn’t to be weird for You, but to be filled with You and empowered by You – and that’s our heart here today. Lord, baptize us anew and afresh. We want to be whelmed over by Your Holy Spirit so that we can go out and engage people with the Gospel. By faith, Holy Spirit, baptize us. Empower us. Fill us and cover us. We receive You by faith and leave here suited up and leaking out the Life that’s in us because of Jesus Christ. Father, thank You for Good News today! In Jesus’ name. Amen
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on The Bridge
Featured Image by Владимир Харитонов from Pixabay
