The Great Commission

By Pastor Brian Lithgow

"The Great Commission"

A book written for such a time as this, so we will know what to expect, and what to do about it, in the future.

There is nothing more challenging in the Bible than hearing about "The Great Commission". Not only is it challenging but the supernatural future of the believer hangs in the balance on it, so it is not to be ignored or put on the back burner for some time in the future. Unfortunately, we don't know when or how the present will end. Matthew 28:18 says it all to us. There are some questions we need to address on this.

One day when we stand before God to give an account of our past, our book will be opened. What words are you expecting to hear? "Well done" or "Regrettably, your book has only blank pages in it and because of this your relationship with me was less than  platonic, and on top of that you never fulfilled the mandate you promised to keep before you were born and while you were on the earth and therefore you have failed the test."

All believers have an opportunity and the right to use the arsenal of God and His weapons to war against satan and his demons. The choice is ours to make. In ministry we have often been challenged by the demonic: "Who do you think you are? I have been here a long time and am not leaving." Some of the weapons we have used is to quote scripture, to get the person to forgive and repent and to bind and loose.

Understanding our position in Christ is a very formidable task and not to be underestimated. What was Jesus referring to when he said to the disciples: "…make disciples… and teach them everything I have commanded you…?" We are to use everything we have been given to use.

Enjoy the book and solidify your position in Christ.

There are two other books I have written which are available. They are: "Who Are You Dining With?" and "Are You Being Played?" both which lay a spiritual foundation to help the believer understand the spiritual realm and what to do.

They are both available from Draft2Digital.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BRIAN LITHGOW
• Release date: Mar 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9780620912709

Book preview

Prayer of Protection

Please pray this prayer before you read the book...

Father, in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I petition you to hear this prayer.

As I read this book I ask you to stretch your hand of protection out upon me, my family and loved ones wherever they are, and to protect our homes, vehicles, possessions, minds and even our pets.

I ask for your hand of protection to cover us all in the precious blood of Jesus Christ, to place your warrior angels around us and for them to escort anything which is not of Jesus Christ away from us. Father, the only spirit I want to hear from as I read this book, is the Holy Spirit of God. Thank you Lord Jesus, Amen.

Copyright Page

Copyright: ©This book An Exposé on the Great Commission! is protected under international copyright law and is registered with the National Public Library of South Africa.

Typeface used: 12pt Times New Roman.

Published through Draft2Digital.

ISBN NUMBER: 978-0-620-91270-9.

Typesetting by B. V. Lithgow.

Cover Design and Cover Illustration:

By Nikki Nisbet, Brisbane, Australia.

Photograph:

The cover photograph is sourced from Canva Pro.

The photographer is Sashkinw.

A Trustworthy Scripture

2 Timothy 2:12-13: For if we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He can’t deny himself.

IF we miss the point, we will lose our future and our rewards.

Acknowledgement

The World English Bible

The scriptures used in this book have come from The World English Bible which is an updated version of the American Standard Version. I suggest you have a different version of the bible on hand to compare scriptures should you not understand the WEB bible.

I give thanks to those people who have allowed for the use of the WEB bible so freely, and I quote from their published material: "The World English Bible was commissioned by God in response to prayer about this subject. Because the World English Bible is in the Public Domain (not copyrighted), it can be freely copied, distributed, and redistributed without any payment of royalties.

You don’t even have to ask permission to do so. You may publish the whole World English Bible in book form, bind it in leather and sell it. You may incorporate it into your bible study software.

You may make and distribute audio recordings of it. You may broadcast it. All you have to do is maintain the integrity of God’s Word before God, and reserve the name World English Bible for faithful copies of this translation".

For answers to frequently asked questions about the World English Bible, please visit the web site at: WorldEnglish.Bible.

Any other scriptures used will be cited at the end of the scripture used.

Foreword

All believers are members of the Army of God!

This being my third book and possibly your first, out of necessity I have included in some places things which were written in the first two.

This is for two reasons: (1) to reinforce some of the knowledge in the two books, and (2) because you don’t have that particular knowledge and have never been exposed to it, it will be a good time to be exposed to it now.

For us to be effective believers the only source of knowledge we have been given to use is the bible and the importance of what has been given to us as weapons of warfare. Knowing about some of the weapons we have been given will enable us to gather information about our enemy satan and enable us to plan how to deal with him on a biblical basis.

When Jesus walked the earth there are many signs, wonders and miracles which happened. These are the great spiritual levellers which the religious leaders of the day (and today us), have had to face.

Changed lives cannot be argued with and the religious leaders in the day of Jesus were, unfortunately threatened by them. These threw the religious leaders of the day into a cauldron of hatred, so much so that they made plans on how to kill Jesus, and allowed Saul of Tarsus to lead the charge. Obviously hatred knows no bounds.

What is the purpose of the Great Commission?

The Great Commission has been given to every one of God’s children so they can carry out and finish the work begun by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is entirely up to us (it is our choice) to enter in and fulfil the mandate given to us before we were born and finish the task or directive given by God on what we need to do while we spend time on the earth. Jeremiah is a very good example of this.

Jeremiah 1:5 says (God speaking to Jeremiah): "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you." (sanctified=made holy).

Psalm 139:13: For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

There are many scriptures which confirm God knew us before we were born. We will look into this in greater detail in the book.

This is also where our rewards come into play. Do nothing and you will receive nothing in return. In order for us to fulfill the mandate given to us there are various principles of God’s law we need to understand and use against all the enemies of God. There are no exceptions.

Part One.

In Part One we will study the lives of several of the most powerful men in the New Testament. John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and finally Saul of Tarsus (Saul being the Hebrew name and Paul being the Greek translation of Saul.)

The question we will endeavour to answer was did they live at the same time and know about each other or did they know each other? We will ascertain the truth of who they are and what their roles in life were.

Part Two.

In Part Two we will study what the Great Commission is all about, because the initial foundation for this will have been laid.

I will try to eliminate any possibility of us being confused through any form of fake teaching. After Jesus rose from the dead He revealed to the disciples what their roles in the Great Commission are, and afterwards He went into God’s presence sending the Holy Spirit to finally anoint and equip the believers releasing the disciples to carry on with ministry.

However, Saul of Tarsus after his Damascus road experience wrote most of the New Testament, and at the same time he also complained to God about a thorn in the flesh and a messenger from satan who was afflicting him—asking God to remove the problem, which we will look at in greater deal when we study the life of Paul.

When we are busy ministering for God (in whatever area), expect to come under attack from satan and his demons. Unfortunately there is a problem faced by everyone on this earth (no matter who they are) and this is called sin. Paul wrote about it in the book of Romans.

Romans 3:23: For ALL have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.

This applies to everyone (except the Lord Jesus Christ, who was without spot or blemish), yet was tempted in every way possible. No human being on this earth can tell God what He must or must not do, what to believe or to even decide for you what your life and thoughts will be.

One day we will all stand before the judge and answer for what we have or have not done, said or thought.

That includes all those people who have either tried to deceive us or have succeeded to do so. They will pay the price for the seed they have sown in people’s lives and also reap a harvest of the same in theirs. It is not the thought which is the problem but what you do or don’t do with it.

Hebrews 4:14-15: Having then a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, who is Jesus the Son of God, let’s hold tightly to our confession. For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched without feeling our faults, but one who has been in all points tempted like we have been, yet is without sin.

Please note: Even though we will be considering what Paul’s thorn in the flesh is, we will spend a little more time on who Jesus Christ is, as this may be the only opportunity you will ever have to be introduced to the King of the Universe and have a relationship with Him. Please read this book carefully and prayerfully and ask Him to reveal Himself to you.

Serving Him is an exciting walk in freedom. You will find prayers at the back of the book should you feel you need to pray or use