by Dave Brown
Ye often hear it said ...
"The Great Commission does not apply to us today ..."
but part of the Great Commission states:
"... teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you…" (Mt. 28:18)
If we, the disciples that were to be converted in the future, are to observe all things that were commanded of the apostles, this has to include the Great Commission. In addition, Jesus said "... lo, I am with you even unto the end of the world." This indicates that his statement was more than just to the apostles, since they all died well before the end of the world (or age).
In addition, the ordinary Christians in the first century understood that the Great Commission applied to them. It states in Acts 8:4 (of those Christians who were persecuted and fled from Jerusalem): "Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word." Clearly everyone was not a preacher, but they all did everything that they could to further the preaching and teaching of the word. Paul told Timothy (2 Tim. 2:2): "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." This method of evangelism "turned the world upside down" in the first century, and it can do the same thing today.