I heard those words loud and clear one Sunday night in the back of the church when I was a teenager, and I promised God I would go to the mission field. Jesus gave the “Go Command” to the disciples just before He was taken up into heaven. What a moment that must have been!
Their response was immediate. The Bible says they went out and “preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them” (Mark 16:20). The great commission has never changed. Every follower of Christ is called—perhaps to your next door neighbor, to your friend at work, or to some faraway place in our world.
Don’t be put off by the word “preach.” While some surely are called to preach as you know it from a church pulpit, each of us carries the message of the gospel to others, preaching it as Jesus commanded. My wife’s grandmother once told me, “Son, the most important sermon you will ever preach is the one you preach in your home.” A pastor’s Sunday sermons are important, but so are the acts of kindness you extend to others, “preaching” with your life.