2 minute read
The Impossible Mission
from October 2022
Gò0dNews for Everyone
The Impossible Mission
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by Brent Goodge
Have you ever felt God was calling you to do something you couldn’t possibly accomplish? Doesn’t it seem unfair for Him to apparently set you up to fail?
One spring morning, Jesus was on the shores of Galilee preaching to a huge crowd when He asked Thomas a question. “Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?” (John 6:5). We can almost hear John laughing at the memory while writing the story decades later. “This He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do” (John 6:6).
What transpired is the famous story of the little boy’s lunch. Jesus took five biscuits and two fish and fed a crowd of perhaps fifteen thousand. There were enough leftovers for many to take some home to tell the story to those who missed out.
Jesus is calling His people today with a similarly impossible task, on an immensely grander scale. “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you” (Matthew 28:19). He said that we must do this work to prepare the way for His return. “This Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
How easy is it to be like Thomas and blankly stare back at Jesus when we hear this impossible mission? There is zero chance that we can ever come through on this assignment. It feels like we are being set up for failure. We don’t have the talents, the time, or the resources to even begin to spread the Gospel to every creature, and that’s even if the population numbers were stagnant.
What does the rest of the message say? Before Jesus said, “Go ye therefore,” He had said, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). After saying the Gospel would go to all the earth, Jesus informed His disciple of the how. “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). “Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel
to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue and people” (Revelation 14:6).
The unlimited resources of heaven are at our disposal to feed Christ’s word to a starving world. “Whatever you ask in My Name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My Name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14).
We have been given an impossible mission. And, as Caleb said, “we are well able” to accomplish it (Numbers 13:30). “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27).
About The Author Brent Goodge lives in Whitfield County and needs to always remember that the Gospel will indeed go to all the earth. The invitation to be a part of the work is not a setup for failure, it is a blessed privilege.
