And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me!
(Isaiah 6:8 MKJV)

I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. John 9:4

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2b

Much work is yet to be done before the return of Jesus. Darkness is beginning to cover the earth at an alarming rate. The church cannot afford any more "bless me" clubs. We must be about the Father's work while it is still day. This world is quickly passing away (John 2:17). The only thing we can take into the next life with us, is the works done for God out of a heart of love for God and for mankind.

Whose duty is it to do the work of God? Too often, people have been allowed to think it is the job only of full time ministers. Ministers have been set up on a pedestal, high above everyone else and the body of Christ has been allowed to feel it is not their duty, they are not qualified, and that they lack the power and authority to do the work of God. Sadly, in the body of Christ too many of us have been made to feel we cannot, or we should not, rather than we can, and we should. But what does God have to say about all this? We can find out from His word.

And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 2:22-23

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Romans 12:4-8

Each and every person who is born into God's kingdom is a member of the body of Christ. Jesus is the head, and we are His body. Each member has giftings and callings. The head makes the decisions and sends signals to the body. The body carries out those signals. When there are members of the body that are not functioning, the entire body suffers.

In the church today many members of Christ's body believe that a few are suppose to have all the giftings, all the callings and do all the work. No wonder darkness is covering the earth. The body of Christ has so many non-functioning parts.

Each person who is born again is to become a disciple of Jesus. A disciple of Jesus is a student of Jesus'. They (1) believe His doctrines, (2) trust on His sacrifice, (3) partake of his spirit, and (4) imitate His example (Matthew 10:24; Luke 14:26,27,33; John 6:69).

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of this age. Amen. Matthew 28:19,20

Jesus began His ministry by taking twelve men in which He taught the ways of God. He spent time with them and showed them the ways of God, then He told them to go do the same things He was doing.

And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits... Mark 6:7

After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them,: The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:1,2,17-20

These people were disciples of Jesus. Are you a disciple of Jesus? If your name is written in heaven, you are Jesus' disciple also.

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My father. John 14:12

Jesus did the works that pleased the Father. When people saw Jesus, they saw the Father because He obeyed the Father. He tells us that if we believe in Him we will follow His example and do the works He did. When we do the works Jesus did, others will see Jesus in us. In this way we are a light in a dark place. We also are destroying the works of darkness just as Jesus did. We are His hands, His feet and His mouth, to reach out to people with His Love.

We can learn what works Jesus did by studying the gospels. The beginning church in the book of Acts picked up right where Jesus left off and that work continues today and is to be accomplished by those that believe in Jesus and accepts Him as their Lord, not only a small portion of the body of Christ (full time ministers), but rather the entire body of Christ.

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Ephesians 4: 11-12

Notice this says that God gave the church apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors and teachers to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry so that the body of Christ will be edified or built up. All saints can prophesy, evangelize, pastor, teach and do the various work of an apostle, but not everyone holds these offices. God chooses certain saints to hold these offices. None the less, we are all called to do the various works of the ministry.

If the points made so far don't convince us that the work of the gospel is to be done by all believers, the great commission should make us sure without doubt. In Mark 16:15-18 Jesus says to His disciples right before His ascension into heaven:

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believe and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe; In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents and if they drink anything deadly it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick; and they will recover."

Verse 21 tells us how we can do such a feat:

And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

Jesus said He could do nothing of Himself without the Father. How much more can we do nothing without the help of the Lord. Thank goodness we are not without His help! He will work with us and confirm the word through signs! We can expect the supernatural while we are about our Father's business! .

Christians are a special breed of humans. We are not of this world, but are of the Kingdom of God. Through Christ, we have much that this world does not have. We have life, truth and power. It is who dwells inside of us that makes us special. We have something that this world needs, even if they don't know it. We have the answer to this world's problems. Outside of Jesus, there is no answer.

God is a God of freedom. Everyone has a right to accept or reject truth, but all Christians have an obligation to offer the hope and the love of Christ to a hurting and dying world. Our neighborhood is our mission field. It is full of hurting people. It is full of people if whom died today, would go to hell. God is asking us who will Go. The harvest is ripe but the laborers are few. We can answer, send me Lord, I will go. We can make a difference.