In the bible we have what are called "universal truths" - those words written to ALL the body of Christ - during the time of Jesus and during the time of the Apostles and meant for all of Christ's believers (Jew and Gentile) that followed.

Here is the Great Commission as written from all four Gospels and the book of Acts:

Mathew

18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Mark

15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.


Luke

47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48And ye are witnesses of these things.
49And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
50And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
51And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.
52And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:
53And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

John (no real commission spoken of in John)

22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Acts

4And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
6When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.



My questions to the body of Christ -

1)is the great Commission a "universal truth" meant for ALL of us - in its entirety?
2)If no longer in its entirety, do we scrap the entire great commission (90% of Christians don't share their faith any ways),
3)Do we only believe "part of it" (what we want to believe of it - as has been the custom) or
4)do we believe our Lord and "go into all the world with signs following"? (which takes a separate in-filling of the Holy Spirit as evidenced several places in my Bible).

If we only want to believe "part of it" why are we willing to get rid of (by using one scripture that hints of it passing sometime in the future - more than likely when we see Jesus face to face) the most important piece - the infilling of God's Holy Spirit (sorry, but that POWER comes with evidence and signs) - the very Being that draws us closer to The Almighty, gives us a taste of how Jesus lived among us, gives us Divine knowledge (example - Peter and John were unlearned men who had been with Jesus and yet spoke with power to the crowd) and gives us POWER to be witnesses in this satanic, un-Godly world that we have to live in.

Please give the post prayerful consideration before replying. I would like this to be a civil discourse without any kind of denominational or personal attacks.

As a side note - have you ever had a positive experience seeing God's Holy Spirit power in action (such as a divine Healing, tongues and interpretation that edified the body of Christ, Powerful preaching OUTSIDE the walls of the church or a "thus saith the Lord" prophecy (that eventually came true), etc.).

Originally Posted by martydavis

My questions to the body of Christ -

1)is the great Commission a "universal truth" meant for ALL of us - in its entirety?
2)If no longer in its entirety, do we scrap the entire great commission (90% of Christians don't share their faith any ways),
3)Do we only believe "part of it" (what we want to believe of it - as has been the custom) or
4)do we believe our Lord and "go into all the world with signs following"? (which takes a separate in-filling of the Holy Spirit as evidenced several places in my Bible).

1) Yes, we are to fulfil the great commission in it's entirety.
2) Questions 2-4 are moot since the apostolic miracles (signs) pertained only to the apostles. These were fulfilled as such in verse 20.

They weren't only for the Apostles - too much proof to the contrary. Why would God - who changes not - take away the POWER of His Holy Spirit from us when we need it to be His witnesses just as much as the Apostles did? Too little scripture to back up your argument and way, way more to back up that we still have the same Lord Jesus, God the Father, and Holy Spirit today as they had when OUR church began.


A man with an Experience is NEVER at the mercy of a man with an argument!!

I'm living in the POWER of the Holy Spirit (with signs following), Jesus is my Lord and I Love you brother in Christ (they'll know we are His disciples by our love for one another). See you on the way up during the rapture.

[Diligent]

Originally Posted by martydavis

Why would God - who changes not - take away the POWER of His Holy Spirit from us when we need it to be His witnesses just as much as the Apostles did?

1. Because signs are for the Jews, and "to the Jew first" has already been fulfilled by Paul.

2. If God changing what gifts he gives to people constitutes a "God changing" then why wasn't it a "change" when God gave the gifts in the first place -- and didn't give them before? The "God doesn't change" argument is silly. God's character doesn't change, but his dealings with men have changed many times in the Bible.

A man with an Experience is NEVER at the mercy of a man with an argument!!

The man with the Bible always has an advantage over all the experience in the world. All experience must be "tried," especially the spirits (1Jo 4:1).

[PB1789]

Marty Davis:---Rather deceptive of you. You title the thread "The Great Commission" yet it should probably be titled something like: "Hug me, I'm a pentecostal ", or maybe "Charismatics are cool-why aren't all of you like me?"

It seems to me that most folks who come to this website and these Forums are people that believe the Written Word of God is TRUE! ...and thus most of us ( I surmise) don't wish to add to the Word of God with Pentecostal outbursts and "words" and "visions" and "signs" that are also believed on by the L.D.S. mormons and Tibetan buddhist monks.

For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in Heaven. Psalm 119:89

The Bible begins with Genesis and ends with Revelation. If you think the "Holy Spirit" (Who inspired the the writers of scripture) is giving you and the other pentecostals "words" then there is more than one Word of God.

Matthew 18:6 comes to mind: "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

I'm deeply sorry.

My intention was not to bring dis-harmony to the forum when I joined. MY love for the King James Bible brought me here and yes, I'm pentecostal and don't fit in here other wise.

I'll say goodbye and may all the blessings of the Lord be yours.

In Christ