Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today, let’s examine Jesus’ Great Commission promise.

Today’s scripture is Matthew 28:19‭-‬20 (ERV), which says…
So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have told you to do. You can be sure that I will be with you always. I will continue with you until the end of time.”

Consider…
Many of us are familiar with today’s scripture, which is called the Great Commission. It, along with Acts 1:8 (NLT), are Jesus’ evangelism marching orders for His followers. Reminder, here’s what Jesus said in Acts…
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus’ ‘ends of the earth’ took on new meaning, with the virtual Word share explosion that was ignited during COVID. Myriads of churches developed live streaming worship services, during the shelter in place mandates. An unintended byproduct of their decision, was reaching visitors around the world. Yeppers, “ends of the earth” has become a virtual reality.

Yet as amazing as God’s use of technology to spread His Word is, it pales in comparison to His promise to those who are part of His plan. In both today’s scripture and Acts 1:8, Jesus promises God’s presence. Notice He said, I “You can be sure that I will be with you always. I will continue with you until the end of time”, and “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you”.

God’s neverending presence is what the Holy Spirit is guiding me to explore today.

In John 15:4 (NLT), Jesus exhorts us…
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

Connection is the word ringing in my consciousness. Like extension cords, we have to be connected to the power source, in order to extend that power to others. Having power over sin, and being made right with Him is what He wants to pass to and through us. Life-giving power to live for, and with, Him in this dying world, is what He wants us to help others connect to. Christ empowers us to add more fruit to His tree of life.

It just occurred to me that Jesus didn’t tell His fruit to bear more fruit, rather He told His connected branches to bear Him fruit. God doesn’t want us to be content just being His fruit, He wants us to become His fruit-bearers.

Have you ever noticed the nuance of Jesus’ message? He tells found sinners to repent and be saved. However, He tells the found to join Him in His ‘search and rescue’ mission to find other lost sinners.

Notice, I said join Him. From the beginning, God has shown Himself to be a hands-on Lord and Savior. Recall, while He spoke the rest of creation into existence, He used His hands to make Man. (Genesis 2:7). He didn’t stop with His hands, He also breathed life into our nostrils.

This makes me think of the lyrics in the song, ‘Great Are You Lord’…

It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise, we pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only

It also inspires me to sing the refrain of another song, which says…

Lord, I give You my heart
I give You my soul
I live for you alone
And every breath that I take
Every moment I’m awake
Lord, have Your way in me

God breathed life into us, because He wants us to live for Him.

I keep hearing, connections.

Connections…Romans 8:2 (NLT) tells us…
And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

Connections…Romans 8:11 (NLT) declares…
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

Connections…Acts 17:28 (ERV) confesses…
It is through him that we are able to live, to do what we do, and to be who we are. As your own poets have said, ‘We all come from him.’

Hopefully you see the connection. The Holy Spirit is emphasizing that more than making connections for Christ, He wants us to stay connected to Him.

You see Jesus wants us to extend, what we have with Him. If we’re not connected in relationship with Him, we’re just being pretenders. The Holy Spirit is exhorting us to extend, not pretend.

Speaking of what we have with Christ, the Holy Spirit just made another connection for me, it is that the power God wants us to extend is His love. (John 15:12). We’re loved by Him to extend love for Him.

The final connection for today is, based on Jesus’ exhortation in John 15:4 cited earlier. The Holy Spirit is saying, if I am always abiding in Jesus, His presence is always abiding in me. This means, wherever I go, His presence will be there also, to be extended to others, even to the ends of the earth.

The Holy Spirit is emphasizing the fact that Jesus is only interested in forever connections.

Today’s song is….
Forever

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)