Every believer-in-Jesus who has ever lived has received this same commission from Jesus: reach distant-from-God men and women with the Good News of God's love and forgiveness through Christ; and see that they learn how to live in the way he wants. But no one individual is expected to do all of that all by themselves. They’re expected to join up with other followers of Jesus - in churches - and get it done together.

We need to remember that whenever God gets ready to do something really big, He almost always begins with the words- "Fear not" or "don’t be afraid." At least 70 times in the Bible, God is recorded as saying that to someone. And I think maybe He’s saying this same thing to me and to some of you. "Fear not, get the whole army and go attack! Let’s do this, fear not."