Full Lesson HERE
INTRODUCTION. After choosing the twelve disciples, Jesus sent them forth to preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is called the limited commission, for they were to preach to the Jews only (Matt. 10:1, 5-42; Mark 6:7-13; Luke 9:1-6).
Prior to his last journey to Jerusalem, Jesus sent out seventy disciples as advance messengers along the route He intended to take. The disciples went on their mission, two by two, to prepare the people to receive Jesus. Jesus compared the people to a field of ripe grain ready to be harvested. He informed his disciples the laborers or reapers were few, and He instructed them to pray for more workers (Luke 10:1-20).
Before his ascension to heaven, Jesus met with his disciples on a mountain in Galilee. He instructed them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), teaching all nations to observe all things He had commanded (Matt. 28: 19-20). This is called the great commission because the disciples were to go into all the world.
After Jesus ascended to heaven, the twelve apostles preached to the crowd that was gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13). Following the sermon by Peter which is recorded, three thousand obeyed his instructions to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins (Acts 2: 14-41 ). These three thousand then"continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine [teaching]" (Acts 2:42). The remainder of the book of Acts deals with the preaching of the apostles and others to the world in accordance with Jesus' instructions.
The work of the church is to preach the gospel to the world, to edify or build up the saints, and to care for needy Christians (Mark 16:15; Eph. 4:11-12; Rom. 15:25-26). Caring for needy Christians has been discussed in the lesson on giving. This lesson deals with preaching and edifying.
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