Manuscript Releases, vol. 16 [Nos. 1186-1235]

MR No. 1191—The Church and the Gospel Commission

Every Church Member to Help Fulfill the Gospel Commission—The work of God is aggressive. No one can stand in a neutral position and yet be a soldier in the Lord's army. God has commands for His people, and if they keep in close connection with Him, they will hear His voice and will keep in step with their Captain. They will go forward in the conflict to fight the battles of the Lord. But those who place themselves in an indifferent, non-committal position will gain no victories. We are to work by faith and not by sight, allowing God to direct the warfare.... 16MR 36.1

The church as a whole is responsible for the fulfillment of the sacred commission, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” to those in the highways and those in the hedges. Every member of the church is held accountable in Christ's work. Every power of those who have come to a knowledge of the truth is to be enlisted. Reach to the heights; reach to the depths; there is no boundary. Everyone is to hear. Everyone is to receive light and truth, and transmit it to others. We are not half awake.—Manuscript 29, 1890, 2, 10. (Diary entry.) 16MR 36.2

To Every Man God Has Given His Work—There is no such thing as a loveless Christian. He who is in unity with Christ, in word, in life, and action, bears the living testimony that he has the mind and Spirit of Christ. Those who are truly the followers of Christ love as brethren, and are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Every true believer catches the bright beams from the Morning Star, and transmits the light to those who sit in darkness. Not only do they shine amid the darkness in their own neighborhoods, but as a church they go forth to regions beyond. The Lord expects every man to do his duty. Everyone who unites with the church is to be one with Christ, diffusing the bright beams of the Morning Star and becoming the light of the world. Christ and His people are to be co-partners in the great work of saving the world. 16MR 37.1

The churches have not been educated altogether as they should have been educated. They have been educated to depend upon the ministers to pray and to open the Scriptures to the people who assemble to worship God. God would have the people hear the voice of God, and go to work for the Master to become a blessing to the world. Thousands might be at work who are not ordained to preach the gospel, but are commissioned of Christ to do His work. To every man He has given his work. 16MR 37.2

If the love of God was a living, abiding element in the soul, there would be love among brethren, and many who have been indifferent to the great Teacher's commandment, who now bite and devour one another, would be convinced of their mistake, would work the works of Christ, and [would be] drawn into fellowship.... 16MR 37.3

Every Converted Soul to “Preach.” To every converted soul He says, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” It is not necessary that the Lord should first sit in earthly legislative councils and inquire of those who think they must plan for His work, “Will you permit men whom I have chosen to unite with you in working in some part of My moral vineyard?” Christ was standing only a few steps from His heavenly throne when He gave His commission to His disciples, and included as missionaries all who should believe in His name. Jesus wants every minister to whom He has committed a sacred trust to remember His injunctions, to consider the vastness of His work, and to place the obligation of preaching the gospel to the world upon the large number to whom it belongs. 16MR 38.1

“Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” [Luke 24:46, 47]. The power of God was to go with those who proclaimed the gospel. If those who claim to have a living experience in the things of God had done their appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would have been warned, and the Lord Jesus would have come to our world with power and great glory.—Letter 84, 1894, pp. 7-9. (Written November 14, 1894, from “Norfolk Villa,” Prospect Street, Granville NSW, to “Dear Children Edson and Emma.”) 16MR 38.2

Ellen G. White Estate

Washington, D. C.,

May 1, 1986.