The Go in God: Embracing Your Role in the Great Commission

There's something powerful about recognizing that we're all connected—not just to the people in our immediate circles, but to every person across the globe. When we trace humanity back through history, we discover a remarkable truth: we all come from the same source. From Noah's three sons after the flood, humanity spread across the earth. From one blood, as Paul declared in Athens, God "made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth"(Acts 17:26).

This isn't just ancient history or theological trivia. It's the foundation for understanding our responsibility to a world that desperately needs hope.

The Reality of the Unreached

Picture a map of the world. Now imagine coloring in red all the areas where approximately 3.5 billion people live—people among whom 90% have never heard the name of Jesus. Not once. They're born, live their entire lives, and pass into eternity without ever meeting someone who knows what many of us have known since childhood.

Someone once quipped that perhaps God should have given the Great Commission to the Coca-Cola Corporation. In 150 years, Coca-Cola has made its name known in virtually every corner of the planet. You can order a Coke almost anywhere. Yet after 2,000 years, there are still vast regions where you can buy a Coke but can't find anyone who knows about Jesus.

That's not a criticism—it's a wake-up call.

Without Excuse

Here's where it gets challenging. Romans chapter 1 tells us that humanity is "without excuse." Why? Because when people knew God, they didn't consider that knowledge worth holding onto. They exchanged the truth for a lie. You can't exchange something unless you had it to begin with.

The things of God have been clearly known since the beginning of creation—not just through what we observe in nature, but through knowledge passed down through time. Think about it: Adam lived 930 years. His life overlapped with Noah's father, Lamech, and with Methuselah, who lived right up to the flood. That's potentially hundreds of years of firsthand testimony about life in the Garden of Eden being passed down through oral tradition.

After the flood, Noah and Abraham were on the earth at the same time. Shem, through whom the godly line continued, actually outlived Abraham. God, in His mercy, ensured that knowledge of Him could be transmitted from generation to generation.

This means that unreached people groups aren't unreached because God failed to reveal Himself. Somewhere along the line, that knowledge was abandoned, exchanged, forgotten. And now, our generation has the responsibility—and the privilege—of bringing that knowledge back.

Stories That Change Everything

Consider Rafi. He was a mess—disowned by family, distrusted by his community, failed in business, drowning in debt. But he drove a taxi, and sometimes God puts people in our path for reasons we don't immediately understand.

Through simple relationship and repeated exposure to believers, Rafi's heart began to open. One day, a young boy approached him, thinking he was part of the ministry team. The boy's mother hadn't walked in months, and he wanted her healed so she could attend the meeting that night.

Rafi protested—he didn't know how to pray. But encouraged to try, he prayed the only way he knew: "in the name of Jesus." That evening, the boy walked into the meeting holding his mother's hand. She was healed.

That experience transformed Rafi. The rascal became righteous Rafi. He helped launch a church that started with over 300 people—in a country where only about 5,000 are Christ followers. Eighty-five people came to faith on launch Sunday. Rafi was the first to be baptized, later met his wife through ministry, and eventually became an assistant pastor running a relational outreach café.

Or consider Christelle, who came to faith and within six months led over 20 people to Jesus herself—before war broke out in her region.

These aren't exceptional people with extraordinary gifts. They're ordinary people who encountered the gospel through other ordinary people who simply went.

Filling the Earth Like Water Covers the Sea

Habakkuk 2:14 paints a stunning picture: "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." How much does water cover the sea? Completely. Absolutely. Without gaps.

That's the vision—a generation where the earth is filled with the knowledge of God's glory in the same way water covers the ocean. Not partially. Not mostly. Completely.

Matthew 24:14 connects this to the end times: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." The word "nations" here is ethnos—every people group, every tribe, every tongue.

Here's the remarkable truth: the global church has more than 22 times the resources necessary to complete the Great Commission in our generation. We can actually do this. If there's going to be a generation to finish the task, why not ours?

Finding Your Go

The first three letters of "Satan" spell "sat." That's his strategy—keep you sitting right where you are. But the first two letters of "God" spell "go." And that's His nature—always moving, always sending, always reaching.

So how do you find your "go"? Ask yourself four questions:

1. What do you love doing?

What comes so easily to you that when others marvel, you think, "Doesn't everyone do this?" That ease often indicates your grace.

2. What do you not like doing?

Defining what you're not called to is just as important as discovering what you are called to. You don't want to be the person wearing surgical gloves while greeting people at the door.

3. What do you see?

This is crucial. When you walk into a room, a church, a situation—what stands out to you? What makes you think, "Someone should fix that"? Often, you're the only one seeing it because you have the grace to address it. Don't let frustration drive you away from the very place you're called to serve with the very gift you're meant to use.

4. What do your leaders say?

Don't just run off to meet the need you see. Submit your observations and ideas to leadership. Listen to the heart behind their words. Often, you'll hear your purpose articulated through their vision.

The Ripple Effect

Not everyone can physically go to the ends of the earth. But everyone can do their part where they are. When you faithfully serve in your local context—whether that's greeting people, serving in children's ministry, giving financially, or praying consistently—you create a ripple effect that reaches around the world.

From the blood of one man, Jesus, every person on earth can be redeemed. That same gospel that transformed your life has the power to transform lives in the most remote, resistant places on the planet.

The generation that is now is responsible for the generation on earth today. When this generation of the church is gone, so too is this generation of the unreached—unless we do something about it.

The earth can be filled with the knowledge of God's glory. The Great Commission can be completed. The water can cover the sea.

The question isn't whether God can do it. The question is: will we be the ones who go?