The Incredible Human Potential PDF - Church of God Faithful Flock

118 THE INCREDIBLE HUMAN POTENTIALJesus plainly said NO MAN could come to Christ- believe - exceptthose specially called by the Father!Notice now the King James translation: "Afterward he[Jesus) appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, ... and hesaid unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel toevery creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall besaved ... "(Mark 16: 15-16). Of course NONE could believe and bebaptized EXCEPT those God the Father specially called. So there isNOWHERE ANY CONTRADICTION. The GREAT COMMISSION wasgiven to the APOSTLES - those "sent forth" with the Message -NOT the lay members ofthe Church.What, then? Did not the lay members have any part in proclaimingthe gospel? Definitely they did, as we have seen. Theirpart was to back up the apostles - stand behind them with theirprayers, encouragement, tithes and offerings. They are PART OF AWELL ORGANIZED TEAM, as we shall show in more detail.And there is NO EVIDENCE in either Matthew's account orMark's, that any were to be baptized except those God the Fatherhad called to a special service.But NOTHING contradicts the fact that God had withdrawnHis Holy Spirit from ALL, except those specially called.Now notice the account in Matthew 24. This is in the form ofa prophecy, for our present living generation:The King James has, "And this gospel of the kingdom shallbe preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, andthen shall the end [of this age] come" (Matt. 24: 14).The RSV is the same in meaning: "And this gospel of thekingdom wiH be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimonyto all nations, and then the end will come."The Church an Organized BodyIs the Church of God merely a scattered, isolated, number of professingChristians, each going his own way to get out the Gospelor,as many believe, to GET his personal salvation and eternallife?Jesus Christ specially called His disciples, trained them to becomeHis apostles. To THEM- the apostles- the ones "sent forth"with His Gospel message- He gave THE GREAT COMMISSION- notto the laity of the Church as a whole.