Share your Jesus-deposit this Christmas

"You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers. " I Thessalonians 1:6-7 (NIV)

Think of it this way: the Great Commission is so vast, and your role is so critical, that God needs you to be in thousands of places at once. Now, you know that's humanly impossible and, as for the supernatural, God's not likely to defy his laws of nature to drop you into several different places at one time.

But God's strategy is so simple we might call it common sense.

He puts a Jesus-deposit in you, and then guides you with his supernatural strength to just the right places at just the right time to meet just the right people so you can teach them how to become living, breathing examples of Jesus.

God places Jesus-life in you, and then you tell and teach others so they can receive Jesus-life from God also. And then, they tell and teach others, who tell and teach others, who tell and teach others. In this sense, you're now simultaneously all over the globe because "Christ in you" is now "Christ in others."

This is how the early church grew. The first Jesus-ones received the deposit of the Holy Spirit and then became models to all the believers-their faith in God becoming known everywhere (1 Thessalonians 1:6-8). These were ordinary people, passing on the message of Jesus-life to the people around them and then to the people beyond their own provinces.

Jon Walker