The Forerunner – Part 3: The Mandate

The mandate of a forerunner is by far the weightiest subject to be addressed in this set of posts. Within my own reflection, I tend to define this as a commissioning the Lord gives to believers for the ushering in of a greater “kingdom now” reality. It is a ’sending’ (greater authority given) from God (you will understand to what and when you have been sent) to make ready humanity’s intellect and spirit for the coming of Jesus, by way of the “Kingdom” emerging into the “now” in an increased measure.

We have all been given a gifting for ministry (Eph. 4:11) but we are to use these giftings to walk out a greater calling, which has been strategically set upon our lives (example – Paul was an apostle, but he was sent to the Gentiles). In essence, what we are talking about is a sending. This mantle pervades

A Gulf Between Theory and Practice

The assent of theological constructs is not what makes a man Christian. There are those today who habitually press this issue of correct knowledge as being the plumb-line that separates death from life (To know Jesus brings eternal life [Jn. 17:3], but just a temporal, no, better yet, secular knowledge of His deity does not bring one everlasting bliss. For even the demons tremble at His presence and recognize He is God). Those who receive the Word without power are acquiring nothing less than a facade of ideological religion. This concept can be grasped in Paul’s first letter to Thessalonica as he pens, “For our Gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power” (1:5). The reciprocating implication that can be found in this verse is the potential for receiving the Gospel void of power. Let me elaborate. It is the power of the Spirit that transcends the words that fall from the pulpit in a congregation. Power brings more than an external adjustment, it leaves them in a state that is more than fundamentally the same.