Went Or Sent?

"My [Jesus] prayer is not that you [Father God] take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." - John 17:15-18

So just as God, the Father, sent Jesus (John 3:16) - Jesus sent out the disciples and those who, later, believed through the message from the disciples. 

"I [Jesus] pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in Me and I am in you." John 17:20-21

That would include you and me that Jesus was referencing. After Pentecost the promised Spirit of God, sent by the Father, sealed and indwelled and empowered those who believed the message (the Gospel) and were born again spiritually by faith (remember Nicodemus in John 3). Likewise, we must be empowered by the Spirit because we cannot do what God has purposed for us and sends us to do apart from God and the power of the Spirit of God. 

"So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty." - Zechariah 4:6

But I know there some, perhaps many, people who went but were not sent. That never ends well by the way. You cannot do anything for God apart from God. We are joining Him in His work. There are those who attempt to do things in the name of Jesus that don't know Jesus. They are not born again, or perhaps they are but have struck out on their own. God is part of it in name only. Do you remember the seven sons of Sceva?

"Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding." - Acts 19:13-16

God has a purpose and plan for each of us. We are to walk in obedience to it but not on our own, not apart from Him.

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone