FREDRICK AGWINGI WANDERE 5/10/2024

DIPLOMA CLASS BATCH 2

ELDORET G.B.T.C

Jesus honored us by assigning us the Great Commission and to be ambassadors for Him to the
ends of the earth, i.e., no place He would not be with us. We are to keep “the main thing the main
thing” and remember as Paul did to preach Jesus and Jesus crucified, i.e., the gospel message as
the focus and theme of our message. However, we cannot do this faithfully if we are not
practicing what we preach and living as Christ lived. We are to walk as we have received Christ,
as Lord. We must therefore be purpose-oriented, keep our mind on the Lord, and not lose heart.
We are to love the gospel, want to live it out, and never grow tired of its message as the milk of
the word that is so necessary for good spiritual health. The church that is obedient church focuses
on the goal: the Great Commission and has this as a great commitment until we have achieved
the Great Completion. We are to look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith and not to
focus on the world or ourselves.
The purpose is to bring glory to God and when we are obedient, this does that. That means
finding our niche and doing our part in the church. Discipleship begins in the church body as
mature believers mentor and train those who are younger in the faith by exercising their gift. We
are all students matriculated in the school of Christ and must be faithful for that cannot be
separated from our faith. Obedience and faith are forever joined together and we are challenged
to obey Christ's Great Commission. We must think big and follow Christ who said we would do
greater things than Him. As we are going about our daily routine, we are to be examples of
Christ's love and kindness. We all have an orbit of friends and can reach out to them To make
disciples means to teach them all Christ commanded and especially to be obedient, which is the
measure of our faith. God isn't looking for our personal achievements but our obedience and
love.
When properly armed with the truth we can march on to wherever Christ sends us. But we are
expected to bloom where we are planted! Let Christ send us! He expects us just to be willing.
The call to make disciples is the time-tested method of church growth and we do not need to re-
invent church growth techniques. Only in the church, can we find our place in the mission of
Christ and grow in grace and in knowledge for no believer is a Lone Ranger or hermit. We find
spiritual gifts through serving and willingness to be used by God. We want to be like Jesus and
follow on to know Him in discipleship. Our message is simple: preaching Jesus and His gospel.
But we must get them lost first and not water down our call to repentance and faith (no-lordship
discipleship) is not salvation. We must preach that sinners repent and receive Christ as Lord of
their lives and Savior and that they only trust in Him and obey Him in all things. Repentance and
faith go hand in hand: believing repentance or penitent faith (cf. Acts 20:21; Heb. 6:1). They
must bring forth fruits to be real; there is no genuine repentance without saving faith. We should
not be asking what the mission as much is as: What is the mission for me? Personalize it and see
that we all have a place in God's redemptive plan and will. "Let the redeemed of the LORD say
so!" (cf. Psalm 107:2). We will see that the gospel is always relevant and is for everyone as it
goes out to all in earnest and anyone who repents can be saved. We must bear in mind that our
strongest witness is a personal testimony that cannot be refuted.
FREDRICK AGWINGI WANDERE 5/10/2024
DIPLOMA CLASS BATCH 2
ELDORET G.B.T.C

The good news is that all humankind has been offered the opportunity to be set free from sin,
death, spiritual and religious oppression and servitude because of what Jesus of Nazareth
achieved in His death and resurrection from the grave. The gift of righteousness and adoption is
available to all who will confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts
that God raised Him from the dead for the forgiveness of sin. I am sure you will agree that if that
is true (I for one believe that it is), it is important that as many people as possible hear about and
are presented with the opportunity as possible. As beneficiaries of the most amazing gift it would
be pretty hateful not to pass it on when it is free to all who will believe.

Being and making disciples of Jesus according to his teachings as they have been passed down
to us from the Apostles whom Jesus sent. In Matthew Then Jesus came to them and said, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to
the very end of the age.”

In Luke Then, he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them,
“This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and
repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has
promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

In Acts of the Apostles (the second volume to the Gospel of Luke) then they gathered around
him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said
to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The earliest manuscripts of Mark lack these verses, so they may not have been part of the
original. Nonetheless, I will add them for good measure. Later He appeared to the eleven as they
sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not
believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, “Go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he
who does not believe will be condemned.

Christianity or the gospel of Joshua ben Joseph? Christianity is a religion that was founded,
largely, on the teachings of Paul. Like Paul, it is influenced by religious themes that were in
vogue at the time, like a profound distrust of the flesh or anything material. In the centuries that
followed this led Christianity to take some peculiar philosophical turns away from the positive
message lived and proclaimed by Jesus.

One of the key tenets of Christianity would be the atonement doctrine which, while a spiritually
useful interpretation of the life and events of the Master, does not reflect the actual essence of his
message (for me at least). But it also contains much of what he did teach like: grace, faith and
salvation.
FREDRICK AGWINGI WANDERE 5/10/2024
DIPLOMA CLASS BATCH 2
ELDORET G.B.T.C

Among Biblical books it ranks first in telling how the Church and kingdom of God on earth operates
when Jesus the King is not personally resident on planet earth. “Acts tells how the spiritual gifts
multiplied until they were enjoyed by the apostles and by whole congregations of the faithful. Acts
recounts the facts relative to church organization, missionary journeys, and the general spread of truth in a
pagan world. It tells of the persecutions, stonings, trials, and impositions heaped upon those who center
their hearts on Christ and strive to overcome the world. “But Acts is more than a book of spiritual
superlatives; it is also an account of righteous men and their weaknesses and bickerings, their jealousies
and foibles, their failures and successes. “The meridian saints are not perfect. Paul contends with Silas,
corrects Peter, and rejects Mark as a missionary companion. Acts does in reality record how the Holy
Spirit operates in the true Church; it is indeed the book, which tells how God directs his earthly kingdom.

The kingdom of the risen and exalted Lord Jesus does not advance through signs and wonders; it
doesn’t advance simply through good deeds; it doesn’t advance through violence and force; and it
certainly doesn’t advance by the church waiting passively for the “rapture.” The kingdom of God
advances through witnessing. Heaven invading earth is the gospel being proclaimed and bearing
fruit by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let it be understood by all that Jesus Christ stands at the
head of this church which bears His sacred name. He is watching over it. He is guiding it.
Standing at the right hand of His Father, He directs this work. The promise of the Holy Ghost
that the Lord extended to the Apostles as recorded in Acts 1:4–8 may seem confusing in light
of John 20:22, which says that Jesus “breathed on [the Apostles], and saith unto them, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost.” Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained
that “Jesus ‘breathed on them,’ which probably means that he laid his hands upon them as he
uttered the decree: ‘Receive … the Holy Ghost.
They thus received, but did not at that moment actually enjoy, the gift of the Holy Ghost. … The
gift of the Holy Ghost is the right, based on faithfulness, to receive the constant companionship
of this member of the Godhead; and this gift is conferred by the laying on of hands following
baptism. This gift offers certain blessings provided there is full compliance with the law
involved; everyone upon whom the gift is bestowed does not in fact enjoy or possess the offered
gift. In the case of the apostles the actual enjoyment of the gift was delayed until the day of
Pentecost. (Acts 2.) An eyewitness was not enough. Even the witness and testimony of the
original Apostles had to be rooted in the testimony of the Holy Ghost.
Some commentators have outlined the book geographically, using a formula Jesus gave his
disciples: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends
of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Although Luke begins the story in Jerusalem, he does not stick to a
precise geographical sequence. Philip’s work in Samaria (Acts 8:5-25) is described before
Peter’s work in Judea (Acts 9:32-43). Later, the story moves back and forth from Antioch to
Jerusalem, from Europe back to Asia, back to Jerusalem, etc. And the book ends with Paul in
Rome, which was the center of the Empire, not “the ends of the earth. Acts tells the story of how
Christianity began and spread. No history book ever has enough space to tell all the facts. The
historian must select the facts that are most important and the events that played critical roles in
FREDRICK AGWINGI WANDERE 5/10/2024
DIPLOMA CLASS BATCH 2
ELDORET G.B.T.C

the development of later situations. The historian must interpret the facts and present them in an
organized way. Luke does this well. With literary skill, he gives numerous details and interesting
personality sketches that help us understand what happened.
Ancient histories often included speeches. There are 18 speeches in Acts. Many of them record
the basic message of the early church. Just as Acts 1:8 gives a rough geographical preview of the
book of Acts, Luke 24 gives us a preview of the theological message: “This is what is written [in
the Scriptures]: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance
for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Several speeches or sermons in Acts contain similar concise descriptions of the gospel. They
argue that Jesus is the Messiah, that he fulfilled Old Testament prophecies, that God raised him
from the dead and that he is the answer to Jewish and Gentile hopes. Speeches are better at
communicating these ideas than a historical description could be. As we read these speeches, we
can learn important truths, not just ancient history.
Unlike most history books, Acts is filled with references to God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy
Spirit. The story simply wouldn’t have been possible without God. He started it, motivated it and
gave it direction, energy, purpose, message and protection. Luke does not give us a systematic
description of God, but he describes what God did with the church . The word “God” appears
more than 160 times in the book. He is the Creator, the God of the Old Testament, who speaks
through the Scriptures. He is praised, worshiped, obeyed and prayed to. Luke tells us repeatedly
that God sent Jesus Christ, raised him from the dead, glorified him and gave him authority. God
is the One who calls people to repentance, who gives the Holy Spirit, who directs the mission. It
is his work — the message is about “the kingdom of God,” “the word of God,” the gospel of “the
grace of God. “Lord” appears about 110 times, usually referring to Jesus. (“Jesus” appears 68
times, often in the combination “Lord Jesus”). Luke rarely uses the term “Son” (four times), just
as he only rarely uses “Father” (three times). His choice of words probably reflects the needs of
his Gentile readers. We are told that “the Lord” did the works of the apostles, that they preached
his name, that he appeared in visions to direct the work, and that he was prayed to. Just as the
gospel was called the word of God, it is also called “the word of the Lord.” Those who repented
and believed were “added to the Lord.
Luke uses “Christ” only 31 times. In Paul’s letters, and in modern Christianity, “Christ” is often
treated as part of Jesus’ name: “Jesus Christ.” Luke, however, often uses “Christ” in its original
meaning, Messiah: “Jesus is the Christ.” (The Greek word Christos means “anointed,” just as the
Hebrew word Mashiyach [Messiah] does). Luke sometimes uses “Christ” as a name, too, as in
the combination “the Lord Jesus Christ.” Luke tells us much about the Holy Spirit. Although
Acts contains only 13 percent of the words of the New Testament, it contains 23 percent of the
occurrences of the word “Spirit.” In the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is active — speaking and
directing the work; the Spirit is the power by which the apostles testified that Jesus is the Christ
(Acts 1:8).
FREDRICK AGWINGI WANDERE 5/10/2024
DIPLOMA CLASS BATCH 2
ELDORET G.B.T.C

While Luke tells the story of the spread of the Christian gospel from Jerusalem to Rome, he is
also able to achieve some additional purposes. A major theological goal is to explain why
Christianity was becoming more Gentile than Jewish. Luke stresses the connection that
Christianity has with Jews and with the Old Testament, and explains how God and the risen
Jesus directed that the message extend to all nations, as the Old Testament had predicted. Jesus
fulfills the hopes and needs of Gentiles as well as of Jews. How could the disciples preach to all
nations? The Gospel of Luke does not tell us. But it tells us that Jesus told the disciples to “stay
in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (verse 49). What is this power,
and what is it for? This is where Acts picks up the story. Jesus taught his disciples about the
kingdom of God and told them to wait in Jerusalem for a special gift from God (Acts 1:4). “In a
few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (verse 5). Luke, the inspired story-teller, is
setting the stage for the dramatic events that will soon be narrated .
Christ’s answer focuses our thoughts on other people. Instead of dwelling on the physical things
we want, we should focus on the spiritual blessings we have already been given, and we should
share them with others. We who have been given the Holy Spirit should share the good news of
salvation — that people of all nations can become part of the people of God through faith,
repentance, forgiveness and the Holy Spirit. We do not need to worry about when Christ will
return. We simply need to be doing the mission he has given his people in the meantime. The
disciples’ question and Jesus’ answer continue to be relevant today. Many Christians want
physical blessings from God’s kingdom. They eagerly pray for Christ to return in their lifetime
so he will solve their problems. However, the spiritual blessings that Christ will bring are much
more important than the physical blessings. Despite that, it is easy for us physical beings to focus
on our physical needs.