Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on hearth has been given to me."

As I was reading this extremely familiar verse the other day I was struck again that we go out into the world in the name of Jesus because of who he is. I am able to face whatever problem I come across because Christ has "all authority" over that problem. And in the face of that problem I am able to "make disciples" (v. 19) because of his authority. Furthermore, because Christ has authority over all things his message should be told to all people and all people need to hear his message. I believe I can even say that because of his authority I must tell people about Jesus because it doesn't make sense that anyone would not know someone with such absolute authority. Without Christ's authority, his Gospel doesn't make sense and is meaningless. Our very hope in Christ's salvation rests upon his authority and because we know his authority we must go and make disciples of people who do not know of his absolute authority.