The Last Commandment of Christ: Reclaiming the Great Commission with Fr. Evan Armatas

Hank Unplugged: Essential Christian Conversations

The Christian Research Institute

Education, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture

5 • 791 Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2023

⏱️ 97 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jesus’ last words to his disciples were “Go . . . and make disciples of all the nations” (Matt. 28:19-20). Unfortunately, many churches are struggling to follow this commandment. In his book Reclaiming the Great Commission, Fr. Evan Armatas offers a roadmap to help us get back on track. Fr. Evan joins Hank Hanegraaff to discuss the need for Christians to follow the last commandment of Christ and reclaim the Great Commission.Topics discussed include: A modern day parable that explains why the church today is often failing to fulfill the last commandment of Christ (2:30); are evangelism programs a waste of time? (9:00); what have evangelicals discovered in their pursuit of sharing the Gospel? (11:30); is evangelism often more caught than taught? (13:45); finding ways to get out of God’s way—what are the biggest barriers that the church has erected around itself? (17:20); the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster as an example of why the Church needs to focus on the little things (25:30); what can we learn from the candle stand? (28:00); going after the Greek festivals—the issue of imbalanced identity and why culture cannot become the defining characteristic of our churches (33:05); what does it take to maintain a healthy church? (43:30); the importance of having a clearly defined identity as a Christian (56:45); growth is a byproduct of a healthy church (1:03:45); faith and planning are not mutually exclusive—on spiritual laziness and the importance of planning (1:10:45); how important is it for a church to have a strategic plan? (1:13:30); resistance is part of transformation (1:17:45); how did Hank Hanegraaff get into ministry? (1:20:45); reclaiming the great commission by equipping leaders that lead to healthy churches (1:27:45); getting back to the basics of the Christian faith (1:32:15).For further information on how to receive Reclaiming the Great Commission: A Roadmap to Parish Health for your partnering gift please click here. For information on Fr. Armatas other book Toolkit for Spiritual Growth: A Practical Guide to Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving for your partnering gift, please click here.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	And welcome to another edition of the Hank Unplug podcast, a podcast that is absolutely committed
0:28.7	to bring interesting, informative, and inspirational people directly to your earbuds.
0:34.2	And my guest today is someone that we've had on the Hank Unplug podcast before. He wrote
0:40.9	an incredible little book, which is available through the ministry, which is called a toolkit
0:46.0	for spiritual growth. And in that book, he talks about a practical guide to prayer, fasting,
0:52.9	and almsgiving, the three-legged stool. That book, if you don't
0:56.7	have it, is a must read. And when I was doing that podcast, my guest, Father Evan
1:04.7	Armitas, was telling me that he thought I was doing the podcast on another book. So he wasn't
1:10.6	prepared to talk about that particular book, although he did an amazing job on the podcast on another book. So he wasn't prepared to talk about that particular
1:12.0	book, although he did an amazing job on the podcast, but he wanted to talk about his newest book,
1:16.7	which is titled Reclaiming the Great Commission, A Roadmap to Parish Health. It's a very
1:23.7	important book on a very significant topic, the apex of all topics, because it deals
1:30.5	with Christ's great commission. What Jesus says in Matthew chapter 28, therefore go make
1:35.4	disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
1:41.1	teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and lo, I'm with you,
1:44.9	even to the end of the age.
1:46.3	Nothing could be more significant than the Great Commission.
1:49.5	Well, let me properly introduce Father Evan Armatos.
1:55.0	He is a parish priest in Colorado.
1:58.6	And one of the significant things about Father Evan is that he founded the
2:03.1	St. Nectarious Education Fund, and that fund has established five schools in Africa, educating
2:10.4	over 5,000 students. He also hosts a live call-in radio show in Ancient Faith Radio.
	...

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