The Great Commission

good morning would y'all stand god is good god is good amen we want to welcome you to calvary chapel this morning i'm just kind of like a whoa little ringy thingy um want to welcome you here this morning to calvary chapel we also want to welcome those of you who have joined us online join me as we pray father we just lift this time to you we thank you for this opportunity you've given us to gather to worship you in song lord to study your word lord to fellowship with you and one another may this be a time of really encouragement and refreshment lord as we gather here this morning lord give us the strength lord to live for you and your might lord and your power encourage us in our walk and witness for

you lord we ask and strengthen us again with your mind in jesus name every song we could ever sing is we could ever bring or breathe we live for you jesus the only one who could ever say we're your sheep we want to follow as we consider ourselves followers of christ lord we give you thanks we praise you lord and father we believe that this morning you're a good good father who loved us so much you since your only begotten son to die on the cross for us and whoever will rely upon cling to and trust in you'll save them yes and you've saved us we thank you for that you're worthy of our praise lord we just lift praise to your holy name we sing holy holy holy worthy of our praise lord is good let us give you a hai

you and mary and the ladies witnessed how down they were at the beginning and when they saw the risen christ and of course the boys then later see him ascend up into the clouds and And they were told, in the same way you see him go, he'll return. Oh, it's worth praising the Lord, isn't it? He's worthy of all of our praise.

Help us shout it. He'd want us to. In our city, Kansas, our country, Lord, the other parts of the earth, Lord, may the witness of you go forth strongly. And we give you thanks. Bless our time in your word now. Anoint Pastor Ryan with the power of your Holy Spirit to teach us your word this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's have some fellowship, guys. Good morning.

I'm glad you're here this morning. If you could begin to locate a seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to get going.

Over on the left-hand side of the bulletin are the things that are going on this week. So find one of those spots to get plugged into. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, first of all, there is some things coming up. Joe Palmer is going to be starting, and he's not here for first service to share about this. He's going to be starting a small group in February.

I believe they're going to meet on Thursday nights, and they're going to be doing a similar thing to what Dr. Davis was doing, where they're going to take some discussion questions and dig in a little bit deeper to what we talk about on Sunday mornings. He'll share a little bit more about that at second service. Also, there is T-shirts and things back there.

She's putting together an order from any of the shirts. That's the first that we did last year. She's putting together an order for that. So if you want to see Sandra Davis after the service, if you're interested in buying a T-shirt or a sweatshirt that says either Calvary Chapel on it, or that says your life has value, or that says he is my king, those are the ones we made last year.

So that order will be out there. And then the other thing that's coming up starting next week is the youth group is going to be doing a little coffee shop bar thing in between the services. So Tristan is going to come up and share a couple of things about that. So Tristan Rich, everyone.

Good morning. So a while back, Rachel and I prayed for a way that the youth group could perform some servanthood as well as raise funds for activities and trips that we have going on. So we talked about a bunch of ideas, prayed about a bunch of ideas, and we landed on a small coffee shop. So we are going to have a small coffee shop back in the kitchen on Sundays from 930.

So we are going to have a small coffee shop back in the kitchen on Sundays from 945 to 1045. It is donation only. We'll have espressos, lattes, cold brew, donuts. So come fellowship with us, get coffee, give as your heart desires. We hope that we can really grow this ministry, teach the kids a lot about servanthood and their interactions with their elders and our congregation, get them more involved.

And we hope that this can kind of come true. And we hope that this can kind of kickstart some other desires to do things outside of the church as well. So if you would come visit us, that would be great. I want to make a note that the regular black coffee is still available. We are not taking that away. The ushers will serve that still. So don't worry. You can still have your black coffee.

So thank you.

All right. Thanks, man. Well, I'm excited. I was here at the end of their training time yesterday. So they're working hard to get all this. Put together. So I'm pretty excited for him. Those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our unison reading this morning, we're going to be in Psalm 29. Looking at the new American standards.

So we sound the same this morning. If you need a copy, should be plenty in the rows around you. Psalm 29.

And as you're turning there, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

Psalm 29, a Psalm of David. If you'd read along with me. A scribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty. A scribe to the Lord, glory and strength. A scribe to the Lord, the glory due to his name. Worship the Lord in holy array. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic.

The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf. And Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord hues out flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calve.

And strips the forest bare. And in his name. In his temple, everything says glory. The Lord sat as king at the flood. Yes, the Lord sits as king forever. The Lord will give strength to his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. Father, we do praise you for how powerful you are, Lord. That your voice can both strike fear in the heart of your enemies.

And yet peace in the hearts of your people. And so, Lord, speak to us this morning, we pray. We need to hear from you. Because if we don't hear from you, what's the point of showing up? So, Lord, I pray that you would speak to us this morning through your word. By the power of your Holy Spirit, the words that we need to hear. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name.

Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28. Matthew, chapter 28. Today is our last study in the book of Matthew. We've been in the book of Matthew for quite some time now. And I've really enjoyed our time in the book of Matthew. It's been a lot of fun. But today, as we come to chapter 28, we look at, as a title, the Great Commission.

I debated whether I was going to make one whole message out of this. Or whether I would add it into the resurrection of Jesus from the last week. But I thought, you know what? There's enough going on in the world. There's enough need right now. That it's time to talk about what our role as the church is. So, there's three things I want to talk about this morning when we discuss the Great Commission.

I want to discuss the need. I want to discuss the commission. And I want to discuss the application. What that looks like for us and how we live these things out. So, the first thing I want to discuss is the need. Before we even get into the text. I don't know if anybody's been paying attention to the world right now. But there's great need in the world. And I looked at this in three different ways.

First of all, I thought about globally. What the need is globally. And man, when you look at the world right now, the world is just in upheaval. Would you agree? The conflicts that seem to be going on in various parts of the world. The power struggles that seem to be going on in various parts of the world. The illnesses that seem to be popping up in different parts of the world.

And how it's being handled. I think about Europe and how closed Europe is to the gospel. And how closed Europe is to the word of God. I think about the 1040 window. Which if you don't know what that is. That's the area of like Asia and Eastern Europe. That is so closed off to the gospel. And the believers that are suffering persecution there. I think about what's going on in the world.

Right now. And I think, man, there is so much need. The abject poverty, the lack of the gospel and the conflicts present such a great need for the truth to go out. Then I think about our own nation and the things that are going on in our country. Once again, we see what appears to be a power vacuum right now. That everyone's fighting for power, but it seems like nobody's fighting for people.

Everyone's fighting to be in charge, but no one's fighting to lead. And. And that seems to be going on everywhere in the nation right now, both on the national and local level. Nationally, I see that inflation is at a level we've never seen before. Need is at a level that we haven't seen very often before. And the rampant sin within our nation that seems to be absolutely plaguing the morals of our country is so great.

And then on top of that, we add to it the fact that kids on almost a daily basis are turning to drugs. Many of which are not. Many of which are not. Many of which are laced with fentanyl. And so they're finding themselves landing either in the ER and unresponsive conditions or in the morgue because what they took killed them. And then I look at us locally because we live in small town USA, right?

We live in our Kansas City, Kansas, where not much really goes on. Except is that really the case right now? We've seen issues take place in the high school, right? Amongst teachers. We have seen issues take place in the middle school with kids making some really unwise decisions. We see issues in our leadership within the community and we see all kinds of debates.

We see all kinds of strife and contention within the community and all I can think is our community is just a microcosm of the great need that we see both in the world and in the nation. And if we only look at the need, it can become overwhelming. But every now and then, I think one of the greatest things we can do is look at the need. And I'm like, oh, my God.

I'm like, oh, my God. I'm like, oh, my God. Allow ourselves to be a little bit overwhelmed, but quickly then return to the fact that we don't need to be overwhelmed because in the midst of all of the need, there is an answer. And the answer is not found in a new law that we can pass. The answer is not found in a new spending bill. The answer is not found by trying to make sure that we become more green.

The answer is not found by outlawing more drugs. The answer is found in Jesus Christ and in the gospel message that he promised. I met with a group of high school kids Friday morning and I said, what do you think the biggest problem facing our world right now is? And they all listed a handful of things. And I agreed with all of the things that they listed with.

Those are really big problems. But I was able to tell them, but do you know what the main problem that we deal with right now is? All of those things that you mentioned can all be summed up with one word. Sin. Because that's at the heart of the problem in our world. And the only answer to the main issue that our world faces right now is sin. Sin comes down to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Which is why when Jesus rose from the dead and met with his disciples, knowing that he was about to go sit at the right hand of the father, and he was going to leave them with the work that still needed to be done. He told them, when I leave, this is what you need to do. This is what it's going to look like to carry the one message that will solve the main problem in the world to the entire world around you. And that's what he gives us in this great commission.

And so we pick up in Matthew. Chapter 28, verse 16. It says this, but the 11 disciples proceeded to, to Galilee, to the mountain, which Jesus had designated. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son,

and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. As we start off this commission, the first thing that I take note of is that there was a meeting on a mountain. Have you noticed that in the book of Matthew, all of the great meetings took place on a mountain? There was the sermon on the mount.

There was the transfiguration on the mount. There was the Olivet discourse. It took place on the Mount of Olives. And now there's this moment, this moment of Jesus commissioning his disciples. We're told that the 11 found themselves gathered to Galilee. And between the time of Jesus's resurrection and this meeting, some time has elapsed. Jesus had met with his disciples in Jerusalem, in the upper room.

Matthew leaves that part out. But at this point in time, they've all gone back to Galilee. They've had time to calm down. They've had time to collect their thoughts, to embrace. The fact that Jesus is alive. And now it's time for Jesus to give them their marching orders. Matthew tells us that specifically the 11 are gathered on this mountain. This mountain, by the way, which is not identified.

Probably something that was very familiar to them in the region of Galilee. Matthew tells us that specifically the 11 were there. But most scholars believe that there were much more than 11 people there. As a matter of fact, in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, it tells us that Jesus appeared at one time to more than 500 people. All gathered in one place.

Most scholars believe that reference is to this. Is to this meeting of Jesus on the mountain with his 11 plus about 489 others. So that he could commission them to go out and share the word. So as they meet, notice what happens. First of all, it says that they all worshipped him. But there's a second thing that's mentioned. But some of them doubted. That word to doubt means uncertainty.

Uncertainty or hesitation. We know that this doubt was something that many of them dealt with. And it wasn't a doubt as if they didn't believe at all. It was more of a, can this really be real? Can this really be true? Have you ever found yourself in that place? Where God does something amazing. And you don't doubt that he can or did do it. But you're just in so much amazement that you're kind of hesitant.

Can this really be true? Is this really what God is doing right now? And that's kind of how they gathered. They worshipped him. But they also were. Somewhat hesitant, many of them, about what was going on at that point in time. And as they gathered on this mountain, worshipping Jesus with a little hesitation in their hearts, Jesus begins to speak. And as he begins to speak, he's going to give them four commands.

Wait, I got ahead of myself. I love to do this at first service. I get ahead of myself. He starts off by saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. That tells us something about what Jesus is about to tell these disciples. Because Jesus starts off much like a police officer would start off if he was going to arrest you. This is the police.

You're under arrest. They start off by making the statement of authority. Is this the wrong week to bring that up? They start off with that statement of authority. And then they continue on with what they're going to say. And that's exactly what Jesus does. He says, All authority has been given to me. Now that tells us something about the command that's coming.

It tells us that what he's about to tell them is not a suggestion. It's not even a principle they should live their life by. It's actually an authoritative command that's being given to them. This is not just a suggestion. Hey, if you don't have anything else going for the rest of your life, maybe you should do the things that I tell you to do. No, he says,

The thing that should encapsulate the rest of your life is the thing that I'm about to tell you to go do. This authoritative command would be what would send them out. That's it. David Guzik in his commentary said, His authority sends us. His authority guides us. And his authority empowers us. And we talked last week about where that authority comes from. Where does that authority come from?

Well, the fact that when he was raised from the dead, he was declared to be the son of God. With what? With power. Or we could substitute that word with authority. And now as he stands there in front of them, he reminds them, All authority has been given to me. And now I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you what you need to go do. Now we come to the part I tried to jump into.

Four commands. Number one, he says, Go, therefore. Go. Many people take that word go to mean that that means that you have to go now to the other side of the globe. Matter of fact, we actually had a guy come and teach at Bible college one time, and my heart did not bear witness with what he was saying. And I didn't really know why until one of our teachers later pointed out what this actually meant.

He came and told us, Everybody says, The special calling is to go somewhere else in the world and not where you are right now. He said, I tell you, Everybody's called to go to the other side of the world to another country. The special calling is to stay. And I was like, I don't think that's true. That feels off to me. And it's because it is off. The special calling that you have in your life is to go.

So what does he mean by go? Well, we have to understand that in the tense of the Greek word that's used there, it could actually be translated like this. As you go, make disciples, or wherever you go, make disciples. That tells us that the go has nothing to do with packing your bags and moving somewhere else. The go has everything to do with wherever you go throughout your day.

I'll point out why that's important in a little bit as I apply it to our lives, but there's no special calling to go somewhere else. Sometimes God will tell you, I want you to move to this other place. I remember when God called me back down to Ark City, it was very clear in my mind. It was very clear in mine and my wife's understanding that this is where he was calling us to.

But that didn't mean I wasn't to make disciples in the place where I was at that point in time. Go means make this a part of your everyday life. He says, go, therefore. The second command that he gives is to make disciples, make disciples. It's interesting because these are the 11. Did you pay attention to verse 16? What he called them? The 11 disciples. These disciples were to make disciples.

So you should probably ask yourself a question. What's a disciple? Well, a disciple is simply defined in the Greek as a pupil or a learner. Somebody who learns things that tells us that a disciple is anyone who is trying to learn the truth. He says, you're to go and you're to make a disciple. Now, Jesus gave us a definition of a disciple. He said, if anyone would follow me,

he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. And so with those two things, we have to understand this is what we're called to make is we are called to make disciples. We're called to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Those who would follow him. Now we have to understand something about making a disciple. Making a disciple does not mean making a convert.

Evangelism is an important part of making a disciple, but that's only the beginning. I fear that sometimes most of us think that as long as somebody gets saved, they're going to be great and everything's going to be okay. No, you change somebody's mind, but now you need to lead them to change their life. You see, when somebody changes their mind, they'd make a decision for Jesus Christ, but now their entire life has to be changed.

And too often, the problem is that within churches, there aren't disciples. There are only people who change their mind. And now the one decision that they made is I'm going to come to church every Sunday, but it hasn't encapsulated every single portion, every single portion of their life. You see, a disciple is someone who is a constant learner and to make disciples.

First of all, you must be a disciple yourself, but then we have to realize that it is a day in day out doing life with people. It requires the entire body of Christ to make disciples of Jesus Christ, who will pour into the lives of others. Pouring into the lives of others means that I don't just see them on a Sunday morning. It means that I pay attention to every aspect of their life.

I pour into every part of their life. It is a daily investment in people. And if you follow the book of Acts, one of the things that you take note in is that those disciples, when they were making disciples, made a daily investment in the life of people. He says, go wherever you go, anywhere you go. And as you're going there, make disciples, make disciples of Jesus Christ,

invest in the lives of people, make disciples of Jesus Christ, invest in the lives of people. He then tells them a third thing that they're to do. They are to baptize, baptize them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism, of course, is for two things. Baptism is for identification and baptism is for proclamation. You see, when I become a believer in Jesus Christ,

I then become baptized. I, I go and I, I take part in what's called a water baptism. We've talked about this. We had two of them last summer. It's a beautiful thing because when somebody gets baptized, they are identifying both with the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And you're saying that death and that resurrection of Jesus Christ are now what has changed my life.

I identify him with him in his death. I identify with him in his resurrection. And now as I come out of the water, I proclaim to everybody, I am a brand new creation. I am a brand new creation. Created in Christ. And so he says, baptize them only there to be baptized into what? The name of the father and the name of the son and the name of the Holy Spirit. I love that Matthew includes this or that Jesus makes sure to include this.

And Matthew wrote it down because we are baptized into that triune Godhead. Praise the father, praise the son, praise the spirit. Three in one. Isn't that a beautiful line? Because that's what we're baptized into. We're baptized into or unto the name. The name. The name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit so that we can both be identified with.

That triune Godhead and proclaim to everybody that triune Godhead is who has given me life. He says, go. He says, make disciples. He says to baptize, but he doesn't just leave them there. Notice the fourth thing that he tells them that they're to do. Teach. Verse 20, teaching them to observe. All that I commanded you. He says that you're not just to make these disciples and leave them there.

You're now to teach them. Teach them all of the things that I taught you. Teach them what it looks like to live life. I think about my own kids when it comes to this because my own kids came into my life as brand new little babies. And when they came into my life as brand new little babies, I began immediately to teach them things. I didn't always mean to, some of the things that I've taught them,

I didn't mean to teach them, but I teach them things. I taught them what it was to talk. I taught them what it was to walk. I taught them what it meant to have a well-placed pun, right? I taught them what it was to have a well-placed sarcastic joke. Things along those lines, right? I teach them things. Why? Because I don't want to just see them flounder right now.

I'm teaching my oldest daughter to drive. Oh, praise Jesus, right?

We were riding in the, in the hearse on the, my wife had to go pick up my youngest daughter from a birthday party during the, at the end of the funeral yesterday. So I'm riding with the funeral home director in the hearse and we're going around the roundabout. I said, there's my daughter driving my wife. He goes, man, if I'd known, I'd have called one of the cops to have him pull her over.

My wife said, that would not be funny. I'm like, yeah, it would. And then I'd never sleep at home again. Anyway, but I'm teaching her how to drive. And one of the things I've had to learn is I can't just tell her one. I got to tell her over and over again. Okay. Remember we're pulling up here and this is what this means. This is what you have to do here. Okay.

Wait, no. Remember they have the right away. It's things like that. You said it's a constant teaching, but what I'm teaching her to do is something specific. You know what I'm teaching her to do? I'm teaching her to obey the laws of the road. And that's what we're to do with people. Part of the commission is that we teach them, but what are we to teach them to obey the laws of God,

the laws of God that are given to us. In scripture. Obedience is the word that we don't always like to use a lot because we're like, I'm a grace citizen of the kingdom. Okay. I believe in pure grace. Me too. But grace gives me the ability to obey because obedience is what God calls us to do. Matter of fact, Jesus said, if you love me, you will remember you will obey my commandments.

Love and obedience are synonymous things. And so when he says this, he says, you're to teach them. What are they to teach them to do? To observe all that. I command you. We can substitute the word observer, obey to obey all that. I command you there to teach obedience. And what type of obedience are they to teach obedience? As far as the full council of God is concerned.

Paul, when he was talking with the Ephesian elders there in the book of acts, right before he went to Jerusalem was arrested. He was given that last valedictory speech to the Ephesian elders. And he said, I have not shunned to declare to you the whole council. I have not shunned to declare to you the whole council. I have not shunned to declare to you the whole council of God.

Brothers and sisters, why do we show up here on a Sunday morning? So that we can be given the whole council of God so that I can teach you everything that the Bible has to say, even if I don't want to, because there's things that the Bible says that sometimes I'm like, I wish I didn't have to teach you that because that's embarrassing to talk about. I wish I didn't have to teach you that because that's something I struggle with myself. I wish I didn't have to teach you that because that's not very culturally acceptable, but I can't do that.

Try it. Try as I may. I can't do that. I have to tell you everything that the Bible has to say because part of my job as a pastor is to teach, but brothers and sisters, part of your job as believers is to teach. I believe it was in Warren Wiersbe's commentary where he pointed out the fact that we have given the job of disciple making to the pastor. Don't get me wrong.

Part of my job, a big part of my job is to make disciples, but a bigger part of my job is to make disciples. My job is to teach you how to make disciples because Jesus didn't just call all the pastors to himself and say, now you guys go and make disciples. No, he called disciples to himself and he said, go and make disciples. You see, being a believer in Jesus Christ is not a spectator sport.

It's something that you've got to get involved with. He says, teach them. So he gives me these four commands. He says, go wherever you go and then make disciples, make other people, make other people who want to learn about me, baptize them so that they're identified with me and then teach them so that they can grow in me. And then he gives us a promise. It's beautiful promise.

He says, and lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. I love this promise of God's presence because the promise of God's presence to the people that would serve him is something that he had been begun giving to those that would serve him back. In the book of Genesis. Remember Abraham? He told Abraham, I will be with you. Remember Jacob? He told Jacob,

I will be with you. Remember Joseph over and over again when Joseph was going through everything that he went through. Remember what one line always followed, but God was with him. When David fought the giant, he didn't do it all by himself because God was with him. When Elijah stood before all those prophets of Baal, God was with him. All of the men of Baal,

the men and women that God used all of the history of the Bible involves also the presence of God, brothers and sisters, as we go out into a world that is hostile to the truth of the word of God, we go with the presence of Jesus Christ. The wording that he uses here is very interesting. When he says, I am with you always literally what he means is the whole of every day. It is a day in and day out presence that God gives to us.

I want to read to, this to you out of the Kenneth Weiss translation. It says remaining with you perpetually. I love this next part. Regardless of circumstance and on every occasion. Isn't that great? He's with us every single day, regardless of what our circumstances are and on every single occasion, every day he's with us and thank God that he's with us, right?

Because otherwise I would be the loneliest man in the world. Otherwise I would have, I would have no strength. Otherwise I would have no hope. But that presence of God is what gives me all of the strength and the hope that I need. You say, Ryan, I don't always feel the presence of God. Me neither. But you know what I do every now and then Lord, will you just reveal your presence to me?

And he has always been faithful to do that. I think I've shared with you before the very first time I ever had to get up in front of a group of people and give a message. Well, it was the second time actually, but it was the time where I was, I was battling a great deal of depression in my life. My uncle Joe calls me up and he says, Hey, I want you to come teach at my church.

And I said, no, he goes, well, why don't you pray about it? And I said, okay. And of course I did. And God said, do it. So I said, fine. So I put together this message and I got him in front of a group of people. And it was the first time in a very long time that I had felt the presence of God there with me. And I knew that he was, he was with me because the only way that I could put a full sentence together

that made sense is because God was with me. And I became so distinctly aware of the presence of God in that place. He's with us every single day, the whole of every single day, regardless of circumstance. And on every single occasion, I've shared this before, but every morning at, uh, at school, I teach the high school Bible class at our city Christian Academy.

And every morning, I read to them out of this little journal. We have a journal that goes through all the countries in the 1040 window. Uh, uh, 10% of the world, uh, deals with 40% of the persecution or something along those lines. And, um, I read to them about one of these restricted countries. And as I read to them about one of these restricted countries,

we talk about the persecutors and the persecutors are always the same. It's government and family. And I always think the same thing when I read to them about the believers in these countries, how on earth do they continue? How do they keep going when even their families turn against them? And I can only think of one thing and low. I am with you always, even to the end of the age,

that presence of God is with them always. And he knew, he knew what each of these disciples was going to have to go through. He knew what each of these men of God, as well as the 489 other men and women of God that were standing on that mountainside at that point in time, he knew what they were, all going to have to go through. He knew the persecution that they would face.

He knew the difficulties that they would face. Sometime you should just look up. How did all 11 apostles die?

The only one that died of natural causes was John. And it wasn't for lack of trying because him, they boiled an oil. He just didn't die. And to know what these guys went through for their savior. And yet they could sustain. Why? Because low. I'm with you always, even to the end of the, the age. And that's how the book of Matthew closes. It starts off with Emmanuel,

God with us. And it ends with low. I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. Well, I've been thinking a lot about the application this week. What does this mean for us? How are we going to live out the, the great commission that God's given to us? And so there were really two questions. That came up in my mind as to what this looks like, where and how,

where am I supposed to go? How am I supposed to live this out? Those are the two questions that I kind of dumbed it down to kind of broke it down to, to ask myself. And so these are the two questions that we're going to spend the last 20 or so minutes talking about. The first question is where, where am I to go? He said, everywhere I go. So what does that look like?

Where, where does that mean for me? And so I, I've have four different places that I've written, down that are places where I think we need to be building disciples. Number one, in your home, Ryan, I thought I was supposed to go somewhere. Hmm. Maybe to the living room. The first place where we make disciples is in our homes, brothers and sisters. I think all too often we,

as the church have forgotten to tell moms and dads, the first two disciples, the first three disciples, the first five disciples. I think there's some of y'all in here. The first nine disciples that you need to make are your kids. That's the place where discipleship starts, because if it doesn't start there, it's going to be really hard for it to carry out anywhere else.

I believe that it has to start within our homes. Husbands, you need to be discipling your wife, wives. You need to be discipling your husband. He's the spiritual leader. Doesn't mean he doesn't need somebody to pour into him. Discipleship must begin within the home and it must begin with us pouring into the lives of our husbands, our wives and our kids. And listen,

anybody else that lives in your house either. I try to disciple my dog, Carl, every single morning. And right now he is still rebellious. I give him Jesus every morning and he won't listen anyway. But, but that's where it begins. I was actually talking to a guy the other day. His name is seven. He runs the hog mob ministries here. And we were talking about the issues that are going on.

Um, going on in our culture. But by the way, seven is the most like streetwise human being I've ever been. He raises my street cred level by like 10 points, I think. Right? Like, like if I have street cred, uh, on a, like a credit level, I'm like at a zero. But when I talk to him, 10, soon as he leaves, I'm right back to zero. Anyway, most streetwise guy in the world.

And I'm talking to him the other day and we're talking about the issues that are going on in our community, specifically with kids. And he said, what are you teaching on this Sunday? And I said, well, I'm going through the book of Matthew. And, uh, he said like expository and I was like, yeah. And he goes, that's where I said, I was like, Oh man, I just got the approval from seven.

That's so awesome. Anyway. So we're talking about things. And I said, you know, I really feel like if we don't start teaching people that discipleship begins in the home, then it can never go anywhere else. How dare we go outside the home to make disciples if we won't start in the home. And that is a statement that I make to myself as a father and a husband.

If I'm not making disciples of my daughters, if I'm not, if I'm not discipling my wife, then I'd better stop trying to disciple anybody else because I've left my first ministry. And he, and he said, you're exactly right. Do you know why there's men in prison right now? Because nobody discipled them in their home.

Brothers and sisters, that's where it starts. It starts with us pouring the truth of the word of God. Now we need to understand something. Everybody will make their decision about what they're going to do with the word of God. I know that there's some parents and I want to speak to you for just a moment. I know there's some parents that feel like, I don't want to talk about failures because you look at your kids and

they're not walking with Jesus right now. And you look at your kids and you're going, man, I poured into him and, and they've walked away from the Lord. Listen, Jesus gave us a 25% return. He said, when you go out and throw out that seed 25% of the time, it's going to really take root and it's going to go somewhere. Just keep giving them the truth. Just keep loving them.

Just keep discipling on the best that you can. Eventually they're going to come back around. I believe it. I believe that God's word does not return void. It always does what it says. Now to do. So if you're here this morning and you're a parent, it feels like you have failed because you got kids that aren't walking with Jesus. Even though you poured into their lives and you discipled them,

everybody makes their own decisions. You just keep giving them the truth. And I want to speak to a second group of parents that are here this morning. And, and that's the parents whose kids have known the truth and have walked away from the truth. Same thing. Just keep giving them, just keep giving them the truth. Keep loving them. And so discipling, discipleship always begins in our home.

And so you should start asking yourselves the questions. What does my devotional time with my kids look like? What does my prayer time with my kids look like? What does my prayer time with my wife look like? Am I ever asking them how they are in their walk with the Lord? Am I ever holding them accountable for the things that they're doing? Am I ever challenging them to grow deeper in their walk with Jesus Christ?

Because those are the questions that we need to start answering. If we're going to make disciples with, then our own home. Number two, the second place to where we make disciples is in your church. I say, Ryan, that's your job. No, that's your job. My job is to teach you how to do it. You should be making disciples within the church. You see, it takes an entire church to build a church.

We're a family, right? We're not a bunch of individual people that come together to all hear the same message and then never be a part of each other's lives after you leave here. We are a family. And families get involved with each other, right? They get involved in each other's lives. We get up in each other's business, right? And we say things like, Hey, notice you haven't been here for the last four weeks.

Where are you at? That's not rude. That's called accountability. Hey, notice some stuff going on on your social media. That doesn't look really good right now. Where are you at? What's going on? That's called accountability. And we need that with each other. I always talk about the fact that I was raised by a lot of different people. I have two very wonderful,

very loving parents. Who taught me an incredible amount, but I have just as many other men that I would consider father figures that discipled me. And just as many other women that I consider mother figures that discipled me as my own two parents did. Because parents hearing it from somebody else could sometimes be a really good thing. My philosophy has always been,

I want as many people that are not me telling my kids the truth as possible. I want as many people that are not me pouring into my kids' lives as possible. But it's not just the kids in the church. It's everybody within this church. We should be making disciples of each other, pouring into each other's lives, investing in each other's lives. I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Who are you going out to lunch with today? Who are you inviting over this week? Who are you going to coffee with this week? Those are the simple, basic things of discipleship is getting involved in each other's lives. And we make disciples within the church. Number three, we make disciples in our workplace. Ryan, the rules are don't talk about politics. Don't talk about sex and don't talk about religion.

Well, the first two haven't been, been off limits in any job site I've ever been on. Okay. I worked construction for a lot of years and trust me, the first two got talked about all the time. So I was like, you know what? Then I'm going to bring the third one in there. I'm going to talk about religion. Charles Spurgeon has this great quote. He says, does the person,

you work beside no Jesus. If not start with them and don't give up till they do brothers and sisters. Our workplace is the greatest mission field that we've ever come across in our lives, right? I'll never forget talking to a, a, a school counselor one time at Johnson County community college. Cause I was considering taking some other classes because you don't make

very much money in the ministry. So I was looking for maybe something outside of the ministry to make money at. And he said, now remember Ryan, we as Christians don't have careers. We have mission fields. It's just that that career is paying for it. And I wonder if you view your job like that. You don't have a job. You have a mission field. Where are you getting paid to do what you do?

Are you making disciples in your workplace? You know, one of the best ways to start making a disciple in a workplace, be the hardest worker in the workplace. Lead by example. And then start telling them the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I find the best way to make disciples in a workplace is to start off by asking questions, asking questions about themselves,

because you know what? Everybody's favorite subject to talk about is themselves. This is one of the things I've learned in life. So tell me about yourself. And they'll always tell me a little bit about themselves. Well, do you go to church anywhere? No, I don't really go to church anywhere. Well, tell me what you believe about God. And then they'll usually start telling me what they believe about God.

And then I can usually insert, well, can I tell you what the Bible says about God? Can I tell you what I believe about God? And they'll be like, sure. Why not? Don't get me wrong. I've had plenty of people say no. And then they say a few select words to me and we move on with life, right? They go back to talking about politics and sex. But a lot of times people are willing to hear that conversation.

But if in your workplace, you can be a witness and then start making disciples. That's as you're going, you're there every single day. And we make disciples in our workplaces. But then number four, the where is as you go every day, you go somewhere except during COVID. But now we're back to not doing that every day. You go somewhere, right? You're going to the McDonald's.

You're going to the coffee shop. You're going to the subway. You're, you're going to the Walmart. As I've mentioned before, Walmart's the best mission field in this town. Show up after nine o'clock. And I mean, they are ready to hear the truth. You're going somewhere. Make disciples while you're there. Pour into people's lives while you're there. Sometimes that means just asking them,

can I pray for you? Do you think I can pray for you about, I have never had anybody turn me down on that. I've never had somebody say, no, usually what happens is they pour out a life story to you. And you're going, we just met, but okay. There was a girl that was part of my Bible study at one point in time up in Kansas city. And I said to do that. And she took me very literally.

And she said, she was in the car dial and targeted. She saw somebody that looks a little down. And so she asked this girl, can I pray for you about anything? And this girl legit broke down and started crying and share her whole life story with her in the car dial at target. And that girl started coming to our church all because she just said, is there something I can pray for you about?

It doesn't have to be anything major, but as you go make disciples in your homes and your church and your workplace and any other place, any other where that you go, that God opens up doors to share the truth. Amen. But that leads me to the second question. How, how can we make disciples? How do we go about doing that? Well, again, I think there's five things.

Number one, know the message. Remember what we said last week, the ladies show up at the tomb and as they show up at the tomb, there's the angel. And they say, we know the angel says, we know that you're looking for Jesus who was crucified, but he's not here. Remember the next thing that the angel told her, come and see right. That's knowing the message she needed.

Those women needed to know for themselves that Jesus was alive and brothers and sisters. We need to know the message. That means you need to be born again. I'm always aware of the fact that in any group of people that I talk to, the potential is there that somebody doesn't really know Jesus, that somebody has never really been born again. And it's really hard to make a disciple of someone that you don't know.

You need to know the message. You need to come and see you need to come to Jesus and be born again. And then you need to pour your life into knowing what that message has to say. You need to understand it for yourself. Lord, teach me what this means. I have found in my life that God is the most faithful teacher that there is. Because when I said things like,

Lord, what does it mean that you save? He showed me the cross when I said, Lord, what does it mean? It's your Holy Spirit empowers. And he showed me the power of the Holy Spirit. I said, Lord, what do you want me to do? And he gave me a ministry. God is always good at answering the questions because he's the greatest teacher that there is. You need to know the message,

the message of the life changing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But number two, you need to live the message. Brothers and sisters, if your life isn't matching the message, then it's probably time to be quiet. And I mean that very seriously. There's too many of us out there claiming the name of Jesus and being jerks. There's too many of us out there claiming the name of Jesus and living a life of immorality.

There's too many of us out there claiming the name of Jesus, coming home drunk. There's too many out there claiming the name of Jesus, still smoking pot. These things have to stop. You need to live the message. There's too many of us out there claiming the name of Jesus and not living a very loving life. As a matter of fact, being very cruel and judgmental in the way that we talk to and act towards people.

And it needs to stop. We have to be a people whose lives have been changed by the gospel, because if your life has not been changed by the gospel, listen to me, you don't know the gospel because the gospel requires life change. You can't pursue sin and Jesus at the same time.

We have to live out the message. Live out the truth of what Jesus has done in my life, because if he set me free from sin, I need to stop walking back to it. Number one, know the message. Number two, live the message. Number three, speak the message. Everybody always says, Hey, listen, preach the gospel. If necessary, use words. Listen, it's necessary. Okay,

you do have to eventually use words with the gospel. It's kind of the way that God created the gospel to be. That's why Jesus is known as the word. It's because eventually you're gonna have to speak. You can work up the most peaceful look on your face and people won't go, I want to believe in Jesus. Look, he's smiling, right? Like you just can't, you can't work up in a peaceful look on your face for people to come to know Jesus.

You eventually have to say, do you know Jesus and tell him the message? You got to speak the message. That's going to require some boldness. Oh, that's hard to have right now, isn't it? It's hard to be bold because right now, when you speak the message, people go, I don't like the message. You're canceled. Here's what I have found when people, cancel you, everybody listens.

Isn't that amazing? It's almost like it doesn't work. Have you ever, have you noticed the fact that when somebody gets canceled because of their message, the entire news world talks about them for like 11 billion weeks, it's almost like getting canceled, spreads the message kind of like the disciples that ended up being killed. Tertullian said the blood of the saints is like seed for the gospel.

It's almost like the message can't be silenced. Matter of fact, we said this last week, Paul said, the gospel can't be changed. We eventually have to speak the message, but that brings us to number four. It's in the power of the spirit. You can't work up enough strength. You can't work up enough grace. You can't work up enough ability to have what it takes to make disciples.

It requires the power of the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, there's going to be another instance where Jesus will tell his disciples on top of a mountain, right before he ascends into heaven. He says, here's what I want you to do. Once you go in, I want you to wait in Jerusalem. And as you wait in Jerusalem, wait until the coming of the Holy Spirit. And then when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,

then go and be witnesses of me in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria into the uttermost parts of the earth, brothers and sisters, you can't go be a witness for Jesus Christ. If you're not also empowered by the Holy Spirit because you'll see no success because I could deliver what I consider to be. The greatest message of the gospel. Anyone's ever heard and it will fall on deaf ears or in the power of the Spirit.

I could say you need Jesus. Everybody will turn their hearts to Jesus because it has nothing to do with the words that I speak. It has everything to do with the power of the Holy Spirit working through those words. I don't have enough boldness than pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. I don't know how to say the right words and pray for the power of the Holy Spirit.

I don't have enough courage than pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. I feel like my words just fall and nobody pays attention to it. Then pray for the power of the Holy Spirit because throughout the book of Acts, we see that when the Holy Spirit moves things change. And then number five we go with the presence of Christ. How do we do this? We do this with Jesus with us with God on our side.

Jesus said I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit and he will bear witness of me or he will testify. Of me. In other words, he will come alongside you. He will give you everything that you need because that presence of Jesus Christ is with us to the presence of the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters in our world right now.

The need is great and you and I have been given a mission. Actually, we've been given a commission. By none other than Jesus himself to go out and make disciples. So wherever you go. It's time to start making disciples. Amen. Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me father, we come to you now and Lord, we thank you for your word. Lord, I thank you for the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is the power of God unto salvation. And Lord, I want to pray that you would work in each and every one of our hearts a desire to be those who would go out and spread the truth of the gospel Lord. If there's any here, that don't know you that today would be that day of salvation. So that they could know for themselves and father for those of us that do know you, that you would light a fire in our hearts Lord, that we would take this as that authoritative command to go forth because Lord, the need is great, but the gospel is powerful.

So Lord move in and through us. We pray bless us as we go out from this place in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed. Up to take their place with selfless faith. We just give you praise. We thank you for this opportunity to gather this morning to worship to study your word. Go before now and encourage us in our walking witness for you strengthen us to live for you with your might.

You said in Acts you would you would empower us fill us with the Holy Spirit be your witnesses Lord in all these areas. Lord, we give you praise and thanks in Jesus name. Have a good week. God bless.