The Great Commission

[0:00] If you'd open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28, we are in what's called the Great Commission. We've reached the end of our study of the book of Matthew. We've been in Matthew for some time, and today we're going to wrap up this wonderful story, this gospel, this testimony of Jesus, and we're going to hear him speak.

[0:22] It's his final words. So if you're there, this is the risen Jesus speaking to his 11 disciples, Matthew 28, 16 through 20. Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

[0:43] And when they saw him, they worshipped him. But some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

[1:00] Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

[1:15] And behold, I am with you always. To the end of the age. There's a report from 2015 of the United Nations global issues.

[1:29] And if you looked at it, the global issues pertaining to human beings on the planet were the AIDS epidemic, children being taken advantage of at risk, women being exploited, terrorists on the prowl, and among other things, the UN, United Nations is saying we need to address these things.

[1:56] These are great global causes that need attention. And they are worthy causes. We want to be helping AIDS victims.

[2:07] We want to be helping children at risk. We want to be helping women who are being exploited. We want to be doing something about global terrorism. But what we don't see on this is Jesus' words addressing the greatest issue this world faces.

[2:34] And that's the issue of sin. To go make disciples of the nations. So as followers of Jesus, when we see this global need to address AIDS epidemic, we step into it to do research and to help people and to tell them about Jesus to make disciples of AIDS victims.

[2:59] And when we encounter children at risk in crisis, we need to think well about social implications and what's going on structurally in cities and in homes and neighborhoods.

[3:12] And we need to address these things well. But we need to make disciples of children at risk. Women who are being sexually exploited.

[3:23] We need to put a stop to this. We need to be a part of that. But women who are being exploited, among other things, need a savior.

[3:35] We need to be making disciples of women who are being sexually exploited and the men sexually exploiting them. We need to find solutions to the ideological problems undermining terrorism.

[3:56] But we got to be making disciples out of terrorists. Love your enemy. These causes are great causes and we need to be a part of them.

[4:10] But there's one big, great cause that Jesus calls all of his disciples to be fulfilling. And we see it in Matthew chapter 28. And it's the command, make disciples of all nations.

[4:22] It's global in its scope. My prayer for you all week long is that you would be motivated to engage more fully in Christ's global task of making disciples.

[4:43] His church has been entrusted with the responsibility to make disciples of the nations. Now, I'm guessing when you hear stuff like this, you start having a variety of things bubbling up in your hearts.

[4:57] So, for example, you'd be like, one of your first responses would be like, I'm supposed to be part of his global work of making disciples. I am an absolute mess.

[5:10] Why would he want to use me? Does he know what he's getting into if he wants to use me in making disciples of the nations?

[5:22] I don't really have anything to offer. I'm a mess and a failure. If you knew my life, why would he ever want to use me?

[5:33] Has anybody in the room been there before? Jesus has a word for you today. He's a word of grace for you. He specializes in turning failures into those who fulfill his great commission.

[5:52] Maybe there's some of you in the room today who've come in and you hear this stuff and you're like, one more thing to add to my to-do list. I don't have time for this.

[6:03] I agree, but I don't have time. This morning, God has a word for you. He wants you to get a big dose of his universal authority.

[6:23] He has a claim on every human being on the planet, including you. And so when you are confronted with his global cause, you need to be asking yourself, maybe I should make time for this, given who he is.

[6:44] And then there's some of us who've come into this room and we hear about fulfilling the great commission and you're like, okay, surely I'm going to have to share my faith, right? That means evangelism. That means witnessing.

[6:55] I've got to talk to my neighbors, don't I? Don't I? And you start asking a set of questions. They never come explicitly. They're more like background music. Well, one of them is I start sharing my faith with my neighbor and one of them is if they don't like it, then what am I going to do when I'm mowing my lawn and I see this guy mowing the lawn?

[7:13] What does that mean? It's going to be weird. One of them is if I get asked a question that I don't know what to answer. He stumps me. She stumps me. What do I do? This is fear.

[7:30] We're afraid. And the Lord Jesus has a powerful promise for you this morning that is designed to crowd out fear.

[7:44] My prayer for you all week long is that God by His Spirit would freshly motivate you to step into the great commission. He may speak a word of grace to you this morning.

[7:57] He may speak a word of authority to you this morning. He may speak a word of promise to encourage you this morning. Whatever the case, He wants you fulfilling His great task.

[8:12] So here's how we're going to proceed. We're just going to follow the text. And so four moves. First one is this. We're going to get a dose of amazing grace. Second is this.

[8:23] We're going to see Jesus in His universal authority. Third, the great task itself. Make disciples. And the fourth is a powerful promise. So let's dive in.

[8:36] His amazing grace. Verses 16 and 17. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him.

[8:46] But some doubted. And you're like thinking, well, I can see reunion there. I see the reunion. Remember that old Wendy's commercial with that old lady? Where's the beef? Where's the grace?

[8:59] Where's the grace here? Well, let's start asking some questions. When was the last time Matthew had the camera of his pen on the disciples?

[9:10] It was back in Matthew 26, 56. Then all the disciples left Him and fled in the Garden of Gethsemane. So the last time we really encountered the disciples is when they're on the run.

[9:22] If it was a camera, you would see their backs running from Jesus. 26, 69 through 75. Peter bolts, but he kind of lingers.

[9:34] And then he denies Jesus three times. A servant girl says, you also were with Jesus the Galilean. Peter, I don't know what you mean. Another servant girl, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth.

[9:48] And then Peter says, with an oath, I swear I do not know the man. And then certainly you too are one of them for your accent betrays you.

[10:00] 26, 75. And then invoking a curse, I swear may God throw me in hell. I do not know the man. And then a rooster crows three times.

[10:17] The last time we see the disciples, they're a mess. A bunch of failures. A bunch of guys who are denying and deserting and disobeying their Lord.

[10:30] Then immediately following the resurrection, still inside of the tomb, 28, 7. The angel tells the two Marys that the risen Jesus, he's calling a meeting in Galilee.

[10:48] Go to Galilee. He's going to meet you there. And then in 28, 10, after the risen Jesus physically appears to the Marys, he says, go tell my brothers, there's a little grace, go tell my brothers that I'm calling a meeting with them in Galilee, which is north of where they were, Jerusalem.

[11:11] Now let me ask you this question. If you were on a team and your leader, in the moment of his or her greatest need, and you desert that leader, and then after the leader goes through the hard times, he comes back and you get an email saying, hey, I'm calling a meeting.

[11:36] I want to meet with you. What are you thinking? This isn't going to be good. What we see going on here in Matthew is that Jesus is actually purposely pursuing his disciples who disobeyed him, deserted him, and denied him, and he's going to meet them in Galilee.

[11:59] If you just turn back in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 26, verse 32, Jesus knew it was going to happen. He tells them, this is 31, you will all fall away because of me this night for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered, but after I'm raised up, I'll go before you to Galilee.

[12:20] Get it on your calendar. I have a meeting in Galilee planned after my resurrection. And now, in 28, he's like, time for the meeting. Why Galilee?

[12:33] Why Galilee? Well, the simple answer is, this is where Jesus began his ministry. This is where Jesus called these men to follow him.

[12:45] This is the original region where he called them to come after him. And so now he's going back to meet them in Galilee, and you know what he's going to do? He's going to call them again.

[12:59] He's going to call them to follow him once again. Matthew doesn't record this incident, but in John chapter 21, 15 through 19, Jesus is back in Galilee post-resurrection, and he has this interaction with Simon Peter.

[13:17] So this one-on-one meeting, and we're given a kind of front row seat to it. Jesus says, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than catching fish?

[13:29] Simon Peter says, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Feed my lambs. We've got a job change. Simon, son of John, do you love me?

[13:40] Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Tend my sheep. You're not fishing anymore. You're in the shepherding business now. Lord, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

[13:50] Third time. You think it corresponds to anything? Lord, you know everything. You know everything. You know what I did, Lord.

[14:01] You know what I did. And you know that I love you still. And then Jesus says, feed my sheep. Verse 19, Jesus tells Peter how he's going to die.

[14:13] And then at the end, two words. Follow me. In Galilee, after his resurrection, calling his rock back to obey him and live for him, to follow him.

[14:32] You know why he's back in Galilee with his disciples? Because he loves them. He's called them. He's got work for them to do. And he's going to reinstate them.

[14:44] Do you notice where they meet in Galilee? Verse 16, on a mountain. There's a lot of mountain action in Matthew. The last time we were on a mountain in Galilee with Jesus, do you know what was happening? He was being transfigured in front of Peter, James, and John.

[15:01] The effect, Peter went all stupid and he starts talking and blabbing and building about tents and then God the Father interrupts and says, this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased. Listen to him.

[15:14] So on the mountain in Galilee, Jesus has revealed himself in glory. Do you think it's the same mountain that Jesus called this meeting in Galilee?

[15:26] My bet is that it is. But what we see happening here in Matthew 28, it's not a revelation of the glorified Jesus, but a revelation of the risen Jesus.

[15:43] And he's there with a heart full of mercy and grace. in verse 17, we see the effect. They worshiped him.

[15:58] These disciples worshiped him. It's a very similar effect as 28, 9 where Mary, the two Marys, they worshiped Jesus and in 28, 9, did you notice that they grabbed hold of his feet?

[16:12] Do you know why they grabbed hold of his feet? Because they were lying at his feet. They were worshiping him. The right response when you encounter the risen Christ is to fall at his feet.

[16:31] And in verse 17, we see that, but some doubted. Some doubted. Now, this is where I want you to listen carefully. If you're one of these people in the room wondering, could God ever use me?

[16:44] You need to hear this. Some doubted. That word doubt is the same word that's used in Matthew 14, 31 when Jesus, when Peter's going out on the water to Jesus and he falls in and Jesus pulls him out and he says, oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?

[17:05] And the idea there is, why did you hesitate? Why didn't you come out in full? What was the caution? What's the problem? Now, what's going on here in Galilee with some of these disciples who were doubting?

[17:19] Well, they could have had real legitimate questions like, is this the real Jesus? I've never encountered someone who's resurrected before. Is it really him?

[17:31] Kind of like Thomas in John 20, 24 through 29 where, hey, until I see it, I'm not going to believe it. But what would you be thinking if the Jesus you had just deserted to his death called a meeting with you?

[17:52] What do you want to do with me? What are you going to bring? Why do you want to meet with me? Some of you come in here and say, he can't use me.

[18:04] I've blown it. If you knew my life, you'd know it. I've deserted him in one sense. I've denied him. I've disobeyed him. I think I maybe even got disqualified. You're really hard on yourself.

[18:16] You think you've failed. You think there's no chance that God could ever use you for anything. You think. But it turns out that this little snapshot is a snapshot of the amazing grace of the risen and reigning Jesus Christ.

[18:37] Before the risen Jesus gives the great commission to his disciples, he gives them great grace. The risen Christ goes to his failed followers and not only is he with them, he calls them to follow him again.

[18:56] John 19. Though they had given up on him, he had not given up on them. So when we go back to Matthew chapter 10 and we see him calling these apostles, well, you know what you've got to realize?

[19:14] He called them knowing full well of what lay ahead of them. He called them knowing what would happen in the mess of Matthew 26 and he called them purposefully.

[19:26] He knew he would reinstate them in grace. It's all part of his plan. He purposefully uses failures. You want to know what the prereq is to being used by the living God for his global purposes?

[19:43] The prereq is failure. Pours out his grace on people who fail him in order to use him, to tenderize them.

[19:56] So Christian, he's purposefully called you knowing full well when he did what lay ahead of you and what lay behind you. And the basis of his reinstatement of his disciples is his substitutionary death.

[20:09] He forgave them for what they did based upon his cross work. And so these men, like you and me, needed to be forgiven on the basis of Christ's death before sent to the nations.

[20:24] So the good news here is Jesus doesn't require perfect disciples. In fact, he requires disciples who know firsthand his amazing, restorative grace.

[20:40] He accepts us as we are and changes us by his grace despite epic failure. And so I hope you see here not just a reunion of Jesus and his disciples, but a reinstating of his disciples by grace.

[21:00] Grace. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved and restored a wretch like me.

[21:15] So we move from his amazing grace. Now let's look at his universal authority. In verse 18, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. And if you've got a red letter edition, notice, we go from black ink narrative describing what Jesus is doing to red ink dialogue.

[21:33] This is Jesus speaking. And he starts by saying, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. And what you need to know about Matthew chapter 8 in this section, Matthew is doing some tie-in work.

[21:48] He is connecting Matthew 28 with Matthew chapter 21 and here's how he does it. In Matthew chapter 1, excuse me, Matthew chapter 1, there's this genealogy.

[21:59] And in Matthew chapter 1's genealogy, two names pop out. Abraham and David. Abraham would be the one through whom God blesses the nations through his offspring and David is the great king.

[22:15] And on his throne, God said, there's going to be one who sits forever. 2 Samuel 7. When we hear the word authority, it carries the sense of the right to require obedience.

[22:33] obedience. Who has authority? Kings have authority. And so when Jesus says, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, he's saying, I am the king.

[22:51] And what Matthew's helping us to connect is he's the king from David. The king. The long-anticipated one. Like I said, authority is the right to require obedience.

[23:04] Now, I want you to notice the scope of the authority of King Jesus. All authority in heaven and on earth.

[23:18] Do you know what's left out? Nothing. Universal authority in heavens and on earth. If you look through the greatest telescope to see how far out you can see, he's got authority there.

[23:37] The spacecraft that we sent out to do research wherever it goes, he's got authority there. He's got authority there, and he's got authority on every square inch of this planet.

[23:49] All authority. And did you notice that this is an authority that has been given to him? All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. And here is another thread I'm going to pull on from the gospel of Matthew.

[24:04] It's not the son of David, King David thread. It is the son of man thread. All throughout Matthew, Jesus loves to reference himself as the son of man.

[24:18] In Matthew alone, that title, son of man, is used 30 times. Remember this one? The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

[24:30] The son of man title brings our attention back to Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 through 14. And here's what I want you to hear. It says, one like a son of man will come to the ancient of days, and to him was given dominion and glory in a kingdom of all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

[24:50] His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. So when Jesus says, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, do you know what he's saying?

[25:03] I'm the son of man, and I've come, and the ancient of days has given me full authority over everything. Do you know how Revelation 5 talks about it?

[25:16] that the ancient of days is sitting on a throne in heaven surrounded by angels, and he holds up in his right hand a scroll with seven seals, and John sees it, and he starts crying out, nobody can take up the scroll, nobody in heaven, nobody in earth, no one can take that scroll, and then before them, do you know who stands up?

[25:36] A lamb who had been slain, living, and that lamb steps up to the throne and takes the scroll with his hand because he alone is worthy to take up the scroll.

[25:49] Do you know what the scroll is? Authority over all things. God's plan for the fullness of time, redemption, judgment, all together, only the lamb has the authority to unbreak the scrolls.

[26:04] He's glorious in his authority. authority. So if you've come into this room and you're wondering, do I have time for the great commission, do you know what Jesus says?

[26:19] Make time because all authority is mine and I need you, I want you to be part of this great task.

[26:32] If you've come in here saying, I'm not sure if I got the time, you've got to realize that this one making this claim is saying he's got a claim on every human being on the planet.

[26:47] All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. All authority to require obedience of everyone on the planet is his including a claim on me and a claim on you.

[27:01] You know in the playground when two boys are fighting and one boy says, you know, you've got to do this and the other boy says, no, I'm not going to do it and then the boy who says, I'm not going to do it says, well, who says? Who says I've got to do that?

[27:15] It's a claim of saying, by what authority are you requiring this of me? And so when Jesus says, go make disciples of the nations and we find ourselves saying, well, who says? Do you know who says?

[27:27] The son of man. The son of David. The one who possesses all authority in heaven and earth. So far, what we've seen is this.

[27:40] Amazing grace now coupled with the universal authority of the risen Jesus and so standing before us right here is the king of grace and he is going to now entrust us with the greatest task you will ever be given.

[27:57] So let's look at this great task in chapter 20. If we ask, what is the task? You can sum it up in five words.

[28:08] Make disciples of all nations. That's the great task. And it controls everything here. It's the command that commands everything.

[28:21] We've got to ask the question, well, what is a disciple? Well, essentially, a disciple is someone who has experienced the life-transforming grace of Jesus and is now focused on living for Jesus in every area of their life.

[28:40] It's both. One who's experienced God's forgiveness in Christ and one who's intentionally living for Christ in every area of their life. So if you have someone who says, okay, I've experienced God's grace, but it's not living for Jesus, they're not a disciple.

[28:54] And if you have someone who's saying, well, I'm trying to live for Jesus, but they've never experienced God's grace, they're not a disciple either. A disciple is someone who's experienced firsthand the grace of God and they are seeking to live for Jesus in every area of their life.

[29:09] That's a disciple. And what makes Christianity distinct from all other religions on the planet is this. Religion says, I obey, therefore, I am accepted.

[29:20] Where Christianity says, I am accepted by Christ, therefore, I obey. Religion says, work so that you can receive grace. Christianity says, receive grace and put it to work.

[29:35] Those who've been graciously accepted by Christ intentionally live for Christ. And a mature disciple makes disciples of others.

[29:50] Starting next week, we're going to start a series called the 21st Century Disciple. And what we're going to do is we're going to tease this out. We're going to tease out what it means to be a follower of Jesus in this place at this time.

[30:06] So, make disciples of the nations. You've got to feel the weight of that given by the all-authoritative one. Now we've got to ask the question, how do we do that?

[30:18] How do we make disciples? Well, there's three words here that help us understand how to make disciples. Matthew 28, 19, go.

[30:31] And then we see baptizing. And then we see in 20, teaching. We make disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching. How do we make disciples?

[30:42] Well, we go. We move towards other people. We don't move away from them. We move towards them. We move towards them so that we can tell them about the person and work of Jesus so that they would receive God's blessing of salvation.

[31:06] We are all missionaries sent by Jesus to declare to the nations the blessing in His name. Do you know who the ultimate missionary of the Christian faith is?

[31:23] Jesus Himself. He came in order to reconcile us to God. And now He sends us that we would speak the words of eternal life to other people that they would be reconciled to God.

[31:37] So we go. I was recently sent a video link to SpaceX's launching of the Falcon Heavy.

[31:49] Think of this go as a launch. Think of this go as a booster rocket that is fueled by God's redeeming grace that delivers the payload of the gospel to those God has placed in the orbit of your life.

[32:06] Go! Go! Go to them! You've been redeemed. You've experienced God's grace. Now go and proclaim Jesus to others.

[32:20] Not only do we go, we go baptizing. Those who encounter the risen Christ, those who become His disciples, they go public as His disciples.

[32:32] We've got a group of people who are thinking through being baptized on March 11th right now. And on March 11th, that evening, when we're in the pool, I'm going to ask each baptism candidate two questions.

[32:47] First question is this. Have you put your faith in Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins and the promise of eternal life? Do you know what I'm asking them? Have you experienced the transforming grace of Jesus?

[32:59] And I'm going to ask them a second question. Have you determined to live for Christ all the days of your life no matter what? Are you going to intentionally live for Jesus? And when they say yes and yes, I have the privilege of saying, based upon your profession of faith, I baptize you in the name singular of God, of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[33:23] And then I put them down in the water and I say to them, united with Christ and His death. And when they come up out of the water four minutes later, I say, raised with Christ to newness of life, they're going public with their faith.

[33:39] They're saying, I'm identifying with the triune God of the Bible. I've experienced His grace and I'm living for Him. That's why I'm doing this. And you know what the effect is?

[33:50] Here's the effect. Anybody who sees or hears about a Christian's baptism, if they're not a believer, they say, oh, oh, oh, he's one of them now. She's one of them now. And for those of us who are followers of Jesus and when we see someone baptized and they profess the good profession in public, we're starting to say, oh, they're one of us now.

[34:09] They're one of us. And so God uses this baptism to set His people apart. And He commands us to baptize those who respond to the gospel proclamation.

[34:24] Baptism is a disciple's public announcement that they have died to sin and now live for the triune God. But not only are we to go and while we're going proclaiming Christ and baptizing, this is all part of making disciples, we're teaching them.

[34:42] We're teaching them. Teaching them what? Jesus says, all that I commanded you. You teach them all that I taught you. What you receive from me entrust to them.

[34:55] Take, give. And so when Jesus says, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Him, we got to say that to people.

[35:08] Before you become a Christian, my friend, before you become a Christian, are you willing to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus all your days? We don't advocate an easy believism here.

[35:23] To become a Christian is to follow Jesus and it changes everything. We also teach things like, hey, love God with all that you got.

[35:35] Matthew 22. You love God with all your heart, mind, and strength. Don't love yourself with all your heart, mind, and strength. Don't love money with all your heart, mind, and strength. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

[35:47] And so what that means is this. When we call people to follow Jesus and they need to deny themselves to follow Him, they got to give up the greedy gathering of money. And for the glory of Jesus, they generously give money away for the cause of Christ.

[36:06] And we need Him. Matthew 22, Jesus goes on, He says, teach, we need to teach to love our neighbors as ourselves.

[36:17] So what we do is we teach disciples of Jesus to love those who look like you and love those who don't look like you.

[36:29] To love those who like you and love those who don't like you. Because that's what Jesus taught us. But if I can just say one thing here, and if I can just be true to Jesus' words, notice He says, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

[36:49] Disciples are made by teaching them to obey what Jesus commanded. So not only do we tell them, hey, if you want to follow Jesus, you've got to deny Him to yourself.

[36:59] We say, you've got to obey that. We don't just tell them, love God with everything you've got. It's like, you've got to. Not just love your neighbor. It's like, you really do need to obey Jesus in that.

[37:11] We teach His disciples to obey all that He commanded. The goal of Christian teaching isn't just getting as much truth into the warehouse of a person's brain and just let it sit there.

[37:26] That's not the goal. Don't think about your brain as a warehouse. Think about it as a distribution center of grace. The goal of truth, the goal of Christian teaching is to get biblical truth into the distribution center of your mind and order it for it to be distributed in every area of your life through obedience.

[37:47] Jesus wants all of His commands functioning fully in the life of a mature Christian for your good. So we make disciples by calling them to Jesus, by going to them, baptizing them, and teaching them and notice who Jesus calls us to go to.

[38:13] Who do we make disciples of? We make disciples of all nations. The Son of Man who's been given authority over all in heaven and earth, He makes a universal claim on the nations.

[38:32] All people everywhere, Jew and Gentile, black and white, male and female, old and young, all over, He has claim on them because He's universal authority over them.

[38:48] Every image bearer in this city and around the world needs to hear of the person and work of Jesus to be reconciled to Him.

[39:00] There's another Matthew 1 tie-in here. Remember that genealogy spoke of David and Abraham. Genesis chapter 12 verse 3 says, Through an offspring of Abraham, all the families of the world would be blessed.

[39:14] All the nations of the world. What Matthew is helping us see here is that Jesus is the offspring of Abraham through whom all blessings of God's salvation are distributed to the world.

[39:28] Jesus came with blessing on His lips. Remember Matthew 5, 3 through 10?

[39:42] Those who respond to Jesus in repentance and faith, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

[39:54] Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.

[40:08] Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing. Through Jesus, the offspring of Abraham, all the nations of the world will be blessed.

[40:22] Here's what this means for us. God wants blessing to fall upon the residents of Allendale. He wants them to experience his new kingdom blessing.

[40:34] In order for them to experience that, they need someone telling them about Jesus. Harbor Park, God wants them to experience the blessing in Christ, but in order for them to experience that, they must have someone tell them about Jesus.

[40:50] Frank Neighborhood, Wilson, Lincoln Park, Forest Park, Whitecaps, Horizons, you name it. God wants blessing to fall upon people in our city.

[41:04] And the only way that's going to happen is if they respond in repentance and faith to Jesus. And for that to happen, they need someone to tell him, to proclaim to them the person and work of Jesus.

[41:20] He wants blessing to the nations and he's ordained it in this one who has authority over the nations so that blessing will fall upon the earth forever.

[41:36] If you're a Christian here, you need to feel the weight and goodness of this. You have been commissioned by the king himself to take up this great cause of making disciples so that all the nations of the world would be blessed in him.

[41:57] Think about your neighbor on your right and your left of where you live. God wants blessing in Christ on them. And he's called you to bring it to him.

[42:08] At least offer it to him. Christ's amazing grace coupled with his universal authority compels us to take up this great task of making disciples of the nations.

[42:22] And this great task is bigger than any of us and it's going to be challenged. So Jesus ends with a promise. A powerful promise.

[42:33] And behold, I'm with you always. The promise Jesus makes here at the end of the Great Commission and at the end of the book of Matthew is a promise of his empowering presence.

[42:50] And there's another connection to Matthew 1. Jesus, descendant of Abraham, descendant of David, born of a virgin. Do you remember what he's called? Child is given to us and his name will be called Emmanuel.

[43:06] God with us. Jesus came as God with us and now he sends us and he is God with us on the go.

[43:18] He's with us. He's with us always. All authority, all nations, I'm with you always.

[43:34] literally, the whole of every day. He is with you. The whole of every day, the one who has authority over all is with you.

[43:45] Mediated now through the Holy Spirit, he is with you. The whole of every day. Let me tell you how that works out.

[44:00] Him being with us empowers purity in our church. Him being with us empowers perspective until the end of the age, the culmination.

[44:12] We're aimed at that. Him being with us empowers proclamation. We boldly proclaim Jesus, who he is, what he's done, and what he offers the nations.

[44:24] But this empowers perseverance. This promise empowers perseverance. His presence with us strengthens us to overcome any hostility directed at us on account of his great name.

[44:42] He gives us a promise to press on through. In short, the promise of his empowering presence encourages us to press on through proclaiming him to the nations until he comes back.

[45:01] Why does he end his commission in this book with a promise? He knows. He knows that this great task is bigger than any of us and he knows we're going to be tempted to fear.

[45:19] And he says, I'm with you always. I'm with you. Maybe you came in here this morning and you're like, he can't use me.

[45:30] Oh, he can use you. He's got grace in abundance to make you ready and send you out. There's nothing that you have done that is overwhelming to the king of kings and he can't change and bring about goodness.

[45:47] Maybe you came in here thinking, oh, great commission, I don't have the time for that. Well, maybe you've encountered the one who has authority over all things and now you've got a little bit more awe in your heart and a little bit more humbleness and saying, oh, man, I've got to make time for this.

[46:05] My king calls me to it. And maybe you came here at the thought of sharing the Jesus, the Lord Jesus who wants to bless your neighbors came in fearful.

[46:20] but his presence puts courage in your heart to proclaim Jesus in winsome and wise ways. We're going to see people respond. People are already responding.

[46:32] When we go and declare Jesus, people will respond. I'm going to close by saying, how does this work out?

[46:45] How do we fulfill the great commission? Here's how it works out. Every day, this is what it looks like. It starts with you in your prayer closet with your Lord and King.

[46:57] It's like you before the Lord saying, oh Lord, use me. I'm a little nervous, but God, would you give me strength, would you give me power to live for you today, to proclaim you, even if I catch heat for it.

[47:10] It starts with you in your prayer closet, then it's about you around your dining room table with those closest to you. Do you know where we start to reach the nations? around your dinner table with your kids.

[47:23] Make disciples of them. And then we move from our dining room tables to our neighbors on the right and the left and into our city. we believe that God has called us uniquely as a church to call men and women from every culture and race in this city and to respond to Jesus and unite us together into one people in Christ.

[47:51] That's why we believe we're here. We believe God gets a greater glory when he unites a diversity of people. people. And so we're want to intentionally reach out with the gospel to the very different neighborhoods surrounding this building in Kenosha.

[48:11] Now if you're looking for a place to serve you hear this message and you're like you know what I'm sold where do I start? We've got a couple places for you to start.

[48:23] Wednesday afternoon mentoring program here it's called King's Place. Jasmine are you here? If you want to step into something that needs people to make disciples of children this is a great place.

[48:35] Talk to Jasmine after the service. She can help you. Danielle Morrow are you here? Our King's Kids Ministry.

[48:47] Do you know why we're teaching them the Bible? So that we would make them disciples of Jesus. If you're interested we need help. We need hands in King's Kids. Talk to Danielle.

[48:57] Billy Youth Ministry. We have needs in our youth ministry for men and women to come alongside of our students to saddle up next to them and partnering with parents help them follow Jesus.

[49:10] If you have a burden for middle school and high school students here's the guy you need to talk to. Wilson Partnership. Elise Sear. Elise Sear.

[49:22] MIA. Well said. We've got the Wilson Partnership multiple times during the week.

[49:33] Let's see you. Kevin Reiterman. Kevin serves there faithfully. He can talk to you about that. Sunday morning breakfast. Matt Sear. Raise your hand brother. We need people to help out there.

[49:44] We've got 20, 30 people coming Sunday mornings to eat breakfast and hear the gospel. We've got unprecedented opportunities to share the gospel with people. We need help. Talk to Matt.

[49:56] Greeting teams. Mr. Whittington, raise your hand back there. If you're new to the church and you're looking for a place to step in and start making a difference for the Lord Jesus, get on the greeting team.

[50:08] You know why? People come here in 30 seconds they know you're legit or not by the way you greet them. Warmly in the gospel or just doing your duty. We've got a vacation Bible school coming up this summer.

[50:22] We've got evangelistic Bible studies in neighborhoods on tap. Step in. My prayer all week for you has been this.

[50:34] That God would motivate you by his spirit to step more fully into this great task he's entrusted to his church to bring glory to his name and blessing to the nations.

[50:49] Let's bow in prayer now. Triune God, we come to you and we recognize that you have given us a task that is way beyond us.

[51:11] It's kind of scary. We run into limits real quick of time and money and resources and people but we're so grateful that you're in it with us God.

[51:23] And we pray Father that you would pour out on our church a fresh filling of your spirit, a fresh empowering of your presence to strengthen us to go and make disciples of our nations, of our neighbors, of those around us, of who we live life with.

[51:45] God, would you give us eyes to see and bold hearts to proclaim. God, would you rally us as a church, would you unite us as a church in this mission of making disciples of the nations.

[52:01] God, thank you for this mission. Thank you for entrusting it to us. Thank you that you've called us to it. We want to be faithful to you, Lord Jesus. Give us, help us, direct us, we ask and it's in your name we pray.

[52:14] Amen. Thank you.