Our Kingdom Mission

[0:00] Well, it probably would be helpful for us to start with a bit of context, right? So let's look at verses 16 and 17 where Matthew provides the context for us. Now, the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

[0:14] And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. So let's think about what took place just prior to this. It was the death and resurrection of our Lord.

[0:26] On the day of Jesus' resurrection, we read through the Gospels that Jesus appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem. You'll remember the disciples that he met on the Emmaus Road.

[0:38] You remember the women, Mary Magdalene in particular, that he met near the garden tomb. And then he appears to those same women as well as many of the disciples in a room in Jerusalem on the night of his resurrection.

[0:53] But do you remember what Jesus had told the women to tell the disciples? He told them, tell the disciples, and if you remember from our study in Mark, and tell Peter especially, go to Galilee, I'll meet you there.

[1:08] He had told the disciples that as well. If you think back to perhaps it was Mark chapter 15 or 14. On that night when Jesus had told the disciples that they would betray him, that they would run and forsake him, he said, But after I am risen, go to Galilee, I'll meet you there.

[1:32] And that's what we find Matthew recording for us. He picks up not in Jerusalem, but in Galilee. That's where the disciples had gone. This is probably just within a couple of weeks of Jesus' resurrection.

[1:47] And after about a month, they returned to Jerusalem. That's where Jesus ascended back to heaven. The disciples were filled with the Spirit at Pentecost, and we begin our study of Acts and the early stages of the church from there.

[2:03] Now, the Great Commission here in Matthew 28 was not the final interaction that Jesus had with his disciples. It would seem that way if you're only looking at Matthew's gospel, but that's not the final interaction.

[2:15] This was in that Galilean rendezvous type time frame that Jesus and his disciples had. So the disciples journeyed to a mountain that Jesus at some point had told them to go to, and they waited for him, and he showed up, and this was the instruction that he gave them.

[2:36] Now, we might expect, as we might expect, they had a mixed reaction to Jesus' appearance. And it included two different things in verse 17.

[2:47] The first thing it included was worship. They see Jesus, not for the first time, but they see Jesus once again, and they worship him. And then there's this intriguing little phrase that Matthew adds in.

[3:00] He says, and some of them doubted. And what is it that we're supposed to understand about that? There's not a lot of clarity given to us. We're not told who doubted, and we're not told what the nature of their doubt was.

[3:14] But there's no reason for us to get bent out of shape about it. It's the fact that their first reaction was worship. The fact that they had followed Jesus' commands to actually go to the mountain and to meet him there indicates this was not the kind of doubt that would bring their faith in the person and work of Christ into question.

[3:35] It's not that kind of doubt. I think that the sense of the doubt here has more to do with the awesome amazement that comes with being confronted by something otherwise thought impossible.

[3:51] Does that make sense? This man, their friend, their Lord, a few days before this was dead. Now he's alive.

[4:03] Okay, that's strange. That's not something you would ever expect to take place. No matter how many times Jesus told them it was going to take place, it never clicked with their minds. And now after seeing him dead, after knowing that he was truly dead, he appears and stands before them.

[4:19] And I think that probably the dynamic of doubt that Matthew intends to pass on is this kind of a, I can't believe what's happening in front of my eyes right now. I think it's probably that kind of doubt.

[4:31] You may disagree. That's fine. And there's no reason for us to explore it any further than that today. But the death and resurrection of Jesus set these men on a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

[4:43] The final appearances of Jesus to them serve the purpose of settling their hearts and focusing their minds. They'd been through three years of training.

[4:55] And now they were distraught. Jesus focuses these final 40 days before his ascension on preparing them for what was next.

[5:06] He had chosen them for a distinct purpose. That purpose was to go into the world to preach the gospel. It was to establish his church.

[5:17] It would ultimately be to write the New Testament scriptures. And then eventually they would give their lives. Jesus uses this moment as well as the others to bring powerful clarity to what they were called to do.

[5:33] And he used them to set a pattern of faith, a pattern of practice that continues on with each believer still today.

[5:44] And the Great Commission passage is part of that pattern. That's why we come back to it time and again. This is not the first time we've looked at this passage together as a church.

[5:54] It certainly won't be the last time we look at this passage together as a church. Because routinely we need to come back to the patterns to which Jesus has given us to follow. And this Great Commission pattern is an important one for us to consider over and over.

[6:09] Three things I'd like to point out in the passage here to you this morning. The first one is this, divine authority. Divine authority. Look with me at verse 18.

[6:21] And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All authority in heaven, all authority on earth has been given to me.

[6:42] Now, Paul's there intentionally. Because it may be our habit to almost speedily work through a verse like that without considering exactly what Jesus said.

[6:58] As one author put in, we can almost thoughtlessly sing as we clap our hands, he's got the whole world in his hands.

[7:08] Without actually stopping to consider that the claim that Jesus makes in verse 18 is the most grandiose claim ever to be made in all of human history.

[7:20] All authority in heaven, all authority on earth, all the power there is to have, all of the authority there is to have has been given to me, Jesus says.

[7:36] So let's stop and think about this for a moment. Douglas O'Donnell said verse 18 is indeed the highest Christology to find in the Bible.

[7:47] How can Jesus say all authority has been given to me when the Lord God said in Isaiah 42.8, I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no other.

[8:02] And he goes on to write, let's face it, Jesus is claiming here that he shares the glorious authority that Israel's God has said he will not share with another.

[8:18] Jesus is claiming that he is distinct from the Father and yet is in charge of creation just as God is. Verse 18 is a statement that is bold.

[8:33] It is a plain claim of oneness with the Lord God. Jesus is telling these men, I am God.

[8:45] All of the authority in heaven and on earth that you would ascribe to God has been given to me. It belongs to me. And indeed, this is what the scriptures testify to the Messiah, to the person of Jesus.

[9:00] Let me just walk you through a few passages. We'll start with the very first verse in the Bible. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

[9:13] What is that indicative of? All authority in heaven and on earth. That's Genesis 1.1. Now I want you to hear John chapter 1 verses 1 through 3.

[9:25] In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made.

[9:42] So the claim of the scripture is that when we come to Genesis 1.1 and see in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. What we are really saying there is in the beginning, Jesus created the heavens and the earth.

[9:57] All power, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. In Exodus chapter 20, at the beginning of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, God says, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

[10:17] His authority, his power extends to the ability to deliver entire nations, entire peoples in such miraculous ways as has never been seen since.

[10:27] Now I want you to see what Jesus claimed. In fact, maybe you'd want to turn there. Luke chapter 4. In fact, it's just a few pages probably over from where you are in Matthew 28. Look with me at Luke chapter 4.

[10:45] Luke chapter 4 and verse 16. Luke 4, 16. Luke 4, 16.

[11:24] That's a quotation from the prophet Isaiah.

[11:38] Now look at verse 20. He rolled up the scroll. He gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all the synagogue were fixed on him. And what was it that Jesus said?

[11:50] Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Today, this has been fulfilled before you. What was Jesus saying?

[12:02] I am this man, Isaiah foretold. I am the one with the authority and the power over heaven and over earth to deliver captives and to bring sight to the blind and to do exactly what God has done with Israel coming out of Egypt.

[12:19] That's me. That's me. I have that power. And if you remember, back in our study of Mark, in chapters 4 and 5, we saw a sequence of examples that showed Jesus' divine power over nature.

[12:35] Remember, as he's in the boat with the disciples, the boat's falling apart as a result of the heavy storm that had come on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus awakes.

[12:47] They wake him up. And he says, peace be still. And he demonstrates power over nature. Now, have you ever seen anybody restrain nature with their words?

[13:00] All authority in heaven and on earth. Immediately after that, we see he has power over demons. That's in chapter 5. Remember the demonic of Gerasa?

[13:10] He had thousands of demons that were plaguing him. Jesus cast them out and into the swine. He has power over demons. Even the demons tremble.

[13:22] His name. Immediately after that, we see he has power over disease. The woman with the issue of blood comes in the press of the crowd and touches the hem of his garment.

[13:33] And immediately, just upon touching the hem of his robe, she is made new. And then we see he has power over death. The woman grabbed the hem of his robe as he was moving toward the house of a ruler.

[13:49] Jairus, his daughter, was dead. Jesus goes into their house. He raises her from the dead. Well, what is the scripture testifying to there? All authority, all power in heaven and in earth is given to me.

[14:06] Let me show you in one more place. I think this is on the screen, Becky. In Daniel chapter 7, perhaps you remember this vision from Daniel. He said, He said, He said, Now I want you to listen to how the apostles wrote of Jesus.

[14:55] Ephesians chapter 1. According to the working of God's great might, that he worked in Christ, Now, do you hear Daniel 7 in Ephesians 1?

[15:36] Of course. What about Philippians 2? Daniel 7, Daniel 7, being told through the apostles in relation to Jesus.

[16:05] He has all power, all authority. He is God. And how is it in this context that Jesus intends to exercise his divine authority?

[16:19] In the context of the Great Commission, why would he say all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me? Because at the heart of Jesus' statement is Jesus' authority over the darkness of this world.

[16:36] That's the point here. Now, we could take from this the implication of the fact that because all authority has been given to him, he is the Lord. Therefore, we must obey this command.

[16:49] But that's not what he's primarily getting across here. The disciples already recognized him as Lord. They knew that they had been chosen to be sent out with his message.

[17:00] That's what he had spent the last three years training them to do. The assertion here is about his power, his authority to forgive sinners, to set them free from Satan's dominion, to reconcile them to God, and to give them eternal life.

[17:21] That's why he's saying this in verse 18. All authority has been given to me. Therefore, I have authority over the darkness of this world. I have the authority. I have the power to forgive sin and to give eternal life.

[17:34] He was getting his disciples to consider his resurrection so that he might say, all authority over the darkness of this world has been given to me, so go preach the gospel.

[17:45] Go preach the gospel because of what I have done. Tell everyone from every nation the good news that I have come to save them from their sin, to rescue them from eternal death in hell.

[17:58] I have that authority. I have that authority. I have that power. Go tell them now. Which is why we find Peter in Acts early on saying things like, let all the ous of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ.

[18:17] It's why later on he says, this Jesus is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

[18:36] Before he ever gets to the imperative of making disciples, he gives the boldest indicative you will ever find in the scriptures. He says, I have all authority, so go preach the good news.

[18:48] That's why he says it, divine authority. Number two, missional responsibility. Missional responsibility.

[19:01] Look at verse 19. Go therefore, he says. The therefore means that they're going because of what he just said. I have authority, therefore, go.

[19:15] Make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded.

[19:29] Missional responsibility. So the only way to really understand our kingdom mission, what it is that Jesus wants from us as his people now, what is he commissioning us to do?

[19:41] We have to consider these specific responsibilities. Responsibilities. Responsibilities are expressed in four simple verbs in this verse. Maybe that would be a helpful way for us to look at it.

[19:53] Go, make, baptize, teach. Four verbs. Go, make, baptize, teach. But in this verse, not all verbs are created equal.

[20:05] Well, not to bore you with stuff about Greek, but it is beneficial to us to understand this here. What's underlying this in the Greek language is one imperative with three participle phrases.

[20:19] So Jesus, in other words, gives one specific command, and he gives three ways by which he intends for us to fulfill that command. Does that make sense? So we're not looking at these as four different commands.

[20:31] One command, three ways to fulfill it. So let's talk about it. Make disciples of all nations. That's the imperative.

[20:43] That's the one command. All of this really comes down to that statement. Make disciples of all nations. Now, a disciple is simply someone who believes and follows Jesus.

[20:56] So Jesus, then, is commanding the apostles to do with others what he has spent the last three years doing with them. Think about that.

[21:09] Jesus' time with these men included intentional evangelism. He called them. He went to them. He said, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

[21:21] He went by the receipt of custom, and he called out to Levi, and he said, follow me. He called them. He didn't only call them. It also included patient instruction.

[21:33] It doesn't take very long in reading the Gospels to see not only did Jesus teach them, but Jesus exercised amazing divine patience in teaching these men. He gave his life to them through friendship, teaching, training.

[21:50] He patiently endured their immaturities. He lovingly restored them when they failed. He trained them to faithfully follow him, and now he's commissioning them to help others faithfully follow him through the same method, intentional evangelism and patient instruction, which means that Jesus intended for these disciples and, by extension, for us to give our lives to others, to endure their immaturities, to patiently instruct them in the faith, to be with them, to bear with them, to love them.

[22:43] And that he told them to make disciples of all nations was an especially radical instruction for these young Jewish men. Christ's authority in the Gospel was not for the Jews only.

[22:57] It was for all the nations of the world. Remember in John chapter 10, Jesus was describing himself as the great shepherd of the sheep. Here's what he said in verse 16. I have other sheep that are not of this fold, that is not of Israel.

[23:13] I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice, so there will be one flock, one shepherd. Now do you remember when we studied Ephesians 2 on that Gospel focus?

[23:26] What is it that Christ has made us? He hasn't Christianized Jews and Judaized Gentiles. It's a new creation. He's creating a new kingdom people in his Gospel, and it's for all nations.

[23:44] Remember Revelation 5, that great throne room scene in heaven as John depicts it. He says, and they sing a new song, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain.

[23:58] By your blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom.

[24:09] Priests are God, and they shall reign on the earth. This was radical instruction. Jesus tells them, go now, make disciples and do it with people from all nations in every place.

[24:20] the kingdom mission of Lakeside Bible Church is the same. Make disciples of all nations.

[24:31] And here's the way Jesus intends for us to do it, okay? Three ways he intends for us to do it in this passage. Number one, go to them. Go to them.

[24:42] Look again at verse 19. Go therefore. Go therefore. Now this isn't so much a direct command to go to a particular place.

[24:54] That's not what Jesus is intending to get across here. This really has the sense of as you're going. The going is assumed. So in other words, Jesus is saying, I alone have all power over sin and death.

[25:08] Therefore, as you're going forward from here, make disciples of all nations. That doesn't lessen Jesus' command. It actually strengthens his command because it reflects this state of urgency.

[25:25] This urgency of mind that intentionally engages people with the gospel as we go through life. it confronts our inevitable lethargy that gets so caught up in the routines of life that we don't often think about evangelizing the people that God has put in our path.

[25:49] So Jesus says, go to them. Go to them. As you're going through this life, intentionally engage with people about the gospel because nobody evangelizes by accident.

[26:04] The closest that would come to in the scriptures would be those with the gift of evangelism. But even those people would be exercising their gift in an intentional way. You don't just happen to evangelize.

[26:17] You do it on purpose. And as we said before, it takes an acute awareness of the lostness around us and then a desire to bring others into the kingdom.

[26:31] I think about it. I don't know if you do this. I do this from time to time. Do you ever sit here on Sunday and happen to get distracted by all the windows and see all of the cars driving down the street while we worship?

[26:42] Or maybe seeing all the people who come in and park and they walk down the sidewalk to go get their hair done or go a couple of places down and get their massage or maybe they go to the Mexican market to get some tortillas or whatever it is that they're doing for the day.

[26:55] Do you ever see those people and the thought cross your mind? I wonder if they know Jesus because they're not at worship today. I think about that.

[27:06] I drive through my neighborhood on a Sunday. Perhaps you did this this morning and you saw all the cars of your neighbors who were still in the driveway. That doesn't mean that they didn't go to church. And just because they didn't go to church today doesn't mean that they're believers.

[27:17] But it's a pretty good indication when people are faithful to the gathered worship that they belong to Christ. And I wonder how often we're just aware that there are all these people around us who don't actually know Christ.

[27:31] And when we have these interactions with them in our lives as we're going as we're going and we're talking to them about the grass.

[27:41] I had a conversation with some of you know Sarah Lynn and Mark. They've come to a couple of services here. Their son Jack comes to our Thursday night kids program.

[27:53] And a couple of weeks ago we met at a park and she had some questions specifically about evangelism and our approach to it. And we were just talking had the topic. And I told her about my next door neighbor.

[28:04] She's been my neighbor for three years and she's pretty reserved. But over the course of three years she's warmed up to me. And every time I see her out walking around the house or something I'll find something outside to do so that I can go and have a conversation.

[28:19] I just want her to like me. I want my neighbors to like me. And our thing right now is the grass because this is grass season and every time we're outside we talk about it. And we were talking a couple of days ago she had spilled some fertilizer and we were talking about fertilizer and she said it's funny my daughter asked me the other day what do you and the neighbor spend all that time outside talking about?

[28:41] And she's like she laughed and she said well we talk about fungus and fertilizers and grass. and she said that and immediately it pierced my heart.

[28:53] For three years I've talked to Karina about grass and fertilizer and fungus and very few times have I ever said Karina what do you think about God?

[29:04] For three years I'm convicted by that. It's an awareness of lostness. It's going beyond just being a friendly neighbor to caring about the soul of our neighbor.

[29:16] To caring about the soul of the people that God has put in our lives. Jesus says go to them. Go to them. He doesn't mean that your life has to be consumed every day with knocking on a hundred doors so that you can be like the Mormons or the Jehovah's.

[29:35] That's not what Jesus means. He just means as you're going intentionally engaging people with the gospel. Go to them. Evangelize them is the next thing he says.

[29:46] Evangelize them. Look again at verse 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is not so much about baptism itself as it is the response to the gospel that undergirds one's baptism.

[30:04] He's not saying just go out and see how many people you can get wet. That's not what he means here. He's talking about evangelism. Now baptism was not uncommon for the Jews. They baptized Gentiles into Judaism and in the New Testament baptism is so tightly linked to conversion that there are times that the apostles actually use the term baptism when they're really referring to salvation.

[30:29] Not because baptism was salvific but because it was so tightly linked to a person's profession of faith and conversion in the New Testament. That's why we care so much about being Baptist, about following the Lord's commands in regards to believers baptism.

[30:44] But in this context the Jews, a Gentile wanting to convert to Judaism would go through this rite of baptism that symbolized the washing of sin turning away from their pagan beliefs turning to Israel's beliefs.

[30:59] But that's not the same as Christian baptism that Jesus institutes here in the Great Commission. Christian baptism takes a person whether Jew or Gentile and acts as a public profession of faith that they are turning from sin and from everything else and turning to Christ turning to Jesus in that moment.

[31:22] And as far as the Great Commission is concerned this is the responsibility to call sinners to repent to call them to believe Christ and of course this would then be followed by believers baptism a public profession profession of this new faith and repentance.

[31:40] So what is Jesus saying? Go to them and when you go to them evangelize them bring them to faith in the Trinitarian God bring them to faith in Christ.

[31:52] And then he says thirdly disciple them go to them evangelize them disciple them teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you he says in verse 20 that's the building up the body part not the body part but the part of this deal that is building up the body.

[32:18] Do you remember that from a couple of weeks ago? Ephesians chapter 4 when the church is functioning the way that it is supposed to function Paul says it builds itself up into Christ builds itself up it's just discipleship goes all the way back to the great commission Jesus says go to them evangelize them and then build them up teach them disciple them so many people think of the great commission only in terms of evangelism but evangelism is only a part of it our kingdom and mission includes much more than that we're to commit to helping one another faithfully follow Christ and if we're going to fulfill the mission God has given us we have to be committed to discipling Frederick Bruner said when you come to church you may find compassion you may find soup kitchens you may find entertainment you may find beautiful music you may find friends you may find all sorts of things when you come to church in the 21st century but if you do not find the unique treasure of

[33:28] Christ teaching then the church has sold you short because that's our mission not only from the pulpit but also in the pew tonight when you gather for Lakeside Connect there are some great discussion points for Romans 14 and the questions are designed to not be very easy if you have a problem answered they are designed to encourage one another disciple one another sharpen one another you say what does this mean practically how are we supposed to do that we go to them we evangelize them we disciple them what does that actually mean well there's a million different ways we do that but the main thing is we just take the words of Jesus and the gospel of Jesus everywhere we go we look for ways to bring him up in conversation and in various circumstances a couple of years ago Jonathan and I this has been several years ago now actually Jonathan and

[34:29] I were flying somewhere I don't know we were going somewhere and I was in this phase where I was really anxious when I flew for some reason I don know what it was but I would get really anxious and we got on we parked our car at the airport and we got on one of the buses that takes you to the terminal it was just me and Jonathan and a pilot and maybe it was Scobie I don't know who it was but we were on the bus together and we just struck up a conversation and I asked him what do you tell nervous flyers and this guy's first response was well I don't know what you believe but I'm a Christian and I just believe that God is sovereign over my life and that when it's time for me to go there's nothing I can do to change that so I just trust that to the Lord and then he went on and gave me the pilot answers there's more people killed on mules in the great canyon every year than commercial airlines and all those kinds of stuff but he just did a very simple thing

[35:29] I didn't have the courage at that point to tell him I was a pastor I couldn't bear myself open at that point but imagine if I he just taking the gospel with him as he goes you see so you don't have to be a pastor to do that you just have to be a Christian who is aware of lostness and who understands Jesus mission for the church to go to people evangelize them and disciple them I brought with me some resources even today that I would love for you to!

[36:15] in fact we gonna stop John because somebody that you have been talking to for a while and maybe you want to study the gospel of John together here's two particular gospel tracks this one's by John Piper called the greatest chapter in the Bible and it's a reflection on Romans chapter 8 when Paul writes he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also with him graciously give us all things and he goes through and he just talks about that one verse what a powerful tool to put in somebody's hand you've been talking to hey have you ever thought about what the greatest chapter in the Bible is here's what John Piper thinks about it back three kingdom solidarity kingdom solidarity the end of verse 20 final sentence and behold

[37:59] I am with you always to the end of the age verse 18 Jesus is divine authority is the motivation for the great commission so he says all authority belongs to me so go it's the motivation you see when we get to the end of verse 20 though his divine authority is a source of comfort it's a source of help and assistance I want you to think about what Jesus had just told these men a few days before you can read about it in John chapter 16 Jesus told them I'm going to leave you I'm not going to be here anymore and after I leave you I'm going to send you out you're going to get kicked out of the synagogues so everything that you have loved culturally as a Jewish man that's going to be taken away from you the world's going to hate you and eventually they're going to kill you now you can imagine that these men probably were a little bit nervous after

[39:14] Jesus said those things and now he stands on the mountain with them and he says it's almost time for me to go but all authority has been given to me go go to this world that's going to kill you but know that I'm going with you I will be with you until I return to the end he commission from their Lord was felt with tremendous fear but he closed with the most comforting words you could ever hear again several years ago I think this was even before Ashland was born I went on a men and boys camp out with our church we were staying at a camp ground in Shelby, and we stayed in these cabins that had several sets of bunk beds in each cabin room.

[40:15] My dad and my brother and I were together, and we were with another man from my dad's church who had his young boys with him as well. And this is a camp in the middle of nowhere, so at night it's dark, and it's unfamiliar. And in the middle of the night, one of the little boys, he woke up and was frantic because he didn't know where he was, and it was dark. He couldn't see anything, and he began to cry out, like cry out in shrieking fear in that moment. And of course, it wakes us all up. The lights are still down. He can't see anything, but his dad, his name was John, his dad got out of the bed and quickly ran over to him and just said his name. That's all he said.

[40:55] And as soon as he said his name, this little boy just immediately goes silent. Now, his fear is still there because it's still dark. He can't see his dad's face. He's still in an unfamiliar place.

[41:07] He's still not exactly sure what to think about what's happening in that moment, but he hears his dad's voice. He knows his dad is there, and that's all he needs to feel comfortable in that moment.

[41:19] At least dad's here with me. Doesn't change my circumstance, but dad's here. I think there's a sense in which Jesus is saying this same thing to these men on the mountain. I'm going to send you into the darkness of this world, and it's going to be hard, and there's going to be a lot of fear, and there's going to be a lot of turmoil in your life, but I'll be with you. That will be the peace that you can take with you. But then I think this goes a step further even than comfort.

[41:46] There's this kingdom solidarity, this commonality, unity that we experience with Christ as we fulfill the kingdom mission. As we go, Jesus goes. As we work with missional responsibility, Jesus works with divine authority. His presence not only brings comfort in the darkness, it also brings power in the work itself. Because how many of us have been afraid to evangelize someone or disciple someone merely on the basis of we're not exactly sure what to say, and we're so afraid we're going to say something wrong. And we need to remember, I am with you.

[42:30] I am with you. He will help you. He will empower you in those moments. As we go, he goes. Therefore, go into the world with all the confidence that Christ will save his people when we preach the gospel to others. Paul said to the Corinthians, we are God's fellow workers. We're working together with God in this mission. So if we're going to grow into a church that honors and pleases the Lord, we have to take seriously the necessity to obey the kingdom mission he's assigned to us.

[43:10] Christ gospel authority means that whoever calls on the name of the Lord, will be saved. And our responsibility is to go to the people of this world with the intention to evangelize them and disciple them. And as we obey this command, the Holy Spirit goes with us.

[43:32] He provides us comfort in our hardship and power in our preaching. So he doesn't send us on our own. Amen.