 Let's begin reading together Matthew 28 at verse 16. We'll read to verse 20. I'll give you the introduction and we'll move into our study Matthew writes Then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee To the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them When they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted and Jesus came and spoke to them Saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo I am with you always Even to the end of the age Last time we were together we had spent time looking at the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and I want to begin my introduction by reminding you or perhaps instructing you that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the Chief cornerstone if you will of the Christian faith Because if you remove from our faith the resurrection You actually empty our faith of its reality in other words our faith becomes useless. It becomes worthless The Apostle Paul taught us that in 1st Corinthians 15 verses 13 through 17 Paul said if there is no resurrection of the dead then Christ is not risen and if Christ is not risen Then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God Because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise and If Christ is not risen your faith is futile you are still in your sins So everything in our faith centers on the reality of the death of Christ his burial and his resurrection Because if Jesus was not raised from the dead then our preaching is built on a lie But our faith is completely built on the fact of the resurrection and there are several reasons why let me lay these layers for you now One Jesus made consistent statements that he would be raised from the dead He said it over and over again in his teaching beginning in John chapter 2 at the beginning of his ministry in John chapter 2 verses 19 and 20 Jesus answered and said to them destroy this temple and in three days. I will raise it up Then the Jews said it has taken 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days? But he was speaking of the temple of his body So from the beginning Jesus Christ was saying that he would be raised from the dead as we've gone through Matthew He mentioned that very specifically in chapter 16 chapter 17 chapter 20 and Chapter 26 he spoke about being betrayed judged crucified and resurrected So if Jesus was not resurrected in one he lied to us Secondly the divinity of Jesus is proven by his resurrection Because Jesus claimed to be God in human flesh and his resurrection validated that claim in John 5 17 and 18 Jesus was being questioned about this and Jesus answered them My father has been working until now and I've been working Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath But also said that God was his father making himself equal with God in John 19 verse 7 when the Jewish authorities were standing before Pontius Pilate and Pilate was speaking to them and said the Jews answered him We have a law and according to our law He ought to die because he made himself the Son of God in Romans 1 verse 4 Paul said Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power According to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead The resurrection validates his claim to be the Son of God and all you need to do is think for just a moment About a young girl maybe 14 years of age Who went off to visit one of her relatives in a distant town? and When she returns home She's found to be with child and her betrothed husband Joseph is Concerned and begins to think how can I put her away? But I don't want to do it in a public fashion because if I make it known that she has become impregnated by another man She could suffer capital punishment for this and Joseph being a just man wanted to put away privately But the angel spoke to Joseph and said don't be afraid to take unto you marry your wife for that which she is carrying with her And that which has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit and this is the Son of God And so all of her son's life Mary the mother of Jesus wore the stigma of being a woman in her culture who became pregnant before they had officially made that marriage Proper in the eyes of the people and yet she'd been saying This was a Miracle baby All the way until the day Jesus was resurrected. She was regarded as a woman of no honor But when Jesus was resurrected It verified every claim that this woman ever made concerning how she became pregnant He was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection The third thing our personal justification rests on his resurrection Paul in Romans 4 25 said Jesus was delivered for offenses and was raised again for our Justification a fourth thing our salvation depends on his resurrection in Romans 10 9 it says if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead You will be saved so it's not simply saying I believe that there was a Jesus 2,000 years ago It said I have a my faith resting on the fact of his resurrection and then fifth our own Resurrection rest on whether or not Jesus was raised from the dead Romans 8 11 says if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you He who raised up Christ from the dead shall also make alive your mortal bodies by his spirit who dwells in you So his resurrection is the center of everything that Jesus taught concerning himself and his entire ministry rest on whether or not He was raised from the dead Because that's true Satan obviously has worked over time to undermine The reality of his resurrection, but he is alive and because he lives we live also as We look at this passage. We see that Matthew is concluding his entire story of Jesus Christ with what is called the Great Commission It says to us here as we begin verse 16 that the 11 disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain with Jesus had appointed for them and When they saw him they worshiped him some doubted and Jesus came and spoke to them saying all the authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth Go therefore and make disciples. So we're looking at this great commission now. This commission is not only found in Matthew It's also found in different ways in the other Gospels as well as the book of Acts When you look in the other Gospels and acts you see that each portion of scripture speaks of it in a different way It actually adds elements you see the commission given in in mark 16 Verses 15 through 20 you see it given in Luke 24 verses 46 through 49 You see it in John's gospel chapter 20 verses 21 through 23 as well as the book of Acts chapter 1 verse 8 What we have here in Matthew are the elements that we're going to be looking at concerning the commission as he as he gives it to us and Matthew is going to make it clear that the mission is to preach the gospel and to make disciples You see the Great Commission is is not to fill buildings up with people the Great Commission is to fill people with Jesus Christ and Today sadly great masses of professing Christians have missed that point They only interpret the message of the gospel as As long as that its message pertains to their particular needs and and it escapes him that they actually have been given a mission of supreme urgency You see Jesus made it clear that his followers to give this message to the world And that's because all are lost without him and everybody needs to come to him All people need Jesus Christ. He said I am the way the truth in the life No one comes to the father, but by me In Acts 4 verse 12 it says there is salvation in no one else There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to say them So the gospel reveals God's love for us as well as the offer of redemption God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish But have everlasting life and and the Bible says that people need salvation They they need brand new lives. They they need the experience of forgiveness. They they need that new start and When we're saved we are actually compelled by love and duty to take this message to other people Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 5 14 Christ love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all therefore all died in 1st Corinthians 9 16. He said when I preach the gospel I cannot boast I am compelled to preach woe unto me if I do not preach the gospel So all of this is built on the teaching of the word which produces disciples And I'll give you more insight as we go through this in just a moment So what we have here in verse 16 again is the 11 disciples They went away into Galilee, which is northern Israel to the mountain Which Jesus had appointed for them very simply put notice there are no longer 12. It's the 11 They all began well, but not all finished. Well Judas the traders no longer counted as one of the 12 and they went according to verse 16 to Galilee Notice to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. Now. This is something I look at these things sometimes and I ask myself How often did Jesus actually give messages from mountains? You might find it interesting Jesus actually gave a number of messages and didn't an awful lot of ministry around mountains for some reason It's where he gave what is called the sermon on the mount. You see that in chapter 5 through 7 in Matthew It was on a mountain that he chose as 12 apostles according to mark 3 13 The feeding of the found 5,000 took place at the foot of a mountain in John 6 verses 3 through 6 The transfiguration occurred on a mountain Matthew 17 1 and 2 He wept over Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives in Luke 9 37 He gave the Mount of Olives discourse in Matthew 24 and 25 Later, he's going to ascend to heaven from the Mount of Olives according to Acts 112 But here he gives a great commission and he does so on a mountain and they meet him at the mountain And this is more than likely a place. They're familiar with Some commentators believe that this may be the Mount of Transfiguration Which would be appropriate because it spoke to them about seeing his glory Now he had promised to meet them in Galilee according to Matthew 26 32 It would seem that Jesus had placed had a place picked out for them And so the disciples are at the place that he called them to One basic little thing here simple obedience Places them into the position of usability Simple obedience All you need to do is show up where the Lord wants you to be and when the Holy Spirit begins to bring you to a place And you begin to show up at that place. Guess what God's going to do is going to use you You need to remember that ability is not as important as availability And so as they gather there notice verse 17 they see him and they worshiped him, but some doubt it So the moment Jesus appears as disciples began to worship him It wasn't that long ago that they were grieving it wasn't that long ago that they were hiding for fear of the Jewish authorities But now they're beginning to worship him in John 16 verse 20 Jesus said very truly I tell you you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices You will grieve but your grief will turn to joy and so as they're worshiping him notice some doubted Now that wouldn't have been his apostles who are doubting This particular event here recorded in Matthew actually takes place over a week after his resurrection In John 20 verses 19 through 29 John says that Jesus was With his apostles on two occasions over eight days and that had occurred in the city Jerusalem So that means that Matthew is saying that Jesus met his men sometime later in northern Israel in Galilee So those who are mentioned as doubting are not the apostles They would have been other followers of Jesus who had also come to the place. How do we know that? 1st Corinthians 15 verses three through six Paul said I delivered to you first of all that which I also Received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures That he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures That he was seen by Cephas then by the 12 After that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once of Whom the greater part remained to the present but some have fallen asleep. So the ones that are being referred to here Are the ones who are amongst those 500 and some are doubting It's just too good to be true perhaps or a distance away and really don't recognize them But there they are and now we look at this commission verse 18 Jesus came and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth Go therefore And make disciples of all the nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you Low I'm with you always even to the end of the age the great commission. Let's look at that together Before sending them notice with me. He makes a statement verse 18 all authority has been given unto me All authority is his because he's Messiah in Daniel 7 13 and 14 in my vision at night I looked and there before me was one like the Son of man Coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days. It was led into his presence He was given authority glory and sovereign power all people's nations and men of every language worshiped him His dominion is a everlasting dominion that will not pass away His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed and Jesus says I have authority and I am sending you notice verse 19 Go go therefore make disciples of all the nations by my authority I am sending you on a mission and the mission I am Authorizing you to perform is the task of making disciples right now. There is a war going on There is a fight going on and some of us are not aware of it It's even bigger than Mayweather McGregor where they were saying send us your money. So Anyway It was humorous But um, it's a huge fight it's an enormous one and it's for human souls and The church has been given a commission you need to go and you need to declare these things to the people why because? Jesus Christ died was very resurrected He brings life and it's his message of life that you're to communicate to people so that they might be set free from the bondage of sin and So instead of remaining here in the city of Jerusalem your commission is to go out Your commission or remaining in the city of Jerusalem your commission is to go out and do the work of ministry Why because you have a message that sets people free and it's not something that is simply to be a local thing It's not just for the Jews in Israel This is a message that's to go worldwide the task of making Disciples is not just for the nation, but it's for the entire world You see Jesus intended his men to make disciples He didn't intend his men to go out and and convince people to refer to themselves as Christians Because a lot of people here in the United States and in many places the world when you ask them What is your religious faith will immediately say? Well, I was baptized or I'm a Christian He didn't say go out and make nominal Christians people who refer to themselves as Christian on on different surveys and all he's saying I want you to make disciples and there's a difference between somebody who communicates and says I am a Christian and and a genuine Christian because a genuine Christian has certain earmarks and a Cultural Christian simply refers to themself as a Christian a disciple is somebody who is fully Committed to Jesus Christ so when the Lord is speaking concerning making disciples He is saying go out and make disciples not Deciders because there are a lot of people today who refer to themselves as believers who I'm referring to as Deciders, oh, I've decided a certain thing, but are you a disciple? Do you understand what it means to follow Christ? You see in Luke 9 23 Jesus said if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me And not everybody does that there are a lot of people who are convenient Christians. It's Easter. We go to church It's Christmas. We go to church. It's a wedding. We go to church. It's a baptism. We go to church It's a funeral. We go to church, but that's what we do if there's not something else to do I don't even have to quote-unquote go to church anymore I just look up church services in different places So I like worship at a certain place and I'll watch their worship service Then I'll tune into somebody else's live teaching service and we're selective and we sit back and we watch TV and we take in information the way we do with our phones and our iPads and all and what we simply do is We just take in information and we say that we're serving the Lord when in reality We're not even committed enough to get up and go somewhere He says what we need to do is pick up our cross You see in in Jesus's day certain earmarks identified a person as a disciple It was similar to what we used to have where you had an you had a master and an apprentice a Mentoring relationship and and Jesus when he was speaking of people being his disciples There was a Jewish form of mentoring that he was referring to because during his day a Disciple had certain earmarks He decided to follow a teacher the disciple would memorize the words of the teacher The disciple would learn his way of ministry from the teacher The disciple would imitate the life and character of their teacher and then when they were fully committed as real disciples They would raise up their own Disciples you can still see that in Israel the first day the first time I went to Israel was back in 1983 and I was standing at what is called the Western Wall and I was standing next to my pastor Chuck Smith and As I was standing next to pastor Chuck I was noticing that these rabbinic students would go to the Western Wall and they would pray there and They had its different behaviors I mean some of them would stand straight and they were bowing forward very quickly and Then others were standing straight but they were moving side to side and I was fascinated to watch that and I asked my pastor. What are they doing and he said they are imitating Their master he said they have a rabbi who has taught them to pray in that fashion and that's what they're doing He said the word of God says to love the Lord thy God with all your strength and So when they're praying they're moving back and forth because they're loving God with their strength So to this day you can go to Israel and still see what I'm referring to here When it's to become like the master because they would learn the way of service to God by watching and by imitating and They they would also memorize the words of that master And well the Bible tells us in Deuteronomy 6 verse 6 these words which I command you today shall be in your heart So they wouldn't memorize the words. They would learn his way of ministry It says in Matthew 10 25. It's enough for a disciple that he'd be like his teacher, but they also were intended to raise up disciples certain point We no longer follow that exact example But you will become that example to somebody else and that's what the Lord is teaching them to do now Let me get practical in my Christian life when I first got saved. I Was taught to do the work of an evangelist When you look in the Bible, it's interesting to note that There's what is called the office of evangelists You see that in Ephesians 4 11 and 12 But there is doing the work of an evangelist that you see in 2 Timothy chapter 4 There's only one person in the Bible ever referred to as an evangelist and that's Philip the evangelist But all of us are called to do the work of evangelism You see When I first got saved I was told this is what you need to do if you want to grow It's the same thing we all need to do read the word learn to pray Fellowship with other Christians and tell somebody about your faith in Christ That's what led me to read the Bible and bring my family to Christ But it was easier for me to talk to my family than it was To just people I didn't know and yet my friends hauled me out on Whittier Boulevard To go and talk to people strangers, and I'm not somebody can do that very well to this day I'm still a little reserved in that I I don't speak to strangers very easily some do Some do some can can speak to strangers and and before you know it They're like best friends my wife Marie's that way, but I'm not I'm kind of reserved. I'm very reserved, but when the Lord opens the door I will speak but as a brand-new Christian. I'm just saved I don't even know the names of the books of the Bible yet I I can't pronounce the word Ecclesiastes. I've got no clue what you're talking about all I know is I was blind now I see I was deaf now I hear all I know is I was crippled now I walk that's pretty much what I know I was a sinner now. I'm safe. I'm going to heaven was going to hell. I knew those things So they're taking me on Whittier Boulevard, and as I'm walking on Whittier Boulevard We go to Bob's big boy guys every here Bob's big boy Bob's big boy on Whittier Boulevard in Whittier Come on Dave. Let's talk to people about Jesus. Are you kidding me? I don't know how to do that Let me just stand next to you and nod my head and smile and look up to heaven like oh, that's true, but But to talk to people so I still remember going into the parking lot at Bob's big boy and approaching a truck and the truck Well in the truck was a friend of mine named Jeff and And Jeff and I were friends from high school, and I was 20 years old now I hadn't seen him for a while, but he and I used to party a lot. He was a drunk. So was I we got along very well There he was in the truck and I thought oh this has got to be God Because I can speak to friends. I just haven't learned to speak to strangers. I still remember walking up to Jeff and saying to him Hey Jeff, how you doing? He says Dave. How are you? And I said I'm great Jeff I said just want to talk to you for a minute. He said good. I haven't seen you in a long time and all of that And I said no I haven't but let me tell you something man. Let me tell you that I gave my heart to Christ I've been born again Jeff He was drunk he was he was real drunk and He looks at me in his drunk slurred speech, and he says you're born again, and I said yeah He says so am I let's have a drink and talk about it. I mean as he as So am I and and I thought you know what there's got to be more to the Christian life than just saying you're a Christian and and It's very difficult to speak to somebody who's inebriated about the things of the Lord But that's when I began to learn how to to communicate in all of that And I have to tell you that in the season I got saved It was the Jesus movement in the Jesus movement. It was a revival a few years before the movement There was an article that was put out with the question I I think it was in either it was time magazine and it said is God dead and then a few years later you have another headline where it's got Jesus is facing it says Jesus Revolution and so I came out of that I came out of a revolution I came out of a of a time when you tell people about the Lord You ask God for the power of the Holy Spirit and you communicate to them what God has done That's what I came out of and as I came out of that I began to realize that you need to tell people about Jesus Christ You need to go out and be concerned about them and explain to them what the Lord's doing it And it's amazing how God was working at that time because there were songs that were being played on the radio That had Christian themes and even people who were not saved would say things that alluded to Christian activity There was a guy by the name of Alton John some of you may have done your studies in ancient musical history Alton John and Alton John had a song out called leave on and Some of you may remember some of the words in it because it says Jesus freaks out in the streets Handing tickets out for God. What was he talking about? He was talking about Jesus freaks. That's what they called us Jesus freaks What are the tickets? He's referring to we would give tracks out and Apparently somebody had written a song that he sang making Making a statement concerning what they were seeing in Hollywood because we would a lot of the people would go on Caravan to Hollywood Boulevard and would walk up and down and would share the gospel Arthur blessed on evangelist the guy who gave the message I got saved listening to Arthur blessed would was hanging on a cross He would hang himself on a cross on Hollywood Boulevard and people would walk by and he would say are you ready for God? And the people would look at him so we're not even ready for you. What's wrong with you? But that's what he did and it was something that they had the Hollywood free press and then they had the Hollywood paper That was for Christian the Christian times and and there were different things that were happening that were so powerful Why because we knew that Jesus Christ said go and Tell them about me and that's what we did. We didn't rely on some evangelist. We did it ourselves That's how this church was birthed. That's how 1800 Calvary chapels Because we were told go out and tell someone about Jesus Christ. That's why we did it Jesus is the way to heaven. We would say there's no salvation in anyone else We would tell them you need to know Jesus Christ and Jesus had go You see remember that in in the Jewish religion the Jews had built the temple And the male adults over a certain age were required if they were able to come for three major festivals over the course of the calendar year They went to temple But now we become the temple of the Spirit of God Because the Spirit of God dwells in us and the temple goes to the people so he says go We preach a message that is Remarkable in its power Of transformation There's a guy I know His name is Kilroy one of the originators of the Mexican mafia Kilroy some of you know his name some of you may know him Kilroy Kilroy was released from prison He was in his front yard He was watering The yard with garden hose. That's a Mexican sprinkling system I'm Mexican. Okay, some of you don't know that I'm playing You'll be lining up to stab me after church He's watering the lawn When a car comes driving by very slowly What do you do when you see a car at the corner of the eye? Going slowly by you You see the car coming by slowly So he's watching it and it stops Makes a u-turn Comes back Watering his lawn watching it from the corner of his eye stops turns around comes back and Pulls over at his curb a woman in her 70s climbs out and walks up to Kilroy and Says to him I know who you are and I'm not afraid of you You need Jesus and She wins him to Christ She used to go to our church. She brings Kilroy to church here and Kilroy was in our church for some time Learning about Jesus Christ. Why? Because God Changes lives through the gospel That's how it happened talking to a man talking to a man's wife She starts telling me His testimony She says he was 12 years old When his mom died it's now Thanksgiving He's getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. So his father walks into his room and says to him What are you doing? This 12-year-old little boy says I'm getting ready to go Thanksgiving at auntie's house The father says who invited you You're not going Gives him two dollars and says go to go and get yourself a hamburger Takes a family leaves this little 12-year-old by himself mourning his mother's death In his bedroom a little boy eventually just says I can't handle this and he runs away starts living in an alley He starts Sweeping a bakery Monday through Friday So that the guy who owns the bakery Will give to him a donut and milk for his breakfast He eventually just gets into the gangs because that's where his family is He now has a family. It's a gang Lives in East LA Meets a girl marries her. They have a baby He moves to another state with his wife and child He gets a job, but he has to leave for a few days during the week She's pregnant with the second child Four-year-old little girl He gets a call. Well, he's at work in this other state. It's a friend who says to him You ought to come home a little early your wife's going out on you He gets in his car comes it comes home a day early Goes to his house She's not around So he figures she must be where we normally go to a particular place a restaurant and he drives to the restaurant There's his car There's his wife. There's his little girl and There's this motorcycle gangster part of the banditos and He's talking to his wife and this guy gets out of his car And he walks up to the bandit and the bandit pulls a gun and he shoots his four-year-old And he shoots his wife Jumps on his motorcycle drives away This man kneels down picks up his four-year-old as she dies in his arms And he sees his wife bloodied puts the wife in the hospital Finds out where this guy is who shot her and shot and killed his baby And he drives to this other state and he finds the safe house that this bandito is in And he kills him Kills him gets in his car and drives home The extra died him they actually said you can come on your own He came late Stands before the judge and the judge says because you didn't come on the date that you were ordered to appear I Have to sentence you to the full extent that this crime warrants 16 years prison He goes to prison In prison he's remembered some of the things he heard before he went to prison He had heard the gospel because he had gone to the Calvary Chapel there in Costa Mesa He had heard the gospel And he starts wondering about it gets out of prison starts a job No longer married to the woman who had committed adultery because the baby was not his it was The skanksters He's divorced and he's living single and he begins to pray and he starts saying to God. Can you please? Work in my life. I don't want to be alone all my life. I would like a wife But I'm not going to chase anybody down. I'm just going to wait on you He's a construction he owns a construction company so he starts going door-to-door through neighborhoods And he's giving him card and he knocks on the door young woman opens the door and He says do you need any work done? And she says as a matter of fact, I do This is the woman who told me the story. So he comes in and sits down and he asks her What do you do? You know Keep yourself busy She says I'm a Christian. I go to church. I serve and love the Lord. He says I am too He says and I prayed because I'm looking for a church Do you recommend yours and she said yes, he says oh really? Where's it at? She tells him? That's like on a Monday Wednesday. She goes to church and there's this guy at church. He sees her and walks up Hi, how are you? Thank you for recommending and I loved it. I'm gonna come back. She says that's great the next week She goes on Sunday There he is walking by. Hi, how are you fine? Eventually they go out for coffee He's serving the Lord loving God. She's serving the Lord loving God His life has been transformed by a gospel He wants to serve the Lord She wants to serve the Lord. God placed them together and a few months ago. I married him It's my sister and her husband The gospel The gospel The gospel transforms lives Never forget that That's why we preach the gospel People need to know the grace of God who transforms sinners and gives them hope Who makes them brand new because that's what Jesus Christ said that he would do He changes our lives and that's why we tell people about him I asked him today, I spoke to him his name is Frank I said Frank, do you mind if I share a bit of your story with my church? It's just so stirring and he said please do and then send me money Paul was in the city of Athens and he was awaiting two of his co-workers Timothy and Silas and and as he was there he He's seen the condition of the city. It says in Acts 17 16 and 17 Well, well Paul waited for them at Athens His spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshippers and in the marketplace daily With those who happened to be there his his spirit was stirred that they were given over to idolatry And it was enough to provoke him to share It's like when the woman at the well who had been set free by Jesus in John chapter 4 after her conversation Experienced freedom and at the freedom she experienced that Christ brought motivated her to go out and share John 40 for 28 and 29 says leaving her water jar The woman went back to the town and said to the people come and see a man Who told me everything I ever did could this be the Christ? You see this opportunity to invite people to see Jesus goes on to this day It simply takes an experience with God and a concern for others to provoke you to share in John 435 Jesus said do you not say four months more and then harvest I tell you open your eyes Look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest So he says go and he out you have a task go therefore and make disciples of all the nations in other words The salt needs to get out of the salt shaker Your responsibility is not merely to travel the world as tourists Now this would be an amazing command alone because these are men who'd never even left Israel And now he's saying you're gonna go throughout the world, but I've got a commission for you You're gonna do something. You're gonna teach all nations. You're gonna make Disciples you're gonna teach them according to verse 20 to observe all things You're gonna teach them systematically you're gonna communicate to them the counsel of God It'll transform their lives in Acts 20 27 Paul said it like this I have not shunned to declare it to you all the counsel of God and that's why we teach verse by verse Chapter by chapter book by book because that's how you get the whole counsel of God Ephesians 4 11 through 14 says it like this It was he who gave some to be apostles some to be prophets some to be evangelists Some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God's people for works of service So that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach Unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature Attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching And by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming He's saying when you get the whole counsel you come you become mature You're to be like a newborn baby Desiring the sincere milk of the word that you may grow there by if you've tasted that the Lord is good And you're to be built on something more than opinions and experience and instincts You're to be built on the solid rock of God's word because it's God's word that changes us and it's God's word that directs us and It's God's word that strengthens us In Acts 2032 I commit you to God and to the word of his grace Which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified Listen in our day We are experiencing what Paul predicted what he prophesied would occur We are living in the last days that Paul Told us about We're living in those very days in 2nd Timothy 4 2 through 4 that Paul spoke about He spoke to a pastor by the name of Timothy and he said this to him. He said preach the word Be prepared in season and out of season Correct rebuke and encourage with great patience careful instruction for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine Instead to suit their own desires. They will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths They will and we're living in those days right now or healthy Bible studies People don't want they want entertainment. They want music. They want Everything but the word because when the word is rightly divided when you systematically approach it from Genesis to Revelation You're gonna give things that are warnings and you're gonna give things that are blessings. You're gonna have the whole package But people don't want the whole package. What they want is they want like a pill right now I want to feel good about who I am and what I'm doing I don't want to hear that my lifestyle is not pleasing to the Lord and and when you say something to me that makes me Uncomfortable then you're a hater and I don't want to hear and that's where the church is today and Paul said listen the day's gonna come They're no longer gonna put up with healthy teaching. They don't want to hear it. They don't want the full counsel of God They're not desirous of that They're gonna say make me feel good say things that that tickle my ear say things. I already agree with You know, I I spent five minutes in the Bible I can I can see that it agrees with me. So why are you saying things to me that caused me disturbance? We're living in that moment. Listen the Jesus movement a powerful movement that I alluded to that I believe that God wants to do even a greater work in these last days that Jesus movement Was undermined at a certain point in history and I'll tell you how I'll tell you how I'm a veteran. I came from it. I can tell you how There were a few things only give you a couple things But one of the things that undermined the movement of the Spirit of God Came in an interesting way. It came through what was called the moral majority Through Jerry Falwell who's a good man And this is a man who who loved the Lord he had a great and very powerful work But what happened is during the 70s We began to be convinced that we could change the United States by electing officials who are righteous And we stopped preaching We stopped sharing we stopped telling people the real answers repentance This nation needs to wake up and we began to trust our elected officials to do that for us a second thing that I saw happen Was the proliferation of Christian TV programs Because instead of teaching we began to entertain through TV and as we did that we began to welcome false teachers into pulpits That were not only now affecting just a group of people that they were speaking to but now an entire nation and then it became International and what happened is we began to rely on These kinds of things and we stepped away from the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to wake up again guys We need to come back to the word and the power of the Spirit we do We do it's not too late, but we need to do so You see it's the whole counsel of God that produces disciples He did not say go out and trust somebody else to be the evangelist. He said you be the evangelist You have family members That pastors like me Will never be able to speak to You do you speak to them. They'll never come here Greg Laurie They're not going to watch TV and watch a Billy Graham crusade They're watching you They're listening to you They want to know how it really works in you Because any polished speaker can give a presentation articulate and eloquent if they work at it They don't want to hear a polished presentation they want to see God's word Incarnated they want to see how that really works and a person they know That's one of the things my dad told me That convinced him that he needed to listen to his son his wayward son When I began to share with them about Christ. He said you needed God and I saw what he did in your life You were a living letter of God to me As you were my son. I knew the way you lived and when you changed That drew my attention Your friends your family your coworkers your neighbors you may not know it But they do notice you They do notice you they are aware of you They talk to you on The job when someone's telling a filthy joke and you're laughing along with them and acting like it's cool They notice that and as they notice that they don't respect you When I was in the army 20 years old new believer. I had a friend his name was lever tease Hampton lever tease Hampton lever tease was the guy who was about five foot six 200 pounds solid rock muscle and He was he was a very bad dude. He hated my friend Salinas and one day he was talking to Salinas and Salinas was talking back to him Salinas little guy lever tease took his hand and grabbed hold of a It was a light switch that was attached the wall with with Deep screws while he was looking at Salinas. He pulled it off the wall He wanted to kill Salinas, but he pulled it off the wall Salinas said man's crazy man stay away from him But he liked me He liked me some for some reason and and I and I took my liberty with lever tease and I would talk to him about the Lord lever tease was an African-American man and he would come and he would talk to me about prejudice and about hatred and And I and I would say and my friend saw me do this. I'd say to him lever tease I'd say you don't want to know something man. What I said, you're a bigot Go what what I said, you're a bigot. I said man you hate people you need Jesus Christ You need to get right with God because your heart's bad and my friends Well, I would say you shouldn't talk to liver tease. He'll take your head off. I said, you know what? I've got favor with him and I'm gonna tell him the truth And I would tell lever tease about that one day he walks in and he sits down with me and he says Dave I want you to know something man. I got my heart right with God. I'm at a great girl I'm going to church now. You gotta tell them the truth Tell them the truth Love them and if God gives you favor if God gives you favor use it for the glory of God Use it for the glory of God. Jesus said go out into all the world Make disciples. He said teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you Baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit He said hello, I'll be with you always Even until the end of the age Jesus will be with us He says until I come to judge the world until I come to rule on earth I will be with you So as you go and when you go and while you go and where you go make disciples and I will be with you and you can't do it on the power of your persuasive speech. I will give to you power You shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem Judea Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth So go in the power of my might take my word. You are not alone I'll be with you and then I will come and rule and reign and you will be by my side Is there anything better than that? I say no Nothing better than that go go and share the gospel