Good morning. Well, I’ll probably talk loud enough. Hopefully you can hear me. This is an exciting, scary event for me today, but everyone should be a little bit nervous when they get up in front of people to talk, right? Have you taken public speaking? Is it nerve wracking? How do you have an arm or a hand? There’s a few more. Okay, well, all right. So we’re going to be jumping right into Matthew and We’re in chapter 28, verse 20. Have your Bibles all along. Let’s get some Baptist air conditioning in here. Tough crowd. All right. I’m seeing tougher. All right. I didn’t come to tell jokes though, anyway, so there.

And if you’re there, I’m gonna actually back up to verse 18. And we’re going to read through to the end of the chapter. And I only have a little bit of time, so we have a lot to cover. Now, the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. And Jesus came and he said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and 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 you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Thus ends the reading of God’s word. May he add his blessing unto it.

Amen. So, real quick, this section has been entitled. Entitled, excuse me, titled. The Great Commission. The title of my sermon, if you’re taking notes, is or Talk. Commissioned to Make Jesus Known. Does that sound like an important one? You may have heard this all year. You may be like, well, I want to hear something else. Well, the Apostle Paul said that he wants to know Jesus and him crucified and nothing else. He said he’s not ashamed of the cross, he’s not ashamed of the gospel. And so we’re going to talk a little bit about what that commissioning is because the second part is to make Jesus known. Sometimes we believe that sharing the gospel is telling our testimony. Our testimony is very powerful and great when coupled with the gospel.

So we’re going to talk about what the gospel is, what the commissioning is, how many have a personal testimony? Some of you. Three of you. Four of you. Five. Good. All right. So that goes along with the gospel. Anyone want to take a stab at what the gospel is? Okay, so she said, anyone who reads the Bible every day and prays to God a lot, those are really good things. But those are only part of the gospel, How he came. Okay. What else did Jesus do. For God’s glory? He came for God’s glory. Yes, I’m. Come over here. Anybody else? What else is the gospel? Jesus came and died for all men. Whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Yep. There’s our part to save. What else? There’s a key. There’s one more key. So when he died, he was born.

He lived for the glory of God,

Then he died, then he rose again.

That’s really important, right? Because we’re really hoping on that. I don’t know about you, but I’m really hoping on that. You know why? Because the Bible says he’s the firstborn among many brethren, which means sistren, too. Brethren and sister. Right. All of us who will believe in Christ will follow him. It’s a theme all throughout the Bible of God going on before his people. It’s beautiful. You see it in Moses. You see it with the children of Israel when they’re going through the wilderness, what happens? The cloud or the. Or the pillar of fire comes up, raises up, and moves to a new place, goes before them. If you’re a Christian, if you’re a believer, who goes before you everywhere you go? So, yes, you’ve been commissioned to go where Jesus has already been and set up through the Holy Spirit for you.

So when you’re standing before someone that needs to hear the gospel, what you know, who has already been there? God. Who is there with you? I will never leave you nor forsake you. Apostle Paul said that he was convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Death, no life, nothing can separate you. So when you are Christ, when you are a Christian, you belong to God. He goes wherever you go. And he’s very easily, only said, given us one command in particular, and that was to go in this scripture. Go and do what? Preach the gospel. And you may say, I’m not a preacher. Well, that doesn’t exempt you because he says it first to the universal church, which is the church, the big church, right?

Then he says it to the congregation, and then he says it to the individual. So each and every one of us is qualified and commissioned to go and share the gospel if we are believers, if we have the Holy Spirit. You notice that in John when Jesus is talking with them, he tells them that they’re going to receive the Holy Spirit, meaning they’re going to become believers, they’re going to become empowered, and then they’re going to be able to go out and stand before kings and share the Gospel. And the Apostle Paul did. He stood before kings, little kings and big kings. And some of you in this room are called to stand before leaders. Leaders in our country, if you will hear the commission.

When a commission is a military term, a commission has to do in particular with the officer branch in the military. Anybody here know anyone in the military? All right, yeah. So an officer receives a commissioning, and therefore he is told what to do, and he is to go forth and do great things for America, right? Well, if you’re a Christian, you’ve received a commissioning from God, but it isn’t an impossible task. Like maybe take Vietnam if you’ve seen were soldiers, right? It isn’t an impossible task. It’s a task that he’s actually gone on before us and prepared the way. There’s another scripture because there’s always, you know, there’s always loopholes. And you may say, well, I’m going to be in the military, but I don’t want to be an officer. So I thought of that.

So if we turn to second Timothy, if you want to put me in your Bibles, Chapter two, verse four, Speaking about this very theme of being a soldier, no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. So in the military, you have officers and you have enlisted. So now both have received the commission, right? Both received the commission to go. And when we’re told to go, and we may be. Well, I don’t know where to go. Well, you put one foot in front of the other. You go where the Lord leads. You read your Bible, you wait, you prepare, and God will bring people right in front of you that their hearts are prepared to hear what? Your personal testimony. To hear what? But share your personal testimony after you’ve given the gospel.

Because that is very powerful. It is very powerful. In fact, in Revelation, it says, they overcame him being the devil, the enemy of us all. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. So I did not discount it. Don’t mishear me. It’s just we’re ordered to give the gospel and then everything else is bonus. You know, some people may share and it can be a scary thing when you haven’t shared the gospel. Often you don’t want to be rejected, right? Yeah, you don’t want to be rejected. It can be scary. I’ll do it wrong. Well, if you simply tell them about Jesus life, what he did, the miraculous signs that he proved himself to be the Son of God through those miraculous signs.

And then not only did he do that, but then he died and he was the last sacrifice and then he rose again. Something simple around that measure. You have shared the gospel. But again, the key is he rose again. He not only died. Because what do we do with a dead Savior? Nothing. But once he raises, what is that? He goes before us. And what does that mean? We can follow him, right? Does he not say that to his apostles? In John 14, says, in my Father’s house are many rooms, mansions, whatever you want to call them, places. And I go to prepare a place for you. And where I go, you will go also. And then Thomas says, but we don’t know the way I am the way, the truth and the life.

That means no matter what country you’re in, no matter where you are, if you call out to Jesus, if you call upon his name, you can get to heaven. There’s no country, there’s no location. There’s nowhere that can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. The faith must be put in Christ. And then you can call them. But in particular, we’re talking about the commissioning, right? And we’re talking about being enlisted, we’re talking about being commanded into all the world. Now, some of you may being called to go and be missionary somewhere and the Lord will lay that on your heart. And they must hear the gospel. They don’t need to hear your testimony as much as they needed to hear the gospel, but they should hear your testimony.

They especially don’t want to hear that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life. If you haven’t shared the gospel, that’s a great scripture. Once they’ve accepted the Lord, right? Once you’ve accepted the Lord, yes, it is still a wonderful plan because it’s God. But it might not be wonderful to them. That make sense. But it is really wonderful. When they say Christ and then you may say, they may reject Me. I don’t remember. 55. Sorry. Three minutes. Oh. Oh, we got lots of time. Sorry, I should. Wrote it down. When you get old, you forget things. Anyway, so the thing is that they’re going to reject them. Here’s the thing that the Bible says, is that all are already condemned. All are rejecting God already. They have already rejected God. You are simply. And I. We are only the messenger.

We simply have to give the king’s message. Hey, the king sent his Sodom. He did some amazing things that proved he’s the savior of the world. He died on the cross and then he rose. And if they reject it. It’s just a message. They’re not rejecting you. Or even if they are, you have to give the message. And it’s back to the military term when a messenger, a runner. Okay, what is a runner? I’ll tell you what a runner is. All fails. We got no phones, we got no radios, we got no satellite phones, nothing, right? Everything’s down. What we do. And I see it’s actually pretty cool. You write a message, you hand it to a guy and he runs. Does that messenger get any other choice other than to run? No, he runs.

He runs to the front line with that message to take it, and then he comes back with a counter message to run it up to the commander of the troops in the front line, the battlefield commander. My wife’s great grandfather was that guy in World War I. And on November 11, 2000, or excuse me, November 11, 1918, at noon, if you know your history, which Mrs. Carr is here. All right? At noon, they got together, the Germans and the Americans got together, right? And shook hands. Good game, whatever. Not really. But they were glad the war was over. And one German grabbed my wife’s great grandfather and said, I saw you yesterday. He could pick him out of the group. That’s how close he was. And what did he say? Thank you.

Because that means if you could pick him out, he could have shot him. And he didn’t shoot him. But he should have, because that’s the order, right? To shoot the messages. Because he would run messages to the front lines, back and forth. We’re called to run messages for the Lord. It’s not our message. That’s why our. Our testimony is secondary. That’s the chit chat we do after we give the message, right? Which is powerful. But the message is that God sent his son to this world. He didn’t send another. He had sent others. And those were beat, killed, destroyed, rejected. In fact, that’s the whole calling of Isaiah. If you read it. It’s so exciting. In Isaiah 6, it’s so exciting because he comes into the throne room of God. But then what? What does he say?

The message I have to give you, everyone will reject. Man, I’m sure you’re still excited you’re in the throne room of God. But man, that’s a tough message. Or Noah’s message. Tough message. Nobody received it. Not that Noah. Good for Noah. Top message. No one receives it, but yet we’re called to give it. It’s actually really exciting to have that message to commit. Carry that commission. For the Lord. It’s bigger than a commission in the military. You know, the president, when he becomes president, starting with George Washington, would receive a commission themselves if they had been in military or not, as commander and chief. So George Washington was the very first one to receive commander and chief commissioning. And he took it very serious. But our message and our commissioning from our king of kings, is he even bigger and better than that?

More important than that, because it is for the world, not for one country. But maybe you don’t know this message. Maybe you don’t know the Lord. I sat in Christian school. I ran from the Lord. I tried to hide from him. But I know the Lord sees each and every one of you where you are and he put you here for a reason. Probably hear this, that this could be the greatest thing you ever do, is to come to know Christ. Life changing, you’re not old, you’re not worried about death. So that you know that may not be a concern at all. But imagine the life you could live in the service of Christ. You could be an ambassador. You could receive this commissioning, the most important message ever sent. The living message. All right, let’s go ahead and bow in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. Lord God, if someone does not know you today, I pray, Lord God, that you would continue to turn their hearts towards you, Lord, that they would hear your calling and receive a commissioning themselves given by your hands alone. Be with us now throughout this day. Lord, go before us. Teach us to trust you more every day. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. For the house of motion.

Thank you for the opportunity to be able to share your truth with others around us. We thank you for the gospel that has changed our lives. So as they stood in and Shaden and other staff travel to El Salvador, we ask for your grace and your mercy, your wisdom and your understanding to be poured out on them that by your spirit you would strengthen them in their inner person that you would give them words to speak. And sometimes maybe not speak, but in places where they need to show love and be patient and kind and merciful. We pray that you help them to do that, but not just there. May their experiences begin to shape them in ways that they could have never understood or thought.

And when they return, may you continue to create in that heart that love you with everything that’s in them and love their neighbor as themselves. And so we ask, Father, that you would use this experience not just to help encourage the people in El Salvador and not just to bring the gospel to them, but also to change the hearts of these young people and the staff that’s going with them as well. So bless them, protect them from the evil one, keep them safe in their travels and do good to them. Keep them in good health. And by your spirit, continue to develop them as your children. Yes. All this in Christ’s name.

Thank you. All right, if you think of.

Be in prayer. Be in prayer that the gospel would be shared and God would be glorified. And, of course, pray for safe travels as well. All right, just a reminder, we are doing the. That’ll close on Friday, so I’ll be getting that money in.