CROSS TO COMMISSION | Therefore Go | Matthew 28:16-20 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

Be seated. If you are guests we welcome you to 2819. Where we are serious about the spread of the gospel and the multiplying of disciples. To all of our digital disciples watching live across America and around the world we welcome you. You are our covenant digital family wherever you are around the world. We pray for you, we love you, we have pop-ups coming to you. You are extensions of the kingdom and extensions of the church wherever you are. As we are trying to take territory around the globe. We are a global family now. We are standing on business for the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you are not a follower of the Lord and you crept into this room or you are sitting in the overflow or you are upstairs right now in the other overflow watching across the camera on the stream. We want you to know that we are thankful that you are here. You can belong before you believe and be amongst us before you believe. And our prayer for you is that something will shift for you today. That maybe today will be the day where you respond to the tugging of the Holy Spirit and you will come to know the joy of the saving grace of the Lord and Savior. Today we come to the end of a three year teaching journey through the book of Matthew. The end of our final series crossed to commission. A series that began in obscurity with 183 disciples in an empty room. That the Lord Jesus in his sovereignty has now used as a catalyst for us to advance the gospel in the whole world. A series in which Jesus has grew a family over 6000 local believers and hundreds of thousands of digital believers and millions around the world. All for his glory. A series that changed our church and changed my life. And we have come now to the final five verses in Matthew's glorious gospel. I'll text today Matthew chapter 28 verses 16 through 20. The apex of Matthew's gospel, the end of chapter 28. The final words of our Lord to us through Matthew's gospel. One of the most important passages of scripture in all of the New Testament is where we land today after three years. Before all Jesus has done, I am eternally grateful and overwhelmed. The spirit of the living God, we feel your presence in this room. Yes we do. We feel your presence in that chat and across that camera, around the country and continents around the world. We feel your presence right now as we are tapped in as a global family. I pray right now Father as the word is proclaimed. Eyes will be open and ears will hear. Hearts will be burned. As this final five verses is proclaimed in the hearing of the brothers and sisters I pray for the atheists and the unbeliever. They might tremble and hurl themselves at the foot of the cross today. And that something would shift in your church today and in our hearts today. In this moment I pray for help in my own weakness to talk to these my brothers and sisters I ask. In the mighty and the majestic and the mattress name of our soon-coming King the Lord Jesus Christ and all God's people who agree say amen. Amen. Family, listen. One of the most important and most significant things that will ever happen in a human life is when a life comes to a place where it finds its highest meaning and purpose beyond your work, beyond your job, beyond your socioeconomic status, beyond your connections, beyond your church attendance. For right now as I'm talking to you there are people right now who are attempting to find meaning and purpose in their lives in all manner of activities and causes and missions that will terminate in this life that have nothing to do with where all of humanity is going and that is eternity. And while there are many activities in this life and many causes in this life there is a cause, there is a mission happening right now in this life that supersedes all missions. It is the apex of all missions happening right now as I'm talking to you and it is the mission of God Almighty in his redemptive work to win back to himself a people, a nation, a humanity that has been separated from him because of sin. It is the highest mission happening right now in the world and any human being that engenders or connects themselves to that mission. The mission of the redemptive work of God is in that moment your life will take on its highest meaning and its highest purpose. Life has no real meaning apart from God nor does life have any real purpose apart from God and his highest mission. It is a mission that began in the Garden of Eden in the sin of Adam when he fell and rebelled against God and caused original sin to spread to everybody under the sound of my voice separating humanity from God and plunged the whole world into a sentence of death and damnation. It is a commission, a mission that also began in the Garden when God prophesied first about the coming of Jesus in Genesis 3.15. It is a mission that took on greater visibility when God created the nation of Israel and gave them his word and his laws for them to display the glory of a hidden God in the earth for men to see and that through them in their obedience they would woo lost humanity to this God that people cannot see. It is a mission that Israel abandoned and God had taken from them and given it to other people who we are carrying right now. It is a mission that was prophesied by the prophets of the Old Testament for thousands of years and it is a mission that has found its final iteration right now in the generation in the hour in which you and I live in the creation of the global church, the final iteration of the mission of God to work through a people to redeem to himself lost humanity. There is no higher mission in the earth. There is nothing happening right now more significant than that redemptive mission happening through the church. This is where we come to in Matthew's Gospel. These five verses that remain that unpack for us the greatest mission, the world, whatever, a mission that when your life and minds is fully involved in that mission you will start to feel greater meaning and greater purpose with your life. How you know on this weekend that we are gathered we commemorate how Christ was crucified in the year AD 33 and was strung up on a cross for your sins and for mine. And how two rich men, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea went and took his body down from the cross on a Friday afternoon. How they placed the body of Jesus in a tomb and his dead body laid in that tomb on Friday evening and it laid there all day Saturday. And how on Sunday morning, the morning we commemorate right now, an angel like lightning came down from heaven and rolled back the stone to reveal that that tomb was empty. And the napkin that was covering his face was folded in his place meaning that his job was finished. And how there was no bones to be found in that tomb and no bodies to be found in that tomb. Muhammad is in a tomb and Buddha is in a tomb and Joseph Smith is in a tomb. But on the day we commemorate a man was missing from a tomb. And how angelic beings said to women who had traveled there early in the morning that the Savior are looking for, he is not here. But he is alive. He has been raised. And how those angels gave those women who showed up to the tomb early on Sunday morning an instruction and a message, go and tell after they walked away, go and go. And as they went, they saw Jesus and Jesus saw those women and Jesus gave those women a word, go and tell my brothers to meet me in Galilee. And the women run with the message of the resurrected Savior. The apostles hear the message. They are confused about what happened in this weekend that we commemorate. Peter and John race to the tomb. One of them outruns the other. One peeks in his head but does not go in. The other is confused. One begins to believe that the Savior was resurrected. And then they get the message from the women, go to Galilee and Jesus will meet you there. And as they travel to Galilee, we come to our text, Matthew chapter 28 and verse 16. Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. So here we have the disciples following an instruction from Jesus through women. They are currently in Jerusalem and are told to go all the way to northern Israel to Galilee. I have been in that region of northern Israel. It is a very long trip from Galilee to Jerusalem. And will make no sense to send them all the way to Galilee. And yet they obey the command from God even if they don't understand. That you and I have to learn to do the same. That we have to learn to obey the instructions of our Savior even when we don't understand. Even when those instructions are not logical to our mind, we must learn to trust the Savior even when we can't trace the Savior. They have no idea where He is. They have not seen Him yet. They get a message. They believe that message. They start their journey all the way to Galilee. Matthew tells us it was 11 of them that arrived at that mountain. Judas who had committed suicide dealing with the grief of the betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is no longer present. And if we fly a drone over the text, we can see them now sitting on a mountainside waiting for the Lord Jesus to arrive. I want to believe that the women were there also because they knew where Jesus was going. And some scholars believe that also the 500 that is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15. Some scholars believe that the 500 was there as well. That this was the place where 500 witnesses may have saw Jesus alive. I can't confirm that as fact, but we can confirm that the disciples was there. We do believe that the women was there and it is possible that the 500 was there. Now there they are in Galilee. In a moment that's about to change the course of history and the entire lives. It was Galilee where Jesus' ministry was born. It was Galilee where Jesus first began to preach the gospel. It was in Galilee where Jesus called his first followers to follow himself. It was in Galilee where the Lord preached what we call the sermon on the mount. It was in Galilee where Jesus was transfigured on a mountain where he displayed his deity before Peter, James and John. And now it is in Galilee where the ministry of Christ began. Where now the ministry of Christ will expand beyond Jerusalem to the entire world as we know it. The 11 are there, the women are there. It is possible that the 500 are there. Jesus is on his way to meet them at this gathering in Galilee. This is the most significant and the most solemn encounter that Jesus had with his followers. It is this encounter that will change their lives forever. It is this encounter that will change the course of human history. Verse 17, and when they saw him coming from a distance, they worshiped him. But some doubted. And so there are the disciples on the mountain side. They see the resurrected Savior approaching them in the distance. And Matthew tells us as they saw the Savior, they all begin to worship him. That their response to Jesus was worship and humility. It is the same response you and I should have whenever we are in the presence of Holy God. That whenever we are in the presence of the Lord Jesus, the right response is worship and adoration and humility. Matthew tells us that all of them worship, but then Matthew includes a detail that blows my mind. He says they all worship, but some doubt it. Now you would think if you was writing this narrative, you would never put something like that in the text. Why would you write the word doubt into the text? Would you not want this moment to seem perfect? But I love the fact that Matthew did not sanitize this moment. I love the fact that he told us the truth. That although all of them was worshiping, some of them was doubting. It tells us that we can trust the Scriptures that was written by 40 authors through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Because in the Scriptures we see the good, bad, and ugly of the real lives of human beings. We don't see things like that in the Quran. We don't see things like that in any religious book. But the fact that Matthew did not hide the fact that men was doubting, it tells us that the Scriptures could be believed. I mean, come on, if you was talking to two people and one had a veneer of perfection and the other one was a little bit vulnerable, who would you trust? The one who was vulnerable or the one who had the veneer of perfection? This is why I encourage leaders, especially those of you who have great influence. It is dangerous for people of influence to put on a veneer of perfection. And act like we have no problems at all because people who are watching us, they start to exalt us now and think, I will never be able to get to that place. But something that is very powerful where people have influenced, testified of some of their struggles, it gives hope to other people that if the Lord can use that person in the struggle, the Lord can use me. For this reason, the great apostle Paul says, for all the more I boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ can be displayed in me. We help nobody by putting on a veneer of perfection. Matthew doesn't put on a veneer of perfection. He says in that group we all worship but some doubt it. Now, these are men who have been walking with Jesus for three and a half years. These are men who had heard him teaching. These are men that seen him raise people from the dead. They saw him walk on water. They saw him perform miracles. And yet these are the same people that in this moment, there's doubts in their hearts. But the Lord does not condemn them for their doubt. The Lord does not make them ashamed for their doubt. We see the reality that you can worship and still have issues in the heart at the same time. That it is very possible to be a struggling worshiper. That there are many of you in the room right now who have deep devotion to the Lord but struggling with issues in your heart. Here are these men who have doubt in their heart. Matthew doesn't tell us what that doubt is. Are they doubting his identity? Are they doubting who he is when he's coming? Are they doubting his resurrection? We do not know, but for some reason they either doubted something or they doubted everything. Now this text right here, this one verse, meant it changed my life. And I want to speak to those of you who are in relationships with people, whether employers or employees or you have on teams. This verse right here transformed my perspective. Because let me help you. Jesus was a perfect teacher. Watch. Jesus was a perfect leader. Pay attention. Jesus was perfect in all his ways. And yet this perfect teacher, perfect leader, perfect man in all his ways could not get 100% buy-in from his staff on that day. The man who was perfect had people around him who in this moment had doubt in their heart. If Jesus had people who had doubt in his heart and if he could not get 100% compliance, what makes you think that when we're leading other people, we will always get 100% buy-in in every moment? Amen. And for those of you who lead, those of you who are business owners, those of you who have employees, man, this teaches us two things. One, it teaches us that for those assigned to us, we need to have grace. We need to have grace for people who are assigned to us but still struggling in their heart. And for all of you who lead, all of you who are parents, all of you who are pastors, ministry leaders, who have people under you, this teaches you to have grace for yourself. That sometimes you may be dealing with people who are struggling in issues or have doubt about the ministry or even about you. And yet that's not a reflection on you as a leader. This is not a reflection on Jesus who's a perfect. This is a reflection on men who are human. So it teaches us to have grace for others who are struggling, but it teaches us to have grace for ourselves. Nobody gets a perfect team. Nobody gets a perfect group. These men are not perfect. You would think in this moment they all would have faith in their heart but they all did not. They all worship but some doubt it. They are doubting the one who is perfect. And then verse 18, And Jesus came and he said to them, all of them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Stop. I want to draw your attention to the word them and then I'll come back for the word authority. Notice Jesus is talking to all of them, the believers and the believers with doubt. He does not separate the doubters from the one who are believing. He does not shame them. He does not remove them. He does not cast them to the side. I love the fact that Jesus still speaks to all of them because it tells us that he saw in them what they would become. That even though they had doubt in that moment, he knew that their faith would eventually overcome their doubt and they would go on to do exactly what he was about to commission them to do. It just reminds you and I that the Lord saw everything in you but he saved you to himself. And for those of you who always condemn yourself thinking that you have something in you that makes you unusable to God, I just want to remind that the Lord was not confused when he saved you. He saw your mental issues when he saved you. He saw your emotional issues when he saved you. He saw everything you will struggle when he saved you and yet he sees the person you will become. He sees the woman you will become. He sees the man you will become. And so he's able to use those who have issues as long as they are obedient. They're ready to obey. They are available. They are present to be used by God. So he speaks to all of them. Not only does he not condemn them for their doubt, but what else he does not do? He does not excuse them for what he's about to say to them. That is your issues does not exonerate you from the commission. So it doesn't matter if you're a teenager or a senior citizen. It doesn't matter if you've been in the kingdom for 20 years or in the kingdom for two months. It doesn't matter if you think you're strong or if you think you're weak when Jesus is going next, nobody gets a pass from where he's going next. He did not excuse the men who had doubt just like he excuses none of us under the sound of my voice where he's going next with the charge is for every brother and for every sister. Now he says to them all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. I love the fact that the Lord said that because he's no longer the man of sorrows. Nah, that season is over. He's no longer the man afflicted by God. No, that season is over. He's no longer the man who's walking around because of the conosis where emptiness of nah, that season is over. Nah, he has died. He has resurrected. He has conquered death, hell and the grave. And now because he was raised from the dead in obedience, he has been given by the Father. Watch the word all authority. I like this part where in heaven and on earth, pay attention to the text. If Jesus has all authority, A-L-L, that means nobody has any. If Jesus has all authority, that means the devil has no authority. You panic. I'm trying to help some of y'all that be worshiping the devil. And you blame him for everything. You give him too much power and too much credit. The devil has no authority. He can't just wreck shop in your house and wreck shop in your marriage. You gotta know to take authority over the devil. The devil has no authority. He's just a puppet for God. That's why he has to go to God and ask for permission to attack Job. The only people that ask for permission are people under authority. He's under authority. Jesus! So even when he be attacking you and me, it's the Lord allowing him on a leash. He just be having him like a puppet, using him to afflict us every now and then. Afflict her, but don't go no further. Afflict him, but don't go no further. You got three months to give him a hard time, but don't go no further. Shash, man. And all that time the Lord just be testing you to seek. Go ahead, have your way with her for six months. Watch her she crawl into the gathering. Watch her she open that Bible. Watch how he keep praying. Watch how he keep worshiping. Watch how he keep being faithful. Go ahead, have your way. You get six months. I bet you they won't curse me during that time. He on a leash. If Jesus has all authority, the devil can't have any. All means all. In the Greek it means all. In Hebrew it means all. In Aramaic, all is all. So we should stop fantasizing over Satan. So if you're in the perfect will of God, you may be under attack, but he has no authority over you. You may be dealing with warfare, but he has no authority over you. When the Lord is ready, he can shut all that down. Come on, let the devil take over my house. I'll be laying hands with my wife when she's sleeping. And pouring oil on my forehead of my kids while they're sleeping. I serve the man that has all authority. I pray to the man that has all authority. I worship the man that has all authority. So you're praying these little fake, soft little punk food, Jesus floating on lilies picking flowers. What Jesus you're praying to? No. I pray to the Jesus that can flex over nature. I pray to the Jesus that can tell the sky stop raining. I pray to the Jesus that can heal my body whenever he's ready. I pray to the Jesus that can walk every devil out of my life and out of my house. What Jesus we talking about? Who we talking about? We talking about the man that has all authority. Jesus! See, you need to hear this because too many of us be talking to him like he weak. Like he's not able. That's why I keep talking the scriptures to you and not my opinions. Now unto him who is to do ex- above. Why can't he do that? Because he has all authority. Man, this is you being on your job. Like Lord, they've been persecuting me for weeks. Remove them from this job or save them, either one. Do something about it. Lord, I pray like that. This is me dealing with persecutors against us right now. Lord, change their heart or remove them. Lord, I pray like that. Remove them from this job or change their heart. Remove this enemy or change their heart. So do this enemy or change their heart. Lord, you said and I pray his word because the word has authority. Come on. Before I finish the text, I just feel faith rising up in this room. Like you're going to stop praying that you ain't talking to the man that has all authority in his hand. When my children be acting a fool, they say stuff crazy in the house. I said, don't talk like that. You are Mitchell. We don't talk like that. When they say stuff like we can't, I said, don't say you can't. We are Mitchell. We can do all things according to Christ's restrictive us. I don't let them talk like that. I'm going somewhere with this. My son said to me the other day, I did it, but it's not complete. I said, no, complete is not good enough. We don't do half jobs. We're Mitchell's. We do stuff all the way. Go get it done and do it to a point of excellence. I said, that's how we get down in my house. I'm training him to act like his father. The word we try to train you to act like your, to act like your father. Jesus talk like authority, like he had authority so should you. He preached like he had authority so do I. He prayed like he had authority so do I. He walked like he had authority so do I.哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎 Oh, a man shouldn't talk like that. Demons talk like that. Jesus I know. And Paul I know. Do they know you? Philip I know. Milton I know. Eric I know. Maisha I know. Okay, they know you too. Go ahead sister. Go ahead. We're clocking all night team. I see you. It's team. I see you sister. Yeah, we mean kneeling down in the prayer room like enemy. All right saying authority. Key who abides under the shadow of the Almighty. I just thought praying saw 91 with authority. A thousand will fall at my side and 10,000 at my right side. It shall not come near me. The Lord says to them, all authority and heaven and earth has been given to me. And what he gives them next is assurance because of that authority that you can do. And I'm about to commission you to do. And what he gives them next scholars have called the great commission of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a commission that landed on those 11 men and has landed on your lap. It is the mission of the church. It is the highest mission that we would ever engage in. It is the mission of every single follower of Jesus. Nobody gets a pass from where Jesus goes next. Not the teenager, not the senior citizen, not the believer of 20 years, not the believer of two months. I grieve thinking about the fact of how many Christians are busy building, doing busy bodies and completely disconnected from the great commission that's coming next. This is the mission of the church. This is why the church was created to carry out this mission until the Lord returns. We come to the most important charge of Jesus to his followers, Matthew 2819. Because all authority and heaven and earth has been given to me, I delegate responsibility to you. Go therefore. And make disciples where of all nations. This is the great commission of Christ given to the 11 that goes beyond them to you and I has fallen on your lap. He did not say go into all the world and preach, go into all the world and sing, go into all the world and have services. Our mission is not to have services. I'm about to ruin your theology. Our mission is not to preach. Our mission is not to dance in rooms. Those are all things that help to fund or move the mission forward. The mission of Christ given to his disciples was to make disciples. It is the only imperative in the text. It is a verb in the original language. It is the command of Jesus for his church. They are the microcosm of the church that will be born just a few days later from this. Make disciples. And when the book of Acts opens, that's all we see the church doing. Making disciples. Where of all nations, ethnos in Greek. All ethnicities. Therefore the gospel can't be for black men only. No, the gospel can't be for one ethnicity only. It can't just be for black men or for white men. That is a heretical doctrine preached by a false camp, by false cultic ministries. Either cultic ministries are right or Jesus is right. Somebody is wrong. Jesus said make disciples of all nations, all people groups, all colors. Here is what he said to you and me. Make every nation a Christian nation. What a command. Take the gospel into every stronghold in the world. Every Buddhist stronghold. Every Islamic stronghold. Every spiritually God stronghold. To the corners of the earth. I want you to take the gospel to the ends of the earth until every man has heard or believed. Make every nation a Christian nation. We are commanded to take territory. Look at me family. You ain't just going to slide out of here. This has to go beyond you coming here and listening to me. This is the command of Christ to the church. This is the mission of the church. Preaching serves that mission. Singing serves that mission. The work we do serves that mission. But the mission of the church is to make disciples in all nations. Every city, every nation, every continent. He says go that is don't wait. Be proactive and going and making disciples. You and I will give an account for this great commission. When your life and mine has to be intersected with this great and when your life flows into the great commission, your life will take on more meaning and purpose. You think about how many believers are busy doing everything except helping to make disciples. Look at me family. Right now, as I'm talking to you before tonight ends, people will die in hospice and people will die in the street. Rich men will die before the night is over and poor men will die before they will wake up in eternal damnation. All around the world, people are dying in record numbers and they're entering hell faster than people are being saved. This is the mission God has given us, the mission of redemption to try to redeem as many people as possible before time has run out. Now I'm asking you a question. If people are dying and going to hell every day, what are we doing in the earth that's more important than the great commission of Christ? Here is the answer. Nothing. There is nothing you and I are doing that is more important than aiding in the redemptive work to make disciples. And your Christian life has to be given over to the work of helping to make disciples. If the church is not doing that, then our lives are pointless. And since this is the highest mission of Christ given to the church, we should know or we should be asking what is a disciple and how are they made? Notice the Lord didn't say make converts. So salvation is just the beginning but not the end. Notice he didn't say make church goers. Notice he didn't say make church members. Ain't this what we do? We turn these into circuses all around America to hear men preach. We go out after this, you don't care about nothing we said. We go, we eat, we dance, we have fun, we live like demons all we come back do it again. Live like demons all we come back do. Your life never connects with the mission of Christ. And then we die and we say stuff like Lord, Lord, did I not do all of this in your name? You did everything other than the actual thing I gave the church to do. So what is a disciple? A disciple is a learner of Christ. A disciple is a committed follower of Christ. A disciple is an apprentice of Christ. Not a disciple after Philip Anthony Mitchell. Or a disciple after your favorite pastor. A disciple is a person who learns of the words of Christ. Learns of the ways of Christ. That's why you should be thankful when you're around biblical teachers who's teaching you the scriptures and not just their opinions. Disciples learn of Christ. They are committed, devoted followers of Christ. They are apprentices of Christ. Now the commission is clear, but the methodology is not. How do you make disciples? The Lord didn't say. So he didn't say we can even trust the book of a man or we could trust the gospels. How did Jesus make disciples? How did he make disciples? He walked up on men who were fishermen, businessmen far away. Follow me and I will make you fishermen. So we know discipleship begins with evangelism. It begins with us praying for people to be saved. It begins with us men sharing the gospel with others. It begins with us having conversations in the Uber ride with the Muslim driver who's headed to hell. Come on. It begins with us caring about people that got your last name who are headed to hell. It begins with us kneeling down and praying, Lord, save my mother, save my father. Work on my brother, work on my sister. It begins with me sending a passage of scripture to an unsaved loved one. It begins with me having a conversation in the nail shop by the person right next to me. It begins with me caring about the work of winning souls to the loss. And after that we see Jesus spending time with his disciples in intimate moments. So we know disciples have to be in community. But your people say, man, I love Jesus, but I hate the church. That's not a disciple. That's a misguided believer. We see Jesus correcting them when they had attitudes that wasn't right. So we know that disciples have to grow in character. We see Jesus sending them out to do ministry so we know disciples should be people that are moved to serve. We see Jesus teaching them very important kingdom principles so we know disciples are people that love doctrine and they love to learn. We see Jesus man sitting with them at weddings and all these things. So we know disciples are people, man, who are spending time with people who are wiser than them, older than them. Inside the kingdom, everything that is fruitful, disciples. Going to church helps the disciple. Listening to Christian podcasts helps the disciple. Reading the Bible, what other people helps the disciple. Being connected with people who are older than you, wiser than you, stronger than you, and the spirit that helps the disciple. Pour it into others makes disciples. Being poured into makes disciples. Sitting at Starbucks and having a Bible study helps to make disciples. Seeing your girlfriend who stopped coming to church and you say, boo, you tripping, you offended for what? Man, get them people of grace. Get your tail back in church next week. That helps to make disciples. Girlfriend, your attitude is real nasty. You love Jesus but nobody want to be around you. I think you need to pray about what's going on in your heart. That helps to make disciples. Confronting each other in our sin helps to make disciples. Encouraging each other with Bible helps to make disciples. Going to church and hearing the preaching helps to make disciples. Going to conferences helps to make disciples. Everything inside the kingdom that is fruitful aids in making disciples. It is the life that we share, older and younger, admonishing each other, encouraging each other, being in the Scriptures, hearing the Scriptures, dealing with our character issues, maturing, all these things. We can't just put somebody through a class and say, they are fully ... No. A class helps. Jesus spent three and a half years with these men. Give people at least three years. Let's look for fruit in three years and see if they are a committed follower. As we keep each other on this straight and narrow road, we look up a few years from now and say, you're stronger today in the Spirit than you was a few years ago. I notice you stopped having sex. I notice you stopped smoking weed. I notice, man, you put this down. I notice your attitude got a little bit better. I notice you being in your Bible a little bit more. Man, I see how you pray. Man, all of your feeds are just changed out of nowhere. Oh, this person is a disciple. He says, as you're making them do three things, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So that watch, he says that when we are winning people to the loss, we should then lead them into baptism. You don't need a year to do that. You don't need 25 classes to do that. All in the Book of Acts, people were saved and baptized. Baptism does not save anyone. The water does not save. The Holy Spirit regenerates soul. So baptism doesn't save, but baptism is the outward sign of salvation. So when a person is saved, we see evidence of grace. The next step is to now follow Jesus in baptism. And Romans 6 teaches us what baptism is. It is symbolic. It is a picture that when you go down in the water, you go down into a watery grave. And when you come out of that water, you come out of a watery grave. You hop out of that pool or the ocean or the bathtub, and you go on to live a brand new life in Christ, never to look back from where you came from. It is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And notice he says baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Not the names for all my Jehovah's Witnesses. No, they are not plural. No, in the name singular. One God who revealed himself in three co-equal persons. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. In the name singular. And so what about people who's baptizing in the name of Jesus? Don't matter, it's not a formula. Just baptize them in the name of God Almighty. Jesus is God. Baptize them in the name of Jesus. I want to baptize in the Holy Spirit. Do that too. Don't matter. In your place, Lord. He said teach them that is disciples need to be constantly fed with Christian doctrine. You should be listening to good biblical teachers. You should turn your ears off from people that keep feeding you opinions and nonsense and make you think you're awesome every week. You want to listen to people that open the Bible and they walk a text. They teach you the Scriptures. You got to be taught the Word of God. And he says to observe. You know what that is? To obey what you've heard. All you have commanded. You know what the word all is? Don't pick and choose what you want to obey. Obey? All of it. That we help each other. Obey. It's like we send you a verse. You'll live that out. And then he closes the commission when he says, and as you do this. Behold. Wow, man. It's been three and a half years. I am with you always to the end of the age. Amen. And amen. Look. Notice what the Lord did not say. He did not say, I will be with you. And when you get more Bible under your belt, when you learn how to pray, he didn't say that. He says, I am. I am with you right now. He's with me right now. Right now in my... I woke up this morning discouraged. I had a very difficult week. Got a doctor's report on Friday that made me feel a little uneasy. And I had to remind myself that the Lord is with me right now. Right now as I'm talking to you. But that doctor's report, waking up discouraged, he's still with me right now. Right now. Everything he's called you to do, he's with you right now. He's saying to you that the one who has all authority in heaven and earth will walk with you as a young disciple. He will be with you in everything he has assigned to you and called you to do. You will never do ministry on your own. You will not do this life on your own. He is with you. And then he says, I am with you to the very end of the age. He puts a time stamp on what you and I are doing right now to remind us that all of this is coming to an end. That's why I keep saying time is running out. That's why I say to you right now, listen to me, this can't be a logo. 2019 is not a logo. It got to be the identity of who we are as a church. That we got to be a people to understand this is our mission as a church. Our mission, your mission is to be involved in the work of making disciples. It should affect how you pray, affect how you live, affect how you do your budget. And that what we need to do when this is over is sit down and take inventory of my life. Where in my life am I aiding in making disciples? Is there any portion of my money helping to make disciples? Are my prayers helping to make disciples? Am I serving in any capacity to make disciples? Do I even care about the loss? Is my podcast doing that? Is my ministry doing that? Is my social media doing that? We are all called to aid in the work of making disciples. This is the highest mission the world would ever known. There is nothing happening more important than this because this is the redemptive work that God is trying to redeem people from being damned. This is the identity of 2018-2019. This is your mission. This is what God has called us to do. And when you take that serious, when you take serious to pray like that, talk like that, give like that, serve like that, to say, man, my life, God, you can work through me and use me to help in the mission of winning the loss and making disciples. There is nothing more important than that. When a life begins to do that, that life takes on its highest sense of meaning and purpose. And that is my prayer for us as 2018-2019 church. So Father, right now I pray. There is an unbeliever in the room under the sign of my voice. You are a sinner and you committed sins. So am I. You have broken God's laws. You have been a church, go away your whole life, but you are far away from God. And you already know it. You are religious, but you are not really born again. You feel no conviction for sin. You live anywhere you want. You come around the things of God, but you really don't belong to Him. If you died in a car crash today on the way to your Easter restaurant, you will wake up in eternal damnation. You will get the shock of your life. But God in His love, not wanting you to perish, sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ into the earth. He died a sacrificial death for you, paid the price for your sin. He says, if anyone will repent, turn from sin, say, Lord, forgive me, place your faith in Him. You shall be saved. He can hear you right now. I'm talking to you. I want to pray for you before you walk out of this room. Tomorrow is not promised to you. If I'm talking to you, you say, preacher, that's me. I feel convicted. I feel you're talking to me. I want to come into the kingdom. I want to have a life of purpose on account of three. I'm just going to ask you to lift your hand. Nobody can see one. The Lord is calling you to today is the day of salvation. Three, put your hand up in the air. Put them up high. Wow. Wow. Hands everywhere. Hands everywhere. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Father, I pray for all of these hands that you will do a supernatural work in their life. I pray, God, that you will strip them of their unrighteousness and zip them up with the righteousness of Christ. I pray that you will seal them with the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing their salvation. I pray you will deliver them, God, from relationships that will lead them back into the world in darkness. I pray you will seal their name in the Lamb's Book of Life and give them a desire for the word and for community and for your presence and for everything that's inside the kingdom. I pray, God, to seal the protection around them and on them and that they will run out the purposes and live out the purposes you're making. Live out the purposes you have called them. And Father, I pray now for my brothers and sisters in this room and around the world that we will not just be called 2019. We will model that. That we will be a people on mission for the spread of the gospel and the multiplying of disciples. We will pray to help disciples be made. We will serve to help disciples be made. We will give to help disciples be made. We will conduct ourselves in such a way that we are available to you anytime you need us to have a conversation. I pray that there will be an explosion of care and burden and grief for lost humanity. That changes the way we pray, talk, spend money, live. Let it not be just a name. Let it not be a logo. Let it be the identity of the people of God under the banner of 2019. I pray that for the body of Christ around the world that we will be your ambassadors in the greatest mission the world has ever known. The great commission of Jesus. I pray that over us in the mighty, tattooed as to our heart and the majestic, awakened us from apathy. In the matchless name of our soon coming King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And now finally help me. The scripture says when one sinner repents all of heaven rejoices. So let's rejoice for those who are repenting right now.