Embark on a transformative journey through the final teachings of the Gospel of Matthew with us, as we celebrate the culmination of a three-year deep dive into its profound narratives. Envision a world where each of us takes up the mantle of the Great Commission, making disciples in all corners of the earth. Our latest podcast episode paints a vivid picture of the resurrection story and the timeless mandate Jesus gave to his disciples, inviting you to consider how this call to action is not only their legacy but ours as well. We weave together the powerful lessons of discipleship with the stirring energy typically found in commencement addresses, urging listeners to contribute their faith and insights for the greater good.
Feel the gravity of the challenges that come with being a disciple as we dissect the barriers to sharing the gospel. From a recent Facebook poll revealing common fears and feelings of inadequacy among believers, we segue into an announcement of our upcoming evangelism class designed to empower and embolden. Through personal tales of transformation, including my own journey to revitalized health, we draw parallels to the life-altering potential of the gospel message. The discussion serves as a passionate reminder that sharing our faith, much like sharing a remedy that reshapes our lives, is a responsibility we carry with joy and purpose.
As our series draws to a close, we extend a heartfelt invitation to those yet to encounter the life-changing embrace of Jesus Christ. We delve into the significance of repentance, belief, and baptism, underscoring the gospel's transformative power. Real Life Community Church opens its doors and hearts, offering a beacon for the curious to learn more about a relationship with Jesus. Join us in this eternal endeavor, as we strive to win the world for Him, one soul at a time. Your next step on this mission starts with pressing play.
Embark on a transformative journey through the final teachings of the Gospel of Matthew with us, as we celebrate the culmination of a three-year deep dive into its profound narratives. Envision a world where each of us takes up the mantle of the Great Commission, making disciples in all corners of the earth. Our latest podcast episode paints a vivid picture of the resurrection story and the timeless mandate Jesus gave to his disciples, inviting you to consider how this call to action is not only their legacy but ours as well. We weave together the powerful lessons of discipleship with the stirring energy typically found in commencement addresses, urging listeners to contribute their faith and insights for the greater good.
Feel the gravity of the challenges that come with being a disciple as we dissect the barriers to sharing the gospel. From a recent Facebook poll revealing common fears and feelings of inadequacy among believers, we segue into an announcement of our upcoming evangelism class designed to empower and embolden. Through personal tales of transformation, including my own journey to revitalized health, we draw parallels to the life-altering potential of the gospel message. The discussion serves as a passionate reminder that sharing our faith, much like sharing a remedy that reshapes our lives, is a responsibility we carry with joy and purpose.
As our series draws to a close, we extend a heartfelt invitation to those yet to encounter the life-changing embrace of Jesus Christ. We delve into the significance of repentance, belief, and baptism, underscoring the gospel's transformative power. Real Life Community Church opens its doors and hearts, offering a beacon for the curious to learn more about a relationship with Jesus. Join us in this eternal endeavor, as we strive to win the world for Him, one soul at a time. Your next step on this mission starts with pressing play.
The following resource is brought to you by Real Life Community Church in Richmond, Kentucky. We hope you're both challenged and encouraged by this message from Pastor Chris May.
Speaker 2:For those of you who don't know, who've not been with us for the last three years we have been going through the book of Matthew, and so today we're going to finish the book of Matthew. So I'm going to ask you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew 28, verse 11. And I know their youth are really getting into the word of God, because I stole one of their Bibles this morning to read from and I had to borrow my sister's glasses because so they have to have a magnifying glass to read these, because my eyes are not that bad normally. So good job, jerry, getting them in the word and really digging in. So let's start at verse 11.
Speaker 2:While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests and all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said Tell people, his disciples came by night and stole him away while they were asleep. His disciples came by night and stole him away while they were asleep, and if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So they took the money and did as they were directed, and this story has been spread among the jews to this day now.
Speaker 2:The 11 disciples went into galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him, they worshipped him. But some doubted, and Jesus came and said to them All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. So when Pastor Chris finishes, today we want to celebrate the book of Matthew, so do that with us, okay.
Speaker 3:Thanks so much for being here today. I've really enjoyed our journey through Matthew. The depths of study that I've done have really been life-changing to me, and I hope these teachings have blessed you as well. Several years ago, the dean of the Richmond Medical, technical and Career College attended our church and one year just before their graduation ceremony, their commencement speaker either canceled or they couldn't find someone. I can't remember the details but regardless, unable to fill the spot, this dean asked me if I would do the honors of addressing the graduating class of a medical school which I know nothing about, and that's a vast understatement. So, in my arduous preparation, I listened to several commencement addresses online, and in doing so I discovered an affinity for such speeches, and so, to this day, I literally randomly go online and listen to commencement addresses, and I do that because they tend to be packed with wisdom, they are extremely challenging, inspiring, motivational, and so commencement speakers have this honorable privilege of giving the final words to students who are about to be sent out from campus and to experience and hopefully to change the world, at least in some small part. So, consequently, these people who give speeches, they tend to craft every word very carefully, they have a limited amount of time and they tend to craft every word very carefully because they know that this is not just some pie-in-the-sky speech, but it is really meant to impact the students speech. But it is really meant to impact the students and hopefully the aim is to encourage the students, to exhort them to take all that they've learned over years of university from professors and coaches and other peers and life experiences and to use those for the greatest good possible, which will require sacrifice and heartache and tears, but that aim is well worth it. Well, I share that with you because as we come to the end of the gospel according to Matthew, we find Jesus giving the 11 disciples or the apostles, if you like, sort of a commencement speech, affectionately known as what.
Speaker 3:The Great Commission and these disciples have attended the Jesus School of Ministry for three years over three years same amount of time we've been in this sermon series. And now that his redemptive work has been done he has died, he has risen, and now he is about to be ascended to the right hand of the Father. And now that all of that work is done, jesus is saying all right, I want you to take this work, these teachings, these experiences, all that you've learned over the past three years, and I want to send you out into the world on mission, and I want you to use that for the highest good, namely the glory of God and the good of people. Jesus' words consist of one central command, namely that they, these disciples, would make disciples of all nations. That's the central command. And then he draws out with these other imperatives. What that looks like out with these other imperatives, what that looks like To make a disciple is to invite someone into the kingdom by compelling them to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe upon his death, burial and resurrection, to repent of their sins, to come to him in faith and then to grow in that faith to maturity. And that process is not finished until the very end, when that disciple is able then to make other disciples. And I shouldn't even say the discipleship process is over then, because until Christ returns or until we go to the grave, we're always learning and growing in Christ. Amen.
Speaker 3:What I love today, beloved about these words of Jesus, this mission that he is advocating for, I love this text because the Great Commission, though spoken originally to these 11 disciples, because the Great Commission, though spoken originally to these 11 disciples. Jesus is actually speaking to every disciple to ever come to the Christian faith, including you and me. So as we listen to Jesus' words today, I don't want you to just think about the disciples and how they would have heard it, but I want you to know these are Jesus' words to you, like all that we do coming to church this morning, teaching kids, church youth group, you know, serving at the homeless ministry, all the preaching that you listen to. Like what's it for? What do you do with it? You go into all the world making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all that you can about our great Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. Why is this important today? I know it's a text you've heard many times, but I think you should listen and here's why I assume that, if you're a Christian and that you're like me, that you want your loved lost ones, your lost loved ones. Excuse me to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. You likely have co-workers, you have family members, you have many different people that you know of neighbors who do not know the Lord. Is that fair to say for everybody in here? Do you want those people to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus? Okay, good, the Great Commission reminds us that that responsibility is not just on Pastor Ben and I and Pastor Hunter and Pastor Jerry and Pastor Ron, on Pastor Ben and I and Pastor Hunter and Pastor Jerry and Pastor Ron, it's on every disciple. It's incumbent upon us all to make disciples of all nations. That's quite an honor, but I think this is going to resonate with you as well. It's quite a responsibility and it's a frightening, terrifying responsibility.
Speaker 3:Yes, the mission to which Christ has called us is not easy. If you struggle with reaching your lost neighbors, preaching the gospel, these kinds of things, to those who need to hear it, if you struggle with that, I just want to encourage you to say you're not alone. I'm looking at my other pastors in here. Is it easy? Even it might be easy for Ron. He's like a powerhouse when it comes to this. But, guys, is this easy? No, it's not, but that doesn't mean we don't do it. It's not, but that doesn't mean we don't do it. I would say the result, the benefits, way outweigh the risk or the discomfort, let's say.
Speaker 3:My prayer is today that this text will help us overcome some of those difficulties associated with going out and living out the Great Commission, and that the text will move us to faithfully make disciples, as Jesus has called us to do. Are you with me? So three points. Number one, what's involved in disciple making. Number two, why is it so difficult? And number three how can we succeed? So, what's involved, why is it difficult and how to succeed. And, by the way, point one is my longest point, so when I'm just getting to point two, don't be like, oh goodness, you know, start looking at your watch. But what is involved in discipleship making? Three things One, proclamation, two, invitation and three, education. Try to put that in a way that you can remember. So you've got proclamation, you've got invitation and you've got education. Proclamation.
Speaker 3:The Great Commission begins with the word what Go, go, matthew 28, 19. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. Jesus gave the 11 disciples this command, this mission to go throughout the ancient world to proclaim the gospel. Now they were to go, to start in Jerusalem and go to Judea, samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth, so the ends of the ancient world. And they lived out that mission.
Speaker 3:You and I, we aren't all called, let's say, to go into all the world, meaning that we have. God has put specific callings on people's lives who are to take to leave their homes, take the gospel to other parts of the world. What did we call those people? Missionaries, jan, you'll be doing that in just a little bit. Bethany, if you're here, you'll be doing that in just a little bit. And so, man, we champion those missionaries. I don't have that calling. I do not have that calling. My calling is here.
Speaker 3:You're not all called to be global missionaries, but every one of us are called to be missional. We're all called to be missional, meaning that you have a sphere of influence in your neighborhood, in your city, at your job, at Walmart. People need Jesus there. Listen, a side note um, yesterday, nikki and I, nikki taught me into going to Walmart to pick up groceries. I didn't have to go inside and when we did, there was like a father that was. Um, he had his small son and he, his son, was wearing pajamas and I said they're training him, training them young, you know, to be a pajama wearer in Walmart. So, anyways, that's good, right there, the sphere of influence that you have. Listen, you have not just an obligation, but an opportunity to change the people's lives who are in your circle. Not just change them for a moment, but change them eternally. We're all called to be missional, and so I want you to just focus on that word. Go for just a minute. You might underline that in your Bible or highlight it on your device, Because what this tells me, jesus did not say to the disciples hey, wait for people to come to you and share the gospel with them if they're interested.
Speaker 3:He said go to them. Beloved, you don't wait for your neighbor to knock on your door, you go to them. You don't wait for somebody at the supermarket to come up to you, you go to them. You don't wait for a family member to ask you questions, you go to them. You don't wait for a family member to ask you questions, you go to them. Go unto all the world and preach the gospel. So we go, and what do we do when we go? We do what I just said we proclaim. You can use the word preach or you can word the it's. We're called to herald some message. What is the message? It's clear what it is. It's the same message that Jesus proclaimed. Jesus went about, as we've seen throughout Matthew teaching many things, but in Matthew, chapter 4, verse 23, matthew gives us maybe the thrust of Jesus' message and it says Matthew writes that Jesus went about preaching the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom and that's what you and I are supposed to preach. That's explicit in Mark's account of the Great Commission. Mark records Jesus' words as Go, therefore, into all the world and preach the gospel we are to preach.
Speaker 3:Proclaim the gospel, which tells me it's not enough just for you to live a Christian life and hope that rubs off on somebody Like you should like more Christians need to live like godly lives and be a little bit nicer. Right, kinder? But I've heard people say to me well, pastor, you know I don't really share the gospel, but I just try to be a good influence. Well, that's great that you want to be a good influence and you want to live a godly life, a godly life. But if you never go beyond that and share the gospel, what use is you? All you've given them is moralism. That's it. If you never come to the point with somebody that you share the clear, simple gospel with them, then you've done them a great disservice and their lives cannot, will not be changed If they do not hear the message. How can they believe? So it's not enough just to live, you've got to speak, are you with me? Well, let me just touch on this real quick. I think it's important. I've got a full message online under our discipleship page on the gospel.
Speaker 3:But what is the gospel? Well, let me start by telling you what it is not. All right, this is going to mess some of you all up. It is not your personal testimony. Is it good to share your personal testimony? Oh, absolutely it's helpful testimony. Oh, absolutely it's helpful. But that is not the gospel. The gospel is not. God loves you and has a plan for your life. That is not the gospel. Though true, it is not the gospel. The gospel is also not do you want to come to church with me? Here's an invite card. Okay, and I think Jerry would say he does want you to invite people to church, but that's not the gospel. It's not the gospel.
Speaker 3:The word gospel, in general terms, it's a national announcement of victory or, if you like, a royal announcement. The Greek word is euangelion and it's made up. It's a compound word. The first part of that word means good and the latter means announcement, so it's a good announcement, so we call it the good news. That make sense. Well, what is this good news?
Speaker 3:Well, paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, I won't read it now for time's sake, but you can read that later. He says this is the gospel, and I'm going to paraphrase it. But it's essentially that Christ died according to the scriptures so that we can have the forgiveness of sins. He was buried according to the scriptures, he rose according to the scriptures and if you read on that a little bit, he celebrates that because, because of christ, we too will be raised. God is coming back again. Christ is coming back again. That's good news, that's the best news in the world.
Speaker 3:And so we have got to proclaim the redemptive work of jesus christ. That's uncomfortable, isn't it? Sometimes disciple making begins with proclamation, but then this is important it's got to be followed up by invitation Verse 19,. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. You see the Trinity there. Side note One God, three persons.
Speaker 3:The fact that Jesus calls us to baptize people assumes that we do more than proclaim, but that we invite people into the kingdom, because why would they be baptized if they don't have an invitation to come to Christ? Are you with me? Mark 1.15, jesus didn't just preach the gospel. Mark tells us that Jesus implored people to repent and believe the gospel. So you're not going to somebody and say, hey, let me tell you about this great thing. You're saying, let me tell you about this great thing and how it can change your life. By the way, do you want Jesus in your life? Do you want eternal life? Do you want to be transformed? Do you want eternal life? Do you want to be transformed? Repent and believe the gospel?
Speaker 3:And in Acts, chapter 2, you might remember that Peter, under the unction of the Holy Spirit, preached a dynamite message, thousands of people listening and thousands of people when he finished sharing the gospel and talking about a few other things. The Bible says that these men were cut to the heart and they asked Peter what do we do about it? Acts 2.38,. What's he say? Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. So it's not enough just to proclaim the message. You've got to follow that up with. Hey, if that has cut you to the heart. If God is drawing you, what do you do? Repent and be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. That's what changed.
Speaker 3:Just knowing the message is not going to change your life. You've got to respond to the message is not going to change your life. You've got to respond to the message. Proclamation must be followed up by invitation. Now you don't have to baptize somebody because you're thinking man, I have a hot tub, maybe this would work. Bathtub Like, hey, you want to come over? I'll, you know, get in the bath, wear your swimsuit and I'll dunk you. This is not weird at all, I promise. No, you know what this assumes and I love this. I was thinking about this a lot yesterday. It assumes that when they receive Christ, that you bring them to church. Now, the Seeker's Sense of Movement has done the opposite. It says bring them to church, and we've got games and fun and all this to get them in the doors and then we'll get them saved. That's not the biblical pattern. The biblical pattern is get them saved, bring them in the church. Now for sure. You know to be sure, yes, bring people to church if they want to come, who aren't saved. They're going to hear the gospel here. But the natural pattern is that you get them, you know, you lead them to Christ, and then you bring them here and let them be discipled. You're going to help in that process. 's a beautiful thing. Which leads me to the final point here, that so there's got to be um to make disciples. You've got to have proclamation, you've got to have invitation and then you've got to have education. Jesus said teach them all. That I've commanded you. You know how you do that. You just pull out your notes from the book of matthew and take them all the way through for the next three years. All right, that's a great starting place. You're involved in that process. Not all of you are called to be theologians and teachers in a formal sense, but Paul talks about this in the letter to Titus. He talks about how the mature in the faith, women, are supposed to raise up the next generation of women and teach them to be godly wives and godly women. And then the men are supposed to teach the men, and I would say, to be men. We've got to say that today. How many know, some men need to teach this next generation to be actual men and then, beyond that, to teach them to be men of God. And you can do that just by doing life with them and praying with them, so that they might learn to pray and reading the Bible with them, that they might learn to study. And then you bring them to church with you where they are under the shepherding of the pastors and they're going to learn deeper truths, let's say, about the word of God. So it's a kind of village project. But education is very important, and I say that because I see so many churches online and I've been guilty of this just celebrating oh, we had 50 saved today because they raised their hand, but they never. You know it's like well, are they truly saved? Are they truly disciples? Sometimes we celebrate conversion but we don't go beyond that. Beloved, we are not called. Jesus didn't say go into all the world and make converts. He said make disciples. It'd be like, you know, I'm getting ready to have a grandbaby. I can't wait. In a few weeks, this little granddaughter, iviana, isn't that beautiful, she's going to be born and this would be like making a convert without discipleship, would be like a baby like Iviana being born and then just saying well, good luck. And giving her like a manual to read, because that's what we do, right. Churches oh yeah, 50 million saved today, you know, in a church of a hundred, and you know all these people, and even they were baptized. And here's your Bible, good luck. Do you know? I had somebody bring their one of their family members to church several years ago and I preached on baptism and he came up and said I want to be baptized. And I said are you a Christian? He goes oh yeah, I've been saved for years. Well, do you go to church? Oh yeah, I've been to church at this other church in town for many years. I said well, why haven't you been baptized? He said they never told me I needed to be. And I go. What that they never told me I needed to be? And I go. What Beloved? We're not called to make converts, we are called to make disciples. Okay, there it is. That's your mission, that is my mission. Let me move on. Why is this so difficult? Can we agree? It is difficult, it's very difficult, especially the first step of sharing the gospel. I think that's perhaps the most intimidating. So I put a poll out on Facebook asking questions about people's experience in sharing the gospel. People were very honest. 52% of the participants stated that they rarely share the gospel. 4% said they've never shared the gospel. These are all Christians, by the way, and you've got to keep in mind. I thought about this after I put the poll up. I'm friends with a lot of pastors and I have a feeling a lot of, so that number of people that have never shared the gospel is probably much, much higher than that. 32% of the participants have never led anybody to Christ 32%. But here's what's interesting 88% of the participants in that poll said you know what? I pray for the lost on a regular basis. So I started thinking about that. I said well, you know what that means. Is the problem? You know that it's not indifference. Indifference is not the reason why people are not sharing the gospel. It's not that they don't care about the lost. It's not it because they pray for them, not it because they pray for him. So what? What then, is what? What are the hurdles that that preclude people from sharing the gospel on a more regular basis? And so I I asked the question and and I found some other statistics on the national level from lifeway and barna, and, and these just line right up that. The questions that many of you answered on my Facebook poll line up with the national answers as well. The number one reason that people do not share the gospel is the fear of what? What do you think? It is Rejection. You know it, man. We take rejection so personal, don't we? It's difficult we. Also, when we share the gospel with somebody, like when you share the good news of forgiveness of sin, you know what we're doing is calling them a sinner, like people in our generation. You know what they hear all the time in this culture that you're a good person. And I said it last week and I'll say it again, news flash, I'll say it to every apart from Christ you're not good, I'm not good. Get over it. So when you're sharing the gospel, I mean, if people don't realize they're a sinner, they're not going to know they need a Savior, because here's what they're going to think. Well, if there is a God, then I'm a pretty good person and the good is going to outweigh the bad. It's like no. Romans 5 says you're an enemy of God, that you fall short of the glory of God, that there's no other way of salvation, but through Christ. That's what the Bible teaches. It's helpful to remember here, I think, that when people reject the gospel, they're not ultimately rejecting you, they're ultimately rejecting Christ. And Jesus said they hated me, they're going to hate you, boy. That's encouraging. Second reason, very close to this, and this is on the church, including my ministry here, people feel ill-equipped to share the gospel. Like you don't have to raise your hand. But I presume that if I were to ask the question or to have a conversation with a lot of you individually and I were to ask you hey, articulate clearly the gospel to me as if I were an unbeliever, I want to ask you again you don't have to raise your hand, but how many of you would really be able to do that? Like, I'm convinced, you know it in your heart, you know the essence of the gospel, but can you articulate it? We've just done as a church not just this church, but really generally speaking we've done a really poor job of training up people to share their faith. I've got great news for you. Pastor Ron is awesome at this and he's going to be teaching a class at some point soon, running an evangelism class, and I'll help in that as well, and I hope you'll come to that because it's going to really help you to be more effective in sharing the gospel. So, you know, tied to that is this idea, and I've heard many people say this. Well, if somebody does, you know if they're receptive to the gospel. If I share the gospel with them and they start you know, we start having this conversation they're probably going to ask questions that I don't know, and you know what my answer would be to that. You're exactly right, you're exactly right, you're exactly right. And so let me give you this is profound, pastor Ben, all right, taking notes, all right. So here it is. How do you answer somebody when you're having a gospel conversation and they ask you a question you don't know? Lean in a little bit, come on, here it is, here's what you say. You don't know the answer. You say this I don't know. I mean really, really, but here's the follow-up, you know, answer it's I don't know, but Pastor Ben knows everything and I'll go ask him, all right. No, no, really. You say I don't know, but I've got some pastors who study the Bible all the time. And if I don't know, but I've got some pastors who study the Bible all the time, and if they don't know, they'll find somebody else who knows. We'll get you an answer. That's okay. Like this book has a lot of pages. You guys stump me sometimes. Matter of fact, we haven't asked anything. You know, every once in a while we're going to ask the pastors and the goal of you guys, because you're so mean to me, is to stump, stop me on stage. So now we make you pre-submit your questions so we can look smarter than we are. All right, so here it is. One more reason. There are many more that I could point out. One more reason that people claim that they have trouble sharing the gospel is that they're just simply too busy and they don't think about it. I've got more of an issue with this one, and I'm not here to chastise you because life is busy. If that's you, I'm going to ask you to do three things. Number one pray and ask God to break your heart for the lost God. Let me feel what you feel for the lost people. Number two I would write down in, let's say, a prayer journal or in your notes app on your phone. Write down specific names of people that you know who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and you start praying for them and then it's not. That moves it from being this general you know, prayer about lost people to making it real, like my so-and-so family member or co-worker. They're lost and if that doesn't change your heart for lost people, nothing will. But let me give you one more practical piece of advice here. What I would do is I would take my Bible and we can put some of these scriptures together for you. I would take my Bible and I would read every verse about the blessing of salvation and death, hell and the grave, what it means to receive Christ and have your life transformed and to have the benefits of eternal life life with God and, on the other hand, what it means to not have Christ and to be under the wrath of God and experience hell. You think that might move you? Sometimes I feel like we don't really believe that. If you believe that, how could your heart not be broken for loss? And who cares then if they're mad at you? I would rather somebody be mad at me now and call me a bigot or elitist or whatever in this life than get to the final judgment and look over at me and say why didn't you tell me. Well, it was uncomfortable, I was busy, I didn't want you to be mad at me as they're cast into the lake of fire. I'm sorry, is that too strong? Finally, how can we succeed? Because it is difficult. Finally, how can we succeed? Because it is difficult. Number one team up with other believers. This is, this is good team up with other believers. Jesus, um, he's speaking not individually to the disciples, but collectively, 11 of them. And if you go through the book of acts and you see their ministry, generally speaking they were together. And if the if the apostles were separated, like like Paul took Barnabas along Barnabas, you know he and Paul had a fight that he took John Mark, but generally speaking, there are exceptions, but generally speaking, the early church, when they went out to proclaim the gospel and make disciples, they went in groups with at least two people. Generally, more we are better together church. Remember in Luke 10, jesus appointed the 72 disciples. He said I'm going to send you out to proclaim the good news of the kingdom and I want you to do these certain acts of ministry. And he sent them out. What one by one, two by two there's. Just let me ask you this have you ever had one Mormon show up at your door. Have you ever had one Jehovah Witness show up at your door? They might get the gospel wrong, but they've got some things right. They've got some things right Like we can learn from that. Hey, try riding a bicycle up to the door. I mean, who knows, we can take this as far as we can go. Listen, it is very helpful. You start talking. You know you have a family member or a loved one or a co-worker. I had a good friend of mine do this. He used to go to this church. He lives away now and he called me and he started having conversations about the Lord and he said you know what? He called me and said Chris, would you meet me at Starbucks? This other guy is going to be there and we just sat down together and all had a gospel conversation Super encouraging. When you have other people with you, okay, but not only do you need some other person with you. I want you to be encouraged this morning because there's bookends in this text the starting verse, the ending verse that tell us that we're not alone. Not only do we have other Christians, but we have the triune God with us. I want you to look at this, and I'm wrapping up here. Verses 18 and the last part of verse 20 are truths that serve, like I said, as these bookends. Look at verse 18. Let's start there. And Jesus said to these apostles all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. And then verse 20, and behold, I'm with you to the end of the age. Now, this is awesome. At the cross, jesus conquered evil itself. He came to be the eternal king, king of kings, lord of lords, to break in into the, the devil's domain, as it were, to the earth, to dispel darkness itself. And he, jesus, was raised. And now he sits at the right hand of the Father in this sovereign position. And so when you and I go out, we are not going out in our own strength, we are going in the authority of the Lord, jesus Christ. There is power behind the message that Jesus has given us to preach, and not only that. Not only do we have the authority of Christ, but we have the presence of Christ, hallelujah. Do you remember in Acts 1-8, when this is Luke's version of the Great Commission and Jesus said to the disciples they were itching to go out? I mean, jesus has been raised. He said wait, wait, wait, don't go out until the promise of the father comes, that is namely the baptism of the Holy spirit. He said when the Holy spirit comes upon you, then you will be my witnesses to Jerusalem, judea, samaria and to the other most parts of the earth. Because Christ is not physically here, but his presence is here, because the Holy Spirit is here and he's not just close to us, he's within us. Right, we are filled with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit empowers us to go out. That's comforting. So when you go out, when you're sitting there and you're sharing the gospel with a family member, friend, neighbor and you start to doubt and you start remember, this is an authoritative message and Christ, by his virtue of his spirit, is right here with me. Beloved, if we get a hold of this, richmond will be changed, richmond will be changed, richmond will be changed. So here it is. I'll leave you with this. Whenever we come to any life-changing truth, life-changing remedy, whenever we come to a place where we find something that's truly life-changing remedy, whenever we come to a place where we find something that's truly life-changing, we want to tell everybody. Let me just let me tell a fun one real quick. Last week, dina came up to me I think it was, I think it was last Sunday and we were leaving, and she goes oh, by the way, I've got something I need to tell you. And I said what is it? She goes it's from TikTok. And I go oh, no, but I listened. She said I know you love Chick-fil-A. I said, okay, I'm leaning in now. She said I saw this on TikTok and I tried it and it was awesome. And Ben gets in on this. He's like yeah, he validates this. Here's what you do. I haven't done it yet. Here's what you do you go to Red Lobster and you order the cheesy biscuits and then you drive over, you get them to go and you drive over to Chick-fil-A and you get a filet and you put those together and it's heaven on a biscuit. Come on somebody. Yeah, I mean, I heard a choir singing, like a heavenly choir singing when Dina told me that. But my point is this when you find a good recipe or you find some remedy, you're going to tell somebody. Well, you're not going to say well, you know, I'm introverted, I'm shy. No, you're going to tell somebody. Let me give you a more serious example. Many of you know my story. When I was in Colorado. I was in my mid-30s, pastoring, and I felt like I was 100 years old. I mean, my health had so declined mentally, physically, I could barely get out of bed in the morning, my body ached, I was lethargic, I'd get winded walking up stairs and a flight of stairs, and I just started to pray God, take this from me. I want to be, give you my best, I can't stay in ministry like this. And so I was looking for a miracle and I prayed and I prayed to my pray Lord, make me healthy, take this sickness from me. And God didn't do that. But what he did is something even better. And God didn't do that, but what he did is something even better. He didn't touch me in an instant miraculous kind of way, but providentially, he led me. At the same time, I'm telling you, I met three people like back to back to back A functional medicine doctor, a physical fitness trainer and a nutritionist. And those three people together worked with me, discipled me, as it were, taught me to eat clean, to exercise rigorously and regularly and to take certain vitamins and supplements that were going to help me. No joke, from in two weeks, I started feeling a difference that was unbelievable. In two or three months, I went from being an overweight person who felt like I was 100 years old to truly feeling my age or younger. It absolutely changed my life. My age or younger, it absolutely changed my life. So when I moved here I moved here shortly after that I was telling everybody because I saw people that were where I was, and I started proclaiming that I became a herald for this message hey, get healthy, let me show you how to do it. And so I was talking about it all the time. And my wife, who's back there now she said to me one day, and actually many times you need to stop talking about this, because you're calling people unhealthy. I said, well, I'm not judging them, I was unhealthy. Well, you just need to stop talking about it, so much it's offending people. And I said I'm not going to do it. Let me tell you why. Let me tell you why I'm not going to do it. Let me tell you why. Let me tell you why I'm serious. Let me tell you why Because I love people too much and I want them to feel the best. Because I remember what it's like to walk in sickness and not have energy all the time and hurt all over. I love them enough to tell them your life can be changed if you just make some simple changes. How much more with the gospel should we refuse to quit talking about? Well, you're going to offend people. You need to stop talking. Well, I'm shy of this Beloved my health message will change your life, perhaps for a few years. The gospel will change your life for all of eternity. I don't care if the people I love want to hear it. I don't care if strangers want to hear it. I love them enough to proclaim it. God, I pray today that you would help us shout the gospel from the mountaintops. Break our heart for the lost, oh God. Break our heart for the lost, oh God. Lord, I realize right now that there are numerous people that are connected to our church, members who don't know Jesus and, lord, I pray that you would go before each of us to those people. Break the hearts, cultivate the hearts of those to whom need to hear the gospel so that they might be receptive, that they might be receptive when we share it with them, and give us the boldness, the courage, the strength to do so. Let us remember, as we aim to do, that we're not alone. Behold, you are with us to the end. There's one here today that doesn't know you. They've never responded to that gospel message themselves. May that person today, or those people today, come to the saving knowledge of Jesus, respond. This is the invitation. May they repent, believe the gospel, may they be baptized. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. You've changed our lives and we want to share the message, the greatest message in the world. We want to proclaim it In Jesus' good name, amen. Are you ready to go win the world for Jesus? All right, did you learn anything throughout this series? All right, guess what we're done.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening. If you'd like to know more about how you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ, or if you have questions about our church, you can email us at info at myrealchurchorg. Real Life Community Church is located at 335 Glendon Avenue in Richmond, kentucky. At 335 Glendon Avenue in Richmond, kentucky, we invite you to join us for worship Sunday at 10.45 am or Wednesday at 7 pm. Visit us online at myrealchurchorg.