Matthew 28 | Mission

Owen Huard concluded the series Essentials. 

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We're back in everyone I've met yet. My name is Owen. Great to meet you guys. This is your first time. Welcome. Glad that you are uh here tonight. Hey, like as we said, full retreat is the weekend of your life, okay? Um, it is where relationships go deep. Uh some relationships start. Okay, I know people who have met a floor retreat who are now married and have kids. Uh it's like the place where just everything uh kind of happens. If you want to build spiritual connection with the Lord, amen, right? Uh that's the weekend for you. Guys, we go about an hour and 45 minutes south of here. You can actually see the stars in the sky, which is just like beauty. We get to bask in the Lord's goodness. Um it's just a great time. Uh, fellas, we'll be we'll be playing basketball until about 2.30 in the morning. Um, you're sore, you're tired, but god golly, it is a good time. So I'm very much looking forward to it. Uh, like I said, link tree in the bottle, that's gonna be uh the best place. If not, guys, you can go to our website, uh kingsneton.org, uh, and it's gonna be in there as well. So if you don't have Instagram, no worries, okay? Guys, we want you to get you to fall retreat. We think it's totally worth your time. Uh, so we're we're willing to do a lot uh to get you guys there. But hey, uh outside of fall retreat, yeah, we we got some work to do tonight, okay? Um uh welcome back to Salt Company. Hey, before we get too deep, uh here's what um I want to do. Do we have anybody in the room, like growing up, anybody have like crazy dreams? Uh not crazy dreams, but like they had aspirations, they dreamed of being like president of the United States, okay? Uh any astronauts uh in the room, maybe like some uh uh mechanical engineers, you know? It's like you guys, to me, that's crazy, okay? If you're a mechanical engineer, I'm like, bless your heart, okay? Um, but seriously, guys, this was like for me, I had some crazy dreams growing up, right? I wanted to be a professional athlete, okay? And if you can look at me, you can tell, yeah, not gonna happen, okay? Um it really did not matter growing up. I was like, I loved sports so much, okay? NFL is back, I was up, uh, Sunday night football, I was watching uh it was like baseball, um there, basketball, NBA. It was like college is way better than pros, but I was watching every single sport uh imaginable because I wanted uh to be a professional baseball player, right? I was praying at night. I was like in bed thinking about eternity, and I'm like, God, make me a basketball player, okay? God, I'll play in the MLB, okay? I went to Wrigley once and I was like, yes, baseball is my dream. Okay, I was praying, man. If it's uh, you know, even like football, I'm not that big, um, but Lord, make me a professional football player. Anything but soccer, I'll I'll take it, you know, and it's like I will literally do it. But then I realized, man, pro baseball players, uh, you know, they're like six, six, seventeen-year-olds from the Dominican. I'm like, ah, I'm five, nine, sophomore in high school, not uh really gonna uh you know live up to what they're able to do. The tent there's a talent gap uh there for me, so I was like, you know what, scrap baseball. We're not gonna do it. So I had to shift um my dream. Okay, so I go into college and I'm a political science major my first year and a half, and I was like, you know what? I'm I'm done to make a difference in this world. Uh less I'm maybe I'll uh you know graduate with poly sci major and I'll lobby uh on Capitol Hill. Maybe I'll do some good uh in this world. And then I realized that um I'm not great at reading, especially old English. Um so I was like, you know what? Political science, no longer for me. Uh not gonna lobby anymore. So naturally I switched my major to communication. Do you have any com majors in the room tonight? Like, legit too. You're my people, okay? I literally love you guys. Uh yeah, Vivian and Carson, those are those are my people. Um so I switched to com majors, uh, which I thought was was great. And if you don't know, uh there's like the chain of majors, it's like everything else, uh communication and then business. It's like uh seriously, uh com majors, I love you guys. So that's where I was going. You know what, maybe uh like one day I'll hopefully find a job and it'll be great. In this economy, though, I don't know, it's looking a little rough. Um I still love sports, so I was like, you know what, master's degree. I'll get a master's degree and I'll be an athletic director someday, okay? Uh sport coaching, administration, and leadership. Uh obviously that didn't work out. I'm staying here before you guys today uh in college ministry. Okay, but all throughout my life I had these dreams. I'm like, man, I'm probably not good enough for that. Probably not gonna work make it here. Uh I cannot be, can't be used in this way. And it's it's hard for me not to like think about my life and think there's probably somebody in the room tonight who is feeling the same exact way about being used for the kingdom of God. Okay, like you think, uh, oh, the people who are used by God in this way, it's like, man, those are the pastors, uh, those are the missionaries, or evangelists, if you know what that word is like. Those are the evangelists, the people who are going out doing that thing, like they're really bold. Those are the people that God is really using uh to further his kingdom, right? And it's not gonna be me, because I'm not qualified. I'm not I'm not fitting into this plan uh from God tonight. So tonight, here's what we're gonna do. We're finishing our series uh that we're calling essentials, which we've been going through. And if if that's you tonight, where you like, yes, that is, man, the next you know, 32 minutes is is for you guys. Because two weeks ago, this this is what we've been uh covering. Man, week one we talked about how being rooted in the truth and the wisdom of God is essential for your time at Salt Company, your time in college, and for the rest of your life. Okay, last week, if you came, Drake uh he told he talked to us about how being sh how we are shaped by our community and who we surround ourselves matters a whole lot, right? Because who we hang with is who we're gonna become. And then tonight we're finishing up this series with how we can be on mission for God. And how being on mission is the greatest purpose that we can have in our lives. Okay, when it comes to the essentials of Salt Company and the Christian life in in general, is you can't really just have one or the other. Okay? We're talking about mission tonight, we've talked about the past three. You can't really just have one or the other. Okay, because here's what happens. Okay, if you only have Bible in your life, if Bible is the only thing that you've got in your mind, guess what? You are gonna be great at the Bible trivia championship. Okay, you would win that thing, no doubt, and it would be great, but you'd be missing out on a lot. Okay? Someone who only has community with no Bible or mission, then they'd be they'd be considered just a part of the crowd. Okay, you're just waiting, really no purpose in life, no truth either, and you're just waiting for the crowd to move, and then you're gonna follow with them. Okay? And then if you only have mission, right? You're kind of like someone who lives uh in the comment section of TikTok. Okay, it's like uh not sure really what you're doing there, not not too much uh you know, community going on, probably not uh a lot of Bible, just honestly a little weird, which is which is mean, but it's like, man, you know, uh that's what it would be. Okay? And you can't have just two of the three. It's like you gotta have all three. Because if you have just two of these and one is missing, this is gonna cause some problems in your life as well. Or if you have Bible and community with no mission, then we're gonna look like the weird kids on the block, okay? We're gonna look like the weird kids who are in the lunchroom and we only want to sit with each other. It's kind of like a holy huddle, okay? We're we're we're all here and it's great and we've got a great thing going, but no one else wants to hang out with us. Okay, if you have community and mission with no Bible, then you're basically a CrossFit gym. Okay? It's like those guys go hard. They're hype, they've got places to go, they're a great community, like they are best friends, but I mean that there's not a lot of Bible going on in CrossFit gyms, okay? Don't know if you've been to one. Or if you're just Bible and mission, you got no community, then you're basically just a street preacher out there by yourself. Okay, this is why it's essential that we have all three of these things present in our life. Because when we do have all three, man, this is the formula that we have for success. Math majors, formulas. It's like if you've got all three, Bible plus community plus mission equals greatness. Okay, it's like not guaranteed, but man, it's a great setup for you guys in life. Okay? When all of a sudden we we have all three of these in our life, we are a people who love the word of God, we live it, we talk about it, we think about it, and we absolutely will live for it. We're surrounded by people who are like-minded compared to one to one another, right? We're willing to check in on one another, willing to call uh each other out on the sin and the things that's in our lives that need to get cut out, and we're willing to live in community with one another. Right? And then finally, when we're a people who are on mission, man, we we have one mission, and that's making God known. A people who leverage every single aspect of our lives, trying to get more and more people to taste the goodness of God that we have tasted ourselves. So we want to be, we want to be a people who are defined by Bible community mission, not just one or two, but all three. Guys, so here we are uh tonight. I want to jump into God's word and see how the mission of God has been created by God, by the God of the universe, from the start of eternity, and then how it affects us today, here in 2026. Guys, so here's what you can do. You can quickly open to Genesis uh chapter one, uh literally page one, maybe two, of your Bible. Uh, and we're gonna look quickly and see how God, He's gonna display the mission uh from from almost the very start to us. We're gonna build a quick foundation of what it means uh to be on mission, what it is, how we got it, and where we're going. And we're gonna start here in Genesis 1, verse 28. So, God, man, he's he's created everything in this sense. He's created all things, and he's created Adam and Eve. And this is the first thing that he's gonna tell them right here. He says in verse 28, it says, God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Okay, so this is the first words, the very first words that God speaks to man, to Adam and Eve, and he gives them a mission. He sets a mission before their eyes. It says, Be fruitful and multiply. Okay, now, like a lot of times we read this verse in the Bible specifically, with this section of scripture, and we uh immediately think it's about like uh having babies, okay? It's like, which in one spec is totally true, right? It's like when mommy loves daddy, it's like this is what this is what happens. But also, there's no one else on earth, right? So we gotta have kids, we gotta fill it, this is how humanity, you know, kind of kinda goes. God created the first two, it's on us for for from here on out. So, in that way, it's like, man, totally right, totally great view uh of Genesis 1 28. But in another way, there's a view that is for absolutely everyone, not just Adam and Eve, and certainly not just for the married people in the room or the people who can have kids. You know, it's actually for everyone, because it's not just a physical mission that is set before Adam and Eve, but it's also a spiritual one. Right? A spiritual mission that is set before them to fill the earth and multiply it. To multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. This is the first thing that God commands Adam and Eve to do, and this is what we are still commanded to do today. You see, from the very start of God's creation, there's purpose in the words of God. He says, I've created you, this is what you are meant to do. Purpose in how he calls his creation to live, be fruitful, and multiply. Okay, so for us today, like for us today, I said we're gonna apply it to how we live in 2026. Man, is the first few weeks of school, okay, we're we're here in debt and not really sure why we're in debt and of all places, but it's like, man, we're here, and it feels like, man, maybe this is you. Just not not too much purpose in life, right? School isn't going exactly how you thought it was gonna go. You don't you don't love the classes as much as you thought. It's like, am I really paying thousands of dollars for this? Um, it's like, did I move away from mom's home cooking for this? Uh it's like there's just, I don't really want to wake up in the morning, don't have uh, you know, in or should I like go outside, talk to people. Really no, no, no purpose in life. Man, and and if that's you, and you're asking the question to yourself, like, what the heck am I doing here? Man, I don't know if I can answer that question directly. Of like, man, I I really don't know what you're doing here and maybe it is to come to school, but I do know that you have a purpose here in that end, and it is to be fruit to be fruitful and multiply spiritually. You do have a purpose here in that in. To be on mission for God, to be on mission for God in Den at UNT in Salt Company, and who you live with, and what you say, what classes you take. Why, why you might be asking, because every believer is called to be on mission, to be fruitful and multiply in their spiritual life. Right right here, this is where, this is what gives us purpose in our lives here on earth. Okay, you might you might be laying in bed at night asking God, man, why am I here? Why am I even on earth? Okay, and this is why Christians, man, we live with like an unapologetic joy for life. Because we know that that in our lives, man, we have been come we have a complete new mission in front of us. When we become believers, we know that our life now has new meaning. Okay? I know it's like, man, what the apostle Paul says, it's like to live is Christ, to die is gained. Yes, that's absolutely true. It's like I earth, like I long to be in heaven one day. But man, we still have a life here here on earth. We still have a life here because to live is Christ. That's our purpose, is to make Christ known. Okay, we man, where we live in a culture that says fill yourself as much as you can with whatever you can for as long as you can. The Bible actually says to pour out. Right, to pour out truth to those who are around us. Right, we know. We we know this as Christians. You've been coming to Sault Comedy, man, you know this. That the things of this world, man, sin is gonna get to us, brokenness is gonna get to us, suffering will affect us, the things of this world isn't gonna fulfill us and it's gonna leave us wondering. But here's what the beauty of the gospel does the beauty of the gospel, it reminds us of who we are in Christ. It leads us not only to be consumers, but to be givers, to be distributors. So, what are you doing here in that end? Man, I'm not entirely sure. Okay? I can't for sure answer that question, but I do know that you have been called to live on mission as a believer. So whether you go to UNT, Tita, maybe you just work, maybe you just live and then, because this is where you lived your entire life, man, you have been called to be on mission. From the very first pages of the Bible, this is true. Tonight is no different. Okay. Guys, we see that Father, man, he creates the the Father, God, man, he creates the mission of God and he gives it to man. But I want to look at a different aspect of the mission, how God uh kind of uh we we move on from uh God creating it to a different part. You can uh flip over to Luke 19, Luke chapter 19. We see that not only does God create the mission of God, but he also embodies it. Okay, God the Father, he created it. Here in Luke 19, we see how he embodies it. Guys, uh here's what happened in Luke uh 19, Jesus, he's entering into Jerusalem for the final time, okay? But first he's got to go through this town called Jericho. Okay, you might you might have heard it, uh, where they they you know stomped around it and then it all came crashing down. This is the same place. In Jericho, guys, there's this guy, he's named Zacchaeus. You also might have heard he's a wee little man, okay? He's a wee little man. But this is Zacchaeus. Man, who is he? He's a tax collector. Okay, if you're here week one, man, you know, tax collectors not liked generally, okay? Just in the culture they're living in, they were known uh to lie, steal, and cheat to get their way in whatever it is. If they wanted money, they wanted power, authority, whatever it is, that's what they wanted. So they would lie, steep, steal, and cheat. People didn't like them. But here's what Jesus does right right before this. Man, he goes and he sits in his house. He eats dinner with Zacchaeus. And the people around, man, they didn't like that. The people who uh you know were looking at it's like, why is Jesus going to sit with a sinner? Going into his house, eating dinner with a sinner. But he goes and he sits down with him, and Jesus he hears Zacchaeus' heart. Right, what he has done to the people around him, how he's taking advantage of those people. And he hears the brokenness in his own voice over his sin in his life. But even the worst of the worst, Jesus, still chooses to save him. Because of the faith of Zacchaeus, I mean, he got up in that tree, he was seeking after God, he wanted to know who is this Jesus guy, his desire to look upon Jesus by any means necessary. Jesus declares salvation over his life, over his house. And Jesus, while he's still in the house of Zacchaeus, Jesus himself says exactly why he himself is there, both in Zacchaeus' house, but also why Jesus walked on this earth. He says this in verse 10. He says, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost. God the Father creates the mission of God, but God the Son embodies the mission of God. Okay, man, I don't know if you guys have ever been uh in a time in your life where it's like, man, I I have a mission that is set before me. Okay, no matter what I do, I have to get it done. Uh, there's just no other choice in life. Uh and some of you are like, yes, Owen, I have chem homework due at 1159. That is my mission for today, okay? And you guys are gonna get it done, trust me. But I'm thinking like big uh big skill here, right? I was thinking about this and I'm like, man, when when have I had like a mission that I just had to get done? And it brought back to me, okay? Uh May 17th is the day that I asked my wife, or that I asked my fiance or girlfriend at the time to be my fiance, to be my wife. Um, which is just crazy that that's uh even true. But um, guys, like this day was crazy. Crazy, but I had a mission. I was like willing to go um wherever, okay? And in in ladies, okay, sidebar here. Wedding day, all about you guys. Okay, the flowers, the food, uh, everything that's there, you guys. Engagement day though, fellas, that's us, okay? That's our day when we get to ask you uh to marry us, okay? That's just a sidebar real quick for you. Anyway, uh, why am I talking about uh my engagement? Um okay, here we go. Uh I planned the whole weekend out, okay? I'm like, she's not gonna have no idea that it's coming. She went on a girls' weekend, okay, west side of Michigan. Beautiful over there. Uh, she's on a girls' weekend. I told her, like, hey, I'm going to uh, you know, Ohio, I'm gonna go golf with my cousin. Guys, I sent her a fake photo uh where I was like, guys, look at me, Maggie. I'm golfing in Ohio. I can't physically cannot be in Michigan right now. Okay, but I I tried to do uh everything, and uh I obviously I lie straight to her face. And me and my friend, my best friend at the time, Andrew, we get in the car, we drive two hours um to the west side from East Lansing, Michigan, all the way to Muskegon, and we drive over there. Okay, and I'm sitting in uh Chick-fil-A beforehand, eating the Lord's chicken, and I'm like shaking. I'm like, oh my gosh, so much could go wrong right here. Okay, it's like what if she says no? She wasn't gonna say no, but it's like what like what if she says no? Like I I could slip and fall, maybe the ring doesn't fit. It's like this a lot of things could go wrong here. So I was freaking out. But it's time for me to do it. It's like, man, I I got a mission, I gotta go. So that the time comes for me to do it. I get to the spot where I'm gonna ask my wife, uh, where I asked my girlfriend to be my wife. And I kid you not, it is the foggiest day of all time. Okay, Texas, do we know what fog is? It's like uh where you can't see much, okay? I don't, for some reason, I have like haven't seen fog in Texas, which is nuts. Um, but foggiest day of all time. And I was supposed to do it on the beach, and it's gonna be beautiful. I literally, I'm sitting from like here to the end, I can't see the water. It's like nuts. So I'm like, hey, you know what? We got a mission, we gotta get it done. So what happens is, well, boys, it it does happen. You know, she she comes and she's like, oh my gosh, she's crying. You know, and I I got the press on nails for her, like for pictures after. But I mean, I get down there, I get on one knee, she says yes, and the rest is history, which is great. But it's like, man, I was on a mission that night. I was like, I gotta get this done, and it's happening today. I had a mission that day, but so does Jesus, okay? It's like crazy turn right there. But guys, it's true. Okay, just as much as I had a mission that day, Jesus has a mission and exactly why he's here. He embodies the mission of God. Jesus had a mission while he's here on this earth. And guys, some of you guys don't realize this yet. The only I mean, the thing that Jesus came to do for us was to be known and to die for our sins. That that was the reason that Jesus was here on earth, that he would die for sinners on a cross for people like you and me, that we might live with him in eternity. That was his main mission. That is a mission that is worth following. His mission is to seek and to save the lost. So Jesus, he embodies what it means to be fruitful and multiply. Because what he did with his entire life, every single step that he took, was geared towards making the name of God known here on earth. Not just to his town, not just to the city, not just to those that he lived with, but those over the entire earth. That was his goal. That was his mission. So the Father, man, he creates the mission. Jesus, he embodies the mission of God, and that leaves us with the Holy Spirit. We're gonna see how the Holy Spirit gets involved in this whole mission thing. Acts two is where we're gonna find the Holy Spirit's involvement. Quickly. Again, I gotta set the scene for what's happening. Acts two is uh right after Jesus has died. Okay, he's died, he went to the grave, he rose victorious. Uh, and now all of his followers, all the people that have come to know Jesus and be his defiles, are they just chilling in Jerusalem, waiting for the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, guys, that the helper is coming. The Holy Spirit is gonna come to you in a couple of days. And now they're just waiting, or they're chilling, okay? And here's where we go. Acts uh chapter two. It says when the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated, uh, that separated and it rested on each one of them. Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues as the Spirit enabled them. So here's what happens, guys. The Spirit comes. They're filled with the Holy Spirit. Just a crazy picture, like fire coming down from heaven. They're filled, they have the Holy Spirit. The thing that Jesus has been promising to them, they have it. Guys, and there's all sorts of people who are surrounding them, right? They're in this house, but they go outside, there's all these people surrounding the disciples, people from neighbors. Different countries, okay, different religions, cultures, languages. But here's the thing. Here's the miracle of Acts chapter 2. You can look in verse 11. You're gonna see the real miracle in this situation. It says the the the Christians and the Arabs, okay. Those were people who weren't uh, you know, didn't speak the same same language. Here's their their words. It says we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues. Right. The miracle here is not that, you know, everyone heard the gospel in their own language. Certainly that that is a miracle. Just not the one that I want you to see here. The miracle is that these guys are preaching the gospel. That these people have the boldness to preach the gospel. They're standing before people uh who around them. That means they're strangers, they're coworkers, they're people who honestly want them dead. Guys, they just killed Jesus not that long ago. And what do they do? They stand up and they boldly speak the truth about the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the real miracle here. And you can see it even more. How it's even more of a miracle later in Acts chapter 4. We get to see who the disciples really were. Here's what it says in 4.13. When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus. It's like that the people around them, the people around Peter and John, they saw and they're like, something's not right. Like, like these dudes speaking the way that they're speaking, doing what they're doing, like there's gotta be something different about them, and they come to the conclusion, man, it's because they were with Jesus. Right, guys, you gotta know. For the most part, man, the disciples were nothing like you guys, okay? Absolutely nothing like you guys, which isn't a bad thing, okay? Times have changed. But for the most part, guys, these guys they didn't have the opportunity to go get a higher education. Okay, they didn't uh have schools uh where they were like highly accessible. Man, they didn't have high school back then, middle school, it's like, if anything, like these were like the homeschoolers of the age, okay? And they were weird, they didn't know a lot of things, they didn't have a lot of social skills, they definitely did not have uh the ability to read or to write well, okay? They didn't have uh the fancy language that uh to like pull out in in conversation to look smart. These guys were honestly pretty dumb. Okay, mostly, most likely they were teenage boys who had no professional training, no higher education. The only training that they did have was how to catch a fish. They knew how to do that. They did not have much, but what we see in Acts 4 is that they did have one thing, and that's the Holy Spirit. It's what sets the normal apart. The normal to be known as abnormal, the ordinary to be extraordinary. It's the presence of God in their life. This is what I want you guys to see is that the Holy Spirit, I mean, it now empowers us to continue on in the mission of God. The greatest gift that we have been given as believers in life is salvation for eternity. The second greatest gift that we've been given is the presence of God in our life. The fact that God lives in each and every one of us through his Holy Spirit. Because we have the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to speak boldly about the grace and the mercy of God. How it has radically transformed how we live, how we act, what we say, and what we do. Because the Holy Spirit empowers us in every way possible, making the normal, abnormal, the ordinary, extraordinary. That's what has been done for you guys tonight. If you are a believer, you have the Holy Spirit. You are now empowered to continue on in the mission of God. Guys, the Father has created the mission of God, Jesus embodied it, the Holy Spirit empowers us to move forward. All this is true, but where does it leave us? That's the question we need to be asking tonight. Where do we ultimately find ourselves tonight because of this? Well, because of God, man, he's created, embodied, and empowered the mission of God. We now have a very unique role in carrying out the mission of God from here on out. Until Jesus comes back, we are tasked with this thing, and we can find it in Matthew 28. Here's what it says in verse 18. Jesus came near and said to them, This is the last thing that Jesus says to his disciples. It says, Authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you. And remember, and this is the promise that Jesus gives, I am with you always to the end of the age. So, guys, in a nutshell, this is what we've been tasked with. That we would continue on in the mission of God here on earth to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching. This is what we know. If you've been in the church you've heard, this is what we know as the Great Commission. Jesus commissions us to go and to make disciples. Because to commission something is, man, just to send out. Okay, like soldiers when they they commissioned to the army. I had some friends who did that, man. They're being sent to defend, sent to be uh, you know, soldiers. They're commissioned. When we commission a church plant or people to go on a church plant, man, we stick them up on stage because it's a big thing. We send them out. We say, You are sent. Jesus, he sends us, he commissions us to do this. So here's how I want to end our time tonight is I want to give you guys three quick applications. Three things that you can do to be on mission this week, this year, and God willing for the rest of your life. Okay? Here's the first thing that I think we need to walk away with is this we need we need a new perspective on what it means to be on mission. Okay, I say new perspective. It's not really new, okay? It's been in the Bible. Uh I'm not creative in this way. I'm just reading the Word of God, okay? It's not new, but it might be new to some of you guys. Guys, you can look at Matthew 28. You can look at the Great Commission, and there can be uh some overwhelming words in there pretty quickly. It can be like, gosh, this like me? You want me to do this? Like, man, how am I supposed to do this? I'm seeing baptize, I'm seeing teach, I'm seeing go there for. It's like the disciple, it's like, man, I'm not even being discipled right now. How am I supposed to do this? Make disciples. I don't even know how to do that, okay? So it can be really overwhelming quickly. But whether you are a new believer of two weeks, or whether you've been in the church for 20 years, okay? Most of you guys aren't even 20. Uh whether you've been in the church for 20 years, this is for you. And it's in Matthew 5. It says, you are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. God's the simplest way for us to be on mission for God is to be a light in a dark place. To be a light in a dark place. Anyone grow up being scared of the dark? Nobody? Okay, anyone's still scared of the dark? Okay, great. It's like, me too. Okay, I sleep. Uh our like room is like so bright at night, okay? My my wife sleeps with an eye mask. I'm like, how do you do it? Don't know. Um, you know, we got a sound machine going on, making sure it's like a comfy environment. But it's like, guys, the reason, like, why are we scared of the dark when we're growing up?

unknown 29:15

We don't know what's eating.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

Because we don't know, okay, we don't know where, you know, where we're seeing. We can't see what's out there. But deep down, it's like, man, we have a fear. We have a fear in our heart of like, man, I don't know what's happening out there. There could be the boogie monster out there. He could be hiding under my bed. For me, it was like the clones of Star Wars. I was like, I don't know if you guys grew up with that. I was like, the bad guys could be coming to me, okay? They might begin me. But seriously, the reason that we are scared of the dark is because that is where fear lives. Fear lives and it breeds in the darkness. It instills fear in all of us. And guys, according to what Matthew 5 says, is that our world is a dark place. Man, there's darkness on UNT. There's darkness at T Dub. There's darkness at NCTC. Guys, there's darkness in Maple Heart, there's darkness in problems, there's darkness even at Chick-fil-A, okay? There's unbelievers who work at Chick-fil-A. There's darkness in your workplace, there's darkness in your family. Fear is bred in darkness. Because we've been called to be the light of the world. You know what a like you know what a night light does for a little kid? It like makes things so much better. All of a sudden you can see where you're going. Man, you you know that the bad guys aren't getting you. I mean, that that is what we are to this world. God has given us his Holy Spirit, He has empowered us to be the light of the world, the light in a dark place. And guys, even just a small light, even a small light lights up a large area. Okay, if we shut all these lights off, I'm not gonna, but if we shut all these lights off and I had like a match, it's like, guess what? You'd still be able to see me. Because a small, even a small light has a large impact. And guys, we are being sent. You guys are being sent as believers to be a light in a dark place. Guys, this is what you what you might be thinking. It's like, oh and okay, I'll be a light in a dark place. You haven't seen my schedule, though. Like it's it's busy. Sometimes I gotta wake up at 7:30 to go to my 8 a.m. It's like, guys, adulting is coming, okay? Some of you are gonna have to commute an hour to Dallas, and you're gonna have to wake up at like five. Um, but anyway, it's like, hey, you haven't seen my calendar. Guys, here's what I want each and every one of us to know is that being on mission for God is not additional into our life. Being on mission is not additional, it's actually intentional. Being intentional in the mission of God is how we are alight. There are people around you that aren't believers, 100%. I've already said it in your class, in your hall, in your family, whatever it is. It's just we're not being intentional quite yet with how we do it. In being a light, we're not intentionally lighting the dark places in our culture. Now, I'm not saying never hang out with your friends. You 100% should do that. But man, we are called to be lights in a dark place. And I think this next one is gonna help us, guys. Be uh a light in a dark place, be the light of the world, make it intentional. Next thing you can do to help be on mission is to be on mission together. Okay, be on mission together. If you read through the book of Acts, here's what we see: that each time that someone is sent out, they are not sent out alone. They're always paired with someone else. Okay, I can give you uh example after example. Paul and Barnabas, Peter and John, Paul and Silas, man, they're all sent out together in pairs. They are sent out together. Why? So they could help protect each other, right? That's certainly one part. But to protect each other, man, they had two testimonies to share to the people who say, guys, it's not just me that my life has been changed. This guy's life has been changed too, but by Jesus. They had two testimonies. And then when things got hard, right? When the darkness seemed like it was overwhelming the light, one guy could look to the other and encourage him. Lift him up. Because we see the a pattern of pairing up in the Bible to go be lights. And I think we should should imitate this act. Guys, look, look, listen. You guys are in college or you're college-aged, okay? This is such a unique time in your life. Like while you guys are in college, you have the opportunity to live with other believers in the exact same season of life as you have the most amount of people who are in the same same life, who have the same zeal for the Lord. Okay, this is a unique time. You have the most availability, you have the most energy, okay? Believe it or not, you have the most energy to be on mission, you have the most time to be on mission for God. There is nothing that I want more for this room than to leverage our time in college, our energy in college, our availability in college for the kingdom of God, to be on mission with our peers. Right, guys, this looks like going out on campus, evangelizing with your friends, people in your connection group, opening up to the people, opening up your apartment. Right? The space is like, guys, have a game night. Okay, Secret Hitler is fun. It's like totally worth it. If yet, that's right. Play gold fish. I don't know. It's like you can do a lot. Open up your house to people. Guys, fight sin together. This is such a unique time in your life where, fellas, you're gonna live with the dudes who are gonna like be in your wedding someday. And this is a time where like you can do all of that so intentionally. Ladies, this is a time where you can get to know other ladies in your life, same season of life as you, and be on mission together. Guys, it's fun. Being married is awesome, and living with your wife is like amazing. Man, some of the times with the boys are like, miss it, you know? But I love my wife. Okay. Guys, don't waste your time in college. It's you, it's a unique, a unique time to be on mission for God. I pray that you would. Okay, lastly, and I think it's the most powerful thing that we can do to be on mission for God, is this is to pray. Okay, to pray. I know that sounds um like pretty uh like yeah, duh, of course, but it's true. Guys, if you've been to Salt Company, you know that we repeat uh one one verse uh almost like to where it's annoying. Luke 10, 2, baby. We've got it up there, uh, it's right there. You can literally read it right there. It says the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Guys, here's what you need to notice about that verse is that Jesus, man, he recognizes there's a problem. Okay? The harvest is ready to be harvested. The fields are white for harvest. No one is here to go out to it. There's a problem, but what he doesn't say, man, go out and and reap the harvest. He doesn't say that, okay? If I was Jesus, I'd be like, guys, there's a problem, let's go fix it. Okay? I'd be a bad Jesus, though. But here's what he does: he he sees the problem, he recognizes it, he says, guys, we need to pray. We need to pray because he knows that prayer is more powerful than our actions. There's nothing better for us to do in the moment than to pray that God would call people up and out of their chairs, that they would go and labor in the harvest. To go and be lights in this world alongside of each other. Also that people might come to know the saving grace of Jesus. Guys, I want to give you guys practical steps out of the sermon. And here's here's the practicality of praying. I want you guys to feel prepared to be on mission. And guys, you have been prepared, okay? You don't know the power of the Holy Spirit. I'm sure some of you have experienced it's like, guys, the Holy Spirit is powerful. Okay, He's anointed each and every one of you to go and share the gospel. He's given you everything necessary to do it. Guys, even if you don't feel uh like you've been prepared, guys, we're gonna have a gospel one-on-one class later, uh, and we'll tell you everything, most things that you need to know. And guys, it it'll make things so much easier. But having the Holy Spirit, a hundred percent, you've been prepared. But here's what you need to do in prayer. You need to pray. Here's what I do. I pray this. I pray for Bob. Okay? I pray for Bob. Bob isn't a person, uh, Bob is an acronym, okay? Uh here's what it stands for burden, opportunity, and boldness. Okay, I pray that Lord, give me a burden for the people. Okay, a burden for the people of Dean, a burden for the people of UNT. Um, you know, when we're out there on Thursdays, it's like I see people who are lost thinking that they're being fulfilled by something that will ultimately leave them empty. God, put a burden on my heart for those people, put a burden uh for the ladies of T Dub that they would come to know you. God, put a burden on my heart for the people around. And then it's, God, give me the opportunity. God, give me the opportunity to open my mouth in conversation.

unknown 37:34

Right?

SPEAKER_00 37:34

You see the people walking, walking by, it's like, God, just make it, like, make it so recognizable that like I can't do anything but open my open my mouth, whether that's stopping them on the way by, or it's like, hey, I need to share the gospel with this person. I'm gonna go up and do it. It's like, God, give me the burden to go share the gospel, God, give me the opportunity to open my mouth. And then lastly, it's God, give me the boldness to actually speak truth. It's so easy for us to like crumple under the pressure of like, gosh, I don't know what they're gonna, like, how they're gonna respond. I don't know what they're gonna say. Because that's why we're praying with boldness. It says in Mark that the um uh the the flesh the the flesh is weak, but the spirit is or the gosh, I I messed it up. Uh the the flesh is willing, but the spirit is weak. Guys, it's like our it's so easy to to to believe the lies of like, man, this person, what they think of me is more important than what God thinks of me. We definitely need to pray for the boldness for when we open our mouths that it would be the truth that comes out, that it would be the gospel that Jesus came to live a life, that we were unable to live, that he came to die a death, that we deserved, and that he was put in the grave three days later, raising, defeating sin, Satan, and death, that we might live with him forever. Because that's the truth of the gospel, and guys, we've been called to be lights in a dark place. We can pray. We're so grateful for uh this room, for uh how bright it is, Lord, spiritually. You've um brought death um to life, you've brought darkness to light, and God, we're asking that you would do it uh uh again. God, tonight I want to pray um for Bob, for uh myself, and for the students who are uh in this room. Lord, I pray that you would give each and every one of us the burden to share the gospel with people. Lord, it says that you came to seek and to save the lost. Lord, that mission is now empowered to us through your Holy Spirit. God, I pray that you'd give us the boldness or the burden for these people. God, I pray that you would give us an opportunity throughout our day. Lord, whether that's in our hall, in our apartment, at class, God, give us an opportunity to preach your good word to these people. And Lord, last I pray that you would give us the boldness to open our mouth and speak truth into a world of lies, to bring light to a world of darkness. God, give us the boldness to be unashamed of the gospel. God pray that it'd be true over all eyes. Amen. You guys can stand and worship.