WEBVTT 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:24.320 Yeah, we'll be reading from Matthew chapter twenty-eight, from sixteen through to twenty. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:30.879 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:35.119 And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:42.240 And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven, and on earth has been given unto me. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:53.920 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:01:00.000 And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:00.960 Amen. 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:03.039 Welcome to you. 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:05.920 If you've uh joined us since we begun, my name is Mark. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.879 I'm one of the uh leaders here at the church. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:20.560 You're very welcome if you are uh new or visiting, if you are new or visiting with us, uh today is a great Sunday to be here because today we begin a new series. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:24.239 We've been doing uh Psalms all the way through the summer. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:28.879 Uh, but now as summer draws to a conclusion and the kids go back to school. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:31.200 Can I get an amen from the parents? 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:36.159 Uh yeah, and they go back to school, or perhaps I even are back for a couple of days. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:39.359 Um and uh we go into September. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:45.760 September uh I describe as the new year because it's kind of how I operate by academic years. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:53.680 It's uh it's actually a time of kind of almost kind of rejuvenation and rebirth for the city, perhaps this year even more so than the last couple. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:02:08.240 Feels like we're kind of really coming out of uh the uh the COVID restrictions and lockdowns, and uh and usually September is a really exciting time for for city center churches, of which we are one uh as we get to welcome uh new folks coming through. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:12.240 So if you've just moved to the city, if you've just joined us, uh you're really welcome here. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:35.120 And one of the things that we like to do uh right at the start of the year, uh as uh as I like to think of it, is we want to uh to step back each year and just remind ourselves of what our uh what our fundamentals are, what our foundations are as a church, what are some of our uh our core commitments? 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:45.599 And so if you're new and you're looking for a church, uh this is uh a good series to be a part of as you think, okay, well, what what does City Church value? 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:47.280 What are they about? 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:50.719 What are the kinds of things that they prioritize? 00:02:50.960 --> 00:03:06.240 Or if you've been uh with us uh for some time, as we come out of the uh the season of uh of lockdown, as we prepare for a new year, it's by way of refreshing to think, okay, this is why I joined City to begin with. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:08.560 This is what we're about as a church. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:13.599 This is the the mission that I am joining and participating with them on. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:26.159 Um we're going to be doing five weeks uh from now through to the end of uh of September, looking at five core commitments, values uh that we that we have. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:32.319 Let me just give them to you now by way of uh trailer, since we're in a in a cinema. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.120 Um uh this autumn. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:36.560 Uh no, okay. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:38.159 They are. 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:44.240 Um uh today we're going to be looking at the uh the mission of the church. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:47.120 And as G Day read, that that call to go. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:48.560 Uh, what what do we value? 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:50.800 Well, we value the the making of disciples. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:55.680 Well, it's that you Lord, like uh it's just gotten suddenly brighter. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:02.960 Um uh value the mission of the church, that call to go and to make disciples. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:08.960 We are disciples, but we are sent out by the risen Lord Jesus to be disciple makers. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:09.520 That's today. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:11.039 We're gonna look at what that is. 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:18.319 Uh, then we uh next week are gonna be describing how it is that we are quite unapologetically Bible people. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:24.240 Uh, we believe that when the Bible is read, God's voice is heard. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:28.079 And so the Bible is absolutely central to our life. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:39.360 Maybe you have questions about the Bible, about its inspiration, what that means, its authority, uh, and why it is that we form our life around the scriptures. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.639 We are people of uh of the book. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:55.199 Uh the kinds of sermons that we preach are not those where we where we kind of read uh read a verse, kind of usually kind of out of context, and then springboard into a life story that makes me look great. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:58.399 I don't have very many of them, so I got to stick with the book. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:00.560 So that's gonna be uh next week. 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:09.040 Uh, third thing that we are committed to and value is uh servant, transparent, accountable leadership. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:17.759 I'm gonna be thinking about what it means to uh to lead and to be led in a way that is healthy uh and accountable. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:20.800 And so we'll be thinking a little about that in two weeks' time. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:24.959 Then we will turn to the idea of community. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:28.480 Uh many of you perhaps have uh have come to Dublin. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:38.399 Home is elsewhere, you're trying to make home here, and so you're looking for connection, community, family to know and be known. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:43.519 And the Bible offers us a family. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:55.519 The church is not an organization, it's a home where family lives, and it's a hospital for those in need of healing, and we do that in the context of community. 00:05:55.680 --> 00:06:10.079 And then finally, we'll be looking at uh what it means to be uh sacrificial in our uh in our generosity, both in how we uh use the things that God has given us and in how we use our our gifts and our talents as well. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:11.839 And that will close out our series. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:13.199 That's a more topical series. 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:14.959 We'll be looking at different parts of the Bible. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:16.879 That's not our usual practice. 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:21.680 Our usual practice is to pick uh books of the Bible and to go through them. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:29.920 Uh, and so we will be doing that for the for the rest of uh the autumn term, but that's where we're going over the next five weeks. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:32.800 We're thinking this morning, though, about mission. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:39.199 And our mission as a church uh can be summarized in uh in four verbs. 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:42.560 They are connect, grow, serve, go. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:55.759 City church exists to connect people to Jesus, that they might grow to spiritual maturity, that they might serve the community, and go to the nations. 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:59.920 That's city church in a nutshell, if you're wondering what we're about. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:00.560 That's it. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:08.000 We exist to do four things to connect, to grow, to serve, and to go. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:17.199 And we invite people who make city church their home to participate with us in that mission. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:23.120 We do so because we believe that that is the mission that God is on. 00:07:23.600 --> 00:08:05.600 God is on a mission to make much of his son, the Lord Jesus, that people might come to know him, and that in knowing him they might be transformed, as Paul says, from one degree of glory to another, that they might grow up into spiritual maturity, but that that is also done for a purpose, is for the purpose of serving one another, the community, and going with the good news of Jesus to others, so that that kingdom that begins as a mustard seed might expand and expand so that it becomes one of the largest trees in in all of the fields, and that the birds of the air, that is, uh the nations, come to rest in its branches. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:11.439 That is what we exist to be about, and that's what we invite you to. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:19.199 You maybe uh have been to a church before, which is a little bit like uh, well, like coming to a cinema. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:24.560 You pay your ticket and you come in and you watch the show. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:31.360 Or you go to, or it's like going to a uh a sporting match, a rugby match at the Aviva Stadium. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.639 If you don't know me, I'm terrible at sports analogies, so just forgive me for a second. 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:48.480 But it's a little bit like going to the Aviva, you pay your ticket, you sit in the stands, and you watch the professionals doing the doing the game, doing the sportsing, whatever it is that they're doing on the on the uh field pitch, whatever it is. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:50.799 But that's not the way the church is. 00:08:51.120 --> 00:09:02.320 It's not that the believers in Jesus are sitting in the stands, spectating and watching me, the professional Christian, the guy who gets paid for doing this, doing the work of evangelism. 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:03.039 No, no, no. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:05.039 Uh we're all on the pitch. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.159 And the world is watching. 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:10.879 The world is watching how we conduct ourselves. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:13.360 Does what we say and what we do match up? 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:20.559 Do we live with love and integrity, generosity, compassion, joy, and faithfulness and all of the fruits of the spirit? 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:26.000 Is it better to be a spectator or a participant? 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:33.279 Is it better to read a romance novel or is it better to be in love? 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:35.919 Is it better to be in love? 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:42.960 It is better to participate than to spectate. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:55.360 And we invite you, as a church, to participate in the mission of God with us because it is the greatest thing that you can give your life to. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:10:02.879 It is the greatest cause in all of the universe, it is the only cause that will last on into eternity. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:09.679 I'm not saying that you all must give up your jobs uh and uh and all come and uh and follow my life path. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:11.840 No, no, that's that's not it at all. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:13.279 As we'll see in a minute. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:20.639 When Jesus says uh go and make disciples, it's it's actually it's a continuous verb. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:24.320 It's basically Jesus is saying, as you are going, make disciples. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:25.039 Do you see? 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:33.919 So whatever sphere of life your God is leading you into, you that you're going into, Jesus is saying, make disciples as you're going along that path. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:39.919 It's not that everybody needs to kind of, once you're a Christian, you need to divert off and join a join a monastery. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:49.679 So, you know, as you're going in your college, in your career, in your family, as you're going, make disciples. 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:03.200 Here at City Church, but what is the church? 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:11.519 Well, the church, the church is the it is the merging of lots of individual stories. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:13.759 You all have your own individual story. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:23.440 I don't know uh some of you here this morning, I don't know what brought you through those doors where you are emotionally, even where you are with faith. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:42.639 We all come with individual stories, but they the church is when people gather and their individual stories all mingle together and wrap around the silk and steel of the gospel towards one singular end, the making much of the Lord Jesus. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.080 We work together to be on that mission. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:50.080 To be a Christian is to be on mission. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:12:03.759 It is not that there are the normal Christians who sit in the seats, and then there are the missionaries, there's the evangelists, there's the disciple makers, and they're the ones who do it at full time, or they're the ones who are particularly gifted. 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:04.480 No, no. 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:11.840 Uh to be a Christian is to be a disciple maker, it is to be on mission. 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:17.759 To follow Jesus is to follow his command to go. 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:24.799 Let us uh look more closely at these verses from Matthew 28. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:33.039 Uh, if you uh have a Bible, I would encourage you to look that up or bring it up on your phone, Matthew 28, verses 16 to 20. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:36.320 If you need a Bible, um good luck. 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:39.200 There's normally a box down there, but it doesn't seem to be there. 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:41.600 So uh listen closely. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:48.320 Um the the passage actually structures around uh for all statements. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:54.480 Um if you're wanting to know kind of where we're going, uh the passage structures around for all statements. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:13:09.440 Jesus says that all authority has been given to him, and then he says to uh to go and make disciples of all nations, and then he says to teach them all that I have uh commanded you. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:12.960 And then finally he says, Behold, I am with you always. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:15.519 You want to know the structure of these verses? 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:21.440 It's structured really around those kind of four all statements, and so that's uh kind of where we're going to be going. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:28.000 But let's just uh perhaps ask a slightly foolish question, maybe, and say, Well, who is it that's inviting us on mission? 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.919 Sunday school answer is Jesus, isn't it? 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:35.039 Who is inviting us on mission was Jesus? 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:37.600 But who is this Jesus? 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:40.960 Who is this Jesus at the end of Matthew? 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:42.399 What have we come through? 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:48.080 Well, we're not in his earthly uh ministry, we're not uh we're not up in Galilee. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:50.639 No, no, that is all past now. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:14:08.080 We've gone through the cross, Jesus' sin-bearing death, and we have come through his victorious resurrection, that great yes and amen from God the Father, that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was effective for taking away your sin. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:12.960 And now he is risen, and he is about to ascend to his father. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:19.519 He's about to ascend to his father, who I now sound like. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.399 Who knew that he was northern Irish. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:29.279 Hopefully that there we are, there we go. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:35.120 And the ascension of the Lord Jesus is Jesus' coronation. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:42.320 He's ascending to the right hand of his father, he's receiving that eternal throne that we read about in Daniel 7. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:49.360 The Son of Man is about to be presented to the ancient of days and giving that and given that kingdom that will have no end. 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:57.440 And before he goes, he says to his disciples that he is the one, first of all, who has all authority. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:07.360 Now the eleven disciples, because Judas has taken his life, the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had directed. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:11.840 And when we when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:17.519 And Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:28.799 In heaven and on earth, is there any sphere or realm or square inch of this present age that Jesus does not have authority? 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:31.360 No, all authority in heaven and earth. 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:35.840 He is risen and his and he is victorious. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:42.720 His resurrection is the confirmation that he is the promised king of Psalm II, the Son of Man of Daniel 7. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:50.639 He is the one who has died for sin and triumphed over it, removing guilt and shame and condemnation. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:56.480 He has triumphed over all suffering and death, and one day he will put it all to an end. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.759 He is the one who has all authority. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:04.799 All authority over all times, all circumstances, all peoples. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:07.679 That includes everyone in this room this morning. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:13.600 He has all authority over your past, over your present, and over your future. 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:18.320 He has all authority over where you have been and where you have gone where you are going. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:35.840 The one who gave himself for you, because he loves you, now exercises his loving authority over you in this world and says, I have died for you, I am risen victorious for you, and now I send you out. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:39.519 And that's great news, actually. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:45.120 Because when Jesus says that he is the one with all authority, what does that mean for our mission? 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:47.600 What does that mean for our sending out? 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:51.360 Is its ultimate success in doubt? 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:52.159 No. 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:58.639 The one with all authority is the same one who said, I'll build my kingdom and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:14.640 And so we go out with great confidence, not with arrogance, because we know that we are ones who uh who are both unworthy and yet shown our great worth. 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:22.400 So we do not go with with arrogance, but we do go with confidence because the one who has all authority means that his mission will succeed. 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:24.400 This is the story that you join. 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:30.240 This is what you are invited as a believer in the Lord Jesus to participate in. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:41.519 When we talk about connecting people to Jesus, that is telling them about him, we do so with confidence, actually, that the Lord Jesus will have mercy on those people. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:52.240 And that's wonderful news, especially when you find yourself with cotton wool mouth and you find yourself tripping over your words because you know what? 00:17:52.640 --> 00:18:04.240 Their eternal destiny is not determined by your winsomeness or by your ability to speak, but on the one who has all authority. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:12.480 You can be in a debate in a pub or in a workplace with somebody who is asking you question after question after question. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:13.680 You feel like you're on the back foot. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:18.480 Have you ever been in those sorts of circumstances in the people are like, well, well, what about what about evolution and what about suffering? 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:19.680 And what about this and what about that? 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:21.440 And you're like, oh, I didn't know. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:24.640 And you come away there feeling totally black and blue. 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:27.519 You think I you go home and think I lost that debate. 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:28.480 You know what? 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:34.000 Their eternal destiny is not on your hands, it rests with the one who has all authority. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:38.240 And if the one who has all authority can make a donkey speak, he can use me. 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:43.839 That's what you're invited to participate in. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:46.160 And how do the disciples respond? 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:54.079 Well, we see that in verse 17 uh they respond to the risen Lord Jesus on that mountain with worship. 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:59.839 That is the only appropriate response to the call of the risen Lord Jesus. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:08.559 All of the Christian life is a is an outworking of that, of that bowing down, of that worship to him. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:11.519 Mission is an act of worship. 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:30.480 It is an act of because in in going with the gospel and and and telling people of the gospel, you would only do that if you if you believe that Jesus is worth it, if he is worthy of being communicated about to others. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:32.319 Let me tell we do this all the time. 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:42.880 Because I like, I like my I like my coffee water at 85 degrees. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:45.359 I don't want it to go, I don't want it to go hotter than that. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.200 So I like it being temperature controlled. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:49.759 And I'm an evangelist for the temperature controlled kettle. 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:56.640 You have to get this because I know the worth of it and I feel the worth and experience the worth of it three times a day. 00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:01.279 And because I know that worth, I tell other people. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:04.880 Yeah, I'm so slow to do that about the Lord Jesus. 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:09.920 I'll tell people about the kettle that I bought, but not about the one who bought me. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:20.799 They worshiped, but also there is some tremendous comfort here in verse 17, and I I love this. 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:25.440 I'm perplexed and bewildered by it, but I take such heart from it. 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:35.519 Look what verse 17 says, and when they saw when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:37.759 Wow. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:39.519 That's the eleven. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:57.119 That's the guys who have been with Jesus for three years, who have walked with him closely, they have come, they have come through the cross, and then they have witnessed the empty tomb, and they get on the mountain and they buy that in worship, but still some still some had questions. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:02.559 Still some thought, can this really be can this really be true? 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:05.920 Can this really is he really alive? 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:09.759 Has he really taken away my sin? 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:10.960 And some doubted. 00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:14.720 After all that they had witnessed, all that they had experienced. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:35.519 Jesus, with all of his majesty and all of his authority, his patience and compassion for those disciples who bow down and worship and yet are worshiping, still have questions, are still growing, are still figuring things out. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:40.720 I don't know about you, but I take great heart in that. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:48.000 That you can still be somebody who is wrestling through questions and somebody who's bowing down in worship. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:51.440 And Jesus doesn't go to this right, okay. 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:57.359 So now that I uh know all of your thoughts, uh eight of you are fine. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:02.240 You're worshiping through pure hearts and uh Three of you, some doubts there. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:04.240 You need to do the refresher course. 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:06.079 No, he doesn't do that, does he? 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:08.079 He sends all 11 out. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:09.839 He sends them all out. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:10.799 You got doubts? 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:11.759 You got questions? 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:12.960 You're worshiping me? 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:13.759 You're following me? 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:14.319 Go. 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:16.240 Go and make disciples. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:22.240 Because what's better than coming alongside somebody and going, Do you know what I don't have all I don't have all of the answers? 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:23.599 But I'm going to tell you what I know. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.759 I'm going to tell you what I've experienced and maybe we can figure out the rest together. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:33.680 There's still things that I'm wrestling through, but would you come and would you learn with me? 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:48.559 Maybe people might actually respond better to that than uh than perhaps what can be the disposition, which is which is come follow me and I will lead you into all of the truth. 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:50.160 People don't want to know that. 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:59.599 They want people to come alongside them and say, hey, come and see this guy who told me everything that I'd ever did ever done. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:02.559 And who loves me anyway. 00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:04.640 I haven't got it all figured out. 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:06.559 But there's something about him. 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:10.319 Some doubted, and they were still sent out. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:19.279 You who doubt, we still invite you to come and participate in the greatest mission in all of the universe. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:22.480 Come with your questions, come and ask them. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:24.720 Look at our values on the website. 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:28.480 One of the things of our nine values, this you're welcome. 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:33.599 This is not a nine-week series, is that we embrace the skeptic. 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:41.599 Some of you here have legitimate questions that need to be wrestled through. 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:51.519 They won't ultimately say if you becoming a Christian is not ultimately in the final analysis an intellectual exercise, but it does have intellectual rigor to it. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:56.640 Come with your doubts and come and join the mission. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:23:58.240 What is the mission? 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:00.079 Well, the mission is to go. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:03.599 As you are going. 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:10.160 That is, that we are not to be those who keep the good news of the gospel. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:11.440 That's what gospel means. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:24.160 It means good news, the good announcement of sin forgiven, of life renewed and eternal with the God who made us and who loves us. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:26.240 We're not to keep that for ourselves. 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:28.079 We're not to be a holy huddle. 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:31.599 We are to go. 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:49.359 He used to say that um uh that pastors, ministers, people who did my job, but I think it's true of Christians, uh are like are like manure. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:55.440 When they're all kind of huddled together, they begin to stink, but you spread them out over the land and they do a bit of good. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:00.480 We're not supposed to clump together. 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:10.319 In fact, the the disciples in in Luke's gospel are uh are looking up at heaven after Jesus has ascended and they're they're kind of peering and peering and peering. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:13.440 And actually, two angels have to come down and tap them on the shoulder and go. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:14.720 Go. 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:18.319 Stop looking there. 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:19.839 You gotta go. 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:22.799 We gotta be those who are going. 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:26.640 Don't keep the good news to yourself, don't huddle together. 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:28.160 Why can they go? 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:29.920 Because Jesus has all authority. 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:31.119 Where do they go to? 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:34.559 And this is the second of all, they go to all nations. 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:40.400 The one who has all authority sends us out to all nations. 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:52.400 Every uh nation and tribe and tongue and people group and ethnicity and ethnicity and subculture and socioeconomic class and grouping were sent to them all. 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:59.440 It is a great joy that we get to express that in part in microcosm, but we are perfectly desirous of more. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:00.880 We want to see more. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:06.640 From every corner of the world, people coming to know him. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:09.359 And what are we to do as we go to all nations? 00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:11.440 We are to make disciples. 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:18.240 This is the essence, excuse me, of participation with Jesus in this great story. 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:47.279 To see Jesus for who he is, for who he truly is, the risen King, the one with all authority, and having been transformed by that, through his sin obliterating death, that you might see him as the one who is supremely worthy, and that being captivated by him in worship, you might willingly go and invite others to come and see him. 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:54.240 All believers are sent out to be disciple makers. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:58.319 The only question are where and how. 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:08.480 Like I've said before, the go is a going, and as you are going, make disciples. 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:19.119 Mission, therefore, is not an event, it is not an extra thing to add to your diary, as is so often the case in the in the church. 00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:30.480 So, well, we do we'll do a mission week where we'll have a set of talks every evening, and we'll re-convert every Christian that's sitting there. 00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:37.920 Because we'll we'll we'll command because we encourage people to raise their hand or come to the front. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:42.559 And the Lord has used those things in great and mighty ways. 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:52.880 But the call to mission, it is not an extra thing for your diary, it is a mindset for how you carry out your life. 00:27:53.440 --> 00:28:00.400 You go to the you go to a regular barber or hairdresser, you're to go as a disciple maker. 00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:04.880 If you go to the same coffee shop, you're to go as a disciple maker. 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:09.440 If you go to the same office, you're to go as a disciple maker. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:13.039 It's not that we just do this extra thing. 00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:20.880 We're busy enough, but it's about a paradigm shift that starts tomorrow morning. 00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:27.440 I imagine that every person in this room has regular rhythms. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:31.599 Regular non-Christian folks who you encounter. 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:40.160 Word sent to them in the regular rhythms of life. 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:45.519 And how does Jesus say that disciples are made? 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:46.720 The third all? 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:53.599 By teaching them all, Jesus says, that I have commanded you. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:54.880 Verse 20. 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:58.480 Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. 00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:10.000 We friends have the words of eternal life, as Peter said to Jesus in John 6. 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:17.519 Do you know that we have the only lasting and enduring hope for a hopeless world? 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:40.880 Because everybody in the world is placing their hope in a circumstance, in a person, in a career, in family, in fortune, in stuff that is intrinsically earthbound and therefore temporary, and can and will and and is taken away. 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:50.079 It matters very much what you attach it to. 00:29:51.359 --> 00:30:10.400 What Christian says, you can attach the hope of your life to something that transcends circumstance so that when the most precious things in your life are lost, you can still put one foot in front of the other and still have hope. 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:19.599 Because it is not based in the things of this world, but in the eternally enthroned Lord Jesus. 00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:23.039 We have hope for a hopeless world. 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:33.519 Mission, evangelism, therefore, are both essential and eternally significant. 00:30:36.799 --> 00:31:06.160 At City Church, we want all to know the gospel, what the good news of Jesus is, and in knowing the gospel, to have your lives ever more transformed by it, and then to have your affections so stirred for Jesus that you are willing to go out into the world and invite others to come and see, to tell them what he has done for you, to tell them of his great worth and the hope that we can have in him. 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:27.839 All of our life is formed around that, whether it's on Sundays, midweek community groups, whether it's informally as we meet together for prayer times or over coffee or at parties, we exist to encourage one another in that mission, to build one another, to grow one another so that they might go, we might go to the nations. 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:33.680 We encourage one another with the gospel, we gossip the gospel to one another. 00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:42.559 We together pray and should pray for those who we know who don't know the Lord Jesus. 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:51.519 We should actively seek to be in their lives, consistently, investing time in them. 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:59.519 You really want to be the kind of person that your non-Christian friend calls at 2 a.m. 00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:02.000 when they need someone. 00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:09.839 You want to be that person so that you're the one who can offer them hope when all hope is fading. 00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:14.160 And that is what we go with. 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:24.720 And Jesus, as we go, gives us a comfort and an encouragement, and this is the fourth all. 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:29.359 The reminder that he is with us always. 00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:37.039 And behold, at the very end of verse 20, I am with you always, to the end of the age. 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:40.240 We are still in that age that Jesus talks about. 00:32:40.559 --> 00:33:02.559 The age that we are in began with Jesus' resurrection and will conclude with his returning again, and he will usher in a new age, and that will be an age where there is no more sin, no more death, where there is no more opportunity to turn to him. 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:19.359 He delays his return in patience and mercy, and says to the Christian, Go, and I'm with you as you go, always, until I return, and bring history to an end, and bring the fullness of my glorious reign. 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:23.519 Why do we evangelize people? 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:43.759 We do so out of obedience to the Christ who has all authority and out of gratitude for the Christ who loves us and who is with us always. 00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:49.680 We go because of obedience and gratitude. 00:33:52.480 --> 00:34:03.119 Supreme authority and wonderful comfort go hand in hand here in the call to make disciples. 00:34:09.039 --> 00:34:11.199 And I'll see you when you're done. 00:34:13.519 --> 00:34:13.840 Go. 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:21.039 I'm the one who has all authority, all authority over you and over your life and how your your life is unfolding and being directed. 00:34:21.119 --> 00:34:22.559 And I'm telling you, go. 00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:26.079 Go in obedience to my call. 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:27.440 Do you know what? 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:29.360 I'm going with you. 00:34:30.639 --> 00:34:32.239 I'm walking alongside you. 00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:32.639 I'm there. 00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:34.320 I'm going to with you always. 00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:41.760 I'm going to be with you when you leave that conversation with that non-Christian and you just feel beat up. 00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:42.800 Be with you. 00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:44.639 I'm going to be encouraging you then. 00:34:44.960 --> 00:34:49.599 I'm going to be with you in that conversation when you don't really know what to say. 00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:51.199 And I'm going to give you words. 00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:52.079 And do you know what? 00:34:52.239 --> 00:34:55.840 My Holy Spirit is going to be at work in their hearts. 00:34:57.360 --> 00:35:02.239 I'm going to take those words and I'm going to do what I did with the loaves and the fish. 00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:04.239 You thought that that meal was insufficient? 00:35:04.320 --> 00:35:04.800 Do you see what? 00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:05.760 Do you remember what I did with that? 00:35:05.840 --> 00:35:06.960 I fed 5,000 people. 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:16.800 Do you think I could take your uh your uh your two fish, five loaf words and multiply them in somebody's heart? 00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:17.920 Do you think that I could do that? 00:35:18.159 --> 00:35:19.280 Oh, I'm with you always. 00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:21.360 I go, I'm with you. 00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:24.079 I'm walking by your side. 00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:25.840 Don't lose heart. 00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:27.920 Don't shrink back. 00:35:28.159 --> 00:35:30.000 I'm with you always. 00:35:33.039 --> 00:35:36.239 We need this in every season of our life. 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:40.400 That assurance that Jesus is with us always. 00:35:40.719 --> 00:36:00.000 We need it especially in evangelism because here's a stark reality if you're a Christian in Dublin, you are probably the only Christian that your friends know. 00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:06.559 You're probably the only Christian that your colleagues know. 00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:11.920 It's not like parts of Northern Ireland. 00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:18.559 It's not like parts of North America where there are Christians on every street corner. 00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:20.000 You're probably it. 00:36:22.639 --> 00:36:22.960 Okay. 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:24.719 Please know. 00:36:29.280 --> 00:36:32.159 And there's a pain line to cross, isn't there? 00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:33.679 In those conversations. 00:36:33.840 --> 00:36:36.559 I find myself, I find myself, it happened a couple of weeks ago. 00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:44.880 I was talking to another dad, who's a neighbor of ours, and I felt like we were kind of we were talking about things of meaning and significance. 00:36:45.440 --> 00:36:50.400 And we were kind of getting closer to that line where I might say, like, would you like to look into those things? 00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:52.400 Do you want to read the Bible together? 00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:54.000 And I didn't. 00:36:54.079 --> 00:36:55.119 I chickened out. 00:36:55.760 --> 00:36:59.440 I went on to another kind of tangential thing. 00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:02.559 Because there's a pain line, there's a pain line that needs to be crossed. 00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:16.480 There's a pain line, and why it's painful is because you've got to say, that person's opinion of me, that person's potential rejection of me, matters less than God's opinion of me. 00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:23.119 And there's a line right there in the sand of your relationship that you've got to be willing to cross in order to go, hey, do you know what? 00:37:23.199 --> 00:37:24.480 Have you ever been to church? 00:37:24.719 --> 00:37:25.840 Like, have you ever sat down? 00:37:26.079 --> 00:37:33.840 Like, if you've ever read Mark's gospel for for yourself, I'd be willing to do that with you. 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:35.519 We we could do that. 00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:38.320 Do you want to look in on those things? 00:37:38.400 --> 00:37:41.679 Or there's a this I go to this group on a Wednesday night. 00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:43.199 You you could come, you'd be welcome. 00:37:43.360 --> 00:37:44.719 We we we look at the Bible. 00:37:44.800 --> 00:37:46.239 That's the pain line, right? 00:37:46.559 --> 00:37:48.719 How do you cross that pain line? 00:37:49.039 --> 00:38:16.320 You pain, you cross that pain line when we know and when we repeatedly tell ourselves that our value and our worth and our identity does not come from the response of that person that we're talking to, but comes rather from the God who loves us and send his son to die for us, who is with us always, even to the end of the age. 00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:19.119 And so we can look like a fool for Jesus. 00:38:19.360 --> 00:38:35.119 We can suffer a little bit of social awkwardness and go home and pray and say, Lord, you know, I just I pray actually that they continued to want to kind of talk to me and that we were able to smooth out, and maybe there's another opportunity on down the on down the line. 00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:38.639 There is a pain line to be, there's no doubt about it. 00:38:39.360 --> 00:38:43.519 And so it's an encouragement that Jesus is with us always. 00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:49.599 We should expect that people will say no. 00:38:50.800 --> 00:38:53.760 I think most people will politely decline. 00:38:56.159 --> 00:39:07.440 If you've gotten to know them and if you're friendly, that if there's going to be a refusal, it will probably normally be a polite one. 00:39:07.760 --> 00:39:08.960 And we should expect that. 00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:11.440 We should expect spiritual blindness. 00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:12.559 That's what Paul tells us. 00:39:12.639 --> 00:39:23.119 The God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the glory of the Lord in the face of the Lord Jesus. 00:39:24.239 --> 00:39:25.360 We are to expect that. 00:39:25.519 --> 00:39:35.760 We're to expect to be rejected because our loving master, the one who has all authority, was rejected. 00:39:37.360 --> 00:39:38.320 Do you know what? 00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:53.199 I think after doing this for 10 years in this city, I think that there is an increasing openness in some sections of our society and of our world. 00:39:54.239 --> 00:40:02.159 I think that there are people who genuinely have no clue what Christianity is about and are intrigued. 00:40:02.480 --> 00:40:05.440