Making Disciples

Recently I was in Scotland with my grandson, and as we were walking around the particular city, I saw this sign. I think we have it in front of us.

There it is. This is an Episcopal church in Scotland, and underneath it it said, Social Club. Now, it's not just the Episcopalians that might have that, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, independent churches in Scotland are on a decline, and some of them are being used as restaurants, dance halls, all kinds of things. And even those that would say that we're still the church, they have lost their focus, so the Church of Jesus Christ is known primarily in this case as a social club.

That's tragic, isn't it? Calvary Church is not a social club. It is not a recreational center.

It's not a political action group. It's not even an educational center, although we do believe in education, as we've just prayed for our teachers. It is the church of the living God. It is something which our Lord Jesus Christ loved and gave Himself for, and He Himself said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I realize it's very, very easy to criticize any local church, just as it's very easy to criticize any marriage, any individual, that we are frayed and fallen people. And no local church, including Calvary Church, is not a perfect church. That is true, but it is the church of the living God, and we exist to glorify God. Our mission here at Calvary is to be and make authentic followers of Jesus Christ. If I say that once, I say it a thousand times, and I'm saying it again today. We exist as a church to be and to make authentic followers of Jesus Christ. Why is that so important to us?

Why do I say it so often? Well, I want to turn to a familiar passage as we come to the end of Matthew, and see that this comes from the very lips of our Lord Jesus Christ. I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28, and the last verse is we're looking at verses 16 through 20, and this is the final message in the series in Matthew. My executive assistant tells me that I've preached 83 messages on Matthew, and I think that is a lot.

So, thank you for your patience during this long series. I think it's the longest series I've preached at Calvary, Matthew having 28 chapters. And as I've preached it, I look out at you. People often see, are amazed that I see people in the congregation.

Well, if you can see me, I can see you. And some of you are not here this morning, and we will be talking later in the week. But you know, with the beginning of the football season, and by that I mean American football, I thought there are some parallels between this congregation and football. Now, some of you may not be familiar with football terms.

I'm going to put them up in the screen. One is called the back field in motion. You sometimes do that. That's making a trip to the Galleria during the service, usually by those of you who sit there, the front, and the back field becomes in motion. And then there is the draw play. I mean, we give these guest cards, we give envelopes to encourage giving, and some of you do draw on them.

That is the draw play. I mean, and not just by children. We understand little kids. Obviously, you've lost your concentration during the magnificent preaching, and you were spending your time. And then there are the bench warmers, quite a number of them. You're those who sit, and that's all you do.

You don't pray, you don't serve, you don't give, you apparently don't do anything, but you are a great bench warmer. And then there is the two-minute warning. That's the point in the congregation when you realize the sermon's almost over or should be over and you begin to gather up your things, your Bibles and your children. I just can see it.

You think, when is he going to stop? And so we have the two-minute warning. And then there is sudden death. That's what happens when I go over at 11 o'clock, sudden death. And then there is the end run, getting out of church quickly without speaking to anyone.

And then you send me nasty little emails saying we're not a friendly church. I mean, come on. And then there is the blitz. That's those who can't wait for the closing benediction.

I mean, it's amazing. You can't wait till the end of the service and you're rushing out as if you're trying to get the quarter back, and all you're doing is making your way to your life group so you can gobble down a couple of donuts before anyone else comes. And then there is this one. I love this one. And staying in the pocket, that's what harms a lot of money that should be given to Calvary Church.

It stays in the pocket. So, you say, what on earth is this to do with Matthew's gospel? Absolutely nothing. Other than this, other than this, through this series, I'm an observer of human behavior, and I can see everything that is going on. Is that right?

Well, enough of that. We're going to read from Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 through 20. And here, the gospel of Matthew is coming to an end, is coming to a climax. Matthew 28, verse 16, now the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, now hear these magnificent words, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. And Matthew ends his gospel in this brilliant way with the very words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, this is a familiar passage to many of us, and I trust we can look at it in a fresh way.

First of all, the command, to say the obvious, is to go. There isn't Christ. Remember, He dies for our sins.

He's buried. Matthew's told us He's raised from the dead, and He is alive. He's about to ascend to His Father and His God. And before He goes, He says to His followers, and therefore to you and me, if we profess to be followers of Christ, as most of us would do this morning, He tells us to go.

Go. Verse 19, go therefore. This is what we call the Great Commission, and it appears in different forms in all of the gospels and also in Acts 1, verse 8.

Now, notice this. In our study of Matthew, we've listened to our Lord Jesus Christ, and He says, come to me. That's the gospel. We heard the testimonies of those who heard Christ. And Christ says, come to me, and I'll save you, I'll cleanse you, I'll forgive you, I'll give you eternal life. And so that's the wonderful offer in the gospel, to come to Jesus Christ. We come to Christ, but now He commands us to go into all the world to display and proclaim the Lord Jesus. Jesus said to His disciples in John 17 and John 20, as you sent Me, He's referring to His Father, as you sent Me into the world, so I have sent them, My disciples, into the world. As the Father has sent Me, even so I'm sending you.

In great love, the Father sends the Son into the world to seek and to save the lost. And now, says Jesus, as My Father sent Me, now I am sending you. That is, an authentic follower of Jesus Christ doesn't exist in a kind of little holy huddle isolated from our world.

We certainly are to have fellowship, that is absolutely essential, but we must penetrate and engage the culture in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who loves us, the one who died for us, the one who rose again, the one who ascended, the one who is coming for us, the one with whom we will spend all of eternity, now says to us, go, go. He's our King. It's one of the basic messages of Matthew, that this one Jesus is not only the King of the Jews, He's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is King Jesus. And with the King there is instant obedience. That's difficult, isn't it?

Difficult for little children in CDC, difficult for all children, difficult for us as adults, isn't it? You want to argue with Jesus Christ? You want to delay? You want to hesitate? He's telling us to go. That's a command. He expects instant obedience.

Why are you not going? Notice what happens in verse 17, when they saw Him, they worshipped Him. Of course they did. They're worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ. He's God incarnate, Jesus Christ risen from the dead. But now their worship of Jesus is to lead to their obedience to Jesus. A follower of Jesus is not only a worshiper, but is also a witness. Wonderful to come like this and to worship God.

Magnificent. And we're commanded to do it. We're commanded to go and to worship the Lord.

This is absolutely essential. But not only are we to worship God, we are to be a witness for God. And authentic worship, not just mere emotion, but biblical worship leads to transformation of life.

That it makes a difference as to how we live tomorrow and Tuesday morning and Saturday night. This is not just something we experience for an hour or two on a Sunday and it doesn't impact how we live. That's not being an authentic disciple. Worship leads to witness. We have a wonderful example in Isaiah 6, where Isaiah the prophet goes into the temple and he's overwhelmed by God who is there. And you can't look at them and the seraphim are there and they're saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And he sees the Lord high and lifted up.

And three things happen. First of all, he's tremendously humbled. Doesn't your worship of God humble you? Doesn't our worship of God lead to holiness? He's overwhelmed by the holiness of God. And it also leads to obedience so that Isaiah says, here am I, send me. He's had an experience of God. You come to Christ, your sins are forgiven, you're transformed.

Are you now going to be muted? Are you never going to tell anyone about what the Lord Jesus Christ has done? He humbly confesses his sin.

Woe is me, he says. And then as he receives the forgiveness of God, he says, here am I, send me. Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Today, we want a kind of Christianity that looks on Jesus just as a friend, almost a kind of counselor, a kind of therapist who's there to help us get through troubled times.

What a small God that is, isn't it? Do you just want a friend? Don't you want a Savior?

Don't you want a God who can do the impossible? No, if we love Christ, disobedience is not an option. Go. There are students leaving home, going off to college. You say, well, they're there to get a good education. That's true. Ah, but they're an ambassador for Christ. They're going with the gospel. And some of you have recently changed employment and you go from one area of influence to another. Ah, you're there to witness for Christ. Some of you have changed your location.

You've sold your home or you've moved into a different apartment and you are meeting different people. Ah, you're there to tell others about Christ. No, this is not just for the full-time missionary. This is not just for those who are going on missions trips. This is for all of us.

And this command has not been rescinded and comes to all of us, Jesus says, last verse, to the end of the age. Go. Go. Why are you not going? Why are you not involved in telling others about Jesus? Let me give you three opportunities here at Calvary Church.

They may not be for everyone, but they are for some of you. We have ESL, teaching English as a second language. We have nations from all over the world and they come to Calvary Church to learn English. We need teachers.

We need assistance. Some of you are retired. You're saying, well, I'm sitting at home reading my Bible all day. Well, can I say it reverently?

Stop reading your Bible and start obeying the Lord. What are you doing? What are you doing with your life?

Sitting around, comfortable life? You say, well, I've earned it. I've worked hard. This command comes to those who are retired. It comes to a student. It comes to a little boy who's received Christ. It comes to each one of us. Now, wherever we are in our neighborhood, in our work situation, yes, God does call and we pray He will from this congregation, men and women who will literally leave Charlotte and go overseas or go to some other part of North America, but this comes to all of us. Go. It's a command.

Now, what are we to do? Notice, secondly, the authority is Jesus Christ. Verse 18, Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

The command is go. The authority is Jesus Christ. I'm not telling you to do this. It's Jesus Christ. He has all authority. There's no higher authority. There's no greater name than Jesus Christ. There's no appeal court.

You can't say, well, I don't think I like that. I'm going to appeal to higher authority. There is no higher authority than Jesus Christ. He's God over the whole universe. He makes this clear over heaven and earth, and all of God's authority is mediated through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Think of the authority that Matthew has told us about. Think of his authority in his teaching that he spoke with authority and not as the scribes and the Pharisees. Think of his authority that he commanded the storm to be still. Think of his authority that he says Lazarus come forth and a man who'd been dead four days comes forth. Think of his authority in walking on the water. There is no one else. There is none like him, nor will there ever be anyone like him.

There can be no debate, no argument about this. This is the supreme authority, and it is this one who says to his disciples, his followers, go and tell everyone about me. I praise God for the many at Calvary who obey this command. Certainly there are many missionaries, those who go on missions trips, but also those who go across the street to tell their neighbor, those who speak to a fellow student, those of you who are engaged in Be a Light, those of you who work with the Good News Club. And by the way, we still need more people. Isn't that amazing?

That we can, as followers of Jesus Christ, go into the public schools, yes, and have these Good News Clubs, and we as a church could go into more schools if more of us volunteered to be part of that. What a wonderful opportunity to go. On Saturday, there's an Indian festival, and Subbu Rajapan, our Indian pastor for our internationals and for local outreach, has organized, takes a team, and you say, well, I'm not Indian.

I don't know if I can relate to Indians. Subbu will train you, will help you. You're not going alone. You'll go with a team to tell others about Jesus Christ. Think of the opportunity.

You're just going to say, well, that's not for me. Think of this authority. It is Christ, not me, not an agency, not an organization, but Christ Himself, whose all authority says go. Thirdly, the task is to make disciples. This is key, verse 19. Go, therefore, and make disciples.

Grammatically, that's the main command. That's the imperative. It is to make commands, make disciples. As you are going, you are making disciples. So our primary goal at Calvary Church, and please listen to this, our primary goal at Calvary Church is not humanitarian.

It's not medical or educational or political or social. Our primary mission, our primary goal is, obeying the words of Jesus, is to make disciples. Now, Christians have always led the way throughout church history in feeding the poor and helping the oppressed and going into prisons and going overseas and helping people medically and educationally and bringing water and all kinds of help to poor communities throughout the world. Christians have done that and continue to do that, and we have missionaries that we support who are involved in that. But the primary goal, please notice, I'm using the word primary, the primary goal based on this passage of Scripture is to make disciples. That is, to display and proclaim Jesus, verbal and visual, lips and lives.

Our teachers at CDC, they know this. You can say all you want about the love of Jesus to four-year-old little Johnny, but unless he experiences that love from our teachers, it's kind of worthless, isn't it? Some of you were raised in homes where your parents claimed to be followers of Christ, but there was no love, there was no grace.

It's both, isn't it? As we go, we are living ambassadors of Christ. We are to display Christ as we grow to be more like Christ. But not just displaying, also proclaiming, presenting the Gospel that Jesus Christ, as we heard in these testimonies, died for our sins, was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead. Now, notice also in the text what's involved in making a disciple. First of all, people have to be presented with the Gospel. But then, says Jesus, go therefore, verse 19, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

That's what we did today, isn't it? Did you notice the name of God? In the Old Testament, you never read that, do you? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit together. Yes, the triune God is from everlasting to everlasting, but here from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have a clear declaration of who God is. He is the triune God.

He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And when we're baptized, we are baptized into that name. Now, in our translation, I'm reading from the ESV, it says to baptize them in the name. In Greek, there is a little word ice, which means into. You say, well, that doesn't really make much sense in English. I understand that.

But think of this. We are being baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's clear from this text, and it's clear from the way the early church made disciples that baptism was a key part in their evangelism. And as we're baptized, as the four were today, they were named.

I baptized them into the name, one name, one name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the triune God. When I was born, like you, I was given a name, John Hey Monroe. I didn't choose it, although I think it's a pretty good name. And I've always answered to that name. In my home, at school, at work, who am I? I am John Monroe. This was my name.

This was my identity. I remember I must have been about 16. We lived overseas, and we moved back to Scotland, and I went into what in America would be called the junior, my junior year. Not an easy transition, coming from a small boys' school overseas into a large public school in Scotland. And they had, in those days, as I had in all my school days, we had to wear a uniform. And I wasn't particularly too happy about going to Dunfermline High School. I didn't know anyone, but my parents bought me some gray trousers, a black blazer, and the school tie. And I decided that I was not going to wear the school tie.

A little bit of rebellion, I guess. And I thought I would get off with it. So, some of you have a problem with ties, by the way. Just, you don't tighten it so much. People say to me, you know, you look uncomfortable with a tie on. No, I don't. I was almost born with a tie on.

So, I have no problem. I wore a tie since four years old, going to school, we wore ties. Anyhow, I remember walking in the corridors of this huge school, and the assistant head teacher was a woman, a very tall, a very, very aggressive woman.

And we don't have any of these on staff at CDC, not at all. But she stopped me in the hall and said, who are you? And I said, where's the smiley face? No. I said, I'm John Monroe.

Are you? In this school, if you're going to be a student at this school, you wear the school tie. They wanted us outside the school, if we were uptown, misbehaving people knew you were part of Dunfermline High School. It was an identity.

So next day, what did I do? I wore the school tie. It was a symbol that I, John Monroe, was a student at Dunfermline High School.

Shortly after that, as a 16-year-old boy, I was baptized. And I was baptized, yes, still John Monroe, but I'm baptized into the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. A visible sign, just as my tie, was a sign that I was part of that school, Dunfermline High School.

Now, there's a far greater sign. This was a sign to all that John Monroe's identity, his main identity, was not that I was a student at Dunfermline High School, was not even that I was a Monroe, certainly wasn't that I was Scottish. My main identity now is that I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I've been baptized into His name. That is my identity, and all of the benefits of Christ are now mine, as the hymn says, I am His and He is mine. The wonder of this symbol of baptism, that this is an identity. You're a follower of Christ, and Paul's favorite expression for a follower of Christ is not Christian.

The word Christian only appears three times in the New Testament, and usually in a pejorative sense. No, his favorite expression is that you are in Christ. I've been baptized into Christ, the inseparable union that there is, that He holds me and He will never, ever let me go. This is what baptism means, isn't it?

If you've never been baptized, I would say, why have you not had the sign that Jesus gives you that you're a follower of Christ? Not only are we to baptize, we're also to teach. Verse 19, 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. What's involved in being a disciple?

Receiving Christ, coming to Christ, being baptized, some of you are not baptized, and then being taught. We teach people. Not only, notice, the Lord doesn't say, teaching all that I've commanded you. He says teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. Can I speak, can I say to those of you who are teachers, or pastors, or life leaders, or teachers at the school, the teachers at CDC, those of you who lead Bible studies, notice what you're to do. You're to teach to observe. It's not just if you're doing a Bible study or leading your life group, spending a day or two looking at the commentaries and getting a piece out of this commentary and a piece out of that commentary and then saying to people, here is your lesson. If you're going to do that, just give them the book to read. I don't need someone and you don't need someone just reading a book to you. We can read the book ourselves. We are to be taught as a disciple to observe. Yesterday I took our two youngest grandkids to go bowling.

Goodness said, oh I've got work to do at the house and I'll do that, so yeah, I'll take that. But the place is absolutely packed, so we didn't get the ball. And I didn't grow up bowling. And I understand in some education institutes in the U.S. you can actually get a degree in bowling.

I don't know if that's true or not. But a lot of you go bowling. Now supposing you're an expert bowler and I'm not, and you tell me, and I say, what's bowling? You say, well there's, is it 10 pins? I think so. And then there's a big ball and you roll it and you knock down these pins.

And then they pop up again and you roll it and knock them down again. That's the game, isn't it? Sounds exciting? Yeah. And you tell me about it.

I can understand that. Am I ready to bowl? No. What do you do? You take me to the bowling alley and you say, now this is how it's done. And you demonstrate it and you give me a lesson and I see you doing it. And then you say, John, now it's your turn.

And I say, how difficult can this be? And I take this ball and it ends up in the little alley, whatever it's called. You're teaching me to observe. I do my law degree. I go to law practice. I think I know a lot of law. I do know a lot of law. I learned it.

I studied hard. I've got law coming out of my ears. But now here is a practical problem with the client. And the experienced lawyer says, now John, this is how we do it. Just watch me. I watch him in court. I watch him how he speaks to clients.

What am I doing? He's teaching me to observe real life situations. And if you're teaching the Word of God, please, please, don't just dump information on people. An unbeliever can do that. This is a living Word of God. And before it comes to someone else, you have to understand that and be living it in your own heart, so that God's truth inspired by God is coming into your life, into your heart, and the Spirit of God is then taking that Word in and through you that you are teaching people to observe the Word of God.

Do you get that? You know, it might be good for a week or two if all those of us who are teaching and preaching in Bible studies and everything, in a sense, if we didn't even look at our commentary, didn't look at anything. Could you do it just from this book? Is this enough?

No, I love commentary. I've got a huge library. I love to study, but that is no substitute, is it, for God speaking to you in His Word, so that you are a living demonstration of the truth that you're seeking to impart to others.

This is an ongoing process. Here's the next one, number four, the extent is to all the nations. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. What a glorious challenge our Savior gives us, that the Gospel is not just for Americans, it's for all nations.

It's for nations who are friendly to the United States, and it's for nations which hate the United States. It includes not just our own children, but all the children of the world. Not one person is excluded because Jesus comes as the Savior of the world. His love embraces the whole world, and now He's saying, I'm going. Yes, He's going to send His Spirit, the very Spirit of Jesus to live in these people, but I want you to go. These eleven disciples, they're going to have another one in Acts 1, but I want you to go, and I want you to go to all the nations.

He's sovereign over the whole universe. So what's our task at Calvary? We are to make disciples of all the nations.

You say, John, you'll never do that. This is our command. We take the Gospel to everyone, to Jews, to Gentiles, to Muslims, to Hindus, to those with disabilities, to the homeless, to the rich, to everyone irrespective of their skin color or nationality or religious heritage.

Not one person is excluded. God so loved the world, not wonderful. Wonderful.

And that He loves, Christ loves all of the nations, and we are to love them. It's a great privilege living in the city of Charlotte. It's a magnificent city. People ask me, you know, how do you like living in Charlotte?

Good, and I absolutely love it. We lived in many, many different places. This is a wonderful place to live. I just wish there was a bit more rain, and it was cooler, but it's a great place to live. And here's one of the things I love about Charlotte, and I really didn't understand it when we first came here, that in Charlotte there are people from all over the world. And for some of you, you may say, oh, that's bad. Our city is changing.

I'm glad it's changing. I'm glad that we, in the center of this city, with this campus, with our resources, with the gifts and callings that God has given us, that we are able here to bring the gospel to all the nations. All the nations. A month ago, we had four young men who came into the sanctuary, and they came to the reception, which Goody and I had. And we introduced ourselves, and as always, there were people from different countries, there was somebody from Cuba, there was someone from Mexico, there was somebody from Honduras, there was someone from Iran, and then there were these four young men sitting in the corner.

And I thought, you know, I don't think they are raised in Charlotte, and I don't think they're raised in Scotland, but there's still a lot of other options. So I called on them. So I called on them. They were from Saudi Arabia. Four young men, some of them studying here, and they came and they sat, and they heard the gospel. And I explained the gospel to them in the group.

I spoke to them afterwards, and I thought, how wonderful. No one here can go into Saudi Arabia with the gospel of Jesus Christ, can they? We'd be stopped. You can't go and start evangelizing in Saudi Arabia, and how wonderful that probably these four young men who told me they were practicing Muslims, that they come here, how wonderful, and probably for the first time in their lives, they hear the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, that God loves them, and that Christ sent His Son to forgive them and to free them. And if they come to Christ, they'll have eternal life. Isn't that wonderful that we have these opportunities here at Calvary, right?

And that's why we're passionate about ESL. That's why we're passionate, doing all we can to reach these different nationalities with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me read you the wonderful scene in Revelation 7. John says, Revelation 7, 9, after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation. Think of that, from every nation.

Yes, including Saudi Arabia. From every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. That wonderful, wonderful picture of the future. Fifth and last, the power is the presence of Christ. Don't you love this? Do you say, John, this is an impossible task? It is in our own strength. How wonderful that Jesus says at the end, and behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. Jesus is always with us.

That's why we take courage. That's why we're not afraid that Christ is with us. Matthew told us that in chapter 1, that when Jesus comes, He's given this wonderful name of Immanuel, which being interpreted means God with us. Who is Jesus? He is God with us. One hundred percent God, one hundred percent man.

He is now with us. So you go with the Gospel. You go and speak to your parents who are unbelievers. That's not easy, is it? You go and you speak to your brother or your sister. You go and you speak to your neighbor. You go and you speak to that difficult supervisor at work who's an atheist. And you say, that's pretty daunting. I'm not sure if I can do that.

No. But remember this. He is with us.

To the end of the age. And when you're doing the will of God, that is the safest place to be. It's interesting that we are often afraid to do the right thing. People say to me, I'd love to get baptized, but I'm just afraid.

I'm afraid of standing up there. I think I'm afraid. What you should be is afraid when you're not doing God's will.

That's the time to be afraid. But when you are communicating the Gospel, whether it's to a family member or someone from a different nationality, no need to be afraid. Christ is with us. We have the presence of Christ and His power. All we do in obeying this command must be empowered by the Holy Spirit. One of the recurring themes of Scripture is that when God calls you to do something, He equips you for the task. Our CDC staff and teachers, God will give you all of the strength, all of the help you need to fulfill your responsibilities.

I love that, isn't it? But He's with us. He's promised. He says, Paul, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That means, of course, when you're doing God's will.

You can't claim that if you're following your own will, but when we do what Christ does, when we go as He commands us, when we tell others we can claim this, I can do this through Christ. Spurgeon says, if you never go anywhere but where Christ leads the way, you need not be afraid of storms, for they will beat upon Him more than upon you. He shelters us. He protects us. Obey the command. He promises His presence and His power.

He will build His church. Yes, there is satanic opposition. Yes, the door might be shut in your face. Yes, that person that you're telling about Jesus Christ may turn on you, may isolate you.

That friend that you thought you had may say, I've got no more time for you. That's true, but that does not stop us continuing to obey the command. Paul says our God is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, the power of Christ's presence.

What do we have? Our command is to go. The authority is Christ's. The task is to make disciples.

The extent is all the nations. The power is God's presence. We go because Christ commands us. We go because He's with us. We go because we have a love for all of the nations. We go because we believe that souls can be won or lost for all of eternity. We go because there is no higher privilege than making disciples of all the nations.

We go because God is glorified as we obey Him, and as all of the nations come and worship Him. This church, Calvary Church, truly would be a house of prayer for all of the nations. And just think in heaven.

Just think in heaven of meeting someone that you had the joy of pointing to Jesus Christ. Your heaven will be two heavens in Emmanuel's land. Let's pray, Father. We thank you for our study of Matthew over these months.

We thank you that He's King. We bow before Him. And I pray for some here who may not yet be saved. May they call out to the Savior. And give us boldness, Father. Give us courage. Thank you for all of the open doors you give us at Calvary and in our personal lives and beyond the doors of this church that you will guide us and empower us and give us godly courage. Strengthen and help us, we ask in Christ's name. Amen.