The Great Commission

I be Sunday Crossway today. You have Patrick and Katherine McGinty with you,

and when we think of Patrick, we think of the word courage. That's

true. Patrick has shown courage in so many aspects of his life, and

he's showing courage in his ministry aspirations to plant a church as well. We

want to support Patrick in every way that we can, and we're super excited

to have him bring the word to Crossway this morning. Please welcome in well,

good morning Crossway family, or as we say in Aggui Land, howdy.

I got a couple Aggie's in here. That's awesome. Hey, if

you've got a Bible, would you open up with me to Matthew chapter twenty

eight. If you need a Bible or a handout for notes, just raise

your hand. Someone will bring them to you. And as they are passing

those out, let me just say thank you for having me with y'all this

morning. It is a joy and honor to worship along side y'all and to

open God's Word together. I love the local church, but I especially love

this local church. It was my church home for many years, and I've

been part of many great churches, but I have yet to find a place

that is as committed to loving one another, making disciples, and living out

what we see in scripture as Crossway Bible Church here in San Antonio. So

it's just a joy to be with y'all. I think so much of that

is the Lord using Josh, your pastor, in an incredible way to lead

this congregation. I love him. I love that y'all are given him a

sabbatical, and I wish you could hear him talk about this congregation. I

mean, he says it all the time, you are love, but he

means that Crossway this is a place where you are loved by your pastors and

elders and staff and leaders. And when I think of Crossway Bible Church,

I just imagine a foretaste of heaven. And so it's a joy to be

here with y'all and open God's Word together. You might recognize this passage as

the Great Commission before we read it. I just want to challenge you to

lock in this morning. It'd be really easy to zone out. You've got

this guest preacher here this morning, where we're constantly bombarded with notifications and growing

to do list. It's Father's Day. Maybe your planning already what you're gonna

do for lunch with your dad afterwards. Maybe you've got a vacation coming up

this week and you already picture yourself on the beach. Maybe you grew up

in church and you're familiar with this passage. I don't know where you're at

on that spectrum this morning, but I do know this. You're here right

now. So why not give the Lord the next thirty minutes or so to

let him use his word in whatever way he pleases to minister to your heart.

So that's the challenges we get ready to approach God's word. Matthew chapter

twenty eight, starting in verse eighteen. And Jesus came and said to them,

all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go

therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe

all that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to

the end of the age. We all pray with me. Heavenly Father,

thank you so much for this day that you've given us, for this church

family to gather with. What a privilege it is to join together and worshiping

you through song and to open your word. I thank you specifically for this

passage for the clarity that it provides us as believers in the midst of a

confusing age. I pray that even now you would prepare our hearts and minds

to receive the mission Jesus gives us in this Texas morning with the zeal and

excitement to live it out. Father, I pray that you'd help us remember

that all authority in heaven on earth has been given to Jesus. Would that

comfort us in the midst of any difficult situations where in right now or that

we might face in the future. And I also pray that you'd help us

remember that your word says Jesus will be with us always. What an incredible

gift. I'm want to pray for anyone in this room who doesn't yet know

Jesus as their savior, who hasn't made the decision to submit their life to

Him and become their disciple. Would you let the day be their day of

salvation, the day that they trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins

and experience the freedom that comes from the Cross of Jesus Christ, if you

would please take a moment in the quietness of your heart to pray, ask

the Lord to remove any distraction and to help you focus on His word this

morning. And if you would please pray for those around you, ask the

Lord to knit our hearts together and love as scripture says, to give us

unity for the sake of the Gospel and the great commission. Father, we

love you, We're grateful for you. We pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen. So, growing up, my brother watched Top Gun one too

many times, and as one does, he decided he wanted to be a

fighter pilot when he grew up, and so he would dress up in the

outfit and he'd put on these RayBan sunglasses and kind of walk around with that

fighter pilot strut and confidence. And I think because he looked so cute,

he was able to convince my grandparents to buy him these really nice remote control

planes for Christmas or for his birthday. And I don't know how he managed

to do this, but it was always within like one or two hours that

he would manage to destroy these things like wide open field ten section ten foot

section of bleachers and he would like bee line straight to it. A little

concerning for an aspiring fighter pilot, but nonetheless, he studied hard and he

ended up going to the United States Naval account to me, he couldn't get

into Texas A and M, so he had to settle for the Naval Academy

and he studied engineering and ended up becoming a F thirty five fighter pilot.

Just moved to Japan this week to be stationed there for three years. And

as he was at the Naval Academy, my dad decided he was going to

take us on this fishing trip to Rockport, and so we're excited. We

get down there. We get there late at night, and we start talking

and decided be fun to go flounder gigging before our fishing trip the next day.

I'm not sure if you've ever been flounder gigging before, but you need

this really powerful light that will illuminate the water so you can see where the

fish is and then gig it. And we just had a problem. We

only had one light. It's late, so the place where we could go

to buy another one was closed, and so it looked like we weren't going

to be able to go gigging. But then all of a sudden, my

brother says, hey, I've got an idea. And I don't know if

you've ever been around the aspiring fighter pilot type, but they tend to be

a fairly sell confident bunch, and my brother fit the bill. He was

not prideful or arrogant, but had that aspiring fighter pilot self confidence. He

reminded us, Hey, I'm taking this electricity class at the Naval Academy.

I'm gonna be an engineer. Like, I'll just make the light for us,

and so like, okay, you know, we'll see how this goes.

And so he spends an hour putting together this makeshift flounder gigging light,

and I wish you could have seen it. It looked like one of those

bombs from a Hollywood movie with wires all over the place. I'm like,

there's no way this is gonna work. The moment of truth comes, flip

the switch and it lights everything up. I'm like, hey, you should

submit a transfer application to A and M like, you know what you're doing.

And we go out to go gigging it and we're off to a great

start, have a couple of fish and then on a sudden, the light

goes out, and about that time we start to smell some burning smell.

I'm like, oh, this isn't good. And I look over to my

dad and there is like this billow of smoke rising out of the backpack as

if it was a chimney. And so he starts running trying to get out

of the water and drop this rig. Fortunately he made it, he was

safe. But it turns out my brother had misremembered some really important details,

some instructions when it came to the wiring, and so it didn't work properly

and got us into a little bit of trouble. Well, you might be

saying, well, why do you tell that story today when I love my

brother and I especially love giving him a hard time. But two, it

really illustrates and illuminates how important it is for us to have clarity, for

us to have instruction on how we are to do something, especially when that

thing is an important task. And our text this morning gives us as believers,

clarity to what we have been called to do, clarity to our mission.

And look, it's vitally important for us to have clarity as Christians because

we are living in an age of confusion right now and a culture that is

increasingly hostile to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Word of God. I

mean, think about it. We're in the middle of Pride Month right now,

and all around the country there is been this push towards a transgender movement

that ignores biological realities. I was a biology major. Scripture tells us God

created them male and female, but they ignore these realities for the sake of

personal preferences. Or we see confusion in the generation that's grown up with social

media all around them, and every time they log on, they see the

highlight reel of someone else's life and they start thinking, I'm not doing enough,

I'm not good enough, I'm not pretty enough, I'm not smart enough.

Sadly, we see this confusion in the church as well. Not all

the churches praise the Lord for a place like Crossway Bible Church, but the

cultural pressure is starting to impact some churches that are compromising some of what we

see in scripture, that are water ringing down the Gospel, that are changing

the way they do things to try and appease the culture. Brothers and sisters,

as we leave today, my prayers that we would leave not with confusion

but clarity in regards to what God has called us to do. And if

you ask me to sum up the great commission, what all believers are called

to and my sermon in one sentence, it would be this that Jesus calls

each one of us to make disciples. That's it, simple, straight from

the text, but profound, powerful, able to change eternity. I'll say

it again, Jesus calls each one of us to make disciples. These are

the marching orders we are in that the middle of a culture that's filled with

spiritual warfare. In this is the battle cry, like, let's go church.

It doesn't get any better than this. Let's break it down. Jesus

says, I have all authority, so before he asks us to do anything,

he is telling us what he can do is to do anything. But

what does that mean? While? I looked up authority in the dictionary,

and it turns out that authority is defined as someone having the power and right

to do something, So that can be either really good or really bad depending

on who has the authority. But in the context of Jesus and his authority,

it means that he's got the absolute right the absolute power to do anything

that he pleases. There is nothing, no one that is going to stand

in the way of God's will. That is good news that is important for

us to understand, and especially important for us to understand when it comes to

the work of making disciples. Without that declaration of Jesus's authority, how could

we possibly step into a situation with the confidence needed to boldly share the gospel.

I don't know about you, guys. Maybe it's just me, but

every now and then I get a little nervous when it comes to sharing the

gospel. Right, it's the greatest news in the entire world, and so

I want to share it in just the right way, at just the right

time, which is the right tone, so that they might understand and put

their faith in Jesus. Maybe you wonder what business you've got telling someone they've

got to change the way that they're living their life, that they've got to

walk away from their sin in turn to Jesus who say, hey, look,

I don't want to ruffle any feathers like I'm a Christian. I'm trusting

Jesus. I just want to be a good Christian. My my own business,

do my home thing. If that's you. I would just say,

I think it's impossible for us to be a good Christian if we're not trying

to actively make disciples with our lives. And if Jesus says that he has

this type of authority, which we as Christians believe that he does, then

we don't only have the right to be able to call people to turn from

their sin and turn to Jesus, but I think we're actually obligated out of

love and care for them to share the good news in the hope of the

Cross. And if he doesn't have this type of authority, then he is

the great deceiver. The Bible would be untrustworthy. But we know the empty

tomb was really his, the risen son of God, and the Bible is

true, so we can trust in that authority. More authority than President Biden

or Trump, or jjim Ping or Putin or Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or

Mark Zuckerberg. He's got all authority in heaven and on earth, and one

day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that he is Lord.

As we continue on in the text, there, at the beginning of verse

nineteen, we come to this word Therefore, therefore we as believers, we

who are trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, are called to

make disciples. This command is not crazy, but the only logical option in

light of who Jesus is and what he has done. If we believe what

we say we do about Jesus, that he is the son of God,

who lived a life free from sin, so that he might go to that

cross hanging, a painful, humiliating death for my sin, for your sin,

that he would conquer the gray, making it possible for those of us

who put our faith and trust and hope in him to experience eternal life.

If we believe that, then there is nothing more loving that we can do

than to share the good news of the cross with the loss, with the

rebellious, and plead for them to return to Jesus. And as we embark

on the great commission, this first part of our text here shows us that

we can do it without fear, that we can walk in confidence because of

who Jesus is, and he says that all authority has been given to him.

As we move on in the text, we see that Jesus says to

go and make disciples. This is our mission. This is the essence of

the great commission, my sermon. In one sentence, it's one phrase,

to make disciples. If you remember nothing else. This morning, I pray

that you would realize this that if you are a Christian, if you're trusting

in Jesus, he himself has given you the mission to go and make disciples.

And this week, as I was preparing it and studying and praying for

this morning, I was reminded of two friends of mine. They were college

roommates. One of them is now a Green Beret, the other one is

now a Navy Seal. They've been through some of the hardest, most challenging,

grueling military training on earth. They are committed, dedicated, focus,

locked in to do what they've been trained to do, what they feel called

to do. And I was talking to both of them recently. One just

got back from a non combat deployment and the other one's about to go on

a non combat deployment, And in talking with them, it almost felt like

they thought they weren't being used, that they weren't able to live out their

mission, that they'd been called to what they had trained for and sacrificed for.

But they were locked in on that mission to be the tip of the

spear. And I couldn't help but think, what would the local church look

like if we took this mission given to us by Jesus Christ himself with the

same type of dedication and focus and commitment as a navy sealer Green Bray has

to serve in this country. I've got an idea it probably looks something like

what we see in the early Church when in the midst of persecution the Gospels

spread like crazy because they were living with zeal and passion and on a mission

to make disciples. Yet we're so often distracted by the world, and I'm

preaching to myself as much as anyone else this morning, we get distracted by

the unimportant yet urgent things in our life, and all of a sudden we

find ourselves getting lulled into this comfortable, this steady, this complacent, soft,

westernized American version of Christianity where we don't want to step outside of our

comfort zone and go and make disciples. One of the things I love about

the college ministry I get to leave. I serve as a college pastor at

a church in College Station, Texas, is how passionate. These students are

to change the world, to make an impact, to leave a legacy,

all for the glory of Christ, and have got this zeal and passion to

go and do it. But one of the things that I try to help

them realize is there's a danger in thinking about those desires and ambitions incorrectly.

It doesn't matter how successful you are by worldly standards. You could be the

next president of the United States. You could be the world's biggest YouTuber or

musician or movie star. You could cure cancer, start the next billion dollar

company. Doesn't matter what you do, you will be forgotten. Most of

us will be forgotten within a couple of generations. And for most of us,

God's not calling us to one of those platforms. We're called to be

faithful, ordinary disciple making believers who live our life, make disciples and go

to be with Jesus Man. How many of y'all can name every US president?

And we might have a couple of history buffs in here, Okay,

Texas, A and M might be in your future. That's a good,

good start, or all eight of your great grandparents, and that there might

be some of y'all in here who can do that. But my guess is

not very many of us. And the point that I'm trying to make is

that it doesn't matter what your worldly accomplishments or success ends up being, people

will forget your name will fade. And he might be thinking like, gee,

Patrick, I came to church this morning to get this inspiring, uplifting

message and you're just depressing me, Like what's going on with that? Well,

I would submit to you that it's actually freeing knowing that we are going

to be forgotten, that our accomplishments will fade, because then we're freed from

the pressure of trying to leave an impact via our success. Then we're freed

from the pain that comes from comparing ourselves to other and where they're at.

It lets us focus our time on making an eternal impact, the type of

impact that is only possible by focusing on Jesus Christ and the work of making

disciples. So it brings us to a natural question, what is a disciple?

We hear that language talked about in Christian circles often, but what does

it mean? Well, the dictionary would describe a disciple as one who is

following the teaching of another, a learner, So a disciple of Jesus Christ

could be one who is following Jesus, who is learning from him, who's

trying to apply as teachings to our life to be more like him. Luke

Chapter fourteen, verse twenty seven says, whoever does not bear his own cross

and come after me cannot be my disciple. So we see very clearly that

we are called to bear our cross, and that could mean going through a

difficult situation or set them circumstances. But it doesn't just mean that. It

means that you are going to Calvary, that you are dying to your pride,

your greed, your lust, your anger, your selfishness, and you

are walking in newness of life that is found in Jesus Christ and him alone.

It means complete surrender. And as Christians, we're called to make disciples

us that process of inviting people to turn from their their sin and their brokenness

and their rebellion and to turn to Jesus as king of their lives. And

so what does this look like for those of us in this room. Well,

I think when we look at the scriptures, we see a few characteristics

that describe a disciple, and I just want to share those with you this

morning. First, we'll see that a disciple is one who worships passionately.

If you are trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, you're trusting

him as Lord and king. You are going to worship him. We see

Jesus allude to this with the woman at the well in John four, when

he talks about the Father seeing true worshippers. He says this, but the

hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father

in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and

truth. It's impossible to be a true disciple and say, hey, I'm

I don't feel like worship him today. I'm not gonna worship. I'm only

gonna worship when I feel like it, when the coffee's just right, when

the music's just right, when it's helpful to me socially like, No,

that's not the case. A disciple is one who worships passionately in any situation,

even if it's gonna cost him something. And I'm sure y'all have realized

this, But in twenty twenty three. Being a Christian is gonna cost something.

It's gonna cause some tension, some friction. Maybe it's with family,

friends, or neighbors or co workers. But Disciples says, it doesn't matter

what it's gonna cost me, because Jesus is better and I want that.

We also see that Disciples serve selflessly. This is gonna look weird because we

live in a culture that is focused on me myself. Ah, as much

as I can get, what can you do for me? I only care

about myself and my interests. It's coming to look weird, feel weird to

us in the same way that it felt weird to the Disciples. When Jesus

began to wash their feet in John chapter thirteen, Peter said to him,

you shall never wash my feet, and Jesus answered him, if I do

not wash you, you have no share with me. Jesus is a servant.

He came not to be served, but to serve, to give himself

up as a ransom for sinners like me and like you. And when someone

surrenders to Jesus, I wish it happened right away. But it's this process,

with the help of the Holy Spirit, where our heart that pride,

that selfishness begins to change, begins to shift and conform to be more like

Jesus. And so we as Christians, as disciples, are to serve selflessly.

We must look to the Cross and the example of Christ himself, because

we're gonna be called to serve selflessly when we don't feel like it, when

people don't deserve it based off their actions, And in that moment, what

an opportunity to point them to Jesus by selflessly serving in a way that reflects

Him and his kindness to us on the Cross. And lastly, we see

disciples witness unashamedly. If you are a disciple, we are on mission to

make more disciples and share the good news of Jesus with others. John twenty

twenty one. Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, so I

am sending you, and I would submit that all disciples have a responsibility to

go out and make believers, to make disciples for Jesus. You might have

heard the term disciple making disciple. Crossway does a phenomenal job of that.

We got to celebrate the students coming out in student ministry and launching out into

this world. We have made disciples that are gonna Lord willing go and make

other disciples. That is what it's about. When you accept the call to

follow Jesus, you are called to bring others along with you, to share

the good news of those or with those who are lost. I simply don't

see a biblical case for someone who follows Jesus and says, hey, I'm

not gonna share him with anyone else. I'm gonna keep this to myself.

I'm gonna stay comfortable. No, the call is to go and make disciples,

to bring others to them. And I want to ask what can be

a hard question this morning, And I'm asking myself this question as much as

I'm asking you guys. But if you are a believer, if you are

trusting in Jesus, when was the last time you actually told someone about Jesus,

about the freedom and hope that's offered in him, when you invited them

to become a disciple by turning from their sin and turning to him. And

I don't ask this question to make you feel bad, to make myself feel

bad, but to make us think, like, if we believe what we

say we believe about Jesus, how could we possibly go on without trying to

make disciples with all that we've got. There needs to be an urgency because

eternity is at stake, and look, we might not have tomorrow. We

can't waste today making disciples. We must share the good news of Jesus.

And as I was studying this week, I came across this quote from Charles

Spurgeon that I love and just want to read to you all this morning,

that reminds us of the urgency we should have. He said, if sinners

be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies.

And if they perish, let them perish with their arms wrapped about their knees,

imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be

filled in the teeth of our exertions. And let no one go unwarned and

unprayed for. That's powerful. This is eternally important. Let's go church,

We've got the mission. Let's get in the game. It might be saying,

Okay, I'm in, put me in, coach. How are we

supposed to do this? Where do we start? Like? I want to

share, but I don't know how I'm gonna give the most Christian answer I

could think of start by praying and ask the Lord to open your eyes to

opportunities to share the Gospel around you, and then ask the Lord to open

the hearts of those with whom you might share, and finally ask the Lord

to open your mouths that you can speak boldly, courageously proclaiming the Gospel to

them. It's simple yet powerful. There are opportunities all around us. Pray

that sincerely, genuinely, and you will see them. But you might be

thinking, we'll look. If you really knew me, Patrick, if God

really knew what I'd done, you wouldn't be challenging me to witness. There's

two much shame, there's too much brokenness, they're too much guilt. Just

this week, I was talking with a man on the streets in New Orleans

who's been through some rough stuff. His life has been difficult and broken and

challenging, but he's letting the enemy use lie to keep him from serving Jesus.

If you find yourself in a similar spot this morning, let me just

call your attention to Saul of Tarsus. He was one of the most zealous

persecutors of the Church of Christians. And I'm not talking the type of persecution

we experience in America here today, but like legit dangerous, life threatening persecution.

But the story doesn't end there because we know him better as Paul,

the greatest missionary who's ever lived, the author of much of the New Testament.

And if God can save Paul, given what he has done, and

use him to make disciples, which is what he was committed to doing,

he can use you regardless of how you walked in what has happened in your

path. He's given you a story, He's redeemed you from your sin,

and he has allowed you to go and make disciples. And here's the crazy

thing to think about when we consider Paul. That just shows us how beautiful

the gospel is. One pastor said it this way. When Paul entered Heaven,

he was greeted with the cheers of those he martyred. I think about

it. That is the gospel. It's beautiful. And these characteristics they describe

a disciple. So how do you make the disciples where we call them to

put their faith in Jesus, and then we train them and help them understand

what it looks like to worship passionately and serve selflessly and witness unashamedly. And

where do we find the info to help us do that is in the scriptures.

And you might hear these and there's a danger of thinking, Okay,

that sounds legalistic. I've got to do all of these things. Like the

Bible is clear, we are saved by faith alone. There is nothing we

could do to earn our salvation and praise God for that, because none of

us would be able to. But these characteristics are a result of a faith

that is genuine. Someone who has given their life to Jesus has become a

disciple, is gonna want to worship passionately, gonna want to serve selflessly,

gonna want to witness unashamedly. James says that faith without works are dead,

and so please don't hear me describe these characteristics and view them legalistically. But

ask yourself an honest question this morning. Are you a disciple? Are you

making disciples? One of the things that's on my mind constantly as I minister

here in the Bible Belt is this idea of the cultural Christian. The person

who grew up around faith and family and football, maybe comes from a Christian

family, goes to church every now and then, but never really surrendered their

life to Jesus. I mean, on a survey, they're not gonna say

I'm atheist or agnostic, or Buddhist or Muslim. But a better question would

be are you a disciple? Have you turned from your sin and surrendered your

life to Jesus? Are you trusting in him as your savior? And again,

when I look at the Bible, I don't think there's a biblical case

for someone to call themselves a Christian who is not a committed disciple. I

mean, think about that large group of people on the Last Day. We

see it in a Sermon on the Mount, the group of those who would

say, Lord Lord, we did all of these things. In today's world,

it might be we grew up in a Christian home, we know all

of a Sunday School answers, we were in church, we lived a good

life, And what does he say, depart from me, I never knew

you. And this is a sad reality that many cultural Christians are facing,

and they don't even realize that one of the hardest things about making disciples in

the Bible belt is convincing people that they need to be saved. But it's

only Jesus that can save us, not your parents, not your church attendants,

not living a good life. So in a moment of honesty, you

just ask yourself in your head, right now am I a disciple? Have

I surrendered my life to Jesus? Am I following him? And if the

answer is no, then like you are not Jesus. But here's the deal.

If the answer is no, you can also become one right now today,

giving your life to him. It is the only appropriate response to the

cross and praise the Lord. We don't serve a God who says, hey,

you need to live your life in such the right way, doing all

these good things to earn your opportunity to be my disciple. No, we

serve a God who just says, we've got to surrender that, we've got

to trust and confess that Jesus is Lord, to give our life to Jesus,

and then to go and make disciples. And moving on in this section

of the text, we see that there's this command to baptize, and this

is big. If becoming a disciple means dying to your old self and walking

and newness of life, baptism should not surprise us that it's this symbolism of

death and a resurrection. Listen to what Paul says in Romans chapter six.

Do you not know that all of us who've been baptized into Christ, Jesus

were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into

death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the

glory of the Father, we two might walk in newness of life. So

Jesus himself is commanding baptism as part of the discipleship process, not because it's

a requirement of salvation, but because it's an outward expression of an inward reality

that changed heart, that newness of life walking with Jesus as a disciple,

What does it say about baptism that we should baptize in the name of the

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, showing that I remember the Trinity

is part of that salvation which baptism symbolizes. Look, if you've never been

baptized this morning, you're here as a believer. Let me just challenge you

to take these words from Jesus seriously. Maybe you're like me. I was

baptized as an infant. I was a believer for many years until I was

confronted with the scriptures, and I searched, and I realized, I gotta

get baptized. That's what believers do. They get baptized. As believers.

You can search the scriptures for yourself, then just obey. Maybe you're a

new believer, maybe you are scared, nervous, don't know what it means.

Talk with the staff. They love to walk you through that. But

I think the text is clear that we're called to baptism. That's not the

end though, That's really just the starting point, because we see that we're

called to teach and observe all that Jesus has commanded us. We rejoice at

every salvation. But that's the starting blocks to get out of the gate.

The life of a disciple is a life marked by obedience, is marked by

study, marked by commitment to the Word of God, and it should result

in a life change. If you turn from your sin and turn to Jesus,

your life will look differently. I mean, if you say, I'm

trusting Jesus, I'm gonna get baptized, and I'm gonna ignore all these commands

that You've given us, and I'm gonna keep living the way I want to

live. I don't want to have a conversation with you to understand. And

what do you mean when you are saying you trust in Jesus, Because somebody

who trusts in Jesus is going to have a different life, because we are

striving to be more like Jesus. And the call to make disciples is a

call to be learners and teachers as we walk in obedience. Now you might

be thinking, look, walking in obedience is hard. Like, yes,

it is. It's hard to turn away from that poorn addiction. It's hard

to put down the bottle. It's hard to put away your anger. No

one said that Christian life is going to be easy. If they did,

they lied to you. Our savior was nailed to a cross for things he

didn't commit. If we're following him, it's gonna be hard, but it's

gonna be worth it because of who he is. And praise God for this

last point. Jesus said, I'm with you always. We don't have to

go at it alone. What an incredible comfort. We don't serve a distant

and disinterested God, but we serve a God who loves us, who gave

himself up for us, who is with us and for us forever. That's

incredible. And when we think of the Great Commission, it reminds me of

a sandwich. Right, You've got the call to make disciples in the middle,

and then on one side you've got the promise of the absolute power and

authority of Jesus, and then on the other side you've got the promise of

the presence of Jesus forever and always. It doesn't matter what the world throws

at you. If you can remember those promises and trust in Jesus, you're

gonna be okay, even if it's something that costs you your earthly life,

because you're secure with Jesus and eternity. So why does all of this matter?

Why is it important for us to make disciples. I've got two reasons

for y'all. The first is really profound, So I'll give you a moment

to get your note books your pens ready. We're called to make disciples because

the King of Kings, the Lord of lords, the Savior of the world,

tells us to do so. If Jesus tells us to do something,

we should do it. But secondly, there's this desire in us to do

something meaningful with our lives, to leave a legacy to make an impact,

and the call to make disciples is the way to do it. None of

us knows how long we have, so let's not waste any time to make

disciples. My family experienced this in one of the most painful ways imaginable about

three years ago, exactly on a Sunday morning. I was getting ready for

church here at cross Way, and I get a phone call saying John palace

with Jesus, and so I fall down. I start crying. And it

turns out who's driving up the interstate. He saw a car on fire on

the side of the road, and he pulled over, pulled the people out

of the car. He saved their lives. And in the midst of this

chaos, someone got in the way of an oncoming eighteen wheeler, and because

he had been so committed to Jesus and serving selflessly, he embodied John fifteen

thirteen and laid down his life, pushing that man out of the way and

sacrificing himself in the process. I walked into church was crying. If you

want to know with her not, Josh means it. When he says you're

loved, The staff means it. Josh and Seth and Shamus intrigues and Nate

loved me. I'm prayed with me, and John's life was cut tragically short.

He left behind the congregation he was pastoring at, his wife and four

kids. But he was committed to making disciples, and I see that legacy

even today. Last week I was in New Orleans with hundreds and thousands of

pastors for the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. There were over one hundred people

who came up at this memorial event for him, who talked about the impact

he made on their lives through his ministry, through his commitment to making disciples.

But I see it in an even more profound way on a day to

day basis. The Lord brought beauty from ashes, and about a year and

a half ago I married Catherine, his wife, and I became a instant

dad to four kids. And every single day I see a foundation that was

built of his commitment to point them to the Cross and make disciples. His

name will be forgotten one day, his sacrifice will be forgotten, but eternity

has changed through his commitment to make disciples. Don't wait to get everything in

order in the perfect time, and then you're going to start making disciples.

Start today. You don't know when the end is coming. And if we

believe what we say we do, we are called to go and make disciples.

So what does this mean if you are in here this morning as a

cultural Christian? As someone would say, I'm not a Christian. The call

of the response to the Cross is to surrender your life and trust in Jesus

as your Lord and Savior. You can do that today and experience incredible freedom

in that. But for those of us who are Christians, we are given

a mission from our King and Savior himself, and so we are calling to

go and make disciples. And I want to challengey'all just to do three things.

One to pray or a missionary or to pray for a specific country.

The call of the Great Commission and to make disciples is a call to the

nations. Secondly, pray about how the Lord might be able to use you

missionly here at Crossway and in San Antonio. Not everyone's gonna be called to

go overseas, but we're all called to make disciples. And then finally,

sincerely commit to praying, asking the Lord to open your eyes, to open

the hearts of people you might share the gospel with and to open your mouth

to help you boldly share the gospel. Like, that's it. That is

the mission. We're being called to make disciples. It's the most important thing

that we can do. And it's gonna look different for everyone. Some of

you might be called to go to the nations praise God. If that's you,

be awesome. It'd be incredible. For the parents in the room,

it's gonna be with your kids to make disciples with them, help them understand

what it looks like to serve and follow Jesus. Maybe it's your roommate,

maybe it's your co worker. Maybe it's your parents, rance your brother,

or your sister or your neighbor. I don't know who it is, but

I know this the mission, the call is to make disciples. And there's

only two responses to this mission given to us by the King of kings,

the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ himself. Either we obey and make disciples,

or we disobey Jesus. Are you ready, Church, Like, let's

go. It doesn't get any better than this. Let's go make disciples for

the glory of God.