Go and Make | April 12, 2026

Hey, last Sunday was awesome.

We had an amazing time together,

a couple different services.

I think our second service was

bigger than our first service.

They were both full of people

worshiping and celebrating.

And I did get into a ton of trouble

though because I didn't use.

My iconic

tomb clip, right?

So It's not exactly biblical how

it played out as as an angel.

I don't have the angel that goes flying

off the stone when it explodes, you know,

metaphorically or symbolically.

Jesus triumphed over the grave.

He is alive.

And that is epic stuff.

Two weeks ago, no, I guess three Sundays

ago we did a little Palm Sunday action.

You remember that?

You guys all put five fingers up.

We did Palm Sunday and

you asked for five points.

It was beautiful.

And then at Easter last Sunday,

you guys did the same thing.

That was fantastic.

So if you got your sandals on, let's

put those toes up really quick.

I'm just gonna give you a five point

recap really fast of where we are at.

Jesus is alive.

Yeah, I was joking.

Let's put those sandals back on.

Uh, Jesus died.

Jesus is alive.

He is not hanging out.

Here he is ascended at the right hand

of God, interceding for us, and he's

gonna come back and we are on a mission.

Didn't like shut that down and do not.

That's all right.

That's all right.

Don't, Nope.

Just come here, Dax.

Act it out.

Yeah, I need you to act out.

It's basically, okay, so

here's what it was like.

Last Sunday was Easter.

Jesus was on the cross, and

then he died and he rose again.

I don't really know what you're

doing, bro, but I tell you

what, just use your shirt.

Just use your shirt, basically.

I mean, it's not quite as good

as the video, but basically

this is the video in a nutshell.

Oh my goodness.

It's the last weekend of spring break.

Can you tell around here?

I don't know what's going on.

Big round.

Applause for Dex.

Yeah, doing Dex.

Thanks, Dex.

Okay, well, hey, you know what?

That's cool.

No, I'm, I'm gonna deal with it.

There's not a whole lot else to do.

So, and anyways, at the end of this

video that basically says, Hey, Jesus

is gone, and now we're on mission.

It ends with Matthew chapter

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

28, the Great Commission, and

that's what we're gonna pick up.

So grab over, uh, in

your Bibles, Matthew 28.

Therefore, go and make

disciples of all nations.

We're gonna pick up right there.

Far less cool than it was gonna

be, but still pretty cool because

Jesus, when he leaves, he gives us

this mission that He calls us to,

to be His people who are disciples.

Making disciples.

Making disciples.

Matthew 28, 19 through 20.

The Great Commission.

I don't know if you're familiar with

like the military concept of like the

last order given, but in a military

situation, you continue to operate based

on the last order that you were given.

And when Jesus ascends to heaven, this is

what he says to his disciples right here.

Therefore, go and make disciples

of all Nations, baptizing them in

the name of the Father and the son.

And the Holy Spirit and teaching them

to obey everything I have commanded you,

and surely I'm with you always to the

very end of the age, super important

commission that Jesus gives his disciples

and what we're supposed to be doing.

Sometimes people are like, I don't

really know what God's will is or what

I'm supposed to be doing with my life.

Hey, follower of Jesus, this

is what you're supposed to

be doing with your life.

This is what Jesus handed to us.

ENTRUSTED to us, as scripture says,

faithful men who entrusted it to faithful

men who entrusted it to faithful men.

And he handed it to his 12 disciples

who handed it then to their disciples,

who were really disciples of Jesus,

who followed their teaching, and

ultimately all the way down to

Noblesville 2026 where we're supposed to.

This mission to go and make disciples.

I love this word.

Therefore, therefore means, uh,

because of this, in light of this

reality, go and make disciples.

Well, in light of what reality.

Well go back one verse.

Go back one verse verse 18.

Jesus has all a. All authority, right?

Because of what he's done on the cross

and what he's done in kicking open the

tomb and trampling over death forever.

He is the reigning king of kings

and Lord of Lords, the one to which

everyone will kneel and recognize his

lordship, right bowing before him,

acknowledging that he is the Son of God.

The Lord of Lord, and king of

kings, and he has all the authority.

Because of this reality, because

of him triumphing over sin and

death, we should therefore go and

make disciples, go make disciples.

This word go is an interesting one

because it means to leave or depart

right to, to go and make disciples.

It's really where our early

missionary movements came from

in the evangelical churches of.

We're supposed to go, we're not

supposed to stay here, right?

This call to move from one place

to another, making disciples,

we see it in the early church.

They're supposed to start in Jerusalem,

and they were all huddled together,

hanging out, and then persecution broke

out and they went to Judea and Samaria

and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

And God used that to spread

the message and the mission

of going and making disciples.

Right?

And I do think there's a legit call to go.

Make disciples to leave where

you're at and go make disciples.

If all around you, all you have are

disciples, then some of your disciples

need to go and make some more disciples

and make some more disciples, and

make some more disciples so that

we can reach everybody with this

good news of the gospel of Jesus.

It's part of why we

fund mission movements.

It's part of why sometimes you go in a

church plant and you go do something.

Now, I'm not calling us all to that

today, but don't lose sight of this

mission that God has called us on.

Is one to go have an impact.

Right?

And I think, I like to think of this word

go even in this context that everywhere

you, and you're not supposed to use

this, I know to define a word, right?

To, don't use the word to define

a word, but everywhere you go

you should be making disciples.

Because I like to think of it

less about picking up and moving

and going to a foreign country.

In fact, we used to be part of a

denomination that, um, they had

a policy in their mission board.

If you weren't.

Sharing the gospel and making

disciples where you were at,

they would not commission you

to go to some other country.

'cause all that becomes is a really

neat experience for you to go

somewhere else and get a vacation or

get a new life or try some adventure.

They wanted to find disciple makers

who would go and make disciples and

so they would not commission people

to go who weren't already disciple

makers, right where they're at.

And see, I think that's part of the

call here for us, is that everywhere

we go, not just go, not just wander

and make disciples, but everywhere

that you go, you should be making

disciples every gas station stop.

Right?

That's why my dad hates

those little cards.

He's gotta go in and annoy the

cashier for a while in the hopes

that maybe they can talk about Jesus.

Right?

It's a good thing.

We need to have a mindset that when we're

in the grocery store or when we're, I

don't, not in the car, that doesn't count

driving on 4, 6, 5, but like everywhere we

go, we're supposed to be pointing people

to this God who loves them, the Savior who

paid the price for them forever, right?

We're supposed to be making

disciples everywhere we go.

The McDonald's drive through is a

disciple making location, right?

The ball field.

We get out in a sport venue and we're

busy yelling and screaming at the enemy

team instead of remembering that Jesus

has this position sometimes right where

we're at to be making disciples, right?

And as followers of Jesus, we gotta

have a mindset that everywhere I

go, I should be making disciples.

Not that eventually if I go somewhere.

Far off.

I become a disciple maker.

Now we gotta be making

disciples right now.

Go and make disciples.

And I think it's worth chatting

about this idea of making disciples.

'cause sometimes I don't think we

always get what a disciple is, right?

A disciple is really a follower, right?

Someone who genuinely is following, right?

In fact, we would say probably a

devoted follower is what a disciple is.

Someone who is committed.

In our, uh, practicing the Way

series did, like maybe that's

been two years, I don't even know.

But we talked about the idea

of apprenticeship, right?

That as a follower of Jesus as a

disciple, we're really to be apprentices

who follow what he's doing, who mimic

what he's doing, who learn from the

master builder, and then begin to do

some building ourself in trying to

create disciples around us, right?

Jesus calls us to be followers of him.

Just people who know about him,

but people who legitimately, who

are devoted followers of Jesus.

So I thought about like one of those

really annoying pastor questions and

I was gonna ask it to you like this.

Are you making disciples?

'cause if we're not making

disciples, we're not really

doing what Jesus told us to do.

We're supposed to be going

and making disciples, right?

And so.

If the answer to the question is no,

that's probably a problem for us, right?

Because we're supposed

to be making disciples.

Like that's the one thing I can tell

you that I know your job is, well,

you know, I don't have the gift of,

well, I don't really care about that.

It's not about what gift you have.

This is about the commission from Jesus

to say, Hey, listen, go make disciples.

Right.

I also want to answer this question

with a far nastier, meaner pastor move.

Are you ready?

I'm just getting out in front of it.

It's like a spring break week.

We're all kind of coming back from

the Easter hangover of sugar and

Reese's eggs, so I'm trying to be nice.

But here's the truth, guys.

You are making disciples.

Every single person in this room is

making disciples every single day you are.

Reproducing who you are

and the people around you.

You are modeling what it looks

like to follow money, to follow

sports, making little cults,

disciples of the Indianapolis cults.

We're making disciples of fame and

fortune and social media status.

We're making disciples of money.

We're making disciples of cars and of

houses of people who are all about that.

You, we are always making disciples.

Don't lose this mindset.

We think, well, we choose to

make, no, your kids right now,

parents, you're discipling them.

Just the question is, what are

you discipling 'em to love?

What is the idol that they're worshiping?

What is the god of their life?

'cause they're watching you and what

you're doing and how you're living

and the priorities of your life.

I mean, it's one of the crazy things I

always challenge people about sports and,

and church or about leisure and church.

Church is super fun and there's

really great preaching at White Rock.

I just, I know that's a reality for

all of us, but if we could get beyond

that part of it, here's the reality.

We prioritize this one tiny little hour

and a half block out of an entire week

to say, Jesus, you're the most important.

And when we don't do that and

something else gets to take its

place, that is a powerful message.

Parents, we send to our kids and people

we send to our own hearts to say.

Eh, what's on equal

status with this space?

Now, I'm not some legalistic

jerk who's like, Hey, don't miss

a Sunday, or You're gonna burn.

But the truth is, if this isn't

important, what else is more important?

What else should be the thing that you

are training and teaching people to love

and chase after, and to be loyal to and

committed to, besides gathering with the

body of Christ to worship the eternal God?

That's a tough one for me to, to

sort of like, I'm a gracious guy.

I'm not trying to be a jerk this morning.

I'm just saying, and you're here, right?

So I'm not calling, I'm not

talking about you guys obviously.

Right.

Sometimes that's right.

But the truth is this how

you live, you are discipling.

And if we could get that through our

heads, it might actually affect how we

live because we're modeling and we're

teaching and we're pointing every single

day with our time, energy, and resources.

What it looks like to love

Jesus or to love the things of

this world, to love ourself.

What is it?

But you're a disciple maker.

Just make sure you're making followers

of Jesus, not followers of the world.

Go and make disciples.

Jesus said, of all nations.

Now, I don't know if you recognize

this in the word all, but Jesus is not.

Exclusive, right?

He is opening the doors.

He's inclusive.

He wants everybody.

There's a scene in heaven where in

the end, people from every tribe and

language, every tongue will stand before

the throne, and it's gonna be the most

amazing song that no one understands.

As we all worship Jesus together.

Actually, we're all gonna get it.

That's the cool part.

I can't wait to figure that one

out, but it's gonna be a linguistic.

I don't know what medley of insanity.

It's awesome.

Everybody from everywhere who

knows Jesus, no matter the color

of your skin, the language, I

mean, it's, it's gonna be awesome.

Jesus died not just for the Caucasian,

Midwest of America, though he did.

He also died.

For people in Iran, right?

You know what's fun to do right now

is to look online and watch Iranian

worship services for people who

are born again, followers of Jesus

Christ, and listen to them sing.

And you're like, wait a second,

I sing that song in English.

Maybe you're not my enemy.

Maybe shoot, maybe there's brotherhood

and sisterhood and family here.

We get caught up really

quick in nationalism.

We get really caught up big time

in, in self egocentric living,

right where everything's about

us and how it benefits us.

But Jesus called us to be people who

make disciples of all nations, all

people groups, because Jesus died for

all nations and for all people groups.

I'll never understand.

How people twisted scripture to justify

racism and oppression to people of

different skin colors or ethnicity.

It's, it's just so anti-biblical.

You gotta really try hard to

twist it, and maybe sin helps.

That's probably a big part of it, right?

But Jesus loves everybody and he calls

you and me to make disciples of everybody.

So have some fun.

Talk to some people that you

don't understand what they're

saying and try to love them.

Because that's what we're

called to go and do, right?

All nations.

And then he says to baptize them.

We talk a lot about baptism.

We do some fun baptism stuff and,

and baptism's important, right?

It's, it's significant.

And a lot of people debate how

you do it, all those things.

And we talk about that from time to time.

But ultimately recognizing that Jesus

says there needs to be a symbolic

act of true, genuine, devoted.

Follower of Jesus, not

just lip service, right?

We've gotten really good at just

saying, uh, say a sinner's prayer and

you get a get outta jail free card

and you don't have to go to hell.

Woo-hoo.

And that's Christianity.

The problem is it's really not

biblical Christianity, and it's

really not what Jesus said, right?

If we're gonna make disciples,

these followers ought to be

baptized in faith, right?

And in a lot of places in the

world, baptism is the symbol.

Of now you've crossed the line.

Now you're a legit Christian.

Maybe we should have more

people who cross that line and

become legit followers of Jesus.

'cause Jesus said, we're supposed to

go and baptize and we're supposed to

baptize them in the name of the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And there's a lot of theologians

who like to argue and debate

the Trinity, the triune God.

Three persons in one.

I think one of the things you gotta ask

yourself is if there isn't a trinity

and it's just God, why did Jesus

reference all three on equal status?

Right?

Because this is Jesus saying, God

the Father, God the Son, God the Holy

Spirit, it's unity, it's oneness.

If you can explain the

Trinity, congratulations.

I mean, you're sitting on a

gold mine of theological books.

'cause we can't get our brutal,

finite brains around the

enormity of who our God is.

But he has revealed himself in these

three persons, father, son, holy Spirit.

And when we do baptism, it's why we say we

baptize you in the name of the Father and

the Son and the Holy Spirit, all three in

one, acknowledging their status as God.

So we're supposed to go, we're

supposed to make genuine, authentic

followers of Jesus, baptizing them

with an outward symbolic act that's

genuine and authentic that says,

I'm legitimately following Jesus.

It's not just something

I'm giving lip service to.

I'm on it right And I love this.

Don't miss this, this.

And it's like, oh yeah, this is also

critical to what we're supposed to do.

We're supposed to teach them to obey.

I dunno if you know

this about discipleship.

It's not about perfection,

but it is about obedience.

And when we think we can say a prayer

and now we don't have to obey, we

just do whatever we want to do, it

just flies in the face of what Jesus

said it means to be a disciple, right?

A disciple walks in obedience to

the best of their ability to their

masters of the one they serve, right?

So if you're a person who thinks I

don't have to obey what God says.

And I'm fine.

What just, it doesn't even work with what

Jesus revealed the whole thing to be.

Right.

It doesn't make sense.

We're supposed to obey

everything he's commanded us.

Now raise your hand if you feel

like you are getting a hundred

percent on the I'm obeying

everything Jesus has commanded ever.

I'm doing this to help those of you

who feel like you're there that this

isn't my hand, just for the record.

Right.

No, we don't get it all right.

Right.

We don't get it perfect.

It's overwhelming to think, how

do I live per like perfectly?

Like Jesus, how do,

how's that even possible?

Right?

It's pretty overwhelming.

So I wanna just take you over to

Matthew real quick, 22 where Jesus

hooks us up with a little help.

This is like the cheat

code for the entire Bible.

Okay?

If you're like, I don't know

how to follow Jesus, here's the

cheat code for the whole thing.

Super easy.

I'm just kidding.

Super hard, but super simple.

He says, you shall love the Lord

your God with all your heart,

mind, soul, and Mark adds strength.

So you love God with

everything you've got.

And the second greatest commandment

is this, to love your neighbor as

hard and as much as you love yourself.

So we love God with everything

we've got, and we love our

neighbor with everything we got.

And he says, all the law, all

the commandments, everything

hangs on these two realities.

So here's what's cool about that.

You don't have to worry

about 10 Commandments.

I'm just gonna let you

out right now, okay?

You can ignore the 10 Commandments.

When somebody says to you, do you

have the 10 Commandments memorized?

You can be like, I don't.

I don't, I don't even remember

if I'm supposed to honor my

father and mother or not.

I don't remember them.

I just don't.

But you have to say this.

You have to say.

But I remember the two most important

commandments to love God with everything

I've got and love my neighbor with

everything I got because you ready?

Here's the secret.

If you do those two, you can't break

any one of the 10 Commandments.

You'll accidentally do them all.

You'll honor your father and mother.

You won't covet or envy

you won't steal or lie.

You'll accidentally do all of the 10

commandments and walk in obedience,

not just to those commandments, but

to everything else Jesus called us to.

If you'll love God with everything

you've got, and you'll love your

neighbor as yourself, right?

Everything you got, because everything

is summed up in that space, and you

can't break the 10 Commandments or any

of God's commandments or direction to us.

If we'll just live that out.

Now that's gonna require

like real love, right?

I don't mean like affirm what people are

doing and smile and look the other way.

It means you speak

truth, you walk in truth.

You're upright, you're righteous in all

the things that you try to do, right?

But those two commandments, Jesus

said, are the cheat code man.

That gets you what I'm talking about.

So we're supposed to make disciples

and tell them, obey what Jesus said,

which if we can simplify the concept.

To loving God with everything

we've got and loving our neighbor

with everything we've got.

We cover really most everything

Jesus commanded us to do.

Now, if I'm wrong on that, when you

get to heaven, just say, there was this

idiot preacher who said, don't do the

10 Commandments, just do these two,

but I'm pretty sure it captures it.

And then Jesus says,

because he knows us, right?

He says, Hey.

I'm with you.

You're not gonna be alone.

I am with you always to the very end.

He promises his presence as we go, right?

The disciples we're put in situations

where they're like, we're gonna

be led in front of governors and

magistrates, and, and, and we're

gonna have to face the authorities.

And Jesus was like, don't worry

about what you need to say.

You'll be given what to say.

Why?

'cause I will be with you.

I will be present.

My presence will go with you.

And listen, you can do a lot of things

on your own, I suppose, but you can

do anything with the presence of God.

If God goes with you, there is no

circumstance, there is no obstacle.

There is no situation that you

face that's too big, too hard,

too difficult, too overwhelming.

There is nothing, nothing.

Too big for our God and if his presence

will go with us, we can walk through fire.

We can walk through the

valley of shadow of death.

We can walk through death in this life.

There's just nothing this world can

throw at us that can compare to the

magnitude and the greatness of who

he is and promises his presence,

but he also promises his power.

The disciples are together

in the Book of Acts as Jesus

is leaving and he tells them.

You'll receive power when the Holy

Spirit comes on you, and you'll be my

witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

to the uttermost parts of the earth.

He says, the power of the Holy Spirit is

gonna show up and be active in the lives

of those who are disciples, and his power

will sustain us and give us strength and

direction and provision and all the things

that we need for godliness and walking

in this life, and we will receive power.

To be my witnesses.

He says to be a witness.

And I was thinking about this and I

wanted to throw this at you here as

we're getting close to the wrap up.

So hang in there with me.

What does it mean to be a witness?

What does it mean?

And I thought of two things, kind

of two criteria that I think are, I

mean, you can't be a witness without

these, and you might recognize this.

You gotta see something or you

gotta say something, right?

Sorry, I totally stole that from our See

something, say something culture, right?

Here's the truth about being a witness.

You gotta see something and

you gotta say something.

It's kind of that simple, right?

Here's the thing, you gotta see something.

You need to experience something, an

event, a situation, a moment, something

has to happen that you're a part of,

and then you gotta testify to it.

You gotta tell people about it, right?

A witness who doesn't say anything,

who never testifies a silent

witness, a, a pointless witness.

I don't know.

Like, you're just not really a witness.

Do you remember the people, um, in

the, uh, think of a famous trial.

I was gonna say OJ Simpson.

And then I was like, holy

cow, that dates me so bad.

Nevermind, um, pick any trial.

What do they call the witness who

never comes up to the witness stand?

We don't know.

None of us know.

'cause they weren't a

witness in the trial.

Right.

They're just not a witness.

We, I, I don't wanna call

'em Bob and Tom and Larry.

I don't what?

They're just not, they're not a witness.

You're only a witness if you testify.

Right.

If you say something about

what you experienced.

And so I think the question here

becomes as people who sit in the

church and listen to stuff about

Jesus is, what have you experienced?

The disciples experienced eating

with the risen savior, with

touching nail holes, right?

Talking to him.

They saw him, they engaged with him.

They spread the word.

You and I haven't seen that,

but what have we experienced?

God moves his Holy Spirit moves.

I would challenge you that you have

experienced God showing up in your life

in different times and different moments,

and the Israelites had this awesome

habit of building these altars of stone

or just symbolism to remind them so

they didn't forget that God showed up.

Why?

Because the enemy likes to come

back and say, ah, did God really?

Are you sure He likes to get us to

second guess and question and wonder.

If you can question and wonder

whether God really showed up,

you really had an experience that

was meaningful and significant.

Well, I don't really have

anything to talk about, do I?

Right.

We have these awesome youth retreats

where God shows up and the Holy

Spirit moves, and then we get busy

doing life and we kind of forget.

Right?

Teens, you gotta remember, you gotta make

stupid bracelets as weird things on 'em.

So you remember right?

Looking down, you're like, oh yeah,

I remember when God showed up.

He did something cool.

Why do we do that so that that experience

is fresh, that memory doesn't fade and die

and get kinda lost to the heap of history

and memories and kind of convoluted

and not really sure, but instead that

we know, that we know, that we know.

'cause some of you in this room have had

moments where, you know, God showed up.

You know, you don't

question, you don't wonder.

You're not second guessing it, you know.

Those moments are moments that you

experienced for the purpose of being

able to tell somebody about it and

you have something to testify to.

So what have you experienced?

Don't lose it.

Don't forget it.

Remember it.

What have you experienced?

And then one little last

mean question, I promise.

Who are you telling?

Because if you've had an experience

with Jesus and you're not telling

anybody, you are not a witness,

you're not being a witness.

You're just somebody with information

that you're keeping to yourself.

And listen, sometimes in trials people

are, man, that's life and death situations

O that God's people would realize.

People you're walking with every day.

They are in a life and death

situation, not just in this stupid,

little meaningless short life of

ours that has all kinds of crazy,

I'm talking eternal death forever.

It's life and death out there.

And we're called to go right out of

these doors and go, and everywhere we

go, be a witness to what Jesus has done

in us and what we know to be the truth.

I'm not saying you gotta get out

there and become Billy Graham or

whoever the Bryce Crawford, the the

young Billy Graham with hair is.

I don't know.

But at the end of the day, here's

the deal, you and I are called to

go and to make disciples, right?

Teaching them to be obedient.

And we have a story and we

have an experience to share.

We have something to testify to.

And someone to testify about.

And if we're gonna claim to love

people and withhold from them

the most important truth, uh, I

think we might be in violation.

Not of love.

The Lord your God, all your heart,

mind, and soul and strength, but

loving your neighbor as yourself.

It's not, that's not

love, that's not love.

That's selfishness.

Jesus died, but he is alive and

he sits at the right hand of God

making intercession for us man.

Coming back as the reigning

ultimate king of glory forever.

But we are on a mission called to go to

make disciples, to baptize, to teach.

And we're not alone.

He's with us.

Sometimes it's easy to sit and soak

up the celebration of Jesus that

we get right, but man, we need more

people who are hanging out with us.

Speaking different languages, looking

different than us, or speaking the

same language, but still looking

different than us hanging out in the

throne room, celebrating together.

Easter's fun to celebrate, but it's

also a reminder that we are called on

mission to go and make disciples, and

that's what Jesus left us with and

that is what I'm gonna leave you with.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for your

incredible love for us.

We don't deserve to have eternal life.

We don't deserve to be

forgiven of our sins.

We don't deserve any of what you give us,

but we say thank you for the forgiveness,

for the hope for the life that we have.

Thank you for the experiences that you

have given us with you and with your

spirit that we know and we do know Jesus.

We know those moments.

We know who you are and what you've done.

Please guard our minds in Christ

Jesus and protect us from the.

Doubt that the enemy brings and the lies

and how he tries to steal the truth.

But Jesus, help us to be courageous.

People who fulfill the commission, the

mission that you've called us to, to

everywhere we go, have our eyes open,

paying attention, trying to make genuine

followers of you, people who are baptized

in your name, who follow what you taught.

So, Lord, help us to follow

what you taught, to love you

with everything we've got.

To love our neighbor with everything

we've got and help that spill into

being a dynamic, legitimate witness

that impacts the people around us.

Thank you for your love for us, and thank

you that you are with us always as we go.

So help us.

In Jesus name.

Amen.