Follow Me - Go, Go, Go

Okay, my name is Gregg. I'm one of the pastors

here at the house. If we've never met, I would

love to meet you. I would love to buy you a coffee

or a soda or a drink, something like that. Just

put it on the connection card at the end, and

I would love to follow up with you and connect

with you and make the habit. I would just like

to hear your story and get to know you a little

bit. Today we're wrapping up our series that

is called Follow Me Because Jesus Said What?

Follow Me. I'll try that again. Jesus said what?

Follow me, right? And so this is how he called

his first disciples. He walked around and he

said, for the kingdom of heaven is near. Come

and follow me. Week one, we saw how Jesus was

calling dramatically different people, fishers

and tax collectors, people from opposite ends

of the social strata and spectrum to be disciples

together, to be in relationship with each other.

We talked about how we are called to do. The

same thing, to create a community of God's kingdom

that is full of people that the world would not

put together. Week two, we saw Jesus teach his

followers that you have to eat my flesh and drink

my blood. I said something most Christians and

most pastors don't admit. That's weird. That

is weird to hear that if you've never heard that

before. And he was giving this hard lesson to

people to see if they would keep going, if they

would keep trying to understand, if they would

hear something difficult and continue to follow.

And that's the same thing that we get asked.

Will we continue to follow God when he says something

or when we read something or learn something

that we don't completely understand? And today

we finish up this series in Matthew 28 in Acts

1. And so I'm going to ask you to go ahead and

grab your Bibles. We're going to open up to Matthew

28 or Acts 1. You can open to both or just one

of those, okay? If you don't have a Bible, we

have Bibles on the tables, and then there's also

the same Bibles out on the bookshelf in the lobby.

You're welcome to take one of those home if you

need a Bible. Otherwise, you can download a Bible

from any of the digital app stores. It goes Matthew,

Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans in the New Testament

or the Second Testament. And so if you see any

of those, you know you're in the right neighborhood

for Matthew and Acts. And then during the sermon,

when the passage is read in the context of the

sermon, we like to give that our full attention.

You can do that in whatever way makes the most

sense for you, but you're also welcome to stand

with me as I read. Ready? Here we go. Matthew

28, starting in verse 16. Matthew 28, 16. Now

the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the

mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When

they saw him, they worshipped him, but they doubted.

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, and teaching

them to obey everything that I have commanded

you. And remember I am with you always to the

end. That's what's known as the Great Commission.

Now we're going to jump to Acts 1. Acts 1, verse

Acts 1:4

4. when you will restore the kingdom to Israel.

He replied, It is not for you to know the times

or periods that the Father has set by his own

authority, but you will receive power when the

Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be

my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria,

and to the ends of the earth. Let us pray. God

of every tribe, of every tongue, every color,

of every nation, we thank you for your scripture.

Thank you that we still have it, that it has

persisted throughout millennia, that we have

it to consider, to learn from. I pray that whatever

you have for us to learn today, I pray that it

would stick, that it would become a part of the

framework of our faith, that our faith would

become stronger as we become more like your son,

Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thanks, y 'all. You can have

a seat. Y 'all know that feeling when you don't

know what comes next? Maybe it was graduation

day. Maybe it was that feeling you had when a

job was coming to an end. Maybe you just moved

somewhere new or it was the first time that you

fell in love. So much has led up to that moment.

And you just weren't sure what would come next.

You're thinking, now what? I think that's where

the disciples are when we get to the end of the

Gospels, when we get to the beginning of Acts.

They've spent all this time with Jesus. They

have seen him crucified. They have seen him resurrected.

But now he's leaving? They have to be thinking,

what do we do now? The guy that was telling us

what to do this whole time isn't sticking around.

And so Jesus tells them. These two passages,

Jesus tells them. He says, go and find. He says,

go and keep going. He says, go and I will be

with you. All right, but real quick before I

jump all the way into all that. I put these passages

together because many scholars believe that these

two passages are actually the same event. But

if you look at them, one of them happened in

Galilee on a mountain, the other happened more

than 70 miles away in Jerusalem. So I want to

say something about the Bible. If we think that

the Bible is like a stenographer in a court of

law, writing down every single syllable exactly

the way that it happened, then the Bible is going

to let us down. In the Bible, two different writers

can quote Jesus from the same event and use different

words, even include new ideas. They might change

the location or the timing. They might even change

exactly who was there. If you read all of the

Gospels, if you read the resurrection account

of who was there at the resurrection, all four

stories give a different list of who was there.

Because how we think of historical narrative,

The Gospels are what we think of as historic

narrative. When we think of that in our modern

minds, it is not exactly how the Bible writers

were thinking about how they were meant to write

down their narratives. Instead, these guys were

thinking about what people needed to know about

Jesus and how that could be shaped for a theological

purpose. So the writer isn't always worried about...

quoting Jesus exactly word for word. Instead,

the writer is thinking about intention for intention,

meaning for meaning, purpose for purpose, and

context for context. And newsflash, they did

not have us in mind. When they were writing these

things, they did not have a modern American mind.

in the context of this is who I'm writing this

for. They were writing it for the people that

were immediately around them in that day with

their kinds of minds, with their kinds of logic,

with their kind of contexts. They didn't think,

well, what happens if some people on the other

side of the earth 2 ,000 years from now get frustrated

that I didn't quote it exactly the same way the

other guy did? They were just trying to tell

the story in the most compelling way that they

could because they wanted people to believe in

Jesus. So now maybe you're hearing that concept

for the first time, and you're saying, well,

now what? See how I did that? I brought it back

around. What comes next? How am I supposed to

read the Bible now if I don't even know if it's

an exact quote here and there? Well, I'll give

you two quick things. And this is especially

for the kids and the youth in the room, the students.

I want you to listen to this, okay? Because you're

at the beginning of your life of reading the

Scriptures. I'm going to give you two things.

When you read the Scriptures, read it spiritually

and read it practically. Reading the Bible spiritually

means listen to the Holy Spirit when you are

reading. Listen to the Holy Spirit when you are

reading. Because you're not just reading the

Bible for content. You're not trying to figure

out, well, how many days were there between when

he crossed over the border of this and went through

Samaria and talked to the woman at the well,

and then when he went and he healed. That's not

the primary thing that you're looking for. You're

looking for the Holy Spirit to show you what

it is that you need in your life. Because, listen,

the Holy Spirit was involved when this was written,

and the Holy Spirit should be involved when we

read it. Amen? Let the Holy Spirit show you what

you need and then hide all of that in your heart

and carry it with you. And then read it practically.

Practically meaning you should ask this question

when you're reading the scriptures. How does

this cause me to love my neighbor? When we read

the scriptures, we read it spiritually and then

we ask, how does this cause me to love my neighbor?

Because the Bible is ancient, but it is not a

relic. It still speaks to our lives today. So

read it spiritually and then live it practically.

All right, that's sermon one. Sermon two. Jesus

said, go and find. He said, go and keep going.

And he said, go and I will be with you. If you

are here right now, you are here because somebody

heard Jesus say, go and find. And they came and

found. This makes me think of a guy named Tom

Williams. I probably saw, whether I knew it or

not, I probably saw Tom every Sunday of my life

between the age of 4 and 18. I saw Tom, and I

knew Tom because he was one of the adults at

the church that I grew up at. Tom was shorter

than me, 5 '4", 5 '5". Not tall, a slight man,

balding, like my dad. But he was a wonderful,

wonderful man. I got to poke, right? So I knew

Tom really my whole life leading up to college.

Actually, he taught me something I wanted to

teach you guys. Wallace, come here for a second.

So he taught me something I call the Holy Spirit

handshake. So Tom taught me this. It's right

here in the middle so it's on the camera. Father,

Son, and Holy Ghost. There you go. Thanks. Tom

taught me that handshake. I carry it with me

to this day. Now, the number one reason that

I noticed Tom growing up was because he sang.

He didn't have the best voice, but he would sing.

I don't know how many of y 'all grew up in church,

but who remembers when a church would have a

special? All right? I grew up in a white church,

so that meant that a special was a cassette tape.

You went to the Christian bookstore and bought

your favorite karaoke version of the Christian

song you heard on the Christian radio, and it

had like maybe four keys on it, and you would

sing along to it at home, and then you would

take it to church, and they would put it in a

little tape deck, and it would go through the

rinky -dink sound system that they had, and you

would sing to it, and that was the special. That

is the number one way I remember. time from when

I grew up going to church was he special because

he was the only one that I the only adult I can

remember doing a special other kids I felt like

it was the parents opportunity to use it as like

a second kind of piano recital for their kid

or something like that you're like hey get the

kid up there and play play that piano piece I've

been paying for you to learn how to do now after

after high school I went away to college at Judson

in Elgin, Illinois, about three hours from now.

And my mom called me one day, and this was not

a regular occurrence. And then you also had to

be in your dorm room in order to get a phone

call back in those days. So my mom had called

me, and she said, hey, I've got big news. And

she says, your dad became a Christian. Now, my

dad didn't become a Christian until he was 50

years old. And so this was not something that

I saw coming. Asked the obvious question. I said,

how? How? She says, well, Tom Williams works

at John Deere with your dad. And he asked, hey,

do you want to go hear this guy? He's an ex -Hell's

Angel. And he's going to tell his story and he's

going to give his testimony. And for whatever

reason, my dad thought, you know what? That sounds

okay. I'll go to that. And that night, my dad

became a Christian. See, Tom heard Jesus say,

go and find. And Tom went and found my dad. A

couple years later, Tom... died from cancer.

He'd had it a couple other times in his life,

at least two other times. He had been on what

people believed to be his deathbed, but we believed

that he had been healed. Years would go by. So

I'm grateful that in the time between, that he

went and found my dad. I think there's three

things that Tom taught me. He taught me the Holy

Spirit handshake, of course. He taught me that

a man can stand in front of a congregation and

sing. And he taught me that no one is too far

away to be found. For 2 ,000 years, people that

believe in Jesus have been going and finding.

You are here right now because someone went and

found you. And you are here because Jesus said,

go and keep going. And so someone went and kept

going. If you'll take a quick look around just

for a second, just look around at each other,

you might notice that this is not Jerusalem.

We are not in Israel. We are not on the other

side of the world. You aren't here just because

someone went and found you. Here because someone

kept going. Because Jesus had taught them that

your neighbors aren't only the people that live

next door to you. Your neighbors aren't only

in your hometown or your city or your county

or even only in your country. Your neighbors

are all along the way. So go and keep going.

He says, all the way to the ends of the earth.

And y 'all, don't you think that Jesus is saying

the same thing to us? Isn't this still for us?

Go and find. Go and keep going. Maybe we feel

like we don't know how to do that. It reminds

me of Moses. In Exodus 33. There's been a lot

that has happened by the time that you get to

Exodus 33. Moses, if you go all the way back

to Exodus 3 is where you see Moses meeting God

in the burning bush. By the time you get, and

it says take your shoes off, you're on holy ground.

By the time you get to Exodus 33, the relationship

between Moses and God had changed. There was

relationship. There was a closeness. Moses is

asking, can I see who you are? But in this moment,

even after Moses has seen everything that God

has done, after everything that Moses had done,

after all of the miracles that had happened in

Egypt, after they had fled Egypt, after they

had gone through the waters, at this point now

they've been wandering for a while, and they

know they're supposed to go somewhere, Says this

to God. See you have said to me. Bring up this

people. But you have not let me know. Whom you

will send with me. And this is how God responds.

God said. My presence will go with you. And I

will give you. Moses, the great Moses. Even Moses

was nervous, wondering, maybe even a little scared

about what would come next, what that next step

would be. And Moses is given the same promise

that Jesus gives to the disciples. God says,

my presence will go with you. Jesus says, and

I will be with you even to the very end of the

age. So listen, the how of going is believing

that Jesus is with you. It does not matter what

you are doing. It does not matter what you have

planned. It does not matter how simple or intricate

all of the details are. The answer to the God,

how do I do this? The answer to that is believe

that I am with you. So go and find. Go and keep

going. Go and believe that I am with you. As

I close, I just want to talk to the students

again. Grade schoolers, middle schoolers. High

schoolers, I know you all just started a new

year. Some of you guys are in a new building.

You've got all new teachers. You've got all new

friends. You've got new hallways. But listen,

Jesus is with you. Jesus is in that building.

Jesus is all around you. Jesus is already in

the room before you walk into it. Jesus is on

the property. Jesus does not need a badge to

get through the door. Jesus does not have to

go through a metal detector. Jesus is already

there. And he loves you. Because we know that

he loves you, we know that he loves every other

person that's in that building. And God has said,

go and find. Go and keep going. You are not too

young to walk in the presence of God. You are

not too young for the kids around you in school

to know that you are a Christian. Or to know

that you believe in Jesus. St. Patrick. lived

his life somewhere around the late 4th or early

5th century. He was kidnapped from Ireland when

he was 16 years old and taken to Britain as a

slave. After six years, he escaped and he went

back to Ireland and he became a cleric. It's

what we would call a priest now. The Catholic

Church was in its very early stages. It's what

we would call a pastor. And he became the great

missionary to Ireland. He became a saint. And

as we close, as I close this and just say a final

prayer, I want to pray over all of you, the students,

but each of us as well, the prayer that you've

probably heard parts of that is attributed to

St. Patrick. Let us pray. Christ with me. Christ

before me. Christ behind me. Christ in me. Christ

beneath me. Christ above me. Christ on my right.

Christ on my left. Christ when I lie down. Christ

when I sit down. Christ when I arise. Christ

in the heart of every man who thinks of me. Christ

in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me. Christ

in every eye that sees me. Christ in every ear

that hears me. Amen.