Great Commission

Sermon Style Sheet

Write that down in your formation Journal

Illustration

Sermon Text

Sermon Text: Scripture

Call to Worship

Psalm 92:1–2 CSB

1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praise to your name, Most High, 2 to declare your faithful love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,

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Passage:

Formation Journal Page Number: 156

Matthew 28:16–20 CSB

16 The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 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, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

4:07-447 8:48

5:15 - 5:55 9:18

Opening Illustration:

My brother - he was smart

What he was doing is this - he was vaccinating our friends against claims that he was cheating

stacked the deck

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Compelling Lie - Felt/Bible revealed need

It’s hard to share our faith - because the devil, the enemy has stqacked the deck against us, and he is trying to vaccinate people against the gospel.

In Jesus

selling an ice machine in the arctic - don’t really need that.

Had to convince them that they weren’t saved in order to show them how they can be saved.

Now in our day

vaccinate people against the gospel

But the enemy changed things up, so he coopted heaven, paradise, and he just made it exist without stakes. If you are a good person - you go to heaven. It seems fair. It makes me feel good, after all, I’m a good person.

And so now sharing your faith is a little harder -isn’t it. Because everyone assumes they have a right to heaven, they are entitled to it, even if they don’t love God. It’s offensive to tell someone that they need Jesus, isn’t it?

Well that shouldn’t be a surprise. We have an enemy. He is after us. He is trying to destroy the church.

But maybe you are here and you believe in the good person theory. Maybe that’s why you are here. I’m trying to be good enough to stay out of hell!

it doesn’t provide the specifics you need to be saved

The devil doesn’t have to convince you to do something really evil - he just has to convince you that you are good enough - you don’t poison people on the titanic you convince the the ship isn’t sinking

Here’s how you know that it isn’t your friend - it invites you to the party but doesn’t give you directions.

Imagine that you were trying to get to disney and your gps and it says - go a little bit then turn left, after sometime, turn right, then eventually left again and pretty soon, you will be real close.”

If someone gave you those directions, you would be angry with them. Thanks for nothing!

Being good sounds good - hey you are invited to the party. But are you? You don’t know. Are you good enough? How many goodness units do you need to get in? If you are 80% good, are you in? What about 20% How good do you have to be?

scale - bank acount - you don’t anything like that

And what is good anyway? The terrorists who flew the planes into the towers on 9/11 thought they were good. The nazi’s thought they were good. Even to a lesser extent, think about the political arguments in America. Barack Obama’s first term he was against gay marriage and then he changed his mind. Now, there are a large number of people who think that if you oppose gay marriage you are a bad person. What is good changes.

So how do you know if your version of good get’s you in? And if you can’t know that, is the god who sets the rules good? No, he isn’t.

If this is the way it works it unloving because its unclear.

Which must mean one thing, if the God wouldn’t be good for inviting you to the party without giving you directions, then the idea of being good enough is not God’s idea.

its’ not good but it clever - and it’s clever because the enemy get’s to distract people into thinking that they are good enough so that they don’t think deeply and they end up in hell.

Somebody has to pay the price

When it comes to salvation - clarity is goodness and God was very clear.

Gospel

Jesus rose from the grave.

Maybe you have never accepted Christ

is that good news? Do you thin other people need that news?

This passage takes place after Jesus rose from the dead but before he ascended to heaven, actually right before he ascended to heaven. So let’s look at it a little more

Matthew 28:16–17 CSB

16 The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted.

The word for doubted means that some of them were hesitant. There were different words for doubt and this was one of the softer ones. They are there but they are hesitant. We don’t know what they are hesitant about though- it could be that they felt weird worshipping Jesus - this is one of the clear indications that Jesus was God in the Bible - maybe they were hesitant to worship him.

Maybe they weren’t sure if it was really him -or maybe they weren’t sure what comes next. Probably what they were expecting was a military defeat of Rome.

Maybe you are a little hesitant but you can trust him because he is all powerful and he is with you

So they are there and they are worshiping and nervous and then Jesus speaks

Matthew 28:18–20 CSB

18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 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, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

So here is what Jesus is doing - he sends them out. He tells them to Go. Now sometimes we think this only means missionaries. But it is really more like - as you go about your life. It still is call to move out in your life, but for most people, it is your everday life. As you are going about your life, you should be making disciples

Saved and sent

That’s the idea. You were saved and you were commissioned to go do that. It’s not an optional thing. It’s the purpose.

There is a story about ww2 paratroopers - now it’s time to get into the battle. Yeah the parachute was to get you safely out of the plane, but its purpose is to also get you into the fight.

You were saved to push back the darkness in the world. There was a purpose to all of this.

But it isn’t easy. We feel overwhelmed. We feel out gunned. We also feel like the devil owns the everything. He is in control - but look at what he says:

Matthew 28:18 CSB

18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Who has the authority? Say it out loud - who has the authority? How much authority does he have? All?

All of it!

take the invitation - and when you pray, I want you remember who has the authority? How much does he have? That changes what you do with this doesn’t it. It changes how you think about your prayers for people. It changes how you live. Because you start to realize that God has the authority.

He has the authority he has the power and he is going to have the victory

Now that is great for Jesus but what about me?

Matthew 28:20b CSB

20 And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

So there is something Jesus wants you to do - go and make disciples and there is something he wants you to remember. Right. There is someone with you.

Who is with you? And how long is he with you?

Here’s what that means, Jesus is about to leave. He is about to ascend to heaven but he is sending the holy spirit to go live in people. to connect you to Jesus.

The next best thing to being powerful, is having a friend who is powerful And so what he is saying is that you are not alone - say it out loud - I am not alone.

Who is with you? Jesus

How long? to the end of the age - that means until the end of the age means like the end of the era, forever.

He is with you. - But we can feel alone. He’s not physically there. That’s why we hesitate. That’s why there is doubt. We are being called to do something - and even though we are worshiping we can be nervous - so we need the reminder that we are not alone.

Now why am I pushing invitations? He describes making a disciple as baptizing them and teaching them. Baptism is the initiation into the visible church - into the community of God. And then teaching them is teaching them what it means to be a christian. How are we supposed to live.

Invitations don’t do that.

Here’s the deal, one of my goals is to break down christian living and make it as simple and easy as possible. I am praying for you and I think want to remove as many barriers as possible.

Even inviting someone to church isn’t easy.

But here’s the deal, inviting someone to church is the easiest way to start a spiritual conversation. And you have to start spiritual conversations to be able to evangelize. And I person must accept Christ to enter into disciple making mode.

So if you think about discipleship as a timeline - so over here you are growing in your faith, helping other people grow in theirs. over here is baptism - they are entering the church. Over here is evangelism.

Right it all exists on a continueum

This right here - is just the first and easiest step to the rest of the continueum

and it still isn’t easy but you aren’t alone. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit and are doing it togehter.

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Telling the story

Hadden Robertson - The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching

Chapter Markers:

What Type of Story (different plates)

What is your City?

What is your Dragon?

What is worth defending in the old city?

What's yous best line of attack?

Defining the Enemy

test

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Hitting the Wall (why we fail)

test

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Victory in Jesus

test

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Text:

Lord’s Supper:

On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 

Benediction:

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD makes his face shine upon you and be gracious to you:

The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.