Sermon Tone Analysis

Prelude

Welcome

Call to Worship        

Leader:  O Lord, our God, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

People:*  When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, what are mortals that you care for them?*

Leader:  Yet you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.

People:  *O Lord, our God, how majestic is your name in all the earth.*

~*Hymn of Praise                       #1                    Holy, Holy, Holy!  Lord God Almighty

Invocation  (the Lord’s Prayer)     Living God, in this hour, we pray

that we will know you here.

Be present as a breath of wisdom.

Be present as a glimpse of newness.

Be present as the one who meets us, as we are.

This we pray in faith.

Responsive Reading                  Psalm 8

Our  Offering to God          ~*Stewardship Thought   

The church has always had it missionaries - those who "go."

But what if Jesus means us all in the great commissioning?

Congregations often speak of "outreach" and general plans for attracting people "in," but how do we fare if we actually go out?

In these days, many people are suspicious of Christians and our gathering places.

They sometimes feel used and manipulated, rather than welcomed and loved - as though our love is conditional on their becoming "one of us."

To go out may mean becoming a genuine, respected, and respectful part of the community.

We go, carrying with us the blessing of God:

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;

mother, child, and wisdom;

creator, redeemer, and sustainer.

Could we actually carry this as gift to the world: a blessing, rather than a demand?

~*Offertory Sentence          

We participate in God's reign through our

offerings.

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication    When we think of all we owe to you, O God,

we know that what we bring to you is never enough.

But we pray that you will receive these, our gifts, today.

In the name of Christ, Amen.

~*Hymn of Prayer                      # 4                   Come, Thou Almighty King

Pastoral Prayer         O God, we bring our thanks for the beauty of

your being: for its ambiguity and complexity,for its simplicity and clarity, for its generosity and its challenges.

We bring you thanks for the signs of life we find among us: in kindnesses given, in undeserved

compassion, and in freely offered gifts.

We thank you that in all the earth your presence springs forth: unexpectedly, reassuringly, and in

daring truth.

God, your very existence is a prayer of intercession for us and all the earth.

There is never a moment when your voice of justice and hope is not heard abroad, singing in strong melodies of truth and sounding in

chords of courage.

We pause to listen for your life among us.

silence

In this moment, we join our voices with you, Father, sighing into the creation with longing,calling into the nights of life for the light of your

inspiration and the warmth of your compassion.

The people bring their prayers

Without you, we will be lost, O God.With you, nothing is impossible.

Remind us of that truth in the depths of our life together.

Journey on with us, we pray.

Amen.

~*Hymn of Praise                                   *How Majestic is Your Name*

O Lord our Lord, how majestic is Your Name  in all the earth.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth.

O Lord     we praise your name, O Lord    we magnify Your name,

Prince of Peace, mighty God.

O Lord God Almighty.

*Thou Art Worthy*

Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy, O Lord

To receive glory, glory and honor, glory and honor and pow’r.

For Thou hast created, hast all thing created, Thou hast created all things,

And for Thy pleasure they are created, Thou art Worthy, O Lord.

Scripture Reading                                             /Matthew 28:16-20/  

Message                                   It is Time to Go

Illustration: The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet.

Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall.

The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall.

\\ Application: Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see, and with faith we are freed from the flimsy enclosures of life that only fear allows to entrap us.

\\ We can be helped in this by the late Richard Halverson, the former chaplain of the United States Senate, who offers a fresh take on the command of Jesus to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (v.

19).

Digging into the Greek of the New Testament, he discovered that what Jesus was really saying in this verse was, "As you go, make learners everywhere."

\\ Don't make disciples, he insists - make learners.

Don't try to drag people into Sunday school, or into youth programs, or into the sanctuary.

Don't try to lure them into church at all.

Instead, try to show them something of the power of Christ in your own life.

Monday through Friday, show them some of what you have personally experienced of Jesus, and help them to learn about Christ through the joy and the hope and the love you are feeling.

\\ Then, as the people around you are influenced by your faith, they will find their way into a community of believers somewhere.

It may be here, it may be someplace else.

\\ The work of the church isn't what we're doing in church, or training camp, if you will.

"While we're here," concludes Halverson, "we're being equipped" - equipped to do the work of the church that lies out in the world and is to be done between Sundays.

\\ So, make learners.

Personify Christian values.

Preach the gospel constantly, using words if necessary.

\\ Jesus gave us the command to make disciples in Matthew 28:18-20, but He also told us several essentials that are worth implementing in our disciple-making ministries: \\ A. All Authority: You have complete authority that is necessary for completing His great commission in the word of God.

Help people to utilize the authority of the scriptures in all aspects of their personal lives, relationships and ministries.

Do not hesitate to make disciples a priority in whatever ministry God leads you in to.. \\ B. Go: We are to look to the fields that are ripe for harvesting and then move to the areas where the Lord is calling us to make disciples.

Learn to make disciples where you are at so the Lord will direct you to where He wants to make disciples in the days to come.

He who is faithful in little things will be given greater responsibilities for the qualitative and quantitative expansion of His kingdom and righteousness.

(Matt 6:33) Ask the Lord for wisdom in sewing your seed to people who are most responsive to becoming Christ’s disciples.

C.

Make disciples of all the people group.

It is not enough to just be a disciple or a follower of Jesus Christ.

We are to be disciple-makers.

That implies that we are coming along with Jesus wherever He went to the lost, to the hurting and those who are poor in spirit and recognize their needs.

We are to be using our natural and spiritual gifts to serve others in ways that will help them come to maturity in Christ.

We are not to haphazardly serve anyway that seems convenient.

We are to purposely think in terms of producing multipliers who will be able to help make disciple-makers of every nations, tribe, people group and language group on the planet.

All 18,000, of which there are approximately 1.7 billion yet to be reached for the gospel and the great commission.