On May 24th, 1844, a group of business leaders, engineers, and senators gathered in a small committee room at the US Capitol for what would be a groundbreaking moment in human history. Just about a month earlier, the Senate had approved a $30,000 experiment to run a power line. From Washington, DC to Baltimore to try out a brand new cutting edge technology called The Telegraph. I don’t think any of us have any of those anymore, but at the Capitol, the inventor Samuel Morris tapped out the prepared message, and if everything went as planned, it would as fast as lightning travel from Washington DC to Baltimore. And so when he pressed send on that telegraph, it went just as planned from one location to the next, and it was in fact the very first electronic text message and wonder what they sent. Well, the first message. Was a verse from the Old Testament, from the book of Numbers, chapter 23, verse 23, that reads in the King James version, what God hath, wrought, or in modern day English, OMG. Actually, more precisely the message was, look at what God has done. Look at what God has done. And it’s amazing to me that of all of the billions of messages that have been sent from that day in 1844 to today with all of our devices and computers and technology, the very first message was, look at what God has done well here. Victory. You’ve been in a series for the last month called Eyewitness News, exploring the firsthand accounts of people who encountered the resurrection. Of Jesus real people who said I was there. I saw him, and Jesus is in fact alive. So far, you’ve heard from Mary and Thomas and Peter, people who would say, look at what God has done. He is indeed alive. Well, it’s an honor to be your guest preacher today and to. Talk about the next Eyewitness News report, and it’s from Matthew this time, and it starts Matthew 28, verses 16 through 20, and it goes like this. The 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go 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 I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. This is the gospel of our Lord. Praise you. Well, this passage includes what is famously called the Great Commission, where Jesus sends his followers out to go and make disciples and to continue the work that he started on Earth 2000 years ago. And what’s interesting to me is that, uh, the gospel writer here, Matthew. Chapter 28, the last chapter of the book, it starts with the events of Easter morning. So Jesus appears to Mary and then the other woman also named Mary who’s walking along the road and they’re amazed. And then Jesus, um, says, go, go tell, uh, the disciples.

The angel says, go tell the disciples. And then, um, they run off. And then, except for a little note about some of the guards at the tomb, the very next thing is. Three weeks later when the disciples are with Jesus on this Galilean mountainside, three weeks later. So we see that Matthew, he’s skipping over so many powerful moments where people encounter the risen Jesus. So many intimate moments with Jesus. There was no mention of Jesus walking with the disciples on the way to AMAs. No description of Thomas seeing Jesus for the first time, and finally believing no fireside chat. With Peter on the beach over breakfast. He fast forwards past all of those and goes straight three weeks later to the mountainside where he gives the great commission. It’s like when you’re watching a movie and you watch part of it and you fast forward all the way to the very end and miss all the parts in the middle. It’s like when you’re watching Star Wars and you fast forward all the way to the end when Luke blows up the death star and you miss all the parts in the middle or when. You’re watching an older movie, the Sound of Music, and you watch part of it, but then you fast forward all the way to the end. You just see the family walking over the Alps at the end, if you remember that. No nuns singing. No. These are a fa few of my favorite things. If you remember the movie, that’s what Matthew does. He fast forwards all the way to the end. And he does that for a reason, not because those things were insignificant or unimportant, but because he wants to make something unmistakably clear that the resurrected Jesus is sending you out. The resurrected Jesus is sending us out, that the response to the resurrection is to be sent, is to go. And what happened next is nothing short of a history defining moment in that quiet scene on a Galilean mountain side. Jesus entrusts the world changing mission with a small group of people. He gives the opportunity for them to take where he led the ministry and the mission and to take it to the next step. No titles. No resources, no strategic plan, no social platform. Just a command to go and make disciples to share the life transforming message that in Christ there is hope. New life, eternity with God. That on the cross there was a death to sin and a new life to live eternally with him, to trust in him. And what early church history tells us is that after that moment on the mountain side, that next generation led to the church growing from a small group of ragtag people to. Tens of thousands of people in the next century, it reached millions despite opposition, despite persecution and the absence of any kind of formal institution at the beginning. Today, 2 billion people profess Christ in profess uh, life in Jesus, and the number continues to grow as lives are being changed by the good news of Jesus. But it wasn’t just the numbers of people that had said yes to Jesus, it actually made an impact that transformed the globe. The early church was known right out of the gate as a community that cared for the poor, that served the widows in the community. That recognized those who had need and came alongside them and cared for them.

This would eventually lead to the birth of hospitals and medical missions. It would lead to the founding of schools and universities, the development of organizations like the Red Cross, and was instrumental in the fight against slavery and the movement towards equality. The church today. Not perfect, but it’s at work all across the world. Loving God and loving neighbor in the name of Jesus, addressing some of the most difficult human needs our world knows and victory church, you’ve been a part of that thread of the compassion of the church that transforms the world, um, in many, many ways, but in particularly, uh, in, in and through your partnership with Orchard Africa. As Pastor Todd said, I serve as the executive pastor. Of Orchard, Africa, and, uh, we as a ministry walk alongside churches that serve on the front lines of some of the greatest need in our world and helps pastors and church leaders have the tools and resources they need to care for the people in their community. Well, well, in the last year or so, uh, you, through your generosity, helped Orchard Africa build a new impact center. Where, uh, pastors come and are trained and are, um, equipped and served well. It is a church for pastors where when they’re serving on the front lines and seeing trauma and so much need in their community, they can come and know that they’re not alone in this work. In fact, here are some, uh, pictures of some of the work that’s been happening in the impact center in the Northwest province that you’ve supported pastors coming and worshiping and being trained. Supported church leaders coming and learning how to start preschools in their community or start empowerment programs for those in need, or, uh, teaching their community how to raise their own food and to grow crops and create community gardens and teaching community members to create, uh, gardens in, in around their own homes that they could supplement, um, the food that they have and care for the children in their community. Well. So on behalf of the entire team at Orchard Africa and the pastors that we serve and the communities that, uh, we walk alongside, thank you for your partnership. Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for seeing people that many others don’t see. But even that ministry finds itself in that long line of work that started at the. The mountain in Galilee where Jesus gave the great Commission. And when we look back at that moment, it’s easy to be in awe. It’s easy to think those early disciples, they must have been extraordinary people. They must have had extraordinary faith to be able to start what they started and to do what they did. And it’s easy to think that. Uh, for me to have that kind of impact, I need to be more trained or more skilled, or more holy, or more gifted, or more courageous, or more, you know, you fill, you fill in the blank. But what’s interesting about what Matthew shares here in this passage is that he says these 11, in fact, including himself, were not superheroes.

They were everyday regular people. Who were willing to say yes to Jesus’ call. In fact, he, he adds a little note that maybe you, maybe you saw it when we, when we read it, uh, that made it really clear that they, uh, were human people too. Verse 17, from Matthew 28, it says, when the disciples saw Jesus, when they saw him, they worshiped him. But then it says, but some doubted. So here they are. They’re standing in front of the risen Jesus, resurrected Jesus who died, sacrificed himself on the cross, and now he’s standing there alive. And yet some still doubted. And it’s interesting what Jesus does there. He doesn’t say, okay, so for those of you with some doubts. I’m gonna ask you to kind of, uh, come on over here on my left and, um, sit on the bench and those of you who have strong faith and you don’t have any doubts, okay, you’re the varsity team and I’m gonna send you out, go make disciples of all nations. But he doesn’t do that, does he? He sends all of them. He commissions all of them. Those who had doubts, and those who may have had stronger faith in that moment. But when we look at the gospels, to be real honest, we know that all 11 of them were pretty human people as well. We remember Peter, who denied Jesus three times. Remember James and John, who were caught up in the status of power, and they were called the Sons of Thunder for a reason because they were kind of pushing their way around so many times. Thomas wouldn’t believe until Jesus was there in front of him so he could see the nail. Scars on his hands and they all abandoned Jesus in his hour of need out of fear. And yet Jesus says, go represent me. And this good news of life now opened up for you to have eternity with God. They had questions. There was uncertainty. They had concerns. They had spent a few weeks with the risen Jesus, and yet there is still so much for them to wrap their minds around about how that had all happened and what God was doing in their time and in their generation and what was next, and even their own doubts about did they have the courage and faith and wisdom to fulfill this great mission that, that Jesus was calling them to. It was a profoundly human moment. I don’t know about you, but I, I resonate with that uncertainty, that doubt, and no matter who you are or where you’ve been or what you’ve done or what’s been done to you, we all, as humans, we face uncertainty and we have challenges and. We face tragedy in our life and we try to understand God, where are you in that? And we wrestle and we try to understand how God is at work around us. And maybe we wonder, do I have the faith needed to represent Jesus well, do I have the skills or the the words? Would I know what to say? Would I know how to respond if I said yes to that call? But here’s the the big idea. If you remember anything today, remember, remember this doubt doesn’t disqualify us from living on mission with God. In fact, uh, doubt is an invitation to go deeper in relationship. With Christ. It tells us there are, there’s more to learn, there’s more to discover. There’s things we don’t yet know.

There’s gaps in our minds, and whether, uh, you’re new to Jesus. Or you’ve been following him for a long time. There’s always this sense of there is more to know, there is more to understand. And until we graduate from this life to the next life and we stand before God face to face, we’re gonna have moments where we are trying to wrap our minds around this whole thing. So if you have doubts, you are in good company because that’s what started this entire work. 2000 years ago, people who didn’t have it all together, but heard the invitation to go and make disciples of all nations. And they said, I’m willing, I’m available. And that’s an opportunity that is not just for those first disciples for us here in 2025. Jesus also says, um, follow me. And be a part of this great commission work. Okay, so with that, how do we do that? How do we live out the great commission? Well, I wanna give you, uh, three invitations. That Jesus gives just in this statement, go make disciples of all nations. He goes on to say a baptizing people in the name of the Father and the son only spirit, and teaching them everything that I taught you. But just for our time today, there’s a, there’s enough in just this statement. Go make disciples of all nations. And so let’s take a look at that. Here’s the first invitation. First two letters go. It is an invitation to move towards. People an invitation to move towards people. And in order to do that, you have to notice people, we have to see people around us in our life. And so many times because of busyness or just because we’re absorbed with our life or we’re struggling in certain areas in our life, it’s easy to miss the people in our neighborhoods or in the. Apartment where we live, or the complex where we live, or the dorm that we live in. But every day, God puts people in our lives around us and he invites us to see them, to notice them, not just notice that they’re there, but to notice a need. Or to notice a hurt that they have in their life or to notice that they’re alone and they need someone to see them and to know them and to walk to walk with them. Jesus modeled that over and over again. When we read through the pages of the New Testament and we look at. Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. We see Jesus constantly is going to people that were roughly invisible to the rest of the world. He’d go to the margins. He’d find people that others didn’t see, and he would walk with them, know them, care for them, love them. It’s the first invitation. Go notice people move towards people. That’s part of this great commission. The second is. Make disciples. This is an invitation to bring people with you as you follow Jesus, make disciples. So what does it mean to make disciples, and what is a disciple? Well, here here’s a really simplified description of what a disciple is. A disciple is someone who spends time with Jesus over time, becomes more like him. And does what he did in Making Disciples. Sometimes it is as simple as saying, come with me as I follow Jesus. It’s bringing people with you as you, as you follow Jesus. As you look at Jesus’ life, a lot of his ministry was just people walking with him and doing life with him, and it’s the same way for us inviting people to do life with us.

You know what the two most powerful words are when it comes to the Great Commission, most effective way to help people take their next steps with Jesus, that the words, join me. Join me. You see Jesus a number of times when he’s first encountering someone. He says, what? Join me. Come follow me. I. Come and see, and I know, uh, firsthand that the power of those two words join me when, uh, when I was young, my dad worked at, um, an autobody shop. He worked on cars and one of his coworkers one day, uh, said to him, Hey, hey, why don’t you join me for church? Bring your family with you. Come and join me. And my dad sort of reluctantly said, well, okay. I’ll, I’ll come. He brought all of us with him and at that church and in that season, God transformed his life and he met Jesus because someone was willing to say, come along with me. Join me. As I said, I came to our, our whole family came and I was at a kids’ ministry program there and met Jesus there in that season in my life and. Trace my journey with Christ all the way back to that moment where, uh, somebody share, shared in a very simple and engaging way who Jesus was and what he wanted to do in my life. Well, I grew up and followed Jesus as an adult, and uh, we had children and now they know Jesus, and they’re also saying to people in their lives, join me. Follow me. Join me at church. Come follow me. Come have coffee with me. And so one invitation from guy who worked with my dad at the autobody shop has this exponential impact. We can’t even measure how many relationships were affected just by someone willing to say, join me and follow me. Since I’ve, um, been serving alongside, uh, victory over the last few years with Orchard, and then more intensively even just this past week with the staff and, um, with Pastor Todd. I keep seeing a statement that comes up over and over again. Maybe, maybe this is familiar to, to you. It goes like this victory is a joyful and loving community that you. That sound familiar? Have you heard that before? A place that transforms and deploys Christ-centered Disciples. It’s part of the vision statement. A victory Lutheran Church. A place that’s joyful and loving. A place that’s. Easy to invite people to where people can be transformed and deployed as disciples. There are so many different ways that that happens here at Victory from what we do here on the weekend to small groups, to bible studies, to gatherings, to going and seeing the chosen, uh, that’s coming up or whatever, whatever kind of event that’s coming up. There are so many ways to grow and to follow Jesus and to be his disciple. And with that. It could be easy for you to be a part of this great commission by just saying to people in your life, why don’t you come along with me and join me? Well, here, here’s a little homework After, after church today. Everybody loves homework after the sermon, right? Well, uh, when you go home today or later in the afternoon, uh, pull out a piece of paper.

And write down the name of five people in your life that you could say, join me. Why don’t you come along with me? Maybe it’s to, um, a service here on the weekend. Maybe you’re watching online and it’s, Hey, uh, here’s the link. You should watch this. This is really helpful to me. Maybe it’ll be helpful to you. Or, um, somebody, uh, you can invite out to coffee and. Bring somebody with you who knows Jesus or somebody from Victory and say, um, come and let’s, let’s have coffee. Making disciples doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t have to have a seminary degree. You don’t have to have a degree from a Bible college. Sometimes it just means being willing to say, join me, and we can all do that. Alright, ready for the third invitation? Here’s the last one. It’s about all nations. This is an invitation to love near and far to love near and far that phrase, all nations could be translated all different types of people. That’s probably literally what it means. In other words, Jesus is saying your mission is to those across the street to those. Across the hallway to those across town and those maybe across an ocean. It’s an invitation to love beyond, to love beyond borders, beyond racial or ethnic differences, beyond age or social, uh, economic differences or beyond other differences that separate us When he says. Go make disciples of all nations. It means sometimes going to people who are not like us or different from us in order that they might discover the love and the power of life with Christ. There are lots of ways that you can do that, just even here in the context of life. At Victory Church, you could give your time, your talents, your skills, your treasure to help with the Navajo mission or with family promise. Or with the local food pantry, or maybe you, uh, join the next mission trip to Orchard Africa. There’s a little plug there. We’d love to have you serve with us on the ground in country with churches that are serving the vulnerable. Here’s what the great commission, here’s what the great Commission is. It is a willingness through the words we speak and the actions we take. Through the way we use our time and the way we spend our money to say, look at what God has done. It’s as eyewitnesses of the work of Jesus. People who’ve spent time with Jesus, people who are getting to know Jesus, to say, look at what God has done through the risen Christ. Look what God has done in so many lives as a result of. The fact that Jesus gave himself completely and rose from the grave and at the heart of victory forward is an opportunity for more people in more places around the valley to get to the point where they can say in their own life, look at what God has done in my life, in my family, in my community, among my friends, among the people I work with.

The Great commission. And it’s something that God invites you to be a part of, despite your doubts, despite your fear, despite any uncertainties that you might have. Why? Because the church has moved and grown and transformed lives in the world through people just like you and just like me. So how do you start? Well, it can start with a simple prayer, a very ancient prayer. In fact, the prayer that we not too many minutes ago heard, read from the prophet Isaiah, a prayer that’s thousands of years old, but still effective and powerful today, a prayer that says, here I am. Send me. It says, God, I’m available. I’m not perfect. I don’t have all the answers, but here I am. Send me.
Well, in the spirit of Isaiah’s prayer, I’d like to close us with a time of prayer. And so if you wouldn’t. Bow your heads and close your eyes, and maybe if you feel comfortable even just to open your hands as you’re seated there, just as a expression of saying, God, I’m available. Father, we thank you that you’re a God who’s near or not far away, and a God who invites us to be a part of your redeeming work. Around the world, in our backyard, and even in the lives of those who live on other continents. I thank you for each and every person here in this room. Young and old men and women, people who, um, maybe are new to life with you or people who’ve been walking with you for a long time. We thank you, God, that you. Invite us all to be a part of this work of moving towards people, not away from people, bringing people along with us to help them experience the love that we, we know we’ve or we’ve become. We’ve begun to know in order that their lives and eternities would have a completely different story ’cause of your work and their life. Gotti. Here I am. Send me everybody set. Amen.