On May 24th, 1844, a group of senators, business leaders and engineers gathered in a small committee room at the US Capitol for what would be a groundbreaking moment in human history. About a month before that Congress had approved an experiment. To run a power line from Washington, DC to Baltimore to try out a brand new cutting edge technology called The Telegraph. Over in DC Samuel Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, tapped out the prepared message on that, uh, new device. And if everything worked as planned, the message would go as fast as lightning from Washington DC to Baltimore. I. Well, as planned as he put the message in, it made its way from DC in that little room all the way to Baltimore just as planned, and it became the first electronic text message. What was the message? It was a verse from the Old Testament. Numbers 23. 23 that goes like this in the King James version. What God hath, wrought or translated into modern day English OMG. Actually, more precisely it was translated. Look at what God has done. Of all the billions of messages that have been sent from that day in 1844 to today with all of our phones and computers and all the technology. It’s amazing to me that the very first message that was sent electronically was, look at what God has done. There is no better message, no more profound news than one that points to the activity and presence of God in our lives and in our world. Well, this past month here at Victory, you’ve been in a series called Eye Witness News, exploring the firsthand accounts of those who encountered the risen Christ. And you’ve talked, uh, about and explored the stories of real life people who were there when Jesus appeared risen from the dead. So far, you’ve heard from Mary and Thomas and Peter and, uh, people who said I was there. I saw it. Look at what God has done in and through the person of Jesus. Well, today I have the great honor and privilege to be your guest preacher and to look at the next account where we look at Matthew’s Eyewitness News report. It comes from Matthew 28, starts in verse 16, and it begins 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. And 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 that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always. To the very end of the age, the gospel of our Lord. Praise Lord our Christ. This passage includes what’s famously called the Great Commission when Jesus sent out his followers to make disciples and continue the work that he started when he was on Earth. And here’s what’s so interesting to me about this passage in Matthew. This scene takes place about three weeks after the events of Easter morning. And if you read Matthew 28, which is the last chapter of Matthew, Matthew starts with Easter morning and all that happened there, and the Mary and the other woman also named Mary meet Jesus on the road. And it’s this profound moment. Jesus is alive and then they’re told, go tell the disciples. And then literally the very next thing, except for a little note about the guards at the tomb. The very next thing is this conversation on the mountain side in Galilee, which happens three weeks later. So, Matthew, what happened to all the things that went on in between?

You see, Matthew skips over all kinds of incredible moments. Moments that we’ve talked about over the last few weeks here at Victory, like when Jesus was walking with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. There’s no description of that in Matthew’s gospel. No description of Thomas seeing Jesus for the first time and finally believing no fireside chat with Peter over breakfast on the beach. He skips over all of those. Fast forwards past all of those and goes right to the mountaintop moment where he gives the great commission. You know, I think it’s kind of like watching a movie partway and then fast forwarding it all the way to the last scene, like watching Star Wars and fast forwarding all the way to the end when Luke blows up the Death Star. Or like when you watch the sound of Music and you only watch partway through and you fast forward it all the way to the end where. The family walks over the mountain, the walk walks over the Alps into the other country. No singing nuns. No. These are a few of my favorite things. No, just the final scene and the credits roll. That’s what Matthew does. He skips ahead, not because these moments don’t matter or because they’re insignificant, but because he wanted 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 was nothing short of a defining moment in history. And that quiet scene on a Galilean Mountain side. Jesus entrusted this world changing mission to a small group of people. No positions, no titles, no resources, no strategic plan on an Excel spreadsheet, no social platform just to command to go and make disciples. To share this life transforming, life changing message of new life in eternal hope in Jesus. And what early church history tells us is that after this moment within a single generation, the church had grown from that small ragtag group. To tens of thousands of people in the Roman Empire within a few centuries, it reached millions despite persecution, opposition, and the absence of any kind of institution. At least at the beginning. Today, 2 billion people profess Christ and that the number continues to grow of lives that are being changed by the good news of Jesus. Crucified raised at work today in our lives, but the impact wasn’t just that the numbers grew and people’s lives were transformed. It also had this transformational impact on the world. When Jesus said, go, it launched a movement of grace, compassion, and kindness throughout the world. One of the things about the early church is that they were known for their compassion and their care, their care for the poor, for the widow, for those in need. And this over time would eventually birth into hospitals and medical missions, the founding of schools and universities, the development of organizations like the Red Cross, and was instrumental in the fight to end slavery and to move towards equality. The church today is at work all over the world. Not perfect, but loving God and loving Jesus in the name of Christ.

Addressing some of the most difficult human needs the world knows. Victory Church. You have been a part of that thread of compassion and impact in the world in many ways, but, uh, particularly through your work and partnership with Orchard Africa as Pastor Tad, uh, Todd said, I am an executive pastor, um, and that organization and have the opportunity to walk alongside churches who serve some of the most vulnerable communities in the world, uh, to be able. To meaningfully care for those who find themselves facing the desperate reality of, um, extreme poverty. For many, many years, you’ve been a part of that work with us in the last year or so, uh, you generously funded the, the building of an impact center in the Northwest province where, uh, the, uh, the context is, uh, is village life, where there’s great need. And at the Impact Center, it’s a place where pastors of these churches in these village communities can come and be encouraged and be trained and be empowered. It is a, a church for pastors. It’s a church. For the church, and you’ve been a part of making that new facility and that new resource available. You see some of the pictures on the screen about pastors being trained and worshiping together and developing the schools and the, the skills and the tools that, that they need. To care for those in most. Also, to learn how to grow their own food and to start community gardens in their villages and to train the community how to raise their own food and to be able to take some of the reins in providing for themselves, caring for children and starting preschools and so many different things that are happening in flowing out of this new facility and impact center in the Northwest Province. Thank you. On behalf of the entire team at Orchard Africa and all the pastors who we serve, and the people in the communities who now have access to life changing, encouraging development resources they didn’t have otherwise. But even that ministry finds its root all the way back 2000 years ago on that mountain side with Jesus. And when we look back at it now, it’s easy to be in awe of that moment. It’s easy to think that the 11 that stood on that mountain must have been extraordinary. People must have been people of extraordinary faith. And it’s easy to think that when, uh. You think about Jesus giving the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations. He must have been talking to them. Only these heroes of the faith. Not us. Not me, not you. And it’s easy to think that we need to be more trained, more skilled, more holy, more gifted, more courageous, more fill in the blank than what we are. To be a part of this literally world transforming work. But here’s what’s so important in this passage, Matthew does not present himself or the disciples as superheroes. In fact, there’s a little note in the passage that I just read that reminds us how human these first followers were. Matthew 28 17. Look at this one more time with me. When Jesus saw, when they saw him, Jesus, they worshiped him. But then look at what it says. But some doubted there. They were standing in front of the risen Jesus and still some doubted.

It’s interesting what Jesus does in that moment or doesn’t do in that moment. He knows that some are doubting a number of things related to him and the work that is ahead, and he doesn’t say to those who have doubts. Okay, all of you head over to over here on the left and you’re on the bench. And for those of you with stronger faith with no doubts, well then you are the varsity team and I’m gonna send you out to go and make disciples. No, what does he do? He sends out all of them with their doubts, with their uncertainty, with their questions. In fact, uh, to be honest. They all were imperfect people. Maybe some had a little bit more faith in that moment than others, but we can remember that Peter denied Jesus three times. James and John were kind of caught up in status and power. Thomas wouldn’t believe until he was there in front of Jesus and they all abandoned Jesus in his hour of great need out of fear. They were imperfect everyday people. Who launched a movement that led to us being here 2000 years later, but they had questions. There are uncertainties that went through their minds about. How this God of the universe now raised Jesus from the dead and what was going to happen next, and maybe had some doubts also about their own skills and talents and whether they’d know what to say or whether they would have the words that they needed or the courage that they needed. They had all of these things going through them, just kind of like the way that we do as humans here 2000 years later. I think this resonates with us today. Some doubted, and yet Jesus sent them all 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 have doubts. We face uncertainty. We experience tragedy, and we wonder, God, where are you in the midst of all of this? And we have fear. And yet God says to us just as he said to the disciples, that moment on the mountain side, he says, go make disciples of all nations represent this good news and this new life through the way that you live, through the words you speak and the way that you live your life. This is our commission just as much as it was theirs. So what is the great commission? How do we do it? Well, I want to give you three invitations that Jesus gives on that mountain side, specifically related to go make disciples of all nations. He also says, teaching people, uh, all that I taught you and baptizing the name of the father, son, the Holy Spirit, but. With the time that I have, there’s so much in this. Let’s just talk about, go make disciples of all nations, and the first invitation is it’s two letters go. It’s an invitation to move towards people, and in order to move towards people, you have to notice people. You have to see people in your life, and it is so easy to be busy or concerned or overwhelmed with our own life that we completely miss.

The people that are around us, the people that live in our neighborhoods, our complex, our apartment on campus. The people that we stand in front of at the grocery store line, or the person next to us at the gas pump, or somebody that is a part of a group or a club that we attend every day, all around us. There are people God wants us to notice, not just notice they’re there, but to notice a hurt or a need. Or to notice that they’re alone and they need someone to come alongside them and to be with them. Jesus modeled this invitation. Read through the gospels, Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. You see over and over and over again. He moves towards people. He sees people that were mostly invisible to the rest of the community, and he goes to them and he cares for them, and that’s a part of the great commission. To move towards people to go. And then he says, make disciples. That’s the second invitation. Go make disciples. And that’s an invitation to bring people with you as you follow Jesus. So, so what is a disciple? How would you define that? Here’s a very simple way to define it. A disciple is someone who spends time with Jesus. Becomes more like him over time and does what he did, spends time with Jesus, becomes more and more like him and does what he did. Making disciples can be as simple as just bringing people along with you as you follow Jesus. There are. Two very powerful words that can change people’s lives, words that Jesus used, and words that have been used for hundreds of years to help transform people’s lives and help them to know the love and the grace of Jesus Christ. You know what those words are? Join me. Join me, or come and see, or as Jesus said, follow me. And I know that from personal experience because those two little words joined me, transformed my family. My dad worked in autobody and there was somebody that worked at the shop with him and said, Hey, why don’t you join me at my church? It’s a great church. You’ve got a family. You’ve got a great kids pro program. Why don’t you come along? My dad reluctantly said yes, and his life was transformed. He met Jesus there at that church because someone was willing to say, join me. He brought his family, my, myself, and my sister, and while I was there in the kids’ ministry, I met Jesus there and then as I grew up, had my own kids and they know Jesus as well, and they say, join me to people on campus where they go to college or in this sphere of life that they live. You never know what God might do through one simple invitation to just. Join you as you follow Jesus. Sometimes we make it a more complicated than we need to be, but Jesus says, make disciples. So I wanna give you a little homework. Everybody loves homework after church, right? When you go home today, take out a piece of paper and write down the names of five people that are in your life. Who might need a join me kind of opportunity to join you and being a part of how you’re following Jesus. One of the things I’ve noticed over the, the last week in particular as I’ve spent some time with the staff and Pastor Todd and then I’ve been online watching, um, through the online campus, is that, um, there’s this statement that’s used over and over again here, and it goes like this.

Victory is a joyful and loving community. Sound familiar? Have you heard that before? Victory is a joyful and loving community, a place that transforms and deploys Christ-centered disciples. Here at Victory, you have so many different ways that you’re invited to spend time with Jesus to start to live more like he lived and to do what he did. Experiences like this on Sunday morning or Saturday night or. Bible studies or events or gatherings or opportunities online to, to grow and to meet Jesus. And so simply saying, join me on a Sunday morning or a Saturday, or for a small group gathering may be the easiest way and a powerful way to make disciples in your own community. Alright, ready for the third invitation? Here’s the last one. It’s about all nations, which is an invitation to love near and far. All nations here go make disciples of all nations. Could be translated as different types of people make disciples of different types of people. In other words, Jesus saying, your mission is those across the street, those across the hallway. As well as people who are across town or across oceans. It is an invitation to love, beyond love, beyond borders, beyond racial or ethnic differences, beyond age or socioeconomic differences or beyond other differences that separate us in our country or in our world. It’s saying, I’ll give my time, my talents, my treasure. To make an impact beyond myself, and you could do that here at Victory through the Navajo mission or Family Promise or local food pantry or victory quilters or little plug a mission trip to Orchard Africa a well, here’s what the Great Commission is. It is a willingness through the words we speak and 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. Look at what God has done to be eyewitnesses. People who’ve spent time with Jesus, who’ve gotten to know him or getting to know him to say, look at what God has done in the risen Christ in my life, at the heart of Victory forward, which we’ve been talking about. Is an opportunity to help more people in more places around the valley come to the point where they say, look at what God has done in my life, in my family, in my friends, and in my community. It’s the great commission and that you are invited to be a part of it. And guess what? Your doubts don’t disqualify you from being a part of that mission. Your doubts are an invitation to discover a deeper level of trust and to discover there is still more to learn, still more to discover. And so God invites you go and make disciples of all nations, and here’s where you start. There’s a very simple prayer, very ancient prayer. In fact, we. Just a few minutes ago, heard the story where this prayer was prayed by the prophet Isaiah Way, way back, hundreds of years ago. A prayer that says, here I am, send me when God says who will go. It’s an invitation where we can say, here I am. Send me.

And with that spirit in mind, I wanna take a moment and pray. So, would you bow your heads and close your eyes? And maybe if you feel comfortable, maybe even just right there where you’re seated, open your hands on your lap as an expression of saying, I’m open, I’m willing. Father God, I thank you for the ways that you invite us to be about your work. In all of our doubts or uncertainty or all of concerns we might have, or ways we think we don’t measure up, God, you still invite us to go and bring your love and grace to the people that are all around us every day, and to those that are far away, I pray for each person here in this space or just listening to these words. May you encourage, empower, and send this community that more and more people in more and more places would be able to say, wow, God, what? Look at what you have done God in my life, and it’s in Jesus’ name. We pray, everybody said amen.