Why Must We Be Makers of Disciples?

about why must we be making disciples? Why is that so important? Why is why do we engage in this kind of thing? Why do we go on all this trouble? We've raised about $7,000 for this trip to get all these people down there for this week. If there's money left over, Steve has a real heart to give what is left over. I say it has a real heart for giving me for telling people to Steve, but basically, they've worked like divers to raise this money in different ways, and given, and given, and given, and then they paid their own way. And the reason for that is he has a real heart to see if there's some money that's left from this fund that he'd like to see ascendant to exer Monsoro, who was with us some months back in priests, remember, from what island is he on?

He's in Ceregal, he's in an area that's heavily Muslim all around him, at times a dangerous ministry, and they have some knees there, and Steve's been staying in contact with exer, he's a wonderful man. One of the best students I've ever had in the school of theology, very clear thinker expresses himself so well, a wonderful preacher of the gospel. And so Steve would like to see if we have money left over, we'd be able to help him with most of that money, so we'll keep praying in that regards. But why do we do this? Why are people motivated to go and to make disciples for Jesus Christ? I'd like to begin by looking at Matthew, chapter 28. In Matthew 28, verse 18, what we call the Great Commission or the Grand Commission, Jesus, it says in verse 18, and Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And low, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. You notice that the first reason that we are in the business of making disciples, it's the reason that we must be making disciples as a church, as God's people, is because the sovereign Lord has commissioned us to do that. If you notice Jesus before he gives them the commission, he tells them of his authority. That all authority in heaven and up on earth has been given to him. Now that's because you're ears to perk up a bit because this is the creator and sustainer of all things.

Why would he need this authority to be given to him? The reason he had to have this authority given to him was that he had humbled himself, and he'd become a man, and he'd come in that humanity and become frail and one of us and suffered for us on the cross, and took our sin upon him, and the ultimate expression of humility in Philippians chapter 2 is he became sin for us, and received the blow of God's wrath upon himself on our behalf. And then God raised him from the dead, the expression of the Father, the great demonstration of the Father that he had accepted the work of Christ at our behalf, as our substitute, our representative, raised him from the dead, exalted him to his right hand, and as a man, no longer just as God, but now as a man as well as being God, this man Christ Jesus, who Paul says there is one God and one mediator between God and man, a man Christ Jesus, this man sits at the right hand of the Father, and at the right hand of the Father he has been given all authority, the second Adam, the new man now rules over the entire universe, and this one with all authority over all flesh, over all creation has commissioned his people to go and make disciples of all the nations.

That's the one who's commanding us, so the first reason we do it is because of his sovereignty. Now what is it he's called us to do? Well he's called us to make disciples. If we were there back in the fourth grade or whatever it was, whenever it was that you learned to diagram sentences, you diagram this sentence, you would discover that, the main plot of this sentence is this command, this imperative, make disciples. Everything else falls under that. We have been called to make disciples. That is our role, that's our commission, that's our mission in life as the people of God, as the people of Christ. Where are we to do this? The sphere of this command is all the nations. There is no nation upon this earth where we are to avoid.

I received an email yesterday. Listen to this. Our team is expected to lay it into a Muslim country tonight, carrying lots of Bibles, Christian literature, expensive gifts to give us gifts to unsafe parsees. This is a missionary to the parsees. He can't even give us right name because of the danger of ministering to these people in about five different countries, basically primarily Muslim countries. He says, please pray for their protection from the custom security immigration, also from rules and regulations. Pray that our team not be intercepted or interrogated, especially that their bags not be opened. Checked, examined in any way. Please also pray for the luggage to not be lost. Stolen are tampered with because of the sensitive nature of its contents.

Please can you call or email your prayer chain or prayer network to pray for this urgent prayer need? Thank you very much. Please also pray that God give our team the right words to speak and direct any conversation of theirs if interrogated. The gifts that they are carrying like chocolates and clothing, cosmetics, et cetera, can give us gifts to the unsaid for purposes of friendship evangelism can be heavily taxed by the airport authorities. Please pray against any form of problems or taxation for them even concerning the gifts. Jesus is Lord of all. Please pray that they have a restful, peaceful, sleepable and refreshing journey. Full of the presence of God. Please pray that they and I would have favor and support with our before authorities.

In this, I've been getting emails from this fellow. He's a missionary to the parsees. One small group, one little mission group is ministering to this group, people group, at several million that are scattered through several nations. But they're basically the presians, the descendants of the Persians. And they'd have little gospel witness among them. And this group feels that since Jesus has given the great commission to us that we are to go into all the nations, it means that we even go into nations where it is against the law to share the gospel. That like the disciples before the Sanhedrin, we could say, you be the judge. It's a better that we obey God or man. We have been called to preach the gospel wherever God sends and opens doors.

That is the realm of his command, wherever we go, wherever God takes us, we're to go there as his emissaries, as ambassadors of Jesus Christ. How are we to do this? In this commission that he gives us, he gives us three details. These are the three things that we do to make disciples. First we go. Sometimes that's the hardest part. Sometimes the hardest part just to go across the street or down the lane or to the cornfest or to Mexico or to the Philippines or where to go. He's called us to go to make disciples. We gather like this so that we can scatter so that we can go out from here and take Christ with us to be his face and his feet and his hands. The apostle Paul says that he filled up what was lacking in the sufferings of Christ and what he meant in that context in Philippians and Colossians where he mentions this is that God has put us in this world to be his emissaries so that the bringing of the gospel would be a personal delivery.

So the gift will be brought through flesh and blood. God doesn't just drop tracks out of blips. He sends people with faces and bodies and weaknesses. You are the emissaries of Christ. And so we go and then second he says baptizing them the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is shorthand for bringing the gospel to people to the point where the Spirit works in their heart and they are willing to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ. A person is baptized when they intentionally want to come under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that's a picture of. They're death to their own lives of independence of God and they're immersion into this new life coming out of the water to this new life of being under the authority and reign and being yoked with Jesus Christ.

And then third we are to be teaching them to obey all that he has commanded. He sent us not only to take the gospel to good news of Christ but to preach the implications of that gospel to their lives where they live in the freedom of the gospel, live in the freedom that comes through the work of Jesus Christ through his death on the cross. And then notice in Matthew chapter 11, that's related to this. In Matthew chapter 11 Jesus says that the occasion of this when it says at the beginning of this verse at that time it means that this particular period of time about this time after the 72 have come back to Jesus. He had sent them out to preach the gospel throughout the land of Israel. They'd gone to all the cities and preached and they came back and they were so related because the spirit of God had used them in ways that they were totally surprised at.

They saw people healed, they saw the dead raised, they saw the blind sea, the death here, the dumb speak. They were amazed at the power of the spirit and that people under the power of the gospel had come to believe on Christ and they came back and they were almost giddy about it. They were rejoicing and at this time it says that Jesus rejoiced to the point of being overwhelmed with joy and you know what he was joyful about? It's what he talks about in this verse and notice what it says in Matthew chapter 11 verse 25. At that time Jesus said, I praise you father, Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. The word infants, napios and the Greek is a word very peculiar word.

It's a very particular word. There are several words for children that are normally used but the word napios emphasizes immaturity. It emphasizes somebody who doesn't know anything. It emphasizes somebody who doesn't know anything and knows that they need to learn that positions themselves as learners. It's wonderful to teach children because children know, typically children know that you know what's native and they want to learn. But those who are wise and intelligent he's speaking in the context specifically of the Pharisees and Sadducees and the religious leaders who thought that they didn't need what Jesus came to teach. They already knew, they already had wisdom. They were already intelligent and they needed nothing and Jesus says, I praise you.

I acknowledge you because you have concealed it to them and you have revealed it to the infants, to those who understand that they don't know. Yes, Father, for this was, this way, notice this. This way was well pleasing in your sight. In other words, it was well pleasing to the Father to reveal the truth, to babes, to infants, to the immature, to those who knew they didn't know. The unsophisticated, he said, it brought great pleasure to the Father to bring them to this knowledge of Christ. It delights the heart of God to reach down to poor ignorant people like us and to open our eyes to the reality of who Christ is and through Christ to who the Father is. And so the second reason that we do this is because it pleases the Father.

It is a delight, the word well pleasing here means that it makes the Father joyously happy, deep in his heart, to have people come to a saving knowledge of his Son through the witness of people like us, simple people taking the gospel. And then notice in verse 27. In verse 27, he says, all things have been handed over to me by my Father. Here again, we have this issue of authority. He's been given authority. And no one knows the Son except the Father. There is this unique relationship between Father and Son. No one knows the Son like the Father and no one knows the Father like the Son. And the Son, notice what it goes on to say. He says, no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

And that's an amazing thing. That this unique fellowship of Father and Son is something that Jesus Christ chooses to invite people into. That he brings people into this relationship, into the heart of this relationship. So that we come to know the Father in a way similar to the way the Son knows the Father. And we know the Son, the way the Father knows the Son. It brings glory to the Son to do this. Notice it is anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal. I was thinking about this week as I was going through this passage just in the sovereign work of God, how he reaches down into people's lives. Like we heard last week as Vena gave her testimony and she kept referring to herself as this poor Indian girl that the living God, the God of the universe, the sovereign ruler overall, that has been created.

He took joy and the Son took joy as he began to work in her life through those early years and protected her and centered on a path until finally, personally, in the form, in the person, in the incarnation of a person, a neighbor who brought the gospel to her, a group of Christians who shared Christ with her, Christ personally delivered this knowledge to her. And as her eyes begin to be opened and that's usually how it happens. This process typically isn't instantaneous like Paul. The Apostle Paul was going against Christ as he went on the Damascus road. He was going there to arrest Christians. He wanted to do damage to the followers of Christ and the cause of Christ. And Christ confronted him like that face to face.

And at that time, at that point in his life, he turned and he was converted. But in most cases, like Venus case and like most of your cases, this is a process that takes time, a process in which Jesus begins to take the scales off your eyes. And at first, all you can see is a glimmer of light. It's like the man that Jesus healed. Remember the man who was blind and Jesus spit on the ground, they'd mud and put it on his eyes and he told him to open his eyes and said, can you see? And he said, yes, but it's like I've seen men as trees. I can kind of make things out more than I could before, but I still can't see clearly. And then Jesus touched him again. And his eyes were open and he saw clearly like you and I see.

That's how it happens. That Jesus begins through his own will. It says as he determines, from time to time as he determines, he opens the eyes of people. What a great comfort that is. If you thought it was up to you, maybe that's the reason some of you aren't going to Mexico. Maybe you thought it's up to you to be able to convince people that Jesus Christ truly is the savior of the world that he's been raised in the dead, but it's not up to you. It's a personal work of Jesus Christ. And as we take the gospel, we have the assurance that he is with us and he goes and as he chooses to do it, he opens the eyes of blind people and they begin to see. Sometimes that process takes a long time and my guess is that during this week as they share the gospel in all these different contexts, they're going to impact some people's lives.

The spirit of God is going to work. There may be even some that come to faith during that week. But in most cases, it's going to be a delayed reaction. It's going to be a process that begins, but Christ is going to open their eyes. I told you before about it, I was teaching at a college retreat some years ago and a young man came up to me and he said, he wanted me to pass a message onto my son that he had just been down to Mexico and five years before that, my son had been there with a group like this doing the very same thing, preaching the gospel and this little boy came, made a profession of faith. And five years later, he wanted to get word to Frankie that he was still walking with the Lord.

You know, that's a wonderful thing. That God would use you as an instrument in his hands to open the eyes of people. He's the one who must open their eyes and he delights in doing that and it brings glory to the sun. Every time somebody comes to faith in Christ, there's no glory to us. I've got people come to Christ right sitting right in front of me. It's an amazing process to see the scales take it off their eyes. They come to see the truth about Christ, not through manipulation, not through arguing with them and convincing them of something they don't want to believe but of the Spirit of God doing a work. It's wonderful to watch that process, but the only one who gets glory for that is the one who does it, which is Jesus Christ.

And so the reason we make disciples is because it glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. Every time we see someone come to be a follower of Christ and begin to follow him down this path of discipleship, it brings glory to Jesus Christ and we rejoice in it. And then notice, he says in verses 28 and 29, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. You know what it's like to be weary and heavy laden? By the look on your face, I assume that many of you know what that's like to be weary and heavy laden. In the context of this passage, Jesus is speaking to people that he knows are weary and heavy laden because they've had a heavy load placed upon them by the Pharisees and the leaders of a religion that had become a man corrupted religion, a distortion of the truth.

And they had laid heavy weights upon these people and they were weary and heavy laden because they were trying so hard to find acceptance with God, to have peace with God, to know their life was at peace with God and yet they felt no relief, they felt no rest. They could never rest because they had to continue to work hard to achieve this. And so Jesus says to them, all of you who are weary and heavy laden lay down with this weighted down with this load, this responsibility, this feeling that I must do better. I must try harder, I must perform better for God to accept me. And He says, if you come to me, I will give you rest. Take my oak upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble and heart and you will find rest for your souls.

And here's the third reason, the fourth reason rather that we are to be making disciples. It is because it brings rest to the weary and the overburdened. You know what's happening every day of your life? You're rubbing shoulders with people who are weary and heavy laden. They are attempting in some way to find in their life what only God can give them as a gift. They may not be doing it through what they think of as religion, but it is a form of religion, it's idolatry. Anytime I pursue life in anything other than God in Jesus Christ, it's idolatry. And people don't think of it as religion. They think of it as just the opposite. But in a real sense, it is a religion that has weighed them down.

In fact, in this verse here, this expression that He uses, I'm getting like Steve, this expression that He uses here, you will find rest for your souls. If you notice in your Bible, it is in a certain type that lets you know, this is a quote from the Old Testament. In fact, it's direct words out of Jeremiah 616 in which it is a context in which God is warning His people who have tried to find life in idols that judgment is coming upon them. And that the only deliverance that they can have is by going down the right path that He has laid before them, that if they will listen to Him, if they will open their eyes and see and open their ears and hear and follow this path that He has laid before them, that He will give them rest.

You will find rest for your souls, He tells them. Now, in the context, the rest is the freedom from the dread of impending judgment because judgment was coming upon the nation. You know, today a part of the message of the gospel, which means good news, is the bad news. If you read through the book of actual discover every time the apostles preached the good news, they first tell people the bad news. And the bad news is there is a day of judgment coming. There's a day of judgment coming upon this earth that is in rebellion against God. There's a judgment that's coming upon a race of people that have turned their back upon their creator, to create them for Himself. And in that day of judgment, the wrath of God is going to be poured out.

And yet what God offers, what He offered to the nation of Israel in light of the coming judgment was rest for their souls if they would go down this path. And when Jesus says, is, I am the path, I am the door. I am the way. If you will come to me, if you will come through this door, I'll give you rest. I'll give you freedom from dread. I will give you, at least speaking primarily, here of the eschatological rest that's going to come when Jesus comes back to this earth and righteousness covers the earth, like the waters cover the sea. But that rest is experienced right now when you come to Christ. And so when you take the gospel of Jesus Christ as someone, you are offering them a way to find rest from their weariness and freedom from that which weighs them down.

And that is the urgency of this. He puts this in a form, which isn't all that obvious in the English, which emphasizes urgency. In other words, the implication is, come to me now. Turn, take upon you now, take my yoke upon you now and learn from me, from my revelation of God now. Do it now, don't lay, don't linger, don't pull back. There's an urgency to it because of the love of the heart of the sun. There's no way to be. As we go to make disciples, as we take the gospel to those who are still in darkness, who haven't come to see the light of the glory of Jesus Christ, the life of Jesus Christ, the life that is in Jesus Christ. As we go to take this message of light to them, there's an urgency to it.

It's not to twist their arms and get them to make a commitment, to get them to make a decision, to get them to confess something that they don't want to confess. Erdogai told me that he didn't like Baptists as an unsafe and regenerative guy. He said, I don't really like Baptists because they're always trying to get you out and feel somewhere and get you to receive Jesus. I don't want to receive Jesus. We're not trying to twist anybody's arm, but we are trying to do what God has called us to do is to present the truth of Jesus Christ. And that truth penetrates. There will be a turning. You know what the urgency is? The urgency isn't to use methods to manipulate people and to making some kind of profession, to walk down an aisle, to do something overtly.

The thing that we have been called to do is to be urgent about the need to take the message of Christ to this world. And then notice the emphasis here. Come to me. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. The emphasis here is not coming to be yoked up with a thing or a set of rules, but to be yoked up with a person. What Jesus is saying has come to me. That's what salvation is. It's coming to Christ. I had a doctor this week that I went to see an eye doctor and an ophthalmologist. And as we were talking, he made me fill out a little form and I had to put my profession, I put pastor, and he said, oh, you're a pastor. And I said, yeah, I said, so you've got to preach the living word, don't you?

And I said, yeah, I do. I need good eyesight to do that. And he said, he says, talk to me about Christ. About the life of Christ. He said, you know, there's a lot of people go to churches and they don't even know him. And you know what's important is that you know Christ. That's the only way that you can go to heaven. It's the only way you can be saved is you've got to know Christ, something, and man, here. I got a fundamentalist on my hand, you know? And he's preaching the gospel to me, it was wonderful. I said, where do you go to church? And he said, oh, St. Anthony's or something. He's a Catholic. I said, well, where did you learn this truth? That you had to know Christ, that Christ, the only one who could save, that is faith in this person of Christ, and not your works.

He said, I learned it by reading the Bible. That's where you learn it, isn't it? That's where you get confided with the truth. It's this person. That's what we're doing. We're taking the person of Jesus Christ to the world. And that's why we go personally, is to introduce them to a person. So much more effective than other ways, is to incarnate the gospel. And then notice that Jesus alone is the one who reveals the Father and provides the rest. You know, the only one who can reveal the Father to people is this person, Jesus Christ. He's the only one who knows the Father. He's the only truly knows him in a way that he can reveal him to the heart. And he's the only one who provides the rest that you need.

And then notice this, that notice who he is, this authoritative revealer, the only one who knows God, in such a way that he can reveal him to your heart so that you could know God. This authoritative revealer, who's been with the Father from all eternity, approaches us with a true servant's gentleness. Isn't that amazing? I am gentle and humbled in heart. It's an amazing statement by the sovereign ruler who's gonna come back on a white stallion. It's gonna bring judgment upon this earth. And he says to these people, I am gentle and humble in heart. It's not an amazing statement. You know what that is? That's a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The Old Testament, the emphasis that we see is that over and over again, for example, this is a quote in Matthew 12 from Isaiah 42.

And Matthew as he observes Jesus as he preaches the gospel, oh, he could get tough. He could get fiery. He made us a whip and drove out the money changes out of the temple, but he was humble and gentle. Gentle and humble of heart. And as Matthew observes this, he quotes from Isaiah 42. He says this was fulfilled. This scripture was fulfilled. He will not quarrel, not cry out. No, will anyone hear his voice in the streets? Jesus were here. He wouldn't be standing on the street corner yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs, trying to get drivers going by to stop and hear some little segment of what he was saying. He seemed to talk to people in a personal way. He was the kind of person that people were drawn to.

He was so much that way that children walked up to him and touched him. And he brought them in, put him on his lap and talked to them. He was gentle and humble of heart. He communicated a gospel that he allowed people to reject. When the rich young ruler came to him and he shared the good news of how he could have eternal life and that young man rejected the good news and walked away. He said, Jesus was sad because he loved him. He had a love for him. He was humble. He was gentle. That's the kind of person he is. And he says, therefore, a battered read he will not break off. He ever seen a read when you're out fishing on the Delta or somewhere else and you've seen a read that had been broken and it's kind of hanging there with a rather bruised and all you had to do if you just touched it, it would break.

He says, he won't break a bruised read. You ever feel like that in life? That what you've gone through in a lot of it because of your own sinful decisions and you feel bruised? And if you just went through one more thing, if you had one more way that hits you, you know you would break. It says, he's the kind of person that will not break the bruised read. And a smoldering wick, a wick that just, he doesn't even have an open flame to it, but there's just a little bit of life there. It says, a smoldering wick, he will not put out until he leads justice to victory. This is a general savior. Oh, it's true, he's coming one day, this lamb is coming in fury and in wrath to judge this world in order to bring righteousness on this earth to bring deliverance and salvation to his people.

And those who oppose him are gonna be crushed. But the message we take to the world, even though we tell them about judgment, the message we take is there is a meek and lowly Jesus, there is a Jesus who is meek and humble at heart who's come and died for sinners. And who's bringing you in the person of the messenger who's bringing you this invitation to come, to believe on Christ, to find rest for your weary soul. And then notice the last verse in this chapter, in verse 30, Jesus says, because my yoke is easy. Now you know what a yoke is, don't you? A yoke is the thing you put on two oxen, for example, to pull a plow. You yoke them up together so that they can work together. And Jesus says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Now the reason he uses this expression is that this was the common metaphor that was used for the discipline of discipleship. Now there were many rabbis around who had disciples following them. And that following of a teacher, that discipline of being a disciple was referred to as putting on that rabbi's yoke. Now what the rabbi's considered the yoke to be was the law, the Torah. If you became a disciple of a Jewish rabbi during these days, then you were considered to be coming under the yoke of the law as they interpreted it. And it was a heavy weight. Jesus said it was like a heavy load that weighed people down and they could hardly move. But notice what Jesus says about the yoke. For Jesus, the yoke is not the law.

Here's the yoke that he's referring to is his yoke. The yoke that he is in, the yoke as a man in which he serves his father. And he says, well, I want you to do what I'm inviting you to do is to come and to be yokeed up with me. Now that's an amazing thing in Mark 10, 45. Jesus said, even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. I mean, think about that. The Jesus didn't come into this world so that people could serve him while he was here. He came into this world to serve by going to the cross. And the way he got to the cross was by having himself yoke. He was yoke to the will of the father and what he is calling these people to do is to come and take my yoke, yoke.

And being yokeed with Jesus, being yoke with him to be united with him means that he does the pulling. And you get the benefit. You probably heard this story about Petarevsky who was a Polish pianist who was going to, this big hall he was going to play in. The curtain was up, the piano was on the stage. This mother had brought her little egg-year-old boy because she really wanted him to become a pianist. And he was just beginning and he still had some excitement. And so she wanted him to hear a master and to be inspired by the master. And while they were sitting there in the audience waiting for Petarevsky to come and to play the pianos there, the curtain's up, but he's in the wings. And she turns and talks to somebody and the little boy jumped up on the stage and he got to this grand piano and he began playing chopsticks.

And she turns around and people were chuckling a little bit. She's full of embarrassment. She does, she's kind of frozen. And all of a sudden the master walks out. And he sits down beside him and he whispers in his ear, keep playing. And he routes his arms around him and he begins to play. This beautiful melody along with, and harmony along with chopsticks. It was a masterpiece. And as people listened, they were amazed and they began to burst out in a floss. See, that's what it's like to be yoked up with Jesus Christ. You know what you can do? It's very little. If we measured what we were able to do, capable to do in our own strength for the kingdom of God, it's so minuscule. It's like playing chopsticks on the piano.

And you know the world's not impressed. The world's not impressed with our ability. The world's not impressed with me or you, as far as what we could do for the kingdom of God. You know what happens, you sit down at this piano and you begin to play chopsticks and the master comes. The one to whom you have been yoked. He puts his arms around you and he begins to play something through your life. And people hear it and their hearts are touched. Their souls are moved, their spirits are awakened and they hear the voice and the music of the master. You know what's gonna happen on the streets of that little poor community in Tijuana this week, this next week. Is these little amateurs are gonna go down there and they're gonna minister to the gospel.

In such simple ways to these simple people, these spiritual infants and the master is going to accompany them. And he's gonna play a medley through their life, a melody through their life and their efforts that's gonna penetrate the hearts of some people and it's gonna awaken their spirits and they're gonna hear the voice of the master and they're gonna respond. That's what happened to you. If you think about the person who brought the gospel to you, there were just amateurs. But Jesus spoke through them and you heard and you responded in faith and you entered into life. It's a wonderful thing. Why must we be making disciples? Because the sovereign Lord of this universe, the man who died for men and women and boys and girls has commanded us and commissioned us to do it.

Because it brings deep pleasure to the heart of God to do this, to open the eyes of people to the reality of Christ. And because it glorifies Jesus Christ every time someone's eyes are open and they enter into this path of discipleship. And they begin walking down this path and because you have the opportunity to be used of God, to bring a message that brings rest to the weary, that brings people who are in darkness and lonely and aloneness spiritually. They may have people all around them, but they feel the darkness and they feel the aloneness. That's what hell is, you know? It's a place where the presence of God is not manifest. And you have the treasure, as Paul called it, as he referred to it when he talked to Timothy, God's given you this treasure, the gospel.

Guard it, go with it, give it. That's what we are to do. And so this is what he's contrasting here and this is what we have the opportunity to do. The contrast is between the burden of those striving for acceptance with God through their religious self effort. Everywhere you go, when you witness, you witness the religious people, even if they know it or not, they're worshiping some idol. Bob Dylan was right, you gotta serve somebody. You are gonna bow to somebody. It may be yourself, but you have an idol in the heart or you have God that you are worshiping. And the contrast is with the blessing of being yok, the gentle revealer, who came into this world, humble in heart, gentle, the one with whom the Father is well pleased.

That's so, so great with plowing with Jesus, is the Father's delighted with his work. He's delighted with his work. Everything that Jesus does for the Father, the Father's heart is delighted and you have the opportunity to get yoked up with him. So this is why we make disciples. It is because the sovereign Lord has commissioned us. It's because it brings good pleasure to the heart of the Father because it brings glory to the Son and because it brings rest to the weary and the overburdened. That's what He's called us to. So wonderful thing, a wonderful reality. So let's stay involved in it. You know, one way you can be involved this week is you pray for these people. You take this responsibility seriously.

You intercede for them. Spend time this next week as they get prepared for the trip, the final days. And I want you to know, they've spent hours upon, hours preparing for this. You don't know how much time they have spent just getting prepared to do this simple work. And so pray for them as we go. You can remain seated, but let's bow our heads in prayer. Go to the Father. Our Heavenly Father, we are amazed at your heart. We are always amazed at your grace. That's why we sing amazing grace. It is a sweet sound that you would save a wretch like me. And because we've entered into this grace, you've given us a heart to take this message of grace to those who've never heard it and who does so desperately need to hear it.

So as we come to you today, Father, we come as your servants, we come as your ambassadors. And we fail so miserably. We're also aware of that. That we have been such miserable ambassadors. We have remained quiet when we should have spoken up. We have remained in our place instead of going at times. But all Father, you've captured our hearts. We can't help but desire to go with the gospel. Please calm our fears. Please fill us with courage. Please remove the idols from our hearts so that we'd be motivated by a love for you and not a love for the idols that dominate our lives so often. We pray that as a congregation, we would see our role fulfilled to be a lampstand in this community and throughout the world.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen. In just a few moments, we're going to celebrate the person of Christ in the unique way in his work on the cross. And one of the things that Paul says that we do when we partake of this fellowship meal with Christ, this simple meal that's copped in this bread is that we proclaim the Lord's death until His return. And that's what we pray for in Jesus' name. And that's what we pray for in Jesus' name. And that's what we pray for in Jesus' name. And that's what we pray for in Jesus' name. And that's what we pray for in Jesus' name. And that's what makes this meal so special. The fact that he's coming back. And it's a sobering time because we celebrate his work, but there is a time coming.

Jesus said that he would not take partake of the vine with him until his return when the kingdom of God would be set up on earth. And he was referring to the marriage separate of the land. If there's coming a time where we're going to celebrate the fellowship meal in the presence and the personal presence of Christ, based on faith, what have you as bride and the bridegroom is going to come. And in fact, in Revelation chapter 19 verse 4, this is what we look for to it. It says in the 24 elders, when the four-legged creatures fell down a worship God who set up the throne saying, Amen. Hallelujah. The divorce came from the throne saying, Praise our God, all you assertants, and those who fear and those who smell great.

And I heard a verse as it were, the verse of a great map, so does the sound of many waters and is the sound of almighty thunder and saying, Hallelujah. For the Lord God, our nipotent rangs, let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage separate of the land has come. And his wife has made herself ready. And the herit was granted to be arrayed and fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous act of the saints. Then he said to me, Right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage separate of the land. This morning we are blessed because you have been called to the marriage separate of the land. And as we celebrate this fellowship meal, we look forward to the fact that the bridegroom is going to return.

And when he returns, it's not going to be a sobering event. It's going to be an event of great joy, of great praise, as we meet our bridegroom. And this song is a song of celebration as we look forward to this day. We will dance, even baptists. Sing a song of celebration with death, a shout of praise, for the bridegroom will come. But there is one and only God can say. We'll go ahead. And when there comes the hell and death if there is time going near, with me, with me and all of you, with me, with me. And all of you will stay by his side. As long as you are by his side, and with me, with me, with me, with me and all of you, with me and all of you, in the song of the land. In the song of the land.

From every song inside the nation, with all of you, in the song of the land. Let's stand and join in the song. Sing the song of the land. Stop the shout of fate, where the background has come. The glorious one. The voice of the song. And all of you will stay by his side. Take a back that face. Looking on the face of Christ. And all of you will stay by his side. So then be for your mind, with your hands and feet, with your hands and feet, when we will appear. And all of you will stay by his side. And all of you will stay by his side. And all of you will stay by his side. From every song inside the nation. In the song of the land. And all of you will stay by his side. And all of you will stay by his side.

In the song of the land. Sing the song of the time of adjusting his name. The fear of death. The fear of death. The fear of death. The fear of death. And all of you will stay by his side. In the song of the land. And all of you will stay by his side. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .