Greetings, church. It is a joy to be with you here this morning and open the word of God. I appreciate the opportunity to preach during the Sunday service. Today, I would like to talk about the Great Commission. We just heard Pastor Alan read the passage from Matthew 28. We heard a wonderful prayer as well. Our mission as a church is the Great Commission. That's my topic for today. The Great Commission is our mission as the church. Make your way to the book of Acts, chapter one, verses one through 11. The book of Acts, chapter one, verses one through 11. As you go there, I want to introduce this topic by saying that we must know the mission of our church. What is the mission of it? Why do we exist as the body of Christ? It's a very important question. Every company, every organization has to know its mission, and they publish it on their website. If everything is mission, then nothing is mission. If we are preoccupied with so many things, we lose the reason we exist. We must define the mission, otherwise We are lost in so many good things and we forget the purpose here on earth. If everything is important, nothing is important, we can do many things, but the question is what we ought to do, what we must do, and what is our mission? We have limited resources. We have limited time, we have limited money, we have limited giftedness, we have limited energy, we have limited opportunities. So we need to focus on the mission and not spread ourselves too thin. What is the mission of a church? Matthew 28, 18 to 20, I'm going to read it for you. You can just keep your Bibles open in Acts 1. Pastor Alan just read, I'll just read it again. So clear, so straightforward. There's no ambiguity there. All authority, Jesus says, has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. That's the mission of a church. Go make disciples. Make disciples is the main cause, is the main clause in that statement. And we are making disciples by going, by baptizing, and by teaching everything Jesus commanded. The mission of a church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ to the glory of God by the preaching of a gospel, empowered by the Spirit. And we go to all nations, which means all, not only countries, but all ethnic groups within countries. Many Christians in our day are confused about the mission of a church. Not in our church, though. I'm glad our church is very faithful in that regard. But many people redefine the mission of a church. They say the mission of a church, yeah, it's preaching the gospel, but also to do social good, social change, social justice, to promote the gospel of good deeds and the gospel of human flourishing. They talk about God's shalom, God's well-being to the people that you're spreading as a church. For example, they argue that mercy ministry, not gospel ministry, but mercy ministry, which is the good deeds for the community, is a part of a mission of a church. It's our duty as a church to do, for example, things like this, eliminate poverty, eliminate injustice, eliminate abuse or trafficking, fighting diseases such as AIDS, or being involved in public education, fighting abortions, food, and help people get clean water. Again, those are not bad things to do, but that's not the mission of a church. Many churches and many missionary organizations, they begin well. They want to preach the gospel. But over time, they forget the gospel, and they focus on social change, and they forget their mission. For example, many missionary organizations now are shifting their focus to the social needs. In the past, missionary organizations used to focus on proclamation of the gospel, church planting, discipleship. That's their mission only. And they did good on the side as individuals. As individual Christians, we are called to do good. But as a church and as a mission organization, our focus is discipleship and preaching of the gospel. I'm gonna read for you from an article about mission in Africa. This is what they say. Instead of hiring preachers and pastors, they're hiring medical people who can help medically, as well as who can care for orphans, who are engineers who help in digging wells, fighting diseases, distributing food, And those people barely any time or never shared the gospel with anyone. And the statistics is very sad. This article quotes from Africa, statistics from Africa, from the country of Malawi, 38% of missionaries in Malawi are involved in direct gospel proclamation. 38%. such as evangelism, church planting, and theological training. 62% are involved in social action or serve as support staff. In fact, there are as many Western school teacher missionaries in Malawi as there are evangelists, church planters, and theological instructors combined. So they're just teachers. They're Christian? Yeah, but they teach different subjects in schools, Western schools. But they're not missionaries. And the whole purpose is just to produce that social change. To provide education is a wonderful thing, but that's not what the church is called to do. Where does this idea come from? This idea comes from John Stott. He was a theologian in England, a good and faithful man for the most part, but he confused the church on the mission, on its mission. He said that there are two purposes of the church, or there is this by fold mission of a church. And both points, both purposes are equally important and they comprise the mission of a church. This is what he says. He says, mercy ministry and gospel preaching, they are like two blades of a pair of scissors, or the two wings of a bird. This partnership is clearly seen in the public ministry of Jesus, who not only preached the gospel, but fed the hungry and healed the sick. In his ministry, karigma, which is proclamation, and diakonia, which is service, went hand in hand. His words explained his works, and his works dramatized his words. Both were expressions of His compassion for people, and both should be ours. Again, as I said, churches and missionary organizations, they begin well. They have both purposes. Oh, we're going to preach the gospel and do mercy ministry at the same time. And over time, the gospel gets sidetracked and then dropped. and you only become a social organization producing only social change. Why the gospel is lost? Because it's not easy to preach the gospel. Way easier to go and do good to people, everybody will like you. All countries will welcome you, even the Muslim hostile countries. But you go and preach the gospel and tell people they are sinners and the wrath of God is on them and Jesus is the only way, they will hate you. It's a hard work to preach the gospel. That's why the gospel is sidetracked and lost in the multitude of good causes, which only addresses the temporal need and the temporal well-being. You're still going to hell. You can be educated. You can have food and drink. You're still going to hell. Your eternal need is still there. You're still under eternal condemnation. These churches and these missionary organizations, they do not love people. True love actually brings the greatest good from the greatest danger. People are on the way to hell. We want to save them. They're separate from God. We want to bring them to God. That's their ultimate danger. That's their ultimate need. Their soul. Piper says, Christians care about all suffering. Yes, we want to help everybody if they are suffering. Especially we care for eternal suffering. That's true love. The true love is the love that preaches the gospel and doesn't hide the truth of the gospel. So this is the mission of a church. The mission of a church is the mission of Christ and it is to preach the gospel. I want just to briefly talk about Jesus and His mission. He comes to earth and He does a lot of good. We know that He healed a lot of people. He cast out demons. He raised people from the dead. He did a lot of good. Mercy ministry was a part of His work, but that was not His mission. That was not His mission. Jesus was very clear. There was a day in Capernaum, and that day is very detailed in Mark chapter 1. He ministers to the people. He heals a lot of people. He casts out demons. He does a lot of work. That day is full with social help. And then He departs, Capernaum. And disciples are coming to me and says, why are we leaving? We have such a success here. Crowds are so excited. Everybody gets healed. Everybody gets that benefit, temporal benefit. Jesus says, let us go somewhere else. To the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also. For that is what I came for. This is Mark 1.38, I came for the preaching. Jesus did good, healed people, helped people, had compassion over people to show His deity, to show that He's God in human flesh, and to show the love and compassion of God, even for our misery, for our suffering, for our sickness. He displayed God in Himself. He displayed God's love and compassion for suffering. But that was not His mission. Jesus is very clear. I came to preach. That's my mission. To preach, but also to save, to die on the cross, to be that substitutionary atonement for sinners. Mark 10.45, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. That's the mission. He came to die. as a sacrifice for the sins of His people. Matthew 1.21, she will bear a son, you shall call His name Jesus. Even in the meaning of His name, His mission is, He will save His people from their sins. That's the mission, to save people from their sins, from eternal damnation. Luke 19.10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. He's so clear about His mission. And I don't have time to read. We want to exposit this passage in Acts. But then Jesus says, my mission is your mission. As a church, your mission is my mission. He says in his high priestly prayer, he was praying to the Father and he says, as you sent me into the world, the same mission I have, the same mission my people have, my disciples. I also have sent them into the world. John 20, 21, he says, as the Father has sent me, I also sent you. He's the Good Shepherd, not only to care for our temporal needs, but to lay His life for us. Lay down His life. That's His mission. That's His purpose. And the gospel is so faithfully was proclaimed in the book of Acts. The church actually obeyed it. And they focused on the preaching. They focused on discipleship, on evangelism, on missions. We don't see much social work, social. The only miracles were happening just to get the attention so that they could preach. I mean, we can go to the public square to evangelize, but nobody listens to us. That's why, I don't know if public preaching is actually useful, because nobody listens to you. I tried. People just pass by, they just ignore you. And you try to warn them, and you try to raise your voice, and you do everything possible. In the book of Acts, we see they do miracles, there's that gathering of attention, or the tongues, when people are shocked what's happening, and then they have the opportunity to preach the gospel, and the gospel saves. God used the miracles, of course, but it was not the mission of a church. When we see the first missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, in Acts chapter 14, it says that they preached the gospel to that city, and had made many disciples. They returned to Lystra, to Iconium, to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed." It's all gospel. It's all discipleship. Making disciples. Preach the gospel, strengthening souls, appoint elders, appoint the churches. That's the mission of a church. Paul says, when I came to you to Corinth, in 1 Corinthians 2, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom. I declined all that theatrical delivery. I came proclaiming to you the testimony of God. I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. The gospel, so centered on the gospel. What about good works? We're called to do good works. We're called to do mercy ministry as well. But that's not a part of a mission. We should never confuse the mission. As a church, our mission is discipleship, making disciples of all nations. Going, baptizing, teaching what Christ commanded. But as an individual Christian, you're commanded to care for the orphans, adopt orphans. care for the widows, care for those in need, especially those who are part of a church. We even have a fund in our church for those who are struggling financially. So we prioritize people in our congregation, believers. We prioritize also our families. The Bible says there's nothing wrong to focus on your family first. Take care of your family. You have an extra, give it to others. As an individual Christian, you have that duty, that responsibility to do good. And then through doing good, you point to Christ, right? That they would see your good deeds and glorify, not you, the Father. You want to point them to Christ. It's an opportunity for evangelism in our good deeds and our mercy ministry, but it's not the mission of us as a church, as a body of Christ. We should not confuse it. Otherwise, again, what happens over time, the gospel is dropped. Like Salvation Army, they still have churches, but it's basically livable. They have barely any faithful preaching there. It's all focused on social good. All right, let's look at our passage. Let's read our passage, and we will exposit it. That was my introduction. It was a little bit too long of an introduction, but if you didn't get anything else, I think this is good for you to remember. What is the mission of a church? Acts 1, 1-11. The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. To this he also presented himself alive after his suffering, by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which, he said, you heard of from me. for John baptized with water, but he will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, It is not for you to know times or epochs, which the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." Today, I have four points, four truths about the Great Mission, the Great Commission. Four truths about Christ's mission for our church, about the Great Commission. These are the four truths, and they're very important. Number one, the first truth, what is the timing of a mission? When are we to do this mission? Before we jump into the mission, let's look at the timing of the mission. Verse 3, Jesus appears to them. So for 40 days after the resurrection, He kept appearing to them. He didn't actually live with them. They didn't actually see Him consistently. He would appear and disappear, appear and disappear. And verse 3 says that He was presenting Himself alive and He was showing Himself. Convincing proof that He's real, He's alive, He's in bodily form. And He appeared for a period of 40 days, verse 3, speaking to them concerning the kingdom of God. He was teaching them the true theology about God's reign here on earth, about the gospel and about discipleship. He was teaching them and training them for the mission. And verse 6, they are asking this important question. When they're coming together to Him, they're asking Him, when, Lord, is it at this time are you restoring the kingdom to Israel? That's a good question. That's a good question. He just mentioned in verse 5, Jesus said that you'll be baptized by the Holy Spirit, and they immediately connected it to the kingdom. Most of our covenantal friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, And many commentators, they bash disciples. I mean, they're just ruthless. They say, disciples are so foolish. Jesus spent three years with them. He appeared alive to them. For 40 days, he comes to teach them the kingdom of God. And the only question they come up with, it's about the timing, verse six. I'm gonna read for you Calvin. Calvin really destroys the disciples. Poor, poor disciples. If they were to know what Calvin wrote about them. Calvin says the following, if I can find the place. Calvin says the following that, he says, for example, they all showed stupidity, not one or two disciples. Basically all of them. There are as many mistakes in their question as there are words. In the meantime, they declared thereby how bad scholars they were under such a good master. How harsh is Calvin towards the disciples. But Jesus noticed he doesn't say you guys are wrong. Verse 7, he doesn't say you're wrong about the kingdom. The whole idea of the redemption of Israel is completely wrong and off. He says to them, it's not the time. The Father set the time for Israel to be saved in the future. There will be a time God will deal with Israel. There will be a time when Israel will be saved. Romans 11. But for now, now is the mission of a church. Now, verse 8, you will receive power and you shall be my witnesses. The idea and the truth, the God's truth that Israel as a nation will be restored, as a political entity, as a nation, and Jesus will reign on earth for a thousand years is true and biblical, and there are promises in the Bible. Even in the New Testament, we have a lot of evidence that Jesus will reign in Jerusalem for a thousand years. For example, in Luke, when the angel appears to Mary, he prophesies that Jesus will, the Lord, the Father, will give him the throne of his father David, and he'll reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. This is literally, we take this passage literally. Jesus will reign over Israel in Jerusalem, and that's what they're asking here in verse 6. Where are you restoring the kingdom? To Israel. And I have many passages to read from, but we don't have time. Disciples were anticipating that the kingdom of God will be appearing. They anticipated that Jesus will establish the kingdom in Israel. He will redeem Israel. Luke 24, 21, you remember, they were on the way to Emmaus, and Jesus meets them, and they said, we hoped that He would redeem Israel, and He will in the future. Also in the Old Testament, that truth that when God will pour out His Spirit, that's when Israel will be redeemed. The new covenant accompanied by the sign of the coming of the Spirit and by the kingdom of Israel being established. And they're conquering all their enemies and Israel will have the preeminence. So Jesus will reign in Israel over all nations for a thousand years. And there's so many passages, so many Old Testament prophecies about this. And we have even in the New Testament clear, clear evidence that that will happen in the future. All Israel will be saved. For example, that truth that the Spirit will be poured out when God will restore Israel. Zechariah 12, In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. I will pour out on the house of David and on the house of the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication. so that they will look on me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. The destruction of other nations, this is a political earthly kingdom, will happen the same time when nation of Israel will embrace Jesus as their Messiah. They will see him whom they pierced as he's coming down from heaven. and establishing His kingdom. They are linked. Salvation of Israel and establishing of earthly kingdom here on earth will be at the same time. So disciples are not foolish. They're not ignorant. They're not uninformed. They know that will happen and Jesus is not rebuking them. He says, you're just mistaking. The timing is different. Verse 7, it's not for you to know the times and epochs. So the period of time when God moves, or we can call it dispensations, when God moves in a special way and deals with people in different ways, there will be a different dispensation. Church age is right now. The church age will end with rapture after a great tribulation. Jesus is coming back to establish His Millennium Kingdom. That's our future events. The Father set these times and it will happen during the time that He set. Right now, it's the time for the mission. Right now, it's the time for the church to accomplish its mission. And that's why it's called the time of the Gentiles. I don't know how many of you are Jewish. I don't know if we have any Jewish people. I don't know if me and my wife have some Jewish blood. I have to check. We are from the part where a lot of Jewish people used to live. But I'm not going to boast in that. We boast in Christ. Luke 21-24, it says that right now is the time of Gentiles. And when it will be over, God will start dealing with Israel. Even the Great Tribulation is the judgment of Israel for the most part. He's judging Israel for their rejection of their Messiah. Luke 21-24, Jesus says, So the times of the Gentiles, that's the time of the church. That's the time when we have to accomplish this mission. We have to focus on this mission. I remember we were in Jerusalem eight years ago, and people say, well, is Jerusalem trampled by Gentiles right now? Because who's controlling Jerusalem? IDF, the forces of Israel, Israel Defense Forces. But the Temple Mount controls West Bank. Palestinians, Jews, are not allowed to go to Temple Mount. Gentiles are still controlling Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles. And it's still happening right now, even though they have the rest of a part of the city under their control. Then Paul writes, For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, so that you will not be wise in your own estimation. Don't be proud. Don't dismiss the national redemption of Israel in the future. That's pride. that a partial hardening had happened to Israel until the fullness of a Gentile has come in. And so all Israel will be saved. The last Gentile is in, rapture happens, seven years of great tribulation, Israel will be saved. All Israel. I do believe every single one of them who stays alive by then because a lot of them will perish. So now is the mission of a church. Jesus is saying, don't focus on the redemption of Israel. Don't be political. Don't try to fight off Roman government. Now, the purpose is now for the church to accomplish its mission, to reach people with the gospel. That's the first truth. The timing is now. Believer, how are you using your time? This week, it was very convicting for me because it's a very small portion of time that I do Great Commission, that I'm focusing on the Great Commission. How much time we're wasting as believers on entertainment, on pleasure, on making money, which we need to provide for our families. But everything is fleeting, everything is unsatisfying. We need to think of this mission and have it in the forefront of our minds every day we wake up. How can I share the gospel with people? How can I pray for my believers? How can I have people over my house to preach the gospel to them? And then when they get saved, to disciple them. It's the responsibility of every believer. Especially if you consider yourself mature. Where are your disciples? Mature believers have disciples. Mature believers have some of their impact and people around them are influenced by their life, by their godliness, by their teaching. And it doesn't take much, brothers and sisters, it takes just heart, care for people and praying for them. A missionary, C.T. Studd, he said the following, one life, one life you have, it will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Only one life, only one life. As a believer, you will appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one of us may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Churches that lose this fire for evangelism, they become dead. There's a tinge in that church, not a good smell. Chosen frozen, and then people become so focused on their salvation that they forget about the lostness of humanity. John Piper says, if you want to have joy, the secret for joy is soul winning. The secret for joy is soul winning. Because you're reminded of a gospel, you're reminded of what a privilege that I'm chosen, elected by God, and God had mercy on me. And I remember what a miserable sinner I was. That's when we remind ourselves, when we preach the gospel, we see losses of humanity around us. People are so miserable in their lives. That's the timing. The timing is now. Do it. Now is the timing. And the accounting is coming. The judgment is coming. We will give an account. Not the judgment of condemnation. It's the judgment for believers to answer for our lives. We must focus on this mission. And when you do good, make sure you have gospel as a mission. If you invite people over your house, gospel-centered conversations. You pray, God, give me boldness and let me do this. I have a friend, he's still a friend of mine, and I remember they were so kind, so gentle, and just people, they're like, I don't know, like honey. Everybody would just flock to them, like non-believers would just love to be around them. And they had so many people over. And I was asking him, do you actually preach the gospel? He said, I pray, I pray before meals. I'm like, okay, I want to hear your prayer. It has to have the gospel in that prayer. If it's just a gentle prayer about the blessing of food, no gospel, brother, you're failing. Well, eventually we'll get there. Well, the longer you wait, the harder it gets to bring the gospel. We should be straightforward witnesses of Christ. Okay, let's move to the second point, the second truth of the mission. What is the essence of a mission? Verse 8, this is the essence of a mission. By the way, verse eight is the main verse of a whole book of Acts. If you want the summary of a book of Acts, it's verse eight, and it also provides the outline of a whole book of Acts. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth. The scope of a mission is to the ends of the earth. First start in Jerusalem. That's chapter 1 through 7. Then Stephen is killed. They were so comfortable in Jerusalem. And God had to do something to push them out of Jerusalem at the price of Stephen's life. Chapter 8 through 11, we see Judea and Samaria. How the gospel is going there through Stephen and through Peter. And then chapter 12 through 28, we see the gospel going to the ends of the earth through the apostle Paul. We see how it comes from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, from Jews to Gentiles, from Peter to Paul. Peter is for the circumcised. Paul is the apostle for the uncircumcised. And that progression is beautiful. This is the outline of a whole book. And it's amazing. Brothers and sisters, in 30 years the church, the Apostolic Church, penetrated with the Gospel every major city of the Roman Empire. In 30 years. This was an amazing movement of God. What is the essence of this mission? This statement, you shall be my witnesses. You shall be my witnesses. This is the essence of the mission. What does it mean to be a witness? Have you been a witness? Have you witnessed accidents? Have you witnessed crimes? You're a witness. Have you witnessed people getting baptized? You're a witness. Have you witnessed people getting married? You're a witness. All of us have been witnessed, witnessing some amazing things, some interesting things, some sad things as well. A witness is a person who saw, heard, and experienced. They saw their eyes, they experienced that situation. And this word is actually marturos. We derive the word martyr from this word because they were witnessing so much to the point of death. So they were killed for their witnessing, for their testimony. And this word is used in various forms 29 times in the book of Acts. God is saying this is the key idea of the book of Acts, witnessing. We cannot save anybody, God saves, but we are responsible to witness. A witness is a person who has seen, heard, and experienced. John writes in 1 John, what was from the beginning. What we have heard, this is Christ. What we have seen with our eyes, they were eyewitnesses. What we have looked and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life. The apostles were eyewitnesses. They touched, they saw Christ, they heard Christ. They were the witnesses. And if you look at Acts 1, 22, that was the requirement to become an apostle. You must become a witness. You have to be there with the beginning, with the baptism of John until the resurrection of Jesus. You must be a witness of the resurrection. Otherwise, you could not be a part of the apostolic number. So a witness is a person who has the personal contact with Jesus Christ. So important. So important. And it says, my witnesses. The personal pronoun, mine. There's a direct personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus looks at you and says, you're my witness. You belong to me. I belong to you. There's that personal relationship. I'm your Lord. I'm your Savior. I'm your treasure. And we have that. connection with Christ. And the question for me and for you is, are you a witness of Jesus? Have you encountered Jesus Christ? Is he real to you? I think all of us have to experience what Saul, or Paul, experienced on the way to Damascus. That meeting with Jesus that transformed your life. There has to be that moment or a period of time when it happened, the change happened, and Christ became precious to you. And you're willing to suffer for Him. Christianity is not just doctrines and teachings, although the biblical truth is very important, highly important. Christianity is not only godly behavior and godliness and holiness of life, even though it's very important. Christianity is not the faith of our fathers and mothers who passed it to us, which is beautiful and what a privilege is to have godly parents. Christianity is not rituals and ceremonies. Christianity is a personal encounter of Jesus Christ. Have you experienced this? I tell people who are not Christian, the moment you become a Christian, you cannot close your mouth about Jesus. Everybody will know about Jesus. It will just flow from you. It's the Spirit of God will energize you, especially when you have that honeymoon season with Christ, when you just became a believer. And if you cannot testify about Christ, because it takes risks, and it's a shame, and people will laugh at you. People will maybe break their fellowship and friendship with you. It's costly. Mark 8, 38, Jesus says, to your neighbors, to your relatives, you pray. You don't have to be a public speaker. You don't have to be a preacher. You don't have to do it publicly or even going out in the neighborhood to evangelize. But you have people in your life, non-believers. You must pray to God to give you that boldness, courage, take a risk and tell them about Christ. If you are a Christian, if you are a true believer, if you are a witness, we will take that risk and be His witnesses. Oh Lord, help us. Help us to be the witnesses of Christ, to point to Christ, to tell people about Jesus. Thirdly, so we looked at the timing for the mission is now the essence of a mission, to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. And thirdly, the motivation for the mission. The motivation for the mission is Jesus' ascension. Verses 9 through 11, Jesus says that Actually, Luke writes, and he writes in such simple words that Jesus was just lifted up. Just extraordinary event. This is amazing. It is a miracle to be lifted up. And the cloud, I used to believe the cloud was real, like the physical cloud. And after studying this passage more, this is actually the glory of God hiding Jesus, the Shekinah glory that was there in the tabernacle and in the temple. And you remember during the transfiguration, the cloud covered Jesus, came upon Him. And that's what we see here. Jesus was lifted up. So simple and simple words are used. Or Luke 24, we only have two passages that describe this. Luke 24, 51 says, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And the heaven is not a physical reality. It's outside of our space, outside of creation. It's a spiritual world outside of it. So where's the motivation for this fulfillment of this mission? Verse 11, the angels appear, those who were clothed in white. And verse 11, they say, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? I mean, you just received the mission, not to be stargazers. to be witnesses. This Jesus who had been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven. John MacArthur sees this as a motivation, and I do that too. I think this is an encouragement to them. He'll come exactly the same way. He ascended from Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. He's coming back to the Mount of Olives. And then the Mount of Olives will split in two. This is Zechariah 14.3 and 4. It will be amazing how the transformation of the city of Jerusalem It will be a huge area because it has to be enough for billions of people, probably. Maybe at least millions. Because we're all coming back to live there for a thousand years. So Jesus has ascended from Mount Olives. He's coming back to Mount of Olives. He ascended visibly. He is returning visibly. He was taken up in a cloud gloriously. And that cloud is the visible manifestation of divine presence and glory. And He's coming back. Jesus says, they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And that's the encouragement for us. Jesus is coming back and we want to We want to worship Him. We want to go into all the world and preach the Gospel and sacrifice our lives for the purpose of the Gospel. I was listening to some of the Shepherds Conference and there was a Q&A there and Joel Beeku was saying, every minister of the Gospel should have an eye for young men and to tell them you must seek and pray to the Lord. Maybe God is calling you to full-time ministry. Because typically what happens is, if you are not satisfied with your career choices, well, ministry is available. No, no, no. It should be the other way around. Consider things and pray. Is God gifting you and calling you to be a minister of the gospel, to be that missionary, to be that pastor? And maybe in a supporting role, but still be involved. Be an elder. Aspire. Every young man should aspire to be like the pastor. Like the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3. It was not given only for the pastor. It was given for every young man. Again, Jesus is coming back. This is real. This is reality. If this is real, He's coming back. Let us live like this. Yes, it was very convicting for me this week. And this is what they did. We see immediate obedience. They returned, in verse 14, they kept, they all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer. Unity and prayer. God moves when we are united and we are prayerful for the mission, for the cause, and we see God move through that. Lastly, last truth, we have just a few minutes. The power of a mission. We talked about the timing, we talked about the essence, we talked about the motivation for the mission, Jesus' return, and lastly, the power of the mission. I'm gonna spend a little bit more time here, even though we have a few minutes. Verse four and five and verse eight, the first part of verse eight. Gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised. which he said, you heard off from me, for John baptized with water, but you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. The baptism with the Holy Spirit and the promise of a father is exactly what verse eight says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Exactly the same, the baptism of the Spirit is the baptism of power. In their case was the baptism of power. Disciples had everything. They had all the knowledge. They had all the experience. They saw Jesus for three years, for 40 days after the resurrection. They had all those convincing proofs, verse 3, but they were not ready. They were not ready. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, I think it was so helpful to bring the dependence on the Spirit into the Reformed circles. And also Spurgeon, read Spurgeon, how dependent he was on the Holy Spirit. And the Reformed people are so intellectual sometimes, they forget. They study more than they pray. But we should do both equally. Equally. Again, these disciples are not ready for this mission yet until Spirit of God comes to them. They were born again already. They had the true faith. They had so much. but they were still not ready. They had to wait 10 days when the Spirit of God comes upon them. The mission is impossible without the power of God, without the power of the Holy Spirit. I remember in seminary I was so sometimes discouraged thinking of myself, how can I be a minister of the gospel? I'm so weak. I'm an immigrant here, I don't know how to speak proper English, whatever. And I remember a friend of mine would say, from South Africa, he would say, it's not you, man. It's God through you. Just depend on God. Depend on the Spirit's power. Spurgeon used to say, it is better to speak six words in the power of the Holy Spirit than to preach 70 years of sermons without the Spirit. 70 years of sermons. Paul says, for the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power. The mission is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit. And then Paul comes to the Corinth. He says, when I came to you, brothers, I did not come with superiority of speech and of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. And then he says, I determined to preach nothing, to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And then he says, I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. No confidence in himself. This is Apostle Paul. and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Amen. We must plead with God to anoint us, to pour out His Spirit on us when we evangelize. This refers to everybody. If you're a mother, If you're a mother of my wife, and you are a mother, when you preach the Gospel to the children, you must pray, Spirit, give me the power, give me boldness, give me the right words. So many mothers led their sons to Christ, and those sons became amazing preachers of the Gospel. That's your fruit, that's your labor. We must pray, Spirit of God, come, especially upon preachers. We can preach so much, and nothing will happen until We are desperate for God to move among us. Again, very convicting for me. I do believe in their case. It was a very unique season. They were already born again. They were already disciples. They were already faithful Christians. They were washed by the blood of Christ. They were faithful believers. And yet they were not baptized. This is a very unique season. Very unique. And this baptism was a baptism of power specifically, and we see that through the book of Acts. In our case, it doesn't happen this way. When you become a Christian, when you put your faith in Christ and repent of your sin, that actually, the moment before that, you're born again. God must give you life, enable you to believe and repent. And then you are baptized into the body of Christ. You are incorporated into the body of Christ. That's what the baptism of the Spirit means. In church age, this is a very transitional, descriptive passage, not prescriptive. Jesus doesn't say this will happen to every believer. Jesus says this is happening to you, that generation of apostles. So every believer is baptized, every true believer is baptized into the body of Christ, 1 Corinthians, So we are united in the body of Christ. Because we were baptized, we are incorporated by... What does baptism mean? To immerse underwater or into something. So as a believer, you are taken outside of Christ, placed into Christ, into the body of Christ. That's what baptism of the Holy Spirit means. But there is a difference between being indwelled by the Spirit. Every believer has the Spirit in them. Dwelling by the Spirit. You always have the Spirit in you if you're a Christian. And the difference is with being filled with the Spirit. Filling with the Spirit is not permanent. It comes up and down. And as a believer, you know, you remember some days in your life, you're so on fire for God. You're walking in holiness, you're walking in purity, and God amazingly used you. And now you look back, you regret. some of those decisions, and then you pray, you seek holiness, and you go back. There's always restoration. Christian life is a series of new beginning. Every day is a new page, and we want to, again, depend on God and walk with Christ. Filling with the Spirit, to be filled with the Spirit is your responsibility as a believer. It's to be controlled by the Spirit. It's to be controlled to walk by the Spirit. And there are commands like this, Ephesians 5, 18, Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, which means be filled with God's Word and be dependent in prayer. When we pray and we are filled with God's Word, we are becoming controlled by God. by His Word and the prayer helps us to depend on Him and ask Him to bless us. Galatians 5, so Ephesians 5, the command is there. Galatians 5 also, there's a command, walk by the Spirit. It's a command for you and I. Verse 16, I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. If you're a Christian, walk by the Spirit, pursue holiness, pursue purity. and pursue dependence on the Holy Spirit. And when you do that, don't forget the mission. Don't forget the mission. Pray for opportunities. You have non-believers in your life. And pray, God, anoint me, bless me, pour out your Spirit. I want to see your power at work through me. Look with me. Acts chapter 4 just a few pages if you would please just a little study in evangelism in the apostolic preaching of the gospel the way they did evangelism chapter 4 verse 5 on the next day the rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem so they were They were basically, John and Peter were brought before the Sinai, the most powerful people. Annas was there, verse six, and just very intimidating environment. They are standing before the greatest people, the most important political figures, I guess religious leaders in Israel. Verse eight, then Peter, filled with his Holy Spirit, said to them." We see that often. Right before he preaches, an extra is given to him that controls the Spirit, the right words, the right passion, but mostly it's seen in boldness and courage and conviction. Boldness, courage, that's the sign of the Spirit-filled man and the Spirit-filled preaching. filled with the Holy Spirit. Verse 13, now as they observed the confidence, the same word, boldness or courage is the word for confidence, of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated, untrained men. They were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. So where are they getting this boldness and courage and confidence? The Spirit of God has given them. this boldness and courage. Verse 19, these are strong words. He is not afraid. He's ready to die. He's putting his life on the line. But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge. We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard. It's similar to Martin Luther's. You remember his statement, I can do no other, so help me God. I mean, the boldness and courage here is just overwhelming. I really wanted to, I wanted to, sometimes I would say, Lord, what was the intonation? What way they said it? I wanted to hear the original, the way they said things in the Bible. And then they threatened them, and then they let them go, and then they pray. There's a prayer here in chapter four, verse 29. At the end of that prayer, now, Lord, take note of their threats. And grant that your born servants may speak your word with all confidence. If you have a different translation, it says courage or boldness. That's the word, courage and boldness. I don't like confidence. Confidence is there, but courage and boldness, that's the word. while you extend your hand to heal and sign and wonders take place through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness." God answered. The same word. I don't know why they use confidence and they should just use boldness and courage everywhere. That's the preaching of the Word of God. Brothers and sisters, let us pray to God to pour out His Spirit upon us. We want to see people come through. We want to see a lot of things. We have a great God, and we need to expect great things from God. And pray for our pastor, Alan. He's faithful, and he boldly preaches the Word. You hear him. And let us commit to prayer. A praying congregation is a powerful people. William McDonald, the commentator, writes, God works when people pray. Ordinarily, we would rather do anything than pray. Prayer is hard. But it is only when we wait before God in desperate, believing, fervent, unhurried, united prayer that the reviving, energizing power of the Spirit of God is poured out. As I was preparing this message, I was reminded There was a moment in my ministry back in Philadelphia when I just stayed in the church until late, late. And I just spent hours and hours in praying. And I remember that week, one of the guys got saved. And he's at TMS right now, graduating this year and becoming a pastor. He was not a part of my church, but he would come and visit, and I had influence on him. He was a part of a different church. But to see that and just, and there was that connection, that desperate, long, importune prayer. You will not let go of God until he answers. That kind of prayer. We must pray again. I'm not there, brothers and sisters. I have to pray. I have to do so much more to grow in that. Paul writes, Paul asks for prayer. Pray on my behalf, Apostle Paul, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness, the same word, the mystery of the gospel. And then in Philippians 1.20, he says, with all boldness Christ to be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. The same word, boldness. Boldness, confidence, and then God moves. I went over time, but I really wanna read this story. I don't know if you heard this story, but this is the story when people begin well, focus on the mission, and then over time, they abandon the mission. Let's keep the mission central for us. On a dangerous seacoast, where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, went out day and night, tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little life-saving station. So it became famous. Some of those who were saved and various others in the surrounding area wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and their money and their effort for the support of this work. New boats were bought and new life-saving crews were trained and the little life-saving station grew. Some of the members of a life-saving station were unhappy that the building was was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots and beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely because they used it as sort of a club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The life-saving motif still prevailed in the club's decorations, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club held its initiations. About this time, a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in loads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black skin, and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside of the club, where the victims of shipwrecks could be cleansed, cleaned up, before they come inside. At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of a club. Some members insisted upon life-saving as their primary purpose and pointed out they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told if they wanted to save the lives of various kinds of people who are shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast, a little ways, which they did. As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old one. It evolved in a club, into a club. And yet another life-saving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself. And if you visit that coast today, you'll find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us, O Lord. Life is short. Help us to live for your new glory. Use us, O Lord, our small church and our small means and our small talents to proclaim the Gospel, to be your witnesses. Pour out your Spirit upon us, O Lord, especially when we proclaim the Gospel. Help us to be your witnesses. I pray that you would bless Pastor Alan. Thank you for his faithful service here. Continue to work among us. We want to see convergence. We want to see repentance. We want to see conviction of sin. We want to see new life. Oh God, bless us, oh Lord. We depend upon you. Help us, oh Lord, to pray and seek your face. We pray in the name of Jesus, amen.