You know, grandpa did this, and uncle so-and-so did that, and some being funny stories, and some being serious stories that have a moral lesson that kind of shape who you are as a family. And those stories get told, and those stories get retold, and they go through generations, you know, over and over and over again. The same story being told, but they never get old. because they're part of who you are as a family. And I'm guessing by some of the nods that I'm seeing that you guys have stories in your own families that are similar in that way. And as I was thinking about that, As Christians, we also have some family stories that we tell and that we retell over and over again because again, they shape who we are. They shape whose we are as well. They define us and what we stand for, what we believe, what we hold to and we share them again down through the generations and we retell them and they never really get old to us. The story of the resurrection is that way. Every year we come together about this time and we gather and we read the story of the resurrection. And we may read from Matthew or Mark or Luke or John, but you know, we read the story of the resurrection together because for us as Christians, it defines who we are. I mean, right? The apostle Paul says that without the resurrection, we are of all people to be pitied more than anything else. Because everything as Christians rides on the reality of the resurrection. And thus, those people who hate Christianity, one of the things that they do is they attack the resurrection because they know that if we lose the resurrection, we basically lost everything. And so this is kind of one of those family stories that we share over and over again to remind us of who we are, and whose we are, and what it is. So it is a big deal. In fact, it was such a big deal that in 325 AD, a long time ago. In the early church, there was a group that gathered together in the city of Nicaea. We call it the Council of Nicaea when they gathered together and you go, okay, well, but there's something called the Nicene Creed that some of you may have heard of or used in terms of your worship. It basically defines so much that we agree upon. And it says, if you don't agree upon these things, you can't call yourself a Christian. That's how important this council was and they said, when they gathered, they said it is this event, the resurrection of Christ, is so important that the church everywhere across the world, as the church spreads across the world, needs to choose a day so that everybody in every place around the world can say, on this day, we are going to especially celebrate the resurrection. I mean, every Sunday we celebrate the resurrection. I mean, that's the reason we worship on Sundays, is to give God glory for the resurrection. But a special focus on one day that you can say that whether you're in Spain or whether you're in, of course, America didn't exist at the time, but whether you're in America, whether you're somewhere in Africa, whether you're somewhere in Asia, wherever it is in the world that you are, On this day, we're going to specially focus on the resurrection. And what's really kind of cool this year, because usually the Western Church and the Eastern Church kind of, they have these calculations that they figure out which day they're going to celebrate it on. And they're usually kind of a couple weeks apart. Actually, this year is one of those years, it doesn't happen very often, but one of those years where both the Eastern and the Western churches are all celebrating on the same day. So whether you're a Baptist, whether you're a Pentecostal, whether you're a Lutheran, or a Presbyterian, or a Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox, or Independent, or I don't know, there's probably 500 more different designations that we could use. Everybody for the most part, has marked this day across the world to celebrate and to give God praise for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's kind of a cool thing to think about that you can say, you know, in the middle of Russia, There's a church that is celebrating the same thing that we're celebrating right now. In the middle of Kenya, my friends in Kenya, I've got dear friends in Kenya, are celebrating what we're celebrating right now. In the middle of Ukraine, in the middle of Brazil, wherever it is that you happen to be, It's this day. So it's a big thing to kind of think about that. It's a reminder that you've got brothers and sisters all over the world that are part of your family that are celebrating the same family story. And so with that kind of in mind, I wanted to go appropriately to Matthew 28. And I wanted to spend some time talking about the story from Matthew's perspective, and there's a lot here, and we could spend months and months and months just digging into this chapter, but I wanna highlight some things as we retell the story, as it were, together. Let me say one more thing. We got four gospels that tell about the life, works, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ. And if you kind of list it, every event in all the four gospels and made a list. And yeah, I'm a geek, I do these kinds of things. And you break it down, every event, every teaching that Jesus gave, every person he interacted with, everything. There would be 305 distinct things that Jesus did that is recorded in the gospels. Of those 305 things, there's only 12 that are told by all four gospel authors. Think about how important, I mean, it's important that anything is recorded, even if it's in one gospel. And sometimes you say, oh, he's in two gospels, that must be a little bit more important, or three gospels, that must be even more important because all three gos- 12 events in Jesus's life are recorded by all four gospel writers. Okay, now they have a little bit of different focus on it. John tells it a little bit differently than Matthew, et cetera, but 12 events. So this is one of the 12, okay? I think that kind of is one of the ways that the gospel writer says, guys, this is that important to you. You know, focus on this, pay attention to this. So, you know, this is kind of what we're doing today, is we kind of retell a family story. And it's part of our family as believers in Jesus Christ. And so this is the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28. I'm just gonna begin in verse one and read to the end of the chapter. Beloved, this is God's holy and inspired and inerrant word. Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came, and he rolled back the stone, and he sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen. As he said, come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him. See, I have told you. So they departed quickly from the tomb for fear and great joy and ran to the disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, greetings. And they came up to him and they took hold of his feet and they worshiped him. And Jesus said to them, do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go up to Galilee and there they will see me. While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city, and they told the chief priest all that had taken place. And when they assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, Tell the people that his disciples came by night and stole them while we were asleep. And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. And so they took the money and they did as they were directed. And this is a story that has been spread amongst the Jews to this day. Now, the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus said to them, all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Amen. Amen. Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we praise you. And we can't praise you enough. We lift our hearts in adoration of you, and we can't even do that enough. You have done for us something that we could never have hoped or dreamed to have done for ourselves. You have saved us. Saved us from the judgment that we deserve. Saved us from the fires of hell that are rightfully ours. And you did so by sending your son to live amongst us, to suffer, to die, and to be shown to us that he conquered death by raising him from the dead on the third day. So Father, as we come to glorify you, as we come to retell this story that belongs to our family, and as Christians, our family alone, I pray that you would be merciful to us, that you would lift our hearts, that we might see truth, and that that might be applied to our lives, and that each one of us would live a little bit differently because of what we've been reminded of here. May your grace and your mercy be with us. May you bless the reading of this word, that it builds up our faith. And as it goes out across the world, I pray that it builds up the faith of those who are your own. But Father, I pray too, that if there are those who do not know you, you would use these words to call them to faith in you, that you might be glorified in them as well. The Father, we pray this, and we pray this, that you would do this either through or in spite of me. And this I pray in Jesus' name, amen. So we have Matthew's account of the gospel. And again, this is a family story of utmost importance. It's kind of the mountaintop of Jesus' ministry here, you know, the resurrection from the dead. But if we're really gonna understand the mountaintop, We also need to be reminded of the valley that took place in the week before the mountaintop. One of the problems I think sometimes in Christian churches is people go from Sunday to Sunday. And so they go from Palm Sunday where everybody's celebrating and lifting up their hands in praise and hallelujahs. And then they go to Easter where everybody's lifting up their hands and singing praises and hallelujahs. But during the week, and one of the crazy things is when you look at the four gospel accounts, we know what happened every single day of that week. During that week, that was not a mountaintop. That was a deep, dark valley. And we need to remember that valley to really, really appreciate the mountaintop that we are given in Christ's resurrection. And so let me just remind you, very briefly, of what that valley looked like for our Lord. So last Sunday, Jesus comes riding in on the donkey, something that was symbolic in Jewish culture of a king's ascension, king coming in peace. And so Jesus comes, Solomon, when he was coronated rode on his father's donkey. Jesus rode on a donkey that had been committed to the Lord and had never been ridden. And so, again, he's riding in on his father's donkey as a sign to the world that he is the rightful king of Jerusalem and, of course, all of the earth. And people are celebrating that. They're singing the hosannas. They're laying down the palm branches. They're laying down their cloaks up on the road in front of them. Again, a sign and a symbol of something that you would do for a returning king. Again, all of the symbolism is important because it points to who Jesus is and what he was doing. And so that Sunday he makes this little tour of Jerusalem and then leaves again. And then Monday, and Monday really begins the challenges. Monday begins with him coming into Jerusalem again and he cleanses the temple. This is the second time that Jesus cleanses the temple in his earthly ministry. Cleanses the temple and he meets up with some Greeks. a reminder that the gospel is going to go to all of the earth, not just be a Jewish gospel. So he meets with some Greeks, they're coming, seeking him out, and they meet up with Philip, and Philip brings them to Christ, and then he leaves again. And Tuesday, opposition begins in earnest, and he is challenged by his enemies at every corner and every turn that he takes. Wednesday, Jesus predicts his own crucifixion, and Jesus meets with the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, and the priests, and begins to betray our Lord, swapping him out for some pieces of silver. Thursday, he makes preparations for Passover and celebrates the Passover meal with his disciples, a meal that we today call the Lord's Supper. And that night, then he is betrayed ultimately by Judas and denied three times by Peter. Can you imagine that? And that account with Peter, there's a point when he denies it and Peter's looking up and Jesus looks directly at him. begin to wrap your head around that reality. That night Caiaphas, the high priest, basically holds an illegal trial. It was illegal for the Jews to have trials at night. It had to be done during the daytime so the public could witness it. So it was essentially kind of a kangaroo court. And then the next day, when sun rises, he sends him to Pilate and Pilate sends him to Herod and Herod sends him back to Pilate and everyone ultimately condemns him. And he's condemned as an insurrectionist. He's beaten, he's mocked, and ultimately he is crucified. And he placed on a cross for three hours. While he's on that cross, he received the wrath of God. It's bad enough to receive the wrath of man. But the wrath of God is something that we cannot comprehend. And he receives the wrath of God on that cross, paying the debt that you and I owe. The wrath that you and I owe was poured upon his head and not on mine. Paul writes that he who knew no sin became sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God. An exchange takes place. He stands in our place for the punishment we deserve. And he dies, he is hurriedly taken to the cold tomb. One thing I've said to people as they're closing in on death is that they need not fear the tomb as believers because even that in that Jesus sanctified the tomb by his very presence in there for those three days. But it was about time for the Sabbath to begin. And the Jewish Sabbath began sundown on Friday night. And you weren't allowed to work on the Sabbath day. That was considered sin and against the law of God. And so they had to get everything done hurriedly so they could get back before the sun fully went down. And so Friday night, he was left partially treated, partially prepared, left in the grave. crossed the day on Saturday. And disciples, that Saturday, they spent the day ashamed of what they had done, fearful of retribution. They might be arrested too, and essentially in hiding. Till Sunday morning. Till Sunday morning hits. See, the Sabbath ended Saturday night, but then it was dark. You know, those were not the days of flashlights and big spotlights and things like that. You didn't do a lot in the dark. So Saturday night passes into Sunday morning. And the women recognized that there was work to be done. His body needed to be finished being anointed, and there were herbs that needed to be applied, and all of those things. In the Jewish culture, that's called tahara, where the body is properly prepared for the grave. And they said, there's work to do. And clearly the men didn't agree with the need for that work because they were fearful. And so early in the morning, just before the sun begins to come up. they made their preparations. And we're told that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, and we're left without knowing exactly who the other Mary is, because there's multiple Marys that show up, Mary the mother of Jesus, but it's probably Mary the mother of James. And the only reason I say that by inference is Mary the mother of James is referenced in the previous chapter by Matthew as being there watching the death of Jesus. And so Matthew doesn't mention Mary the mother of Jesus being there. John does. And so you've got Mary, probably Mary the mother of James, but we don't know for sure. And so we speculate there. And so it's two Marys. and they go up and they gather the herbs and the things like that, not an easy task, and walk probably about a mile from where they were staying in Jerusalem to where Jesus was buried in that tomb. In the dark, I imagine it must have been a eerie time. You know what you've gotta do. You're dealing with the dead, though. You know, and I'm not getting into things being superstitious or anything along those lines, but there is a certain solemnity, a solemnness that goes on when you're dealing with the dead and dealing with the bodies of the dead. There's a sadness, kind of an achy feeling in your stomach when you're doing things like that and handling bodies like that. I don't know that they probably would have talked much. because here is their savior. This is not just any person, but here is their savior that they were taken care of and giving honor to even in his death. And so they rose and the questions also must have kind of pondered their minds going, okay, when we get there, what do we do? What happens if the Romans don't let us do what we need to do? What happens is they won't roll the stone away. That's a big heavy stone. You know, it's kind of in a track, so it does roll back and forth, but I'm not sure the two ladies were going to be able to roll that stone on their own. The purpose of sealing the grave was the purpose of it not being easy to get in. And so they hadn't been asking the question of going, I know we're doing the right thing, but I have no idea what we're going to do when we get there. to actually be able to do the right thing, because the rest of the guys won't come and join us. But as I walked, God changed things. That's just the beauty of things. God changes things. God doesn't leave things undone and he doesn't leave his people at a loss. He changes things. Part of the problem is we need to look for it and we need to trust him to do it. But he changes things. And as they are getting closer, the sun is coming up, just kind of cresting the edge. There's an earthquake and not kind of one of those, oh, yo, there's a seismic activity, you know, and what a coincidence. No! We're told the earth moved for a reason. That's because the angel of an angel of the Lord came down and descended to open the tomb for them. that caused an earthquake, that's a mighty thing. You know, this is not simple stuff. By the way, if you're an archeologist, one of the things that archeologists do is they look for patterns in the layers of the soil and you can see the patterns where there have been earthquakes. And I actually know a gentleman who had done archeology in Israel and can say, this is when an earthquake happened. You know, fascinating stuff. Earthquake happened when Jesus died on the cross too. And so you've got two earthquakes happening within a couple days. Doesn't happen that way quite often. An earth shattered because the angel had descended. The God who created the earth said to the earth, you will move. And the earth moved. And so in verse two, and we're told there was a great earthquake because the angel of the Lord had descended from heaven and he came and he rolled back the stone. Verse three, his appearance was like lightning. He was bright and it was blinding. His garments were as bright as snow. When I was living in Florida, that was kind of a hard analogy to communicate to people, because they're like, eh, what's snow? Up here, we understand what snow is. Imagine that fresh snowfall on a bright, sunny morning, and how the sun just kind of glints off of the snow, and you see that brightness, and the shine, and the glare, and all of those kinds of things that come. That's the image and the impression that this angel gave. And the guards, the Roman guards, Rome whose soldiers had conquered the world, the mightiest army on all of the earth, they fell to the ground as dead men. And we can speculate exactly as to what that looked like. But the angel, instead of causing the women to fear, he addressed the women. And he gave them a task. And as we kind of look through this text this morning, we're gonna find three tasks. We call them three commissions. A commission's a fancy word for a command or a task or a set of instructions that we are given. And we're used to the language of the great commission at the end of Matthew here. And we'll talk about that. But there's two other commissions that we find showing up in this text. And he gives them a commission. This is the first. He called it the Angel's Commission. He says, do not be afraid, for I know you seek Jesus who is crucified, and he is not here, for he has risen. As he said he would, by the way, come and see the place where he lay. So there was this, don't take my word for it, go look. Go look. And then so quickly, he says, tell the disciples for that he is risen from the dead. For behold, he is going before you to Galilee and you will see him there. Now, again, I want you to imagine what this must have been like for these women. See, again, one of our problems is we read these stories in black and white, you know, we've got some red, red letter Bibles and stuff like that floating around. But for the most part, we're reading these stories in black and white and we're familiar with them and we've read them and we've heard them and all of those kinds of things. But you know what? Sometimes we forget that these people that the stories are about are real human beings with a real kind of emotions and fears and worries and all of those kinds of things that we have. Now imagine, what it must have been like for these women. Have you ever had one of those experiences where everything looked like it was going wrong and it was going to completely fall apart and crash and tumble? It doesn't matter what it was. Doctors, you know, pronouncing that you have cancer or just whatever it is. Everything seems like it's going to fall apart. And then When you're expecting the worst, the very best happens. The doctor says, sorry, this MRI came around and it's gone. It doesn't exist anymore. The swing, the emotional swing. I mean, how do you respond to that? To laugh, to smile, to cry, to shout loudly, and to jump up and down, or to dance. These are these women. You know, can you imagine their response? We're not kind of told exactly physically how they responded. But they didn't go, oh, thank you, sir, for the announcement, and let me go see, and let me go follow my instructions and go tell the men who are still in hiding. That's not how it happened, folks. They would have been jumping and laughing and crying all at once. And doing that as they ran down. to tell the other 11 about the angelic message. But the second thing I want you to notice is the simplicity of the angelic message. He is not here for he is risen as he said. Folks, that's the gospel. That's the gospel. We have a tendency when somebody says to us, you know, we want you to go and tell the gospel to people. They kind of think it's got to be really complicated and get afraid of doing so because we might not have all the answers. Well, the Bible has some difficult things in it. I grant that. Actually, the Apostle Peter grants that. At the end of his second letter he says, there's some difficult things in here to understand. speaking about Paul's writings in particular, but there's difficult things in the Bible to understand. We got it. The gospel is not one of them. The gospel is something that's simple enough that even a child can understand it. It is basic, it is simple, and it is, there's 11 words in English, and it's the translation I'm reading from. You know, it's not a lot of words. It's not a big, hard concept. The gospel is simple. Yes, Jesus was crucified, and he died as a sacrifice for our sins. But the grave could not hold him. He rose from the dead on the third day, so that all who put their faith in him will not perish, but have eternal life. That's the gospel, folks. That's the gospel. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what you have done. Repent and believe. That's the gospel, folks. Turn away from your life of sin and look to Jesus. Stop trying to earn your salvation by doing stuff. We like to do stuff. We like to feel like I did something. Well, when it comes to the gospel, you didn't do something. Jesus did something and he did something much. Rest in Jesus's completed work. The early churches were so important to them that even their greeting was based on this. They would greet each other, he is risen, and the response would be, he is risen indeed. You know, that's the gospel. That defines who you are as Christians. We have a savior that rose from the dead as a symbol and a sign that he defeated death upon that cross. and that what you and I deserve, which is death, all the way back to Adam and Eve. Don't eat of this fruit or you will what? You will die. You will surely die. Jesus did in our place. He rose again to say, death has no power over you. Praise the Lord. I mean, this is, this is the good news. This is the gospel. He did for us what we could never have hoped to do for ourselves. So why are we so often so quiet about it? Why are we so oftentimes not inclined to say something because we don't want to ruffle feathers or something along those lines? So I give you this challenge today. Here's your mission, as it were. Find somebody today, before the sun goes down, that doesn't know the gospel, or doesn't necessarily believe the gospel, and share the gospel with them. Tell them, he is risen. As he said he would. The grave could not keep my Lord. How about yours, dude? Mohammed is still in the grave. Buddha is still in the grave. Every other quote-unquote Messiah figure in the history of mankind remains in the grave. Mine doesn't. That's the gospel folks. That's the good news that we hope to. Find somebody. Share them. Ask them what they're standing in. You know, when you die. There's an old evangelist by the name, last name is Barnhouse, who used to begin his television, or not television, the radio evangelism things by, if you died today and God said to you, why should I let you into my heaven? What would you be your response? It's a great way of starting a program. And so the answer is, it's not based on what I've done, but it's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. Jesus' perfect and complete works cling to them by faith. And if you are trusting in your works, Jesus will say to you, get away from me. I never knew you, and you will perish in the fires that you have earned because of your sin. Because even your best works, even your bestest works on your bestest days are still tainted by sin. We can't, we can't escape it. Jesus is the only, only hope. So rest and complete his work, trust in him, for he is risen as he said. And folks, that is the gospel. And again, I challenge you, find somebody today, before the sun goes down, share the gospel, remind them of the gospel, tell them about the gospel. These ladies, the two Marys, had 11 people to tell. So we can find one. We can find one, at least. And the other thing that's kind of neat about that is the gospel is also not just about me believing something. The gospel is about declaring something to be true, right? If you confess to Jesus with your lips, his Lord with your lips, it's about going and telling. I've said to people, it's a declarative religion if you're a Christian. Paul says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. We declare something to be true. And so, I know that this is truth, and the angels commissioned the ladies to go and tell the truth. go and tell what they had seen. And as Paul continues and he writes, he said, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. And these women got to be the first to go and tell the good news to the apostles. What a wonderful gift to them. And so we too are called to go and tell. And the neat thing is, of course, Jesus meets them on the road and we could go into all kinds of discussions about that. But there's two more commissions that I want to talk about this morning, because there's a second commission that we find next. As they were going on the road, we're told in verses 11 through 15, that the guards went to the priests and said, guys, this is what happened. They were saying what they had seen, right? They were telling the truth. And the priests met and they kind of took counsel and they said, well, we can't have this happen. We can't let people know that he rose from the dead. That's not a good thing. Not a good thing for us. We'd lose our power over the people if nothing else. They go out running after this Jesus guy. And so we have a second commission. First an angelic commission. Here's a demonic commission. The priest basically bribed the soldiers. They said, look, tell them you fell asleep. And while we were asleep, the apostles came and stole the body away. First of all, if you're asleep, how do you know what's happening when you're asleep? I don't know about you, but I sleep kind of heavy. And I don't know what's going on. My eyes are closed. I'm gone. But something that's even more important is the fact that if you're a Roman soldier and you fall asleep on duty, you're put to death for that. That's how seriously they... Roman soldiers did not fall asleep while they were on duty because that would be the last time they fell asleep. They would be executed in a very, very unpleasant way for falling asleep. That was the point. And so they were bribed and they took the bribe because they were also bribed with a promise that if this news ever gets back to Pilot, who would be their boss's boss, we'll bribe him too and make sure it's okay with you so they won't kill you for this. They'll make up another story that you guys can tell. But here's the point. The demons don't want the message of the gospel to go out to the world. That's bad news for them. It kind of works against the devil's plans and designs, however you want to kind of word that or think about that. And so, basically, the commission of the devil is to be silent. or to make up stories and make up stories that don't tell the truth, make up a lie and tell it to people that they might believe and not listen to the stories. And folks, this practice happens even today. We find people, you know, where the Bible and science are differing, saying, well, believe science and ignore the Bible. Because one thing, no matter, even if the story that is being told is like so insanely bizarre, people will believe that oftentimes just so they don't have to believe what is true in the gospel. I have heard people say, well Jesus didn't really die upon the cross. He swooned. He kind of fell unconscious for a little while and then while he was in the grave, wrapped up in all of these grave cloths, he woke up, he got himself out of all the grave cloths, he pushed the stone away and snuck out. I mean, wrap your head around that. I mean, have you ever heard of something called hypothermia? That happens when you're kind of laid naked in a stone cave for any length of time. Have you ever heard about blood loss? Have you ever heard about the pericardium being punctured by the spear, you know, where the blood and the water comes out in the account? you're dead at that point. You're dead. The Roman soldiers, again, they knew death. They made an art out of putting people to death. And if you weren't quite dead when they needed to take you down from the cross, they broke your legs. Because that would put you into shock. And people who are in shock and not treated for shock, they die. Just go down the list. But people will say, well, that's really what must have happened. No, folks. It's not what must have happened. If the Jews had access to the body, they would have paraded it through the city of Jerusalem. But they didn't. Why? Because they couldn't. Why? Because he rose from the dead. The disciples didn't sneak in and steal the body. but that's the devil's commission. We've got an angelic commission to go and tell, but the demonic commission is to be silent and don't go to anyone. The demonic commission is easier. It doesn't ruffle as many feathers. It doesn't step on toes. It doesn't make people feel uncomfortable at family gatherings, but it's a lie. And it will lead people down the path to death. Sadly, many, many times Christians follow the demonic commission far more quickly than they follow the angelic commission that we find in this text. Finally, we end up in what we call the Great Commission. You could call it Jesus' Commission, you know, if we were kind of looking at it this way. At its heart, certainly there's a declaration that Jesus is who he is, that he is God. All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. But there's roots to that, that didn't come out of nowhere, that idea didn't come out of nowhere. If you go all the way back to the book of Genesis, chapter one, verses 28 through 30, God gave Adam and Eve what we call the dominion mandate. He said to Adam and Eve, all of creation I give to you, govern it, rule it, subdue it. And they made a mess of it, is what they did with it. Jesus is coming as the second Adam, as the greater Adam, as a new mediator of the covenant that Adam should have been. And God gives him kind of a renewal of the dominion mandate. Now the dominion mandate belongs to Jesus and those who follow Jesus, no longer just Adam and Eve and all who descend from Adam and Eve. And so God renews the dominion mandate with Jesus giving him all authority. And Jesus tells them as much. And so how are they to work out this authority? Well, now we're given the third commission. And this is a commission not just given to individuals. The individual commission to you and me as Christians is to go and tell. That's our job. Go and tell, go and tell. One of our jobs. We've got lots of other jobs too. but one of our jobs is going to help. But this commission is really a commission that's given to the corporate body, to the church as a whole, to go and make disciples of all of the nations. Now, every single individual kind of running around, we can't make disciples of all the nations, but the church as a whole, as a corporate body can do that. because we sprout and we do and we grow and things along those lines. So the angels go and tell, but the church, it's go and make disciples. And a disciple is more than just simply a convert. And again, this is one of those areas that I think the evangelical church in America messes up. Because typically, it's all about numbers. How many people have converted to faith this year in your church? Well, that's not the question that we should be answering. Jesus didn't say, go and evangelize. He said, go and make disciples. And a disciple is more than just somebody who's born again. A disciple is somebody who is born again and learns and grows and seeks to apply everything that Jesus taught to his or her life. To be a disciple, to be somebody who follows and to live a life in light of the gospel Jesus goes on and says, here, how do you make disciples of the nations? Two things, baptizing and teaching. Baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit and teaching to obey all that Jesus taught. And folks, teaching, baptizing is kind of a one-shot thing. Teaching is something that goes on and on and on, and we grow and develop. And somebody may be a disciple here, but they may not be quite as experienced or mature as a disciple over here. And so there's a disciple who's learning and growing, teaching another disciple who's learning and growing, teaching another disciple who's learning and growing all the way down to the brand new convert. That's disciple-making. That's how the church is to grow, is by making disciples. And so the question shouldn't be, how many conversions have you had? The question should be, are your disciples growing? Are you learning and are you putting those things that you've learned to practice? So it's not just like learning in a classroom where you gotta learn your ABCs and your one, two, threes and all of those kinds of things. So you have a bunch of facts so you can go on, play Trivial Pursuit really well or go on Jeopardy and win all of the prizes on Jeopardy. Those things are, facts are important and they're valuable and nice, but if you're not putting them to practice in your life, they're useless. They're trivia. And trivia by definition is trivial. It's not important. There's nothing in the Bible that's trivial. There are lots of facts in the Bible. Lots of things the Bible teaches us. Lots of instructions that we're given. Lots of things like that. But none of it's trivial because all of it's designed to teach us how we're to live our lives and teach us to become disciples of Jesus Christ. And so that's the third commission. The commission of Jesus, as it were, the great commission, is to go and make disciples of all of the nations. And I'll close this morning by not only saying and reminding you of that challenge and that call, but also reminding you of how Jesus closed it. Because he doesn't say that we're on our own. He doesn't say, okay, make disciples of all the nations and go for it. You know, when you're done, great. He says, lo, I will be with you even to the end of the age. He'll never leave us. He'll never depart us. He will always be there with us, for us, and to strengthen us. As he says to Paul again, you know, in your weakness, my strength can be seen. We have great strength, not because of who we are or our numbers or the things that we've done. We have great strength because of who we serve. We serve Jesus Christ, the one to whom has been given all authority in heavens and the earth. Let me close even with this. There are people in the world that think, well, if I just don't believe in Jesus, I live my life how I want, and none of this Christian stuff that you say has any bearing on me, because I'm just not gonna be a Christian. I'm just gonna be whatever I am. Here's the thing. Jesus has all authority in heavens and earth, which means that whether they believe in him or not, they are going to stand before his throne in judgment one day. We have the answer. Make sure that people like that in your life can never come back and say to you, you didn't tell me. You never told me. I would have liked to have known. You never told me. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for your grace and your mercies. And oh, Father, we give you thanks and glory for your son. and the work that he did on the cross, the work that he has done in his resurrection, and the work that he is continuing to do in each one of our lives. On our own, we make messes of everything, but with you, we can point to something greater than ourselves, and we can find strength in you so that we can live and that we can indeed follow your commissions, not only to go and tell, but to make disciples. These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.